With the passing of a cooler air the sleeper1 wakened and rubbed his eyes. Letting his injured leg lie undisturbed, he drew up the other knee and buckled3 his hands round it. In this position he sat and talked.
He was a dark, fresh-coloured young man, of middle height, and broadly built. He had large white teeth of a kind to crack nuts with, and the full, wide, flexible mouth that denotes the generous talker.
“What a wind-bag it is, to be sure!” thought his companion, as he smoked and listened, in a gently ironic4 silence, to abuse of the Government. He knew — or thought he knew — young Purdy inside out.
But behind all the froth of the boy’s talk there lurked5, it seemed, a purpose. No sooner was a meal of cold chop and tea over than Purdy declared his intention of being present at a meeting of malcontent6 diggers. Nor would he even wait to wash himself clean of mud.
His friend reluctantly agreed to lend him an arm. But he could not refrain from taking the lad to task for getting entangled7 in the political imbroglio8. “When, as you know, it’s just a kind of sport to you.”
Purdy sulked for a few paces, then burst out: “If only you weren’t so damned detached, Dick Mahony!”
“You’re restless, and want excitement, my boy — that’s the root of the trouble.”
“Well, I’m jiggered! If ever I knew a restless mortal, it’s yourself.”
The two men picked their steps across the Flat and up the opposite hillside, young Purdy Smith limping and leaning heavy, his lame9 foot thrust into an old slipper10. He was at all times hail-fellow-well-met with the world. Now, in addition, his plucky11 exploit of the afternoon blazed its way through the settlement; and blarney and bravos rained upon him. “Golly for you, Purdy, old ‘oss!” “Showed ’em the diggers’ flag, ‘e did!” “What’ll you take, me buck2? Come on in for a drop o’ the real strip-me-down-naked!” Even a weary old strumpet, propping12 herself against the doorway13 of a dancing-saloon, waved a tipsy hand and cried: “Arrah, an’ is it yerrself, Purrdy, me bhoy? Shure an’ it’s bussin’ ye I’d be afther — if me legs would carry me!” And Purdy laughed, and relished14 the honey, and had an answer pat for everybody especially the women. His companion on the other hand was greeted with a glibness15 that had something perfunctory in it, and no touch of familiarity.
The big canvas tent on Bakery Hill, where the meeting was to be held, was already lighted; and at the tinkle16 of a bell the diggers, who till then had stood cracking and hobnobbing outside, began to push for the entrance. The bulk of them belonged to the race that is quickest to resent injustice17 — were Irish. After them in number came the Germans, swaggering and voluble; and the inflammable French, English, Scotch18 and Americans formed a smaller and cooler, but very dogged group.
At the end of the tent a rough platform had been erected20, on which stood a row of cane21 seats. In the body of the hall, the benches were formed of boards, laid from one upturned keg or tub to another. The chair was taken by a local auctioneer, a cadaverous-looking man, with never a twinkle in his eye, who, in a lengthy22 discourse23 and with the single monotonous24 gesture of beating the palm of one hand with the back of the other, strove to bring home to his audience the degradation25 of their present political status. The diggers chewed and spat26, and listened to his periods with sang-froid: the shame of their state did not greatly move them. They followed, too, with composure, the rehearsal27 of their general grievances29. As they were aware, said the speaker, the Legislative30 Council of Victoria was made up largely of Crown nominees31; in the election of members the gold-seeking population had no voice whatsoever32. This was a scandalous thing; for the digging constituent33 outnumbered all the rest of the population put together, thus forming what he would call the backbone34 and mainstay of the colony. The labour of THEIR hands had raised the colony to its present pitch of prosperity. And yet these same bold and hardy35 pioneers were held incapable36 of deciding jot37 or tittle in the public affairs of their adopted home. Still unmoved, the diggers listened to this recital38 of their virtues39. But when one man, growing weary of the speaker’s unctuous40 wordiness, discharged a fierce: “Why the hell don’t yer git on to the bloody41 licence-tax?” the audience was fire and flame in an instant. A riotous42 noise ensued; rough throats rang changes on the question. Order restored, it was evident that the speech was over. Thrown violently out of his concept, the auctioneer struck and struck at his palm — in vain; nothing would come. So, making the best of a bad job, he irately43 sat down in favour of his successor on the programme.
This speaker did not fare much better. The assemblage, roused now, jolly and merciless, was not disposed to give quarter; and his obtuseness44 in dawdling45 over such high-flown notions as that population, not property, formed the basis of representative government, reaped him a harvest of boos and groans46. This was not what the diggers had come out to hear. And they were as direct as children in their demand for the gist47 of the matter.
“A reg-lar ol’ shicer!” was the unanimous opinion, expressed without scruple48. While from the back of the hall came the curt49 request to him to shut his “tater-trap.”
Next on the list was a German, a ruddy-faced man with mutton-chop whiskers and prominent, watery50 eyes. He could not manage the letter “r.” In the body of a word where it was negligible, he rolled it out as though it stood three deep. Did he tackle it as an initial, on the other hand, his tongue seemed to cleave51 to his palate, and to yield only an “l.” This quaint52 defect caused some merriment at the start, but was soon eclipsed by a more striking oddity. The speaker had the habit of, as it were, creaking with his nose. After each few sentences he paused, to give himself time to produce something between a creak and a snore — an abortive53 attempt to get at a mucus that was plainly out of reach.
