Four Fires by Bryce Courtenay

any time, referee's decision is final!'
    'Yeah,' someone yells, 'if the Abo's gettin' beat and you're the ref, the other bloke goes t.k.o.?'
    But the wog, who isn't a wog because he speaks proper Australian, Page 46

    ignores him and holds up a five-pound note and winks at the Aboriginal boxer. 'Winner takes all!' he shouts.
    Well, I suppose it was a good example of not taking the spoon out of the sink and Bozo lasts one round and is no match for the black guy.
    After the first round Bozo's nose is bleeding, though only a trickle, and you could see the Aboriginal boxer is toying with him and could have hit Bozo any time he wanted to.
    When the bell for the second round comes, the Abo guy stands up, waving his gloves to show the fight is over. Then he walks over and raises Bozo's hand and declares him the winner. The greasy bloke with the moustache doesn't look too happy about it, but the crowd is on our side and so he has to give Bozo the five quid and we are suddenly rich.
    All the onlookers cheer and throw coins into the ring, so I reckon they must have nearly got their money back.
    Later, when we were feeding our faces on these hot dogs on sticks, Bozo says to me, 'After the first round I knew I was gunna get a thumping, Mole.' Then he looks at me, and there is tomato sauce all over his mouth. 'I'm never going to say nothing bad about the Abos again.'
    Bozo's fight worked out for Nancy as well, though at first I thought we were in the shit. We were in the back of the Diamond T later that night, trying to sleep with the mattress taken out and leaned against the side of the truck to dry. Colleen and Sarah were in the back with us boys, and little Colleen was sleeping on the pillows. We'd spread the blankets on the deck of the truck because it wasn't really cold. Nancy was up front trying to kip sitting upright in the cabin when this bloke comes up and talks to her and we hear him say, 'Saw the young bloke having a go in the boxing tent.'
    'Shit, we're in for it,' I whisper to Bozo. I know Mike or Sarah wouldn't have dobbed us in to Nancy.
    'Boxing tent? What's this?' Nancy says.
    'Oh, sorry,' says the bloke, realising he'd made a mistake. 'It's nothing, madam.'
    'Bozo, come here!' Nancy commands, sticking her head out the cabin window.
    'What?' says Bozo, sounding all innocent, but knowing he is in trouble.
    'What's this about the boxing tent?'
    'We was in it,' Bozo mumbles.
    'And?'
    Page 47

    'Look, madam, I'm sorry,' the bloke says, all apologetic. Then, 'The kid's got guts.'
    Nancy ignores him, 'I'm waiting, Bozo?'
    'I had a go, Mum,' Bozo says, real soft.
    'It's my fault, madam. I've gone and dobbed the lad in.' He turns look at Bozo. 'I'm sorry, son.' Then he has this good idea. 'You sleeping rough, I see. None of my business but...'
    'No, it ain't!' Nancy says, cutting him off.
    But the bloke keeps on, 'Look, there's the hay room back of stables,' he says quickly. Then he looks up at the sky. 'Rain's forecast I've got the key, how about you all bed down there? Let you have a of canvas to put over the hay so it don't prickle.'
    He says it so nicely that Nancy knows he's a good bloke and no harm. You can see he's from the bush like us.
    Nancy turns back to Bozo. 'You'll keep,' she says, then thanks bloke and sticks her hand out the window.
    'Adams; Johnny Adams, Merrindale Stud, Gilgandra.'
    'Nancy Maloney, Yankalillee, pleased t'meetcha, Mr Adams.'
    'Johnny,' he corrects, smiling, 'no point being formal then, is We'd im5te you to share our trailer, but we've got a new baby, see, the colic bad, could keep you awake all night.'
    Bingo! Somebody's going to get a christening robe.
    So we spend the night in the hay shed, comfy as you like, with hay for a mattress. JohnnyAdams was right, it did rain that night, down in buckets, we'd have been pretty miserable, but for him.
    Next morning Sarah and Mike persuade Nancy that
    shouldn't be punished as his boxing had got us out of the rain and all he'd suffered was a bit of a nose