text
stringlengths 1.96k
5.76k
| author
int64 1
50
|
|---|---|
we have eaten those we will all follow the seal on the what do you do said the in the same sort of voice as he used to richest of the looked at the girl from the north and said quietly we build a house he pointed to the side of s house for that is the side on which the married son or daughter always lives the second book the girl turned her hands palm upward with a little despairing shake of her head she was a foreigner picked up starving and could bring nothing to the housekeeping jumped from the bench where she sat and began to sweep things into the girl s lap stone lamps iron skin tin embroidered with ox teeth and real canvas needles such as sailors use the finest that has ever been given on the far edge of the circle and the girl from tlie north bowed her head down to the very floor also these said laughing and to the dogs who thrust their cold into the girl s face ah said the with an important cough as though he had been thinking it all over as soon as left the village i went to the singing house and sang magic i sang all the long nights and called upon the spirit of the my singing made the gale blow that broke the ice and drew the two dogs toward when the ice would have crushed his bones my song drew the seal in behind the broken ice my body lay still in the but my spirit ran about on the ice and guided and the dogs in all the things they did i did it everybody was full and sleepy so no one contradicted and the by virtue of his office helped himself to yet another lump of boiled meat and lay down to sleep with the others in the warm well lighted oil smelling home now who drew very well in the fashion scratched pictures of all these adventures on a long flat piece of ivory with a hole at one end when he and the girl went north to land in the year of the wonderful open winter he left the picture story with who lost it in the when his dog broke down one summer on the beach of lake at and there a lake found it next spring and sold it to a man at who was on a sound and he sold it to who was afterward a on board a big steamer that took to the north cape in when the season was over the steamer ran between london and stopping at and there sold the ivory to a for two imitation i found it under some rubbish in a house at and have translated it from one end to the other this is a very free translation of the song of the returning hunter as the men used to sing it after the always repeat things over and over again ur gloves are stiff with the frozen blood our with the drifted snow as we come m with the seal the seal in from the edge of the ana and the dog go and the long crack and the men come back back from the edge of the we our seal to his secret place we heard him scratch below we made our mark and we watched beside out on the edge of the t na we raised our lance when he rose to breathe we drove it downward so and we played him thus and we killed him thus out on the edge of the our gloves are with the frozen blood our eyes with the drifting snow but we come back to our wives again back from the edge of the and the loaded dog go and the wives can hear their men come back back from the edge of the j red dog for our white and our excellent nights for the nights of swift running fair far seeing good hunting sure cunning for the smells of the dawning ere dew has departed p or the rush through the mist and the blind started for the cry of our mates when the has wheeled and is standing at bay for the risk and the riot of night for the sleep at the mouth by day it is met and we go to the fight bay o bay red dog t was after the letting in of the that the part of s life began he had the good conscience that comes from paying debts all the was his friend and just a little afraid of him the things that he did and saw and heard when he was wandering from one people to another with or without his four companions would make many stories each as long as this one so you will never be tom how he met the mad elephant of who killed the second book two and twenty drawing eleven carts of silver to the government treasury and scattered the shiny in the dust how he fought the all one long night in the of the north and broke his knife on the brute s back plates how he found a new and longer knife round the neck of a man who had been killed by a wild and how he that and killed him as a fair price for the knife how he was caught up once in the great famine by the moving of the deer and nearly crushed to death in the swaying hot herds how he saved the silent from being once more in a pit with a stake at the bottom and how next day he himself fell into a very cunning trap and how broke the thick wooden bars to pieces above him how he the wild in the swamp and how but we must tell | 39 |
pack heavy and strong for all that they eat in the what won had said meant that the the red hunting dog of the was moving to kill and the pack knew well that even the tiger will surrender a new kill to the they drive straight through the and what they meet they pull down and tear to pieces though they are not as big nor half as cunning as the the second book wolf they are very strong and very numerous the for instance do not begin to call themselves a pack till they are a hundred strong whereas forty wolves make a very fair pack indeed s wanderings had taken him to the edge of the high grassy downs of the and he had seen the fearless sleeping and playing and scratching themselves in the little hollows and that they use for he despised and hated them because they did not smell like the free people because they did not live in and above all because they had hair between their toes while he and his friends were clean footed but he knew for had told him what a terrible thing a hunting pack was even moves aside from their line and until they are killed or till game is scarce they will go forward knew something of the too for he said to quietly it is better to die in a full pack than and alone this is good hunting and my last but as men live thou hast very many more nights and days little brother go north and lie down and if any live after the has gone by he shall bring thee word of the fight ah said quite gravely must i go red dog to the and catch little fish and sleep in a tree or must i ask help of the log and crack nuts while the pack fight below it is to the death said thou hast never met the the red even the striped one said i have killed one striped and sure am i in my stomach that would have left his own mate for meat to the if he had a pack across three listen now there was a wolf my father and there was a wolf my mother and there was an old gray wolf not too wise he is white now was my father and my mother therefore i he raised his voice i say that when the come and if the come and the free people are of one skin for that hunting and i say by the bull that bought me by the bull paid for me in the old days which ye of the pack do not remember that the trees and the river may hear and hold fast if i forget say that this my knife shall be as a tooth to the pack and i do not think it is so blunt this is my word which has gone from me thou dost not know the man with a tongue said won i look only to the second book clear the blood debt against them ere they have me in many pieces they move slowly killing out as they go but in two days a little strength will come back to me and i turn again for the blood debt but for ye free people my word is that ye go north and eat but little for a while till the are gone there is no meat in this hunting hear the said with a laugh free people we must go north and dig and rats from the bank lest by any chance we meet the he must kill out our while we lie hid in the north till it please him to give us our own again he is a dog and the of a dog red yellow and haired between every toe he counts his six and eight at the litter as though he were the little leaping rat surely we must run away free people and beg leave of the of the north for the of dead cattle ye know the saying north are the south are the we are the choose ye o choose it is good hunting for the pack for the full pack for the and the litter for the in kill and the out kill for the mate that drives the and the little little within the cave it is met it is met it is met red dog the pack answered with one deep crashing bark that sounded in the night like a big tree falling it is met they cried stay with these said to the four we shall need every tooth and must make ready the battle i go to count the dogs it is death won cried half rising what can such a one do against the red dog even the striped one thou art indeed an called back but we will speak when the are dead good hunting all he hurried off into the darkness wild with excitement hardly looking where he set foot and the natural consequence was that he tripped full length over s great where the lay watching a deer path near the river said angrily is this to stamp and tramp and undo a night s hunting when the game are moving so well too the fault was mine said picking himself up indeed i was seeking thee but each time we meet thou art longer and broader by the length of my arm there is none the second book like thee in the wise old strong and most beautiful now whither does this trail lead s voice was not a moon since there was a with a knife threw stones at my head and called me bad little tree cat names because i lay asleep in the open ay | 39 |
sunken rock holding in the hollow of a while the water on this is the place of death said the boy why do we come here they sleep said will not turn aside for the striped one yet and the striped one together turn aside for the and the they say turn aside for nothing and yet for whom do the little people of the rocks turn aside tell me master of the who is the master of the these whispered it is the place of death let us go nay look well for they are asleep it is as it was when i was not the length of thy arm the split and rocks of the of the had been used since the beginning of the by the little people of the rocks the busy furious black wild bees of india and as knew well all turned off half a mile before they reached the for centuries the little people had and from to and again the white marble with stale honey and made their tall and deep in the dark the second book of the inner where neither man nor beast nor fire nor water had ever touched them the length of the on both sides was hung as it were with black velvet curtains and sank as he looked for those were the millions of the sleeping bees there were other and and things like decayed tree trunks studded on the face of the rock the old of past years or new cities built in the shadow of the and huge masses of rotten had rolled down and stuck among the trees and that clung to the rock face as he listened he heard more than once the rustle and slide of a honey loaded comb turning over or falling away somewhere in the dark galleries then a of angry wings and the sullen of the wasted honey along till it over some ledge in the open air and down on the twigs there was a tiny little beach not five feet broad on one side of the river and that was piled high with the rubbish of years there were dead bees and stale and wings of that had strayed in after honey all tumbled in smooth piles of the finest black dust the mere sharp smell of it was enough to frighten anything that red dog had no wings and knew what the little people were moved up stream again till he came to a sandy bar at the head of the here is this season s kill said he look on the bank lay the of a couple of young deer and a could see that neither wolf nor had touched the bones which were laid out naturally they came beyond the line they did not know the law murmured and the little people killed them let us go ere they wake they do not wake till the dawn said now i will tell thee a hunted buck from the south many many rains ago came hither from the south not knowing the a pack on his trail being made blind by fear he leaped from above the pack running by sight for they were hot and blind on the trail the sun was high and the little people were many and very angry many too were those of the pack who leaped into the but they were dead ere they took water those who did not leap died also in the rocks above but the buck lived how because he came first running for his life leaping ere the little people were aware and the second book was in the river when they gathered to kill the pack following was altogether lost under the weight of the little people the buck lived repeated slowly at least he did not die though none wa his coming down with a strong body to hold him safe against the water as a certain old fat deaf yellow would wait for a yea though there were all the of the on his trail what is in thy stomach s head was close to s ear and it was a little time before the boy answered it is to pull the very whiskers of death but thou art indeed the wisest of all the so many have said look now if the follow thee as surely they will follow ho ho i have many little thorns under my tongue to into their hides if they follow thee hot and blind looking only at thy shoulders those who do not die up above will take water either here or lower down for the little people will rise up and cover them now the is hungry water and they will have no to hold them but will go down such as live to the by the red dog and there thy pack may meet them by the throat better could not be till the rains fall in the dry season there is now only the little matter of the run and the leap i will make me known to the so that they shall follow me very closely hast thou seen the rocks above thee from the side indeed no that i had forgotten go look it is all rotten ground cut and full of holes one of thy clumsy feet set down without seeing would end the hunt see i leave thee here and for thy sake only i will carry word to the pack that they may know where to look for the for myself i am not of one skin with any wolf when disliked an acquaintance he could be more unpleasant than any of the people except perhaps he swam and opposite the rock he came on and listening to the night noises dogs he said cheerfully the will come down stream if ye be not afraid ye can kill them in | 39 |
the when come they said and where is my man said o the second book they come when they come said wait and see as for thy man from whom thou hast taken a word and so laid him open to death thy man is with me and if he be not already dead the fault is none of thine dog wait here for the and be glad that the man and i strike on thy side he flashed up stream again and himself in the middle of the looking upward at the line of the cliff presently he saw s head move against the stars and then there was a in the air the keen clean of a body falling feet first and next minute the boy was at rest again in the of s body it is no leap by night said quietly i have jumped twice as far for sport but that is an evil place above low bushes and that go down very deep all full of the little people i have put big stones one above the other by the side of three these i shall throw down with my feet in running and the little people will rise up behind me very angry that is man s talk and man s cunning said thou art wise but the little people are always angry nay at twilight all wings near and far rest for a while i will play with the at twilight red dog for the best by day he follows now won s blood trail does not leave a dead ox nor the the blood trail said then i will make him a new blood trail of his own blood if i can and give him dirt to eat thou wilt stay here till i come again with my ay but what if they kill thee in the or the little people kill thee before thou leap down to the river when to morrow comes we will kill for tomorrow said quoting a saying and again when i am dead it is time to sing the death song good hunting he his arm from the s neck and went down the like a log in a toward the far bank where he found and laughing aloud from sheer happiness there was nothing liked better than as he himself said to pull the whiskers of death and make the know that he was their he had often with s help robbed bees nests in single trees and he knew that the little people hated the smell of wild so he gathered a small bundle of it tied it up with a bark string and then followed won s blood the second book trail as it ran from the for some five miles looking at the trees with his head on one side and as he looked the have i been said he to himself the wolf have i said that i am now the must i be before i am the buck at the end i shall be the man ho and he slid his thumb along the eighteen inch blade of his knife won s trail all rank with dark blood spots ran under a forest of thick trees that grew close together and stretched away gradually growing thinner and thinner to within two miles of the bee rocks from the last tree to the low of the bee rocks was open country where there was hardly cover enough to hide a wolf trotted along under the trees judging distances between branch and branch occasionally climbing up a trunk and taking a trial leap from one tree to another till he came to the open ground which he studied very carefully for an hour then he turned picked up won s trail where he had left it settled himself in a tree with an branch some eight feet from the ground and sat still his knife on the sole of his foot and singing to himself red dog a little before midday when the sun was very warm he heard the of feet and smelt the abominable smell of the pack as they trotted along won s trail seen from above the red does not look half the size of a wolf but knew how strong his feet and jaws were he watched the sharp bay head of the leader along the trail and gave him good hunting the brute looked up and his companions halted behind him scores and scores of red dogs with low hung tails heavy shoulders weak quarters and bloody mouths the are a silent people as a rule and they have no manners even in their own fully two hundred must have gathered below him but he could see that the leaders on won s trail and tried to drag the pack forward that would never do or they would be at the in broad daylight and intended to hold them under his tree till dusk by whose leave do ye come here said all are our was the reply and the that gave it his white teeth looked down with a smile and perfectly the sharp chatter of the the second book leaping rat of the meaning the to understand that he considered them no better than the pack closed up round the and the leader savagely calling a tree for all answer stretched down one naked leg and his bare toes just above the leader s head that was enough and more than enough to wake the pack to stupid rage those who have hair between their toes do not care to be reminded of it caught his foot away as the leader leaped up and said sweetly dog red dog go back to the and eat go to thy brother dog dog red red dog there is hair between every toe he his toes a second time come down ere we starve | 39 |
thee out the pack and this was exactly what wanted he laid himself down along the branch his cheek to the bark his right arm free and there he told the pack what he thought and knew about them their manners their customs their mates and their there is no speech in the world so and so as the language the people use to show scorn and contempt when you come to think of it you will see how this must be so as red dog told he had many little thorns under his tongue and slowly and deliberately he drove the from silence to from to and from to hoarse slavery they tried to answer his but a might as well have tried to answer in a rage and all the while s right hand lay crooked at his side ready for action his feet locked round the branch the big bay leader had leaped many times in the air but dared not risk a false blow at last made furious beyond his natural strength he bounded up seven or eight feet clear of the ground then s hand shot out like the head of a tree snake and him by the of his neck and the branch shook with the jar as his weight fell back almost to the ground but he never his grasp and inch by inch he hauled the beast hanging like a drowned up on the branch with his left hand he reached for his knife and cut off the red tail flinging the back to earth again that was all he needed the pack would not go forward on won s trail now till they had killed or had killed them he saw them settle down in circles with a quiver of the that meant they were going to stay and so he climbed to a higher the second book settled his back comfortably and went to sleep after four or five hours he and counted the pack they were all there silent and dry with eyes of steel the sun was beginning to sink in half an hour the little people of the rocks would be ending their labors and as he knew the does not fight best in the twilight i did not need such faithful he said politely standing up on a branch but i will remember this ye be true but to my thinking over much of one kind for that reason i do not give the big his tail again art thou not pleased red dog i myself will tear out thy stomach the leader scratching at the foot of the tree nay but consider wise rat of the there will now be many of little red dogs yea with raw red that sting when the sand is hot go home red dog and cry that an has done this ye will not go come then with me and i will make you very wise he moved log fashion into the next tree and so on into the next and the next the pack following with lifted hungry heads now and then he would pretend to fall and the pack red dog would tumble one over the other in their haste to be at the death it was a curious sight the boy with the knife that shone in the low sunlight as it shifted through the upper branches and the silent pack with their red coats all and following below when he came to the last tree he took the and rubbed himself all over carefully and the with scorn with a tongue dost thou think to cover thy scent they said we follow to the death take thy tail said flinging it back along the course he had taken the pack instinctively rushed after it and follow now to the death he had slipped down the tree trunk and headed like the wind in bare feet for the bee rocks before the saw what he would do they gave one deep howl and settled down to the long that can at the last run down anything that runs knew their pack pace to be much slower than that of the wolves or he would never have risked a two mile run in full sight they were sure that the boy was theirs at last and he was sure that he held them to play with as he pleased all his trouble was to keep them sufficiently hot behind him to the second book prevent their turning off too soon he ran and the leader not five yards behind him and the pack out over perhaps a quarter of a mile of ground crazy and blind with the rage of slaughter so he kept his distance by ear his last effort for the rush across the bee rocks the little people had gone to sleep in the early twilight for it was not the season of flowers but as s first rang hollow on the hollow ground he heard a sound as though all the earth were humming then he ran as he had never run in his life before aside one two three of the piles of stones into the dark sweet smelling heard a roar like the roar of the sea in a cave saw with the tail of his eye the air grow dark behind him saw the current of the far below and a flat diamond shaped head in the water leaped outward with all his strength the snapping at his shoulder in mid air and dropped feet first to the safety of the river breathless and triumphant there was not a sting upon him for the smell of the had checked the little people for just the few seconds that he was among them when he rose s were him and things were bounding over the edge of red dog the cliff great it seemed of clustered | 39 |
bees falling like but before any lump touched water the bees flew upward and the body of a whirled down stream overhead they could hear furious short that were drowned in a roar like the roar of the wings of the little people of the rocks some of the too had fallen into the that communicated with the and there choked and fought and snapped among the tumbled and at last borne up even when they were dead on the heaving waves of bees beneath them shot out of some hole in the to roll over on the black rubbish heaps there were who had leaped short into the trees on the cliffs and the bees blotted out their shapes but the greater number of them by the had flung themselves into the river and as said the was hungry water held fast till the boy had recovered his breath we may not stay here he said the little people are roused indeed come swimming low and as often as he could went down the river knife in hand slowly slowly said one tooth does the second book not kill a hundred unless it be a s and many of the took water swiftly when they saw the little people rise the more work for my knife then how the little people follow sank again the face of the water was with wild bees sullenly and all they found nothing was ever yet lost by silence said no sting could penetrate his scales and thou hast all the long night for the hunting hear them howl nearly half the pack had seen the trap their fellows rushed into and turning sharp aside had flung themselves into the water where the broke down in steep banks their cries of rage and their threats against the tree who had brought them to their shame mixed with the and of those who had been punished by the little people to remain ashore was death and every knew it their pack was swept along the current down to the deep of the peace pool but even there the angry little people followed and forced them to the water again could hear the voice of the leader bidding his people hold on and kill out every wolf in but he did not waste his time in listening red dog one in the dark behind us snapped a here is water had forward like an a struggling under water before he could open his mouth and dark rings rose as the body up turning on its side the tried to turn but the current prevented them and the little people darted at their heads and ears and they could hear the challenge of the pack growing louder and deeper in the gathering darkness again and again a went under and rose dead and again the broke out at the rear of the pack some howling that it was best to go ashore others calling on their leader to lead them back to the and others bidding show himself and be killed they come to the fight with two and several voices said the rest is with thy brethren below yonder the little people go back to sleep they have chased us far now i too turn back for i am not of one skin with any wolf good hunting little brother and remember the low a wolf came running along the bank on three legs leaping up and down laying his head sideways close to the ground his back and i the second book breaking high into the air as though he were playing with his it was won the and he said never a word but continued his horrible sport beside the they had been long in the water now and were swimming wearily their coats and heavy their tails dragging like so tired and shaken that they too were silent watching the pair of blazing eyes that moved abreast this is no good hunting said one panting good hunting said as he rose boldly at the brute s side and sent the long knife home behind the shoulder pushing hard to avoid his dying snap art thou there man said won across the water ask of the dead replied have none come down stream i have filled these dogs mouths with dirt i have them in the broad daylight and their leader his tail but here be some few for thee still whither shall i drive them i will wait said won the night is before me nearer and nearer came the bay of the wolves for the pack for the full pack it is met and a bend in the river drove the red dog forward among the sands and opposite the then they saw their mistake they should have landed half a mile higher up and rushed the wolves on dry ground now it was too late the bank was lined with burning eyes and except for the had never stopped since there was no sound in the it seemed as though won were on them to come ashore and turn and take hold said the leader of the the entire pack flung themselves at the shore and through the water till the face of the was all white and torn and the great went from side to side like bow waves from a boat followed the rush and as the huddled together rushed up the river beach in one wave then the long fight began heaving and straining and and scattering and and along the red wet sands and over and between the tangled tree roots and through and among the and in and out of the grass for even now the were two to one but they met wolves fighting for all that made the pack and not only the short high deep white hunters of the the second book pack but the anxious eyed the | 39 |
of the as the saying is fighting for their with here and there a wolf his first coat still half and by their sides a wolf you must know flies at the throat or at the flank while a by preference at the belly so when the were struggling out of the water and had to raise their heads the odds were with the wolves on dry land the wolves suffered but in the water or ashore s knife came and went without ceasing the four had worried their way to his side gray brother crouched between the boy s knees was protecting his stomach while the others guarded his back and either side or stood over him when the shock of a leaping yelling who had thrown himself full on the steady blade bore him down for the rest it was one tangled confusion a locked and swaying mob that moved from right to left and from left to right along the bank and also ground round and round slowly on its own here would be a heaving mound like a water in a which would break like a water and throw up four or five dogs each striving to get back to the here would be a single wolf borne down by two or three red dog laboriously dragging them forward and sinking the while here a would be held up by the pressure round him though he had been killed early while his mother with dumb rage rolled over and over snapping and passing on and in the middle of the press perhaps one wolf and one forgetting everything else would be for first hold till they were whirled away by a rush of furious once passed a on either flank and his all but jaws closed over the of a third and once he saw his teeth set in the throat of a the unwilling beast forward till the could finish him but the bulk of the fight was blind and in the dark hit trip and tumble groan and worry worry worry round him and behind him and above him as the night wore on the quick giddy go round motion increased the were and afraid to attack the stronger wolves but did not yet dare to run away felt that the end was coming soon and contented himself with striking merely to the were growing bolder there was time now and again to breathe and pass a word to a friend and the mere of the knife would sometimes turn a dog aside the second book the meat is very near the bone gray brother he was bleeding from a score of flesh wounds but the bone is yet to be cracked said thus do we do in the the red blade ran like a flame along the side of a whose hind quarters were hidden by the weight of a clinging wolf my kill the wolf through his wrinkled nostrils leave him to me is thy stomach still empty said won was fearfully punished but his grip had the who could not turn round and reach him by the bull that bought me said with a bitter laugh it is the one and indeed it was the big bay colored leader it is not wise to kill and went on wiping the blood out of his eyes unless one has also killed the and it is in my stomach that this won thee a leaped to his leader s aid but before his teeth had found won s flank s knife was in his throat and gray brother took what was left and thus do we do in the said red dog l won said not a word only his jaws were closing and closing on the as his life the shuddered his head dropped and he lay still and won dropped above him the blood debt is paid said sing the song won he no more said gray brother and too is silent this long time the bone is cracked thundered son of they go kill kill out o hunters of the free people after was away from those dark and bloody sands to the river to the thick up stream or down stream as he saw the road clear the debt the debt shouted pay the debt they have slain the lone wolf let not a dog go he was flying to the river knife in hand to check any who dared to take water when from under a mound of nine dead rose s red head and fore quarters and dropped on his knees beside the lone wolf said i not it would be my last fight panted it is good hunting and thou little brother the second book i live having killed many even so i die and i would i would die by thee little brother took the terrible head on his knees and put his arms round the torn neck it is long since the old days of and a man that rolled naked in the dust nay nay i am a wolf i am of one skin with the free people cried it is no will of mine that i am a man thou art a man little brother of my watching thou art a man or else the pack had fled before the my life i owe to thee and to day thou hast saved the pack even as once i saved thee hast thou forgotten all debts are paid now go to thine own people i tell thee again eye of my eye this hunting is ended go to thine own people i will never go i will hunt alone in the i have said it after the summer come the rains and after the rains comes the spring go back before thou art driven who will drive me will drive go back to thy people go to man when drives | 39 |
i will go answered red dog there is no more to say said little brother thou raise me to my feet i also was a leader of the free people very carefully and gently lifted the bodies aside and raised to his feet both arms round him and the lone wolf drew a long breath and began the death song that a leader of the pack should sing when he dies it gathered strength as he went on lifting and lifting and ringing far across the river till it came to the last good hunting and shook himself clear of for an instant and leaping into the air fell backward dead upon his last and most terrible kill sat with the head on his knees careless of anything else while the remnant of the flying were being overtaken and run down by the merciless little by little the cries died away and the wolves returned as their wounds to take stock of the losses fifteen of the pack as well as half a dozen lay dead by the river and of the others not one was and sat through it all till the cold daybreak when s wet red was dropped in his hand and drew back to show the gaunt body of good hunting said as though o the second book were still alive and then over his bitten shoulder to the others howl dogs a wolf has died to night but of all the pack of two hundred fighting whose boast was that all were their and that no living thing could stand before them not one returned to the to carry that word s song this is the song that sang as the dropped down one after another to the river bed when the great fight was finished is good friends with everybody but he is a cold blooded kind of creature at heart because he knows that almost everybody in the comes to him in the long run were my companions going forth by night for look you for now come i to whistle them the ending of the fight of word they gave me overhead of newly slain word i gave them of buck upon the plain re s an end of every trail they shall not speak again they that called the hunting cry they that followed fast for i look you for the second book they that bade the wheel and pinned him as he passed of they that behind the scent they that ran before they that the level horn they that here s an end of every trail they shall not follow more these were my companions pity t was tliey died j for chill look you for now come i to comfort them that knew them in their pride of tattered flank and sunken eye open mouth and red locked and and lone they lie the dead upon their dead here s an end of every trail and here my hosts are fed the spring running man goes to man i cry the challenge through the i he that was our brother goes away hear now and judge o ye people of the answer who shall turn him who shall stay man goes to man he is weeping in the he that was our brother sorrows sore man goes to man oh we loved him in the to the man trail where we may not follow more o the spring running he second year after the great fight with red dog and the death of must have been nearly seventeen years old he looked older for hard exercise the best of good eating and whenever he felt in the least hot or dusty had given him strength and growth far beyond his age he could swing by one hand from a top branch for half an hour at a time when he had occasion to look along the tree roads he could stop a young buck in mid the second book gallop and throw him sideways by the head he could even jerk over the big blue wild that lived in the of the north the people who used to fear him for his wits feared him now for his strength and when he moved quietly on his own affairs the mere whisper of his coming cleared the wood paths and yet the look in his eyes was always gentle even when he fought his eyes never blazed as s did they only grew more and more interested and excited and that was one of the things that himself did not understand he asked about it and the boy laughed and said when i miss the kill i am angry when i must go empty for two days i am very angry do not my eyes talk then the mouth is angry said but the eyes say nothing hunting eating or swimming it is all one like a stone in wet or dry weather looked at him lazily from under his long and as usual the s head dropped knew his master they were lying out far up the side of a hill overlooking the and the morning mist hung below them in bands of white and green as the sun rose it changed into seas of red gold off and let the the spring running low rays the dried grass on which and were resting it was the end of the cold weather the leaves and the trees looked worn and faded and there was a dry rustle everywhere when the wind blew a little leaf tap tap tapped furiously against a as a single leaf caught in a current will it roused for he the morning air with a deep hollow cough threw himself on his back and struck with his fore at the nodding leaf above the year turns he said the goes forward the | 39 |
and i will die upon the council rock and whom i love if he is not screaming in the valley perhaps may watch by what is left for a little lest use me as he used a large warm tear down on his knee and miserable as he was felt happy that he was so miserable if you can understand that down sort of happiness as the used he repeated on the night i saved the pack from red dog he was quiet for a little thinking of the last words of the lone wolf which you of course remember now said to me many foolish things before he died for when we die our change he said none the less i am of the in his excitement as he remembered the fight the second book on bank he shouted the last words aloud and a wild cow among the sprang to her knees man said the wild could hear him turn in his that is no man it is only the wolf of the pack on such nights runs he to and fro said the cow dropping her head again to i thought it was man i say no oh is it danger oh is it danger the boy called back that is all thinks for is it danger but for who goes to and fro in the by night watching what do ye care how loud he cries said the cow thus do they cry answered contemptuously who having torn up the grass know not how to eat it for less than this groaned to himself for less than this even last rains i had pricked out of his and ridden him through the swamp on a rush he stretched a hand to break one of the but drew it back with a sigh went on steadily the and the long grass the spring running where the cow i will not die here he said angrily who is of one blood with and the pig would see me let us go beyond the swamp and see what comes never have i run such a spring running hot and cold together up he could not resist the temptation of stealing across the to and him with the point of his knife the great dripping bull broke out of his like a shell while laughed till he sat down say now that the wolf of the pack once thee he called wolf thou the bull stamping in the mud all the knows thou a of tame cattle such a man s as shouts in the dust by the crops yonder thou of the what hunter would have crawled like a snake among the and for a muddy jest a s jest have me before my cow come to firm ground and i will i will at the mouth for has nearly the worst temper of any one in the watched him puff and blow with eyes that never changed when he could make himself heard through the mud he said the second book what man pack here by the this is new to me go north then roared the angry bull for had pricked him rather sharply it was a naked s jest go and tell them at the village at the foot of the marsh the man pack do not love tales nor do i think that a scratch more or less on thy hide is any matter for a council but i will go and look at this village yes i will go softly now it is not every night that the master of the comes to herd thee he stepped out to the shivering ground on the edge of the marsh well knowing that would never charge over it and laughed as he ran to think of the anger my strength is not altogether gone he said it may be that the poison is not to the bone there is a star sitting low yonder he looked at it between his half shut hands by the bull that bought me it is the red flower the red flower that i lay beside before before i came even to the first pack now that i have seen i will finish the running the marsh ended in a broad plain where a light it was a long time since had concerned himself with the doings of men but the spring running this night the of the red flower drew him forward i will look said he as i did in the old days and i will see how far the man pack has changed forgetting that he was no longer in his own where he could do what he pleased he trod carelessly through the dew loaded till he came to the hut where the light stood three or four dogs gave tongue for he was on the outskirts of a village said sitting down noiselessly after sending back a deep wolf growl that silenced the what comes will come what hast thou to do any more with the of the man pack he rubbed his mouth remembering where a stone had struck it years ago when the other man pack had cast him out the door of the hut opened and a woman stood peering out into the darkness a child cried and the woman said over her shoulder sleep it was but a that the dogs in a little time morning comes in the grass began to shake as though he had fever he knew that voice well but to make sure he cried softly surprised to find how man s talk came back o o the second book who calls said the woman a quiver in her voice hast thou forgotten said his throat was dry as he spoke if it be what name did i give thee say she had half shut the door and her | 39 |
