Summary
Tommy goes in under the kitchen, but there he sees a vicious yellow mongrel cattle-dog, whom neighbors have tried for years to shoot or poison. Tommy sees the danger, and starts out and across the yard, still sticking to the cartridge. Halfway across the yard, the yellow dog catches and nips him.
Tommy drops the cartridge, gives one terrified yell, and takes to the bush. The yellow dog follows him to the fence and then runs back to see what he dropped. Nearly a dozen other dogs come from around all the corners and under the buildings.
The other dogs keep at a respectable distance round the nasty yellow dog, because it is dangerous to go near him when he thinks he has found something that might be good for a dog to eat. The yellow-mongrel sniffs at the cartridge twice, and is just taking a third cautious sniff when it explodes.
The explosion is powerful especially because the blasting powder is of a high quality that Dave got from Sydney. Additionally Andy was patient in all he did to prepare the cartridge, and nearly as handy as the average sailor with needles, twine, canvas, and rope.
When the smoke and dust clears away, the remains of the nasty yellow dog are lying against the paling fence of the yard looking as if he had been kicked into a fire by a horse and afterwards rolled in the dust under a barrow, and finally thrown against the fence from a distance. Several saddle-horses, which had been "hanging-up" round the verandah, are galloping wildly down the road in clouds of dust, with broken bridle-reins flying; and from a circle round the outskirts, from every part of the bush, comes the yelping of dogs.
Two of the dogs go home to the place where they were born, thirty miles away, and reach it the same night and stay there; it is not until evening that the rest come back cautiously to see what has happened. For half an hour or so after the explosion, several bushmen behind the stable crouch, double up against the wall or roll gently on the dust, trying to laugh without shrieking. There are two white women in hysterics at the house, and an unidentified person of color rushing aimlessly with a dipper of cold water.
Dave decides to apologize later on, "when things had settled a bit," and goes back to camp. Tommy comes slobbering to Dave and lashes his legs with his tail. He trots home after him, smiles broadly, and appears satisfied for one afternoon with the fun he’d had. Andy chains the dog up securely, and cooks some more chops, while Dave goes to help Jim out of the hole.
Analysis
Though the principal focus of the plot line is the cartridge, miners, and the dog, the author's perfunctory mention of race reveals a less attended to element of the Australian bush in the story. Specifically, he mentions that "two white women in hysterics" at the hotel. It isn't clear why the author describes the women as white. One possible reason is to distinguish them from women of other races. This seems to be the case considering the next sentence, in which "a half-caste" is "rushing aimlessly round with a dipper of cold water." Whether this "half-caste" is part black or part indigenous is also unclear. However considering the fraught, intense, and drawn-out relationship between white settlers and indigenous Australians, it would be reasonable to assume that this person is part indigenous.
Moreover the author's description of the person of color as a "half-caste" also has a classist element to it. Caste has traditionally been taken to refer to a graded hierarchy based upon religious principles (specifically those of Hinduism in India). But caste distinctions also exist as markers of occupation. In this context, the "half-caste" may also refer to the person's designated job as a kind of servant.
There is little evidence that suggests this person is also a miner, as he/she is trying to help the distressed bushmen (something the white women do not do). However it is certainly possible that this person was unaware of the live fuse and cartridge and so was not shocked. Whether Lawson wants to briefly draw attention to the topic of race is at best a guess. Life in the bush seems to be, in Lawson's perspective, far more based upon issues of class rather than race. It is safe to assume that Andy, Jim, and Dave are all white. Otherwise their physical descriptions would have included some indication that they are "marked" racially (the "unmarked" person being the white male).
In the end Tommy - despite the torture and abuse he has gone through - remains confined to domesticated, dominated conditions of existence. He is not given the freedom to live as he wishes. At the same time, one could argue that he suffers from Stockholm Syndrome (if, as Lawson does, we as the readers anthropomorphize Tommy). Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological disorder by which a captor develops sympathy for and loyalty to his or her captor, despite having gone through possibly horrific torture at the hands of that captor. Tommy's torture at the hands of his owners does not dissuade him in any way from returning to them, and very happily at that.
More importantly, Andy chains up Tommy securely to finish making food, while Jim and Dave continue to work on the hole. The absolute disregard for the events that had just happened reflects to some degree the incredible indifference and ignorance that the miners display. There is no sense of remorse or admonition about the possibility of such a bizarre occurrence happening again. Life goes on as it did before the cartridge incident. However, this can also be seen as a way for the miners to deal with the difficult lives they inhabit.
