ed me to stay with him for good. Sorry I didn't. I'd have been
better off now. I was treated more like one of the family, and there was
a couple of good-looking daughters. One of them was clean gone on me.
There are some grand girls down that way. I always got on well with the
girls, because I could play the fiddle and sing a bit. They'll be glad
to see me when I get back there again, I know. I'll be all right--no
more bother about tucker. I'll just let things slide as soon as I spot
the house. I'll bet my boots the kettle will be boiling, and everything
in the house will be on the table before I'm there twenty minutes. And
the girls will be running to meet the old cocky when he comes riding
home at night, and they'll let down the sliprails, and ask him to guess
'who's up at our place?' Yes, I'll find a job with some old cocky, with
a good-looking daughter or two. I'll get on ploughing if I can; that's
the sort of work I like; best graft about a farm.

"By and by the cocky'll have a few sheep he wants shorn, and one day
he'll say to me, 'Jack, if you hear of a shearer knockin' round let me
know--I've got a few sheep I want shore.'

"'How many have you got?' I'll say.

"'Oh, about fifteen hundred.'

"'And what d'you think of giving?'

"'Well, about twenty-five bob a hundred, but if a shearer sticks out for
thirty, send him up to talk with me. I want to get 'em shore as soon as
possible.'

"'It's all right,' I'll say, 'you needn't bother; I'll shear your
sheep.'

"'Why,' he'll say, 'can _you_ shear?'

"'Shear? Of course I can! I shore before you were born.' It won't matter
if he's twice as old as me.

"So I'll shear his sheep and make a few pounds, and he'll be glad and
all the more eager to keep me on, so's to always have someone to shear
his sheep. But by and by I'll get tired of stopping in the one place and
want to be on the move, so I'll tell him I'm going to leave.

"'Why, what do you want to go for?' he'll say, surprised, 'ain't you
satisfied?'

"'Oh, yes, I'm satisfied, but I want a change.'

"'Oh, don't go,' he'll say; 'stop and we'll call it twenty-five bob a
week.'

"But I'll tell him I'm off--wouldn't stay for a hundred when I'd made up
my mind; so, when he sees he can't persuade me he'll get a bit stiff and
say:

"'Well, what about that there girl? Are you goin' to go away and leave
her like that?'

"'Why, what d'yer mean?' I'll say. 'Leave her like what?' I won't
pretend to know what he'