Page:Backblock Ballads and Later Verses (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/37



He was tall and tough and stringy, with the shoulders of an axe-man, Broad and loose, with greenhide muscles; and a hand shaped to the reins; He was slow of speech and prudent, something of a Nature student, With the eye of one who gazes far across the saltbush plains.

Smith, by name; but long forgotten was his legal patronymic In a land where every bushman wears some unbaptismal tag; And through frequent repetition of a well-worn requisition, "Smith" had long retired in favour of the title, "Got-a-Fag."

Not until the war was raging for a month, or maybe longer, Did the tidings reach the station, blest with quite unfrequent mails; And, though still a steady grafter, he grew restless ever after, And he pondered long of evenings, seated on the stockyard rails.