Patsey was hanged afterwards for bush-ranging and gold robbery, and he had more than one man's blood to answer for.

Now we weren't like that; we never troubled the church one way or the other.

We knew we were doing what we oughtn't to do, and scorned to look pious and keep two faces under one hood.
By degrees we all grew older, began to be active and able to do half a man's work.

We learned to ride pretty well--at least, that is we could ride a bare-backed horse at full gallop through timber or down a range; could back a colt just caught and have him as quiet as an old cow in a week.

We could use the axe and the cross-cut saw, for father dropped that sort of work himself, and made Jim and I do all the rough jobs of mending the fences, getting firewood, milking the cows, and, after a bit, ploughing the bit of flat we kept in cultivation.
Jim and I, when we were fifteen and thirteen--he was bigger for his age than I was, and so near my own strength that I didn't care about touching him--were the smartest lads on the creek, father said--he didn't often praise us, either.