Explore "On The Wallaby, The Diary of a Queensland Swagman" by Edward S. Sorenson on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Next day I passed through Bald Hills, crossed Pine River, and two hours later crossed the North Pine--on a narrow plank. Being thirsty, I dropped on my hands and knees to drink; but the water was as salt as the sea. A sturdily-built, middle-aged woman in a poke bonnet had stood watching me. As I rose disgustedly to my feet, she came forward.
"I was just wonderin' if you could drink Pine River water," she said, speaking slowly. "No one about here can."