emarked.
In a few moments there was an answering tap.

"Who's that?" asked Ned.

"The slavey next door," answered Jack, upon which an interchange of
experience took place between Jack and the young fellow in which gable
windows and park seats and various other stage-settings had prominent
parts.

At last they all slept but Ned. Drowsy as he was he could not sleep. It
was not that he thought much of Nellie, at least he did not feel that he
was thinking of her. He only wanted to sleep and forget and he could not
sleep. The moonshine came through the curtainless window and lit up the
room with a strange mysterious light. The snoring breathing that filled
the room mingled with other snoring sounds that seemed to come up the
stairway and through the walls. The stench of the room stifled him. The
drunkards who tossed there, groaning; this unemployed lad who lay with
his white limbs kicked free and bathed in the moonlight; the tired waiter
who lay motionless, still dressed; were there with him. The clock-bells
struck the quarters, then the hour.

Three o'clock.

He had never felt so uncomfortable, he thought, so uneasy. He twisted and
squirmed and rubbed himself. Suddenly a thought struck him. He leaned up
on his elbow for a moment, peering with his eyes in the scanty light,
feeling about with his hand, then leaped clean out of the bed. It swarmed
with vermin.

Like most bushmen, Ned, who was sublimely tolerant of ants, lizards and
the pests of the wilds generally, shivered at the very thought of the
parasites of the towns. To strip himself was the work of an instant, to
carefully re-dress by the candle-end he lighted took longer; then he
stepped to the English lad's side and woke him.

"Hello?" said the lad, rubbing his eyes in sleepy astonishment.

"What's the matter?"

"I can't sleep with bugs crawling over me," said Ned. "I'm going to camp
out in the park. Here's a 'note' to help you along and here's the address
to go to if you conclude to go up to Queensland for the union. I'll see
about it first thing in the morning so he'll expect you. The 'note's'
yours whether you go or not."

"I'm ever so much obliged," said the lad, taking the money and the slip
of paper. "I'll go and I'll be square. You needn't be afraid of me and
I'll pay it back, too, some day. Do you know the way out?"

"I'll find it all right," replied Ned.

"Oh! I'll go down with you or you'd never find it. It's through the back
at night." So t