od day," we said.

'"It's hot."

'"It's hot."

'We went into the bar, and Poisonous got behind the counter.

'"What are you going to have?" he asked, rubbing up his glasses with a
rag.

'We had two long-beers.

'"Never mind that," said Poisonous, seeing me put my hand in my pocket;
"it's my shout. I don't suppose your boss is back yet? I saw him go in
to Mulgatown this morning."

'"No, he ain't back," I said; "I wish he was. We're getting tired of
waiting for him. We'll give him another hour, and then some of us will
have to ride in to see whether he's got on the boose, and get hold of
him if he has."

'"I suppose you're waiting for your cheques?" he said, turning to fix
some bottles on the shelf.

'"Yes," I said, "we are;" and I winked at Jim, and Jim winked back as
solemn as an owl.

'Poisonous asked us all about the trip, and how long we'd been on the
track, and what sort of a boss we had, dropping the questions offhand
now an' then, as for the sake of conversation. We could see that he
was trying to get at the size of our supposed cheques, so we answered
accordingly.

'"Have another drink," he said, and he filled the pewters up again.
"It's up to me," and he set to work boring out the glasses with his rag,
as if he was short-handed and the bar was crowded with customers, and
screwing up his face into what I suppose he considered an innocent or
unconscious expression. The girl began to sidle in and out with a smart
frock and a see-you-after-dark smirk on.

'"Have you had dinner?" she asked. We could have done with a good meal,
but it was too risky--the drovers' boss might come along while we were
at dinner and get into conversation with Poisonous. So we said we'd had
dinner.

'Poisonous filled our pewters again in an offhand way.

'"I wish the boss would come," said Jim with a yawn. "I want to get into
Mulgatown to-night, and I want to get some shirts and things before I go
in. I ain't got a decent rag to me back. I don't suppose there's ten bob
amongst the lot of us."

'There was a general store back on the creek, near the drovers' camp.

'"Oh, go to the store and get what you want," said Poisonous, taking a
sovereign from the till and tossing it on to the counter. "You can fix
it up with me when your boss comes. Bring your mates along."

'"Thank you," said Jim, taking up the sovereign carelessly and dropping
it into his pocket.

'"Well, Jim," I said, "suppose we get back to camp and see how