DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 35 



reason of Jack's being alive — I mean of his not 

 writing.' 



Jack was the bold bad boy that miched from school 

 with me and took his thrashings with such Spartan- 

 like courage. He was one of the multitude that 

 rushed to the Australian goldfields in 1853, and being 

 an only son a great luss was made about his going. 

 All the mothers his mother knew gave ad\'ice as to 

 what he would need while on so long a voyage, and 

 conferences were held as to the cakes and biscuits 

 to be made and as to the best method of preserving 

 eggs. Some helped on the sewing and talked of the 

 prodigal's return with gold, while others drank tea, 

 talked sadly, and wept. Mr HoUowa}'', the tailor, 

 and Mrs HoUoway, were at work for him every day 

 for weeks together, and the clothes they made looked 

 very suited for digging gold; and the double set of 

 tools that Thomas King, the blacksmitli, made would 

 dig up anything. His boxes were packed wdth every- 

 thing that could be suggested by kind-hearted folk, 

 and in every corner that could hold nothing else was 

 his mother's and sister's love. 



This was Jack's letter : — 



'No doubt you will be surprised to hear from me 

 after so long an absence, but I have been ill and 

 down on my luck. My misfortunes commenced on 

 the passage out, and it was all about a woman. She 

 was travelling alone under the captain's guardian- 

 ship to relatives in Melbourne, and she was such an 

 angel, mother, that every one of us fell in love with 

 her, I thought I was the one she favoured most, 

 but I suppose she found a difficult}^ in choosing from 

 amongst so many. Go where she would the other 

 fellows were buzzing round her like a swarm of bees, 

 and it was just this crowding that led to her falling 

 overboard. She v/as standing by an opening in the 

 bulwarks when a sailor had to force liis way past the 