just enough to go the spring running on with till he could get to his evening kill the smell of the dew in the made him hungry and restless he wanted to finish his spring running but the child insisted on sitting in his arms and would have it that his long blue black hair must be out so she sang as she foolish little baby songs now calling her son and now begging him to give some of his power to the child the hut door was closed but heard a sound he knew well and saw s jaw drop with horror as a great gray came under the bottom of the door and gray brother outside a muffled and penitent of anxiety and fear out and wait ye would not come when i called said in talk without turning his head and the great gray disappeared do not do not bring thy thy servants with thee said i we have always lived at peace with the it is peace said rising think of that night on the road to there were scores of such folk before thee and behind thee but i see that even in the people do not always forget mother i go the second book drew aside humbly he was indeed a wood god she thought but as his hand was on the door the mother in her made her throw her arms round s neck again and again come back she whispered son or no son come back for i love thee look he too the child was crying because the man with the shiny knife was going away come back again repeated by night or by day this door is never shut to thee s throat worked as though the in it were being pulled and his voice seemed to be dragged from it as he answered i will surely come back and now he said as he put by the head of the wolf on the threshold i have a little cry against thee gray brother why came ye not all four when i called so long ago so long ago it was but last night i we were singing in the the new songs for this is the time of new talk thou truly truly and as soon as the songs were sung gray brother went on earnestly i followed thy trail the spring running i ran from all the others and followed hot foot but o little brother what hast thou done eating and sleeping with the man pack if ye had come when i called this had never been said running much faster and now what is to be said gray brother was just going to answer when a girl in a white cloth came down some path that led from the outskirts of the village gray brother dropped out of sight at once and backed noiselessly into a field of high springing crops he could almost have touched her with his hand when the warm green closed before his face and he disappeared like a ghost the girl screamed for she thought she had seen a spirit and then she gave a deep sigh parted the with his hands and watched her till she was out of sight and now i do not know he said sighing in his turn why did ye not come when i called we follow thee we follow thee gray brother at s heel we follow thee always except in the time of the new talk and would ye follow me to the man pack whispered did i not follow thee on the night our old the second book pack cast thee out who thee lying among the crops ay but again have i not followed thee to night ay but again and again and it may be again gray brother gray brother was silent when he spoke he growled to himself the black one spoke truth and he said man goes to man at the last our mother said so also said on the night of red dog muttered so also says who is wiser than us all what dost thou say gray brother they cast thee out once with bad talk they cut thy mouth with stones they sent to thee they would have thrown thee into the red flower thou and not i hast said that they are evil and senseless thou and not i i follow my own people let in the upon them thou and not i make song against them more bitter even than our song against red dog i ask thee what thou they were talking as they ran gray brother on a while without replying and then the spring running he said between bound and bound as it were man master of the of brother to me though i forget for a little while in the spring thy trail is my trail thy is my thy kill is my kill and thy death fight is my death fight i speak for the three but wilt thou say to the that is well thought between the sight and the kill it is not good to wait go before and cry them all to the council rock and i will tell them what is in my stomach but they may not come in the time of new talk they may forget me hast thou then forgotten nothing snapped gray brother over his shoulder as he laid himself down to gallop and followed thinking at any other season the news would have called all the together with necks but now they were busy hunting and fighting and killing and singing from one to another gray brother ran crying the master of the goes back to man come to the council rock and the happy eager people only answered he will | 39 |
return in the summer the rains will drive him to run and sing with us gray brother i the second book but the master of the goes back to man gray brother would repeat is the time of new talk any less sweet for that they would reply so when heavy hearted came up through the well remembered rocks to the place where he had been brought into the council he found only the four who was nearly blind with age and the heavy cold blooded around s empty seat thy trail ends here then said as threw himself down his face in his hands cry thy cry we be of one blood thou and i man and snake together why did i not die under red dog the boy moaned my strength is gone from me and it is not any poison by night and by day i hear a double step upon my trail when i turn my head it is as though one had hidden himself from me that instant i go to look behind the trees and he is not there i call and none cry again but it is as though one listened and kept back the answer i lie down but i do not rest i run the spring running but i am not made still i but i am not made cool the kill me but i have no heart to fight except i kill the red flower is in my body the spring running my bones are water and i know not what i know what need of talk said slowly turning his head to where lay by the river said it that should drive back to the man pack i said it but who now to where is this night he knows also it is the law when we met at cold i knew it said turning a little in his mighty man goes to man at the last though the does not cast him out the four looked at one another and at puzzled but obedient the does not cast me out then stammered gray brother and the three growled furiously beginning so long as we live none shall dare but checked them i taught thee the law it is for me to speak he said and though i cannot now see the rocks before me i see far little take thine own trail make thy with thine own blood and pack and people but when there is need of foot or tooth or eye or a word carried swiftly by night remember master of the the is thine at call i the second book the middle is thine also said i speak for no small people hat my brothers cried throwing up his arms with a sob i know not what i know i would not go but i am drawn by both feet how shall i leave these nights nay look up little brother repeated there is no shame in this hunting when the honey is eaten we leave the empty hive having cast the skin said we may not creep into it afresh it is the law listen dearest of all to me said there is neither word nor will here to hold thee back look up who may question the master of the i saw thee playing among the white pebbles yonder when thou a little and that bought thee for the price of a young bull newly killed saw thee also of that looking over we two only remain for thy mother is dead with thy father the old wolf pack is long since dead thou whither went and died among the where but for thy wisdom and strength the second pack would also have died there remains nothing but old bones it is no longer the man the spring running that asks leave of his pack but the master of the that changes his trail who shall question man in his ways but and the bull that bought me said i would not his words were cut short by a roar and a crash in the thicket below and light strong and terrible as always stood before him therefore he said stretching out a dripping right i did not come it was a long hunt but he lies dead in the bushes now a bull in his second year the bull that thee little brother ah debts are paid now for the rest my word is s word he licked s foot remember loved thee he cried and bounded away at the foot of the hill he cried again long and loud good hunting on a new trail master of the remember loved thee thou hast heard said there is no more go now but first come to me o wise little come to me it is hard to cast the skin said as sobbed and sobbed with his head on the blind bear s side and his arms round his neck while tried feebly to his feet the second book the stars are thin said gray brother at the dawn wind where shall we to day for from now we follow new and this is the last of the stories the this is the song that heard behind him in the till he came to s door again or the sake of him who showed one wise the road keep the law the man pack make for thy blind old s sake clean or hot or stale hold it as it were the trail through the day and through the night neither left nor right for the sake of him who loves thee beyond all else that moves when thy pack would make thee pain say sings again when thy pack would work thee ill the second book say is yet to kill when the knife is drawn to keep the law | 39 |
th private two thirds of a ham a loaf of bread half a de and two of champagne sitting on the roof of my carriage as i came up i heard him saying praise be a doesn t come as often as or by this an that me son i be the the the brightest in crown hand the colonel s pet said but makes you curse your this ere s good enough b the god from the machine stuff ye tis champagne we re now i am set ag in tis this stuff the little bits black leather in it i i will be ly sick it in the is ut goose liver i said climbing on the top of the carriage for i knew that it was better to sit out with than to dance many dances goose liver is ut said faith i m that makes it do to cut up the colonel he carries a power liver his right the days are warm an the nights chill he give tons an tons liver tis he so i m all liver to day he an that he me ten days c b for as a as a good his teeth that was when e wanted for to wash in the fort ditch explained said there was too much beer in the water for a god fearing man you was lucky in with you did say you so now i m i was cruel hard i ve done for the likes him in the days my eyes were wider than they are now man alive for the colonel to whip me on the in that way me that have saved the a ten times better man than him twas ne an that a power evil never mind the i said whose reputation did you save more s the pity t my own but i more trouble ut than ut was twas just my way was no business mine hear the god from the machine now i he settled himself at ease on the top of the carriage i ll tell you all about ut i will name no names for there s wan that s an s lady now that was in ut and no more will i name places for a man is by a place said lazily but this is a mixed story s upon a time as the books say i was a was you though said now that s said you lips yours again i will your take you by the slack your trousers an heave you i m said when you was a i was a than you was or will be but that s neither here nor there thin i became a man an the of a man i was fifteen years ago they called me buck in days an i a woman s eye i did that j e are ye at do you me devil a doubt said but i ve like that before dismissed the impertinence with a lofty wave of his hand and continued an the the i was in in days wa men a manner on em an a way em such as is not made these days all but wan wan o the ns a bad a wake voice an a limp leg three things are the signs a bad man you bear that in your mind me son s god from the machine an the colonel the had a daughter wan pick me up an or i u die such as was made for the natural prey men like the n who was to her though the colonel he said time an over out the brute s way my dear but he had the heart for to send her away from the bein as he was a an she their wan child stop a minute said i how in the world did you come to know these things how did i come said with a scornful i m turned the s pleasure to a lump wood out straight me a a in my hand for you to pick your cards out must i not see nor feel i du up my back an in my boots an in the short hair the neck that s where i my eyes i m on duty an the lar are fixed know i take my word for it an a great more is known in a j or be the use a mess or a s wife wet nurse to the major s baby to he was a bad was this n a rotten bad an first i me eye over him i to myself my i my cock a twas from he came to us there s to be cut i an by the grace god tis will cut so he and an an about the colonel s daughter an she poor at him like a looks at the ny cook he d a little a black moustache an he twisted an turned the god from the machine he used as he found ut too sweet for to spit out he was a man an a liar by some are born so he was wan i knew he was over his belt in money borrowed from natives besides a lot other which in regard for your i will a little i knew the colonel knew for he have none him an that i m by happened the in knew wan day bein idle or they never ha ut the gave an ladies you ve seen the likes time an an poor fun tis for them that sit in the back row an stamp their boots for the honour the i was told off for to the scenes up this an down that light work ut was beer and the that the | 39 |
ladies but she died in twelve years gone an my tongue s the me they was a play thing called which you may ha heard an the colonel s daughter she was a lady s maid the n was a boy called spread was his name in the play thin i saw ut come out in the i saw before an that was that he was no gentleman they was too much together two a behind the scenes i shifted an some what they said i heard for i was death blue death an ivy on the comb he was ly her to fall in some his an she was to stand out against him but not as though she was set in her will i wonder now in days that my ears did not grow a yard on me head list but i looked straight the god from the machine me an hauled up this an dragged down that such as was my duty an the ladies one to another i was out listen reach young man is this ril i was a ril then i was but no i was a ril well this business on like most an i t till the that i saw for certain that two he the an she no wiser than she should ha been had put up an a what said i e you call an e i calls it tis right an natural an proper tis wrong an to steal a man s wan child she not her own mind there was a in the who set my face upon e i ll tell you about that stick to the captains said is low accepted the and went on now i knew that the colonel was no fool any more than me for i was the man in the an the colonel was the best in asia so he said an was a truth we knew that the n was bad but for reasons which i have already i knew more than me colonel i ha rolled out his face the butt my gun before him to steal the saints knew he ha married her and he didn t she be in great an the a scandal but i raised me hand on my the god from the machine an that was a now i come to it the dawn s said an we re no nearer ome than we was at the lend me your mine s all dust pitched his over and filled his pipe afresh so the came to an end an i was curious i stayed behind the scene was ended an i ha been in as flat as a under a painted cottage thing they was in whispers an she was an like a fresh fish are you sure you ve got the hang the mane w he or to that as the martial sure as death she but i tis cruel hard on my father damn your father he or twas he thought the arrangement is as clear as mud will drive the ge all s over an you come to the station cool an in time for the two o clock where i ll be your faith thinks i to myself thin there s a in the business tu a powerful bad thing is a don t you have any wan thin he began her an all the an ladies left an they put out the lights to explain the theory the flight as they say at you must understand that this was ended there was another little bit a play called couples some kind couple or another the l was in this but not the man i he d go to the station the s at the end the first piece twas the that me for i knew for a n to go the god from the machine about the the lord knew what a on his was an be worse than the flag so far as the talk wards d on s said you re an man me son a s married all her an are which portion an tis the same she s away even the biggest on the list so i made my plan campaign the colonel s house was a good two miles away i to my colour you love me lend me your for me heart is an me feet is sore to and from this foolishness at the an lent ut a red in the shafts they was all settled down to their for the first scene which was a long wan i slips outside and into the mother but i made that horse walk an we came into the colonel s compound as the through in there was no one there the an i round to the back an found the girl s ye black brazen i your s honour for five pack up all the miss s an look order i going to the station we are i an that i laid my finger to my nose an looked the sinner i was says she so i knew she was in the business an i piled up all the sweet talk i d learnt in the on to this she an prayed her to put all the quick she knew into the thing the god from the machine while she packed i outside an for i was wanted for to the second scene i tell you a young s e as much baggage as a on the line march saints help s springs thinks i as i the stuff into the for i ll have no mercy i m too says the no you don t i later you where you are i ll come an bring you along with me you mind i called her thin i for the | 39 |
an by the special providence for i was a good work you will s springs now the n goes for that thinks i he ll be at the end off the n runs in his to the colonel s house an i sits down on the steps and laughs an again i slipped in to see how the little piece was goin an ut was near i stepped out all among the carriages an sings out very softly that a ge began to move an i waved to the hither ao i an he till i judged he was at proper distance an thin i him fair an square the eyes all i knew for good or bad an he a like the beer engine ut s low thin i ran to the t an out all the an piled it into the ge the sweat down my face in go home i to the you ll find a man close here very sick he is take him away an you say wan about you ve i ll you till your own wife won t who you are thin i heard the feet at the god from the machine the ind the play an i ran in to let down the curtain they all came out the to hide herself behind wan the pillars an i l a voice that wouldn t ha scared a hare i run over to s ge an up the old horse blanket on the box wrapped my head an the rest me in ut an up to where she was miss i going to the station captain s order an a sign she jumped in all among her own i laid to an like steam to the colonel s house before the colonel was there an she screamed an i thought she was goin off out comes the saying all sorts things about the n come for the an gone to the station take out the luggage you i or i ll you the lights the people from the was across the parade ground an by this an that the way two women worked at the bundles an was a caution i i was to help but i didn t want to be known i sat the blanket me an an thanked the saints there was no moon that night all was in the house again i asked for but in the site way from the other ge an put out my lights i saw a man in the road i slipped down before i got to him for i providence was me all through that night twas his nose smashed in flat all dumb sick as you please s man must have him out the he came to i but he began to howl the god from the machine h you black lump dirt i is this the way you your that has been an all over the country this whole night an you as as s sow get up you i louder for i heard the wheels a in the dark get up an light your lamps or you ll be run into this was on the road to the railway station the s this the n s voice in the an i could judge he was in a rage here i i ve found his about an now i ve found him oh the n f what s his name i stooped down an pretended to listen he his name s i my the n to his man an that he gets down the whip an lays into just mad rage an like the he was i thought a while he kill the man so i stop or you ll him that all his fire on me an he cursed me into an out again i to an saluted i man in this had his rights i m that more than wan be beaten to a for tliis night s work that came off at all as you see now thinks i to myself you ve cut your own throat for he ll an you ll knock him down for the good his an your own but the n never said a single he choked where he an thin he went into his good night an i back to a the god from the machine and then said and i together that was all said another word did i hear the whole all i know was that there was no e an that was i wanted now i put ut to you is ten days c b a fit an a proper for a man who has behaved as me well any ow said t this ere colonel s daughter an you was when you tried to wash in the fort ditch that said finishing the champagne is a an observation of those called we were through the china seas in a dense fog the horn blowing every two minutes for the benefit of the craft that crowded the from the bridge the f o c was invisible from the hand wheel at the stern the captain s cabin the fog held possession of everything the white fog once or twice when it tried to lift we saw a glimpse of the sea the flitting vision of a s sail spread in the vain hope of catching the breeze or the of a line of somewhere close to us lay the land but it might have been the islands for aught we knew very early in the morning there passed us not a cable s length away but as unseen as the spirits of the dead a steamer of the same line as ours she howled in answer to our and passed on suppose she had hit us said a man from then we should have gone down answered the chief officer sweetly thing to go down | 39 |
in a fog said a young gentleman who was travelling for pleasure a man both ways y know we were comfortably gathered in the smoking room the weather being too cold to venture on the deck turned upon accidents of fog the horn significantly in the pauses between the tales i by co of those heard of the wreck of the the cutting down of the within half a mile of harbour and the carrying away of the bow plates of the outside sandy hook it is astonishing said the man from how many true stories are put down as sea it makes a man almost shrink from telling an anecdote oh please don t shrink on our account said the smoking room with one voice it s not my own story said the man from a fellow on a boat told it me he had been third of a sort on a tramp one of those dish coal where the machinery is tied up with a string and the plates are with the way he told his tale was this the tramp had been creeping along some sea or other with a ten years old and the sort of when she got into a fog just such a fog as we have now here the smoking room turned round as one man and looked through the windows in the man s own words just when the fog was the engines broke down they had been doing this for some weeks and we were too weary to care i went forward of the bridge and leaned over the side wondering where i should ever get something that i could call a ship and whether the old would fall to pieces as she lay the fog was as thick as any london one but as white as steam while they were at the engines below i heard a voice in the fog about twenty yards from the ship s side calling out can you climb on board if we throw you a rope that startled me because i fancied we were going to of those be run down the next minute by a ship engaged in a man overboard i shouted for the engine room whistle and it whistled about five minutes but never the sound of a ship could we hear the ship s boy came forward with some for me as he put it into my hand i heard the voice in the fog crying out about throwing us a rope this time it was the boy that ship on us and off went the whistle again while the men in the engine room it generally took the ship s crew to repair the engines tumbled upon deck to know what we were doing i told them about the hail and we listened in the of the fog for the sound of a screw we listened for ten minutes then we blew the whistle for another ten then the crew began to call the ship s boy a fool meaning that the third mate was no better when they were going down below i heard the hail the third time so did the ship s boy there you are i said it is not twenty yards from us the engineer sings out i heard it too are you all asleep then the crew began to swear at the engineer and what with discussion argument and a little swearing for there is not much discipline on board a tramp we raised such a row that our came aft to i the engineer and the ship s boy stuck to our tale voices or no voices said the captain you d better patch the old engines up and see if you ve got enough steam to whistle with i ve a notion that we ve got into rather too crowded ways the engineer stayed on deck while the men went down below the hadn t got back to the room before i saw thirty feet of hanging over the break of the fo c thirty feet of of those called sir doesn t belong to anything that sails the seas except a sailing ship or a man of war i quite a long time with my hands on the as to whether our friend was soft wood or steel it would not have made much difference to us anyway but i felt there was more honour in being you know then i knew all about it it was a ram we opened out i am not we opened out sir like a box the other ship cut us two thirds through a little behind the break of the fo c our decks split up the mast bounded out of its place and we over then the other ship blew a fog horn i remember thinking as i took water from the port that this was rather after she had done all the mischief after that i was a mile and a half under sea trying to go to sleep as hard as i could some one caught hold of my hair and me up i was hanging to was left of one of our boats under the lee of a large english there were two men with me the three of us began to yell a man on the ship sings out can you climb on board if we throw you a rope they weren t going to let down a fine new man of war s boat to pick up three half drowned rats we accepted the invitation we climbed i the engineer and the ship s boy about half an hour later the fog cleared entirely except for the half of the boat away in the there was neither stick nor string on the sea to show that the had been cut down and what do you think of that now | 39 |
said the man from private s story and he told a tale of far from the haunts of company officers who insist upon far from keen who the pipe stuffed into the roll two miles from the tumult of the lies the trap it is an old dry well by a twisted tree and with high grass here in the years gone by did private establish his and for such possessions dead and living as could not safely be introduced to the room here were gathered and fox of and more than doubtful for was an and pre eminent among a regiment of neat handed dog never again will the long lazy evenings return wherein whistling softly moved surgeon wise among the of his craft at the bottom of the well when sat in the giving sage counsel on the management of and from the of the overhanging waved his enormous boots in above our heads us with tales of love and war and strange experiences of cities and men landed at last in the little stuff bird shop for which your soul longed back again in the smoky stone north amid the of the private s story tender and very wise on the of a central india line judge if i have forgotten old days in the as thinks he more than other said she wasn t a real but a i don t as her was a bit like but she was a why she rode iv a carriage an good too an her air was that as you could see your in it an she wore rings an a chain an silk an satin dresses as a cost a deal for it isn t a cheap shop as keeps enough o one pattern to fit a figure like hers her name was mrs an t i to be acquainted wi her was along of our colonel s s dog i ve seen a vast o dogs but was t prettiest of a fox at i set eyes on he could do you like but an t colonel s set more store by him than if he been a christian she of her but they was i england and seemed to get all t and as belonged to a by good right but were a bit on a an a habit o out o like and round t as if he were t magistrate round the colonel him once or twice but didn t care an kept on his rounds wi his a as if he were flag to t world at large at he was on nicely thank yo and how s yo sen an then t colonel as was sort of a hand wi a dog him a real of a dog an it s wonder yon private s story should a fancy him s one o t ten says yo t your s ox nor his but it doesn t say about his dogs an happen s t reason why mrs tho she went to church lar along wi her husband who was so darker at if he t such a good his back yo might ha called him a black man and nut tell a lee they said he his brass i an he d a rare lot on it well you seen when they up t poor lad didn t enjoy very good so t colonel s sends for me as ad a for bein about a dog an what s wi him why says i he s t an what he wants is his an like t rest on us happen a rat or two ud him it s low says i is rats but it s t nature of a dog an s round an another dog or two an t time o day an a bit of a turn up wi him like a christian so she says her dog fight an christians fought then what s a soldier for says i an i explains to her t qualities of a dog at when yo to think on t is one o t things as is for they to behave like gentlemen born fit for t o they tell me t herself is fond of a good dog and one when she sees it as well as body then on t other hand a round after cats an mixed i all manners o street rows an rats an like t colonel s says well i t private s story agree wi you but you re right in a way o an i should like yo to out a wi you sometimes but yo t let him fight nor chase cats nor do an them was her very an me out a o s he bein a dog as did credit a man an i catches a lot o rats an we a bit of a match on in an dry bath at back o t an it was none so long afore he was as bright as a button again he a way o at them big dogs as if he was a a bow an though his weight were he em so like they rolled over like in a an when they he stretched after em as if he were rabbit with cats when he get t cat o one him an me was a compound wall after one of them at he d started an we was busy round a bush an when we looks up there was mrs wi a her shoulder a us oh my she sings out there s that dog would he let me stroke him soldier ay he would i for he s fond o s here an to this kind an at t clean up like t gentleman he was a shy or oh you beautiful you dog she says an her speech in | 39 |
a way them has o their i would like a dog like you you are so so an all sort o talk at a dog o sense thinks on tho he it by reason o his private s story an then i him my cane an hands an beg an lie dead an a lot o them tricks as dogs though i t hand with it for it s a fool o a good dog to do such like an at length it out at she d been sheep s eyes as t is at for many a day yo see her was grown up an she d to do an were fond of a dog she me if i d to an we goes into t drawn room her was a they a fuss t dog an i has a bottle o an he gave me a handful o cigars r away but t sings out oh soldier please again and bring that dog i didn t let on to t colonel s about mrs and he says an i again an time there was a good an a handful o good an i t a more about than i d ever how he t prize at dog show and cost pounds from t man as bred him at his own brother was t o t prince o an at he had a as long as a book s an she it all an were tired o him but when t took to me money an i seed at she were fair fond about t dog i began to suspicion body may give a soldier t price of a pint in a friendly way an s no arm done but when it to five into your hand sly like why it s what t fellows calls an corruption specially when mrs de private s story hints how t cold weather would soon be an she was goin to an we was goin to an she would see any more somebody she on would be kind her i tells an all t to end tis that wicked ould says t tis she is ye into my but i ll your i ll save ye from the wicked that wealthy ould woman an i ll go ye this and to her the truth an honesty but says he his twas not like ye to all that good an fine cigars to while here an me have been round throats as dry as lime and to smoke but twas a to play on a comrade for why should you be yourself on the butt a satin chair as if was not the anybody who in let alone me sticks in but that s like life them s really fitted to society get no show while a like you nay says i it s none o t she wants it s he s t gentleman this journey t next day an an me goes to mrs s an t bein a she a bit shy at but yo ve talk an yo may believe as he fairly t she let out at she wanted to away wi her to then changes his private s story tune an her solemn like if she d thought o t consequences o two poor but honest soldiers sent t islands mrs began to cry so turns round t other tack and her down at ud be a vast better off in t hills than down i and twas a pity he shouldn t go he was so well and he went on an an up t she felt as if her life warn t worth if she didn t t dog then all of a he says but ye shall have him for i ve a heart not like this but cost ye not a penny less than three don t yo believe him says i t colonel s wouldn t five hundred for him who said she would says it s not him i mane but for the sake o this kind good i ll do what i never to do in my life i ll stale him don t say steal says mrs he shall have the happiest home dogs often get lost you know and then they stray an he likes me and i like him as i liked a dog yet an i must him if i got him at t last minute i could carry him off to and nobody would now an again ed at me an though i could o what he was after i concluded to take his well i says i never to down to dog but if my comrade sees how it could be done to oblige a like yo sen i m nut t man to back tho it s a bad business i m an three s story hundred is a poor set off again t chance of them islands as talks on i ll it three fifty says mrs only let me t dog so we let her persuade us an she s measure an then an sent to s to order a silver collar again t time when he was to be her which was to be t day she set off for says i when we was outside you re goin to let her an would ye disappoint a poor old woman says he she shall have a an s he to come through says i my man he sings out you re a pretty man your inches an a good comrade but your head is made isn t our friend a an a artist his white fingers an what s a but a man who can do ye mind the white dog that belongs to the bad to him he that s lost half his time an the rest he shall be lost for good now an | 39 |
do ye mind that he s the very spit in shape an size the colonel s that his tail is an inch too long an he has none the colour that the an his is that his an worse but is an inch on a dog s tail an to a professional like is a few black brown an white no thin at all at all then we meets an that little man bein sharp as a needle seed his way through t business in a minute an he went to work a air the very next day on some white he had private s story an then he all s s on t back of a white so as to get his and in an be sure of his colours off brown into black as as life if tied a fault it was too but it was lar an settled himself to make a rate job on it when he got hand o t s dog was a dog as for bad temper an it did nut get no better when his tail to be an inch an a half shorter but they may talk o royal as they like seed a bit o animal to beat t copy as made of s marks t itself was all t time an to get at to be copied as good as as conceit on as would lift a an he so wi his sham he for him to mrs before she went away but an me stopped s work though so was skin deep an at last mrs fixed t day for to we was to to t i a basket an hand him just when they was ready to start an then she d give us t brass as was agreed upon an my it were high time she were off for them air upon t cur s back took a vast of to keep t tho spent a matter o seven six i t best shops i an t was for is dog an wi bein tied up t beast s got nor ever private s story it i t when t train started an we mrs wi about sixty boxes an then we gave her t basket for pride his work us to let him along wi us an he couldn t help t lid an t cur as he oh says t the how sweet he looks an just then t beauty an showed his teeth so down t lid and says ye u be careful ye him out he s to travelling by t railway an he ll be sure to want his mistress an his friend so ye u make allowance for his feelings at she would do all an more for the dear good an she would nut t basket till they were miles away for fear anybody should recognise him an we were real good and kind soldier men we were an she bonds me a bundle o notes an then up a few of her relations an friends to say good by not more than seventy five there wasn t an we cuts away what to t three hundred and fifty s what i can tell yo but we melted it we melted it it was share an share alike for said if got hold of mrs first sure twas i that the s dog just in the nick time an was the artist that made a work art out that ugly piece yet by way a thank that i was not led into by that wicked ould woman i ll send a to father victor for the poor people he s always for but me an he bein an i private s story pretty far north did nut see it i t way we d t brass an we to keep it an we did for a short time we a more o t our went to an t he got himself another o t one at got lost so lar an was lost for good at last the big drunk we re goin ome we re goin ome our ship is at the shore an you pack your for we won t come back no more ho don t you grieve for me my lovely mary ann for i ll marry you yet on a ny bit as a time expired ma a an room ballad an awful thing has happened my friend private who went home in the time expired not very long ago has come back to india as a it was all s fault she could not stand the little lodgings and she missed her servant more than words could tell the fact was that the had been out here too long and had lost touch of england knew a on one of the new central india lines and wrote to him for some sort of work the said that if could pay the passage he would give him command of a gang of for old sake s sake the pay was eighty five a month and said that if did not accept she would make his life a therefore the came out as which was a great and terrible fall though tried to disguise it by saying that he was ou the railway line an a man the big drunk he wrote me an invitation on a tool form to visit him and i came down to the funny little construction at the side of the line had planted peas about and about and nature had spread all manner of green stuff round the place there was no change in except the change of clothing which was deplorable but could not be helped he was standing upon his a and his shoulders were as well and his big thick chin was as clean shaven as ever i m a | 39 |
me son where he me little his you re a sulky swine you are an at that the men in the tent began to laugh i you me had he cut as near as might be on the oi that i d we first met the tent him out i in a him out me up loud just as if twas p an he his from the the non a handful he was an in three he was out chin down tight on his a tent to each arm an leg fit to turn a white u the big drunk i a an ut into his ugly jaw bite on that i the night is frosty an you ll be before the but for the you d be on a bullet now at the i all the was out their tents bein tis the he out who was always a lawyer an some of the men up the out that my his an the non in and out by the side i see that the was the men not to do get to your tents me put a over these two men the men back into the tents like an the rest the night there was no noise at all the the over the two an like a child twas a chilly night an faith ut just before my comes out an loose those men an send to their tents away a word but bar stiff the like a sheep to make his he was sorry for the goat there was no in the ut fell in for the march an a about i hear i to the ould colour and i let me die in glory i i ve seen a man this day the big drunk a man he is ould the s as sick as a they ll all go down to the sea like that has the a gin i an good luck go him he be by land or by sea let me know how the gets clear an do you know how they did that so i was by letter from bully damned em down to the dock till they t call their their own from the time they left me oi till they was decks not wan was more than an by the holy articles war they aboard they cheered him till they t an that mark you has not come about a in the ry man you look to that little he has tis not child that the to an stretch on a wink from a an ould like i d be proud to serve you re a said so i am so i am is ut likely i forget ut but he was a all the same an i m only a a on my the s in the heel your hand your good lave we ll to the ould three fingers up and we drank the wreck of the eternal father strong to save whom arm bath bound the restless wave who the mighty ocean keep own appointed limits deep i lady were trying the old in front of the because it was sunday in tlie i of darkness near the wheel grating the captain and the end of his burned like a head lamp there was neither breath nor motion upon th waters through which the screw was i hey hi read dull silver under the haze of the moonlight till they joined the low coast of away to the the voices of the singers at the were held down by the and came to us with force oh hear us when we cry to thee for those in peril on the sea it was as though the little congregation were afraid of the of the sea but a laugh followed and home one said shall we take it through again a little then the captain told the story of just such a night lowering his voice for fear of disturbing the and the minds of the passengers she was the five hundred tons or it may have been six in the trade one of the best te and best found on the line by a oo the wreck of the she wasn t six years old when the thing happened on just such a night as this with an smooth sea under brilliant about a hundred miles from land to this day no one knows really what the matter was she was so small that she could not have struck even a log in the water without every soul on board feeling the jar and even if she had struck something it wouldn t have made her go down as she did i was th officer then we had about seven saloon passengers including the captain s wife and another woman and perhaps five hundred deck passengers going up the coast to a shrine on just such a night as this when she was through the level sea at a level nine knots an hour the man on the bridge whoever it was saw that she was sinking at the head sinking by the head as she went along that was the only warning we got she began to sink as she went along of course the captain was told and he sent me to wake up the saloon passengers and tell them to come on deck sounds a curious sort of message that to deliver on a dead still night the people tumbled up in their and and wouldn t believe me we were just sinking as fast as we could and i had to tell em that then the deck passengers got wind of it and all hell woke up along the decks the rule in these little affairs is to get your saloon passengers off first then to fill the boats with the | 39 |
