Peter began, when he came back to the fire, "I remember a
young man who got married----"

Mitchell hugged himself. He knew Jack Barnes. He knew that Jack had a
girl-wife who was many times too good for him; that Jack had been wild,
and had nearly broken her heart, and he had guessed at once that Jack
had broken out again, and that Peter M'Laughlan was shepherding him
home. Mitchell had worked as mates with Jack, and liked him because of
the good heart that was in him in spite of all; and, because he liked
him, he was glad that Jack was going to get a kicking, so to speak,
which might do him good. Mitchell saw it coming, as he said afterwards,
and filled his pipe, and settled himself comfortably to listen.

"I remember the case of a naturally selfish young man who got married"
said Peter. "He didn't know he was selfish; in fact, he thought he was
too much the other way--but that doesn't matter now. His name was--well,
we'll call him--we'll call him, `Gentleman Once.'"

"Do you mean Gentleman Once that we saw drinking back at Thomas's
shanty?" asked Joe.

"No," said Peter, "not him. There have been more than one in the bush
who went by the nickname of `Gentleman Once.' I knew one or two. It's a
big clan, the clan of Gentleman Once, and scattered all over the world."

"By the way," said Mitchell--"excuse me for interrupting, Peter--but
wasn't old Danny, there, a gentleman once? I've heard chaps say he was."

"I know he was," said Peter.

"Gentleman Once! Who's talking about Gentleman Once?" said an awful
voice, suddenly and quickly. "About twenty or thirty years ago I was
called Gentleman Once or Gentleman Jack, I don't know which--Get out!
_Get out_, I say! It's all lies, and you're the devil. There's four
devils sitting by the fire. I see them."

Two of the four devils by the fire looked round, rather startled.

Danny was sitting up, his awful bloodshot eyes glaring in the firelight,
and his ruined head looking like the bloated head of a hairy poodle that
had been drowned and dried. Peter went to the old man and soothed him by
waving off the snakes and devils with his hands, and telling them to go.

"I've heard Danny on the Gentleman Once racket before," remarked
Mitchell.

"Seems funny, doesn't it, for a man to be proud of the fact that he was
called `Gentleman Once' about twenty years ago?"

"Seems more awful than funny to me," said Joe.

"You're right, Joe," said Mitchell. "But the saddest things are oft