FRIENDS AS SERVANTS 



or two on the Life Insurance stunt, which they worked 



for a time up-country with a buggy and pair and a 



I doctor. One young fellow I introduced to a doctor I 



I knew who had had some experience at the game and 



1 they went off together. I met them a few weeks later 



at a small up-country town. The younger one got the 



cases and the doctor examined them. He used to keep 



sober up to midday, but absolutely refused to take on 



an examination afterwards. Occasionally they would 



sleep out in the open ; they had a camping fit-out 



with them, the doctor could make damper and billy 



tea — and whatever tasted better ! They were happy, 



and were making money. 



A man who brought me my hot water and cleaned 

 my boots in a certain Australian hotel had once been 

 the petted of his family at a home in England where I 

 had frequently been a guest at dinner. He drank, yes, 

 j but was certainly not a drunkard. The doctor who 

 had been up-country on the insurance jaunt had 

 finished a tour and used to drop in to the cellar some- 

 times. He never seemed able to eat, and I don't think 

 I ever saw him do so, but he always had spending 

 money and would take the boys out. One week we 

 saw him grow gradually fatter, and I was afraid that 

 he was developing dropsy, his legs seemed such an 

 abnormal size. He had been hard at it for over a week, 

 and I could see he was verging on the jumps stage. 

 One day I said to a mutual pal : " We must see about 

 it," and in the evening of that day the landlord of the 

 doctor's small hotel asked us to go round and see him. 

 He was pretty bad, I can tell you, and we thought it 

 better to undress him and get him to bed. But what a 

 business ! Pair after pair of trousers — he always wore 

 dark blue. We peeled them off his legs, and did not ask 

 for an explanation, but pointing to them he said with 



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