He could plough and reap, dig and mow2, put up fences and huts, break in horses and drive bullocks; he could milk cows and help in the dairy as handily as a woman. These and other accomplishments3 he was known to possess, and being a steady, sensible fellow, was always welcome when work was needed and a good man valued. Besides all this he was the fastest and the best shearer5 in the district of Tumut, New South Wales, where he was born, as had been his father and mother before him. So that he was a true Australian in every sense of the word.
It could not be said that the British race had degenerated7 as far as he was concerned. Six feet high, broad-chested, light-flanked, and standing8 on his legs like a gamecock, he was always ready to fight or work, run, ride or swim, in fact to tackle any muscular exercise in the world at the shortest notice.
Bill had always been temperate9, declining to spend his earnings10 to enrich the easy-going township publican, whose mode of gaining a living struck him as being too far removed from that of honest toil11. Such being his principles and mode of life, he had put by a couple of hundred pounds, and 'taken up a selection.' This means (in Australia) that he had conditionally13 purchased three hundred and twenty acres of 2Crown Land, had paid up two shillings per acre of the upset price, leaving the balance of eighteen shillings, to be paid off when convenient. He had constructed thereon, chiefly with his own hands, a comfortable, four-roomed cottage, of the 'slab14' architecture of the period, and after fencing in his property and devoting the proceeds of a couple of shearings to a modest outlay16 in furniture, had married Jenny Dawson, a good-looking, well-conducted young woman, whom he had known ever since he was big enough to crack a stockwhip.
In her way she was as clever and capable; exceptionally well adapted for the position of a farmer's wife, towards which occupation her birth and surroundings had tended. She was strong and enduring in her way, as were her husband and brothers in theirs. She could milk cows and make excellent butter, wasn't afraid of a turbulent heifer in the dairy herd17, or indisposed to rise before daylight in the winter mornings and drive in the milkers through the wet or frozen grass. She could catch and saddle her own riding-horse or drive the spring cart along an indifferent road to the country town. She knew all about the rearing of calves19, pigs, and poultry20; could salt beef and cure bacon—in a general way attend to all the details of a farm. Her father had acquired a small grant in the early colonial days, and from its produce and profits reared a family of healthy boys and girls.
They had not been educated up to the State school standard now considered necessary for every dweller21 in town or country, but they could read and write decently; had also such knowledge of arithmetic as enabled them to keep their modest accounts. Such having been the early training of Bill's helpmate, it was a fair augury22 that, with luck and good conduct, they were as likely as any young couple of their age to prosper23 reasonably, so as eventually to acquire a competence24, or even, as indeed not a few of their old friends and neighbours had done, to attain25 to that enviable position generally described as 'making a fortune.'
For the first few years nothing could have been more promising27 than the course of affairs at Chidowla or 'Appletree Flat,' as their homestead was formerly28 named, in consequence of the umbrageous29 growth of the 'angophora' in the meadow by the mountain creek30, which bordered their farm. Bill stayed at home and worked steadily31, until he had put in his 3crop. He cleared and cultivated a larger piece of ground with each succeeding year. The seasons were genial32, and the rainfall, though occasionally precarious33, did not, during this period, show any diminution34. But annually35, before the first spring month came round, Bill saddled the old mare36, and leading a less valuable or perhaps half-broken young horse, packed his travelling 'swag' upon it and started off for the shearing15. Jenny did not particularly like being left alone for three months or perhaps four, with no one but the children, for by this time a sturdy boy and baby girl had been added to the household. But Bill brought home such a welcome addition to the funds in the shape of the squatters' cheques, that she hid her uneasiness and discomfort38 from him, only hoping, as she said, that some day, if matters went on as they were going, they would be able to do without the shearing money, and Bill could afford to stop with his wife and children all the year round. That was what she would like.
So time went on, till after one more shearing, Bill began to think about buying the next selection, which an improvident39 neighbour would shortly be forced to sell, owing to his drinking habits and too great fondness for country race meetings.
The soil of the land so handily situated40 was better than their own, and, as an adjoining farm, could be managed without additional expense.
The 'improvements' necessary for holding it under the lenient41 land laws of New South Wales had been effected.
They were not particularly valuable, but they had been passed by the Inspector42 of Conditional12 Purchases, who was not too hard on a poor man, if he made his selection his 'bona fide home and residence.' This condition Mr. Dick Donahue certainly had fulfilled as far as locating his hard-working wife Bridget and half-a-dozen bare-legged, ragged43 children thereon, with very little to eat sometimes, while he was acting44 as judge at a bush race meeting, or drinking recklessly at the public-house in the township.
