to see if the grog had got into his head; just as if his life, mine, and Jim's
didn't matter a straw compared to this man's, whoever he was, that had had
so many better chances than we had and had chucked 'em all away.

But it's a strange thing that I don't think there's any place in the world
where men feel a more real out-and-out respect for a gentleman
than in Australia. Everybody's supposed to be free and equal now;
of course, they couldn't be in the convict days. But somehow a man
that's born and bred a gentleman will always be different from other men
to the end of the world. What's the most surprising part of it
is that men like father, who have hated the breed and suffered by them, too,
can't help having a curious liking and admiration for them.
They'll follow them like dogs, fight for them, shed their blood,
and die for them; must be some sort of a natural feeling.
Whatever it is, it's there safe enough, and nothing can knock it out of
nine-tenths of all the men and women you meet. I began to be uneasy
to see this wonderful mate of father's, who was so many things at once --
a cattle-stealer, a bush-ranger, and a gentleman.




Chapter 6



After we'd fairly settled to stay, father began to be more pleasant
than he'd ever been before. We were pretty likely, he said,
to have a visit from Starlight and the half-caste in a day or two,
if we'd like to wait. He was to meet him at the Hollow