of the diggers in all parts; even the roughest men in the roughest camps
exhibited a schoolboy's love of horseplay and a great capacity for
primitive happiness. It was as if the people, having thrown off the more
galling restraints of civilization and order, felt their limbs and
spirits free for the first time, and exercised both with the freedom and,
the austere critic may say, the foolishness of mountain goats.

Jim's whole being was infected with the spirit of the place, his blood
danced. He had discarded his cap for a well-seasoned cabbage-tree, and
wore a blue jumper under his coat, and now passed unheeded, excepting
when a jovial digger, flown with brandy and success, roared a 'Good luck,
mate!' or commanded him in to drink. Social restraints were gone;
equality ruled the road; all men were brothers, and friendships of ten
minutes' standing were as sacred as the ties of kinship.

The night was young, but already turbulent. The hot wind had passed, and
the air was sweet and free from dust. As he moved along the street,
Done's ear caught the squeak and the twang of fiddle and banjo coming
through the confusion of voices. Step-dancing and singing were the most
popular delights. The ability to sing a comic song badly was passport
enough in digger society. The streets were lit with kerosene. Here and
there a slush lamp or a torch blazed before an establishment seeking
notoriety, shedding a note of lurid colour upon the faces of the bearded
men thronging the footpath. If there were laws controlling all these
elements, Jim failed to discover a sign of them; neither did he see sign
of the flagrant lawlessness he had been led to expect. The absence of
arms surprised him most of all. He looked to find knives and revolvers in
every belt, but saw no display of weapons, and noting the bluff,
lumbering kindliness animating the crowd, he thought of his own small but
carefully selected arsenal with some contempt.