After much pressing, Hugh had this day allowed her to try Obadiah,
Binjie's celebrated show jumper, an animal that could be trusted
to jump anything he could see over; so during their ride to the
habitat of the Donohoes they left the regular track, and followed
one of the fences for a mile or two, looking for a suitable place
to try the horse. No good place offered itself, as the timber was
thick, and the country so rugged that she would have had to ride
at a stiff post-and-rail either up or down a steep slope. Loitering
along, far off the track, they crossed a little ridge where stringybark
trees, with an undergrowth of bushes and saplings, formed a regular
thicket.
Suddenly Hugh gave a whistle of surprise, and jumped from his horse.
"Hold this horse a minute, please," he said. "There has been a
mob of sheep driven here."
"Whereabouts?" said she, staring round her.
"All about here," he said, pointing to the ground. "Don't you see
the tracks? Hundreds of 'em. But I can't see what they were up to.
There's no place they could get 'em out without cutting the wires,
and the fence is sound enough. Good heavens, I see it now! Well,
that's smart he continued, leaning against a post and giving it a
shake.
"What have they done I don't understand. How have they got the
sheep through without breaking the fence?"
"They've dug up four or five posts," he said, kicking over some red
earth with his foot, "laid that piece of fence flat on the ground,
driven the sheep over it, and then put the fence up again.
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