“Why, there's two of them, and they're having a fight! Come on.”'  
It seemed a strange place for a fight—that hot, lonely, cotton-bush plain. And yet not more than half a mile ahead there were apparently¹ two men struggling together on the track.
 
The three travellers postponed² their smoke-ho and hurried on. They were shearers—a little man and a big man, known respectively as “Sunlight” and “Macquarie,” and a tall, thin, young jackeroo whom they called “Milky³.”
 
“I wonder where the other man sprang from? I didn't see him before,” said Sunlight.
 
“He muster⁴ bin⁵ layin' down in the bushes,” said Macquarie. “They're goin' at it proper, too. Come on! Hurry up and see the fun!”
 
They hurried on.
 
“It's a funny-lookin' feller, the other feller,” panted Milky. “He don't seem to have no head. Look! he's down—they're both down! They must ha' clinched⁶ on the ground. No! they're up an' at it again.... Why, good Lord! I think the other's a woman!”
 
“My oath! so it is!” yelled Sunlight. “Look! the brute's got her down again! He's kickin' her. Come on, chaps; come on, or he'll do for her!”
 
They dropped swags, water-bags and all, and raced forward; but presently Sunlight, who had the best eyes, slackened his pace and dropped behind. His mates glanced back at his face, saw a peculiar⁷ expression there, looked ahead again, and then dropped into a walk.
 
They reached the scene of the trouble, and there stood a little withered⁸ old man by the track, with his arms folded close up under his chin; he was dressed mostly in calico patches; and half a dozen corks⁹, suspended on bits of string from the brim of his hat, dangled¹⁰ before his bleared optics to scare away the flies. He was scowling¹¹ malignantly¹² at a stout¹³, dumpy swag which lay in the middle of the track.
 
“Well, old Rats, what's the trouble?” asked Sunlight.
 
“Oh, nothing, nothing,” answered the old man, without looking round. “I fell out with my swag, that's all. He knocked me down, but I've settled him.”
 
“But look here,” said Sunlight, winking¹⁴ at his mates, “we saw you jump on him when he was down. That ain't fair, you know.”
 
“But you didn't see it all,” cried Rats, getting excited. “He hit me down first! And look here, I'll fight him again for nothing, and you can see fair play.”
 
They talked awhile; then Su............