Rio Grandes Last Race, Etc. | Page 5

the worst is over,?The creatures smell the mountain grass that's twenty miles away.'
They press towards the mountain grass,?They look with eager eyes?Along the rugged stony pass,?That slopes towards the skies;?Their feet may bleed from rocks and stones,?But though the blood-drop starts,?They struggle on with stifled groans,?For hope is in their hearts.
And the cattle that are leading,?Though their feet are worn and bleeding,?Are breaking to a kind of run -- pull up, and let them go!
For the mountain wind is blowing,?And the mountain grass is growing,?They settle down by running streams ice-cold with melted snow.
. . . . .
The days are done of heat and drought?Upon the stricken plain;?The wind has shifted right about,?And brought the welcome rain;?The river runs with sullen roar,?All flecked with yellow foam,?And we must take the road once more,?To bring the cattle home.
And it's `Lads! we'll raise a chorus,?There's a pleasant trip before us.'?And the horses bound beneath us as we start them down the track;
And the drovers canter, singing,?Through the sweet green grasses springing,?Towards the far-off mountain-land, to bring the cattle back.
Are these the beasts we brought away?That move so lively now??They scatter off like flying spray?Across the mountain's brow;?And dashing down the rugged range?We hear the stockwhip crack,?Good faith, it is a welcome change?To bring such cattle back.
And it's `Steady down the lead there!'?And it's `Let 'em stop and feed there!'?For they're wild as mountain eagles and their sides are all afoam;
But they're settling down already,?And they'll travel nice and steady,?With cheery call and jest and song we fetch the cattle home.
We have to watch them close at night?For fear they'll make a rush,?And break away in headlong flight?Across the open bush;?And by the camp-fire's cheery blaze,?With mellow voice and strong,?We hear the lonely watchman raise?The Overlander's song:
`Oh! it's when we're done with roving,?With the camping and the droving,?It's homeward down the Bland we'll go, and never more we'll roam;'
While the stars shine out above us,?Like the eyes of those who love us --?The eyes of those who watch and wait to greet the cattle home.
The plains are all awave with grass,?The skies are deepest blue;?And leisurely the cattle pass?And feed the long day through;?But when we sight the station gate,?We make the stockwhips crack,?A welcome sound to those who wait?To greet the cattle back:
And through the twilight falling?We hear their voices calling,?As the cattle splash across the ford and churn it into foam;
And the children run to meet us,?And our wives and sweethearts greet us,?Their heroes from the Overland who brought the cattle home.
The First Surveyor
`The opening of the railway line! -- the Governor and all!?With flags and banners down the street, a banquet and a ball. Hark to 'em at the station now! They're raising cheer on cheer! "The man who brought the railway through -- our friend the engineer!"
`They cheer HIS pluck and enterprise and engineering skill! 'Twas my old husband found the pass behind that big Red Hill. Before the engineer was grown we settled with our stock?Behind that great big mountain chain, a line of range and rock -- A line that kept us starving there in weary weeks of drought, With ne'er a track across the range to let the cattle out.
`'Twas then, with horses starved and weak and scarcely fit to crawl, My husband went to find a way across that rocky wall.?He vanished in the wilderness, God knows where he was gone, He hunted till his food gave out, but still he battled on.?His horses strayed -- 'twas well they did -- they made towards the grass, And down behind that big red hill they found an easy pass.
`He followed up and blazed the trees, to show the safest track, Then drew his belt another hole and turned and started back. His horses died -- just one pulled through with nothing much to spare; God bless the beast that brought him home, the old white Arab mare! We drove the cattle through the hills, along the new-found way, And this was our first camping-ground -- just where I live to-day.
`Then others came across the range and built the township here, And then there came the railway line and this young engineer. He drove about with tents and traps, a cook to cook his meals, A bath to wash himself at night, a chain-man at his heels.?And that was all the pluck and skill for which he's cheered and praised, For after all he took the track, the same my husband blazed!
`My poor old husband, dead and gone with never feast nor cheer; He's buried by the railway line! -- I wonder can he hear?When down the very track he marked, and close to where he's laid, The cattle trains go roaring down the one-in-thirty grade.?I wonder does he hear them pass and can he see the