Bengala: Or Some Time Ago

by Mary Theresa Vidal, Susan McKernan (editor), Francis Vidal

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1860 Original Publisher: John W. Parker Subjects: Fiction / General Fiction / Classics Fiction / Literary Literary Criticism / General Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER IX. The Stockman's Rounds. ON the morning after the storm, Charlie Brand, the stockman at Westbrqok farm, saddled his sorrel mare, and, with his grim, sardonic smile, surveyed the premises, keenly noting what had suffered and what escaped. He was uneasy as to the fate of some wild ' young horses in the bush paddock -- that is, a large portion of the bush or forest fenced off -- and directed his mare that way. He was far too experienced a bushman to be surprised at finding the usual beaten track blocked up by fallen trees, so that it required some skill and patience to get on at all. At last, after a long circuit, he spied his charges grouped together in a small cleared space, raising their heads and snorting with shy yet friendly greeting as the old sorrel and her rider came in sight. At a peculiar noise he made, they put down their noses and smelt, and then advanced a few paces ; -- then a little closer, and so on till one had his shaggy yet well formed head resting in familiar confidence on Charlie's arm ; while another made advances to the sorrel, who only responded by twitching her odd tail about and imperturbably nibbling the grass which grew within her reach. After a few moments passed in this way, Charlie mounted again, and when he moved on he was followed by his friends. He turned off into a different direction from that he came, meaning to try to fall into another track or bush-path, som...

445 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1860

About the author

Mary Theresa Vidal was a British–Australian writer described as Australia's first female novelist.