He seemed to have entered the drinking-saloon without any very definite object in view, unless he had been spurred thither by a spirit of adventure.

And having entered, a boyish interest in the motley crowd, which was evidently new to him, had induced him to remain.

He had sat in a corner, keenly observant but wholly unobtrusive, for the greater part of an hour, till in fact the attention of the great bully now confronting him had by some ill-chance been turned in his direction.
The man was three parts drunk, and for some reason, not very comprehensible, he had chosen to resent the presence of this clean-limbed, clean-featured English lad.

Possibly he recognized in him a type which for its very cleanness he abhorred.

Possibly his sodden brain was stirred by an envy which the Colonials round him were powerless to excite.