Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/421

Rh nothing of the saddles, He kept the place supplied with saddles all the time I was there."

"A very profitable horse," remarked Doctor Bronson. "I suppose the owner was not willing to sell him?"

"Not by any means," was the reply. "He used to say that he had only to 'set' that horse in the paddock as he would any other trap, and the thieves walked in at once."

"That reminds me of a Melbourne horse story," said one of the listeners. Being pressed to give it, he did so.

"In the days of the gold rush in 1851," said he, "there were two men in Melbourne who made a fortune in horse-trading. They had two or three horses trained for their business, and when a party was fitting out for the mines, one of these horses would be offered for sale. Of course the would-be purchasers wanted to try the animal first, and the dealer would point to a steep hill on Bourke Street, and suggest that the horse be tried with a load up that hill.

"The animal was attached to a loaded dray, and straightway pulled it to the top of the hill without hesitation or pause. Of course that