balance and afterwards god help the that s all i was getting the stern boat the away it hung as it might be over yonder and as i came along from the the deck passengers hung round me their money into my hand taking off their nose rings and and the wreck of the thrusting em upon me to buy just one chance for life if i hadn t been so desperately busy i should have thought it horrible i put and water into the boat and got the two ladies in one of em was the captain s wife she had to be put in by main force you ve no notion how women can struggle the other woman was the wife of an going to meet her husband and there were a couple of passengers beside the the captain said he was going to stay with the ship you see the rule in these affairs i believe is that the captain has to bow gracefully from the bridge and go down i haven t had a ship under my charge wrecked yet when that comes i ll have to do like the others after the boats were away and i saw that there was nothing to be got by waiting i jumped overboard exactly as i might have over into a flat green field and struck out for the mail boat another officer did the same thing but he went for a boat full of natives and they him on the chest with oars so he had some in climbing in it was as well that i reached the mail boat there was a compass in it but the had managed to fill the boat half full of water somehow or another and none of the crew seemed to know what was required of them then the went down and took every one with her ships generally do that the don t the sea for some time what did i do i kept all the boats together and headed into the track of the the thing was the thought that we were close to land as far as a big steamer was concerned and in the middle of eternity as far as regarded a little boat the sea looks big from a boat at night the wreck of the oh christ whose voice the waters heard and hushed their at thy word who on the foaming deep and amidst its rage did keep oh hear us when we cry to thee for those in peril on the sea sang the passengers cheerily that is out of tune said the captain the sea air affects their well as i was saying we settled down in the boat the captain s wife was unconscious she lay in the bottom of the boat and moaned i was glad she wasn t about the boat but what i did think was wrong was the way the two men passengers behaved they were useless with out and out fear they lay in the boat and did nothing fetched a groan now and again to show they were alive but that was all but the other woman was a jewel damn it it was worth being to have that woman in the boat she was awfully handsome and as brave as she was lovely she helped me out the boat and she worked like a man so we kicked about the sea from midnight till seven the next evening and then we saw a steamer i ll i ll give you anything i m wearing to as a signal of distress said the woman but i had no need to ask her for the steamer picked us up and took us back to i forgot to tell you that when the day broke i couldn t recognise the captain s wife widow i mean she had changed in the night as if fire had gone over her i met her a long time afterwards and even then she hadn t forgiven me for putting her into the boat and obeying the captain s orders the wreck of the but the husband of the other woman he s in the army wrote me no end of a letter of thanks i don t suppose he considered that the way his wife behaved was enough to make any decent man do all he could the other fellows who lay in the bottom of the boat and groaned i ve never met don t want to shouldn t be civil to em if i did and that s how the went down for no reason with eighty bags of mail five hundred souls and not a single packet on just such a night as this oh of love and power our brethren shield in that dread hour from rock and tempest fire and foe protect they go thus shall rise to thee glad hymns of praise by land and sea strikes me they ll go on singing that hymn all night imperfect sort of doctrine in the last lines don t you think they might have run in an extra verse sudden like the i m going on to the bridge now good night said the captain and i was left alone with the steady of the screw and the gentle creaking of the boats at the that made me shudder the solid did ye see john his brand new hat did ye see how he walked like a grand there was flags an high an and were shown but the best all the company was john john there had been a royal dog fight in the at the back of the rifle between s and s blue rot both hounds chiefly ribs and teeth it lasted for twenty happy howling minutes and then blue rot and paid three and we were all very thirsty | 39 |
a dog fight is a most entertainment quite apart from the shouting because fight over a couple of acres of ground later when the sound of belt against the necks of beer bottles had died away conversation drifted from dog to man fights of all kinds resemble in some respects any talk of fighting seems to wake up a sort of in their breasts and they bell one to the other exactly like this is noticeable even in men who consider themselves superior to of the line it shows the influence of and the march of progress tale provoked tale and each tale more beer even dreamy s eyes began to and he himself of a long history in which a trip to the solid a girl at a himself and a pair of were mixed in an so ah s from t chin to t hair an he was for t matter o a month concluded came out of a reverie he was lying down and flourished his heels in the air you re a man said he but you ve only fought men an that s an day but i ve up to a ghost an that was not an day no said throwing a cork at him you up an address the you an yer is it a bigger one nor usual twas the answered stretching out a huge arm and catching by the collar now where are ye me son will ye take the the out my mouth another time he shook him to the question no else though said making a dash at s pipe it and holding it at arm s length i ll it the ditch if you don t let me go you i tis the only i loved handle her or i ll you the if that was ah give her back to me had passed the treasure to my hand it was an absolutely perfect clay as shiny as the black ball at pool i took it reverently but i was firm will you tell us about the ghost fight if i do i said is ut the that s you course i will i to all along i was only at ut my the solid own way as said they found him to ram a down the fall away he released the little took back his pipe filled it and his eyes he has the most eloquent eyes of any one that i know did i tell you he began that i was the a man you did said with a childish gravity that made yell with laughter for was always upon us his great merits in the old days did i tell you continued calmly that i was more a than i am now i ia you don t mean it said i was ril i was af but as i say i was ril i was a of a man he was silent for nearly a minute while his mind among old memories and his eye glowed he bit upon the pipe stem and charged into his tale they was great times i m ould now me hide s wore off in patches has me an i m a married man tu but i ve had my day i ve had my day an can take away the taste that oh my time past i put me through wan the tin between and lights out blew the off a wiped me moustache the back me hand an slept on ut all as quiet as a little child but ut s over ut s over an come back to me not though i prayed for a week sundays was there any wan in the ould to touch ril that same was turned out for i the solid met him woman that was not a witch was worth the in those days an man was my dearest or i had stripped to him an we knew which was the the tu i was ril i not ha changed the colonel no nor yet the in chief i be a there was i not be mother look at me i am i now we was in a big tis no manner use names for ut might give the an i was the the earth to my own mind an wan or tu women thought the same small blame to we had lain there a year the colour e ny an took a wife that was lady s maid to some big lady in the station she s dead now is died in child bed at or ut may ha been seven nine years gone an he married but she was a pretty woman her to society she had eyes like the brown a s wing the sun catches ut an a waist no thicker than my arm an a little button a mouth i would ha gone through all asia bay to get the kiss a v an her hair was as long as the tail the colonel s forgive me that in the same with but twas all gold an time was when a lock ut was more than di to me there was pretty woman yet an i ve had a few open the door to twas in the chapel i saw her first me oi rolling round as usual to see was to be seen the solid you re too good for my love thinks i to but that s a mistake i can put straight or ray name is not now take my for ut you there an an out the married quarters as i did not no good comes ut an there s always the chance your bein found your face in the dirt a long in the back your head an your hands playing the | 39 |
on the tread another man s twas so we found o he that killed six years gone when he to his death his hair o his teeth out the married quarters i say as i did not tis tis dangerous an tis else that s bad but my tis while ut lasts i was always about there i was off duty an wasn t but a sweet word did i get from tis the the i to an gave my cap another cock on my head an straightened my back twas the back a major in those days an off as tho i did not care all the women in the married quarters i was most are i m that no woman born woman stand against me i up my little finger i had reason fer that way till i met time an i was in the dusk a man go past me as quiet as a cat that s thinks i for i am or i should be the only man in these parts now what can be up to thin i called myself a for the solid such things but i thought all the same an that mark you is the way a man wan i said mrs no to you who is that ril man i had seen the though i get sight his face who is that ril man that comes in always i m goin away mother god she as white as my belt have you seen him too seen him i i have did ye want me not to see him for we were in the outside the s quarters you d tell me to shut me eyes i m mistaken he s come now an sure enough the ril man was to us his head down as though he was ashamed good night mrs i very cool tis not for me to interfere your a but you might manage some things more i m off to i i turned on my heel an away i give that man a that him about the married quarters for a month an a week i had not ten paces before was on to my arm an i feel that she was all over stay me she you re flesh an blood at the least are ye not i m all that i an my anger away in a flash will i want to be asked twice that i slipped my arm round her waist for i fancied she had at discretion an the honours war were mine the is this she up on the tips ey her dear little toes the mother s milk not on un month let go she did ye not say now that i was flesh and i i have not changed since i an i my arm where nt was your arms to she an her eyes tis only nature i an i my arm where ut was nature or no nature she you take your arm away or tell an he ll alter the nature ay your head d you take me for she a woman i the prettiest in a she the in that i dropped my arm fell back tu paces an saluted for i saw that she she said then you know something that some men would give a good deal to be certain of how could you tell i demanded in the interests of science watch the hand said she her hand tight thumb down over the take up your hat an go you ll only make a fool you but the hand lies on the lap or you see her to shut ut an she can t go on i she s not past well as i was i fell back saluted an was goin away me she look he s again she pointed to the an by the the solid impart the ril man was out s quarters he s done that these five s past oh f what will i do he ll not do ut again i for i was mad away from a man that has been a crossed in love till the fever s died down he like a brute beast i up to the man in the as sure as i sit to knock the life out him he slipped into the open are you about here ye the i polite to give him his for i wanted him ready he lifted his head but all mournful an as if he thought i be sorry for him i can t find her he my i you ve lived too long you an your s an s in a married woman s quarters up your head ye frozen thief i an you ll find all you want an more i but he up an i let go from the shoulder to where the hair is short over the eyebrows that ll do your business t but it nearly did mine i put my behind the blow but i hit nothing at all an near put my out the ril man was not there an who had been from the throws up her heels an carries on like a cock his neck s wrung by the i back to her for a woman an a woman like is more than a p full ghosts i d never seen a woman the solid faint before an i like a calf her whether she was dead an her for the love me an the love her husband an the love the virgin to her blessed eyes again an all the names the for her my miserable a i ought to ha her an this ril man that had lost the number his mess i f what i said but i was not so far gone that i not | 39 |
hear a on the dirt outside twas in an by the same token was to i jumped to the far end the an looked as if butter t melt in my mouth but mrs the quarter master s wife that was had about my round i m not pleased you his sword for he had been on duty that s bad i an i knew that the were in what for i come outside he an i ll show you why i m i but my are none so ould that i can afford to lose tell me now who do i go out i he was a quick man an a just an saw f what i be mrs s husband he he might ha known by me that favour that i hu done him no wrong we to the back the an i stripped to him an for ten minutes twas all i do to prevent him himself against my he was mad as a dumb dog just rage but he had no me in reach or or anything else the solid will ye hear reason i his first wind was run out not i can see he that i gave him both one after the other through the low that he d been taught he was a boy an the shut down on the cheek bone like the wing a sick crow will you hear reason now ye brave man i not t can speak he up blind as a stump i was to do ut but i round an swung into the jaw side on an shifted ut a half pace to the will ye hear reason now i i can t keep my much longer an tis like i will hurt you not i can stand he out one corner his mouth so i closed an threw him blind dumb an sick an the jaw straight you re an ould fool i you re a young thief he an you ve my heart you an you thin he began like a child as he lay i was sorry as i had been before tis an awful thing to see a strong man cry i ll swear on the cross i i i care for none your oaths he come back to your quarters i an if you don t believe the you shall listen to the dead i i hoisted him an him back to his quarters mi s i here s a man that you can cure quicker than me you ve me before my wife he have i so i by the look on mrs s the solid face i think i m for a down worse than i gave you an i was was indignation there was not a name that a woman use that was not given my way i ve had my colonel walk me like a a for fifteen in ly room i into the corner shop an but all that i from his a tongue was pop to me an that mark you is the way a woman ut was done for want breath an was over her husband i tis all an i m a an you re an honest woman but will you tell him of wan service that i did you as i finished the ril man came up to the an the moon was up an we see his face i can t find her the ril man an out like the puff a candle saints stand us an evil himself that s the who was he i for he has given me a this day us that was a ril who lost his wife in those quarters three years gone an mad an walked they buried him for her well i to he s been out to company mrs for the last fortnight you may tell mrs my love for i know that she s been to you an you ve been that she ought to the solid the differ a man an a ghost she s had three husbands i an got a wife too good for you which you lave her to be by ghosts an an all manner evil i ll go in the way politeness to a man s wife again good night to you both i j an that i away fought woman man and all in the heart an hour by the same token i gave father victor wan to say a mass for s soul me him by my fist into his your ideas of politeness seem rather large i said that s as you look at ut said calmly cared for me for all that i did not want to leave anything me that could take to be angry her about an ha cleared all up there s nothing like ye let me put me oi to that bottle for my throat s as as i thought i get a kiss from an that s fourteen years gone cork s own city an the blue sky above ut an the times that was the times that was with the main guard der sit round open mouth while tell of in the south und moral lessons how before der battle take a little prayer to und a long drink of s mother mercy the us to take an this answer me that it was y who was speaking the time was one o clock of a stifling june night and the place was the i in te of fort a most desolate and least what i was doing there at that hour is a question which only concerns m the of the guard and the men on the gate said is a necessity this ll lively till relieved he himself was stripped to the waist on the next was dripping from the of water which s clad only in | 39 |
white trousers had just oyer his shoulders i and a fourth private was muttering uneasily as he open mouthed in the glare of the great guard the heat under the was with the main guard the night that i is all hell loose this tide said a puff of burning wind lashed through the gate like a wave of the sea and swore are ye more he said to put yer between your legs it ll go in a minute ah don t care ah would not care but ma heart is on ma ribs let me die oh leave me die i groaned the huge who was feeling the heat being of build the under the lantern roused for a moment and raised himself on his elbow die and be damned then he said j m damned and i can t die i who s that i whispered for the voice was new to me gentleman born said ril wan year red hot on his c mission but like a fish he ll be gone before the weather s here so he slipped his boot and with the naked toe just touched the of his misunderstood the movement and the next instant the s rifle was dashed aside while stood before him his eyes blazing with reproof you said my you if it was you would we do quiet little man said putting him aside but very gently tis not me nor will ut be me s here i was but something bowed on his groaned and the with the main guard gentleman sighed in his sleep took s and we three smoked gravely for a space while the dust devils danced on the and the red hot plain pop said wiping his forehead don t or i ll you into your own block an fire you off chuckled and from a in the produced six bottles of where did ye get ut ye said tis no pop ow do hi know the drink answered the mess man ye u have a martial on ye yet me son said but he opened a bottle i will not report ye this time f what s in the mess kid is for the belly as they say specially that mate is here s luck a bloody war or a no we ve got the sickly season war thin i he waved the innocent pop to the four quarters of heaven bloody war north east south an west ye come an but half mad with the fear of death in the swelling veins of his neck was his maker to strike him dead and fighting for more air between his prayers a second time the quivering body with water and the giant revived an ah t see a mon is i for on to live an ah t see there is for t for hear now lads ah m tired tired there s i ma bones let me die with the main guard the hollow of the arch gave back s broken whisper in a bass boom looked at me hopelessly but i remembered how the madness of despair had once fallen upon that weary weary afternoon in the banks of the river and how it had been by the skilful talk i said or we shall have loose and he ll be worse than was talk he ll answer to your voice almost before had thrown all the of the guard on s the s voice was uplifted as that of one in the middle of a story and turning to me he said in or out of it as you say an is the an more tis only fit for a young man oh the is an an in the field war my first was an to the heart their was they an so they fought for the than most bein they was the black you ve heard heard of them i i knew the black for the collection of robbers of hen of innocent citizens and daring heroes in the army list half europe and half asia has had cause to know the black good luck be with their tattered colours as glory has ever been they was hot an i cut a man s head tu deep my belt in the days my youth an some circumstances which i will i came to the ould the with the main guard a man hands an feet but as i was goin to tell you i fell the black wan day we wanted powerful bad me son was the name that place where they wan ny us an wan the a hill an down again all for to the something they d learned before twas don t know what the called it we called it silver s you know that sure silver s theatre so twas a two hills as black as a bucket an as thin as a girl s waist there was over many for our in the an they called a reserve bein by i our an was into some i think twas an are they re so an they get together god as i was they wan ny the ould an wan the to double up the hill an out the reserve was scarce in days with an not care ay an we was out only wan for the ny but he was a man that had his feet beneath him an all his teeth in their who was he i asked captain o old him that i ye that tale he was in he was a man the a little but a bit was he in command as i ll we an they came over the brow now first of the of da was captain o of the black the ballad of da thorn with the main guard the | 39 |
cannot read for eight hours a day in a temperature of or in the shade running up sometimes to at midnight very few men even though they get a of flat stale muddy beer and hide it under their can continue drinking for six hours a day one man tried but he died and nearly the whole regiment went to his funeral because it gave them something to do it was too early for excitement of fever or the men could only wait and wait and wait and watch the shadow of the creeping across the blinding white dust that was a gay life they about it was too hot for any sort of game and almost too hot for vice and themselves in the evening and filled themselves to with the healthy food provided for them and the more they the less exercise they took and more they grew then in the matter of a private began to wear away and men fell a brooding over real or imaginary for they had nothing else to think of the tone of the changed and instead of saying light i ll knock your silly face in men grew laboriously polite and hinted that the were not big enough for themselves and their enemy and that there would be more space for one of the two in another place it may have been the devil who arranged the thing but the fact of the case is that had for a long time been worrying in an way it gave him occupation the two had their side by side and would sometimes spend a long afternoon swearing at each other but was afraid of and dared not challenge him to a fight he thought over the words in the hot still nights and half the hate he felt towards he on the wretched bought a in the and put it into a little cage and lowered the cage into the cool darkness of a well and sat on the well shouting bad language down to the he taught it to say ye o which means swine and several other things entirely unfit for publication he was a big gross man and he shook like a when the had the sentence correctly however shook with rage for all the room were laughing at him the was such a puff of green feathers and it looked so human when it used to sit swinging his fat legs on the side of the cot and ask the what it thought of the would answer ye so good boy used to say scratching the s head in the matter of a private ye ear that sim and used to turn over on his stomach and make answer i ear take you don t ear something one of these days in the restless nights after he had been asleep all day fits of blind rage came upon and held him till he trembled all over while he thought in how many different ways he would sometimes he would picture himself the life out of the man with heavy boots and at others in his face with the butt and at others jumping on his shoulders and dragging the head back till the cracked then his mouth would feel hot and and he would reach out for another sup of the beer in the but the fancy that came to him most frequently and stayed with him longest was one connected with the great roll of fat under s right ear he noticed it first on a moonlight night and thereafter it was always before his eyes it was a fascinating roll of fat a man could get his hand upon it and tear away one side of the neck or he could place the of a rifle on it and blow away all the head in a flash had no right to be sleek and contented and well to do when he was the butt of the room some day perhaps he would show those who laughed at the ye bo joke that he was as good as the rest and held a man s life in the of his forefinger when hated him more bitterly than ever why should be able to sleep when had to stay awake hour after hour tossing and turning on the with the dull liver pain into his right side and his head throbbing and aching after he thought over this for many many in the matter of a private nights and the world became to him he even his naturally fine appetite with beer and tobacco and all the while the talked at and made a mock of him the heat continued and the wore away more quickly than before a s wife died of in the night and the rumour ran abroad that it was men rejoiced openly hoping that it would spread and send them into camp but that was a false alarm it was late on a tuesday evening and the men were waiting in the deep double for last posts when went to the box at the foot of his bed took out his pipe and the lid down with a bang that echoed through the deserted like the crack of a rifle ordinarily speaking the men would have taken no notice but their nerves were fretted to fiddle strings they jumped up and three or four into the room only to find kneeling by his box ow i it s you is it they said and laughed foolishly we thought twas rose slowly if the accident had so shaken his fellows what would not the reality do you thought it was did you and what makes you think he said himself into madness as he went on to hell with your thinking ye dirty ye a or chuckled the in the a well known voice now that | 39 |
was absolutely all the snapped fell back on the deliberately the men were at the far end of the room and took out his rifle and packet of in the matter of a private tion don t go playing the goat sim said put it down but there was a in his voice another man stooped slipped his boot and hurled it at s head the prompt answer was a shot which fired at random found its in s throat fell forward without a word and the others scattered you thought it was you re me to it i tell you you re me to it get up an don t lie there you an your that me to it but there was an unaffected reality about s pose that showed what he had done the men were still in the appropriated two more of and ran into the moonlight muttering i ll make a night of it thirty s an the last for myself take you that you dogs he dropped on one knee and fired into the brown of the men on the but the bullet flew high and landed in the with a vicious that made some of the younger ones turn pale it is as observe one thing to fire and another to be fired at then the instinct of the chase up the news spread from to and the men doubled out intent on the capture of the wild beast who was heading for the cavalry parade ground stopping now and again to send back a shot and a curse in the direction of his i ll learn you to spy on me he shouted i ll learn you to give me s names come on the lot o you colonel john c b he in the matter of a private turned towards the mess and shook his rifle you think yourself the devil of a man but i tell you that if you put your ugly old outside o that door i ll make you the poorest man in the army come out colonel john c b come out and see me on the i m the crack shot of the in proof of which statement fired at the lighted windows of the mess house private e ny on the cavalry p sir with thirty rounds said a to the colonel right and sir shot private what s to be done sir colonel john c b out only to be saluted by a of dust at his feet pull up said the second in command i don t want my step in that way colonel he s as dangerous as a mad dog shoot him like one then said the colonel bitterly if he won t take his chance my regiment too if it had been the i could have understood private had occupied a strong position near a well on the edge of the parade ground and w as the regiment to come on tiie regiment was not anxious to for there is small honour in being shot by a fellow private only rifle in hand threw himself down on the ground and his way towards the well don t shoot said he to the men round him like as not you ll it me i ll catch the beggar ceased shouting for a while and the noise of trap wheels could be heard across the plain major commanding the horse battery was coming in the matter of a private back from a dinner in the civil lines was driving after his usual custom that is to say as fast as the horse could go a i a blooming shrieked i ll make a of that the trap stopped what s this demanded the major of you there drop your rifle why it s i ain t got no quarrel with you pass an all s well but had not the faintest intention of passing a dangerous murderer he was as his battery swore long and fervently without knowledge of fear and they were surely the best judges for it was notorious had done his possible to kill a man each time the battery went out he walked towards with the intention of rushing him and knocking him down don t make me do it sir said i ain t got nothing you ah you would the major broke into a run take that then the major dropped with a bullet through his shoulder and stood over him he had lost the satisfaction of killing in the desired way but here was a helpless body to his hand should he slip in another and blow off the head or with the butt in the white face he stopped to consider and a cry went up from the far side of the he s killed but in the shelter of the well pillars was safe except when he stepped out to fire i ll blow yer off said six an three is nine an one is ten an that leaves me in the matter of a private another nineteen an one for myself he at the string of the second packet of crawled out of the shadow of a bank into the moonlight i see you said come a bit f on an i ll do for you i m said briefly you ve done a bad day s work sim come out ere an come back with me come to laughed sending a home with his thumb not before i ve settled you an the was lying at full length in the dust of the parade ground a rifle under him some of the men in the distance shouted shoot shoot im you move and or foot said an i ll kick in and shoot you after i ain t said the raising his head you t it a man on is legs let | 39 |
go o an come out o that with your come an it me you t you dog i dare you lie you man you butcher you lie see there i kicked the rifle away and stood up in the peril of his life come on now the temptation was more than could resist for the in his white clothes offered a perfect mark don t me shouted firing as he spoke the shot missed and the blind with rage threw his rifle down and rushed at from the in the matter of a private protection of the well within striking distance he kicked savagely at s stomach but the knew something of s weakness and knew too the deadly guard for that kick bowing forward and drawing up his right leg till the heel of the right foot was set some three inches above the inside of the left knee cap he met the blow standing on one leg exactly as stand when they and ready for the fall that would follow there was an oath the fell over to his own left as met and the private his right leg broken an inch above the ankle pity you don t know that guard sim said out the dust as he rose then raising his voice come an take him i ve is leg this was not strictly true for the private had accomplished his own since it is the special merit of that leg guard that the harder the kick the greater the s discomfiture walked to and hung over him with anxiety while weeping with pain was carried away you ain t badly sir said the major had fainted and there was an ugly ragged hole through the top of his arm knelt down and murmured s me i believe e s dead well if that ain t my blooming luck all over but the major was destined to lead his battery for many a long day with nerve he was removed and nursed and into while the battery discussed the wisdom of and blowing him from a gun they their major and his on parade brought about a scene provided for in the army in the matter of a private great too was the glory that fell to s share the would have made him drunk thrice a day for at least a fortnight even the colonel of his own regiment him upon his coolness and the local paper called him a hero these things did not puff him up when the major offered him money and thanks the virtuous took the one and put aside the other but he had a request to make and it with many a beg y pardon sir could the major see his way to letting the m wedding be adorned by the presence of four battery horses to pull a hired the major could and so could the battery excessively so it was a gorgeous wedding fe k did i do it for said for the o course ain t a beauty to look at but i wasn t goin to ave a hired turn out if i t a wanted something sim might ha wed blooming into for aught i d a cared and they hanged private hanged him as high as in hollow square of the regiment and the colonel said it was drink and the was sure it was the devil and fancied it was both but he didn t know and only hoped his fate would be a warning to his companions and half a dozen intelligent wrote six beautiful leading articles on the of crime in the army but not a soul thought of comparing the to the gaping with which this story opens black jack to the wake tim o came company all st s alley was there to see as the three share their silver tobacco and liquor together as they protect each other in or camp and as they rejoice together over the joy of one so do they divide their sorrows when s irrepressible tongue has brought him into for a season or has run through his and or has indulged in strong waters and under their influence his commanding officer you can see the trouble in the faces of the untouched two and the rest of the regiment know that comment or jest is generally the three avoid orderly room and the corner shop that follows leaving both to the young who have not sown their wild but there are occasions for instance was sitting on the of the main gate of fort with his hands in his pockets and his pipe bowl down in his mouth was lying at full length on the turf of the kicking his heels in the air and i came round the corner and asked for into the ditch and shook his head black jack no good im now said e s a listen i heard on the flags of the opposite to the which are close to the guard room a measured step that i could have identified in the tramp of an army there were twenty paces a pause and then twenty that s im said my that s im all for a button you could see your face in an a bit o lip that a would a back was doing pack was compelled that is to say to walk up and down for certain hours in full marching order with rifle and overcoat and his offence was being dirty on parade i nearly fell into the fort ditch with astonishment and wrath for is the man that ever mounted guard and would as soon think of turning out as of with his trousers who was the that checked him i asked o course said there ain t no other man would whip im on the so but ain t a man e s a dirty | 39 |
little that s e is what did say he s not the make of man to take that quietly said bin better for im if e d shut is mouth lord ow we laughed e ye say i m dirty well e when your wife lets you blow your own nose for yourself perhaps you ll know dirt is you re e an then we fell in but after p e was up black jack an was black in the face at ly room that ad called im a swine an lord knows all you know e u ave is broke in one o these days e s too big a liar for consumption three hours can an the colonel not for be in dirty on p but for said to tho i do not believe e you said e said you said an fell away you know e never speaks to the colonel for fear o fresh a very young and very married whose manners were partly the result of innate and partly of imperfectly board school came over the bridge and most rudely asked what he was doing me said owl i m waiting for my seed it along turned purple and passed on there was the sound of a gentle chuckle from the where lay e expects to get is c mission some day explained the mess that ave to put their into the same as im time d you make it sir ll be out in an hour you don t want to buy a sir do you a you can trust by the colonel s grey i answered sternly for i knew what was in his mind do you mean to say that i didn t mean to money o you any ow said i d a sold you the good an cheap ut but i know ll want after black jack we ve walked im an i ain t got nor e t neither i d sooner sell you the sir s i would a shadow fell on the and began to rise into the air lifted by a huge hand upon his collar but t said quietly as he held the over the ditch but t ma son ah ve got one eight of ma own he showed two and replaced on the rail very good i said where are you going to goin to walk im e comes out two miles or three or said the footsteps within ceased i heard the dull of a falling on a followed by the rattle of arms ten minutes later dressed his lips tight and his face as black as a stalked into the sunshine on the and sprang from my side and closed in upon him both leaning towards as horses lean upon the pole in an instant they had disappeared down the sunken road to the and i was left alone had not seen fit to recognise me so i knew that his trouble must be heavy upon him i climbed one of the and watched the figures of the three grow smaller and smaller across the plain they were walking as fast as they could put foot to the ground and their heads were bowed they fetched a great compass round the parade ground skirted the cavalry lines and vanished in the belt of trees that the low land by the river black jack i followed slowly and sighted them dusty but still keeping up their long swinging tramp on the river bank they through the forest reserve headed towards the bridge of boats and presently established themselves on the bow of one of the i rode cautiously till i saw three of white smoke rise and die out in the clear evening air and knew that peace had come again at the they waved me forward with gestures of welcome tie up your shouted an come on sir we re all goin ome in this ere boat from the bridge head to the forest officer s is but a step the mess man was there and would see that a man held my horse did the require aught else a or beer had left half a dozen bottles of the latter but since the was a friend of and he the mess man was a poor man i gave my order quietly and returned to the bridge had taken off his boots and was his toes in the water was lying on his back on the and was pretending to row with a big i m an ould fool said you two out here i was the black dog like a child me that was when an be damned to him was on a for five a week an that not paid i ve took you five miles out natural s the odds so long as you re said applying himself afresh to the as well ere as anywhere else black jack held up a and an eight bit and shook his head sorrowfully five mile from t all along o s pride i know ut said why will ye come me an yet i be sorry if ye did not any time though i am ould enough to know but i will do penance i will take a the butler of the forest was standing near the with a basket uncertain how to down to the might a know d you d a got liquor out o desert sir said gracefully to me then to the mess man easy with them there bottles they re worth their weight in gold ye long armed beggar get out o that an em down had the basket on the in an instant and the three gathered round it with dry lips they drank my health in due and ancient form and thereafter tobacco tasted sweeter than ever they absorbed all the | 39 |
time but an together at wan ind the room i up my cap and out to no little and there i grew most in my legs my head was all reasonable i to a man in e ny that was by way bein a mine i m from the belt down do you give me the touch your to my formation an march me the ground into the high grass i ll sleep ut off there i an he s dead now but good he was while he lasted walked me me the touch i wide we came to the high g ass an my faith the sky an the earth was fair me i made for where the grass was an there i off my liquor an easy conscience i did not desire to come on books too frequent my been for the good half a year i roused the was out in me an black jack i felt as though a she cat had in my mouth i had not learned to my liquor comfort in days tis little i am now i will get to pour a bucket over my head thinks i an i ha risen but i heard some wan say can take the blame ut for the hound he is i an my head rang like a guard room f what is the blame that this young man must take to oblige tim for twas tim that i turned on my belly an crawled through the grass a bit at a time to where the came from was the twelve my room down in a little patch the grass above their heads an the sin black in their hearts i put the stuff aside to get a clear view s that wan man up a dog says you re a nice hand to this job as i said will take the blame ut comes to a pinch tis to swear a man s life away a young wan thank ye for that thinks i now f what the are you against me tis as easy as your at seven or o will come to the married quarters goin to call on s wife the swine wan us ll pass the to the room an we the an all a shine an on an t our boots about thin o will come to give us the to be quiet the more by token the room lamp will be knocked over in black jack the he will take the straight road to the ind door where there s the lamp in the an that ll bring him clear against the light as he he will not be able to look into the wan us will loose off an a close shot ut will be an shame to the man that be s rifle she that is at the head the rack there s no that long cross eyed even in the the thief my ould piece out jealousy i was that an ut made me more angry than all but goes on o will an by the time the light s lit again there ll be some six us on the chest an s cot is near the ind door an the rifle will be him we ve knocked him over we know an all the knows that has given o more lip than any man us will there be any doubt at the martial twelve swear away the life a dear quiet man such as is his line pipe clay his cot us we ut as we can truthful testify mary mother mercy thinks i to it is this to have an an fit to use oh the hounds the big ran down my face for i was wake the liquor an had not the full my wits about me i laid an heard themselves up to swear my life by tales time i had put my mark oh wan or another an my faith they was few that was not so twas all in the black jack way fair fight though for did i raise my hand they had provoked me to ut tis all well wan but who s to do this tis will do that at the martial he will so the man but whose hand is put to the in the room who ll do ut round but a man they began to till kiss that was always five the that he his an out the greasy an they all fell in the notion deal on a big oath an the black curse come to the man that will not do his duty as the say black jack is the kiss black jack i to you is the ace which from time has been intimately connect battle an death kiss dealt an there was no sign but the men was the s their twice kiss dealt an there was a gray shine on their cheeks like the mess an egg three times kiss dealt an they was blue have ye not lost him the sweat on him let s ha done quick i quick ut is kiss t him the an ut fell face up on his knee black jack i thin they all duty wan an damned cheap at that price but i see they all a little away from an him the black jack no word for a but licked his lips cat ways thin he threw up his head an made the men swear by oath known to stand by him not alone in the room but at the martial that was to set on me he off five the biggest to stretch me on my cot the shot was fired an another man he off to put out the light an yet another to load my rifle he not do that himself an that was | 39 |
