an' he says, "What are yer shoutin' an' swearin'
an' darncin' an' goin' on at the bullicks like that for, Jimmy? They
seem to be workin' all right." It took me back, I can tell yer. The
coach was full of grinnin' passengers, an' the worst of it was that I
didn't know how long Tom had been drivin' slow behind me an' takin' me
out of windin'. There's nothin' upsets a cove as can't sing so much as
to be caught singin' or spoutin' poetry when he thinks he's privit'.

An' another time I remember Tom's coach broke down on the track, an' he
had to ride inter town with the mails on horseback; an' he left a couple
of greenhides, for Skinner the tanner at Mudgee, for me to take on in
the wagon, an' a bag of potatoes for Murphy the storekeeper at Home
Rule, an' a note that said: "Render unto Murphy the things which is
murphies, and unto Skinner them things which is skins." Tom was a hard
case.

Well, this day, when Tom handed down the tucker an' letters, he got down
to stretch his legs and give the horses a breathe. The coach was full
of passengers, an' I noticed they all looked extra glum and sulky, but I
reckoned it was the heat an' dust. Tom looked extra solemn, too, an'
no one was talkin'. Then I suddenly began to notice something in the
atmosphere, as if there was a dead beast not far away, an' my mates
started sniffin' too. An' that reminds me, it's funny why some people
allers sniff hard instead of keepin' their noses shut when there's a
stink; the more it stinks the more they sniff. Tom spit in the dust an'
thought a while; then he took a parcel out of the boot an' put it on
the corner post of the fence. "There," he said, "There's some fresh fish
that come up from Sydney by train an' Cobb & Co's coach larst night.
They're meant for White the publican at Gulgong, but they won't keep
this weather till I git out there. Pity to waste them! you chaps might
as well have a feed of 'em. I'll tell White they went bad an' I had to
throw them out," says Tom. Then he got on to the coach agen an' drove
off in a cloud of dust. We undone the brown paper, an' the fish was in a
small deal box, with a lid fastened by a catch. We nicked back the catch
an' the lid flew open, an' then we knowed where the smell comed from
all right. There wasn't any doubt about that! We didn't have to put our
noses in the box to see if the fish was bad. They was packed in salt,
but that made no difference.

You know how a smell will start sudden in the bush