Unknown by Unknown

the first roll, the second. It was a success, she congratulated herself, rolling faster now.
    Then she stopped. Someone was rolling with her. Instead of her leaving the mighty Roper behind her, he was accompanying her. The absurdity of it could have made her laugh if she had not wanted to object instead. The fool, did he think she was playing some childish game? And yet, she had to admit, it could look like a game.
    His last roll had brought him within a foot of her. Their eyes looked at each other, a bare twelve inches apart.
    ‘I—I had a cramp and wanted to get up, so I rolled here not to disturb the others,’ she explained.
    ‘Very thoughtful of you. Where is the cramp? I’ll massage it.’
    ‘No. No! It’s gone now. The exercise of rolling must have fixed it.’
    ‘As well as a strong determination,’ he nodded. ‘Well, if it’s not there any more you may as well lie back again. There won’t be anything doing until siesta’s over.’
    ‘I did think I’d scout around with the magnet.’
    ‘This is cattle country, not mineral,’ he objected.
    ‘But there could be leads ’
    ‘Then they’ll be ignored. This is the cattle side, Brown.’ Roper’s lip had come out, something, Georgina had noticed, that happened when he wanted to emphasise a point.
    ‘Yes, sir,’ she said.
    ‘Also,’ went on the mighty Roper, ‘I wouldn’t advise any exploring, not with this mob of cattle. You heard Watson say that the beasts have been touchy.’
    ‘They seem quiet now,’ she protested.
    ‘Don’t let that silence deceive you. I’ve seen a rush start from the click of a cosmetic purse, the unscrewing of a lipstick. Though I hardly think ... drily ... ‘you’ll be doing that.’
    ‘Of course not.’
    They talked in low voices so as not to disturb the sleepers, though Roper said it would take a pack of howling dingoes to do that after lunch.
    ‘And there aren’t any of them here,’ he shrugged. ‘Dingoes?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Because of the fence?’ Georgina knew of the six-thousand-mile enclosure across one-third of the continent.
    ‘Yes, our dog pen,’ he nodded. ‘Yet not entirely because of that, but because the dingo isn’t so partial to horns and hoof as he is to sheep.’
    Georgina gave a little shiver. As a man she shouldn’t have, but it came instinctively. ‘Poor sheep,’ she said, ‘to be the loser.’
    ‘Well, such is life,’ shrugged Roper, ‘it’s full of deceit, for man as well as sheep. Don’t you agree, Brown?’
    ‘What, sir?’
    ‘For instance, you wouldn’t think those sleeping angels there,’ he nodded to the stockmen, ‘could change to raw-voiced, blaspheming devils when they’re called upon to keep a mob in one body, would you? Yes’ ... the slightest of pauses ... ‘things can be deceptive.’
    Georgina said nothing.
    One by one the men awakened. They conferred with Larry Roper, and Georgina gathered that they intended moving the mob.
    It’s a bit sparse here,’ Larry explained, coming back to Georgina, ‘so they’ll find another valley.’
    ‘Are you overlanding them somewhere?'
    ‘Heavens, no. I’ve been road-training the beasts for years now. No, we’ll just edge them on to greener pastures until they’re ready to truck. Moving a mob is a sight worth seeing, George. Get on your mount and follow up.’
    Georgina went across to Ribbons and pulled herself on. Roper had untethered Gibraltar, and as he climbed up he instructed Georgina to keep well to the side in case one of the beasts got cranky. ‘But,’ he said, ‘I think it s going to be sweet.’
    It was a wonderful sight. And it remained ‘sweet.’ The mob, kept in order by dogs and men, moved quietly forward, a great mass of huge bodies and churning hooves. The dust after the press went by was wall-thick, and it took a long time to subside.
    The cloud was still enveloping everything when the sound of a plane occurred again. It was in the distance, as before, but this time it seemed to be coming