On about the fourth morning Steelman had a yarn with one of the men going to work. He was a lanky young fellow with a sandy complexion, and seemingly harmless grin. In Australia he might have been regarded as a "cove" rather than a "chap," but there was nothing of the "bloke" about him. Presently the cove said:
"What do you think of the boss, Mr Stoneleigh? He seems to have taken a great fancy for you, and he"s fair gone on geology."
"I think he is a very decent fellow indeed, a very intelligent young man. He seems very well read and well informed."
"You wouldn"t think he was a University man," said the cove.
"No, indeed! Is he?"
"Yes. I thought you knew!"
Steelman knitted his brows. He seemed slightly disturbed for the moment.
He walked on a few paces in silence and thought hard.
"What might have been his special line?" he asked the cove.
"Why, something the same as yours. I thought you knew. He was reckoned the best--what do you call it?--the best minrologist in the country. He had a first-cla.s.s billet in the Mines Department, but he lost it--you know--the booze."
"I think we will be making a move, Smith," said Steelman, later on, when they were private. "There"s a little too much intellect in this camp to suit me. But we haven"t done so bad, anyway. We"ve had three days" good board and lodging with entertainments and refreshments thrown in." Then he said to himself: "We"ll stay for another day anyway. If those beggars are having a lark with us, we"re getting the worth of it anyway, and I"m not thin-skinned. They"re the mugs and not us, anyhow it goes, and I can take them down before I leave."
But on the way home he had a talk with another man whom we might set down as a "chap."
"I wouldn"t have thought the boss was a college man," said Steelman to the chap.
"A what?"
"A University man--University education."
"Why! Who"s been telling you that?"
"One of your mates."
"Oh, he"s been getting at you. Why, it"s all the boss can do to write his own name. Now that lanky sandy cove with the birth-mark grin--it"s him that"s had the college education."
"I think we"ll make a start to-morrow," said Steelman to Smith in the privacy of their where. "There"s too much humour and levity in this camp to suit a serious scientific gentleman like myself."
MACQUARIE"S MATE
The chaps in the bar of Stiffner"s shanty were talking about Macquarie, an absent shearer--who seemed, from their conversation, to be better known than liked by them.
"I ain"t seen Macquarie for ever so long," remarked Box-o"-Tricks, after a pause. "Wonder where he could "a" got to?"
"Jail, p"r"aps--or h.e.l.l," growled Barcoo. "He ain"t much loss, any road."
"My oath, yer right, Barcoo!" interposed "Sally" Thompson. "But, now I come to think of it, Old Awful Example there was a mate of his one time.
Bless"d if the old soaker ain"t comin" to life again!"
A shaky, rag-and-dirt-covered framework of a big man rose uncertainly from a corner of the room, and, staggering forward, brushed the staring thatch back from his forehead with one hand, reached blindly for the edge of the bar with the other, and drooped heavily.
"Well, Awful Example," demanded the shanty-keeper. "What"s up with you now?"
The drunkard lifted his head and glared wildly round with bloodshot eyes.
"Don"t you--don"t you talk about him! _Drop it_, I say! DROP it!"
"What the devil"s the matter with you now, anyway?" growled the barman.
"Got "em again? Hey?"
"Don"t you--don"t you talk about Macquarie! He"s a mate of mine! Here!
Gimme a drink!"
"Well, what if he is a mate of yours?" sneered Barcoo. "It don"t reflec"
much credit on you--nor him neither."
The logic contained in the last three words was unanswerable, and Awful Example was still fairly reasonable, even when rum oozed out of him at every pore. He gripped the edge of the bar with both hands, let his ruined head fall forward until it was on a level with his temporarily rigid arms, and stared blindly at the dirty floor; then he straightened himself up, still keeping his hold on the bar.
"Some of you chaps," he said huskily; "one of you chaps, in this bar to-day, called Macquarie a scoundrel, and a loafer, and a blackguard, and--and a sneak and a liar."
"Well, what if we did?" said Barcoo, defiantly. "He"s all that, and a cheat into the bargain. And now, what are you going to do about it?"
The old man swung sideways to the bar, rested his elbow on it, and his head on his hand.
"Macquarie wasn"t a sneak and he wasn"t a liar," he said, in a quiet, tired tone; "and Macquarie wasn"t a cheat!"
"Well, old man, you needn"t get your rag out about it," said Sally Thompson, soothingly. "P"r"aps we was a bit too hard on him; and it isn"t altogether right, chaps, considerin" he"s not here. But, then, you know, Awful, he might have acted straight to you that was his mate. The meanest blank--if he is a man at all--will do that."
"Oh, to blazes with the old sot!" shouted Barcoo. "I gave my opinion about Macquarie, and, what"s more, I"ll stand to it."
"I"ve got--I"ve got a point for the defence," the old man went on, without heeding the interruptions. "I"ve got a point or two for the defence."
"Well, let"s have it," said Stiffner.
"In the first place--in the first place, Macquarie never talked about no man behind his back."
There was an uneasy movement, and a painful silence. Barcoo reached for his drink and drank slowly; he needed time to think--Box-o"-Tricks studied his boots--Sally Thompson looked out at the weather--the shanty-keeper wiped the top of the bar very hard--and the rest shifted round and "s"posed they"d try a game er cards."
Barcoo set his gla.s.s down very softly, pocketed his hands deeply and defiantly, and said:
"Well, what of that? Macquarie was as strong as a bull, and the greatest bully on the river into the bargain. He could call a man a liar to his face--and smash his face afterwards. And he did it often, too, and with smaller men than himself."
There was a breath of relief in the bar.
"Do you want to make out that I"m talking about a man behind his back?"
continued Barcoo, threateningly, to Awful Example. "You"d best take care, old man."