“Morning, Dick!” spoke a deep, tuneful voice.

“Morning, Mr Wallace.”

“How’s the Lake this morning?”

“Two feet ten. Gone down an inch since yesterday afternoon.”

“H’m! No sign ofrain, andInigo Jones says we needn’t expect any till March 18th. Feed still going off?”

“Within a couple of miles of the Lake, yes. Rabbits in millions. More ’roos, too, this last week than I’ve ever seen. Moving in from the dry areas. White Dam is down to four feet.”

“Better shift those hoggets, then,” advised the Boss. “In fact, Dick, we’d better think of shifting a lot of sheep from your end to the Sandy Well paddocks. When the Lake goes, it’ll go quick. The last foot of water could dry out in a day. It did last time, I remember. We lost two thousand ewes in the Channel that time. Whatd’you intend doing today?”

“I’ll send Carney out to ride White Dam paddock. AndMacLennon to Johnson’sWell to make a report on the mill and pump and tank.”

“Better get Lester to go along with Mac, and remind ’emto lower a light down the well before they go down. The air will be foul after all this time.”

“All right, Mr Wallace. What about the horses? Any sight of a breaker?”

“Yes, I was coming to that,” replied the Boss. “Feller here now, wantingbreaking work. Good references. I’ll send him out tomorrow on the truck. Let me know tonight what you want out there.”

“The breaker, is he to have a free hand?”

“As he’ll be working on contract, yes. Feed with the men, of course. The name’s Bony.”

“Bony what?”

“Just Bony. Talks like a uni’ professor. Queenslander, I think. When you’ve drafted off the youngsters for him, better send all the spares in here. We’ll put ’emin the Bend. Well, I’ll ring again tonight.”