Luttrell's great buck teeth showed under the ragged moustache, and his hands shook on the idle shears. But the steady eyes and voice broke him down. He swerved sullenly into the pen, dragged out his sheep, and opened up with the clean cleVer blow of the ringer. Danny grunted approval.
"The ole apostrophe!" he said. "He'd 'a' had the head off of anyone else as blocked him. But there ain't much leakin' on Mains wi' you at the sluices, Ted."
Ted gave no answer. He passed the tables with quick commanding sight on the wool bins, the branders, the hurrying fleecies, and the men that wrought with the presses and bales. At end of the south board he stood, and each shearer felt him there on the instant. Ted knew that they felt him, and the apple of his throat ached in sudden pain. For not Steve nor another was fitted to take his place in the shed, on the cattle camps, on the ranges in the mustering season. And yet, for Jimmie, he would leave Mains to fall or to fight ac- cording to the wisdom of Steve or another. Because this much is true of men all the world through: they give hand-and-lip service to a superior; but only to a leader of their class wiU they give thew-and-body service to the utmost. ScanneU knew this when he laid power on Ted's shoulders; and Ted knew.
"On'y fur Jimmie," he said underbreath.