So now the end had come. The place was mortgaged up to its full value with the bank at Talmorah, the manager of which had refused to advance another shilling upon it.
The storekeeper, who had a bill of sale over the furniture, horses and cows, plough, harrow, and winnowing45 machine, had 4decided to sell him up. The butcher and the baker46, despairing of getting their bills paid, declined further orders. Poor Bridget had been lately feeding herself and the children on milk and potatoes, last year's bacon, and what eggs the fowls47, not too well fed themselves, kindly48 produced.
Jenny had helped them many a time, from womanly pity. But for her, they would often have been without the 'damper' bread, which served to fill up crevices49 with the hungry brood—not that she expected return or payment, but as she said, 'How could I see the poor things hungry, while we have a snug50 home and all we can eat and drink?'
Then she would mentally compare Bill's industry with Dick's neglect, and a feeling of wifely pride would thrill her heart as she returned to her comfortable cottage and put her children, always neatly51 dressed, to sleep in their clean cots.
As she sat before the fire, near the trimly-swept hearth52, which looked so pleasant and homely53, though there was but a wooden slab chimney with a stone facing, a vision arose before her of prosperous days when they would have a ring fence round their own and the Donahues' farm—perhaps even an 'additional conditional lease,' to be freehold eventually—afterwards a flock of sheep and who knows what in the years to come.
'The Donahues, poor things, would have to sell and go away, that was certain; they couldn't prevent them being sold up—and, of course, Bill might as well buy it as another. The bank manager, Mr. Calthorpe, would sell the place, partly on credit, trusting Bill for the remainder, with security on both farms, because he was sober and industrious54. Indeed, he told Bill so last week. What a thing it was to have a good name! When she thought of the way other women's husbands "knocked down" their money after shearing, forty and fifty pounds, even more, in a week's drunken bout18, she felt that she could not be too thankful.
'Now Bill, when shearing was over, generally took a small sum in cash—just enough to see him home, and paid in the cheque for the season's shearing to his bank account. It was over sixty pounds last year, for he sold his spare horse—a thirty-shilling colt out of the pound, that he had broken in himself—to the overseer, for ten guineas, and rode home on 5the old mare, who, being fat and frolicsome55 after her spell, "carried him and his swag first-rate."
'As to the two farms, no doubt it would give them all they knew, at first, to live and pay interest. But other people could do it, and why shouldn't they? Look at the Mullers! The bark hut they lived in for the first few years is still there. They kept tools, seed potatoes, odds56 and ends in it now. Next, they built a snug four-roomed slab cottage, with an iron roof. That's used for the kitchen and men's room. For they've got a fine brick house, with a verandah and grand furniture, and a big orchard57 and more land, and a flock of sheep and a dairy and a buggy and—everything. How I should like a buggy to drive myself and the children to the township! Wouldn't it be grand? To be sure they're Germans, and it's well known they work harder and save more than us natives. But what one man and woman can do, another ought to be able for, I say!'
And here Jenny shut her mouth with a resolute58 expression and worked away at her needle till bedtime. Things were going on comfortably with this meritorious59 young couple, and Bill was getting ready to start for the annual trip 'down the river,' as it was generally described. This was a region distant three hundred miles from the agricultural district where the little homestead had been created. The 'down the river' woolsheds were larger and less strictly60 managed (so report said) than those of the more temperate region, which lay near the sources of the great rivers. In some of them as many as one hundred, two hundred, even three hundred thousand sheep were annually shorn. And as the fast shearers would do from a hundred to a hundred and fifty sheep per day, it may be calculated, at the rate of one pound per hundred, what a nice little cheque would be coming to every man after a season's shearing. More particularly if the weather was fine.
Bill was getting ready to start on the following morning when a man named Janus Stoate arrived, whom he knew pretty well, having more than once shorn in the same shed with him.
He was a cleverish, talkative fellow, with some ability and more assurance, qualities which attract steady-going, unimaginative men like Bill, who at once invited him to stay till 6the morning, when they could travel together. Stoate cheerfully assented62, and on the morrow they took the road after breakfast, much to Mrs. Hardwick's annoyance63, who did not care for the arrangement. For, with feminine intuition, she distrusted Janus Stoate, about whom she and her husband had had arguments.
He was a Londoner—an 'assisted' emigrant64, a radical65 socialist66, brought out at the expense of the colony. For which service he was so little grateful that he spoke67 disrespectfully of all the authorities, from the Governor downward, and indeed, as it seemed to her, of respectable people of every rank and condition. Now Jenny, besides being naturally an intelligent young woman, utilised her leisure hours during her husband's absence, for reading the newspapers, as well as any books she could get at. She had indeed more brains than he had, which gift she owed to an Irish grandmother. And though she did by no means attempt to rule him, her advice was always listened to and considered.
