e
anybody who comes along, and if he has no money there is no charge for
his entertainment. He is expected to move on in the morning the first
thing after breakfast, unless we happen to have work for him and can
give him employment at regular wages. If he comes along anywhere in the
afternoon before sunset, he is expected to do any odd work that may be
handy until supper, as a payment in part, at least, for his night's
entertainment.

"Most of these fellows don't like to work," he continued, "and so they
take good care not to arrive at a place before sunset. If they find they
are getting too near it, they sit or lie down on the ground and wait
until the sun has disappeared below the horizon. That is why we call
them sundowners, as they turn up just after the sun has gone down."

"It is certainly very liberal on the part of the people in the country
to feed and lodge all comers," remarked Ned.

"Well, we think it's not illiberal. It is the custom of the country
which has grown up from the early days when farms were far apart and
travelers were few in number. When the custom first began, the number of
this sort of travelers would not exceed a dozen in a month. Nowadays we
often lodge that number in a single night, and sometimes it is a pretty
heavy tax on us. I don't think it will be many years before we have laws
that will restrict these wanderers somewhat, just as you have tramp laws
in many of the States of your Union. There is a very large number of
idlers going about the country and subsisting in this way. They always
pretend to be searching for employment, but whenever employment is
offered, it is not the kind that they want. They are like an American
tramp I heard of once, who was always looking in winter for a job at
hay-making, and in summer he wanted to find employment at cutting ice.
When one of these fellows gets to a sheep station, he says he knows
nothing about sheep, but understands everything about cattle; at the
cattle station he reverses his story, and wants a job at shepherding."

"Don't you have trouble with them sometimes?" one of the youths
remarked. "Are they willing to accept what you offer them, or do they
demand something better?"

"As to that," was the reply, "there is a good deal of difference among
them. We don't feed them with the best that the place affords, and the
majority of them accept the situation and take what we choose to give.
Cold meat and bread are their usual fare, and there