for twas but a little thing thin they swore over again that they not wan another an out the grass in ways two by two a mercy ut was that they did not come on me i was sick fear in the pit my sick sick sick af ther they was all gone i back to an called for a to put a thought in me was there heavy an to me beyond reason will i do f what will i do thinks i to away the arm comes in an on not pleased any wan the bein new to the in those days we used to play the mischief her twas a long time before i get out the way to pull back the back sight an her over af ther as if she was a tailor men do they give me to work the arm here s his nose flat as a table laid by for a week an ny their in knocked to small f what s wrong i u wrong the arm i showed him as though i had been his mother the way black jack a an he her an easy i him to put her to again an fire a blank into the blow pit to show how the dirt hung on the he did that but he did not put in the pin the block an he fired he was by the block clear well for him twas but a blank a full charge ha cut his oi out i looked a wiser than a boiled sheep s head that i this way ye man an don t you be ut he that he shows me a action the her all cut away to show the inside an so he was to that he had done twice over an that comes not the you re he thank ye i i will come to you again for further information ye will not he your rod away from the pin or you will get into i outside an i could ha danced delight for the grandeur ut they will load my rifle good luck to i m away thinks i and back i to the to give them their clear the was men at the ind the day i made to be far gone in an wan by wan all my came in i away thick an heavy but not so thick an heavy that any wan ha me sure and there was a gone from my an snug in my rifle i was hot rage against all an i worried the bullet out my teeth as fast as i the room bein empty then i my boot an black jack the rod and knocked out the pin the block oh twas music when that pin on the i put ut into my an stuck a dirt on the holes in the plate the block back that ll do your business i easy on the cot come an sit on my chest the whole room you an i will take you to my bosom for the biggest that cheated i have no mercy on his oi or his life little i cared i at dusk they came back the twelve an they had all been i was sleep on the cot wan man outside in the he they began to rage the room an carry on but i want to hear men laugh as they did tool twas like mad that noise o in the dark an pop goes the room lamp i hear o up an the my rifle in the rack an the men heavy as they my cot i see o in the light the lamp an thin i heard the crack my rifle she cried loud poor bein next five men were me down go easy i f what s ut all about thin on the raised a howl you hear from wan ind to the other i m dead i m i m blind i he saints have mercy on my sinful i for father constant i oh for father constant an let me go clean i by that i knew he was not so dead as i ha wished o up the lamp in the a hand as as a rest damned dog s is this yours he and turns the light on tim black jack that was in blood from top to toe the block had sprung free a full charge po good care i to bite down the brass af ther out the bullet that there might be to give ut full worth an had cut tim from the lip to the corner the right eye the in an so up an along by the forehead to the hair twas more a plough if you will than a clean cut an did i see a man as did the an the that he was in the blood strong the the men on my chest heard o they each wan to his cot an cried out very ul is ut is ut i o tim well an good do you know ut is ye dogs get a an take this away there will be more heard ut than any you will care for sat up his head in his hand an for father constant be done o him up by the hair you re none so dead that you cannot go fifteen years for to shoot me i did not i was that s o for the front my is black your he up the rifle that was still warm an began to laugh i ll make your life hell to you he for attempted an your rifle you ll be hanged first an thin put for four fifteen the rifle s done for he why tis my rifle i i up to look black jack ye | 39 |
were you her answer me that lave me alone i m i ll wait till you re i an thin we two will talk ut out o pitched tim into the none too but all the by their which was not the sign men i was for my block but not ut at all i found ut now will i do o swinging the light in his hand an down the room i had hate and o an i have now dead tho he is but for all that will i say he was a brave man he is in this tide but i wish he hear that he down the room an the shivered before the oi him i knew him for a brave man an i liked him so will i do o an we heard the voice a woman low an in the twas s wife come over at the shot on wan the benches an scarce able to walk o dear she have they you o looked down the room again an showed his teeth to the then he on the you re not worth ut he light that lamp ye dogs an that he turned away an i saw him off s wife she to wipe off the black on the front his her handkerchief a brave man you are thinks i a brave man an a bad woman no wan said a word for a time they was all ashamed past black jack d you think he will do wan at last he knows we re all in ut are we so i from my cot the man that that to me will be hurt i do not know i you have con but by what i ve seen i know that you cannot commit another man s rifle such you are i m goin to i an j ou can blow my head off i lay i did not though for a long time can ye wonder next the news was through all the an there was that the men did not tell o reports fair an easy that was come to grief through his rifle in all for to show the an by my he had the impart to say that he was on the at the time an that ut was an you might ha knocked my down a straw they heard that twas lucky for that the were always to find out how the new rifle was made an a lot had come up for the pull by bits grass an such in the part the lock that showed near the the first issues of the was not covered in an i have the pull mine time an a light pull is ten points on the range to me i will not have this foolishness i the colonel i will twist the tail off he but he saw him all tied up an in hospital he changed his will make him an early he to the doctor an was made so for a his big bloody an face up to wan side did more to the from the their than any black jack o gave no reason for f what he d said an all my were too glad to inquire tho he put his spite upon more than before wan day he me apart very polite for he be that at the you re a good tho you re a damned man he fair words i or i may be again tis not like you he to lave your rifle in the rack the pin for the she was fired i should ha found the break ut in the eyes the holes else he i your life ha been worth the pin had been in place for on my my life be worth just as much to me i you whether ut was or was not be thankful the bullet was not there i that s he pulling his moustache but i do not believe that you for all your lip was in that business i i hammer the life out a man in ten my if that man me for i am a good an i will be as such an my are my own they re strong enough for all work i have to do they do not fly back towards me i him the eyes you re a good man he me the eyes an oh he was a built man to see you re a good man he an i wish for the pure ut that i was not a or that you were not a an you will think me no coward i say this thing black jack i do not i i saw you the rifle but i take the from me now bs man to man the off tho tis little right i have to talk me being f what i am by this time ye no harm an next time ye may not but in the ind so sure as s wife came into the so sure will ye take harm an bad harm have thought i is ut worth ut ye re a man he a very man but i am a man tu do you go your way an i will go mine we had no further thin or af ther but wan by another he the twelve my room out into other rooms an got spread among the for they was hot a good breed to live together an the ny saw ut they ha shot me in the night they had known i knew but that they did not an in the ind as i said o met his death from for his wife he his own way too well too well to that affair to the right or to the he an may the lord have mercy on | 39 |
have a third out we go is there any shooting at the country s under water except the patch by the grand trunk road i was there yesterday looking at a and came across four poor devils in their last stage it s rather bad from here to then we re pretty certain to have a heavy go of it i shouldn t mind changing places with for a while sport with in the shade of the town hall and all that oh why doesn t somebody come and marry me instead of letting me go into camp ask the committee you you u stand me another for that what will you take is fine on moral grounds have you any preference small glass please excellent these days told me so for four drinks most unfair punishment i only thought of as being round the tables by the of would have to import his by train mrs s the only woman in the station she won t leave and he s doing his best to get her to go the world without good indeed here s mrs s health to the only wife in the station and a damned brave woman a damned brave woman i i suppose will bring his wife here at the end of the cold weather they are going to be married almost immediately i believe may thank his luck that the pink are all and no this hot weather or he d be torn from the arms of his love as sure as death have you ever noticed the way british cavalry take to it s because they are so expensive if the had stood fast here they would have been out in camp a month ago yes i should decidedly like to be he ll go home after he s married and send in his papers see if he doesn t why shouldn t he hasn t he money would any one of us be here if we weren t poor old what has become of the six hundred you from our table last month it took unto itself wings i think an got some of it and a the rest or else i spent it never had dealings with a in his life virtuous if i had three thousand a month paid from england i don t think i d deal with a either yawning oh it s a sweet life i wonder whether matrimony would make it sweeter ask with his wife dying by inches the world without go home and get a fool of a girl to come out to what is it says the splendid palace of an indian pro which reminds me my quarters like a i had fever last night from sleeping in a swamp and the worst of it is one can t do to a roof till the rains are over what s wrong with you tou haven t eighty to take into a running stream no but i m mixed and bad language i m a regular job all over my body it s sheer poverty of blood and i don t see any chance of getting richer either way can t you take leave that s the pull you army men have over us ten days are nothing in your sight fm so important that government can t find a substitute if i go away ye es i d like to be whoever his wife may be you ve passed the turn of life that was speaking of indeed i have but i never yet had the to ask a woman to share my life out here on my soul i believe you re right i m thinking of mrs the woman s an absolute wreck exactly because she stays down here the only way to keep her fit would be to send her to the hills for eight months and the same with any woman i fancy i see myself taking a wife on those terms with the at one and sixpence the world without the little would be little with a fine to bring home for the holidays and a pair of be for to wear free of expense presented by yes it s an prospect by the way the hasn t done falling yet the time will come when we shall think ourselves lucky if we only lose half our pay surely a third s loss enough who gains by the arrangement that s what i want to know the silver question i m going to bed if you begin thank goodness here s looking like a ghost enter indian medical very white and tired evening it s in sheets the roads are something ghastly how s mingle very bad and more frightened i handed him over to mingle might just as well have called him in the first place instead of ine he s a nervous little chap what has he got this time can t quite say a very bad and a blue so far he asked me at once if it was and i told him not to be a fool that soothed him poor devil the does half the business in a man of that build lighting a i firmly believe the world without the will kill him if he stays down you know the amount of trouble he s been giving for the last three weeks he s doing his very best to frighten himself into the grave general chorus poor little devil why doesn t he get away can t he has his leave all right but he s so dipped he can t take it and i don t think his name on paper would raise four that s in confidence though all the station knows it i suppose i shall have to die here he said all across the bed he s quite made up | 39 |
prospect how on earth am i to tell her that i am a respectable engaged member of society and it s all over between us mrs h i ve a heavy score against you where were you at the monday pop where were you on tuesday where were you at the i was looking everywhere the tents of g for me oh i was alive somewhere i suppose aside it s for s sake but it s going to be dashed unpleasant h have i done anything to offend you i never meant it if i have i couldn t help going for a ride with the man it was promised a week before you came up g i didn t know mrs h it really was g anything about it i mean h what has upset you to day all these days you haven t been near me for four whole days nearly one hundred hours was it kind of you and i ve been looking forward so much to your coming g have you h you know i have i ve been as foolish as a about it i made a little and put it in my card case and every time the twelve o clock gun went off i scratched out a square and said that brings me nearer to my g with an uneasy laugh what think if you neglect him so h and it hasn t brought you nearer you seem farther away than ever are you about something i know your temper g no h have i grown old in the last few months then reaches forward to bank of flowers for on left allow me hands card h keeps her arm at full stretch for three seconds h to partner oh thanks i didn t see the tents of right again is anything in me changed at all g for goodness sake go on with your dinner you must eat something try one of those arrangements aside and i fancied she had good shoulders once upon a time what an ass a man can make of himself i mrs h helping herself to a paper seven peas some stamped and a of that isn t an answer tell me whether i have done anything g aside if it isn t ended here there will be a ghastly scene somewhere else if only i d written to her and stood the at long range b han do aloud i ll tell you later on mrs h tell me now it must be some foolish misunderstanding and you know that there was to be nothing of that sort between us of all people in the world can t afford it is it the man and don t you like to say so on my honour g i haven t given the man a thought mrs h but how d you know that jt haven t g aside here s my chance and may the devil help me through with it aloud and believe me i do not care how often or how tenderly you think of the man mrs h i wonder if you mean that oh what is the good of and pretending to when you are only up for so short a time don t be a stupid follows a pause during which he crosses his left leg over his right and continues his dinner the tents of g answer to the in her eyes my worst h upon my word you are the very man in the world i i ll never do it again g aside no i don t think you will but i wonder what you will do before it s all over fc ur do h well haven t you the grace to bad man g aside i mustn t let it drift back now trust a woman for being as blind as a bat when she won t see h i m waiting or would you like me to dictate a form of apology g desperately by all means dictate h very well your several christian names after me and go on profess my sincere repentance g sincere repentance h for having behaved g aside at last i wish to goodness she d look away for having behaved as i have behaved and declare that i am thoroughly and heartily sick of the whole business and take this opportunity of making clear my intention of ending it now and for ever aside if any one had told me i should be such a mrs h shaking a of into her plate that s not a pretty joke g no it s a reality aside i wonder if of this kind are always so raw mrs h really you re getting more absurd every day the tents of g i don t think you quite understand me shall i repeat it mrs h no i for pity s sake don t do that it s too terrible even in fun g i ll let her think it over for a while but i ought to be horse whipped mrs h i want to know what you meant by what you said just now g exactly what i said no less mrs h but what have i done to deserve it what have i done g aside if she only wouldn t look at me aloud and very slowly his eyes on his plate d you remember that evening in july before the broke when you said that the end would have to come sooner or later and you wondered for which of us it would come first mrs h yes i was only joking and you swore that as long as there was breath in your body it should never come and i believed you g card well it has that s all a long pause during which mrs h bows her | 39 |
head and rolls the bread twist into little g at the mrs h throwing back her head and laughing naturally they train us women well don t they g touching shirt so far as the expression goes aside it isn t in her nature to take things quietly there ll be an explosion yet mrs h with a shudder thank you b but even red indians allow people to when they re the tents of being tortured i believe slips fan from and rim of fan level with chin partner on left very close to night isn t it you find it too much for you mrs h oh no not in the least but they really ought to have even in your cool t they dropping fan and raising eyebrows g it s all right aside here comes the storm mrs h her eyes on the fan ready in right hand it was very cleverly managed and i congratulate you you swore you never contented yourself with merely saying a thing you swore that as far as lay in your power you d make my wretched life pleasant for me and you ve denied me the consolation of breaking down i should have done it indeed i should a woman would hardly have thought of this refinement my kind considerate friend as before you have explained things so tenderly and too you haven t spoken or written a word of warning and you have let me believe in you till the last you haven t condescended to give me your reason yet no a woman could not have managed it half so well are there many m n like you in the world g i m sure i don t know to do mrs h you call yourself a man of the world don t you do men of the world behave like devils when they do a woman the honour to get tired of her g i m sure i don t know don t speak so loud the tents of mrs h keep us respectable o lord whatever happens don t be afraid of my you you ve chosen your ground far too well and i ve been properly brought up lowering fan haven t you any pity except for yourself g wouldn t it be rather impertinent of me to say that i m sorry for you mrs h i think you have said it once or twice before you re growing very careful of my feelings my god i was a good woman once you said i was you ve made me what i am what are you going to do with me what are you going to do with me won t you say that you are sorry helps to g i am sorry for you if you want the pity of such a brute as i am i m ly sorry for you mrs h rather tame for a man of the world do you think that that admission you g what can i do i can only tell you what i think of myself you can t think worse than that mrs h oh yes i can and now will you tell me the reason of all this remorse has been suddenly conscience stricken g angrily his eyes still lowered no i the thing has come to an end on my side that s all mrs h that s all as though i were a you used to make prettier speeches d you remember when you said g for heaven s sake don t bring that back call me anything you like and i ll admit it mrs h but you don t care to be reminded of old the tents of lies if i could hope to hurt you one tenth as much as you have hurt me to night no i wouldn t i couldn t do it liar though you are g i ve spoken the truth h my dear sir you flatter yourself you have lied over the reason remember that i know you as you don t know yourself you have been everything to me though you are fan guard oh what a contemptible it is and so you are merely tired of me g since you insist upon my repeating it yes mrs h lie the first i wish i knew a word lie seems so ineffectual in your case the fire has just died out and there is no fresh one think for a minute if you care whether i despise you more than i do simply is it g yes aside i think i deserve this mrs h lie number two before the next glass you tell me her name g aside i ll make her pay for dragging into the business aloud is it likely mrs h likely if you thought that it would flatter your vanity you d cry my name on the to make people turn round g i wish i had there would have been an end of this business mrs h oh no there would not and so you were going to be virtuous and were you to come to me and say i ve done with you the incident is i to be proud of having kept such a man so long g it only remains to pray for the the tents of end of the dinner aloud you know what i think of myself mrs h as it s the only person in the world you ever do think of and as i know your mind thoroughly i do you want to get it all over and oh i can t keep you back and you re going think of it to throw me over for another woman and you swore that all other women were my she can t care for you as i do | 39 |
believe me she can t f is it any one that i know g thank goodness it isn t aside i expected a but not an earthquake mrs h she can t is there anything that i wouldn t do for you or haven t done and to think that i should take this trouble over you knowing what you are do you despise me for it g wiping his mouth to hide a smile again it s entirely a work of charity on your part mrs h but i have no right to resent it is she better looking than i who was it said g no not that mrs h i ll be more merciful than you were don t you know that all women are alike g aside then this is the exception that proves the rule mrs h all of them i ll tell you anything you like i will upon my word they only want the admiration from anybody no matter who anybody but there is always one man that they care for more than any one else in the world and would sacrifice all the others to oh do listen i ve kept the man trotting after me like a and he the tents of believes that he is the only man i am interested in i ll tell you what he said to me g spare him i wonder what his version is mrs h he s been waiting for me to look at him all through dinner shall i do it and you can see what an idiot he looks g but what the of this gentleman mrs h watch i sends a glance to the man who tries vainly to combine a of ice a of self satisfaction a glare of intense devotion and the of a british dining countenance g he doesn t look pretty why didn t you wait till the spoon was out of his mouth mrs h to amuse you she ll make an exhibition of you as i ve made of him and people will laugh at you oh can t you see that it s as plain as the sun you ll be trotted about and told lies and made a fool of like the others never made a fool of you did i g aside what a clever little woman it is mrs h well what have you to say g i feel better mrs h yes i suppose so after i have come down to your level i couldn t have done it if i hadn t cared for you so much i have spoken the truth g it doesn t alter the situation mrs h passionately then she has said that she cares for you i don t believe her it s a lie as bad as yours to me i the tents of g ive a notion that a friend of yours is looking at you mrs h he i hate him he introduced you to me g and some people would like women to assist in making the laws introduction to imply well you see if you can remember so far back as that i couldn t in common politeness refuse the offer mrs h in common politeness we have got beyond that g aside old ground means fresh trouble on my honour mrs h your what ha ha g then she s not what you imagine i meant to mrs h don t tell me anything about her she won t care for you and when you come back after having made an exhibition of yourself you ll find me occupied with g you couldn t while i am alive a if that doesn t bring her pride to her rescue nothing will mrs h drawing herself up couldn t do it softening you re right i don t believe i could though you are what you are a coward and a liar in grain g it doesn t hurt so much after your little lecture with mrs h one mass of will nothing ever touch you in this life there must be a hereafter if it s only for the benefit of but you will have it all to yourself the tents of g his eyebrows are you so certain of that h i shall have had mine in this life and it will serve me right g but the admiration that you insisted on so strongly a moment ago aside oh i am a brute i h fiercely will that console me for knowing that you will go to her with the same words the same arguments and the the same pet names you used to me and if she cares for you you two will laugh over my story won t that be punishment heavy enough even for me even for me and it s all useless that s another punishment g oh come i m not so low as you think mrs h not now perhaps but you will be oh if a woman your vanity there s nothing on earth that you would not tell her and no meanness that you would not do have i known you so long without knowing that g if you can trust me in nothing else and i don t see why i should be trusted you can count upon my holding my tongue mrs h if you denied everything you ve said this evening and declared it was all in fun a long pause i d trust you not otherwise all i ask is don t tell her my name please don t a man might forget a woman never would looks up table and sees hostess beginning to collect eyes so it s all ended through no fault of mine haven t i behaved beautifully i ve accepted your dismissal | 39 |
day we re having tenderly his hand on g s shoulder my david how long have you known this would i come up here to make a fool of you after all these years g i know i know jack but i m as upset as i can be don t mind what i say just hear me run through the and see if i ve got it all right to have and to hold for better or worse as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end so help me god amen m with suppressed laughter yes that s about the of it i ll prompt if you get into a hat g yes you ll stick by me jack won t you i m ly happy but i don t mind telling you that i m in a blue m o are you i should never have noticed it you don t look like it with any amazement g don t i that s all right round on my soul and honour jack she s the sweetest little angel that ever came down from the sky there isn t a woman on earth fit to speak to her m aside and this is go on if it you g you can laugh i that s all you wild of are fit for m you never would wait for the troop to come up you aren t quite married yet y know g that reminds me i don t believe i shall be able to get into my boots let s go home and try em on forward m wouldn t be in your shoes for anything that asia has to offer g spinning round that just shows your hideous blackness of soul your dense stupidity your brutal narrow there s only one fault about you you re the best of good fellows and i don t know what i should have done without you but you aren t married his head gravely take a wife jack m with a face like a wall as whose for choice g if you re going to be a i m going on what s the time m an since twas very clear we drank only beer faith there must ha been some in the come back you i m going to take you home and you re going to lie down with a y amazement g what on earth do i want to lie down for m give me a light from your and see g watching butt quiver like a sweet state i m in m you are i ll get you a and you ll go to sleep they return and m a four finger g o it ll make me as drunk as an owl m curious thing t have the slightest effect on you drink it off yourself down there and go to bye bye g it s absurd i shan t sleep i know i shan t falls into heavy at end of seven minutes m watches him tenderly m poor old i ve seen a few turned off before but never one who went to the gallows in this condition can t tell how it affects em though it s the that sweat when they re backed into double harness and that s the man who went through the guns at like a devil possessed of devils over g but this is worse than the guns old worse than the guns isn t it g turns in his sleep and m touches him on the forehead poor dear old going like the rest of em going like the rest of em friend that closer than a brother eight years dashed bit of a slip of a girl eight weeks and where s your friend till church clock strikes three with any amazement m up with you get into your g already isn t it too soon hadn t i better have a m no you re all right jl he d his chin to pieces g what s the hurry m you ve got to be there first g to be stared at m exactly you re part of the show where s the your spurs are in a shameful state g q jack i be damned if you shall do that for me m more dry up and get dressed i if i choose to clean your spurs you re under my orders g dresses m follows suit m walking round m yes you ll do only don t look so like a criminal ring gloves that s all right for me let your moustache alone now if the are ready we ll go g nervously it s much too soon let s light up let s have a let s m let s make of ourselves i bells without good pie all to prayers we call m there go the bells come on unless you d rather not they ride off bells we honour the king and joy do bring tidings we tell and ring the dead s with any amazement g at the door of the church i say aren t we much too soon there are no end of people inside i say aren t we much too late stick by me jack what the devil do i do m strike an attitude at the head of the aisle and wait for her g groans as m wheels him into position before three hundred eyes m if you love me for pity s sake for the honour of the regiment stand up yourself into your uniform look like a man i ve got to speak to the a minute g breaks into a gentle perspiration if you wipe your face i | 39 |
to you madam that you are my wife m the garden of mrs g it has i haven t ceased wondering at it yet g nor i it seems so strange and yet somehow it doesn t you see it could have been no one else mrs g softly no no one else for me or for you it must have been all arranged from the beginning tell me again what made you care for me g how could i help it you were you you know mrs g did you ever want to help it speak the truth g a twinkle in his eye i did darling just at the first but only at the very first i called you stoop low and i ll whisper a little beast ho ho ho mrs g taking him hy the moustache and making him sit up a little beast stop laughing over your crime and yet you had the the awful cheek to propose to me g i d changed my mind then and you weren t a little beast any more mrs g thank you sir and when was i ever g never but that first day when you gave me tea in that coloured muslin gown thing you looked you did indeed dear such an absurd little and i didn t know what to say to you mrs g twisting moustache so you said little beast upon my word sir called you a but i wish now i had called you something worse g very meekly i but you re me ly you re welcome to torture me again on those terms the garden of mrs g oh why did you let me do it g looking across valley no reason in particular but if it amused you or did you any good you might wipe those dear little boots of yours on me mrs g stretching out her hands don t oh don t philip my king please don t talk like that it s how i feel you re so much too good for me so much too good i g me i i m not fit to put my arm round you puts it round mrs g yes you are but i what have i ever done g given me a bit of your heart haven t you my queen mrs g nothing any one would do that they couldn t help it g you ll make me horribly conceited just when i was beginning to feel so humble too mrs g humble i i don t believe it s in your character g what do you know of my character impertinence mrs g ah but i shall shan t i i shall have time in all the years and years to come to know everything about you and there will be no secrets between us g little witch i i believe you know me thoroughly already mrs g i think i can guess you re selfish g yes mrs g foolish g very mrs g and a dear the garden of g that is as my lady pleases mrs g your lady is pleased a e d you that we re two solemn serious grown up people g her straw hat over her eye you grown up you re a baby mrs g and we re talking nonsense g then let s go on talking nonsense i rather like it i ll tell you a secret promise not to repeat mrs g ye es only to you g i love you mrs g re ally for how long g for ever and ever mrs g that s a long time g think so it s the shortest i can do with mrs g you re getting quite clever g i m talking to you mrs g prettily turned hold up your stupid old head and i ll pay you for it g affecting supreme contempt take it yourself if you want it mrs g i ve a great mind to and i will i takes it and is repaid with interest g little it s my opinion that we are a couple of mrs g we re the only two sensible people in the world ask the eagle he s coming by g ah i he s seen a good many sensible people at they say that those birds live for ever so long mrs g how long the garden of g a hundred and twenty years mrs g a hundred and twenty years oh and in a hundred and twenty years where will these two sensible people be g what does it matter so long as we are together now mrs g looking round the horizon yes only you and i t and you in the whole wide wide world until the end sees the line of the how big and quiet the hills look d you think they care for us g can t say i ve consulted em particularly j care and that s enough for me mrs g drawing nearer to him yes now but afterwards what s that little black on the g a forty miles away you ll see it move as the wind carries it across the face of that spur and then it will be all gone mrs g and then it will be all gone g anxiously not chilled pet are you better let me get your cloak mrs g no don t leave me stay here i believe i am afraid oh why are the hills so horrid promise me promise me that you ll always love me g what s the trouble darling i can t promise any more than i have but i ll promise that again and again if you like mrs g head on his shoulder say it then say it | 39 |
anyhow and now run along and leave me to my own base devices i m busy mrs g calmly settling herself in long chair so i see what a mess you re making why have you brought all that leather stuff into the house g to play with do you mind dear mrs g let me play too i d like it g i m afraid you wouldn t don t you think that jam will burn or whatever it is that jam does when it s not looked after by a clever little housekeeper mrs g i thought you said could attend to it i left him in the stirring when i hurt myself so g his eye returning to the po little woman three pounds four and seven is three eleven and that can be cut down to two eight with just a lee care without anything is all rot in hands what s the use of a shoe case when a man s he can t stick it on with a like a stamp the shoe i mrs g what s i what is this leather cleaned with g cream and champagne and look here dear do you really want to talk to me about anything important mrs g no i ve done my accounts and i thought i d like to see what you re doing g well love now you ve seen and would you mind that is to say i really am busy mrs g you want me to go g yes dear for a little while this tobacco will hang in your dress and doesn t interest you mrs g everything you do interests me g yes i know i know dear i ll tell you all about it some day when i ve put a head on this thing in the meantime mrs g i m to be turned out of the room like a troublesome child g no o i don t mean that exactly but you see i shall be up and down shifting these things to and fro and i shall be in your way don t you think so mrs g can t i lift them about let me try reaches forward to saddle g good gracious child don t touch it you ll hurt yourself picking up saddle little girls aren t expected to handle now where would you like it put holds saddle above his head mrs g j break in her nowhere how good you are and how strong i oh what s that ugly red streak inside your arm g saddle quickly nothing it s a mark of sorts and jack s coming to with his notions all cut and dried i mrs g i know it s a mark but i ve never seen it before it runs all up the arm what is it g a cut if you want to know mrs g want to know of course i do i can t have my husband cut to pieces in this way how did it come was it an accident tell me g no t an accident i got it from a man in mrs g in action oh and you never told me i g i d forgotten all about it mrs g hold up your arm what a horrid ugly are you sure it doesn t hurt now how did the man give it you g desperately looking at his watch with a knife i came down old van loo did that s to say and fell on my leg so i couldn t run and then this man came up and began at me as i mrs g oh don t don t that s enough well what happened g i couldn t get to my and came round the corner and stopped the performance mrs g how such a lazy man i don t believe he did g don t you i don t think the man had much doubt about it jack cut his head off mrs g cut his head off i with one blow as they say in the books g i m not sure i was too interested in myself to know much about it anyhow the head was oflf and jack was old van loo in the ribs to make him get up now you know all about it dear and now mrs g you want me to go of course you never told me about this though i ve been married to you for ever so long and you never would have told me if i hadn t found out and you never do tell me anything about yourself or what you do or what you take an interest in g darling i m always with you aren t i mrs g always in my pocket you were going to say i know you are but you are always thinking away from me g trying to hide a am i i wasn t aware of it i m ly sorry mrs g ly oh don t make fun of me i you know what i mean when you are reading one of those things about cavalry by that prince why doesn t he be a prince instead of a stable boy g prince a stable boy oh my aunt never mind dear you were going to say mrs g it doesn t matter you don t care for what i say only only you get up and walk about the room staring in front of you and then comes in to dinner and after i m in the drawing room i can hear you and him talking and talking and talking about things i can t understand and oh i get so tired and feel bo lonely i | 39 |
i don t want to complain and be a trouble but i do indeed i do g my poor darling i i never thought of n that why don t you ask some nice people in to dinner mrs g nice people where am i to find them horrid and if i did i shouldn t be amused you know i only want t ou g and you have me surely sweetheart mrs g i have not why don t you take me into your life g more than i do that would be dear mrs g yes i suppose it would to you i m no help to you no companion to you and you like to have it so g aren t you a little unreasonable mrs g stamping her foot i m the most reasonable woman in the world when i m treated properly g and since when have i been treating you mrs g always and since the beginning you know you have g i don t but i m willing to be convinced mrs g pointing to there g how do you mean mrs g what does all that mean why am i not to be told is it so precious g i forget its exact government value just at present it means that it is a great deal too heavy mrs g then why do you touch it g to make it lighter see here little love i ve one notion and jack has another but we are both agreed that all this is about thirty pounds too heavy the thing is how to cut it down without any part of it and at the same time allow ing the to carry everything he wants for his own comfort and shirts and things of that kind g why doesn t he pack them in a little trunk g kissing hers oh you darling pack them in a little trunk indeed don t carry trunks and it s a most important thing to make the horse do all the carrying mrs g but why need you bother about it you re not a g no but i command a few score of him and is nearly everything in these days mrs g more than me g stupid of course not but it s a matter that i m interested in because if i or jack or i and jack work out some sort of lighter and all that it s possible that we may get it adopted mrs g how g at home where they will make a sealed pattern a pattern that all the must copy and so it will be used by all the mrs g and that interests you g it s part of my profession y know and my profession is a good deal to me everything in a soldier s is important and if we can improve that so much the better for the soldiers and for us mrs g who s us g jack and i only jack s notions are too radical what s that big sigh for mrs g oh nothing and you ve kept all this a secret from me why g not a secret exactly dear i didn t say anything about it to you because i didn t think it would amuse you mrs g and am i only made to be amused g no of course i merely mean that it couldn t interest you mrs g it s your work and and if you d let me i d count all these things up if they are too heavy you know by how much they are too heavy and you must have a list of things made out to your scale of lightness and g i have got both scales somewhere in my head but it s hard to tell how light you can make a for instance until you ve actually had a model made mrs g but if you read out the list i could copy it down and pin it up there just above your table wouldn t that do g it would be ly nice dear but it would be giving you trouble for nothing i can t work that way i go by rule of thumb i know the present scale of and the other one the one that i m trying to work to will shift and vary so much that i couldn t be certain even if i wrote it down mrs g i m bo sorry i thought i might help is there anything else that i could be of use in g looking round the room i can t think of anything you re always helping me you know mrs g ami how g you are you of course and as long as you re near me i can t explain exactly but it s in the air m rs g and that s why you wanted to send me away g that s only when i m trying to do work work like this mrs g s better then isn t he g of course he is jack and i have been thinking along the same for two or three years about this it s our and it may really be useful some day mrs g after a pause and that s all that you have away from me g it isn t very far away from you now take care the oil on that bit doesn t come off on your dress mrs g i wish i wish so much that i could really help you i believe i could if i left the room but that s not what i mean g aside give me patience i wish she would go aloud i assure you you can t do anything for me and i | 39 |