'I wish you were going with some one else,' she said with an air of vexation. 'It's strange that that Stoate should come, just on your last evening at home. I don't like him a little bit. He's just artful enough to persuade you men that he's going to do something great with this "Australian Shearers' union" that I see so much about in the newspapers. I don't believe in him, and so I tell you, Bill!'
'I know you don't like unions,' he answered, 'but see what they've done for the working classes! What could we shearers have done without ours?'
'Just what you did before you had anything to do with him and his union. Do your work and get paid for it. You got your shearing money all right, didn't you? Mr. Templemore's cheques, and Mr. Dickson's and Mr. Shand's, were always paid, weren't they? How should we have got the land and this home, but for them?'
'Well, but, Jenny, we ought to think about the other workers as well as ourselves—"Every man should stand by his order," as Stoate says.'
'I don't see that at all. Charity's all very well, but we have our own business to look after and let other people mind theirs. Order, indeed! I call it disorder,—and them that work it up will have to pay for it, mark my words. You 7look at those children, William Hardwick, that's where you've got to give your money to, and your wife, and not a lot of gassing spouters like Janus Stoate, who don't care if their families starve, while they're drinking and smoking, talking rubbish, and thinking themselves fine fellows, and what fools you and the rest are to pay them for it.'
'Well, but the squatters are lowering the price of shearing, Jenny; we must make a stand against that, surely!'
'And suppose they do. Isn't wool falling, and sheep too? Aren't they boiling down their ewes, and selling legs of mutton for a shilling apiece? Why should they go on paying a pound a hundred when everything's down? When prices rise, shearing'll go up again, and wages too—you know we can get mutton now for a penny a pound. Doesn't that make a difference? You men seem to have no sense in you, to talk in that way!'
'Well, but what are we to do? If they go on cutting down wages, there's no saying what they'll do next.'
'Time enough to think about that when it comes. You take a fair thing, now that times are bad, it'll help them that's helped you, and when they get better, shearing and everything else will go up too. You can't get big wages out of small profits; your friends don't seem to have gumption68 enough to see that. I'm ashamed of you, I really am, Bill!'
'Well, I must go now—I daresay the squatters will give in, and there'll be no row at all.'
'What do you want to have a row for, I should like to know? Haven't you always been well treated and well fed, and well paid?—and now you want to turn on them that did it for you, just as if you were one of those larrikins and spielers, that come up partly for work, and more for gambling69 and stealing! I say it's downright ungrateful and foolish besides—and if you follow all the union fads70, mark my words, you'll live to rue6 the day.'
'Well, good-bye, Jenny, I can't stop any longer, you're too set up to be reasonable.'
'Good-bye, Bill, and don't be going and running risks at another man's bidding; and if you bring that man here again, as sure as my name's Jane Hardwick, I'll set the dogs on him.' And here Jenny went into the cottage, and shut the door with a bang, while Bill rode down the track to join his 8companion, feeling distinctly uncomfortable; the more so, as he reflected that he and Jenny had never parted in this way before.
'You've been a long time saying good-bye,' said that gentleman, with a sneering71 accent in his voice; 'that's the worst of bein' married, you never can follow your own opinions without a lot of barneyin' and opposition72. It's a curious thing that women never seem to be on the side of progress—they're that narrow-minded, as they don't look ahead of the day's work.'
'My old woman's more given to look ahead than I am,' said Bill seriously. 'But, of course, we all know that we must stick together, if we expect to get anything out of the employers.'
'Yes, yes—by George, you're quite right,' said Stoate, as if Bill had enunciated73 an original and brilliant idea. 'What I and the workers want is to bring the capitalists on their knees—the labour element has never had its proper share of profits in the past. But we're going to have things different in the future. How was all the big estates put together, and them fine houses built, except by our labour? And what do we get after all, now the work's done? We've never had our fair share. Don't you see that?' Here he looked at Bill, who could find nothing to say but—
'I suppose not.'
'Suppose not? We've as much right to be ridin' in our buggies as the man as just passed us with that slashin' pair. Our labour made the land valuable—built the houses and put up the fences. Where do we come in, I ask you?'
'Well, I suppose the men that worked got their wages, didn't they?' answered Bill. 'There's been a deal of employment the last few years. I did pretty well out of a fencing contract, I know, and my mate started a big selection from his share.'
