Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/428

404 one who ventured to harm him would have been roughly handled by the inhabitants, as he was literally the pet of the town."

Frank asked the narrator if he knew how large the Cardwell Pet was.

"I do not," was the reply, "and circumstances did not permit accurate measurement. I have seen many alligators in Queensland that exceeded nineteen feet in length, several that were more than twenty, and there was one taken on the Fitzroy and called Big Ben that measured twenty-three feet six inches. When I last heard of him he was owned by Jamrach, in London. I think the Cardwell Pet was quite equal to Big Ben, and possibly larger; you know it is always the largest fish that is not weighed or measured. Anyway, the pet was said to have made a meal of a sundowner, though I don't believe he really did, as that class of game is too cautious."

Fred asked what a sundowner was. He had heard the term several times, but thus far it had not been explained to him.

"He is the equivalent of the American 'tramp,'" said Mr. Watson, "and abounds freely in Australia. He is fed and lodged at the stations, where he is careful to arrive at sundown or a little later, and hence his name. If he gets there before sunset he is requested to move on to the next stopping-place, or else he is asked to make himself useful at some kind of work during the remaining hours or minutes of the day. He abhors work, and therefore times his arrival to avoid it. Sometimes a group of these fellows will rest by the way-side a mile or so from a station, waiting for the sun to disappear.