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Ben must have broken into a canter as he reached the level, as indeed his horse’s tracks showed he did, and the horse must have blundered in the smoke, or jumped too long or too short; anyway, his long slithering shoe marks were in the sap on the log, and he lay there with a broken leg and shoulder. He had struck it near the stump and the sharp edge of an outcrop of rock.

There was more breakneck riding, and they got a cart and some bedding and carried Ben to Anderson’s, which was handiest, if not nearest, and there was more wild and reckless riding for the doctor.

One got a gun, and rode back to shoot the horse.

Ben’s case was hopeless from the first. He was hurt close to that big heart of his, as well as having a fractured skull. He talked a lot of the selections and old John Tierney, of the old bark school; and the Never-Never country with Jack–and, later on, of the present. “What’s Ben sayin’ now, Jim?” asked one young bushman as another came out of the room with an awestruck face.

“He’s sayin’ that Jack Denver’s dead, killed ridin’ home from the races, an’ that the funeral’s to-morrow, an’ we’re to roll up at Talbragar!” answered the other, with wide eyes, a blank face and in an awed voice. “He’s thinkin’ to-day’s yisterday.”

But towards the end, under the ministrations of the doctor, Ben became conscious. He rolled his head a little on the pillow after he woke, and then, seeming to remember all that happened up to his stunning fall, he asked quietly:

“What sort of a funeral did Jack have?”

They told him it was the biggest ever seen in the district.

“Muster bin more’n a mile long,” said one.

“Watcher talkin’ about, Jim?” put in another. “Yer talkin’ through yer socks. It was more’n a mile an’ a half, Ben, if it was er inch. Some of the chaps timed it an’ measured it an’ compared notes as well as they could. Why, the head was at the Racecourse when the tail was at Old–“

Ben sank back satisfied and a little later took the track that Jack Denver had taken.

[THE END]

Notes on Australianisms. Based on my own speech over the years, with some checking in the dictionaries. Not all of these are peculiar to Australian slang, but are important in Lawson’s stories, and carry overtones.

barrackers: people who cheer for a sporting team, etc. boko: crazy.

bushman/bushwoman: someone who lives an isolated existence, far from cities, “in the bush”, “outback”. (today: “bushy”. In New Zealand it is a timber getter. Lawson was sacked from a forestry job in New Zealand, “because he wasn’t a bushman” 🙂

bushranger: an Australian “highwayman”, who lived in the ‘bush’– scrub–and attacked and robbed, especially gold carrying coaches and banks. Romanticised as anti-authoritarian Robin Hood figures– cf. Ned Kelly–but usually very violent. US use was very different (more = explorer), though some lexicographers think the word (along with “bush” in this sense) was borrowed from the US…

churchyarder: Sounding as if dying–ready for the churchyard = cemetery

cobber: mate, friend. Used to be derived from Hebrew chaver via Yiddish. General opinion now seems to be that it entered the language too early for that–and an English etymology is preferred.

fiver: a five pound (sterling) note (or “bill”)

fossick: pick out gold, in a fairly desultory fashion. In old “mullock” heaps or crvices in rocks.

jackaroo: (Jack + kangaroo; sometimes jackeroo)–someone, in early days a new immigrant from England, learning to work on a sheep/cattle station (U.S. “ranch”.)

kiddy: young child. “kid” plus ubiquitous Australia “-y” or “-ie” nobbler: a drink, esp. of spirits overlanding: driving (or, “droving”, cattle from pasture to market or railhead.

pannikin: a metal mug.

Pipeclay: or Eurunderee, Where Lawson spent much of his early life (including his three years of school…

Poley: name for s hornless (or dehorned) cow.

skillion(-room): A “lean-to”, a room built up against the back of some other building, with separate roof.

sliprails: portion of a fence where the rails are lossely fitted so that they may be removed from one side and animal let through.

smoke-ho: a short break from, esp., heavy physical work, and those who wish to can smoke.

sov.: sovereign, gold coin worth one pound sterling

splosh: money

Sqinny: nickname for someone with a squint.

Stousher: nickname for someone often in a fight (or “stoush”)

swagman (swaggy): Generally, anyone who is walking in the “outback” with a swag. (See “The Romance of the Swag”.) Lawson also restricts it at times to those whom he considers to be tramps, not looking for work but for “handouts” (i.e., “bums” in US. In view of the Great Depression, 1890->, perhaps unfairly. In 1892 it was reckoned 1/3 men were out of work)