'Yes, yes, I daresay, that's where you fellers make the mistake. If you get a few pounds slung74 to you by these capitalists, you don't think of the other poor chaps walkin' about half starved, begging a meal here and a night's lodging75 there. What we ought to go in for is a co-operative national movement. That's the easiest of all. One man to find the money.'
'Is it?' Bill could not help saying, interrupting the flood 9of Stoate's eloquence76. 'I've always found it dashed hard to find a few pounds.'
'I don't mean fellers like us; we work hard—a dashed sight too hard for all we get. I mean the regular professional capitalist, in a manner of speakin', that's got his money by buying land, when the Government oughtn't never to have sold it, if they'd had any savey, or had it left him by his father, as had robbed the people some other way. Well, he finds the money, you and I the muscle—and mark you, they can't do nothin' without that—and others, smartish chaps as comes from the people mostly, finds the brains.'
'And what after that?'
'That's what I'm a-coming to,' answered Stoate pompously77. 'When the sheep's shorn, the fat ones sold, the wheat reaped, and the money put in the bank, we all divide fair, according to our shares. So much for interest on capital, so much for labouring work, so much for head work, so much for light, easy things like clerking, as most any fool can do.'
'That sounds pretty fair,' replied Bill, scratching his head, as he endeavoured to grasp the complex conditions of the scheme. 'But who's to boss the whole thing? There must be a boss?'
'Oh, of course, there'll be a council—elected by the people—that is of course the shareholders78 in each industrial, co-operative establishment; they all have votes, you know. The council will do all the bossing.'
'Oh, I see, and all share alike. One man's as good as another, I suppose.'
'Certainly, all have equal rights; every man willing to work has a right to have work found for him by the State.'
'But suppose he won't work when it is found for him? You and I have known plenty of coves79 like that.'
'Well, of course, there is a difference in men—some haven't the natural gift, as you may say—don't care for "hard graft81," but you must remember no one'll have to work hard when labour's federated.'
'How'll the work be done, then?'
'Why, you see, every one will have to do four or six hours a day, rich and poor, young and old, from sixteen to sixty. Before that their eddication [Mr. Stoate's early environment—his father was a radical cobbler—had fixed82 his pronunciation of 10that important word inexorably], this eddication, I say (which is the great thing for a worker, and enables him to hold his own against the employers, who've always had a monopoly of it), has to be attended to. After sixty, they've to be pensioned off, not wanted to do no more work. And as Bellamy says in his Looking Backward (a great book, as all our chaps ought to read)—"If every one in the State worked their four hours a day, the whole work of the world could be easy done, and no one the worse for it."'
'That sounds well enough,' said Bill thoughtfully, 'but I'm afraid it wouldn't wash. A lot of chaps would be trying for the easy parts, and those that were cast for the rough and tumble wouldn't do it with a will, or only half and half. And who's to draft 'em off? The fellers elected to do it would have all the say, and if they had a down on a chap—perhaps a deal better man than themselves—they could drop him in for the lowest billets going.'
'That could all be set right in the usual way,' replied Stoate, pompously mouthing his words as if addressing an imaginary audience. 'Every member of the Association would have the right of appeal to the Grand Council.'
'And suppose they didn't side with the workin' feller—these talking chaps, as like as not, would hang together—he'd have to grin and bear it. He'd be no better than a slave. Worse than things are now. For a man can get a lawyer, and fight out his case before the P.M., and the other beaks83. They're mostly fair and square—what I've seen of 'em. They've no interest one way or the other.'
'No more would the Grand Labour Council.'
'Don't know so much about that, working coves are middlin' jealous of one another. If one chap's been elected to the Council, as you call it, and another feller opposed him and got beat, there's sure to be bad blood between them, and the man that's up like enough'll want to rub it into the man that's down—and there'd be no one to see fair play like the beaks.'
'Why, you're getting to be a regular "master's man." That's not the way to talk, if you're goin' to be a unionist.'
'Oh, I'll follow the union,' replied Bill, 'if things are going to be fair and square, not any other way, and so I tell you. But if it's such a jolly good thing to put your money in 11a station and share and share alike with all the other chaps, why don't some of you union chaps put your money together?—lots of you could raise a hundred or more if you didn't drink it. Then you could shear4 your own sheep, sell your own wool, and raise your own bread, meat, vegetables—everything. You could divide the profits at the end of the year, and if running a squatting84 station's such a thundering good thing, why you'd all make fortunes in no time. What do you say to that now?'
'Well, of course, it sounds right enough,' answered Stoate, with less than his usual readiness. 'There's a lot of things to be considered about afore you put your money into a big thing like that. You've got to get the proper sort of partners—men as you know something about, and that can be depended on for to work steady, and do what they're told.'
