Summary
Andy notices an empty treacle tin—the sort with the little tin neck or spout soldered on to the top for the convenience of pouring out the treacle—and it also strikes him that this would have made the best kind of cartridge-case: he would only have had to pour in the powder, stick the fuse in through the neck, and cork and seal it with beeswax.
He turns to suggest this to Dave, who glances over his shoulder to see how the chops are doing—and bolts. He explained afterwards that he thought he heard the pan spluttering extra, and looked to see if the chops were burning. Jim looks behind and bolts after Dave. Andy stands stock-still, staring after them.
Andy turns slowly and looks. There, close behind him, is Tommy with the cartridge in his mouth—wedged into his broadest and silliest grin. And that isn't all. The dog comes around the fire to Andy, and the loose end of the fuse trails over the burning sticks into the blaze. They all run, and the dog follows Andy first. Andy tries to kick him and throws rocks at him.
Tommy sees that he has made a mistake about Andy, and leaves him to bound after Dave. Dave, who has the presence of mind to realize that the fuse’s time isn't up yet, makes a dive and a grab for the dog, catching him by the tail. He swings around, snatches the cartridge out of his mouth, and flings it as far as he can.
Tommy immediately bounds after it and retrieves it. Dave roars at the dog. Seeing that Dave is offended, Tommy leaves him and goes after Jim, who is well ahead of them all. Jim runs to a digger’s hole, about ten feet deep, and drops down into it, landing safely on soft mud. The dog bounds off after Dave again, who is the only one in sight now. Andy drops behind a log, where he lays flat on his face.
There is a small hotel or shanty on the creek, along the main road, not far from the camp. Dave is desperate, and so he makes for the shanty. There are several casual bushmen in the bar. Dave rushes into the bar, banging the door behind him.
He tells everyone that his dog has a live cartridge in his mouth. Tommy, finding the front door shut against him, runs around and by the back way. He now stands smiling in the doorway leading from the passage, the cartridge still in his mouth and the fuse spluttering. Everyone bursts out of the bar. Tommy runs first after one and then after another, for - being a young dog - he tries to make friends with everybody.
Analysis
An argument in favor of the bush could be that because the yellow-mongrel has harassed and intimidated Tommy before, it provides Tommy the chance to get the ultimate revenge. In the end, the bush has been a guardian to both the miners and to Tommy. Indeed it can be interpreted as a mother: allowing its children to take advantage of her, punishing them when they go too far and are ungrateful, but ultimately protected them when things become too dangerous.
The irony - and great favor the bush does for the miners - is that instead of killing any one of the cruel colonizers that are pillaging its resources, the bush kills a chief source of anxiety for the bushmen. It shows benevolence and mercy, possibly in hope of convincing the bushmen to leave the bush - or at the least inhabit it without disturbing the peace. However, as a perfunctory look at history shows, the bushmen did not leave. In fact, their descendants continue to inhabit the Australian continent today.
The humorous scene that ensues also reveals a practical purpose of the story: comic relief. The foolishness and stupidity of the miners and Tommy are necessary plot devices to stimulate amusement. Lawson worked in the Australian wilderness whilst studying for his university exams, which provides evidence of the fact that he had first-hand accounts of some of the challenges workers in such difficult environments faced. While his stories were written to entertain and inform wider audiences about life in the bush, they also served to provide an escape for the workers from the harshness of their daily routines. Of course, this is complicated by the fact that not only Australian bushmen were literate.
Moreover it would seem that the other bushmen who Dave sends into a frenzy after he leads Tommy to the hotel would have good reason to be mad at him. After all, the live cartridge could have seriously injured them all. But because they seem to understand that life in the bush is unpredictable and dangerous, they do not seem to hold Dave's reckless behavior against him. In fact, in an urban setting or possibly in England, Dave would most probably face legal repercussions (such as endangering public welfare and safety). This goes to show that while living in a lawless, undeveloped social setting has its drawbacks, it also allows certain behaviors to go unchecked. The bush is in many respects a lawless society, and this is more significant because many of the earliest white settlers and colonists in Australia were criminals (because Australia was initially setup as a British penal colony).
Life in the bush provides some semblance of a society that is run by - or at least undergirded by - bandits, vagrants, and the scum of British society. In this context, there is a promising backdrop to the story that envisions an environment that provides the remedial conditioning necessary for criminals to become productive members of society - or at least to some extent better, law-abiding citizens. There is hope in that way. Certainly, Australia today is an advanced democracy that ranks highly on many measures of a successful, stable nation. It also doesn't hurt that ultimately it is because of Dave that the yellow-mongrel is drawn out from under the kitchen and dealt with.