The diggers were beside themselves with mirth.
“‘E’s forgot ‘is ‘ankey!”
“‘Ere, boys, look slippy!— a ‘ankey for ol’ sausage!”
But the German was not sensitive to ridicule54. He had something to say, and he was there to say it. Fixing his fish-like eyes on a spot high up the tent wall, he kept them pinned to it, while he mouthed out blood-and-thunder invectives. He was, it seemed, a red-hot revolutionist; a fierce denouncer of British rule. He declared the British monarchy55 to be an effete56 institution; the fetish of British freedom to have been “exbloded” long ago. What they needed, in this grand young country of theirs, was a “republic”; they must rid themselves of those shackles57 that had been forged in the days when men were slaves. It was his sound conviction that before many weeks had passed, the Union Jack58 would have been hauled down for ever, and the glorious Southern Cross would wave in its stead, over a free Australia. The day on which this happened would be a never-to-be-forgotten date in the annals of the country. For what, he would like to know, had the British flag ever done for freedom, at any time in the world’s history? They should read in their school-books, and there they would learn that wherever a people had risen against their tyrants59, the Union Jack had waved, not over them, but over the British troops sent to stamp the rising out.
This was more than Mahony could stomach. Flashing up from his seat, he strove to assert himself above the hum of agreement that mounted from the foreign contingent60, and the doubtful sort of grumble61 by which the Britisher signifies his disapproval62.
“Mr. Chairman! Gentlemen!” he cried in a loud voice. “I call upon those loyal subjects of her Majesty63 who are present here, to join with me in giving three cheers for the British flag. Hip64, hip, hurrah65! And, again, hip, hip, hurrah! And, once more, hip, hip, hurrah!”
His compatriots followed him, though flabbily; and he continued to make himself heard above the shouts of “Order!” and the bimming of the chairman’s bell.
“Mr. Chairman! I appeal to you. Are we Britons to sit still and hear our country’s flag reviled66?— that flag which has ensured us the very liberty we are enjoying this evening. The gentleman who has been pleased to slander67 it is not, I believe, a British citizen. Now, I put it to him: is there another country on the face of the earth, that would allow people of all nations to flock into a gold-bearing colony on terms of perfect equality with its own subjects?— to flock in, take all they can get, and then make off with it?” a point of view that elicited68 forcible grunts69 of assent70, which held their own against hoots71 and hisses72. Unfortunately the speaker did not stop here, but went on: “Gentlemen! Do not, I implore73 you, allow yourselves to be led astray by a handful of ungrateful foreigners, who have received nothing but benefits from our Crown. What you need, gentlemen, is not revolution, but reform; not strife74 and bloodshed, but a liberty consistent with law and order. And this, gentlemen,——”
(“You’ll never get ’em like that, Dick,” muttered Purdy.)
“Not so much gentlemening, if YOU please!” said a sinister-looking man, who might have been a Vandemonian in his day. “MEN’S what we are — that’s good enough for us.”
Mahony was nettled75. The foreigners, too, were pressing him.
“Am I then to believe, sir, what I frequently hear asserted, that there are no gentlemen left on the diggings?”
(“Oh lor, Dick!” said Purdy. He was sitting with his elbows on his knees, clutching his cheeks as though he had the toothache.)
“Oh, stow yer blatherskite!”
“Believe what yer bloody well like!” retorted the Vandemonian fiercely. “But don’t come ’ere and interrupt our pleasant and h’orderly meetings with YOUR blamed jaw76.”
Mahony lost his temper. “I not interrupt?— when I see you great hulks of men —”
(“Oh, lor!” groaned77 Purdy again.)
“— who call yourselves British subjects, letting yourselves be led by the nose, like the sheep you are, by a pack of foreigners who are basely accepting this country’s hospital’ty?”
“Here, let me,” said Purdy. And pushing his way along the bench he hobbled to the platform, where several arms hoisted78 him up.
There he stood, fronting the violent commotion79 that had ensued on his friend’s last words; stood bedraggled, mud-stained, bandaged, his cabbage-tree hat in his hand. And Mahony, still on his feet, angrily erect19, thought he understood why the boy had refused to wash himself clean, or to change his dress: he had no doubt foreseen the possibility of some such dramatic appearance.
Purdy waited for the hubbub80 to die down. As if by chance he had rested his hand on the bell; its provoking tinkle ceased. Now he broke into one of the frank and hearty81 smiles that never fail to conciliate.
“Brother diggers!”
The strongly spoken words induced an abrupt82 lull83. The audience turned to him, still thorny84 and sulky it was true, but yet they turned; and one among them demanded a hearing for the youngster.