'Do what they're told? Why, ain't that the one thing you union chaps are fighting the squatters about? They're not to be masters in their own woolsheds! The shearers and rouseabouts are not to obey the squatters' overseer, they must work as the union's delegate tells 'em. What sort of fake d'ye call that? Suppose I'm harvestin'—my crop's not much now, but it may be, some day—d'ye mean to say I'm not to talk sharp to my own men, and say "do this" or "do that"? And a delegate walkin' up and down, makin' believe to be boss, while I'm payin' for the wages and rations86, and horses and thrashing-machine, and the whole boiling, would I stand that? No! I'd kick him out of the place, and that dashed soon, I can tell you!' And here Bill's eyes began to sparkle and his fists to tighten87 on the reins88 as if he itched89 to 'stand up to his man,' with steady eye and watchful90 'left,' ready for the first chance to 'land' his adversary91.
The sun was scarcely an hour high when the wayfarers92 came in sight of the village-appearing group of edifices93 familiarly known as a 'sheep station.' The 'men's hut' came first into view—a substantial dwelling94, with horizontal sawn slabs95 and shingled96 roof, a stone chimney and a dining-room. Boasting a cook, moreover, of far from ordinary rank. A superior building, in fact, to the one which the owner of the station thought good enough for himself for the first few years of his occupation of North Yalla-doora.
12This was the abiding-place of the resident labourers on the station; men who received a fixed weekly wage, varying from a pound to twenty-five shillings per week, with board and lodging additional. The Australian labourer is catered97 for on perhaps the most liberal dietary scale in the world. He is supplied with three meals per diem, of beef or mutton of the best quality, with bread à discrétion, also tea (the ordinary drink of the country) in unlimited98 quantity, with milk and vegetables if procurable99. Condiments100, sauces, and preserves, if his tastes run that way, he has to pay for as extras.
They can be procured101, also wearing apparel, boots, and all other necessaries, at the station store; failing that, at the 'township,' invariably found within easy distance of any large station.
Besides the 'men's hut' comes next in rank the 'shearers' hut,' dedicated102 to those important and (at shearing time) exclusive personages; the sheep-washers', the rouseabouts' huts, all necessary different establishments; as also the 'travellers' hut,' set apart for the nomadic103 labourer or 'swagman,' who sojourning but for a night is by the unwritten law of Bushland provided with bread and meat, cooking utensils104, water, and firewood gratis105.
Then, at a certain distance, the woolshed—with half an acre of roofed, battened yards and pens—the 'big house,' the stable, the horse-yard, the stock-yard, the milking-yard, with perhaps half-a-dozen additional nondescript constructions.
It may easily be imagined that such buildings, scattered106 and disjointed as they were, had much more the appearance of a village than of a single establishment owned, managed, and supported by one man (or one firm), and absolutely subject to his orders and interest.
'Might as well stop here to-night,' said Stoate; 'it's twenty-five mile to Coolah Creek for to-morrow, and the road heavy in places. Look at it! There's a bloomin' township to belong to one man, and us travellin' the country looking for work!'
'It took a lot of labour to put up all the huts and places, not to count in the shed and yards, you bet,' said his companion, who had been silent for the last half-hour, 'and many a cheque was drawed afore the last nail was drove in. I know a chap that's made a small fortune out of Mr. Templemore's contracts, and that's got a farm to show for it to-day. What's wrong with that?'
13'Why, don't you see? Suppose the State had this first-rate block of country, cut it up in fair-sized farms, advanced the men the money to put up their places and crop it the first year, see what a population it would keep. Keep in comfort, too,' he continued, as he refilled his pipe and made ready for a leisurely107 smoke. 'Let me see, there's fifty thousand acres of freehold on this North Yalla-doora run, besides as much more leased. Divide that into nice-sized farms, that'd give us a thousand fifty-acre lots, or five 'underd 'underd-acre ones. See what a crowd of families that'd keep.'
'And suppose there come a dry season,' queried108 Bill rather gruffly, 'how about the families then? I've seen the sheep dyin' by hundreds on this very place—and the whole forty thousand 'd 'a died in another month if rain hadn't come. But I'm gettin' full up of this union racket. Small farms in a dry country's foolishness. Where are we goin' to camp? Look at the grass on that flat! And I've seen it like a road.'
'It ain't bad near the creek,' said his companion. 'You can let the horses go while I go up to the overseer and get a bit of ration85.'
'There's no call to do that. See that bag? My old woman's put bread and beef enough in that for a week anyhow, besides bacon, and tea, and sugar.'
