Australian Tales - Setis

“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed the mob again, in a tumultuous chorus louder
than before.
“You'll never see that red bonnet, nor that baby any more,” shouted
another of the comforters in the crowd. “Your wife is as good as a widow
now; but don't cry, Joby; I'll take care of her — I'm a single man.”
“Hoy! hoy, mister! You shall have my ticket for nothing!” shrieked the
little man in the car. “Pull this confounded thing down, and let me get
out. I don't want to go in your balloon at all, governor; I want to go
home; I'm very ill, I tell you,” he continued, frantically addressing the
obdurate old captain, who gruffly promised to throw him out “if he didn't
sit down and make less noise.”
“Good-bye, Joby,” cried a previous speaker. “I'll look after your missis;
tat-ta — give my love to the Great Bear.”
“I'd smash you, if I could get out of this basket,” roared the little man,
in a great passion, shaking his fist at his tormentor.
“Let go!” shouted the captain to the men below. The men let go, when,
amidst the shouting, the loud laughter, and varied compliments of the
assembled multitude, the balloon rose above the trees in the gardens, and
was soon high in the air, looking not much bigger than a water-butt. I
have no doubt that my haggling friend's enjoyment of the panorama
beneath him was sadly marred by his extreme terror, and his selfreproach
for refusing my reasonable offer for his ticket, combined with
his anxiety for his wife and baby.
Although I felt vexed at missing so favourable an opportunity for a ride
above the world, I enjoyed a hearty laugh at the farcical discomfiture of
the miserable little mortal, who had been so promptly punished for his
cupidity in trying to extort from me more for his ticket than I was able to
give him, and certainly more than he really thought it was worth.
The foregoing little incident — although it taught me nothing new in
principle — has often recurred to my memory, when I have seen the
same covetous spirit exhibited in various ways, in my everyday
intercourse with the world; and I have on other occasions seen speedy
retribution follow similar acts of greediness, or attempts at driving hard
bargains.
I have repeatedly seen servants lose good situations, through
obstinately demanding higher wages than they are worth, or than their
employers were able to give them; and afterwards I have seen those same
servants soliciting employment, of less desirable kind, and at much lower
wages, when compelled by their exhausted finances to obtain work at
any price. I have seen combinations of men striving to exact a little more
pay for their labour than their employers could reasonably give; and
invariably such attempts have been disastrous to the men and their
families.
I have seen, too, an industrious tenantry forced off an estate, by the