must really settle down to this where s my mrs g crossing to table here you are bear what a mess you keep your table in g don t touch it there s a method in my madness though you t think of it mrs g at table i want to look do you keep accounts g bending over of a sort are you among the troop papers be careful mrs g why i shan t disturb anything good gracious i had no idea that you had anything to do with so many sick horses g wish i hadn t but they insist on falling sick if i were you i really should not gate those papers you may come across something that you won t like mrs g why will you always treat me like a child i know i m not the horrid things g very well then don t blame me if anything happens play with the table and let me go on with the slipping hand into trousers pocket oh the deuce mrs g back to g what s that for g nothing aside there s not much in it but i wish i d torn it up mrs g turning over contents of table i know you ll hate me for this but i do want to see what your work is like a pause what are g would you really like to know they aren t pretty things mrs g this journal of science says they are of absorbing interest tell me g aside it may turn her attention a long and account of and mrs g oh that s enough don t go on g but you wanted to know then these things and and spread mrs g you re making me sick you re a horrid disgusting g on his knees among the you asked to be told it s not my fault if you worry me into talking about horrors mrs g why didn t you say no g good heavens child have you come in here simply to bully me mrs g i bully you how could i you re so strong strong enough to pick me up and put me outside the door and leave me there to cry aren t you g it seems to me that you re an little baby are you quite well mrs g do i look ill returning to table who is your lady friend with the big gray envelope and the fat outside g aside then it wasn t locked up confound it aloud god made her therefore let her pass for a woman you remember what are like mrs g showing envelope this has nothing to do with them i m going to open it may i g certainly if you want to i d sooner you didn t though i don t ask to look at your letters to the girl mrs g you d better not sir takes letter from envelope now may i look if you say no i shall cry g you ve never cried in my knowledge of you and i don t believe you could mrs g i feel very like it to day don t be hard on me reads letter it begins in the middle without any dear captain or anything how funny g aside no it s not dear captain or anything now how funny mrs g what a strange letter i reads and so the has come too near the candle at last and has been into shall i say respectability i congratulate him and hope he will be as happy as he deserves to be what does that mean is she you about our marriage g yes i suppose so mrs g still reading letter she seems to be a particular friend of yours g yes she was an excellent matron of sorts a mrs wife of a colonel i used to know some of her people at home long ago before i came out mrs g some wives are young as young as me i knew one who was younger g then it couldn t have been mrs she was old enough to have been your mother dear mrs g i remember now mrs was talking about her at the before you came for me on tuesday captain said she was a dear old woman do you know i think is a very clumsy man with his feet g aside good old jack aloud why dear mrs g he had put his cup down on the ground then and he literally stepped into it some of the tea over my dress the gray one i meant to tell you about it before g aside there are the of a about jack though his methods are coarse aloud you d better get a new dress then aside let us pray that that will turn her mrs g oh it isn t stained in the least i only thought that i d tell you returning to letter what an extraordinary person reads but need i remind you that you have taken upon yourself a charge of what in the world is a charge of which as you yourself know may end in consequences g aside it s safest to let em see everything as they come across it but seems to me that there are exceptions to the rule aloud i told you that there was nothing to be gained from my table mrs g s what does the woman mean she goes on talking about consequences almost inevitable consequences with a capital c for half a page flushing scarlet oh good gracious how abominable g promptly do you think so doesn t it show a sort of interest in us aside thank heaven harry always wrapped her meaning up safely aloud is it absolutely necessary to go on | 39 |
with the letter darling mrs g it s impertinent it s simply horrid what right has this woman to write in this way to you she t to g when you write to the girl i notice that you generally fill three or four sheets can t you let an old woman on paper once in a way she means well mrs g i don t care she shouldn t write and if she did you ought to have shown me her letter g can t you understand why i kept it to myself or must i explain at length as i explained the mrs g furiously i hate you i this is as bad as those saddle bags on the floor never mind whether it would please me or not you ought to have given it to me to read g it comes to the same thing you took it yourself mrs g yes but if i hadn t taken it you wouldn t have said a word i think this it s like a name in a book is an interfering old thing g aside so long as you thoroughly understand that she is old i don t much care what you think aloud very good dear would you like to write and tell her so she s seven thousand miles away mrs g i don t want to have anything to do with her but you ought to have told me turning to last page of letter and she me too j ve never seen her reads i do not know how the world stands with you in all human probability i shall never know but whatever i may have said before i pray for her sake more than for yours that all may be well i have learnt what misery means and i dare not wish that any one dear to you should share my knowledge g good god can t you leave that letter alone or at least can t you refrain from reading it aloud i ve been through it once put it back on the desk do you hear me mrs g i sh shan t looks at g s eyes oh please i didn t mean to make you angry deed i didn t i m so sorry i know i ve wasted your time g you have now will you be good enough to go if there is nothing more in my room that you are anxious to into mrs g putting out her hands oh don t look at me like that i ve never seen you look like that before and it hu me i m sorry i t to have been here at all and and and sobbing oh be good to me be good to me there s only you anywhere breaks down in long chair hiding face in cushions g aside she doesn t know she me on the raw aloud bending over chair i didn t mean to be harsh dear i didn t really you can stay here as long as you please and do what you please don t cry like that you ll make yourself sick aside what on earth has come over her aloud darling what s the matter with you mrs g her face still hidden let me go let me go to my own room only only say you aren t angry with me g angry with you love of course not i was angry with myself i d lost my temper over the don t hide your face i want to kiss it lower mrs g right arm round his neck several and much sobbing mrs g in a whisper i didn t mean about the jam when i came in to tell you g bother the jam and the i g still more faintly my finger wasn t at all i i wanted to speak to you about about something else and i didn t know how g speak away then looking into her eyes eh at here don t go away you don t mean mrs g to and hiding her face in its folds the the almost inevitable consequences though as g attempts to catch her and herself in her own room g his arms full of oh down heavily in chair i m a brute a pig a bully and a my poor poor little darling i made to be amused only the valley of the shadow knowing good and evil scene the g in the plains in june asleep in captain i walking up and down doctor s trap in porch junior drifting generally and uneasily through the house time a m heat in doctor into and touching g on the shoulder you had better go in and see her now g colour of good cigar ash eh at oh yes of course what did you say doctor syllable by syllable go in to the room and see her she wants to speak to you aside i shall have him on my hands next junior half lighted dining room isn t there any doctor savagely you little fool junior let me do my work stop a minute edges after g doctor wait till she sends for you at least at least man alive he ll kill you if you go in there what are you him for junior coming into i ve the valley of the shadow given him a stiff brandy he wants it you ve forgotten him for the last ten hours and forgotten yourself too g enters bedroom which is lit hy one night lamp on the floor pretending to he asleep voice from the bed all down the street such go and put | 39 |
them out how can i sleep with an of the in my room no not something else what was it g trying to control his voice i m here bending over bed don t you know me it s me it s it s your husband voice mechanically it s me it s it s your husband g she doesn t know me it s your own husband darling voice your own husband darling with an inspiration understanding au i saying g make her understand me then quick hand on mrs g j forehead captain here voice do i know i m not fit to be seen aside to g say same as g good morning little woman how are we to day voice that s poor old you fool i can t see you come nearer g i it s me you know me the valley of the shadow voice of course i do who does not know the man who was so cruel to his wife almost the only one he ever had g yes dear yes of course of course but won t you speak to him he wants to speak to you so much voice they d never let him in the doctor would give even if he were in the house he ll never come o g putting out his arms they have let him in and he always was in the house oh my love don t you know me voice in a half chant and it came to pass at the hour that this poor soul repented it knocked at the gates but they were shut tight as a plaster a great burning plaster they had our marriage all across the door and it was made of red hot iron people really ought to be more careful you know g what am i to do takes her in his arms speak to me to voice what shall i say oh tell me what to say before it s too late they are all going away and i can t say anything g say you know me only say you know me doctor who has entered quietly for pity s sake don t take it too much to heart it s this way sometimes they won t recognise they say all sorts of queer things don t you see f g all right all right go away now she ll recognise me you re her she must mustn t she the valley of the shadow she will before have i your leave to try g anything you please so long as she ll know me it s only a question of hours isn t it doctor while there s life there s hope y know but don t build on it g i don t pull her together if it s possible aside what have i done to deserve this doctor bending over bed now mrs we shall be all right to morrow you must take it or i shan t let see you it isn t nasty is it voice i always more can t you leave me alone g oh leave her in peace doctor stepping back aside may i be forgiven if i ve done wrong aloud in a few minutes she ought to be sensible but i t tell you to look for anything it s only g what go on man doctor in a whisper forcing the last rally g then leave us alone doctor don t mind what she says at first if you can they they they turn against those they love most sometimes in this it s hard but g am i her husband or are you leave us alone for what time we have together voice and we were engaged quite suddenly i assure you that i never thought of it for a moment but oh my little me i don t know what i should have done if he proposed g she thinks of that girl before she thinks of me aloud i the valley of the shadow voice not from the shops dear you can get the real leaves from and laughing weakly never mind about the blossoms dead white silk is only fit for and i wear it it s as bad as a winding sheet long pause g i never asked a favour yet if there is anybody to listen to me let her know me even if i die too voice very faintly dear g i m here darling voice what has happened they ve been me so with and things and they wouldn t let you come and see me i was never ill before am i ill now g you you aren t quite well voice how funny have i been ill long g some days but you ll be all right in a little time voice do you think so i don t feel well and oh i what have they done to my hair g i d d don t know voice they ve cut it off what a shame g it must have been to make your head cooler voice just like a boy s wig don t i look horrid g never looked prettier in your life dear aside how am i to ask her to say good bye voice i don t feel pretty i feel very ill my heart won t work it s nearly dead inside me and there s a funny feeling in my eyes everything seems the same distance you and the and the table inside my eyes or miles away what does it mean the valley of the shadow g you re a little feverish sweetheart very feverish breaking down my love my love how can i let | 39 |
you go voice i thought so why didn t you tell me that at first g what voice that i am going to die g but you aren t i you shan t to stepping into after a glance at the bed do stop pulling the voice it s hard so very very hard after one year just one year wailing and i m only twenty most girls aren t even married at twenty can t they do anything to help me i don t want to die g hush dear you won t voice what s the use of talking help me i you ve never failed me yet oh help me to keep alive i don t believe you wish me to live you weren t a bit sorry when that horrid baby thing died i wish i d killed it g drawing his hand across his forehead it s more than a man s meant to bear it s not right aloud love i d die for you if it would help voice no more death there s enough already don t you die too g i wish i dared voice it says till death do us part nothing after that and so it would be no use it stops at the dying why does it stop there only such a very short life too i m sorry we married g no anything but that i the valley of the shadow voice because you ll forget and i ll forget oh forget i always loved you though i was cross sometimes if i ever did anything that you didn t like say you forgive me now g you never did darling on my soul and honour you never did i haven t a thing to forgive you voice i for a whole week about those with a laugh what a little wretch i was and how grieved you were forgive me that g there s nothing to forgive it was my fault they were too near the drive for god s sake don t talk so there s such a lot to say and so little time to say it in voice say that you ll always love me until the end g until the end carried away it s a lie it must be because we ve loved each other this isn t the end voice into semi delirium my has an ivory cross on the back and it says so so it must be true till death do us part but that s a lie with a of g s manner a damned lie i yes i can swear as well as i can t make my head think though that s because they cut off my hair how can one think with one s head all hold me keep me with you always and always but if you marry the girl when i m dead i ll come back and howl under our bedroom window all night oh bother i you ll think i m a what time is it the valley of the shadow c apt g a little before the dawn dear voice i wonder where i shall be this time tomorrow g would you like to see the voice why should i he d tell me that i am going to heaven and that wouldn t be true because you are here do you recollect when he upset the cream ice all over his trousers at the g yes dear voice i often wondered whether he got another pair of trousers but then his are so shiny all over that you really couldn t tell unless you were told let s call him in and ask g g no i don t think he d like that your head sweetheart voice with a sigh of contentment gracious when did you last your chin s worse than the barrel of a musical box no don t lift it up i like it a pause you said you ve never cried at all you re crying all over my cheek g i i i can t help it dear voice how funny i couldn t cry now to save ray life g want to sing g won t it tire you better not perhaps voice why i be about begins in a hoarse cake ale all because her s coming home from the sea that s parade and she grows red as rose who was so pale and are you sure the church clock goes says she i knew i couldn t take the last note the valley op the shadow how do the bass run puts out her hands and playing piano on the sheet g catching up hands don t do that if you love me voice love you of course i do who else should it be a pause voice very clearly i m going now something s choking me cruelly into the dark without you my heart but it s a lie dear we mustn t believe it for ever and ever living or dead don t let me go my husband hold me tight they can t whatever happens a h my not for always and so soon voice ceases pause of ten minutes g his face in the side of the bed while over bed from opposite side and feels mrs g s breast and forehead g rising doctor ko do still by bedside with a shriek ai ai my getting not have got the sweat has come fiercely to g doctor ko you go to the doctor oa my doctor entering hastily come away over bed eh the what inspired you to stop the get out man go away wait outside q o here over his shoulder to | 39 |
g mind i promise nothing the dawn breaks as g into the garden m up at the gate on his way to parade and very old man how goes g dazed i don t quite know stay a the valley of the shadow bit have a drink or something don t run away you re just getting amusing ha i ha m aside what am i let in for has aged ten years in the night g slowly your s too loose m so it is put it straight will you aside i shall be late for parade poor g links and chain and finally stands staring towards the the day doctor knocked out gravity across and shaking g s hands it s it s it s there s a fair chance a dashed fair chance the y know the sweat y know i saw how it would be the y know clever woman that of yours stopped the just at the right time a dashed good chance no you don t go in we ll pull her through yet i promise on my reputation under providence send a man with this note to two heads better than one specially the pull her round hastily to house g his head on neck of m s jack i believe i m going to make a bloody m openly and feeling in his left i b b believe i b doing it already old bad what i say i b as pleased as you i you re one big idiot and i b pulling himself together sit tight here comes the devil junior who is not in the doctor s the valley of the shadow confidence we we are only men in these things i know that i can say nothing now to help m then don t say it leave him alone it s not bad enough to over here take the to and ride hell for leather it ll do you good i can t go junior do him good smiling give me the and i ll drive let him lie down your horse is my cart please m without back i beg your pardon i ll on paper if you like junior m s that ll do thanks turn in and i ll bring back hell for leather m it would have served me right if he d cut me across the face he can drive too i shouldn t care to go that pace in a cart what a faith he must have in his maker of harness come you brute off to parade blowing his nose as the sun rises interval of five weeks mrs g very white and pinched in morning at breakfast table how big and strange the room looks and oh how glad i am to see it again what dust though i i must talk to the servants sugar i ve almost forgotten seriously wasn t i very ill g than i liked tenderly oh you bad little what a start you gave me mrs g i ll never do it again g you d better not and now get those the valley of the shadow poor pale cheeks pink again or i shall be angry don t try to lift the urn you ll upset it wait round to head of table and lifts urn mrs g quickly see butler get a kettle from the cook house drawing down g s face to her own dear remember g what mrs g that last terrible night g then just you forget all about it mrs g her eyes filling never it has brought us very close together my husband there i m going to give a g i gave her fifty mrs g so she told me it was a reward was i worth it several don t here s the two or one sir the swelling op if thou hast run with the and they have wearied thee then how thou contend with horses and if in the land of peace wherein thou they wearied thee then how wilt thou do in the swelling of scene the in the plains on a january morning g arguing with bearer in back m rides up m mrs how s the infant phenomenon and the proud proprietor mrs g you ll find them in the front go through the house i m just now m about with cares of f i fly passes into front where is watching junior aged ten months crawling about the m what s the trouble an honest man s europe morning this way seeing g junior by jove that s on any amount of bone below the knee there g yes he s a healthy little scoundrel don t you think his hair s growing m let s have a look hi come here general luck and we ll report on you mrs g within what absurd name will you give him next why do you call him that the swelling of m isn t he our general of cavalry doesn t he come down in his seventeen two every morning the pink parade don t give us your private opinion on the way the third went past trifle ragged weren t they g a bigger set of than the new i don t wish to see they ve given me more than my fair share knocking the out of shape it s sickening i m when you re in command you ll do better young un can t you walk yet grip my finger and try to g t hurt his will it g oh no don t let him though or he ll all the off your boots mrs g who s destroying my son s character m and my s i m ashamed of you | 39 |
ve got out of the habit of lying to you old man jack you wont but i know you won t m of course not aloud the are paying dearly for their pride g eh at m don t you know the men have called mrs the pride of the pink ever since she came to us g t her fault don t think that it s all mine m what does she say g i haven t exactly put it before her she s the best little woman in the world jack and all that but she wouldn t counsel a man to stick to his calling if it came between him and her at least i think m never mind don t tell her what you told me go on the and landed gentry tack g she d see through it she s five times than i am m then she ll accept the sacrifice and think a little bit worse of him for the rest of her days g i say do you despise me the swelling of m queer way of putting it have you ever been asked that question think a minute what answer used you to give g so bad as that i m not entitled to expect anything more but it s a bit hard when one s best friend turns round and m so i have found but you will have and and liquid and the league and perhaps if you re lucky the of a al ry regiment all uniform and no riding i believe how old are you g thirty three i know it s m at forty you ll be a fool of a j p landlord at fifty you ll own a bath chair and the if he takes after you will be fluttering the of what s the particular you re going to also mrs will be fat g this is rather more than a joke m d you think so isn t cutting the service a joke it generally takes a man fifty years to arrive at it you re quite right though it is more than a joke you ve managed it in thirty three g don t make me feel worse than i do will it satisfy you if i own that i am a a and a coward m it will not because i m the only man in the world who can talk to you like this without being knocked down you mustn t take all that i ve said to heart in this way i only spoke a lot of it at least out of pure selfishness because because oh damn it all old man i don t know what i shall do without you of course you ve got the money and the place the swelling of and all that and there are two very good reasons why you should take care of yourself g doesn t make it any the sweeter i m out i know i am i always had a soft drop in me somewhere and i t risk any danger to them m why in the world should you you re bound to think of your family bound to think er if i wasn t a younger son i d go too be shot if i wouldn t g thank you jack it s a kind lie but it s the you ve told for some time i know what i m doing and i m going into it with my eyes open old man i help it what would you do if you were in m place m couldn t conceive any woman getting permanently between me and the regiment can t say very likely i should do no better i m for you ly sorry but if them s your sentiments i believe i really do that you are acting wisely g do you i hope you do in a whisper jack be very sure of yourself before you marry i m an ungrateful to say this but marriage even as good a marriage as mine has been a man s work it his sword arm and oh it plays hell with his notions of duty i sometimes good and sweet as she is sometimes i could wish that i had kept my freedom no i don t mean that exactly mrs g coming down what are you your head over m turning quickly me as usual the old sermon your husband is me to get married never saw such a one man mrs g well why don t you i you would make some woman very happy the swelling of g there s the law and the jack never mind the regiment make a woman happy aside o lord m we ll see i must be off to make a troop cook desperately unhappy i won t have the fed on government train hastily surely black can t be good for the he s picking em off the and eating em here don come and talk to me lifts g in his arms want my watch you won t be able to put it into your mouth but you can try g junior drops watch breaking dial and hands mrs g oh captain i am so sorry jack you bad bad little villain m it s not the least consequence i assure you he d treat the world in the same way if he could get it into his hands everything s made to be played with and broken isn t it young un p p p mrs g didn t at all like his watch being broken though he was too polite to say so it was entirely his fault for giving it to the child little are feeble aren | 39 |
you to know the legs of a horse be it so what of that the roads are hard and the mare she bears a double burden and now i pray you give me permission to depart great favour and honour has the done me and graciously has he shown his belief that the horses are stolen will it please him to send me to the to call a and have me led away by one of these men i am the s friend i have drunk water in the shadow of his house and he has blackened j my face remains there anything more to do will the give me eight to make smooth the injury and complete the insult forgive me my brother knew not i know not now what i say yes i lied to you i i will put dust on my head and i am an the horses have been marched from the valley to this place and my eyes are dim and my body for the want of sleep and my heart is dried up with sorrow and shame but as it was my shame so by god the of justice by al it shall be my own revenge i we have spoken together with naked hearts before this and our hands have dipped into the same dish and thou hast been to me as a brother therefore i pay thee back with lies and ingratitude as a listen now when the grief of the soul is too heavy for endurance it may be a little by speech and moreover the mind of a true man is as a well and the of confession dropped therein sinks and is no more seen from the valley have i come on foot league by league with a fire in my chest like the fire of the pit and why hast thou then so quickly forgotten our customs among this folk who sell their wives and their daughters for silver come back with me to the north and be among men once more come back when this matter is accomplished and i call for thee the bloom of the is upon all the valley and here is only dust and a great there is a pleasant wind among the trees and the streams are bright with snow water and the go up and the go down and a hundred fires sparkle in the of the pass and tent answers war a hammer nose and pack horse to pack horse across the drift smoke of the evening it is good in the north now come back with me let us return to our own people come whence is my sorrow does a man tear out his heart and make thereof over a slow fire for aught other than a woman do not laugh friend of mine for your time will also be a woman of the was she aad i took her to wife to the between our village and the men of i am no longer young the lime has touched my beard true i had no need of the wedding nay but i loved her what into whose heart love enters there is folly and naught else by a glance of the eye she hath blinded thee and by the eyelids and the fringe of the eyelids taken thee into the without and naught else dost thou remember that song at the sheep in the camp among the of the the are dogs and their women the servants of sin there was a lover of her own people but of that her father told me naught my friend curse for me in your prayers as i curse at each praying from the to the the name of whose head is still upon his neck whose hands are still upon his wrists who has done me who has made my name a laughing stock among the women of little i went into at the end of two months to i was gone twelve days only but i had said that i would be fifteen days absent this i did to try her for it is written trust not the incapable war a coming up the alone in the falling of the light i heard the voice of a man singing at the door of my house and it was the voice of and the song that he sang was all three are one it was as though a heel rope had been slipped round my heart and all the devils were drawing it tight past endurance i crept silently up the hill road but the of my was with the rain and i could not from afar moreover it was in my mind to kill woman also thus he sang sitting outside my and anon the woman opened the door and i e nearer crawling on my belly among the rocks i my knife to my hand but a stone slipped under my foot and the two looked down the and he leaving his fled from my anger because he was afraid for the life that was in him but the woman moved not till i stood in front of her crying o woman what is this that thou hast done and she void of fear though she knew my thought laughed saying it is a little thing i loved him and thou art a dog and cattle thief coming by night strike and i being still blinded by her beauty for o my friend the women of the are very fair said hast thou no fear and she answered none but only the fear that i do not die then said i have no fear and she bowed her head and i smote it off at the neck bone so that it leaped between my feet thereafter the rage of our people came upon | 39 |
a in camp at who bought from me a white mare at a good price and told me that one had passed to with horses then i saw that the warning of the voice was true and made swift to come to the salt hills the was in flood but i could not wait and in the crossing a bay was washed down and drowned was god hard to me not in respect of the beast of that i had no care but in this while i was upon the right bank urging the horses into the water was upon the left for the hoofs of my mare scattered the hot ashes of his fires when we came up the hither bank in the light of morning but he had fled his feet were made swift by the terror of death and i went south from as the flies i dared not turn aside lest i should miss my vengeance which is my right from i skirted by the for i thought that he would avoid the desert of the but presently at i turned away upon the road to and till upon a night the mare the fence of the rail that runs to and that place was and the head of the woman of the lay upon the sand between my feet thence i went to and they said that i was mad to bring starved horses there the voice was with me and i was not mad but only wearied because i could not find it was written that i should not find him at nor and i came into from the west and there also i found him not my friend i have seen many strange things in my wanderings i have seen devils across the as the riot in spring i have heard the calling to each other from holes in the sand and i have seen them pass before my face there are no devils say the they are very wise but they do not know all things about devils or horses ho ho i say to you who are laughing at my misery that i have seen the devils at high noon and leaping on the of the and was i afraid my brother when the desire of a man is set upon one thing alone he fears neither god nor man nor devil if my vengeance failed i would the gates of paradise with the butt of my gun or i would cut my way into hell with my knife and i would call upon those who govern there for the body of what love so deep as hate do not speak i know the thought in your heart is the white of this eye clouded how does the blood beat at the wrist there is no madness in my flesh but only the vehemence of the desire that has eaten me up listen south of i knew not the country at all therefore i cannot say where i went but i passed through many cities i knew only that it was laid upon me to go south when the horses could march no more i threw myself upon the earth and waited till the day there was no sleep with me in that and that was a heavy burden dost thou know brother of mine the evil of that cannot break when the bones are sore for lack of sleep and the skin of the temples with weariness and yet there is no sleep there is no sleep war a the eye of the sun the eye of the moon and my own eyes all three are one all three are one there was a city the name whereof i have forgotten and there the voice called all night that was ten days ago it has cheated me afresh i have come hither from a place called and behold it is my fate that i should meet with thee to my comfort and the increase of friendship this is a good omen by the joy of looking upon thy face the weariness has gone from my feet and the sorrow of my so long travel is forgotten also my heart is peaceful for i know that the end is near it may be that i shall find in this city going northward since a will ever head back to his hills when the spring and shall he see those hills of our country surely i shall overtake him surely my vengeance is safe surely god hath him in the hollow of his hand against my claiming there shall no harm befall till i come for i would fain kill him quick and whole with the life sticking firm in his body a is sweetest when the break away unwilling from the let it be in the that i may see his face and my delight may be crowned and when i have accomplished the matter and my honour is made clean i shall return thanks unto god the of the scale of the law and i shall sleep from the night through the day and into the night again i shall sleep and no dream shall trouble me and now o my brother the tale is all told the judgment of i see the pale martyr with his shirt on fire s error they tell the tale even now among the groves of the hill and for point to the and mission house the great god the god of things as they are most terrible one eyed bearing the red elephant did it all and he who refuses to believe in will assuredly be smitten by the madness of the madness that fell upon the sons and the daughters of the when they turned aside from and put on clothes so says who is high priest of the | 39 |
shrine and of the red elephant but if you ask the assistant and agent in charge of the he will laugh not because he bears any malice against but because he himself saw the vengeance of executed upon the spiritual children of the reverend of the mission and upon his virtuous wife yet if ever a man good treatment of the gods it was the reverend one time of who on the faith of a call went into the wilderness and took the blue eyed with him we will these heathen now by so darkened better make said in the early days of his career yes he added with conviction they shall the judgment of be good and shall with their hands to work for all good christians must work and upon a more modest even than that of an english lay reader kept house beyond and the of beyond the river close to the foot of the blue hill of on whose summit stands the temple of in the heart of the country of the the naked good tempered timid lazy do you know what life at a mission means try to imagine a loneliness exceeding that of the smallest station to which government has ever sent you that upon the waking eyelids and drives you by force headlong into the labours of the day there is no post there is no one of your own colour to speak to there are no roads there is indeed food to keep you alive but it is not pleasant to eat and whatever of good or beauty or interest there is in your life must come from yourself and the grace that may be planted in you in the morning with a of soft feet the the doubtful and the open troop up to the you must be infinitely kind and patient and above all clear sighted for you deal with the simplicity of childhood the experience of man and the of the savage your congregation have a hundred material wants to be considered and it is for you as you believe in your personal responsibility to your maker to pick out of the crowd any grain of that may lie therein if to the cure of souls you add that of bodies your task will be all the more difficult for the sick and the will profess any and every creed for the sake of healing and the judgment of will laugh at you because you are simple enough to believe them as the day wears and the of the morning dies away there will come upon you an overwhelming sense of the of your toil this must be against and the only spur in your side will be the belief that you are playing against the devil for the living soul it is a great a joyous belief but he who can hold it for four and twenty hours must be blessed with an abundantly strong and nerve ask the gray heads of the medical what manner of life their lead speak to the gospel agency those lean americans whose boast is that they go where no englishman dare follow get a of the mission to talk of his experiences if you can you will be referred to the printed reports but these contain no mention of the men who have lost youth and health all that a man may lose except faith in the of english maidens who have gone forth and died in the fever stricken of the hills knowing from the first that death was almost a certainty few will tell you of these things any more than they will speak of that young david of st bees who set apart for the lord s work broke down in the utter desolation and returned half to the head mission crying there is no god but i have walked with the devil the reports are silent here because heroism failure doubt despair and self on the part of a mere white man are things of no weight as compared to the saving of one half human soul from a the judgment op fantastic faith in wood spirits of the rock and river and the assistant of the cared for none of these things he had been long in the district and the loved him and brought him of fish from the dim moist heart of the forests and as much game as he could eat in return he gave them and with the high priest controlled their simple when you have been some years in the country said at the table you grow to find one creed as good as another i ll give you all the assistance in my power of course but don t hurt my they are a good people and they trust me i will them the word of the lord teach said his round face beaming with enthusiasm and i will assuredly to their prejudices no wrong hastily without thinking make but o my friend this in the mind of creed judgment be looking is very bad ho said i have their bodies and the district to see to but you can try what you can do for their souls only don t behave as your did or i m afraid that i can t your life and that said handing him a cup of tea he went up to the temple of to be sure he was new to the country and began old over the head with an umbrella so the turned out and him rather savagely i was in the district and he sent a to me with a note saying persecuted for the lord s sake send the judgment of wing of regiment the nearest troops were about two hundred miles off but i guessed what he had been doing i rode to and talked to old like a father telling | 39 |
