is the greatest power of all; and the child-wisdom that finds joy in the Little Things that lie along every track. And that is why the hills-men can play with the rocks and the big bush and the mountain rivers, and then go down and take the townships to pieces in a gaiety of heart which an occasional night in the lock-up does not dim.
A savage day’s work rode with the boys over the downs and up cutting by cutting. From the receiving paddocks, two round miles from the hut, the cry of already pent cattle blew down wind, and the throb of impatient hoofs below it was over-like the beat of far-distant surf. On the down-top Ted Douglas slung the chase clear for the snows where they blanketted the gnarled ranges and peaks. Tod and Jimmie swept in the van, flinging coarse jokes which Lou tossed back tipped with venom that no man but Randal had wit to see. And Randal’s mind was on sharper things. A man may walk blind where the scent of roses pull his senses, until a chance thorn-prick opens his eyes to the knowledge that he is on forbidden ground. But Randal had broken into the garden wilfully, and well he knew the smart of the thorns among the roses. He lifted his head to the free wind beating down from God’s own snows, and the sting of it eased him. For Nature in storm knows how to comfort her son when his soul is in storm also.
