I must have sat there ruminating for a considerable time, for when I came to myself it was dark, and I remembered that I was in an almost trackless region which I had passed through only once before in daylight, and in company, when we had a view of the hills to guide us, and that I was at least seven miles from the nearest station (Rutherford’s), but of the exact direction of which I was not certain.  However, I had been long enough in the country to have passed more than one night in the open air, and at the worst this could only happen again, and I was provided with a blanket strapped to my saddle.  I was not, however, to be without bed or supper.  I mounted my mare, which had been browsing beside me, and gave her her head—­the wisest course I could have taken.  After an hour’s sharp walk I discovered lights in the distance, which soon after proved to be those of Rutherford’s station, where I was most hospitably received.

Considerable astonishment was expressed at C——­’s—­to them—­ unaccountably foolish action in throwing over, after two months’ trial, an opportunity which most men situated as he was would have worked for years to obtain.

C——­ reached the Old Country in due time, resumed his small farm, married, had a large family, and died a poor man.

The following morning I returned to Highfield feeling myself a better man and more independent now that I had myself only to depend on.

CHAPTER VI.

     SHEPHERD’S LIFE—­DRIVING SHEEP TO CHRISTCHURCH—­KILLING A WILD
     SOW—­ARRIVAL IN CHRISTCHURCH.

I passed nearly a year at Highfield, during which time I made myself acquainted with all the routine of a sheep-farmer’s life.  I learned to ride stock, shoe horses, shear sheep, plough, fence, fell and split timber, and everything else that an experienced squatter ought to be able to do, not omitting the accomplishment of smoking.  Mr. Lee then offered me what he had offered C——­, and I agreed to accept it pending a visit I meditated making to Christchurch to consult my friend Mr. Gresson about a desire I entertained of entering the Government Land Office and to become a surveyor.

I had done my best to like the life of a sheep-farmer, but I was becoming weary of it, and something was always prompting me to seek for more congenial employment.  So far as stockriding, pig-hunting, and shooting were concerned, the life was delightful, but such recreations could be enjoyed anywhere.  To sheep and sheep-farming I conceived a growing aversion as a life’s work, and although I was prepared to hold to it if nothing better to my mind presented itself, I was equally determined to find something else if it were possible.