Having treated us as
guests thus far, they no doubt thought it would be wanting in
delicacy to set us to work before the compliments of the occasion
were well over. The next morning, however, they both looked
business-like, and we were put to.
"Wall, b'ys" (boys), said Zeke, knocking the ashes out of his pipe,
after breakfast - "we must get at it. Shorty, give Peter there (the
doctor), the big hoe, and Paul the other, and let's be off." Going to
a corner, Shorty brought forth three of the implements; and
distributing them impartially, trudged on after his partner, who took
the lead with something in the shape of an axe.
For a moment left alone in the house, we looked at each other,
quaking. We were each equipped with a great, clumsy piece of a tree,
armed at one end with a heavy, flat mass of iron.
The cutlery part - especially adapted to a primitive soil - was an
importation from Sydney; the handles must have been of domestic
manufacture. "Hoes" - so called - we had heard of, and seen; but they
were harmless in comparison with the tools in our hands.
"What's to be done with them?" inquired I of Peter.
"Lift them up and down," he replied; "or put them in motion some way
or other. Paul, we are in a scrape - but hark! they are calling;" and
shouldering the hoes, off we marched.'
Our destination was the farther side of the plantation, where the
ground, cleared in part, had not yet been broken up; but they were
now setting about it.