“Brother diggers! We are met here to-night with a single purpose in view. Brother diggers! We are not met here to throw mud at our dear old country’s flag! Nor will we have a word said against her most gracious Majesty, the Queen. Not us! We’re men first, whose business it is to stand up for a gallant85 little woman, and diggers with a grievance28 afterwards. Are you with me, boys?— Very well, then.— Now we didn’t come here to-night to confab about getting votes, or having a hand in public affairs — much as we want ’em both and mean to have ’em, when the time comes. No, to-night there’s only one thing that matters to us, and that’s the repeal86 of the accursed tax!” Here, such a tempest of applause broke out that he was unable to proceed. “Yes, I say it again,” he went on, when they would let him speak; “the instant repeal! When that’s been done, this curse taken off us, then it’ll be time enough to parlez-vous about the colour of the flag we mean to have, and about going shares in the Government. But let me make one thing clear to you. We’re neither traitors87 to the Crown, nor common rebels. We’re true-blue Britons, who have been goaded88 to rebellion by one of the vilest89 pieces of tyranny that ever saw the light. Spies and informers are everywhere about us. Mr. Commissioner90 Sleuth and his hounds may cry tally-ho every day, if ’tis their pleasure to! To put it shortly, boys, we’re living under semi-martial law. To such a state have we free-born men, men who came out but to see the elephant, been reduced, by the asinine91 stupidity of the Government, by the impudence92 and knavishness93 of its officials. Brother diggers! When you leave the hall this evening, look over at the hill on which the Camp stands! What will you see? You will see a blaze of light, and hear the sounds of revelry by night. There, boys, hidden from our mortal view, but visible to our mind’s eye, sit Charley Joe’s minions94, carousing95 at our expense, washing down each mouthful with good fizz bought with our hard-earned gold. Licence-pickings, boys, and tips from new grog-shops, and the blasted farce96 of the Commissariat! We’re supposed —”
But here Mahony gave a loud click of the tongue — in the general howl of execration97 it passed unheard — and, pushing his way out of the tent, let the flap-door fall to behind him.
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sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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buckled
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| a. 有带扣的 | |
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ironic
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| adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的 | |
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lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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malcontent
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| n.不满者，不平者；adj.抱不平的，不满的 | |
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entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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imbroglio
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| n.纷乱，纠葛，纷扰，一团糟 | |
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lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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slipper
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| n.拖鞋 | |
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plucky
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| adj.勇敢的 | |
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propping
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| 支撑 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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relished
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| v.欣赏( relish的过去式和过去分词 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望 | |
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glibness
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| n.花言巧语；口若悬河 | |
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tinkle
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| vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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rehearsal
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| n.排练，排演；练习 | |
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grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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grievances
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| n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚 | |
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legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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nominees
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| n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 ) | |
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whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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constituent
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| n.选民；成分，组分；adj.组成的，构成的 | |
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backbone
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| n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气 | |
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hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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jot
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| n.少量；vi.草草记下；vt.匆匆写下 | |
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recital
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| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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unctuous
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| adj.油腔滑调的，大胆的 | |
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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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riotous
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| adj.骚乱的；狂欢的 | |
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irately
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obtuseness
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| 感觉迟钝 | |
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dawdling
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| adj.闲逛的，懒散的v.混（时间）( dawdle的现在分词 ) | |
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groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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gist
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| n.要旨；梗概 | |
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scruple
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| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
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curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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50
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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cleave
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| v．(clave；cleaved)粘着，粘住；坚持；依恋 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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abortive
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| adj.不成功的，发育不全的 | |
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ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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monarchy
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| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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56
effete
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| adj.无生产力的，虚弱的 | |
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57
shackles
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| 手铐( shackle的名词复数 )； 脚镣； 束缚； 羁绊 | |
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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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tyrants
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| 专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物 | |
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contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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grumble
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| vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声 | |
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disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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hurrah
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| int.好哇，万岁，乌拉 | |
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reviled
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| v.辱骂，痛斥( revile的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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slander
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| n./v.诽谤，污蔑 | |
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elicited
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| 引出，探出( elicit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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grunts
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的第三人称单数 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说； 石鲈 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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71
hoots
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| 咄，啐 | |
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72
hisses
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| 嘶嘶声( hiss的名词复数 ) | |
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implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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74
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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75
nettled
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| v.拿荨麻打，拿荨麻刺（nettle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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76
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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77
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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78
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79
commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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80
hubbub
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| n.嘈杂；骚乱 | |
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81
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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82
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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83
lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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84
thorny
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| adj.多刺的，棘手的 | |
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85
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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86
repeal
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| n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消 | |
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87
traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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88
goaded
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| v.刺激( goad的过去式和过去分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
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89
vilest
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| adj.卑鄙的( vile的最高级 )；可耻的；极坏的；非常讨厌的 | |
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90
commissioner
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| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
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asinine
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| adj.愚蠢的 | |
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92
impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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93
knavishness
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| n.浪费，过度 | |
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94
minions
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| n.奴颜婢膝的仆从( minion的名词复数 )；走狗；宠儿；受人崇拜者 | |
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95
carousing
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| v.痛饮，闹饮欢宴( carouse的现在分词 ) | |
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96
farce
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| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
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97
execration
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| n.诅咒，念咒，憎恶 | |
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