red north, south, east, and west to humour the river.
Occasionally a low branch would root three or four passengers off their
wool bales, and they'd get up and curse in chorus. The boat started two
snags; and towards daylight struck a stump. The accent was on the stump.
A wool bale went overboard, and took a swag and a dog with it; then the
owner of the swag and dog and the crew of the boat had a swearing match
between them. The swagman won.

About daylight we stretched our cramped limbs, extricated one leg from
between the wool bales, and found that the steamer was just crayfishing
away from a mud island, where she had tied up for more wool. Some of the
chaps had been ashore and boiled four or five buckets of tea and coffee.
Shortly after the boat had settled down to work again an incident came
along. A rouseabout rose late, and, while the others were at breakfast,
got an idea into his head that a good "sloosh" would freshen him up; so
he mooched round until he found a big wooden bucket with a rope to it.
He carried the bucket aft of the wheel. The boat was butting up stream
for all she was worth, and the stream was running the other way, of
course, and about a hundred times as fast as a train. The jackeroo gave
the line a turn round his wrist; before anyone could see him in time to
suppress him, he lifted the bucket, swung it to and fro, and dropped it
cleverly into the water.

This delayed us for nearly an hour. A couple of men jumped into the row
boat immediately and cast her adrift. They picked up the jackeroo about
a mile down the river, clinging to a snag, and when we hauled him aboard
he looked like something the cat had dragged in, only bigger. We revived
him with rum and got him on his feet; and then, when the captain and
crew had done cursing him, he rubbed his head, went forward, and had a
look at the paddle; then he rubbed his head again, thought, and remarked
to his mates:

"Wasn't it lucky I didn't dip that bucket FOR'ARD the wheel?"

This remark struck us forcibly. We agreed that it was lucky--for him;
but the captain remarked that it was damned unlucky for the world,
which, he explained, was over-populated with fools already.

Getting on towards afternoon we found a barge loaded with wool and tied
up to a tree in the wilderness. There was no sign of a man to be seen,
nor any sign, except the barge, that a human being had ever been there.
The captain took the craft in tow, towed it about ten miles up