Page:Backblock Ballads and Later Verses (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/79



Hawkins wasn't in the swim at all in Dingo Flat, And to bait him was our chiefest form of bliss; But, in justice, be it said that he had a business head. (That's why I'm standing here and telling this.) He was trav'ling for a company, insuring people's lives; And stayed about a month in Dingo Flat; But his biz was rather dull, and we took him for a gull, An amazing simple-minded one at that.

He was mad, he was, on mining and around about the town Prospected every reef. But worse than that— He'd talk for half a day, in a most annoying way, On "The mineral resources of the Flat."

He swore that somewhere nigh us was a rich gold-bearing reef, If a fellow only had the luck to strike it; And he only used to laugh when the boys began to chaff, And seemed, in fact, to rather sort of like it.