g, and we must make a living somehow.
And I know you would like a little fresh beef, Neddy; a change of
diet is good for the health."

But Neddy was not so much of a fool as to be able to shut his eyes to
the nature of the boiling-down business. The brands were too
various, and Joshua claimed them all. Neddy said one night:

"Don't you think, Joshua, this game of yours is rather dangerous?
Why, it's nothing better than cattle stealing; and I've heern folks
say at one time it was a hanging matter. You may be found out some
day by an unlucky chance, and then what will you do?"

"You mustn't call it cattle stealing, Neddy; that doesn't sound
well," said Joshua. "I call it back pay for work and labour done. I
have good reasons for it. I was sent out for stealing a horse, which
I never did steal; I only bought it cheap for a couple of pounds.
They sent me to the island, and I worked seven years for a settler
for nothing. Now I put it to you, Neddy, as an honest and sensible
man, Am I to get no pay for that seven years' work? And how am I to
get it if I don't take it myself? The Government will give me no
pay; they'd give me another seven years if they could. But you see,
there are no peelers here, no beaks, and no blooming courts, so I
intend to make hay while the sun shines, which means tallow in these
times. All these settlers gets as much work out of Government men as
they can get for nothing, and if you says two words to 'em they'll
have you flogged. So while I does my seven years I says nothing, but
I thinks, and I makes up my mind to have it out of 'em when my time
comes. And I say it's fair and honest to get your back wages the
best way you can. These settlers are all tarred with the same brush;
they make poor coves like us work for 'em, and flog us like bullocks,
and then they pretend they are honest men. I say be blowed to such
honesty."

"But if you are caught, Joshua, what then?"

"Well, we must be careful. I don't think they'll catch me in a
hurry. You see, I does my business quick: cuts out the brand and
burns it first thing, and always turns out beasts I don't want
directly."

Other men followed the example of Joshua, so that between troubles
with the black men, troubles with the white men, and the want of a
market for his stock, the settler's days were full of anxiety and
misery. And, in addition, the Government in Sydney was threatening
him with a roaming taxgatherer under the name