He awoke at daylight covered with ants, which were stinging
and eating him alive.
Some days later Bez came along, passed my tent for a mile, and then
came back. He said he was ashamed of himself. I gave him also a
feed of damper, tea, and jam limited. Dan had made me cautious in
the matter of lavish hospitality. The Earl of Lonsdale lately spent
fifty thousand pounds in entertaining the Emperor of Germany, but it
was money thrown away. The next time the Kaiser comes to
Westmoreland he will have to pay for his board and buy his preserves.
Bez made a start for Melbourne, met an old convict, and with him took
a job at foot-rotting sheep on a station owned by a widow lady. Here
he passed as an engraver in reduced circumstances. He told lies so
well, that the convict was filled with admiration, and said, "I'm
sure, mate, you're a flash covey wot's done his time in the island."
The two chums foot-rotted until they had earned thirty shillings
each, then they went away and got drunk at a roadside shanty; at
least, Bez did, and when the convict picked his pockets, he kindly
put back three shillings and sixpence, saying, "That will give him
another start on the wallaby track."
Bez at last arrived at Flagstaff Hill, which was then bare, with a
sand-hole on one side of it. He had had nothing to eat for
twenty-four hours, and had only one shilling and sixpence in his
pocket, which he was loath to spend for fear of arriving in Melbourne
a complete beggar.
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