Page:The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina.djvu/138

133 oven aboriginal muscular humanity cannot keep up such high-pressure motion for ever, so, with a deafening clang, produced by the birrawories and mullangies conjointly, the tchowie ceased instantaneously, and the sweltering dancers sank as one man exhausted in their tracks.

This grand finale was just about as much as our nerves could well sustain; therefore, after having noted the position of our abducted sheep, we gladly crawled from the vicinage of the savage dancers and retraced our steps cautiously to our own encampment.

We recovered the sheep next morning, and did not fail whilst doing so to admonish the thieves for the trouble they had given us, as well as for the sheep they had so shamefully maimed, and those they had killed outright and consumed.

When the aborigines steal a number of sheep, if whilst driving them away they should find themselves pursued, they immediately break the legs of a goodly number, knowing right well that those so maimed must be left behind, and will therefore be recoverable after the pursuers have retired with the sound ones. Frequently, too, the blacks, when they have succeeded in getting off with a lot of stolen sheep and have consequently no fear of pursuit, will, to save all further trouble in the matter of shepherding, break the legs of every one close to their camp so that they can slay, frizzle, and eat, with but the merest minimum of exertion.