and then, if you asked him what the chaps had been doing, he'd say, 'Oh, nothing! nothing! Only their larks!' But this time he didn't; he was 'narked' for three days, and the chaps marvelled much and were sorry, and treated him with great respect and consideration. They hadn't thought he'd take it so hard—the dog-shearing business—else they wouldn't have done it. They were a little puzzled too, and getting a trifle angry, and would shortly be prepared to take the place of the injured party, and make things unpleasant for the cook. However, he brightened up towards the end of the week, and then it all came out.
'I wouldn't 'a' minded so much,' he said, standing by the table with a dipper in one hand, a bucket in the other, and a smile on his face. 'I wouldn't 'a' minded so much only they'll think me a flash man in Bourke with that theer darg trimmed up like that!'