'That's all right,' answered Stoate airily, 'but we may as well get fresh mutton for nothing. They always give travellers a pound or two here, and a pannikin of flour. It comes in handy for cakes.'
'Well, I'm d—d!' said Hardwick, unable to contain his wrathful astonishment109. 'D'ye mean to tell me as you're a-goin' to beg food from this squatter37 here and take his charity after abusing him and all belonging to him and schemin' to ruin 'em? I call it dashed, dirty, crawling meanness, and for two pins I wouldn't travel the same side of the road with you, and so I tell you, Janus Stoate.'
There was a snaky glitter in Stoate's small, black eyes as he met for an instant the bold gaze of the Australian; but, with characteristic cunning, he turned it off with a half laugh.
'Why, Bill, what hot coffee you're a-gettin', all over a little joke like this 'ere. Now I feel as I've a right to be fed on the road when I and my feller-workers bring our labour to the door—in a manner of speakin'. We've no call to think 14ourselves under obligation to the squatters for their "miserable110 dole," as our Head Centre calls it. It's only our due when all's said and done.'
'Miserable dole,' growled111 Bill, now engaged in taking off his pack. 'That's a dashed fine name to give free rations, to the tune26 of half-a-dozen sheep a night, and a couple of bags of flour a week, which I know Tambo did last shearing. A lot of chaps going about the country askin' for work, and prayin' to God they mayn't find it—and abusin' the people that feed 'em on top of it all. I wonder the squatters don't stop feedin' travellers, and that's all about it. I would if I was boss, I know, except the old men.'
'How about the sheds and the grass when the weather gets dry?' asked Stoate, with a sidelong glance of spite.
'That's easy enough, if a chap's a d—d scoundrel; but suppose he's caught and gets five years in Berrima Gaol112, he'd wish he'd acted more like a white man and less like a myall blackfellow. But stoush all this yabber. You boil the billy, while I get out the grub and hobble the horses. I feel up to a good square feed.'
So did Mr. Stoate, apparently113, as he consumed slice after slice of the cold corned beef and damper which Jenny had put up neatly in Bill's 'tucker bag,' not disdaining114 divers115 hunks of 'brownie,' washed down with a couple of pints116 of 'billy tea,' after which he professed117 that he felt better, and proceeded to fill and light his pipe with deliberation.
By this time the hobbled horses had betaken themselves through the abundant pasture of the river flat, and their bells sounding faint and distant, Bill declared his intention of heading them back, in case they should try to make off towards the home they had left. He returned in half an hour, stating that they were in a bend and blocked by a horseshoe lagoon118.
Both men addressed themselves to the task of putting up the small tent which Bill carried, and bestowed119 their swags therein, after which Mr. Stoate proposed that they should go over to the men's hut, and have a bit of a yarn120 before they turned in.
Bill remarked that they had to be up at daylight, but supposed that an hour wouldn't matter. So the wayfarers strolled over to a long building, not far from the creek bank, 15which they entered without ceremony. They found themselves in the presence of about twenty men, in the ordinary dress of the station hand, viz. tweed or moleskin trousers and Crimean shirt. Some had coats, but the majority were in their shirt sleeves. There were mostly of ages between twenty and forty, differing in nationality, speech, and occupation.
England, Ireland, Scotland, and Australia were represented. A Frenchman, two Germans, a coloured man (American), besides a tall, well-made Australian half-caste, who spoke much the same English as the others, but had a softer voice, with rather slower intonation121.
At one end of the large room was an ample fireplace, with a glowing wood fire, around which several men were sitting or standing, mostly smoking. Others were seated at the long, solid dining-table reading, for in one corner stood some fairly well-filled bookshelves. One man was writing a letter.
A few were lying in their bunks122, rows of which were on either side of the room. A certain amount of quiet conversation was going on. There was no loud talking, swearing, or rude behaviour of any sort, and in spite of the bare walls and plain surroundings an air of comfort pervaded123 the whole.
Stoate was greeted by several of the younger men, one of whom was disposed to be facetious124, as he exclaimed—
'Hulloa, my noble agitator125, what brings you here? Goin' to call out the shearers, and play the devil generally, eh? You've come to the wrong shop at North Yalla-doora—we're all steady-going coves here.'
'I suppose you're game to stand up for your rights, Joe Brace126, and not afraid of getting your wages raised, if the union does that for you?'
'If it does,' rejoined Joe sarcastically127; 'and who's to go bail128 for that, I'd like to know? You and your crowd haven't done any great things so far, except make bad blood between masters and men—when everything was peace and goodwill129 before, as the parson says.'
