While the Billy Boils Henry Lawson (best ereader for pc TXT) đ
- Author: Henry Lawson
Book online «While the Billy Boils Henry Lawson (best ereader for pc TXT) đ». Author Henry Lawson
The weather cleared, and we had sunlight for Orange, Bathurst, the Blue Mountains, and Sydney. They deserve it; also as much rain as they need.
âRatsââWhy, thereâs two of them, and theyâre having a fight! Come on.â
It seemed a strange place for a fightâ âthat hot, lonely, cotton-bush plain. And yet not more than half a mile ahead there were apparently two men struggling together on the track.
The three travellers postponed their smoke-ho and hurried on. They were shearersâ âa little man and a big man, known respectively as âSunlightâ and âMacquarie,â and a tall, thin, young jackeroo whom they called âMilky.â
âI wonder where the other man sprang from? I didnât see him before,â said Sunlight.
âHe muster bin layinâ down in the bushes,â said Macquarie. âTheyâre goinâ at it proper, too. Come on! Hurry up and see the fun!â
They hurried on.
âItâs a funny-lookinâ feller, the other feller,â panted Milky. âHe donât seem to have no head. Look! heâs downâ âtheyâre both down! They must haâ clinched on the ground. No! theyâre up anâ at it again.â ââ ⊠Why, good Lord! I think the otherâs a woman!â
âMy oath! so it is!â yelled Sunlight. âLook! the bruteâs got her down again! Heâs kickinâ her. Come on, chaps; come on, or heâll do for her!â
They dropped swags, water-bags and all, and raced forward; but presently Sunlight, who had the best eyes, slackened his pace and dropped behind. His mates glanced back at his face, saw a peculiar expression there, looked ahead again, and then dropped into a walk.
They reached the scene of the trouble, and there stood a little withered old man by the track, with his arms folded close up under his chin; he was dressed mostly in calico patches; and half a dozen corks, suspended on bits of string from the brim of his hat, dangled before his bleared optics to scare away the flies. He was scowling malignantly at a stout, dumpy swag which lay in the middle of the track.
âWell, old Rats, whatâs the trouble?â asked Sunlight.
âOh, nothing, nothing,â answered the old man, without looking round. âI fell out with my swag, thatâs all. He knocked me down, but Iâve settled him.â
âBut look here,â said Sunlight, winking at his mates, âwe saw you jump on him when he was down. That ainât fair, you know.â
âBut you didnât see it all,â cried Rats, getting excited. âHe hit me down first! And look here, Iâll fight him again for nothing, and you can see fair play.â
They talked awhile; then Sunlight proposed to second the swag, while his mate supported the old man, and after some persuasion, Milky agreed, for the sake of the lark, to act as timekeeper and referee.
Rats entered into the spirit of the thing; he stripped to the waist, and while he was getting ready the travellers pretended to bet on the result.
Macquarie took his place behind the old man, and Sunlight upended the swag. Rats shaped and danced round; then he rushed, feinted, ducked, retreated, darted in once more, and suddenly went down like a shot on the broad of his back. No actor could have done it better; he went down from that imaginary blow as if a cannonball had struck him in the forehead.
Milky called time, and the old man came up, looking shaky. However, he got in a tremendous blow which knocked the swag into the bushes.
Several rounds followed with varying success.
The men pretended to get more and more excited, and betted freely; and Rats did his best. At last they got tired of the fun, Sunlight let the swag lie after Milky called time, and the jackaroo awarded the fight to Rats. They pretended to hand over the stakes, and then went back for their swags, while the old man put on his shirt.
Then he calmed down, carried his swag to the side of the track, sat down on it and talked rationally about bush matters for a while; but presently he grew silent and began to feel his muscles and smile idiotically.
âCan you lenâ us a bit oâ meat?â said he suddenly.
They spared him half a pound; but he said he didnât want it all, and cut off about an ounce, which he laid on the end of his swag. Then he took the lid off his billy and produced a fishing-line. He baited the hook, threw the line across the track, and waited for a bite. Soon he got deeply interested in the line, jerked it once or twice, and drew it in rapidly. The bait had been rubbed off in the grass. The old man regarded the hook disgustedly.
âLook at that!â he cried. âI had him, only I was in such a hurry. I should haâ played him a little more.â
Next time he was more careful. He drew the line in warily, grabbed an imaginary fish and laid it down on the grass. Sunlight and Co. were greatly interested by this time.
âWot yer think oâ that?â asked Rats. âIt weighs thirty pound if it weighs an ounce! Wot yer think oâ that for a cod? The hookâs halfway down his blessed gullet!â
He caught several cod and a bream while they were there, and invited them to camp and have tea with him. But they wished to reach a certain shed next day, soâ âafter the ancient had borrowed about a pound of meat for baitâ âthey went on, and left him fishing contentedly.
But first Sunlight went down into his pocket and came up with half a crown, which he gave to the old man, along with some tucker. âYouâd best push on to the water before dark, old chap,â he said, kindly.
When they turned their heads again, Rats was still fishing but when they looked
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