Accustomed to feed on the open
plains, they travel over large extent of ground, and their ordinary
pace is four miles an hour. When frightened, they can go for many
miles at a speed which will tax a good horse to keep up with. The
first bullock cart was driven by Hans, who sat upon the top of a
heap of baggage, his head covered with a very old and battered
Panama hat, through several broad holes in which his red hair
bristled out in a most comic fashion, and over his blue flannel
shirt a large red beard flowed almost to his waist. Terence was
walking by the side of the second cart in corduroy breeches and
gaiters and blue coat, with a high black hat, battered and bruised
out of all shape, on his head. In his hand he held a favorite
shillalah, which he had brought with him from his native land, and
with the end of which he occasionally poked the ribs of the oxen,
with many Irish ejaculations, which no doubt alarmed the animals
not a little. The Yankee rode sometimes near one, sometimes by
another, seldom exchanging a word with any one. He wore a fur cap
made of fox's skin; a faded blanket, with a hole cut in the middle
for the head to go through, fell from his shoulders to his knees.
He and Lopez each led a couple of spare horses. The mastiffs
trotted along by the horses, and the two fine retrievers, Dash and
Flirt, galloped about over the plains.
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