noon
With a hearty shake of our hands , and a troubled brow , Murden left us ; and had he not undertaken the difficult task of driving or leading his newly-caught bird , the cassiowary , which gave him trouble , and required all of his attention , he would have broken down in his leave-taking , and galloped off without daring to trust himself with words . As for Steel Spring , he appeared delighted at the idea of leaving ; for he was fond of change , and required exciting scenes to keep him out of mischief , which he was prone to , in defiance of the vigilant eye that Murden kept on him ; and I had but little doubt , as I stood and watched their forms disappear amidst a labyrinth of tents and crazy huts , that the long-limbed wretch would have murdered him , and rejoined a gang of bushrangers , had it not been for a sort of moral fear that prevented him from committing the crime . We felt lonely for the balance of the day , although we were extremely busy in arranging our goods , and in selling . Our store was crowded from noon until long past sunset , and then we were compelled to close and exclude the crowd , owing to our being completely exhausted , both mentally and physically , for the adding up of figures was a new kind of brain work , that had not tasked us since the days when we were schoolboys . How many `` nigger heads '' we sold that day , singly , for the purpose of allowing the miners to taste our stock before they bought largely , I have no means of knowing ; but fortunately for our reputation , Smith had displayed great prudence in his bargains , and his `` cavendish '' and `` fine cut '' were at length pronounced the best that were ever brought to Ballarat , and so we got up a great sale of tobacco , and our stock ran low before we had been open a week . Smith , and the man he had hired to freight goods , remained with us three days , and then returned , in all haste , to Melbourne for more goods , for our run of custom was so great that we found that a fresh supply of articles was needed without delay . Our partner did not need urging to return to the city , for the reader will recollect that he was recently married , and that his wife was at Melbourne .