'Well—what's that? Yer can't get nothin' in the world without fightin' for it—I reckon we're going to have a bit of war for a change. Yes, war, and a dashed good thing too, when men have to take orders from their feller-men, and be worked like slaves into the bargain.'
'Brayvo, Janus, old man!' replied the other, with mock 16approval. 'I see what it's come to. You're to be a delegate with a pot hat and a watch-chain, and get four pound a week for gassin', while us fools of fellers does the hard graft. That's your dart130, to sit alongside of Barraker and the rest of the people's try-bunes—ain't them the blokes that stands up and says, like Ben Willett, as we're trod on, and starved, and treated worse than nigger slaves?'
'So you are, if you only knew it. Look at all this here country-side in the hands of two or three men, as sucks your blood, and fattens132 on it!'
'The boss here ain't too fat, if that's what's the matter, and we're not a very hungry-lookin' crowd, boys,' said the speaker, looking round. 'We've got good wages, good food, a book or two to read, and a table to write our letters at. You've been loafin' in Melbourne, Janus, and got oppressed there—spent all your money, forgot to buy a decent rig-out (them's last year's boots as you have on), come on the roads to beg from station to station, and abuse them as feeds you, after your belly's full. What do you say, Paddy?'
The man whom he addressed folded up the sheet upon which he had been writing, and rising from the form on which he sat, stood before the fire, displaying an athletic133 figure, and determined134 countenance135, lighted up by a pair of glancing blue eyes, which proclaimed his nationality.
'I say that this strike business is all d—d rot, run by a lot of sneaks136 for their own ends. They're the vermin that fatten131 on the working-men, that are fools enough to believe their rubbish—not the squatters, who've mostly worked hard for what they've made, and spent it free enough, more power to them! Where's there a man on North Yalla-doora that's got anything to complain of? We're well paid, well fed, well cooked for, eh, Jack137? and as comfortable in our way as the boss is in his. More indeed, for we've got a shingled roof, and his is box-bark. The travellers' hut's shingled, so is the rouseabouts'. He's never had time to have his own place done up, though he lives like a gentleman, as we all know.'
'Yer 'arf a gentleman yerself, ain't yer, Mister O'Kelly?' replied Stoate sneeringly138. 'No wonder yer don't take no interest in the workers—the men that makes the wealth of this country, and every other. Yer the makin's of a first-class "scab," and if the chaps here was of my mind you'd be put 17out of every hut on the river.' Before the last word was fully61 out, O'Kelly made a couple of steps forward with so vengeful a glare in his blue eyes that Stoate involuntarily drew back—with such haste also, that he trod on the foot of a man behind him and nearly fell backward.
'You infernal scoundrel!' he cried; 'dare to take my name into your ugly mouth again, and I'll kick you from here to the woolshed, and drown you in the wash-pen afterwards. I've done a man's work in Australia for the last five years, though I wasn't brought up to it, as some of you know. I've nothing to say against the men who gave me honest pay for honest work, and whose salt I've eaten. But skulking139 crawlers like you are ruining the country. You're worse than a dingo—he don't beg. You come here and whine140 for food, and then try to bite the hand that feeds you. Didn't I see you at the store to-night, waiting for grub, like the other travellers?'
'No, yer didn't then,' snarled141 Stoate.
'Well, I have before this, and more than once. I expect you're loafing on your mate, who's a decent fellow, and the sooner he parts company with a hound like you, the better. But this is our hut, and out you go, or I will, and that's the long and short of it. Come on, Joe!'
'The public's not on for a sermon to-night, Janus, old man,' said the young fellow before mentioned. 'Paddy's got his monkey up, and it'll be bloody142 wars if you don't clear. Yer mate's a cove80 as we'd like to spend the evenin' with, but the votin's agin yer, Janus, it raly is.'
'I came in with Stoate,' said Bill, 'and in course I'm here to see it out with him, man to man. But this is your hut, and not ours, mate, so we'd better get back to our camp—good-night all!'
