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[Page 660]

riot for going out of his way to insultingly abuse one of the men who was coming aboard, but not quick enough for this w/officer & naturally abuse that insult begets abuse of the same kind & when the w/officer went forward as if to go even beyond abuse every man standing close took a hand & it looked as if the offending w/officer & those that came to his assistance were in for a very bad time. The offender had been badly pushed & hustled but not hurt when he was dragged, with the assistance of some of the men, out of the fray, but the men as a body being now quite roused would not be satisfied till the Officers commanding the troops had positively promised that the offender would be suspended & prevented from having anything more to do with the men while they remained on board.

On leaving Melbourne the time for those disembarking at Sydney passed very slowly, although the weather was bright & sunny the hours seemed to drag & not even the old games & pastimes appeared t attract the players for any considerable time

Book readers would every now & then stop reading, get up, & start walking the deck. When close to the coast most of the men would wait leaning on the rail for hours trying to "place" the locality. Passing Gabo Island the steamer "Cumberland" was seen to be ashore, having been beached after striking a mine the work of repairing was plainly visible. At any other time & place the fact that a mine might possibly be struck any moment would have induced half the Company to become voluntary "look outs", but so anxious were they to finish the trip & leave the ship for good & all, that all they asked for was that the ship should steam ahead full speed & never "let up", the risk ran would be just the same as if going dead slow. Many began

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