LIFE IN BRISBANE 



clothes, to be wiped the floor with. He alone might 

 have been argued with, but his pal, I could see, looked 

 as if he had a bit of a job on hand. It was an 

 awkward moment, but the situation was saved by 

 my suggesting that Madame should be sent for, and I 

 would give her a pointer or two — for I stuck to my 

 guns about the hopelessness of her pronunciation, and 

 a box of cigars did the rest. I found that one could be 

 merry to an extent, but not too much, at the expense of 

 those in the limelight. It was a time, however, when 

 it was judicious to please everyone, for it helped the 

 advertising. 



We used to play cards round at Nesbit's cigar shop 

 close to the theatre, and one night there was an 

 eighteen-hour sitting. One new-comer lost a lot, and 

 as he didn't settle we looked for him the next afternoon. 

 He arrived about three o'clock, with the story that he 

 had been robbed of nearly two hundred pounds in 

 gold out of his silk coat pocket. We all believed him 

 to begin with, until Nesbit sent round to the bank to 

 know the exact weight that amount of gold would come 

 to. Then Nesbit got a little canvas bag and filled it 

 with the exact weight of silver coins. One after the 

 other we tried on Nesbit's silk coat, and then and there 

 declared that the cove who alleged he had been robbed 

 was a liar. Of course we settled ourselves down to the 

 thought that each had made a bad debt; he owed 

 each of us a bit. There were always little odd cases 

 cropping up like that : tramps that passed in the night. 

 They would come into the town for a while, spend a bit 

 of money, do a lot of hand-shaking, tell the tale and, 

 astonishing to relate, we would all tumble into it and 

 believe in them. Sometimes they would get busy 

 with cheques on a distant colony, and it would come off 

 frequently. The Australian is the toughest possible 