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1
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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mow
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| v.割（草、麦等），扫射，皱眉；n.草堆，谷物堆 | |
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accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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shear
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| n.修剪，剪下的东西，羊的一岁；vt.剪掉，割，剥夺；vi.修剪，切割，剥夺，穿越 | |
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shearer
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| n.剪羊毛的人；剪切机 | |
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rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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degenerated
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| 衰退，堕落，退化( degenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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10
earnings
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| n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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conditional
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| adj.条件的，带有条件的 | |
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13
conditionally
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| adv. 有条件地 | |
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14
slab
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| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
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15
shearing
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| n.剪羊毛，剪取的羊毛v.剪羊毛( shear的现在分词 )；切断；剪切 | |
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16
outlay
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| n.费用，经费，支出；v.花费 | |
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17
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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18
bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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19
calves
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| n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解 | |
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poultry
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| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
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dweller
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| n.居住者，住客 | |
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22
augury
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| n.预言，征兆，占卦 | |
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23
prosper
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| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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24
competence
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| n.能力，胜任，称职 | |
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25
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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26
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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27
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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28
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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29
umbrageous
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| adj.多荫的 | |
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30
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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31
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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32
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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33
precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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34
diminution
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| n.减少；变小 | |
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35
annually
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| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
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36
mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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37
squatter
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| n.擅自占地者 | |
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38
discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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39
improvident
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| adj.不顾将来的，不节俭的，无远见的 | |
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40
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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41
lenient
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| adj.宽大的，仁慈的 | |
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42
inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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43
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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44
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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45
winnowing
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| v.扬( winnow的现在分词 )；辨别；选择；除去 | |
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46
baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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47
fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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48
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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49
crevices
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| n.（尤指岩石的）裂缝，缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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50
snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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51
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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52
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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53
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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54
industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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55
frolicsome
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| adj.嬉戏的，闹着玩的 | |
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56
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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57
orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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58
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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59
meritorious
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| adj.值得赞赏的 | |
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60
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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61
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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62
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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64
emigrant
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| adj.移居的，移民的；n.移居外国的人，移民 | |
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65
radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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66
socialist
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| n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的 | |
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67
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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68
gumption
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| n.才干 | |
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69
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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70
fads
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| n.一时的流行，一时的风尚( fad的名词复数 ) | |
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71
sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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72
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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73
enunciated
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| v.（清晰地）发音( enunciate的过去式和过去分词 )；确切地说明 | |
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74
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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75
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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76
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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77
pompously
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| adv.傲慢地，盛大壮观地；大模大样 | |
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78
shareholders
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| n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 ) | |
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79
coves
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| n.小海湾( cove的名词复数 )；家伙 | |
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cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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81
graft
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| n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接 | |
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82
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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83
beaks
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| n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者 | |
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84
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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85
ration
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| n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应 | |
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86
rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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87
tighten
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| v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧 | |
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88
reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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89
itched
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| v.发痒( itch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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90
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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91
adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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92
wayfarers
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| n.旅人，（尤指）徒步旅行者( wayfarer的名词复数 ) | |
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93
edifices
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| n.大建筑物( edifice的名词复数 ) | |
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94
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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95
slabs
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| n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片 | |
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96
shingled
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| adj.盖木瓦的；贴有墙面板的v.用木瓦盖(shingle的过去式和过去分词形式) | |
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97
catered
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| 提供饮食及服务( cater的过去式和过去分词 )； 满足需要，适合 | |
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98
unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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99
procurable
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| adj.可得到的，得手的 | |
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100
condiments
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| n.调味品 | |
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101
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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102
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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103
nomadic
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| adj.流浪的；游牧的 | |
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104
utensils
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| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
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105
gratis
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| adj.免费的 | |
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106
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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107
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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108
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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109
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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110
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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111
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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112
gaol
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| n.(jail)监狱；(不加冠词)监禁；vt.使…坐牢 | |
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113
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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114
disdaining
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| 鄙视( disdain的现在分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
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115
divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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116
pints
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| n.品脱( pint的名词复数 )；一品脱啤酒 | |
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117
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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118
lagoon
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| n.泻湖，咸水湖 | |
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119
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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120
yarn
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| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
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121
intonation
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| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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122
bunks
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| n.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的名词复数 )；空话，废话v.（车、船等倚壁而设的）铺位( bunk的第三人称单数 )；空话，废话 | |
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123
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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124
facetious
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| adj.轻浮的，好开玩笑的 | |
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125
agitator
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| n.鼓动者；搅拌器 | |
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126
brace
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| n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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127
sarcastically
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| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
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128
bail
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| v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人 | |
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129
goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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130
dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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131
fatten
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| v.使肥，变肥 | |
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132
fattens
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| v.喂肥( fatten的第三人称单数 )；养肥（牲畜）；使（钱）增多；使（公司）升值 | |
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133
athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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134
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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135
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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136
sneaks
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| abbr.sneakers (tennis shoes) 胶底运动鞋（网球鞋）v.潜行( sneak的第三人称单数 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
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137
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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138
sneeringly
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| 嘲笑地，轻蔑地 | |
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139
skulking
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| v.潜伏，偷偷摸摸地走动，鬼鬼祟祟地活动( skulk的现在分词 ) | |
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140
whine
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| v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣 | |
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141
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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142
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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