‘Too good a chance!’ exclaimed Captain Sutherland.
I pricked my ears. I was then at the end of the cuddy waiting till the gentlemen should have done with certain dishes which it would be my business to carry forward.
‘How is a rogue to establish himself?’ asked Lieutenant Chimmo.
‘There’s plenty to be done,’ answered the doctor. ‘Labour is always in demand. When a man is on ticket-of-leave he may live where he pleases.’
‘They are much better used than our labourers at home,’ said Captain Sutherland.
‘What about the chain-gangs?’ exclaimed Captain Barrett.
‘The chain-gang is punishment,’ said the doctor. ‘It is hard work, but not harder than the toil of many an honest man at home for a famishing wage. Not harder than the labours of a French fishwife, for example.’
‘I would rather work in a chain-gang than dig in a coal mine,’ said Captain Sutherland.
‘A convict’s hired out as a servant by the Government to the applicant, isn’t he?’ said Captain Barrett.
‘Yes. You must be a landholder if you apply. I’m speaking of New South Wales,’ answered the doctor. ‘You must hold three hundred and twenty acres for every one convict you get. Seventy-five convicts are the limit. No man may have more.’