are--
God bless them all for their big soft hearts,
And the brave, brave grins they wear!
God keep me straight as a man can go,
And true as a man may be!
For the sake of the hearts that were always so,
Of the men who had faith in me!

And a ship-side word I would say, you chaps
Of the blood of the Don't-give-in!
The world will call it a boast, perhaps--
But I'll win, if a man can win!
And not for gold nor the world's applause--
Though ways to the end they be--
I'll win, if a man might win, because
Of the men who believed in me.

Contents.

Prefatory Verses--

The Author's Farewell to the Bushmen.

Part I.

Joe Wilson's Courtship.
Brighten's Sister-In-Law.
'Water Them Geraniums'.
I. A Lonely Track.
II. 'Past Carin''.
A Double Buggy at Lahey's Creek.
I. Spuds, and a Woman's Obstinacy.
II. Joe Wilson's Luck.
III. The Ghost of Mary's Sacrifice.
IV. The Buggy Comes Home.

Part II.

The Golden Graveyard.
The Chinaman's Ghost.
The Loaded Dog.
Poisonous Jimmy Gets Left.
I. Dave Regan's Yarn.
II. Told by One of the Other Drovers.
The Ghostly Door.
A Wild Irishman.
The Babies in the Bush.
A Bush Dance.
The Buck-Jumper.
Jimmy Grimshaw's Wooing.
At Dead Dingo.
Telling Mrs Baker.
A Hero in Dingo-Scrubs.
The Little World Left Behind.

Concluding Verses--
The Never-Never Country.

Part I.

Joe Wilson's Courtship.

There are many times in this world when a healthy boy is happy. When he
is put into knickerbockers, for instance, and 'comes a man to-day,' as
my little Jim used to say. When they're cooking something at home that
he likes. When the 'sandy-blight' or measles breaks out amongst the
children, or the teacher or his wife falls dangerously ill--or dies, it
doesn't matter which--'and there ain't no school.' When a boy is naked
and in his natural state for a warm climate like Australia, with three
or four of his schoolmates, under the shade of the creek-oaks in the
bend where there's a good clear pool with a sandy bottom. When his
father buys him a gun, and he starts out after kangaroos or 'possums.
When he gets a horse, saddle, and bridle, of his own. When he has his
arm in splints or a sti