him that a man of his wisdom ought to have known that the had and was mad you never saw a people more sorry in your life sent wood and milk and fowls and all sorts of things and i gave five to the shrine and told that he had been he said that i had bowed down in the house of but if he had only just gone over the brow of the hill and insulted the idol of the he would have been on a long before i could have done anything and then i should have had to have hanged some of the poor brutes be gentle with them but i don t think you ll do much not i said but my master we will with the little children begin many of them will be sick that is so after the children the mothers and then the men but i would greatly that you were in internal sympathies with us prefer departed to risk his life in mending the rotten bridges of his people in killing a too persistent tiger here or there in sleeping out in the or in the who had taken a few heads from their brethren of the he was a knock young man naturally devoid of creed or reverence with a longing for absolute power which his district gratified no one wants my post he used to say grimly and my only his nose in when he s quite certain that there is no fever i m monarch of all i survey and is my the judgment of because himself on his supreme disregard of human life though he never extended the theory beyond his own he naturally rode forty miles to the mission with a tiny brown girl baby on his saddle bow here is something for you said he the leave their children to die don t see why they shouldn t but you may rear this one i picked it up beyond the fork i ve a notion that the mother has been following me through the woods ever since it is the first of the fold said and caught up the screaming morsel to her bosom and hushed it while as a wolf hangs in the field who had borne it and in accordance with the law of her tribe had exposed it to die panted weary and in the watching the house with hungry mother eyes what would the assistant do would the little man in the black coat eat her daughter alive as said was the custom of all men in black coats waited among the through the long night and in the morning there came forth a fair white woman the like of whom had never seen and in her arms was s daughter clad in knew little of the tongue of the but when mother calls to mother speech is easy to follow by the hands stretched timidly to the hem of her gown by the passionate and the longing eyes understood with whom she had to deal so took her child again would be a servant even a slave to this wonderful white woman for her own tribe would recognise her no more and wept i the judgment of with her after the german fashion which much blowing of the nose first the child then the mother and last the man and to the glory of god all said the hopeful and the man came with a bow and arrows very angry indeed for there was no one to cook for him but the tale of the mission is a long one and i have no space to show how forgetful of his smote the husband of for his how was startled but being released from the fear of instant death took heart and became the faithful ally and first convert of how the little gathering grew to the huge disgust of how the priest of the god of things as they are argued with the priest of the god of things as they should be and was how the of the temple of fell away in fowls and fish and how lightened the curse of eve among the women and how did his best to introduce the curse of adam how the at this saying that their god was an idle god and how partially overcame their scruples against work and taught them that the black earth was rich in other produce than pig nuts only all these things belong to the history of many months and throughout those months the white haired meditated revenge for the neglect of with savage cunning he feigned friendship towards even at his own but to the congregation of he said darkly they of the s flock have put on clothes and worship a busy god therefore will the judgment of them till they throw themselves howling into the waters of the at night the red elephant and groaned among the hills and the faithful and said the god of things as they are revenge against the be merciful to us thy children and give us all their crops i late in the cold weather the and his wife came into the country go and look at s mission said he is doing good work in his own way and i think he d be pleased if you opened the chapel that he has managed to run up at any rate you ll see a great was the stir in the mission now he and the gracious lady will that we have done good work with their own eyes see and yes we will him our in all their new clothes by their own hands constructed exhibit it will a great day be for the lord always said and said amen had in his quiet way felt of the weaving mission his own being but had induced | 39 |
some of them to the glossy of a plant that grew on the hills it yielded a cloth white and smooth almost as the of the south seas and that day the were to wear for the first time clothes made was proud of his work they shall in white clothes clothed to meet the and his well born lady come down singing n ow thank we all our then he will the chapel open and yes even to believe will begin stand so my children two by two and why do they thus themselves it is not to the judgment of my child the will be here and be pained the his wife and climbed the hill to the mission station the were drawn up in two lines a shining band nearly forty strong said the whose bent of mind led him to believe that he had the institution from the first advancing i see by leaps and bounds never was truer word spoken the mission was advancing exactly as he had said at first by little and of uneasiness but soon by the leaps of fly stung horses and the bounds of from the hill of the red elephant delivered a dry and the ranks of the wavered broke and scattered with and shrieks of pain while and stood horror stricken it is the judgment of shouted a voice i burn i burn to the river or we die the mob wheeled and headed for the rocks that the stamping twisting and shedding its garments as it ran pursued by the thunder of the trumpet of and fled to the almost in tears i cannot understand yesterday panted they had the ten what is this praise the lord all good spirits by land and by sea oh shame with a bound and a scream there alighted on the rocks above their heads once the pride of the mission a maiden of fourteen good and virtuous now naked as the dawn and like a wild cat the judgment of was it for this she her at y was it for this i left my people and for the fires of your bad place blind little dried fish that you are you said that i should never burn o i burn now i burn have mercy god of things as they are she turned and flung herself into the and the trumpet of the last of the of the mission had put a quarter of a mile of rapid river between herself and her teachers yesterday she taught in the school a b c d oh it is the work of satan but was curiously regarding the maiden s where it had fallen at his feet he felt its texture drew back his shirt sleeve beyond the deep tan of his wrist and pressed a fold of the cloth against the flesh a of angry red rose on the white skin ah said calmly i thought so what is it said i should call it the shirt of but where did you get the fibre of this cloth from said he showed the boys how it should be the old fox do you know that he has given you the q to work up no wonder they why it even when they make bridge ropes of it unless it s soaked for six weeks the cunning brute it would take about half an hour to burn through their thick hides and then the judgment of if any one is anxious to convert the afresh there lies at least the core of a mission house under the hill of but the chapel and school have long since fallen back into at his own shoe his own head native proverb as a messenger if the heart of the presence be moved to so great favour and on six yes for i have three little little children whose are always empty and corn is now but forty pounds to the i will make so clever a messenger that you shall all day long be pleased with me and at the end of the year bestow a i know all the roads of the station and many other things i am clever give me service i was in the police a bad character now without doubt an enemy has told this tale never was i a i am a man of clean heart and all my words are true they knew this when i was in the police they said af is a true speaker in whose words men may trust i am a all are good men you have seen yes it is true that there be many among the how wise is the nothing is hid from his eyes and he will make me his messenger and i will take all his notes secretly and without nay god is my witness that i meant no evil i have long desired to serve under a true a virtuous many young are as devils with these i would take no at service not though all the of my little children were crying for bread why am i not still in the police i will speak true talk an evil came to the to ram the and and ram and and ram is in the jail for a space and so also is it was at the of on the road that leads to wherein are many we were all brave men wherefore we were sent to that which was eight miles from the next all day and all night we watched for why does the laugh nay i will make a confession the were too clever and seeing this we made no further trouble it was in the hot weather what can a man do in the hot days is the who is so strong | 39 |
is he even vigorous in that hour we m de an arrangement with the for the sake of peace that was the work of the who was fat ho ho he is now getting thin in the jail among the carpets the said give us no trouble and we will give you no trouble at the end of the send us a man to lead before the judge a man of mind against whom the up case will break down thus we shall save our honour to this talk the agreed and we had no trouble at the and could eat in peace sitting upon our all day long sweet as sugar cane are the of now there was an assistant a in that district called he was hard hard even as is the who without doubt will give me the shadow of his protection at many eyes had and moved quickly his district men called him the tiger of because he would arrive and make his kill and before sunset would be giving trouble to the thirty miles away no one knew the or the of he had no camp and when his horse was weary he rode upon a devil carriage i do not know its name but the sat in the midst of three silver wheels that made no creaking and them with his legs like a fed horse thus a shadow of a hawk upon the fields was not more without noise than the devil carriage of it was here it was there it was gone and the was made and there was trouble ask the of how the hen stealing came to be known it fell upon a night that we of the slept according to custom upon our having eaten the evening meal and drunk tobacco when we awoke in the morning behold of our six not one remained also the big police book that was in the s charge was gone seeing these things we were very much afraid thinking on our parts that the regardless of honour had come by night and put us to shame then said ram the be silent the business is an evil business but it may yet go well let us make the case complete bring a kid and my see you not now o fools a kick for a horse but a word is enough for a man we of the perceiving quickly what was in the mind of the and greatly fearing that the service would be lost made haste to take the kid into the inner room and attended to the words of the hav at twenty came said the and we taking his words repeated after him according to custom there was a great fight said the and of us no man escaped the bars of the window were broken see thou to that and o men put speed into your work for a must go with the news to the tiger of leaning with his shoulder in the bars of the window and i beating her with a whip made the s mare among the till they were much trodden with prints these things being made i returned to the and the goat was slain and certain portions of the walls were blackened with fire and each man dipped his clothes a little into the blood of the goat know that a wound made by man upon his own body can by those skilled be easily discerned from a wound wrought by another man therefore the taking his smote one of us lightly on the in the fat and another on the leg and a third on the back of the hand thus dealt he with all of us till the blood came and more eager than the others took out much hair o never was so perfect an arrangement yea even i would have sworn that the had been treated as we said there was smoke and breaking and blood and trampled earth ride now said the to the house of the and carry the news of the do you also o run there and take heed that you are with sweat and dust on your in coming the blood will be dry on the clothes will stay and send a straight report to the at and we will catch certain that ye know of villagers so that all may be ready against the s arrival thus rode and i ran hanging on the and together we came in an evil plight before the tiger of in the our tale was long and correct for we gave even the names of the and the issue of the fight and him to come but the tiger made no sign and only smiled after the manner of when they have a wickedness in their hearts swear ye to the said he and we said thy servants swear the blood of the fight is but newly dry upon us judge thou if it be the blood of the servants of the presence or not and he said i see ye have done well but he did not call for his horse or his devil carriage and the land as was his custom he said rest now and eat bread for ye be wearied men i will wait the coming of the now it is the order that the of the should send a straight report of all to the at noon came he a fat man and an old and withal but we of the had no fear of his anger more the of the tiger of with him came ram the and the others guarding ten men of the village of all men evil affected towards the police of the as prisoners they came the irons upon their hands crying for mercy the farmer who had denied his wife to the and others ill against whom we of | 39 |
the bore spite it was well done and the was proud but the at was angry with the for lack of zeal and said dam dam after the custom of the english people and the lay still in his long chair have the men sworn said aye and captured ten said the there be more abroad in your charge take horse ride and go in the name of the truly there be more abroad said but there is no need of a horse come all men with me i saw the mark of a string on the temples of does the presence know the torture of the cold draw i saw also the face of the tiger of the evil smile was upon it and i stood back ready for what might befall well it was that i did this thing unlocked the door of his bath room and smiled anew within lay the six and the big police book of the of i he had come by night in the devil carriage that is noiseless as a and moving among us asleep had taken away both the guns and the book twice had he come to the taking each time three the liver of the was turned to water and he fell in the dirt about the boots of crying have mercy and i i am a and a young man with little children the s mare was in the compound i ran to her and rode the black wrath of the was behind me and i knew not whither to go till she dropped and died i rode the red mare and by the blessing of god who is without doubt on the side of all just men i escaped but the and the rest are now in jail at i am a it is as the presence pleases god will make the presence a lord and give him a rich as fair as a to wife and many strong sons if he makes me his orderly the mercy of heaven be upon the yes i will only go to the and bring my children to these so palace like quarters and then the presence is my father and my mother and i am his slave ji i also am of the household of the v a great is the justice of the white man greater the power of a lie native proverb this is your english justice protector of the poor look at my back and which are beaten with sticks heavy sticks i am a poor man and there is no justice in courts there were two of us and we were born of one birth but i swear to you that i was born the first and ram is the younger by three full the said so and it is written in my the of but we were alike i and my brother who is a beast without honour so alike that none knew together or apart which was i am a of in and an honest man this is true talk when we were men we left our father s house in and went to the where all the people are mud heads and sons of we took shop together in and my brother near the big well where the governor s camp draws water but ram who is without truth made quarrel with me and we were divided he took his books and his pots and his mark and became a a money in the long street of near the of the road that goes to it was not my fault that we pulled each other s i am a of and i always speak true talk ram was the thief and the now no man not even the little children could at one glance see which was ram and which was but all the people of may they die without sons said that we were thieves they used much bad talk but i took money on their and their cooking pots and the standing crop and the calf from the well in the big square to the gate of the road they were fools these people unfit to cut the toe nails of a from i lent money to them all a little very little only here a and there a god is my witness that i am a poor man the money is all with ram may his sons turn christian and his daughter be a burning fire and a shame in the house from generation to generation may she die and be the mother of a multitude of i let the light go out in the house of ram my brother this i pray daily twice with and charms thus the trouble began we divided the town of between us i and my brother there was a beyond the gates living but one short mile out on the road that leads to and his name was son of a he was a great devil and drank wine so long as there were women in his house and wine and money for the marriage he was merry and wiped his mouth ram lent him the money a or half a how do i know and so long as the money was lent the cared not what he signed the people of were my portion and the and the out town was the portion of ram for so we had arranged i was the poor man for the people of were without wealth i did what i could but ram had only to wait without the door of the s garden court and to lend him the money taking the bonds from the hand of the steward in the autumn of the year after the ram said to the pay | 39 |
me my money but the gave him abuse but ram went into the courts with the papers and the bonds all correct and took out against the and the name of the government was across the of the ram took field by field and tree by tree and well by well putting in his own men of the out town of to cultivate the crops so he crept up across the land for he had the papers and the name of the government was across the till his men held the crops for him on all sides of the big white house of the it was well done but when the saw these things he was very angry and cursed ram after the manner of the and thus the was angry but ram laughed and claimed more fields as was written upon the bonds this was in the month of i took my horse and went out to speak to the man who makes upon the road that leads to because he owed me a debt there was in front of me upon his horse my brother ram and when he saw me he turned aside into the high crops because there was hatred between us and i went forward till i came to the orange bushes by the s house the were flying and the evening smoke was low down upon the land here met me four men and with their faces bound up laying hold of my horse s bridle and crying out this is ram beat me they beat with their heavy bound about with wire at the end such weapons as those swine of use till having cried for mercy i fell down senseless but these ones still beat me saying o ram this is your interest well weighed and counted into your hand ram i cried aloud that i was not ram but his brother yet they only beat me the more and when i could make no more they left me but i saw their faces there was who runs by the side of the s white horse and the keeper of the door and the very strong cook and the messenger all of the household of the these things i can swear on the cow s tail if need be but am it has been already sworn and i am a poor man whose honour is lost when these four had gone away laughing my brother ram came out of the crops and mourned over me as one dead but i opened my eyes and prayed him to get me water when i had drunk he carried me on his back and by brought me into the town of my heart was turned to ram my brother in that hour because of his kindness and i lost my enmity but a snake is a snake till it is dead and a liar is a liar till the judgment of the gods takes hold of his heel i was wrong in that i trusted my brother the son of my mother when we had come to his house and i was a little restored i told him my tale and he said without doubt it is me whom they would have beaten but the law courts are open and there is the justice of the above all and to the law courts do thou go when this sickness is now when we two had left in the old years there fell a famine that ran from to and touched in the south at that time the sister of my father came away and lived with us in for a man must above all see that his folk do not die of want when the quarrel between us twain came about the sister of my father a lean she dog without teeth said that ram had the right and went with him into her hands because she knew and many ram my brother put me faint with the beating and much bruised even to the pouring of blood from the mouth when i had two days sickness the fever came upon me and i set aside the fever to the account written in my mind against the the of are all the sons of and a she ass but they are very good witnesses bearing testimony whatever the may say i would purchase witnesses by the score and each man should give evidence not only against and but against the saying that he upon his white horse had called his men to beat me and further that they had robbed me of two hundred for the latter testimony i would a little of the debt of the man who sold the and he should say that he had put the money into my hands and had seen the robbery from afar but being afraid had run away this plan i told called not even the sister of my father this filled me with fear for i knew not what had happened taking a stick in my hand i went out slowly till i came to the great square by the well and my heart was hot in me against the because of the pain of every step i took i called for the carpenter whose name was first upon the list of those who should bear evidence against the saying are all things ready and do you know what should be said answered what is this and whence do you come i said from my bed where i have so long lain sick because of the where is ram my brother who was to have made the arrangement for the witnesses surely you and yours know these things then said what has this to do with us o liar i have borne s and i have been | 39 |
paid and the has by the order of the court paid both the five hundred that he robbed from ram and yet other five hundred because of the great injury he did to your brother the well and the tree above it and the square of became dark in my eyes but i leaned on my stick and said nay this is child s talk and senseless it was i who suffered at the hands of the and i am come to make ready the case where is my brother ram but shook his head and a woman cried what lie is here what quarrel had the with you it is only a one and one without faith who profits by his brother s have these no i cried again saying by the cow by the oath of the cow by the temple of the blue i and i only was beaten beaten to the death let your talk be straight o people of and i will pay for the witnesses and i where i stood for the sickness and the pain of the beating were heavy upon me then ram who has his carpet spread under the tree by the well and writes all letters for the men of the town came up and said to day is the one and day since the beating and since these six days the case has been judged in the court and the assistant has given it for your brother ram allowing the robbery to which too i bore witness and all things else as the witnesses said there were many witnesses and twice ram became senseless in the court because of his wounds and the the gave him a chair before all the why do you howl these things fell as i have said was it not so and jo war said that is truth i was there and there was a red cushion in the chair and ram said great shame has come upon the because of this judgment and fear ing his anger ram and all his house have gone back to ram told us that you also had gone first the enmity being healed between you to open a shop in indeed it were well for you that you go even now for the has sworn that if he catch any one of your house he will hang him by the heels oh this shall be told for years against you the have quarrelled and moreover the books are burned o people indebted to and i know that ye be many the books are burned then all took up the cry that the books were burned that in my folly i had let that escape my mouth and they laughed throughout the city they gave me the abuse of the which is a terrible abuse and very hot me also with sticks and cow till i fell down and cried for mercy ram the letter writer bade the people cease for fear that the news should get into and the might come down to he said using many bad words this much mercy will i do to you though there was no mercy in your dealings with my sister s son over the matter of the has any man a pony on which he sets no store that this fellow may escape if the hears that one of the twain and god knows whether he beat one or both but this man is certainly beaten be in the city there will be a murder done and then will come the police making into each man s house and eating the sweet s stuff all day long ram the said i have a pony very sick but with beating he can be made to walk for two miles if he dies the hide will have the body then the hide said i will pay three for the body and will walk by this man s side till such time as the pony dies if it be more than two miles i will pay two only ram said be it so men brought out the pony and i asked leave to draw a little water from the well because i was dried up with fear then ram said here be four god has brought you very low and i would not send you away empty even though the matter of my sister s son s be an open sore between us it is a long way to your own country go and if it be so willed live but above all do not take the pony s bridle for that is mine and i went out of amid the laughing of the huge and the hide walked by my side waiting for the pony to fall dead in one mile it died and being full of fear of the i ran till i could run no more and came to this place but i swear by the cow i swear by all things whereon and and even the swear that i and not my brother was beaten by the but the case is shut and the doors of the law courts are shut and god knows where the the mother s milk is not yet dry upon his lip is gone am am i have no witnesses and the will heal and i am a poor man but on my father s soul on the oath of a from i and not my brother i was beaten by the what can i do the justice of the english is as a great river having gone forward it does not return do you take a pen and write clearly what i have said that the may see and the who is a yet by the mare so young is he i and not my brother was beaten and he is gone | 39 |
to the west i do not know where but above all things write so that and his disgrace be accomplished that ram my brother son of of is a swine and a night thief a of life an of flesh a without beauty or faith or cleanliness or honour at twenty two narrow as the deep as the pit and dark as the heart of a man s proverb a went out to reap but stayed to the corn ha ha ha is there any sense in a t glared at but as was was not impressed he had come to argue with and if chance favoured to make love to the old man s pretty young wife this was s grievance and he spoke in the name of all the five men who with composed the gang in number seven gallery of twenty two had been blind for the thirty years during which he had served the with pick and all through those thirty years he had regularly every morning before going down drawn from the his allowance of lamp oil just as if he had been an eyed what s gang resented as hundreds of had resented before was s selfishness he would not add the oil to the common stock of his gang but would save and sell it i knew these workings before you were born used to reply i don t want the light to get my coal out by and i am not going to help you tlie oil is mine and i intend to keep it s at twenty f wo a strange man in many ways vas the white haired hot tempered who had turned all day long except on sundays and when he was usually drunk he worked in the twenty two shaft of the as cleverly as a man with all the senses at evening he went up in the great steam hauled cage to the pit bank and there called for his pony a rusty coal dusty beast nearly ae old as the pony would come to his side and would on to its back and be taken at once to the land which he like the other received from the company the pony knew that place and when after six years the company changed all the to prevent the from acquiring rights represented with tears in his eyes that were his holding shifted he would never be able to find his way to the new one my horse only knows that place pleaded and so he was allowed to keep his land on the strength of this concession and his oil took a second wife a girl of the main stock of the and singularly beautiful could not see her beauty wherefore he took her on trust and forbade her to go down the pit he had not worked for thirty years in the dark without knowing that the pit was no place for pretty women he loaded her with ornaments not brass or but real silver ones and she rewarded him by with of number seven gallery gang was really the gang head but insisted upon all the work being entered in his own name and chose the men that at twenty two he worked with custom stronger even than the company dictated that by right of his years should manage these things and should also work despite his blindness in indian mines where they cut into the solid coal with the pick and clear it out from floor to ceiling he could come to no great harm at home where they the coal and bring it down in crashing from the roof he would never have been allowed to set foot in a pit he was not a popular man because of his oil it all the admitted that knew all the or workings that had ever been sunk or worked since the company first started operations on the fields pretty little only knew that her old husband was a fool who could be managed she took no interest in the except in so far as they swallowed up five days out of the seven and covered him with coal dust was a great workman and did his best not to get drunk because when he had saved forty was to steal everything that she could find in s house and run with to a land where there were no mines and every one kept three fat and a while this scheme it was his custom to drop in upon and worry him about the oil sat in a corner and nodded approval on the night when had quoted that objectionable proverb about grew angry listen you pig said he blind i am and old i am but before ever you were born i was gray among the coal even in the days when the twenty two was and there were not two thousand men here at twenty two i was known to have all knowledge of the what is there that i do not know from the bottom of the shaft to the end of the last drive is it the the oldest or the twenty two where s gallery runs up to number five hear the old fool talk said nodding to no gallery of twenty two will cut into five before the end of the rains we have a month s solid coal before us the says so what do these fat from know he draws and draws and draws and talks and talks and talks and his maps are all wrong i know that this is so when a man has been shut up in the dark for thirty years god gives him knowledge the old gallery that s gang made is not six feet from number five without doubt god gives the blind knowledge said with a look | 39 |
at let it be as you say i for my part do not know where lies the gallery of s gang but am not a withered monkey who oil to his joints with swung out of the hut laughing and turned his eyes toward his wife and swore i have land and i have sold a great deal of lamp oil mused but i was a fool to marry this child a week later the rains set in with a vengeance and the about in coal at the pit banks then the big mine were made ready and the manager of the through the wet towards the river swelling between its banks lord send that this doesn t said the manager and he at twenty two went to take counsel with his assistant about the but the very much indeed after a fall of three inches of rain in an hour it was obliged to do something it its bank and joined the flood water that was hemmed between two low hills just where the of the main line crossed when a large part of a rain fed river and a few acres of flood water make a dead set for a nine foot the may its finest but the water cannot all get out the manager upon one leg with excitement and his language was improper he had reason to swear because he knew that one inch of water on land meant a pressure of one hundred tons to the acre and here were about five feet of water forming behind the j over the workings of twenty two you must understand that in a coal mine the coal nearest the surface is worked first from the central shaft that is to say the may clear out the stuff to within ten twenty or thirty feet of the surface and when all is worked out leave only a skin of earth by some few pillars of coal in a deep mine where they know that they have any amount of material at hand men prefer to get all their out at one shaft rather than make a number of little holes to tap the comparatively unimportant surface coal and the manager watched the flood the a nine foot but the water still formed and word was sent to clear the men out of twenty two the came up crammed and crammed again with the men nearest the pit eye as at twenty two i was known to have all knowledge of the what is that i do not know from the bottom of the shaft to the end of the last drive is it the the oldest or the twenty two where s gallery runs up to number five hear the old fool talk said nodding to no gallery of twenty two will cut into five before the end of the rains we have a month s solid coal before us the says so what do these fat from know he draws and draws and draws and talks and talks and talks and his maps are all wrong i know that this is so when a man has been shut up in the dark for thirty years god gives him knowledge the old gallery that s gang made is not six feet from five without doubt god gives the blind knowledge said with a look at let it be as you say i for my part do not know where lies the gallery of s gang but i am not a withered monkey who n ds oil to his joints with swung out of the hut laughing and turned his eyes toward his wife and swore i have land and i have sold a great deal of lamp oil mused but i was a fool to marry this child a week later the rains set in with a vengeance and the about in coal at the pit banks then the big mine were made ready and the manager of the through the wet towards the river swelling between its banks lord send that this doesn t said the manager and he at twenty two went to take counsel with his assistant about the but the very much indeed after a fall of three inches of rain in an hour it was obliged to do something it its bank and joined the flood water that was hemmed between two low hills just where the of the main line crossed when a large part of a rain fed river and a few acres of flood water make a dead set for a nine foot the may its finest but the water cannot all get out the manager upon one leg with excitement and his language was improper he had reason to swear because he knew that one inch of water on land meant a pressure of one hundred tons to the acre and here were about five feet of water forming behind the railway over the workings of twenty two you must understand that in a coal mine the coal nearest the surface is worked first from the central shaft that is to say the may clear out the stuff to within ten twenty or thirty feet of the surface and when all is worked out leave only a skin of earth by some few pillars of coal in a deep mine where they know that they have any amount of material at hand men prefer to get all their out at one shaft rather than make a number of little holes to tap the comparatively unimportant surface coal and the manager watched the flood the a nine foot but the water still formed and word was sent to clear the men out of twenty two the came up crammed and crammed again with the men nearest the pit eye as at twenty two i was known to have all knowledge of the what is there that i do not know | 39 |
from the bottom of the shaft to the end of the last drive is it the the oldest or the twenty two where s gallery runs up to number five hear the old fool talk said nodding to no gallery of twenty two will cut into five before the end of the rains we have a month s solid coal before us the says so what do these fat from know he draws and draws and draws and talks and talks and talks and his maps are all wrong i know that this is so when a man has been shut up in the dark for thirty years god gives him knowledge the old gallery that s gang made is not six feet from number five without doubt god gives the blind knowledge said with a look at let it be as you say i for my part do not know where lies the gallery of s gang but i am not a withered monkey who n ds oil to his joints with swung out of the hut laughing and turned his eyes toward his wife and swore i have land and i have sold a great deal of lamp oil mused but i was a fool to marry this child a week later the rains set in with a vengeance and the about in coal at the pit banks then the big mine were made ready and the manager of the through the wet towards the river swelling between its banks lord send that this doesn t said the manager and he at twenty two went to take counsel with his assistant about the but the very much indeed after a fall of three inches of rain in an hour it was obliged to do something it its bank and joined the flood water that was hemmed between two low hills just where the of the main line crossed when a large part of a rain fed river and a few acres of flood water make a dead set for a nine foot the may its finest but the water cannot all get out the manager upon one leg with excitement and his language was improper he had reason to swear because he knew that one inch of water on land meant a pressure of one hundred tons to the acre and here were about five feet of water forming behind the railway over the workings of twenty two you must understand that in a coal mine the coal nearest the surface is worked first from the central shaft that is to say the may clear out the stuff to within ten twenty or thirty feet of the surface and when all is worked out leave only a skin of earth by some few pillars of coal in a deep mine where they know that they have any amount of material at hand men prefer to get all their out at one shaft rather than make a number of little holes to tap the comparatively unimportant surface coal and the manager watched the flood the a nine foot but the water still formed and word was sent to clear the men out of twenty two the came up crammed and crammed again with the men nearest the pit eye as at twenty two i was known to have all knowledge of the what is there that i do not know from the bottom of the shaft to the end of the last drive is it the the oldest or the twenty two where s gallery runs up to number five hear the old fool talk said nodding to no gallery of twenty two will cut into five before the end of the rains we have a month s solid coal before us the says so what do these fat from know he draws and draws and draws and talks and talks and talks and his maps are all wrong i know that this is so when a man has been shut up in the dark for thirty years god gives him knowledge the old gallery that s gang made is not six feet from number five without doubt god gives the blind knowledge said with a look at let it be as you say i for my part do not know where lies the gallery of s gang but i am not a withered monkey who n ds oil to his joints with swung out of the hut laughing and turned his eyes toward his wife and swore i have land and i have sold a great deal of lamp oil mused but i was a fool to marry this child a week later the rains set in with a vengeance and the about in coal at the pit banks then the big mine were made ready and the manager of the through the wet towards the river swelling between its banks lord send that this doesn t said the manager and he at twenty two went to take counsel with his assistant about the but the very much indeed after a fall of three inches of rain in an hour it was obliged to do something it its bank and joined the flood water that was hemmed between two low hills just where the of the main line crossed when a large part of a rain fed river and a few acres of flood water make a dead set for a nine foot the may its finest but the water cannot all get out the manager upon one leg with excitement and his language was improper he had reason to swear because he knew that one inch of water on land meant a pressure of one hundred tons to the acre and here were about five feet of water forming behind the over the workings of twenty two you must understand that in a coal mine the coal nearest the surface is worked first from the central shaft | 39 |
that is to say the may clear out the stuff to within ten twenty or thirty feet of the surface and when all is worked out leave only a skin of earth by some few pillars of coal in a deep mine where they know that they have any amount of material at hand men prefer to get all their out at one shaft rather than make a number of little holes to tap the comparatively unimportant surface coal and the manager watched the flood the a nine foot but the water still formed and word was sent to clear the men out of twenty two the came up crammed and crammed again with the men nearest the pit eye as at twenty two i was known to have all knowledge of the what is there that i do not know from the bottom of the shaft to the end of the last drive is it the the oldest or the twenty two where s gallery runs up to number five hear the old fool talk said nodding to no gallery of twenty two will cut into five before the end of the rains we have a month s solid coal before us the says so what do these fat from know he draws and draws and draws and talks and talks and talks and his maps are all wrong i know that this is so when a man has been shut up in the dark for thirty years god gives him knowledge the old gallery that s gang made is not six feet from number five without doubt god gives the blind knowledge said with a look at let it be as you say i for my part do not know where lies the gallery of s gang but i am not a withered monkey who oil to his joints with swung out of the hut laughing and turned his eyes toward his wife and swore i have land and i have sold a great deal of lamp oil mused but i was a fool to marry this child a week later the rains set in with a vengeance and the about in coal at the pit banks then the big mine were made ready and the manager of the through the wet towards the river swelling between its banks lord send that this doesn t said the manager and he at twenty two went to take counsel with his assistant about the but the very much indeed after a fall of three inches of rain in an hour it was obliged to do something it its bank and joined the flood water that was hemmed between two low hills just where the of the main line crossed when a large part of a rain fed river and a few acres of flood water make a dead set for a nine foot the may its finest but the water cannot all get out the manager upon one leg with excitement and his language was improper he had reason to swear because he knew that one inch of water on land meant a pressure of one hundred tons to the acre and here were about five feet of water forming behind the railway over the workings of twenty two you must understand that in a coal mine the coal nearest the surface is worked first from the central shaft that is to say the may clear out the stuff to within ten twenty or thirty feet of the surface and when all is worked out leave only a skin of earth by some few pillars of coal in a deep mine where they know that they have any amount of material at hand men prefer to get all their out at one shaft rather than make a number of little holes to tap the comparatively unimportant surface coal and the manager watched the flood the a nine foot but the water still formed and word was sent to clear the men out of twenty two the came up crammed and crammed again with the men nearest the pit eye as at twenty two they call the place where you can see daylight from the bottom of the main shaft all away and away up the long black galleries the lamps were and dancing like so many and the men and the women waited for the rattling thundering to come down and fly up again but the were very far off and word could not be passed quickly though the heads of the and the assistant shouted and swore and and stumbled the manager kept one eye on the great troubled pool behind the and prayed that the would give way and let the water through in time with the other eye he watched the come up and saw the counting the roll of the with all his heart and soul he swore at the who controlled the iron drum that wound up the wire rope on which hung the in a little time there was a down draw in the water behind the a all yellow and the water had smashed thi the skin of the earth and was pouring into the old shallow workings of twenty two deep down below a rush of black water caught the last gang waiting for the cage and as they in the whirl was about their the cage reached the pit bank and the manager called the roll the were all safe except gang gang and gang eighteen men with perhaps ten who loaded the coal into the little iron carriages that ran on the of the main galleries these were in the out workings three quarters of a mile away on the extreme fringe of the mine once more the cage went down but with only two english at twenty two men in it and dropped into a roaring current that had almost touched the roof of some of the lower | 39 |
