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Clive Donovan was a sheep farmer in Australia about a hundred years ago. He lived a very solitary life on his sheep farm some hundreds of kilometres
from the nearest town. Clive was not used to company so he did not say much. He was also quite a strict man who did not like to be disobeyed
or criticised.
Though, one day, Clive read an article in the newspaper about a small group of young English women who wanted to come to Australia to marry
Australian men. Clive wrote to the group and for the next six months he exchanged letters with a young lady called Mary Calderwood. To his surprise,
Mary agreed to marry him.
Three months later Clive drove his wagon to the nearest railway station to meet Mary. The wagon was pulled by two horses. Clive helped Mary up onto the wagon
and they began the long journey to the farm. Clive did not say a word. Mary thought that living alone for so long had probably
made him very shy and not a merry fellow. She decided to stay quiet. After a kilometre one of the horses stood on a stone and stumbled. This shook
the wagon and made Clive angry. He stood up, pointed at the horse and shouted, "That's one."
Clive sat down again and they continued their journey in silence. Ten kilometres later the same horse stumbled again. Clive pointed a finger at the horse
and shouted angrily, "That's two."
Mary thought that she saw fear in the eyes of the horse. She was new to Australia so she decided not to ask any questions.
However, twenty kilometres later the unfortunate|same horse stumbled for the third time.
"That's three," thundered Clive as he jumped down from the wagon. He took out his gun and shot the terrified horse between the eyes.
Mary was shocked. "Why did you do that?" she protested. "How could you do such a cruel and stupid thing?"
Clive turned slowly to his young wife and said, "That's one".
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