was always such a terrible quiet feller that no
one seemed to notice, an' he'd never made love to me before, but he
got besides hisself then and shouts, 'If ever you touch my girl again
I'll hammer you to smithereens.' Then he got back on the box an' wiped
me eyes on his handkerchief an' protected me. The men inside--mostly
diggers makin' through to Victoria--w'en they got the hang of things
bust out roarin' an' cheerin', an' said, 'Leave the dawg on the road
an' giv him a stummick ache.' He tried to get up, but they pushed him
off. He made great threats about the law, but miners is the gamest men
alive an' loves fair play. It ain't any use in talking law to them if
it ain't fair play, an' they give him to understand if he said
anythink to me about it, or told any one an' didn't take his lickin'
like a man, they'd break every bone in his body, an' they meant it
too. Then they lerruped up the team and left him in the rain an' pitch
dark miles from anywhere. That was the only time I give up the reins.
I couldn't see for tears, so Jim drove; an' the men took me inside so
he could attend to his work, they said, an' they cheered an' joked an'
asked w'en the weddin' was comin' off, an' said they'd all come an'
give us a rattlin' spree if we'd let 'em know. I didn't know what come
over me; I never was much for whimperin', but I cried an' cried as if
me heart was broke; an' it wasn't, because every time I thought of the
way Jim Clay stuck up for me it give me the best feelin' I ever knew,
an' the men was all on my side, an' there was no harm done, an' I
ought to have been smilin', but I could do nothink but sob, an' I
always think now w'en I see girls cryin' on similar occasions to let
'em alone. Girls can't tell what's up with them, and a cry is good,
because they ain't got the outlets that men has w'en they're worked
up. We came to the end stage, an' w'en we got off the men all shook
hands, an' one or two kissed me, an' pulled me curls, an' slapped Jim
Clay on the back, an' called him my sweetheart. W'en we delivered the
mail Jim drove me to where I stayed, an' it was terrible embarrassin'
w'en we was left alone with no extra people to take the down off of
the affair. Jim was painful shy, but he faced it manful; an' he said
it didn't matter what they said about us bein' lovers, if it was
disagreeable to me he'd never mention it nor think nothink about it,
an' it would be forgot in a day or two, as he was a feller of no
import