Ralph Stock

“ As to what the fence post-hole digger did about it, the notebook held no record, but he certainly omitted to shoot Bowker, for here he was dealing with Kemp.
In rather less than twenty minutes he had reduced his already harassed employer to a state bordering on mental collapse by proving beyond doubt that, given the most favourable conditions, it was a physical impossibility to live by poultry rearing. He took the table bird as an example, and showed that, unless one had sufficient acreage to grow feed, the bird cost more during its life than it fetched at death. ”

“ Bob Kemp, for instance, engaged in the pristine struggle for independence, via poultry, a few miles out of Sydney, found him a distinct asset for nearly a month. Bowker had tired of wharf-lumping, or wharf-lumping had tired of Bowker, and he had undertaken to watch the incubators and the house for his board and a nominal wage, while Kemp worked about the place or went to town with produce. The position suited Bowker to a nicety. A corrugated iron shed called a house, set in a dusty expanse of nothing in particular, needs little watching. ”

“ When camp was made, Bowker lay where he fell, staring stonily at a luminous fungus. By its ghostly light he saw many things. He wanted to think them out, dispose of them, but it was impossible under the present conditions of physical discomfort. With an oath he tore the boots from his feet and clutched at his toes.
"Jiggers," commented Adams, and, despite Bowker's protestations to the contrary, proceeded to extract the insidious insects with a jack-knife. "Mustn't let 'em get too far in," he explained cheerily during the operation; "they don't know enough to come out when they've finished." ”

“ They've only made life swifter and more complicated. They haven't helped much in the long run."
Kemp sat staring at his gnarled hands. Bowker leant back, puffing his pipe with relish.
"No," he said, "this 'something' that you say makes you keep on keeping on, what is it but an illusion I Take a good look, and it isn't there. Even if you're reduced to calling it work for work's sake, what then? What is work but the curse of Adam? Eliminate the work, and you've rid yourself of a curse, that's all." ”

“ The birds must pick up before long, eggs are high, birds are high, the market's at the door, and the town's growing. With water, labour would be cut in half——" Kemp leant forward, with the light of enthusiasm in his eyes. "I'll tell you what I'll do. You take on the well. If we fail, you get standard wages; if we succeed, you get taken into partnership!" He leant back expectant.
The naïve suggestion caused Bowker's mouth to twitch. ”

“ Kemp gave a sort laugh, and reached for his pipe.
"Oh, I couldn't begin to argue with you," he said. "You've got me tied in a knot with the ends spliced already. I can't think as far ahead, and back and sideways as you do. I daren't, for one thing, and haven't the time for another. There are the birds."
Bowker sighed, and drew from his pocket a small black notebook and a pencil. Here was a case calling for practical demonstration. ”

“ But when, after a pretty strenuous time, Adams reached the spot, bursting with the information that for the first time in history a Kanaka had not lied, and out of the fulness of his heart quite prepared to recognise the partnership, Bowker was not there.
Perhaps he had underestimated the chances of Adams's return, or overestimated his own ability to estimate with no one to listen to him. Perhaps—— But "perhaps" is a small word and an infinite possibility in Papua. ”

“ At work he contrived to make as good a living as most by manual labour in a world of manual labourers, which is something of an accomplishment for a man of five feet four with flat feet and a thirty-inch chest. ”