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Banfield, E. J. (Edmund James), 1852-1923

"Confessions of a Beachcomber"

When the hour of departure
arrived, the blacks about the place loudly expressed their sorrow. One
softhearted creature exclaimed amid the tears--"Good-bye, Miss
Madge--good-bye, Miss Yola; me no see little girls any more. Two fella
going away, try learn be lady!"
MONEY-MAKING TRICK
A boy who had visited a town and had been taken to a circus, gathered
the camp together on the night of his return, and having given an
account of the wonders he had seen, announced that he could make money.
Satisfaction at such gift being tempered by doubt, the boy took his
stand before the expectant semicircle, and having admirably mimicked a
conjuror's patter, shouted--"Money!" A half-crown flashed in the air-to
be deftly caught and exhibited on the boy's palm.
This trick was repeated nightly. Conscious of the independence that
money gives, the whole camp became demoralised, until investigation
showed that the boy had a trained confederate in the person of his gin,
who, standing apart, on the word, flicked the half-crown in the air. The
boy lost his reputation as a maker of money, and his sole coin that
self-same night.
HONOURABLE CHASTISEMENT
At a camp of the Native Mounted Police the sergeant reported a trooper
for beating his gin.


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