!

"I wish we had a chap with us that could sing a bit and run the gamut on
a fiddle or something. With a sickly-looking fish like you to stand by
and look interesting and die slowly of consumption all the time, and me
to do the talking, we'd be able to travel from one end of the bush to
the other and live on the fat of the land. I wouldn't cure you for a
hundred pounds:"

They reached the shanty, and there, sure enough, was an old man
pottering round with a list to starboard. He was working with a hoe
inside a low paling fence round a sort of garden. Steelman and Smith
stopped outside the fence.

"Good day, boss!"

"'Day."

"It's hot."

"It's hot."

So far it was satisfactory.

He was a little man, with a wiry, red beard. He might have been a
Scandinavian.

"You seem to be a bit lame," said Steelman. "Hurt your foot?"

"Naw," said the old man. "It's an old thing."

"Ah!" said Steelman, "lumbago, I suppose? My father suffered cruel from
it for years."

"Naw," said the old man, moving closer to the fence. "It ain't in me
back; the trouble's with me leg."

"Oh!" said Steelman. "One a bit shorter than the other?"

"Well, yes. It seems to be wearin' a bit shorter. I must see to it."

"Hip disease, perhaps?" said Steelman. "A brother o' mine had----"

"Naw, it's not in the hip," said the old man. "My leg's gone at the
knee."

"Oh! stiff joint; I know what that is. Had a touch of it once myself.
An uncle of mine was nearly crippled with it. He used to use St Jacob's
oil. Ever try St Jacob's oil?"

"Naw," said the old man, "not that I know of. I've used linseed oil
though."

"Linseed oil!" said Steelman; "I've never heard of that for stiff knee.
How do you use it?"

"Use it raw," said the old man. "Raw linseed oil; I've rubbed it in, and
I've soaked me leg in it."

"Soaked your leg in it!" said Steelman. "And did it do it any good?"

"Well, it seems to preserve it--keeps it from warping, and it wears
better--and it makes it heavier. It seemed a bit too light before."

Steelman nudged Smith under cover of the palings. The old man was
evidently a bit ratty.

"Well, I hope your leg will soon be all right, boss," said Steelman.

"Thank you," said the old man, "but I don't think there's much hope. I
suppose you want some tucker?"

"Well, yes," said Steelman, rather taken aback by the old man's sudden
way of putting it. "We're hard up."

"Well, come along to the house and I'll see if I can get y