Homesteading 



on : " I've stuck to this job pretty well for five 

 years, but there are a lot in our place better tha 

 me, and they hold on like limpets. Then ther 

 are brothers and sisters coming on with the sam 

 chances— the boys with perhaps thirty bob a wee 

 when they are five-and- twenty ; and as for the 

 girls — there ! I don't call it good enough ; and as 

 I'm no hand at beating about the bush, the long 

 and short of it is, I looked in to say, if you'll 

 have me, I'll go along with you." 



After a pause he added, " Of course, I'm not 

 such a duffer as to think things may not be worse 

 over there, but I've talked to you before, and 

 other fellows, and you say there are chances, 

 and I've made up my mind to try it." 



He had been fully charged, and after the ex- 

 plosion silence fell on us for a . few minutes, and 

 my thoughts ran rapidly over what he had | 

 told me. 



At last I said : 



"Well, Tom— by the by, I suppose I may call 

 you Tom, and you may call me Jack — provided 

 the old folks at home are not against yom* going 

 and you feel quite well and fit, I shall be glad 

 to have you, for a good chum is well worth 

 having ; but I fear you will have to listen to 

 much that may sound humdrum, though it will 

 probably come in useful, all the same." 



i6 



I 



