another, I get up light the fire, put the billy on & then with the old yellow cat start down the paddock for Black Bess. Betty the cat follows me Winter & Summer, every morning – In the Winter I often wonder when I see her fur all dripping wet from the dew on the herbage & saltbush, how she has the heart to follow me & what the bond of friendship is between us. A few bits of salt junk, fresh every fortnight when I kill & a fair allowance of kindness I suppose. Every night she goes out, where I don’t know probably down in the Box Clump for I never see any of her kind within miles & miles of my hut, so it can’t be for company’s sake. Anyway there she is in the morning nearly always on the saddle cloth & when I pick the bridle up, I feel her tail & back rubbing between my legs. Black Bess sees me coming & stands patiently to be caught for her 20 mile ride