In the Roaring Fifties

's Hill, and when he set his foot on Australian soil he planted one tendril of his heart there. He let fall his bag, and looked a

d up clouds of dust, and spun them into fantastic shapes, filling eyes and lungs, but no discomfort could dull the joy he felt on coming into his kingdom. He had turned his back to the wind to wait the passing of a sirocco of sand, when a double-seated American waggon, drawn by two steaming horses, fla

ian!' he cried. 'I'

gray whiskers. The suggestion of a rough-haired terrier was so strong that Done expected the brute to bark at him. The small eyes in the protecting shade of tufted brows, like miniature overhanging horns, were keen and shrewd This extraordinary head was supported by a small and shapeless body, the legs of

dman, mister,' he sa

, quite ignoring Done's grievance and his words. 'So bein',

s that swarmed over their rumps. Their powerful frames showed through clean, healthy hides, and their blood in the proud carriage of their heads and their hot impatience under restraint. A half-caste aboriginal boy, dressed apparently in his master's old clothes-and the master's own clot

ack!' s

s for a moment, and rested on the lady

casually, adding, after

bit f

Boobyalla was no demonstrative lover. A few minutes later the waggon dashed past Done; the bays were being driven at a gallop, and the vehicle fairly jumped on the broken road. The young man caught a glimpse

g speed, and with much shouting and cracking of whips, and a wild, bewhiskered Bushman, driving two horses in a light, giglike vehicle, charged through the dust at a pace implying some business of life or death; but a little further on Jim came upon the steaming pair tethered to a post outside a rough structure labelled the 'Miner's Rest,' and at the bar stood the driver toying lazily with a nobbler of brandy. He passed groups of men lounging against the building and sitting in the street, all smoking, none showing particular concern about anything. Their lethargy surprised him.

laughter and badinage of the men. This was a painful shock to Done's happiness. The situation recalled Chisley, and something of the old Ishmael stirred within him. He set his teeth and hurried on. 'Pea-souper!' was the epithet most in favour amongst his tormentors. Why 'Pea

either side of a gully. Pedestrians who were not sober ran serious risks of falling from the footpaths into the roadway below, a rather serious fall in places. Plunged is the right word; the road was churned into a dust-pit, on the footpath

or merely sunk in a state of abstraction. The talk was all of digging. The miners were exchanging news, rumour and opinions, and lying about their past takings, or the fabulous patches they had just missed-lying patiently and pertinaciou

leggings, but anything more pretentious was received with unmistakable manifestations of popular disfavour. A large bullock-team hauling a waggon load of bales blundered slowly along the road, the weary cattle swinging from side to side under the lash of the bullocky, who yelled hoarse profanity with the volubility of an auctioneer and the vocabulary of a Yankee skipper unchecked by authority. A little further on another team, drawn up before a hotel, lay

h from some breakfast started from a corner, pointing

alian black can, with a glitter of seemingly endless white tee

lation had been thrown

street gag, and the query implied a childlike incapability of taking care of himself on the part of the person addressed, and was generally accepted as a choice piece of humour. Jim heard so many references to the 'new chum's bundle' that he was presently satisfi

ied the barman,

here, would you mind telling me wha

is a man fre

Engl

ywhere else, if he's g

fornian fields don't

I known as

ndle. No Australian would expatriate himself by carrying his goods in that fashion. He makes them up in a roll, straps

e thing to make a row about. Do you rec

re harmless devilment. The new churn's got so much to learn

uper and li

ve spotted you, though, without the bundle. There's no raw-meat tint about you; you're tanned like a native. Buy a

bbage

eager to meet the Australian prejudice against newness. Another bit of advice,' continued the bar-man, who was glad of the chance to turn his vast anti

m nobody in

as afflicted with an aristocratic name, and I had to hold this jo

a new chu

ve been out

f a man can qualify as a representative Austral

not be had at that establishment for love or money, and, furthermore,

ht, take your traps down by the river, roll yourself in your blanket in the lee of a gum-tree, and sleep there. Did it myself for a week, and only had to put up one fight

picking up useful knowledge by the way, and presently discovering the barman to be a gentleman with an expensive polish, whose most earnest desire was to h

ear Paddy's Market. Here scores of tents of all sorts and sizes were huddled together. All cooking was done out of doors. Fires were everywhere, their glow, reflected brightly on the canvas of the 'flies,' giving a fantastic brilliance to the scene. Life stirred around him, jubilant, bounteous, pulsing life. The levity of the people was without limit. Their childishness astonished Done, but he lived to find this a charac

r under his coat, and now passed unheeded, excepting when a jovial digger, flown with brandy and success, roared a 'Good luck, mate!' or commanded him in to dr

assport enough in digger society. The streets were lit with kerosene. Here and there a slush lamp or a torch blazed before an establishment seeking notoriety, shedding a note of lurid colour upon the faces of the bearded men thronging the footpath. If there were laws controlling all these elements, Jim failed to discover a sign of them; neithe

he was one of the people, a man amongst men, accepted at his face and physical value by fellow-creatures who respected most the fearless eye and the strong arm. Moreover

d man, and the pounding of their heavy boots and the yells of laughter provoked by their clumsy movements quite drowned the music of the feeble orchestra, crowded away in the far corner of the room. Along one end ran an unplaned wooden counter, where two or three barmen were kept busy serving gin, brandy, and rum to the parched dancers. When the dance was ended there was a rush for the bar, and Jim found now that dancing did not go by favour, the hands of the fair

tall, dark-eyed, and black-haired. This, in conjunction with the bold combination of red and black in her costume, gave him the belief that she was Spanish. There was about her some suggestion of character and strength that pleased him. She romped like a child; her merrim

of the Spaniard flashed into his own, and she sm

id me, ain't ye now?' she said

ead and laughed

ich digger. Only a poor new chum,'

eagerly. 'Have ye the word of ould Ireland, an' how does

on't know Irel

the dance fer natura

t dance, but the laughing girl

the brogue. 'I'm a patriot, and I

shouted for his partner. She drank sherry. He left the hall a few minutes later, with the girl's kiss, lightly given, tingling on his lips, and walked away quickly, treading on air. Presently he

rge tent with a pretentious wooden front. It was illumined by a single lamp suspended above the counter. This lamp lit up the faces of the m

erest to a tall, thin digger, perched on an up-ended barrel, drinking porter. The man was watching him narrowly, and at length, as if to leave no doubt of his attentions, he stepped down, and, st

ke he sprang between Jim and the door way, as if to cut off

think, mate,' said Jim. 'A

miner, addressing the crowd, 'it's Solo. I'll wager my soul on

ou're wrong!'

they closed. There was a short struggle, and Jim put his opponent dow

arrowed in on him. He set his back against

t twenty-six grappled with him, but onl

an at his ear. 'When I smash the lamp, over the coun

f, and backed into the crowd. The long man, who h

'and there's five hundred w

friend's advice, Done cleared the counter at a bound, and dived under the canvas. Picking himself up, he ran into the dar

! Make for cover!'