He was gray, grim, and
hairy. Philip said:
"Not very lucky to-day, mate?"
The hairy man stood up, straightened his back, and looked at Philip
from head to foot.
"Lucky be blowed. I wish I'd never seen this blasted place. Here
have I been sinking holes and puddling for five months, and hav'n't
made enough to pay my tucker and the Government license, thirty bob a
month. I am a mason, and I threw up twenty-eight bob a day to come
to this miserable hole. Wherever you come from, young man, I advise
you to go back there again. There's twenty thousand men on Bendigo,
and I don't believe nineteen thousand of 'em are earning their grub."
"I can't well go back fifteen thousand miles, even if I had money to
take me back," answered Philip.
"Well, you might walk as far as Melbourne," said the hairy man, "and
then you could get fourteen bob a day as a hodman; or you might take
a job at stone breaking; the Government are giving 7s. 6d. a yard for
road metal. Ain't you got any trade to work at?"
"No, I never learned a trade, I am only a gentleman." He felt mean
enough to cry.
"Well, that's bad. If you are a scholar, you might keep school, but
I don't believe there's half-a-dozen kids on the diggin's. They'd be
of no mortal use except to tumble down shafts. Fact is, if you are
really hard up, you can be a peeler.
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