t him quiet and out of sight;
the send-off was not noisy, but the hand-grips were very tight and the
sympathy deep. He was running away from debt, and wrong, and dishonour,
a drunken wife, and other sorrows, and we knew it all.

Two went next--to try their luck in Western Australia; they were
plasterers. Ten of us turned up again, the push having been reinforced
by one or two new members and an old one who had been absent on the
first occasion. It was a glorious send-off, and only two found beds that
night--the government supplied the beds.

And one by one and two by two they have gone from the wharf since then.
Jack went to-day; he was perhaps the most irreclaimable of us all--a
hard case where all cases were hard; and I loved him best--anyway I know
that, wherever Jack goes, there will be someone who will barrack for me
to the best of his ability (which is by no means to be despised as far
as barracking is concerned), and resent, with enthusiasm and force if
he deems it necessary, the barest insinuation which might be made to
the effect that I could write a bad line if I tried, or be guilty of an
action which would not be straight according to the rules of mateship.

Ah well! I am beginning to think it is time I emigrated too; I'll pull
myself together and battle round and raise the price of a steerage
ticket, and maybe a pound or two over. There may not be anybody to see
me off, but some of the boys are sure to be on the wharf or platform
"over there," when I arrive. Lord! I almost hear them hailing now! and
won't I yell back! and perhaps there won't be a wake over old times in
some cosy bar parlour, or camp, in Western Australia or Maoriland some
night in a year to come.

NOTES ON AUSTRALIANISMS.

Based on my own speech over the years, with some checking in the
dictionaries. Not all of these are peculiar to Australian slang, but are
important in Lawson's stories, and carry overtones.

bagman: commercial traveller
Bananaland: Queensland
billabong. Based on an aboriginal word. Sometimes used for an
anabranch (a bend in a river cut off by a new channel, but more
often used for one that, in dry season or droughts
especially, is cut off at either or both ends from the main
stream. It is often just a muddy pool, and may indeed dry up completely.
billy: quintessentially Australian. It is like (or may even be made
out of) a medium-sized can, with wire handles and a lid. Used to
boi