side galleries one of the wooden with which they had propped the old workings shot past on the current just missing the cage if we don t want our ribs knocked out we d better go said the manager we can t even save the company s the cage drew out of the water with a splash and a few minutes later it was reported that there were at least ten feet of water in the pit s eye now ten feet of water there meant that all other places in the mine were except such galleries as were more than ten feet above the level of the bottom of the shaft the deep workings would be full the main galleries would be full but in the high workings reached by from the main roads there would be a certain amount of air cut off so to speak by the water and squeezed up by it the little science explain how water when you pour it down test the of twenty two was an illustration on a large scale by the holy grove what has happened to the air it was a of gang in number nine gallery and he was driving a six foot way through the coal then there was a rush from the other galleries and gang and gang stumbled up with their basket women water has come in the mine they said and there is no way of getting out i went down said down the slope of my gallery and i felt the water at twenty two there has been no water in the cutting in our time the women why cannot we go away be silent said long ago when my father was here water came to ten no eleven cutting and there was great trouble let us get away to where the air is better the three and the basket women left number nine gallery and went further up number sixteen at one turn of the road they could see the black water on the coal it had touched the roof of a gallery that they knew well a gallery where they used to smoke their and manage their seeing this they called aloud upon their gods and the who are thrice strove to recollect the name of the prophet they came to a great open square whence nearly all the coal had been extracted it was the end of the out workings and the end of the mine far away down the gallery a small engine used for keeping dry a deep working and fed with steam from above was throbbing faithfully they heard it cease they have cut off the steam said they have given the order to use all the steam for the pit bank they will clear out the water if the water has reached the smoking gallery said all the company s can do nothing for three days it is very hot moaned the there is a very bad air here because of the lamps put them out said why do you want lamps at twenty two the lamps were put out and the company sat still in the utter dark somebody rose quietly and began walking over the coals it was who was touching the walls with his hands where is the ledge he murmured to himself sit sit said if we die we die the air is very bad but still stumbled and crept and tapped with his pick upon the walls the women rose to their feet stay all where you are without the lamps you cannot see and i i am always seeing said then he paused and called out oh you who have been in the cutting more than ten years what is the name of this open place i am an old man and i have forgotten s room answered the who had complained of the of the air again said s room then i have found it said the name only had slipped my memory s gang s gallery is here a lie said there have been no galleries in this place since my day three paces was the depth of the ledge muttered without and oh my poor bones i have found it it is here up this ledge come all you one by one to the place of my voice and i will count you there was a rush in the dark and felt the first man s face hit his knees as the scrambled up the ledge at twenty two who cried i sit you down said who next one by one the women and the men crawled up the ledge which ran along one side of s room degraded pig eating and wild ran his hand over them all now follow after said he catching hold of my heel and the women catching the men s clothes he did not ask whether the men had brought their with them a black or white does not drop his pick one by one leading they crept into the old gallery a six foot way with a scant four feet from to roof the air is better here said they could hear her heart beating in thick sick slowly slowly said i am an old man and i forget many things this is s gallery but where are the four bricks where they used to put their fire on when the never saw slowly slowly o you people behind they heard his hands disturbing the small coal on the floor of the gallery and then a dull sound this is one brick and this is another and another is a young man let him come forward put a knee upon this brick and strike here when s gang were at dinner on the last day before the good coal ended they heard the men of five on the other | 39 |
side and five worked their gallery two sundays later or it may have been one strike there but give me room to go back doubting drove the pick but the first soft crush of the coal was a call to him he was fighting at twenty two for his life and for pretty little u with rings on all her toes for and the forty the women sang the song of the pick the terrible slow swinging melody with the muttered chorus that the sliding of the loosened coal and to each smote in the black dark when he could do no more took the pick and struck for his life and his wife and his village beyond the blue hills over the river an hour the men worked and then the women cleared away the coal it is farther than i thought said the air is very bad but strike strike hard for the fifth time took up the pick as the crawled back the song had scarcely when it was broken by a yell from that echoed down the gallery par par f we are through we are through the imprisoned air in the mine shot through the opening and the women at the far end of the gallery heard the water rush through the pillars of s room and roar against the ledge having fulfilled the law under which it worked it rose no farther the women screamed and pressed forward the water has come we shall be killed i let us go crawled through the gap and found himself in a propped gallery by the simple process of his head against a beam do i know the or do i not chuckled this is the number five go you out slowly giving me your names ho i count your gang now let us go forward each catching hold of the other as before they formed a line in the darkness and led at twenty two them for a pit man in a strange pit is only one degree less liable to than an ordinary mortal for the first time at last they saw a lamp and and of twenty two stumbled dazed into the glare of the draught furnace at the bottom of five feeling his way and the rest behind water has come into twenty two god knows where are the others i have brought these men from s gallery in our cutting making connection through the north side of the gallery take us to the cage said at the pit bank of twenty two some thousand people and wept and shouted one hundred men one thousand men had been drowned in the cutting they would all go to their homes tomorrow where were their men little her cloth with the rain stood at the pit mouth calling down the shaft for they had swung the clear of the mouth and her only answer was the murmur of the flood in the pit s eye two hundred and sixty feet below look after that woman she ll herself down the shaft in a minute shouted the manager but he need not have troubled was afraid of death she wanted the assistant was watching the flood and seeing how far he could into it there was a lull in the water and the had the mine was full and the people at the pit bank howled my faith we shall be lucky if we have five hundred hands on the place to morrow i said the manager at twenty two there s some chance yet of a temporary dam across that water in anything and carts if you haven t enough bricks make them work now if they never worked before hi you make them work little by little the crowd was broken into and pushed towards the water with promises of the dam making began and when it was fairly under way the manager thought that the hour had come for the there was no fresh into the mine the tall red iron pump beam rose and fell and the and and shrieked as the first water poured out of the pipe we must run her all to night said the manager wearily but there s no hope for the poor devils down below look here if you are proud of your engines show me what they can do now grinned and nodded with his right hand upon the and an oil can in his left he could do no more than he was doing but he could keep that up till the dawn were the company s to be beaten by the of that troublesome river never never and the sobbed and panted never never the manager sat in the shelter of the pit bank trying to dry himself by the pump fire and in the dreary dusk he saw the crowds on the dam scatter and fly that s the end he groaned take us six weeks to persuade em that we haven t tried to drown their mates on purpose oh for a decent rational i but the flight had no panic in it men had run over from five with news and the could at twenty two not hold their together presently surrounded by a crew and and ten basket women walked up to report themselves and pretty little stole away to s hut to prepare his evening meal alone i found the way explained and now will the company give me the simple pit folk shouted and leaped and went back to the dam reassured in their old belief that whatever happened so great was the power of the company whose salt they ate none of them could be killed but only his white teeth and kept his hand upon the and proved his to the i say said the assistant to the manager a week later do you recollect f | 39 |
yes queer thing i thought of it in the cage when that went by why oh this business seems to be down was in my all this morning telling me that had with his wife or i think her name was and those were the cattle that you risked your life to clear out of twenty two j no i was thinking of the company s not the company s men sounds better to say so now but i don t believe you old fellow in flood time said till what ye still till said though ye wi speed an i yet where ye ae man there is no getting over the river to night they say that a cart has been washed down already and the that went over a half hour before you came has not yet reached the far side is the in haste i will drive the ford elephant in to show him there in the shed bring out ram and if he will face the current good an elephant never lies and ram is separated from his friend he too wishes to cross to the far side well done well done my king go half way across and see what the river says well done ram pearl among go into the river i hit him on the head fool was the made only to scratch thy own fat back with strike strike what are the to thee ram my my mountain of strength go in i go in i no it is useless you can hear him trumpet he is telling that he cannot come over see i he has swung round and is shaking his head he ib in flood time no fool he knows what the means when it is angry indeed thou art no fool my child ram take him under the trees and see that he gets his well done thou among to the and go to sleep what is to be done the must wait till the river goes down it will shrink to morrow morning if god pleases or the day after at the latest now why does the get so angry i am his servant before god i did not create this stream what can i do my hut and all that is therein is at the service of the and it is beginning to rain come away my lord how will the river go down for your throwing abuse at it in the old days the english people were not thus the fire carriage has made them soft in the old days when they behind horses by day or by night they said naught if a river barred the way or a carriage sat down in the mud it was the will of god not like a fire carriage which goes and goes and goes and would go though all the devils in the land hung on to its tail the fire carriage hath spoiled the english people after all what is a day lost or for that matter what are two days is the going to his own wedding that he is so mad with haste ho ho ho i am an old man and see few forgive me if i have forgotten the respect that is due to them the is not angry his own wedding ho ho ho the mind of an old man is like the fruit bud blossom and the dead leaves of all the years of the past flourish together old and new and that which is gone out of remembrance all three are there sit on the in flood time and drink milk or would the in truth care to drink my tobacco it is good it is the tobacco of my son who is in service there sent it to me drink then if you know how to handle the the takes it like a where did he learn that his own wedding ho ho ho the says that there is no wedding in the matter at all now is it likely that the would speak true talk to me who am only a black man small wonder then that he is in haste thirty years have i beaten the at this ford but never have i seen a in such haste thirty years that is a very long time thirty years ago this ford was on the track of the and i have seen two thousand pack cross in one night now the rail has come and the fire carriage says and a hundred of slide across that big bridge it is very wonderful but the ford is lonely now that there are no to camp under the trees nay do not trouble to look at the sky without it v rain till the dawn listen the are talking to night in the bed of the river hear them they would be your bones had you tried to cross see i will shut tbe door and no rain can enter am thirty years on the banks of the ford i an old man am i and where is the oil for the lamp pf r pr p your pardon but because of my years i sleep no than a dog and you moved to the door look then look and listen a full half from bank to bank is the stream now you can see it under the stars and there are ten feet of water therein it in flood time will not shrink because of the anger in your eyes and it will not be quiet on account of your curses which is louder your voice or the voice of the river call to it perhaps it will be ashamed lie down and sleep afresh i know the anger of the when there has fallen rain in the foot hills i swam the flood once on a | 39 |
river heavy upon my heels yet what will a young man not do for love s sake there was but little light from the stars and to the a branch of the tree brushed my mouth as i swam that was a sign of heavy rain in the foot hills and beyond for the is a strong tree not easily shaken from the i made haste the river me but ere i had touched the the pulse of the stream beat as it were within me and around and behold the was gone and i rode high on the crest of a wave that ran from bank to bank has the ever been cast into much water that fights and will not let a man use his limbs to me my head upon the water it seemed as though there were naught but water to the world s end and the river me with its a man is a very little thing in the belly of a flood and this flood though i knew it not was the great flood about which men talk still my liver was dissolved and i lay like a log upon my back in the fear of death there were living things in the water crying and howling beasts of the forest and in flood time cattle and once the voice of a man asking for help but the rain came and lashed the water white and i heard no more save the roar of the below and the roar of the rain above thus i was whirled for the breath in me it is very hard to die when one is young can the standing here see the railway bridge look there are the lights of the mail train going to the bridge is now twenty feet above the river but upon that night the water was roaring against the work and against the came i feet first but much was piled there and upon the and i took no great hurt only the river pressed me as a strong man presses a weaker scarcely could i take hold of the work and crawl to the upper boom the water was foaming across the rails a foot deep judge therefore what manner of flood it must have been i could not hear i could not see i could but lie on the boom and for breath after a while the rain ceased and there came out in the sky certain new washed stars and by their light i saw that there was no end to the black water as far as the eye could travel and the water had risen upon the rails there were dead beasts in the on the and others caught by the neck in the work and others not yet drowned who strove to find a on the work and and wild pig and deer one or two and and past all counting their bodies were black upon the left side of the bridge but the smaller of them were forced through the work and whirled down stream thereafter the stars died and the rain came down fresh and the river rose yet more and i felt the bridge in flood time begin to stir under me as a in his sleep ere he wakes but i was not afraid i swear to you that i was not afraid though i had no power in my limbs i knew that i should not die till i had seen her once more but i was very cold and i felt that the bridge must go there was a trembling in the water such a trembling as goes before the coming of a great wave and the bridge lifted its flank to the rush of that coming so that the right dipped under water and the left rose clear on my beard i am speaking god s truth as a stone boat to the wind so the bridge turned thus and in no other manner i slid from the boom into deep water and behind me came the wave of the wrath of the river i heard its voice and the scream of the middle part of the bridge as it moved from the and sank and i knew no more till i rose in the middle of the great flood i put forth my hand to swim and lo it fell upon the knotted hair of the head of a man he was dead for no one but i the strong one of could have lived in that race he had been dead full two days for he rode high and was an aid to me i laughed then knowing for a that i should yet see her and take no harm and i twisted my fingers in the hair of the man for i was far spent and together we went down the stream he the dead and i the living lacking that help i should have sunk the cold was in my and my flesh was and on my bones but he had no fear who had known the of the power of the river and i let him go where he chose at last we came into the power of a that set to the right bank and i strove with my in flood time feet to draw with it but the dead man swung heavily in the whirl and i feared that some branch had struck him and that he would sink the tops of the brushed my knees so i knew we were come into above the crops and after i let down my legs and felt bottom the ridge of a field and after the dead man stayed upon a under a fig tree and i drew my body from the water rejoicing does the know whither the of the flood had borne me to the which is the eastern | 39 |
of and stole from the latter day of half their pet words took any fragments of egyptian philosophy that it found in the as many of the as had been translated into french or english and talked of all the rest built in the german of what is left of the encouraged white gray and black magic including fortune telling by cards hot double the sending of da nuts and would have adopted and had it known anything about them and showed itself in every way one of the most arrangements that had ever been invented since the birth of the sea when it was in thorough working order with all the machinery down to the complete da came from nowhere with nothing in his hands and wrote a chapter in its history which has hitherto been he said that his first name was and his second was da now setting aside of tlie new york sun is a name and da fits no native of india unless you except the d as the original da is lap or and da was neither chin lap jew nor anything else known to he was simply da and declined to give further information for the sake of and as roughly indicating his origin he was called the native he might have been the original old man of the mountains who is said to be the only head of the tea cup creed some people said that he was but da used to smile and deny any connection with the explaining that he was an independent as i have said he came from nowhere with his hands behind his back and studied the creed for three weeks sitting at the feet of those best competent to explain its mysteries then he laughed aloud and went away but the laugh might have been either of devotion or derision when he returned he was without money but his the sending of da pride was he declared that he knew more about the things in heaven and earth than those who taught him and for this was abandoned altogether his next appearance in public life was at a big in upper india and he was then telling fortunes with the help of three leaden a very dirty old cloth and a little tin box of he told better fortunes when he was allowed half a bottle of but the things which he invented on the were quite worth the money he was in reduced circumstances among other people s he told the fortune of an englishman who had once been interested in the creed but who later on had married and forgotten all his old knowledge in the study of babies and things the englishman allowed da to tell a fortune for charity s sake and gave him five a dinner and some old clothes when he had eaten da professed gratitude and asked if there were anything he could do for his host in the line is there any one that you love said da the englishman loved his wife but had no desire to drag her name into the conversation he therefore shook his head is there any one that you hate said da the englishman said that there were several men whom he hated deeply very good said da upon whom the and the were beginning to tell only me their names and i will despatch a sending to them and kill them now a sending is a horrible arrangement first in the sending of da they say in it is a thing sent by a and may take any form but most about the land in the shape of a little purple cloud till it finds the and him it by changing into the form of a horse or a cat or a man without a face it is not strictly a native patent though of the skin and hide can if irritated despatch a sending which sits on the breast of their enemy by night and nearly him very few natives care to for this reason let me despatch a sending said da i am nearly dead now with want and drink and but i should like to kill a man before i die i can send a sending anywhere you choose and in any form except in the shape of a man the englishman had no friends that he wished to kill but partly to soothe da whose eyes were rolling and partly to see what would be done he asked whether a modified sending could not be arranged for such a sending as should make a man s life a burden to him and yet do him no harm if this were possible he his to give da ten for the job i am not what i was once said da and i must take the money because i am poor to what englishman shall i send it send a sending to lone said the englishman a man who had been most bitter in him for his from the tea cup creed da laughed and nodded i could have chosen no better man myself said he i see that he finds the sending about his path and about his bed the sending of da he lay down on the hearth rug turned up the of his eyes shivered all over and began to this was magic or or the sending or all three when he opened his eyes he vowed that the sending had started upon the war path and was at that moment flying up to the town where lone lives give me my ten said da wearily and write a letter to lone telling him and all who believe with him that you and a friend are using a power greater than theirs they will see that you are speaking the truth he departed with the promise of some more if anything came of the | 39 |
sending the englishman sent a letter to lone in what he remembered of the of the creed he wrote i also in the days of what you held to be my have obtained and with has come power then he grew so deeply mysterious that the of the letter could make neither head nor tail of it and was impressed for he fancied that his friend had become a fifth when a man is a he can do more than and combined lone read the letter in five different fashions and was beginning a sixth interpretation when his bearer dashed in with the news that there was a cat on the bed now if there was one thing that lone hated more than another it was a cat he the bearer for not turning it out of the house the bearer said that he was afraid all the doors of the bedroom had been shut throughout the morning and no real cat the sending of da could possibly have entered the room he would prefer not to with the creature lone ed the room and there on the pillow of his bed and a white not a little beast but a like with its eyes barely opened and its lacking strength or direction a that ought to have been in a basket with its mamma lone caught it by the of its neck handed it over to the to be drowned and the bearer four that evening as he was reading in his room he fancied that he saw something moving about on the hearth rug outside the circle of light from his when the thing began to he that it was a a white nearly blind and very miserable he was seriously angry and spoke bitterly to his bearer who said that there was no in the room when he brought in the lamp and real of tender age generally had in attendance if the presence will go out into the and listen said the bearer he will hear no cats how therefore can the on the bed and the on the hearth rug be real lone went out to listen and the bearer followed him but there was no sound of any one for her children he returned to his room having hurled the down the and wrote out the incidents of the day for the benefit of his co those people were so absolutely fi ee from superstition that they ascribed anything a little out of the common to as it was their business to know all about the they were on terms of almost the sending of da familiarity with of every kind their letters dropped from the ceiling and spirits used to up and down their all night but they had never come into contact with lone wrote out the facts noting the hour and the minute as every observer is bound to do and the englishman s letter because it was the most mysterious document and might have had a bearing upon anything in this world or the next an would have translated all the thus look out you laughed at me once and now i am going to make you sit up lone s co found that meaning in it but their translation was refined and full of four syllable words they held a and were filled with tremulous joy for in spite of their familiarity with all the other worlds and they had a very human awe of things sent from ghost land they met in lone s room in and gloom and their was broken up by a among the frames on the a white nearly blind was and itself between the clock and the that stopped all or here was the in the flesh it was so far as could be seen devoid of purpose but it was a of they a round robin to the englishman the of old days him in the interests of the creed to explain whether there was any connection between the of some egyptian god or other i have forgotten the name and his communication they called the ra or or turn or some the sending of da thing and when lone confessed that the first one had at his most instance been drowned by the they said that in his next life he would be a and not even a of the lowest grade these words may not be quite correct but they accurately express the sense of the house when the englishman received the round robin it came by post he was startled and bewildered he sent into the for da who read the letter and laughed that is my sending said he i told you i would work well now give me another ten but what in the world is this about egyptian gods asked the englishman cats said da with a for he had discovered the englishman s bottle cats and cats and cats never was such a sending a hundred of cats now give me ten more and write as i dictate da s letter was a curiosity it bore the englishman s signature and hinted at cats at a sending of cats the mere words on paper were and to behold what have you done though said the englishman i am as much in the dark as ever do you mean to say that you can actually send this absurd sending you talk about judge for yourself said da what does that letter mean in a little time they will all be at my feet and yours and i o glory will be or drunk all day long da knew his people the sending of da when a man who hates cats wakes up in the morning and finds a little on his breast or puts his hand into his pocket and finds a little half dead where his | 39 |
gloves should be or opens his trunk and finds a vile among his dress shirts or goes for a long ride with his on his saddle bow and shakes a little from its folds when he opens it or goes out to dinner and finds a little blind under his chair or stays at home and finds a under the or among his boots or hanging head downwards in his tobacco jar or being by his in the when such a man finds one neither more nor less once a day in a place where no rightly could or should be he is naturally upset when he dare not murder his daily because he believes it to be a an an and half a dozen other things all out of the regular course of nature he is more than upset he is actually distressed some of lone s co thought that he was a highly favoured individual but many said that if he had treated the first with proper respect as suited a ra all this trouble would have been averted they compared him to the ancient but none the less they were proud of him and proud of the englishman who had sent the they did not call it a sending because magic was not in their programme after sixteen that is to say after one fortnight for there were three on the first day to impress the fact of the sending the whole camp was uplifted by a letter it came flying through a window the sending of da from the old man of the mountains the head of all the creed explaining the in the most beautiful language and up all the credit of it for himself the englishman said the letter was not there at all he was a without power or who couldn t even raise a table by force of much less project an army of through space the entire arrangement said the letter was strictly worked and by the highest authorities within the pale of the creed there was great joy at this for some of the weaker brethren seeing that an who had been working on independent lines could create whereas their own rulers had never gone beyond and broken at best were showing a desire to break line on their own trail in fact there was the promise of a a second round robin was to the englishman beginning o and ending with a selection of curses from the rites of and and the of who was a fifth upon whose name an third once a is a c compared to the of the englishman had been proved under the hand and seal of the old man of the mountains to have appropriated virtue and pretended to have power which in reality belonged only to the supreme head naturally the round robin did not spare him he handed the letter to da to into decent english the on da was curious at first he was furiously angry and then he laughed for five minutes i had thought he said that they would have come the sending of da to me in another week i would have shown that i sent the sending and they would have the old man of the mountains who has sent this sending of mine do you do nothing the time has come for me to act write as i dictate and i will put them to shame but give me ten more at da s the englishman wrote nothing less than a formal challenge to the old man of the mountains it wound up and if this be from your hand then let it go forward but if it be from my hand i will that the sending shall cease in two days time on that day there shall be twelve and none at all the people shall judge between us this was signed by da who added and and a and half a dozen and a triple to his name just to show that he was all he laid claim to be the challenge was read out to the gentlemen and ladies and they remembered then that da had laughed at them some years ago it was announced that the old man of the mountains would treat the matter with contempt da being an independent without a single round at the back of him but this did not soothe his people they wanted to see a fight they were very human for all their lone who was really being worn out with submitted meekly to his fate he felt that he was being to prove the power of da as the poet says when the stated day dawned the shower of began some were white and some were and all were about the same age three were on his hearth rug three in his bath room and the other six the sending of da turned up at intervals among the visitors who came to see the prophecy break down never was a more satisfactory sending on the next day there were no and the next day and all the other days were and quiet the people murmured and looked to the old man of the mountains for an explanation a letter written on a palm leaf dropped from the ceiling but every one except lone felt that letters were not what the occasion demanded there should have been cats there should have been cats ones the letter proved that there had been a in the current which with a identity had interfered with the activity all along the main line the were still going on but owing to some failure in the developing they were not the air was thick with letters for a few days afterwards unseen hands played and on finger and clock shades but all men felt that life was a mockery | 39 |
without even lone shouted with the majority on this head da s letters were very insulting and if he had then offered to lead a new departure there is no knowing what might not have happened but da was dying of and in the englishman s and had small heart for honours they have been put to shame said he never was such a sending it has killed me nonsense said the englishman you are going to die da and that sort of stuff must be left behind i ll admit that you have made some queer things come about tell me honestly now how was it done the sending of da give me ten more said da faintly and if i die before i spend them bury them with me the silver was counted out while da was fighting with death his hand closed upon the money and he smiled a grim smile bend low he whispered the englishman bent mission school box pearl merchant all mine english education out and made up name da england with american thought reading man and and you gave me ten several times i gave the s bearer two eight a month for cats little little cats i wrote and he put them about very clever man very few now in the ask lone s s wife so saying da gasped and passed away into a land where if all be true there are no and the making of new is discouraged but consider the gorgeous simplicity of it all on the city wall then she let them down by a cord through the window for hei house was upon the town wall and she dwelt upon the wall ii is a member of the most ancient profession in the world was her very great and that was before the days of eve as every one knows in the west people say rude things about s profession and write lectures about it and the lectures to young persons in order that morality may be preserved in the east where the profession is hereditary descending from mother to daughter nobody writes lectures or takes any notice and that is a distinct proof of the inability of the east to manage its own affairs s real husband for even ladies of s profession in the east must have husbands was a big tree her mamma who had married a fig tree spent ten thousand on s wedding which was blessed by forty seven clergyman of mamma s church and distributed five thousand in charity to the poor and that was the custom of the land the advantages of having a tree for a husband are obvious you cannot hurt his feelings and he looks imposing s husband stood on the plain outside the city walls and s house was upon the east wall facing on the city wall the river if you fell from the broad window seat you dropped thirty feet sheer into the city ditch but if you stayed where you should and looked forth you saw all the cattle of the city being driven down to water the students of the government college playing the high grass and trees that fringed the river bank the great sand bars that the river the red of dead beyond the river and very far away through the blue heat haze a of the of the used to lie in the window seat for hours at a time watching this view he was a young who was suffering from education of the english variety and knew it his father had sent him to a mission school to get wisdom and had absorbed more than ever his father or the intended he should when his father died was independent and spent two years with the of the earth and reading books that are of no use to anybody after he had made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the roman catholic church and the fold at the same time the found him out and called him names but they did not understand his trouble he discovered on the city wall and became the most constant of her few admirers he possessed a head that english artists at home would over and paint amid impossible surroundings a face that female would use with delight through nine hundred pages in reality he was only a clean bred young with eyebrows small cut nostrils little feet and hands and a very tired look in his eyes by virtue of his twenty on the city wall two years lie had grown a neat black beard which he with pride and kept delicately scented his life seemed to be divided between books from me and making love to in the he composed songs about her and some of the songs are sung to this day in the city from the street of the mutton to the copper ward one song the prettiest of all says that the beauty of was so great that it troubled the hearts of the british government and caused them to lose their peace of mind that is the way the song is sung in the streets but if you examine it carefully and know the key to the explanation you will find that there are three in it on beauty heart and peace of mind so that it runs by the of the administration of the government was troubled and it lost such and such a man when wall sings that song his eyes glow like hot coals and back among the cushions and throws of at wall but first it is necessary to explain something about the supreme government which is above all and below all and behind all gentlemen come from england spend a few weeks in india walk round this great of the plains and write books upon its | 39 |
ways and its works or it as their own ignorance consequently all the world knows how the supreme government itself but no one not even the supreme government knows everything about the administration of the empire year by year england sends out fresh for the first fighting line which is called the indian civil these die or kill themselves by or on the city wall are worried to death or broken in health and hope in order that the land may be protected from death and sickness famine and war and may eventually become capable of standing alone it will never stand alone but the idea is a pretty one and men are willing to die for it and yearly the work of pushing and and scolding and the country into good living goes forward if an advance be made all credit is given to the native while the englishmen stand back and wipe their if a failure occurs the englishmen step forward and take the blame tenderness of this kind has bred a strong belief among many natives that the native is capable of the country and many devout englishmen believe this also because the theory is stated in beautiful english with all the latest political colour there be other men who though see visions and dream dreams and they too hope to administer the country in their own way that is to say with a of red such men must exist among two hundred million people and if they are not attended to may cause trouble and even break the great idol called which as the newspapers say lives between and cape were the day of doom to dawn to morrow you would find the supreme government taking measures to popular excitement and putting guards upon the that the dead might troop forth orderly the youngest would arrest on his own responsibility if the could not produce a s permission to make music or other noises as the license says whence it is easy to see that mere men of the flesh on the city wall who would create a tumult must fare badly at the hands of the supreme government and they do there is no outward sign of excitement there is no confusion there is no knowledge when due and sufficient reasons have been given weighed and approved the machinery moves forward and the of dreams and the of visions is gone from his friends and following he the hospitality of government there is no upon his movements within certain limits but he must not confer any more with his brother once in every six months the supreme government itself that he is well and takes formal acknowledgment of his existence no one against his because the few people who know about it are in deadly fear of seeming to know him and never a single newspaper lakes up his case or on his behalf because the newspapers of india have got behind that lying proverb which says the pen is than the sword and can walk delicately so now you know as much as you ought about the mixture and the supreme government has not yet been described she would need so says a thousand pens of gold and ink scented with she has been compared to the moon the lake a spotted a the sun on the desert of the dawn the stars and the young these imply that she is beautiful exceedingly according to the native standards which are practically the same as those of the west her eyes are black and her hair is black and her eyebrows are black as her mouth is tiny on the city wall and says witty things her hands are tiny and have saved much money her feet are tiny and have trodden on the naked hearts of many men but as sings is and when you have said that you have only come to the of knowledge the little house on the city wall was just big enough to hold and her maid and a cat with a silver collar a big pink and blue cut glass hung from the ceiling of the reception room a petty had given the horror and she kept it for politeness sake the floor of the room was of polished white as a window of carved wood was set in one wall there was a profusion of cushions and fat carpets everywhere and s silver studded with had a p l little carpet all to its shining self was nearly as permanent a as the as i have said he lay in the window seat and meditated on life and d and specially the feet of the young men of the city tended to her and then retired for was a particular maiden slow of speech reserved of mind and not in the least inclined to which were nearly certain to end in strife if i am of no value i am unworthy of this honour said if i am of value they are unworthy of me and that was a crooked sentence in the long hot nights of latter april and may all the city seemed to in s little white room to smoke and to talk of the and most persuasion who had lost all belief in the prophet and retained but little in god wandering priests passing southward on their way to the central india and other affairs on the city wall in black gowns with spectacles on their noses and wisdom in their bearded of the wards with all the details of the latest scandal in the golden temple red eyed priests from beyond the border looking like wolves and talking like m a s of the university very superior and very all these people and more also you might find in the white room lay in the window seat and listened to the talk it is s said to me | 39 |
