Explore "The Shepherds' Dance: with the Lamb Markers of the Paroo" by Edward S. Sorenson on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
A start was made after breakfast; the musterers, who comprised about half the number, rode ahead, driving a few spare horses with them. The rest of the contingent followed on foot behind the waggonette. As several of them were old men, the cook good-naturedly regulated his pace to suit them. That means he spent all day on the road out.
They halted for lunch at a half-way tank, where a couple of hours were spent in the shade of a clump of trees. About an hour before sundown the depot was reached. The camp was pitched in a patch of scrub, a spot that was simply swarming with mosquitoes. A big fire was made with gidgee and mulga logs, the tinware and tucker were laid on bags on the ground, and the men sat around them at their evening meal. After tea pipes were lit, and the group sat by the fire yarning and slapping at mosquitoes till bedtime. Blankets and rugs were spread about on the ground, some of the campers first gathering bunches of green leaves or an armful of grass to make the bed more comfortable. An odd one had a square piece of mosquito netting, which he rigged over his head on stakes. The rest made smoking fires close beside them. The mosquitoes did not wholly disappear with the morning light; in the scrub the pest recognised no regular hours. That special haunt was chosen for the camp because it was nearer to water, and afforded shelter from the dust- storms, which were likely to blow up at any time, and make things unpleasant. The yards, built of logs, stubs and brush, stood just on the outside of the scrubs.