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- Колин Маккалоу
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- Стр. 306/535
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True
as
their
word
,
the
twins
were
home
for
good
.
At
fourteen
they
quit
Riverview
forever
,
could
n't
head
back
to
the
black-oil
plains
quickly
enough
.
Already
they
looked
like
juvenile
Bobs
,
Jacks
and
Hughies
,
in
what
was
gradually
replacing
the
old-fashioned
grey
twill
and
flannel
as
the
uniform
of
the
Great
Northwest
grazier
:
white
moleskin
breeches
,
white
shirt
,
a
flat-crowned
grey
felt
hat
with
a
broad
brim
,
and
ankle-high
elastic-sided
riding
boots
with
flat
heels
.
Only
the
handful
of
half-caste
aborigines
who
lived
in
Gilly
's
shanty
section
aped
the
cowboys
of
the
American
West
,
in
high-heeled
fancy
boots
and
ten-gallon
Stetsons
.
To
a
black-soil
plainsman
such
gear
was
a
useless
affectation
,
a
part
of
a
different
culture
.
A
man
could
n't
walk
through
the
scrub
in
high-heeled
boots
,
and
a
man
often
had
to
walk
through
the
scrub
.
And
a
ten-gallon
Stetson
was
far
too
hot
and
heavy
.
The
chestnut
mare
and
the
black
gelding
were
both
dead
;
the
stables
were
empty
.
Meggie
insisted
she
was
happy
with
a
stock
horse
,
but
Bob
went
over
to
Martin
King
's
to
buy
her
two
of
his
part-thoroughbred
hacks
--
a
creamy
mare
with
a
black
mane
and
tail
,
and
a
leggy
chestnut
gelding
.
For
some
reason
the
loss
of
the
old
chestnut
mare
hit
Meggie
harder
than
her
actual
parting
from
Ralph
,
a
delayed
reaction
;
as
if
in
this
the
fact
of
his
going
was
more
clearly
stated
.
But
it
was
so
good
to
be
out
in
the
paddocks
again
,
to
ride
with
the
dogs
,
eat
the
dust
of
a
bleating
mob
of
sheep
,
watch
the
birds
,
the
sky
,
the
land
.
It
was
terribly
dry
.
Drogheda
's
grass
had
always
managed
to
outlast
the
droughts
Meggie
remembered
,
but
this
was
different
.
The
grass
was
patchy
now
;
in
between
its
tussocks
the
dark
ground
showed
,
cracked
into
a
fine
network
of
fissures
gaping
like
parched
mouths
.
For
which
mostly
thank
the
rabbits
.
In
the
four
years
of
her
absence
they
had
suddenly
multiplied
out
of
all
reason
,
though
she
supposed
they
had
been
bad
for
many
years
before
that
.
It
was
just
that
almost
overnight
their
numbers
had
reached
far
beyond
saturation
point
.
They
were
everywhere
,
and
they
,
too
,
ate
the
precious
grass
.
She
learned
to
set
rabbit
traps
,
hating
in
a
way
to
see
the
sweet
little
things
mangled
in
steel
teeth
,
but
too
much
of
a
land
person
herself
to
flinch
from
doing
what
had
to
be
done
.
To
kill
in
the
name
of
survival
was
n't
cruelty
.
"
God
rot
the
homesick
Pommy
who
shipped
the
first
rabbits
out
from
England
,
"
said
Bob
bitterly
.
They
were
not
native
to
Australia
,
and
their
sentimental
importation
had
completely
upset
the
ecological
balance
of
the
continent
where
sheep
and
cattle
had
not
,
these
being
scientifically
grazed
from
the
moment
of
their
introduction
.
There
was
no
natural
Australian
predator
to
control
the
rabbit
numbers
,
and
imported
foxes
did
n't
thrive
.
Man
must
be
an
unnatural
predator
,
but
there
were
too
few
men
,
too
many
rabbits
.
*
*
*
After
Meggie
grew
too
big
to
sit
a
horse
,
she
spent
her
days
in
the
homestead
with
Mrs.
Smith
,
Minnie
and
Cat
,
sewing
or
knitting
for
the
little
thing
squirming
inside
her
.
