"Five and six, and as much mutton as you want!"
"Too much, perhaps, and braxy at that!"
"Come, a cottage to yourselves, rations, and five and six a day!"
"Cottage! A tumble-down wharè is what he means!"
"Fresh meat every day with me, boys—beef, mutton, and pork!"
"Yes; and he'll want you to work twelve hours!"
"Better engage with me at five and nine; I'll lodge you well, and feed you first chop!"
And so on and so on, until at last the brothers pluck up determination, and make choice of an employer. So our Caledonian friends begin to gather together their traps and make preparations to accompany their complaisant and well-satisfied boss to his farm on the banks of the Waikato. And an indescribable joy is in their hearts, for they are to receive six shillings and sixpence a day, and to be provided with comfortable lodging and lavish "tucker" withal; and though, no doubt, they will prove worthy of that high wage to their employer, yet what marvellous wealth it is, compared to the most they could have earned had they remained to toil upon the braes of Albyn!
Of course, very few of the other immigrants get such a wage as that. The two young Scots are the picked men of the crowd. Five shillings a day and "all found" is the ordinary wage for an agricultural, and though some are worth more, new-chums are generally held to be worth a good deal less for their first year. The distich—
"Eight hours' sleep and eight hours' play,
Eight hours' work and eight bob a day,"