tralia one year to have a look at the country, and drifted
out back, and played cards and "headin' 'em" at the shearing-sheds
(while pretending to be strangers to each other), and sold eye-water and
unpatented medicine, and worked the tucker tracks. They struck a streak
of bad luck at West-o'-Sunday Station, where they were advised (by the
boss and about fifty excited shearers) to go east, and not to stop
till they reached the coast. They were tramping along the track towards
Bourke; they were very hard up and had to "battle" for tucker and
tobacco along the track. They came to a lonely shanty, about two camps
west of Bourke.

"We'll turn off into the scrub and strike the track the other side of
the shanty and come back to it," said Steelman. "You see, if they see us
coming into Bourke they'll say to themselves, `Oh, we're never likely
to see these chaps again,' and they won't give us anything, or, perhaps,
only a pinch of tea or sugar in a big lump of paper. There's some women
that can never see a tucker-bag, even if you hold it right under their
noses. But if they see us going out back they'll reckon that we'll get
a shed likely as not, and we'll be sure to call there with our cheques
coming back. I hope the old man's got the lumbago, or sciatica, or
something."

"Why?" asked Smith.

"Because whenever I see an old man poking round the place on a stick
I always make for him straight and inquire about his trouble; and no
matter what complaint he's got, my old man suffered from it for years.
It's pretty hard graft listening to an old man with a pet leg, but I
find it pays; and I always finish up by advising him to try St Jacob's
oil. Perhaps he's been trying it for years, but that doesn't matter; the
consultation works out all right all the same, and there's never been a
remedy tried yet but I've got another.

"I've got a lot of Maori and blackfellow remedies in my mind, and when
they fail I can fall back on the Chinese; and if that isn't enough I've
got a list of my grandmother's remedies that she wrote down for me when
I was leaving home, and I kept it for a curiosity. It took her three
days to write them, and I reckon they'll fill the bill.

"You don't want a shave. You look better with that stubble on. You
needn't say anything; just stand by and wear your usual expression, and
if they ask me what's the matter with my mate I'll fix up a disease for
you to have, and get something extra on your account, poor beggar