Before long they saw a line of dark green meandering across the plain. Stan was used to these widely-separated belts of trees by now, and from the distance there was nothing to indicate that this was anything but a depression of dry sand. The plains on each side of it certainly looked as if they had not received a drop of rain for months. As they topped a little sand-hill, they saw what to Stan was a most amazing sight; a silver ribbon stretched across the sun-drenched plain. To the north and south of it was lost in the mirage of the horizon.
It was water!
Having gazed for sometime on this wonderful spectacle, they rode down to look at it more closely. Instead of a bed of soft sand, Dry Creek was a slowly-moving mass ofwater about a hundred yards across. Debris of all kinds was carried along by the current, and not a few dead cattle and horses turned over and over, bloated and foul with the journey of several hundred miles. Dick pointed out one animal in particular; it was a huge old bull, and on its near- side rump the brand K 7 Q was clearly seen.
"That"s Kirolee Station in Northern Queensland," said Dick. "Goodness knows how far across the continent that dead beast has been carried."Giant creek-gums, whose roots went deep through the sand to hidden water perhaps a hundred feet below the surface, now boldly stemmed the current, and the gnarled lower branches of more than one of them tossed in the water and caught and held an increasing accumulation of rubbish.
The ford was clearly defined by a well-worn track down each bank, for this crossing was used by many thousand head of cattle and horses moving east and west every year.
"How deep is it in the middle?" asked Stan.
Dick knew the place well. "See that branch just dipping in the water?"he said, pointing to a particularly old gum which leaned far over the stream. "That"s about six feet from the bottom.""Then they"ll have to swim?"
"You can bet your life they"ll have to swim. It"s a ticklishjob, I can tell you. These cattle are not used to flooded creeks. Most of them have never seen moving water.""Then why not wait?"
Drawn by Allan T. Berlando
"The horses were rushed at full gallop towards the water.""We might be held up for a week, perhaps two. It"s impo- ssible to tell. Once I was camped for a whole month waiting for a flood to subside. I"m anxious to get these cattle off my hands. Besides, there"s poor old Mike"s death to report."Dick rode his horse down the bank. When it came to the water, the animal drew back on its haunches, snorting with alarm. Dick was too good a horseman to urge it unduly; he let it stand awhile and then coaxed it forward. About ten yards from the water"s edge, he suddenly drew rein.
"This is where they"ll start to swim," he shouted. "I reckon it"s not more than seventy yards to the next foothold."They rode back to camp and got the working horses together, saddled them with packs, and drove them forward to Dry Creek, telling the boys to bring the cattle along very quietly in the same direction.
When the pack-horses got to the creek they were unsa- ddled, and a raft was made out of a camp-sheet and four empty canteens. A blackfellow then swam across with a rope and dragged the raft over. One or two such trips were sufficient to land all the gear safely on the other side. The horses themselves were bunched about a quarter of a mile from the creek and rushed at full gallop towards the water. Dick was in the lead, bareback, while Stan and a blackfellow urged the mob on with much shouting and cracking of whips.
Dick"s horse took the water bravely. As soon as the current swept it off its feet, Dick slipped off its back and caught hold of its tail. The animal swam splendidly and soon touched ground on the other side.
Most of the horses followed and gained the opposite bank safely, though one or two of them were washed down the creek for some distance. But two pack-horses, old stubborn things that had never seen running water before, refused to go in more than knee-deep. They stood there, with legs braced back, snorting with fear, in spite of Stan"s shouting and the black boy"s cunningly wielded stock-whip.
There was no alternative to dragging them over. A bowline was made in the rope, and the first horse was lassoed. The black boy then swam out with the end of the rope and passed it round a tree and brought it back again. Stan and the boy pulled with all their might. The horse was dragged by sheer force into the water. When it was once afloat, it swam as easily as the others and knew instinctively what to do. It saw its mates on the opposite bank, and made straight for them. The other horse needed no urging now. Being left alone, it gave a whinny of alarm and plunged after its companion, and soon all the working horses were safely hobbled on the far side of Dry Creek.
All hands now turned to attend to the cattle. Dick hadintended cutting them up into lots of a couple of hundred each and putting them over in this way, but he found them much nearer the creek than he expected, for they had smelt the water and were quickening their pace. So he strung them out into a long line and let them go ahead at a lumbering trot.
The leading bullock came to the water"s edge, saw the horses on the opposite bank, and bellowed at the intervening current. Dick gave the animal no time to consider, but flicked it with a well-directed lash. It turned up the bank of the creek. Stan met it with his whip. It was between two fires of stock- whips. Behind it was the weight of a thousand cattle urging it on; in front was the flooded creek. It waded gingerly into the water. Other cattle pressed on and the stockmen were hard- set to keep them from breaking up or down the bank. It was a matter of utmost importance that the first twenty or thirty cattle should go over without mishap; the rest would follow easily.
