ng no awe of
authority, no hesitation in speaking his mind, but a great reverence
for women and a real respect for a religion that does not savor of cant.

[1] _Billabong_--a water-hole in a dry river-course.

[2] _Humped the bluey_--tramped across country with blue blanket (or
swag).

[3] Robert W. Service.

[4] _Sundowners_--tramps who arrive at a ranch at sundown expecting to
be put up for the night.

[5] _On the wallaby_--on the tramp.

[6] Robert W. Service.

CHAPTER IV

TRAINING-CAMP LIFE

The town of Bendigo received a great increase of liveliness by having
to accommodate four or five thousand soldiers.

It had known some lively times in the old gold days, but when its
"yellow love" became thin, thousands of people went to other fields and
the former flourishing city became a husk and as dull as only a
declining mining city can become; but, as usually happens in old mining
districts, when the gold gives out, the solid wealth of the soil in
crop-growing capacity is developed, and Bendigo is prospering again
through the labors of the tillers of the soil, if not by the delvings
of its miners. Still, farmers have not the same habit of "blowing in
their earnings" and are, admittedly, a little dull. There was a story
that when the town council put a notice at the busy centre--"Walk Round
Corners"--many of the farmers made sure of keeping the law by getting
out of their vehicles and _leading_ their horses round! The old-time
miner was rather in the habit of smashing the unoffending lamp-post
that barred his straight progress to the "pub." where his favorite
brand of fire-water was on tap.

The Bendigoans will never forgive me for having failed to appreciate
the fact that their Golden City was far ahead even of Melbourne. They
would never believe that any one could make the mistake in regard to
_their_ city that an American did about an Australian seaport when he
marvelled at our frankness in putting notice at the entrance to the
harbor "_Dead Slow_," and he never learned, after months of residence,
that said notice was really a warning to shipping.

But at any rate the soldiers livened things up. They were gathered
from many States--their day was just "one damn thing after
another"--sometimes varied a bit with a right turn instead of left, and
sometimes we would salute to the right instead of the left--but when
night came, fun must be had somehow, and Bendigo had to supply it.

We all had