losing a smart
shearer for the sake o' a wheen cards and dice; and ye'll mak' nae heed
of convairtin' thae young caterans ony mair than ye'll change a Norroway
falcon into a barn-door chuckie.'

I wonder if what he said was true--if we couldn't help it; if it was in
our blood? It seems like it; and yet it's hard lines to think a fellow
must grow up and get on the cross in spite of himself, and come to the
gallows-foot at last, whether he likes it or not. The parson here isn't
bad at all. He's a man and a gentleman, too; and he's talked and read
to me by the hour. I suppose some of us chaps are like the poor stupid
tribes that the Israelites found in Canaan, only meant to live for a bit
and then to be rubbed out to make room for better people.

When the shearing was nearly over we had a Saturday afternoon to
ourselves. We had finished all the sheep that were in the shed, and old
M'Intyre didn't like to begin a fresh flock. So we got on our horses and
took a ride into the township just for the fun of the thing, and for
a little change. The horses had got quite fresh with the rest and
the spring grass. Their coats were shining, and they all looked very
different from what they did when we first came. Our two were not so
poor when they came, so they looked the best of the lot, and jumped
about in style when we mounted. Ah! only to think of a good horse.

All the men washed themselves and put on clean clothes. Then we had our
dinner and about a dozen of us started off for the town.

Poor old Jim, how well he looked that day! I don't think you could pick
a young fellow anywhere in the countryside that was a patch on him for
good looks and manliness, somewhere about six foot or a little over, as
straight as a rush, with a bright blue eye that was always laughing and
twinkling, and curly dark brown hair. No wonder all the girls used to
think so much of him. He could do anything and everything that a man
could do. He was as strong as a young bull, and as active as a rock
wallaby--and ride! Well, he sat on his horse as if he was born on one.
With his broad shoulders and upright easy seat he was a regular picture
on a good horse.

And he had a good one under him to-day; a big, brown, resolute,
well-bred horse he had got in a swap because the man that had him was
afraid of him. Now that he had got a little flesh on his bones he looked
something quite out of the common. 'A deal too good for a poor man, and
him honest,' as old