"BUNGTOWN."

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 29 January 1908, Page 90

"BUNGTOWN."

By J. Maclkhnan.

" Bungtown !" said Mick. Micfe;Was tho- -' driver of the Waipori mail coach, - and ' w we were box passengers. We were "driving - ( on a boggy road, through a deserted looking country. On one side was a much . . prospected gully; on the other' a long succession of tussocky slopes. Almost . hidden by a turn' in the boggy road were the remains of an old sod hut. Otherwise there were no signs of a town, and the new chum visitor with the tan boots told Mick so. "Whoa there, Bess! tJp, Tom!" was the only seeming answer; but Bess having " whoaed "• and the blaok. colt breasted into the collar in satisfactory, style, Mick showed signs of having been listening. "It's Bungtown all the same.< Dooley there can tell yon. tetter me.- - I was but a kid then, taking occasional trips with the; old man. I, only remember 1 Sk calico town bigger an 3 busier than' most of the brick and mortar things they '"' build nowadays. It looked to me then' lor all the world like a big baby-farm, with men a-rocking away an' bending' now an' then over the cradle to take a nugget out .of the way of the grave)... Them days they used to measure flour. - by the ounce an' gold by the pannikin./ But v -Dooley- kiiows v about rthe ehristenin'. He'll tell ye." -".'--; Dooley was the picture of a digger in his holiday clothes. His hair - was' just; ' turning grejj, 'and- his.Jf ace^wa» 'as-tanned -^ .and-h'ardy-looMng^^ai^O y^a>s'^mjmMaW' " experience- could intake " ifc \ rWithout . fur- " ther. ' pressing he; moved J *his \pipe '^and' began.'. "Lemme see^'it.was in- eighteen 1 an r " - . .' . ;"'-^- • "Up there, Bess, ye 'cantankerous jcrittur. Never mind the year, Dooley." "Well, it was hke this. -We got" wind, o' the find here, and quicker'n you' could - , say ' knife ' .every, inoh" o', this gully" was' pegged off.- It didn't used. to take us" long to pitch camp. in those days; the main thing was to get a good claim, ' .an' a good claim in those days mint more'n. two ounces to the dish, I can tell- ye. > Well, I'd only went tne bare two ounces, an' the camp was mighty down-hearted * _ an' turned its attention to the .drownin',^ • o' their mort'ficatfon in ' ahe-oaky^ f or -. what, as Micky puts it, is tnV^bodTo^ , sorrow if y© can't, drown it? .There was-, no liquor in the camp, However, so" Mick's^ father — who even in tSose days was the-, waggoner — was sent off, post haste, to "". Lawrence to get some. ' In due time' he returned wid as fine a cask as ever a < hooper put stave in. .The boys hailed ; him wid a thirsty shout; but on looking • it over they found there want a tap in . the cask nor an auger in the camp to / i bore a hole. It was like the auld story, ' Water, water, everywhere* but .not a.» drop to drink.' But Micky -Hlckey, wa? r " there, an' Mickey. s was never kneiwn -to - let a ■ difficulty bate "Kim.r ' Knock- the .• bung , out, , boys 1' jßays he; an' we, dtdvAn' wid thatrAJne.spache'he.qLuinched-our- ! thirst and christened tEe town-!"

— Man with Swag: "I've taken a con^ tract to do some fenoinj*. Do you wank a job?" Jaded George (leaning the post) : "Fenoin* ? "Well, no ; I ain't fij for very 'ard work. I don't mind p'uifciftin a week mindin' the post-holes if l«tf