He was told that London might do very well for elderly gentlemen and invalids; but for a lad of spirit, Australia was the Land of Promise.

In a dark day Ropey wound up his affairs and embarked.
Arriving in Sydney with a small capital, and after a while waxing snug and comfortable by dint of hard kneading, he took unto himself a wife; and so far as she was concerned, might then have gone into the country and retired; for she effectually did his business.

In short, the lady worked him woe in heart and pocket; and in the end, ran off with his till and his foreman.

Ropey went to the sign of the Pipe and Tankard; got fuddled; and over his fifth pot meditated suicide--an intention carried out; for the next day he shipped as landsman aboard the Julia, South Seaman.
The ex-baker would have fared far better, had it not been for his heart, which was soft and underdone.

A kind word made a fool of him; and hence most of the scrapes he got into.