way of getting kicked. All you have to do is to obey the man at your
head and ask no questions.
He s quite right, said Two Tails. I can t always obey, because I m
betwixt and between. But Billy s right. Obey the man next to you who
gives the order, or you ll stop all the battery, besides getting a
thrashing.
The gun-bullocks got up to go. Morning is coming, they said. We will
go back to our lines. It is true that we only see out of our eyes, and
we are not very clever. But still, we are the only people to-night who
have not been afraid. Good-night, you brave people.
Nobody answered, and the troop-horse said, to change the conversation,
Where s that little dog? A dog means a man somewhere about.
Here I am, yapped Vixen, under the gun tail with my man. You big,
blundering beast of a camel you, you upset our tent. My man s very
angry.
Phew! said the bullocks. He must be white!
Of course he is, said Vixen. Do you suppose I m looked after by a
black bullock-driver?
Huah! Ouach! Ugh! said the bullocks. Let us get away quickly.
They plunged forward in the mud, and managed somehow to run their yoke
on the pole of an ammunition wagon, where it jammed.
Now you have done it, said Billy calmly. Don t struggle. You re hung
up till daylight. What on earth s the matter?
The bullocks went off into the long hissing snorts that Indian cattle
give, and pushed and crowded and slued and stamped and slipped and
nearly fell down in the mud, grunting savagely.
You ll break your necks in a minute, said the troop-horse. What s the
matter with white men? I live with em.
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