They
did not appear to think that the new chum was worth looking after any
longer. So he began slinking away slowly towards his flock of sheep,
trying to look as if nothing in particular was the matter; but he
soon turned in the direction of the home station. He tried to run,
and for a short time fear winged his feet; but the ground was hard
and rough, and his feet were tender; and though he believed that
death and three devils were behind him, he could go but slowly. A
solitary eaglehawk sat on the top branch of a dead gum-tree, watching
him with evil eyes; a chorus of laughing jackasses cackled after him
in derision from a grove of young timber; a magpie, the joy of the
morning, and most mirthful of birds, whistled for him sweet notes of
hope and good cheer; then a number of carrion crows beheld him, and
approached with their long-drawn, ill-omened "croank, croank," the
most dismal note ever uttered by any living thing. They murder sick
sheep, and pick out the eyes of stray lambs. They made short
straggling flights, alighting on the ground in front of the miserable
man, inspecting his condition, and calculating how soon he would be
ready to be eaten. They are impatient gluttons, and often begin
tearing their prey before it is dead.
Mr. Robinson clothed the naked, and then mounted his horse and went
for the blacks.
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