said Hal, leading the way to their room, and producing the stick.
"My G.o.d! the stick," cried Reg, and taking it in his hands, looked as if he could have smashed it to a thousand pieces.
Hal left him, thinking it was better for him to be alone with the bitter reflections the sight of the stick had caused.
When the girls left the train they did not go to a hotel, but to a boarding-house near the station. Several rough-looking men were loitering about the door and on the step sat a dirty, fat woman.
"Good-evening, missus. Got any beds?" said Hil.
"Yes, come in, gentlemen. What price do you want. I"ve got "em from sixpence to eighteen-pence."
"Let"s see the eighteenpennys, then."
"This way," said she, leading them along a long pa.s.sage. "Here you are, a fine double-bed fit for a hemperor," and she flung open a door on which "_Privit_" was marked.
"Tell you what I"ll do. Half-a-crown for the two of yer," said she.
"All right, missus," said Hil, laying down her luggage.
"No, it ain"t all right. Not that I doubts you, but you"ll have to sugar up afore you touches it."
"Here you are then," answered Hil, handing her the money.
"Want anything to heat!"
"No, thank you. Good-night."
"Suppose you are new chums, ain"t you?"
"Yes. Good-night, we"re going to bed."
"Well, good-night!" she answered, disappearing reluctantly.
"What a relief," said May, as she took off her large boots and divested herself of her male attire.
"How do you like being a man?"
"Oh, it would be all right when you got used to it, I suppose, but I must say it is a little awkward at first. I"m chafed all over."
"I"m out of practice, too, but on the whole I consider we did very well. I don"t see that we can do much good by getting up early to-morrow. The first train does not leave before half-past eleven."
"I think eight o"clock time enough," said May, who was completely tired out, although she would not give in.
"Well, we"ll have a well-earned rest," said Hil, turning in alongside her friend.
"Do you gentlemen want breakfast?" said a voice at the door, the next morning.
"What"s the time?"
"Past eight o"clock."
"All right. We"ll be out in a few minutes."
When they appeared breakfast was in full swing, and a large proportion of the men round the table wore the railway uniform. As they entered, Hil heard one of them say:
"He was the greatest card I ever saw in all my life."
"Who"s that, Joe?" asked another.
"Why that cove as went by the six goods. He was wearing togs that did not belong to him, and if I don"t mistake he had old Bill Adams"s hat on."
"What did he do, Joe?"
"Do," said Joe, laughing. "He comes to the office in a fl.u.s.ter and says: "First, Rome." I says: "There ain"t no first Rome, Roma you mean." "You know what I want," says he, and when he took his change I noticed his hands was snowy white: he had a ring on and I could hear the gold c.h.i.n.king in his pocket."
"What"s his name?" asked the landlady.
"I don"t know, but I"m going up to the "Royal" to enquire about Bill"s hat."
The girls had listened greedily to all this, and after breakfast they disguised themselves further by changing their wigs, in case they should meet the boys, and went on to the "Royal" to hear the name of the pa.s.senger to Roma.
"We"ll follow by the 1.50," said Hil, when her enquiries were answered.
CHAPTER XXII.
DALBY.
As the 1.50 train was preparing to start, four men stood round the ticket-office. They were the boys and the girls. The former had chosen clothes similar to those Hal had used with so much success, while the latter a.s.sumed a dress that might be worn by anyone without being conspicuous.
There is no country in the world where it is more difficult to judge a person by his dress than Australia. You may sit beside a rough, vulgar-looking fellow, with an old cabbage-tree hat and a dirty pair of moles, with all the appearance of a tramp; yet he may be a squatter, who could write a cheque for twenty thousand. To a casual observer, the boys would easily pa.s.s as shearers or men on the look-out for work, and the girls would pa.s.s as easily for new chums. There were plenty of both cla.s.ses scattered over the country, and neither party was likely to attract exceptional attention.
"You can only book to Dalby," said the ticket-clerk. "There has been a break-down beyond that point."
"When?" asked Hal.
"Last night. I fancy it is due to some of the shearers, who are out on strike, so, if you are going for a job, you had better look out and join the union."
"We won"t trouble them," answered Hal. "We are going for cattle," and he took two second-cla.s.s tickets for Dalby.
"Two second, Dalby," said Hil, following close behind him.
As the train started May laughed and said:
"Wonder where the boys are now?"