A BELL AND A BULLOCK.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXII, Issue 151, 23 December 1911, Page 14

A BELL AND A BULLOCK.

Hogan lived on one side of Sandy' Creek, Murphy on the other. Both had small selections, both were Rogues, and knew it; therefore, though on very good' terms, tho one did not trust the other in the least, each depending on his own astuteness to take care of himself and hie belongings — that is, fowls, pige, goats, cattle, -nd horeea. especially tHe cattle, us it was so easy for a man in dense scrub country when ho wantpd a "killer" to niaie a mistake and shoot a beast with his neighbour's brand on instead of hie own. Hogan owned a beautiful big, red, baldy bullock, a milker's calf reared on the place, and so quiet that the boys could harnera him like a horse and draw water in a cask on a sledge made from the fork of a tree. He was such a useful animal Hogan naturally prized him very highly, and as he never wandered far from the house, where he ate <n\> almost anything that wa« thrown out to the fowls, he was always to be found, within half an hour or so, by th& sound of hie bell. He was th& pride of Hogan's heart Murphy, across the creek, had a pure bred roan cow, co superior in looks and milking qualities that people — that ie strangers — wondered to ccc such a beauty in such a place; but his 'neigh hours were not at all surprised, as they knew- that she had been dropped (when a calf) from a mob of stud cows travelling to a northern cattle station, and Murphy,- finding her eorefooted in the Scrub some half hour or so after the mob had passed, took compassion on her, and lifting her on to the horse carried her "home" — not to the camp where her owner was, half a mile up the road, but to his own place five miles away ; Murphjr was a kind-hearted man, and did not mind ; distance w,as nothing to him when bent on doing a poor dumb animal a good turn. The calf was hand fed, and, like the bullock, was a great pet with the chil- , dren, and never strayed away with other 'cattle.. . ' - i * One day, about three years after Murphy had so kindly brought her home, Eoaney was missing. The children cried for Eoaney and '.^ for milk. Murpnx searched', the sci;u'bs, the' creeks, the hills for her, but not, a track .or trace could he find->~"not even," as he said., "a -jgjhell ay her hooves or ,hopis, nor even 'a'' Hair ay her taijU":"?' 4 -*"/ .^ '*M\ This' too 'complete disappearance was unnatural ; to a thorough bushman and -rogue, such as Murphy -was, , it brought suspicion—^the suspicion -that Eoaney was now salt beef in Hogan's meat cask. But he could not prove it, and without proof the less he said the better; but he was determined to be even with his neighbour. Most things come to those who wait. Murphy- waited till fc&] met Hogan drinking in the township. He made Hogan drunk, 60 helplfeo^y drunk that he did not return till midnight. * He had made an early but erratic start for home, but a fall from his old horse and a drunken sleep somewhat delayed him. In the morning' he rose at dawn as usual, and missed the big baldy bullock the moment he stepped out. For Baldy ,alwaye camped with the milkers, and, besides, Baldy always carried a big bell that could be heard for miles. The country was so scrubby that bells, many bells, were in constant use. Not a j knock or boom of Baldy's belj broke the ,calm,sweet silence of the summer morning. Baldy Was gone! Hogan did not hesitate a moment. Picking iiD a bridle, ¦ he hastened ,to catch a howe, s and rode at a mad gallop over to Murphy's place. There on the gallows hung the caijcase of a huge beast, killed the. nigit before. There j was no hide spread, on the fence or pegged out to dry, no vestige of anything but tho body -of the beast, as it hung, or swung, in the cool morning breeze. Hogan sat on his. horse, gazing helplessly at it. Murphy camo strolling overplus hands in his pockets, his pipo drawing freely and satisfactorily. '• "Mornip'," he said, "ye'r airly. Can I send ye over a. roast? Or will ye take a piece of stetik with ye?" "No, said liogan shortly. "Gi' me the bell, an' we'll cry quits." Murphy slipped, bis hand under a sheet of bark lying against the fence and. drew tho bell from beneath it. Hogan grasped it, and -without a word nodded his head to Murphy, turned hi 3 horse, and cantered home. He Lad found his bullock, and met his match. He still has the bell ! — E. A. Daly, in Queen&lander.