five o'clock in the morning
Jim and I stopped at Boree shed till all the sheep were cut out . It pays well if the weather is pretty fair , and it is n't bad fun when there 's twenty or thirty chaps of the right sort in the shearers ' hut ; there 's always some fun going on . Shearers work pretty hard , and as they buy their own rations generally , they can afford to live well . After a hard day 's shearing -- that is , from five o'clock in the morning to seven at night , going best pace all the time , every man working as hard as if he was at it for his life -- one would think a man would be too tired to do anything . But we were mostly strong and hearty , and at that age a man takes a deal of killing ; so we used to have a little card-playing at night to pass away the time . Very few of the fellows had any money to spend . They could n't get any either until shearing was over and they were paid off ; but they 'd get some one who could write to scribble a lot of I O U 's , and they did as well .