and it is is not that the word outside of a s lodge i have never seen such there i dined once with a jew a he into the city ditch with apologies for allowing national feelings to overcome him though i have lost every belief in the world said he and try to be proud of my losing i cannot help a jew admits no jews here but what in the world do all these men do i asked the curse of our country said they talk it is like the always hearing and telling some new thing ask the pearl and she will show you how much she knows of the news of the city and the province knows everything i said at random she was talking to a gentleman of the persuasion who had come in from god knows where when does the th regiment go to it does not go at all said without turning her head they have ordered the th to go in its stead that regiment goes to in three months unless they give a fresh order on the city wall that is so said without a shade of doubt can you with your and your newspapers do better always hearing and telling some new thing he went on my friend has your god ever smitten a european nation for in the india has for centuries always standing in the until the soldiers go by therefore you are here to day instead of starving in your own country and i am not a i am a product a product that also i owe to you and yours that i cannot make an end to my sentence without quoting from your authors he pulled at the and mourned half half in earnest for the shattered hopes of his youth w s always mourning over something or other the country of which he or the creed in which he had lost faith or the life of the english which he could by no means understand never mourned she played little songs on the and to hear her sing cry again was always a fresh pleasure she knew all the songs that have ever been sung from the war songs of the south that make the old men angry with the young men and the young men angry with the state to the love songs of the north where the swords like angry in the pauses between the kisses and the passes fill with armed men and the lover is torn from his beloved and cries ai ai ai she knew how to make up tobacco for the so that it smelt like the gates of paradise and you gently through them she could strange things in gold and silver and dance softly with the moonlight when it came in at the window also on the city wall she knew the hearts of men and the heart of the city and whose wives were faithful and whose and more of the secrets of the government offices than are good to be set do vn in this place her maid said that her was worth ten thousand pounds and that some night a thief would enter and murder her for its possession but said that all the city would tear that thief limb from limb and that he whoever he was knew it so she took her and sat in the window seat and sang a song of old days that had been sung by a girl of her profession in an armed camp on the eve of a great battle the day before the of the ran red and fled fifty miles to with a at his horse s tail and another on his saddle bow it was what men call a and it said their warrior forces before the led the children of the sun and fire behind him turned and fled and the chorus said with them there fought who rides so free with sword and red the warrior youth who his fee at peril of his head at peril of his head said in english to me thanks to your government all our heads are protected and with the at my command his eyes i might be a distinguished member of the local administration perhaps in time i might even be a member of a council on the city wall don t speak english said bending over her afresh the chorus went out from the city wall to the blackened wall of fort which the city no man knows the precise extent of fort three kings built it hundreds of years ago and they say that there are miles of rooms beneath its walls it is peopled with many ghosts a of garrison and a company of in its prime it held ten thousand men and filled its with at peril of his head sang again and again a head moved on one of the the gray head of an old man and a voice rough as skin on a sword sent back the last line of the chorus and broke into a song that i could not understand though and listened intently what is it i asked who is it a consistent man said he fought you in when he was a warrior youth ought you in and he tried to fight you in but you had learned the trick of blowing men from guns too well now he is old but he would still fight if he could is he a then why should he answer to a if he be or said i i do not know said he has lost perhaps his religion perhaps he wishes to be a king perhaps he is a king i do not know his name that is a lie if you know his career you | 39 |
must know his name that is quite true i belong to a nation of i would rather not tell you his name think for yourself on the city wall finished her song pointed to the fort and said simply hm said if the pearl chooses to tell you the pearl is a fool i translated to who laughed i choose to tell what i choose to tell they kept in said she they kept him there for many years until his mind was changed in him so great was the kindness of the government finding this they sent him back to his own country that he might look upon it before he died he is an old man but when he looks upon this his country his memory will come moreover there be many who remember him he is an interesting said pulling at the he returns to a country now full of and political reform but as the pearl says there are many who remember him he was once a great man there will never be any more great men in india they will all when they are boys go after strange gods and they will become citizens fellow citizens illustrious fellow citizens what is it that the native papers call them seemed to be in a very bad temper looked out of the window and smiled into the dust haze i went away thinking about who had once made history with a thousand followers and would have been a but for the power of the supreme government the senior captain commanding fort was away on leave but the his had drifted down to the club where i found him and of him whether it was really true that a political prisoner had been added to the attractions of the on the city wall fort the explained at great length for this was the first time that he had held command of the fort and his glory lay heavy upon him yes said he a man was sent in to me about a week ago from down the line a thorough gentleman whoever he is of course i did all i could for him he had his two servants and some silver cooking pots and he looked for all the world like a native officer i called him just as well to be on the safe side y know look here i said you re handed over to my authority and i m supposed to guard you now i don t want to make your life hard but you must make things easy for me all the fort is at your disposal from the to the dry ditch and i shall be happy to entertain you in any way i can but you mustn t take advantage of it give me your word that you won t try to escape and i ll give you my word that you shall have no heavy guard put over you i thought the best way of getting at him was by going at him straight y know and it was by jove the old man gave me his word and moved about the fort as contented as a sick crow he s a chap always asking to be told where he is and what the buildings about him are i had to sign a slip of blue paper when he turned up acknowledging receipt of his body and all that and i m responsible y know that he doesn t get away queer thing though looking after a old enough to be your grandfather isn t it come to the fort one of these days and see him for reasons which will appear i never went to the while was then within its walls i knew him only as a gray head seen from s win on the city wall dow a gray head and a harsh voice but natives told me that day by day as he looked upon the fair lands round his memory came back to him and with it the old hatred against the government that had been nearly in far off so he raged up and down the west face of the fort from morning till noon and from evening till the night vain things in his heart and war songs when sang on the city wall as he grew more acquainted with the he his old heart of some of the passions that had withered it he used to say tapping his stick against the when i was a young man i was one of twenty thousand who came out of the city and rode round the plain here i was the leader of a hundred then of a thousand then of five thousand and now i he pointed to his two servants but from the beginning to to day i would cut the throats of all the in the land if i could hold me fast lest i get away and return to those who would follow me i forgot them when i was in but now that i am in my own country again i remember everything do you remember that you have given me your honour not to make your a hard matter said the yes to you only to you said to you because you are of a pleasant countenance if my turn comes again i will not hang you nor cut your throat thank you said the gravely as he looked along the line of guns that could pound the city to powder in half an hour let us go into our own on the city wall quarters come and talk with me after dinner would sit on his own cushion at the s feet drinking heavy scented seed brandy in great and telling strange stories of fort which had been a palace in the old days of and tortured to death aye in | 39 |
the very chamber that now served as a mess room would tell stories of that made the s cheeks flush and with pride of race and of the rising from which so much was expected and the of which was shared by a hundred thousand souls but he never told tales of because as he said he was the s guest and is a year that no man black or white cares to speak of once only when the seed brandy had slightly affected his head he said speaking now of a matter which lay between and the affair of the it was ever a wonder to us that you stayed your hand at all and that having stayed it you did not make the land one prison now i hear from without that you do great honour to all men of our country and by your own hands are destroying the terror of your name which is your strong rock and defence this is a foolish thing will oil and water mix now in i was not born then said the and to his quarters the would tell me of these conversations at the club and my desire to see increased but sitting in the window seat of the house on the city wall said that it would be a cruel thing to do and pretended that i the society of a old to hers on the city wall here is tobacco here is talk here are many friends and all the news of the city and above all here is myself i will tell you stories and sing you songs and wall will talk his english nonsense in your ears is that worse than watching the animal yonder go to morrow then if you must but to day such and such an one will be here and he will speak of wonderful things it happened that to morrow never came and the warm heat of the latter rains gave place to the chill of early october almost before i was aware of the flight of the year the captain commanding the fort returned from leave and took over charge of according to the laws of the captain was not a nice man he called all natives which besides being extreme bad form shows gross ignorance what s the use of telling off two to watch that old said he i fancy it his vanity said the the men are ordered to keep well out of his way but he takes them as a tribute to his importance poor old wretch i won t have line men taken off regular guards in this way put on a couple of native said the lifting his eyebrows they re all alike these black and the captain talked to in a manner which hurt that old gentleman s feelings fifteen years before when he had been caught for the second time every one looked upon him as a sort of tiger he liked being regarded in this light but he forgot that the goes forward in fifteen years and many are promoted to on the city wall the captain pig is in charge of the fort said to his native guard every morning and the native guard said yes in deference to his age and his air of distinction but they did not know who he was in those days the gathering in s little white room was always large and talked more than before the said who had been my books the inhabitants of the city of where they were always hearing and telling some new thing secluded their women who were fools hence the glorious institution of the women is it not who were amusing and not fools all the greek philosophers delighted in their company tell me my friend how it goes now in greece and the other places upon the continent of europe are your women folk also fools i said you never speak to us about your women folk and we never speak about ours to you that is the bar between us yes said it is curious to think that our common meeting place should be here in the house of a common how do you call her he pointed with the pipe mouth to is nothing but i said and that was perfectly true but if you took your place in the world and gave up dreaming dreams i might wear an english coat and i might be a leading i might be received even at the s parties where the english stand on one side and the natives on the other in order to promote social intercourse throughout the em on the city wall heart s heart said he to quickly the says that i ought to quit you the is always talking stupid talk returned with a laugh in this house i am a queen and thou art a king the she put her arms above her head and thought for a moment the shall be our thine and mine wall because he has said that thou leave me laughed and i laughed too be it so said he my friend are you willing to take this government appointment what shall his pay be but began to sing and for the rest of the time there was no hope of getting a sensible answer from her or when the one stopped the other began to quote poetry with a triple in every other line some of it was not strictly proper but it was all very funny and it only came to an end when a fat person in black with gold sent up his name to and dragged me into the twinkling night to walk in a big rose garden and talk about religion and and a man s career in ufe the the great mourning festival of the was close at hand | 39 |
and the things that said about religious would have secured his from the thinking there were the rose bushes round us the stars above us and from every quarter of the city came the boom of the big drums you must know that the city is divided in fairly equal proportions between the and the and where th belong to the fighting races a big religious on the city wall festival gives ample chance for trouble when they can that is to say when the authorities are weak enough to allow it the do their best to arrange some minor feast day of their own in time to clash with the period of general mourning for the and the heroes of the gilt and painted paper of their are borne with shouting and wailing music and through the principal of the city j which are called their passage is laid down beforehand by the police and of police accompany each lest the should throw bricks at it and the peace of the queen and the heads of her loyal subjects should thereby be broken time in a fighting town means anxiety to all the officials because if a riot breaks out the officials and not the are held responsible the former must foresee everything and while not making their precautions elaborate must see that they are at least adequate listen to the drums said that is the heart of the people empty and making much noise how think you will the go this year i think that there will be trouble he turned down a side street and left me alone with the stars and a sleepy police then i went to bed and dreamed that had the city and i was made with s silver for mark of office all day the drums beat in the city and all day of tearful gentlemen the with assurances that they would be murdered ere next dawning by the on the city wall nearly sure that there will be trouble to night he said all the city thinks so and is as the say now i tell you that at the corner of the gate you will find my horse all this night if you want to go about and to see things it is a most disgraceful exhibition where is the pleasure of saying twenty thousand times in a night all the there were two and twenty of them were now well within the city walls the drums were beating afresh the crowd were howling i and beating their breasts the brass bands were playing their and at every corner where space allowed were telling the lamentable story of the death of the it was impossible to move except with the crowd tor the streets were not more than twenty feet wide in the quarters the shutters of all the shops were up and cross barred as the first a gorgeous ten feet high was borne aloft on the shoulders of a score of stout men into the semi darkness of the ot the a through its and sides into thy hands o lord murmured as a yell went up from behind and a native officer of police his horse through the crowd another followed and the staggered and swayed where it had stopped go on in the name of the go forward shouted the policeman but there was an ugly and of shutters and the crowd halted with oaths and before the house whence the had been thrown on the city wall then without any warning broke the storm not only in the of the but in half a dozen other places the rocked like ships at sea the long pole dipped and rose round them while the men shouted the are the strike strike into their temples for the faith the six or eight with each drew their and struck as long as they could in the hope of forcing the mob forward but they were overpowered and as of poured into the streets the fight became general half a mile away where the were yet untouched the drums and the shrieks of continued but not for long the priests at the corners of the streets knocked the legs from the that supported their and smote for the faith while stones fell from the silent houses upon friend and foe and the packed streets din din din a caught fire and was dropped for a flaming barrier between and at the corner of the then the crowd forward and drew me close to the stone pillar of a well it was intended from the beginning he shouted in my ear with more heat than blank should be guilty of the bricks were carried up to the houses beforehand these swine of we shall be in their temples to night after some burning others torn to pieces hurried past us and the mob with them howling shrieking and striking at the house doors in their flight at last we saw the reason of the rush the assistant district of police a boy of twenty had got together thirty and was on the city wall forcing the crowd through the streets his old gray police horse showed no sign of uneasiness as it was breast on into the crowd and the long dog whip with which he had armed himself was never still they know we haven t enough police to hold em he cried as he passed me a cut on his face they know we haven t aren t any of the men from the club coming down to help get on you sons of burnt fathers the dog whip cracked across the backs and the smote afresh with and gun butt with these passed the lights and the shouting and began to swear under his breath from fort shot up a single t hen two side by side it was the signal | 39 |
two abreast and found the his smashed on his head surrounded by a knot of men who had come down from the club as amateur and had helped the police on the city wall lie and the patted them on the shoulder and bade them return to those houses lest a worse thing should happen parties of five or six british soldiers joining arms swept down the their on their backs stamping with shouting and song upon the toes of and never was religious enthusiasm more and never were poor of the peace more utterly weary and they were out of holes and corners from behind well pillars and and to go to their houses if they had no houses to go to so much the for their toes on returning to s door i stumbled over a man at the threshold he was sobbing and his arms like the wings of a goose it was wall and and at the mouth the flesh on his chest bruised and bleeding from the vehemence with which he had smitten himself a broken torch handle lay by his side and his quivering lips murmured ta ha an as i stooped over him i pushed him a few steps up the staircase threw a at s city window and hurried home most of the streets were very still and the cold wind that comes before the dawn whistled down them in the centre of the square of the a man was bending over a corpse the skull had been smashed in by gun butt or it is expedient that one man should die for the people said grimly raising the head these brutes were beginning to show their teeth too much and from afar we could hear the soldiers singing i ox tbe wall two black as they the remnant of die within of can what i was not so clever when the news went that had escaped from the fort i did not since i was then this not writing it connect myself or or the fat gentleman of the gold with his disappearance nor did it strike me that was the man who should have him across the city or that s arms my neck were pat there to hide the money that gave to and had used me and my white face as even a better than who proved himself so all that i knew at the time was that when fort was taken up with the by the confusion to get away and that his two guards also escaped but later on i received full and so did he fled to those who knew him in the old days but many of them were dead and more were changed and all knew something of the wrath of the government he went to the young men but the of his name had passed away and they were entering native of government offices and could give them neither nor influence nothing but a glorious death with their backs to the mouth of a gun he wrote letters and made promises and the letters fell into bad hands and a wholly insignificant subordinate officer of police them down and gained promotion thereby moreover was old and seed brandy was scarce and he had left his silver cooking pots in on the city wall fort with his nice warm and the gentleman with the gold waa told by those who had employed him that as a popular leader was not worth the money paid great is the mercy of these fools of english said when the situation was put before him i will go back to fort of my own free will and gain honour give me good clothes to return in so at his own time knocked at the gate of the fort and walked to the captain and the who were nearly gray headed on account of correspondence that daily arrived from marked private i have come back captain said put no more guards over me it is no good out yonder a week later i saw him for the first time to my knowledge and he made as though there were an understanding between us it was well done said he and greatly i admired your in thus boldly facing the troops when i whom they would have doubtless torn to pieces was with you now there is a man in fort whom a bold man could with ease help to escape this is the position of the fort as i draw it on the sand but i was thinking how i had become s after all works by plain tales from the hills new cloth s mr knows and the english in india and is a bom story and a man of humour into the bargain it would be hard to find better reading saturday review london every one knows that it is not easy to write good short stories mr has changed all that here are forty of them less than eight pages apiece there is not a dull one in the lot some are tragedy some broad comedy some tolerably sharp satire the time has passed to or mr he has won his spurs and taken his prominent place in the this as the legitimate edition should be preferred to the ones by all such as care for honesty in letters new york one of the first things that strikes the reader is the exceptional excellence of the tales in so large a collection as forty stories one naturally expects to find some two or three of peculiar power the rest it is the fate of most but here there are at least a dozen possibly even a score with regard to which it would be quite impossible to say that this or that is the most powerful or the most beautiful the explanation is simple the variety equals the intensity the | 39 |
bowed to just now and then before i can answer the wind of the first corner blows him from my memory i have a theory however that those faces which pass before i can see who cut the coat all belong to club until william forced his affairs upon me that was all i did know of the private life of though i have been in the club for twenty years i was even unaware whether they slept downstairs or had their own homes nor had i the interest to inquire of other members nor they the knowledge to inform me i hold that this sort of people should be fed and clothed and given and wives and children and i yearly i believe for these purposes but to come into closer relation with is bad form they are club and william should have kept his distress to himself or taken it away and patched it up like a rent in one of the chairs his has been a pair of spectacles to me for months it is not correct taste to know the name of a the waiter club waiter so that i must for knowing william s and still more for not forgetting it if again to speak of a waiter is bad form to speak bitterly is the comic degree of it but william has disappointed me sorely there were years when i would dining several minutes that he might wait on me his pains to reserve the window seat for me were perfectly satisfactory i allowed him privileges as to suggest dishes and would give him information as that some one had startled me in the reading room by a door i have shown him how i cut my finger with a piece of string obviously he was gratified by these attentions usually a and i fancy he must have understood my sufferings for he often looked ill himself probably he was but i cannot say for certain as i never thought of asking and he had the sense to see that the knowledge would be offensive to me in the smoking room we have a waiter so independent that once when he brought me a yellow and i said i had ordered green he replied no sir you said yellow william could never have been guilty of such in appearance of course he is mean but i can no more describe him than a could draw cows i suppose we distinguish one waiter from another much as we pick our hat from the rack we could have a murder safely before william he never presumed to have opinions of his own when such was my mood he remained silent and the waiter if i announced that something had happened to me he laughed before i told him what it was he turned the twinkle in his eye off or on at my bidding as readily as if it was the gas to my sure to be wet to morrow he would reply yes sir and to s it does n t look like rain two minutes afterward he would reply no sir it was one member who said lightning rod would win the and another who said lightning rod had no chance but it was william who agreed with both he was like a which may be smoked from either end so used was i to him that had he died or got another situation or whatever it is such persons do when they disappear from the club i should probably have told the head waiter to bring him back as i disliked changes it would not become me to know precisely when i began to think william an but i date his lapse from the evening when he brought me i and no one knew it better than william he has agreed with me that he could not understand any gentleman s liking them between me and a certain member who his lips twelve times to a dozen of them william knew i liked a screen to be placed until we had reached the soup and yet he gave me the and the other man my both the other member and i called quickly for brandy and the head waiter to do william justice he shook but never can i forget his audacious explanation the waiter beg pardon sir but i was thinking of something else in these words william had flung off the mask and now i knew him for what he was i must not be accused of bad form for looking at william on the following evening what prompted me to do so was not personal interest in him but a desire to see whether i dare let him wait on me again so recalling that a was off a chair yesterday one is entitled to make sure that it is on to day before sitting down if the expression is not too strong i may say that i was taken by william s manner even when crossing the room to take my orders he let his one hand play nervously with the other i had to repeat on toast twice and instead of answering yes sir as if my selection of on toast was a personal gratification to him which is the manner one expects of a waiter he glanced at the clock then out at the window and starting asked did you say on toast sir it was the height of summer when london smells like a s shop and he who has the dinner table at the window needs no candles to show him his knife and fork i lay back at intervals now watching a starved looking woman asleep on a door step and again complaining of the club by and by i saw a little girl of the commonest kind ill clad and dirty as all these are their parents should be compelled to feed and | 39 |
clothe them comfortably or at least to keep the waiter them indoors where they cannot offend our eyes such children are for pushing aside with one s umbrella but this girl i noticed because she was gazing at the club windows she had stood thus for perhaps ten minutes when i became aware that some one was leaning over me to look out at the window i turned round conceive my indignation on seeing that the rude person was william how dare you william i said sternly he seemed not to hear me let me tell in the measured words of one describing a past incident what then took place to get nearer the window he pressed heavily on my shoulder william you forget yourself i said meaning as i see now that he had forgotten me i heard him but not to my he was the street his hands on my shoulder and pushing him from me i saw that his mouth was what are you looking for i asked he stared at me and then like one who had at last heard the echo of my question seemed to be brought back to the club he turned his face from me for an instant and answered i beg your pardon sir i i should n t have done it are the too ripe sir he recommended the nuts and awaited my verdict so anxiously while i ate one that i was about to speak graciously when i again saw his eyes drag him to the window william i said my patience giving way at the waiter last i dislike being waited on by a yes sir he replied trying to smile and then broke out passionately for god s sake sir tell me have you seen a little girl looking in at the club windows he had been a good waiter once and his distracted was my dinner there i said pointing to the girl and no doubt would have added that he must bring me coffee immediately had he continued to listen but already he was to the child i had not the least interest in her indeed it had never struck me that had private affairs and i still think it a pity that they should have but as i happened to be looking out at the window i could not avoid seeing what occurred as soon as the girl saw william she ran into the middle of the street regardless of and nodded three times to him then she disappeared i have said that she was quite a common child without attraction of any sort and yet it was amazing the difference she made in william he gasped relief like one who has broken through the anxiety that breathing and into his face there came a silly laugh of happiness i had dined well on the whole so i said i am glad to see you cheerful again william i meant that i approved his cheerfulness because it helped my but he must needs think i was with him the waiter thank you sir he answered oh sir when she nodded and i saw it was all right i could have gone down on my knees to god i was as much as if he had dropped a plate on my toes even william as he was at the moment flung out his arms to recall the shameful words coffee william i said sharply i my coffee indignantly for it was plain to me that william had something on his mind you are not vexed with me sir he had the to whisper it was a liberty i said i know sir but i was beside myself that was a liberty also he hesitated and then out it is my wife sir she i stopped him with my hand william whom i had favoured in so many ways was a married man i might have guessed as much years before had i ever reflected about for i knew vaguely that his class did this sort of thing his confession was distasteful to me and i said remember where you are william yes sir but you see she is so delicate delicate i forbid your speaking to me on unpleasant topics yes sir begging your pardon it was characteristic of william to beg my pardon and withdraw his wife like some unsuccessful the waiter dish as if its taste would not remain in the mouth i shall be for questioning him further about his wife but though doubtless an unusual step it was only bad form for my motive was i inquired for his wife not because i was interested in her welfare but in the hope of my irritation so i am entitled to invite the who has me with mud to scrape it off i desired to be told by william that the meant his wife s recovery to health he should have seen that such was my wish and answered accordingly but with the brutal of his class he said she has had a good day but the doctor he the doctor is she is dying already i repented my question and his wife seemed in league against me when they might so easily have chosen some other member the doctor i said yes sir he answered have you been married long william eight years sir eight years ago she was i i mind her when and now the doctor says the fellow at me more coffee sir he asked what is her she was always one of the delicate kind but full of spirit and and you see she has had a baby lately it it the waiter william and she i the doctor is she s not picking up i feel sure she will pick up yes sir it must have been the wine i had drunk that | 39 |
i i lost my head and i swore at a member i stepped back from william and glanced at the two members they still slept i hardly knew william went on what i was doing all day yesterday for i had left my wife so weakly that i stamped my foot i beg your pardon for speaking of her he had the grace to say but i could n t help slipping to the window often yesterday to look for and when she did come and i saw she was crying it it a sort of confused me and i did n t know right sir what i was doing i hit against a member mr and he he jumped and swore at me well sir i had just touched him after all and i was so miserable it a kind of stung me to be treated like that and me a man as well as him and i lost my senses and and i swore back william s head sank on his chest but i even let pass his insolence in himself to a member of the club so afraid was i of the waking and me in talk with a waiter for the love of god william cried with coarse emotion don t let them dismiss me speak lower i said who sent you here the waiter i was turned out of the dining room at once and told to attend to the library until they had decided what to do with me oh sir i lose my place he was as if a change of was a matter of importance this is very bad william i said i fear i can do nothing for you have mercy on a distracted man he entreated i ll go on my knees to mr how could i but despise a fellow who would be thus abject for a pound a week i dare not tell her he continued that i have lost my place she would just fall back and die i forbade your speaking of your wife i said sharply unless you can speak pleasantly of her but she may be worse now sir and i cannot even see from here the library windows look to the back if she dies i said it will be a warning to you to marry a stronger woman next time now every one knows that there is little real affection among the lower orders as soon as they have lost one mate they take another yet william forgetting our relative positions drew himself up and raised his fist and if i had not stepped back i swear he would have struck me the highly improper words william used i will omit out of consideration for him even while he the waiter was for them i retired to the where i found the so badly rolled that they would not keep alight after a little i remembered that i wanted to see about an improved saddle of which a friend of his has the patent he was in the and having questioned him about the saddle i said by the way what is this story about your swearing at one of the you mean about his swearing at me replied i am glad that was it i said for i could not believe you guilty of such bad form if i did swear he was beginning but i went on the version which reached me was that you swore at him and he repeated the word i heard he was to be dismissed and you who told you that asked who is a timid man i forget it is club talk i replied lightly but of course the committee will take your word the waiter whichever one he is richly deserves his dismissal for insulting you without provocation then our talk returned to the saddle but was abstracted and presently he said do you know i fancy i was wrong in thinking that waiter swore at me and i ul withdraw my charge to morrow then left me and sitting alone i that i had been doing william a service the waiter to some slight extent i may have helped him to retain his place in the club and i now see the reason which was that he alone knows precisely to what extent i like my heated for a mere second i remembered william s remark that he should not be able to see the girl from the library windows then this recollection drove from my head that i had only dined in the sense that my dinner bill was paid returning to the dining room i happened to take my chair at the window and while i was eating a i saw in the street the girl whose had such an absurd effect on william the children of the poor are as thoughtless as their parents and this did not sign to the windows in the hope that william might see her though she could not see him her face which was dirty bore doubt and dismay on it but whether she brought good news it would not tell somehow i had expected her to signal when she saw me and though her message could not interest me i was in the mood in which one is irritated at that not taking place which he is awaiting ultimately she seemed to be making up her mind to go away a boy was passing with the evening papers and i hurried out to get one rather for we have all the papers in the club unfortunately i misunderstood the direction the boy had taken but round the first corner out of sight of the club the waiter windows i saw the girl and so i asked her how william s wife was did he send you to me she replied taking me for a waiter | 39 |
my she added after a second scrutiny i you re one of them his is a bit better and i was to tell him as she took all the how could you tell him i asked i was to do like this she replied and went through the of something out of a plate in dumb show that would not show she ate all the i said but i was to end like this she answered an imaginary plate with her tongue i gave her a shilling to get rid of her and returned to the club disgusted later in the evening i had to go to the club library for a book and while william was looking in vain for it i had forgotten the title i said to him by the way william mr is to tell the committee that he was mistaken in the charge he brought against you so you will doubtless be restored to the dining room to morrow the two members were still in their chairs probably sleeping lightly yet he had the to thank me don t thank me i said blushing at the remember your place william the waiter but mr knew i swore he insisted a gentleman i replied stiffly cannot remember for twenty four hours what a waiter has said to him no sir to stop him i had to say and ah william your wife is a little better she has eaten the all of it how can you know sir by an accident signed to the window no then you saw her and went out and nonsense oh sir to do that for me may god william forgive me sir but when i tell my she will say it was thought of your own wife as made you do it he wrung my hand i dared not withdraw it lest we should the william returned to the dining room and i had to show him that if he did not cease looking gratefully at me i must change my waiter i also ordered him to stop telling me nightly how his wife was but i continued to know as i could not help seeing the girl from the window twice in a week i learned from this objectionable child that the woman had again eaten all the the waiter then i became suspicious of william i will tell why it began with a remark of captain s we had been speaking of the inconvenience of not being able to get a hot dish served after i a m and he said it is because the e lazy would strike if the beggars had a love of their work they would not rush away from the club the moment one o clock strikes that fellow who often waits on you takes to his heels the moment he is clear of the club steps he ran into me the other night at the top of the street and was off without you mean the foot of the street i said for such is the way to lane no i mean the top the man was running west east west i smiled which so annoyed him that he bet me two to one in sovereigns the bet could have been decided most quickly by asking william a question but i thought foolishly doubtless that it might hurt his feelings so i watched him leave the club the possibility of s winning the bet had seemed remote to me conceive my surprise therefore when william went westward amazed i pursued him along two streets without that i was doing so then curiosity put me into a we followed william and it proved to be a three shilling fare for running the waiter when he was in breath and walking when he was out of it he took me to west i discharged my cab and from across the street watched william s incomprehensible behaviour he had stopped at a dingy row of workmen s houses and knocked at the darkened window of one of them presently a light showed so far as i could see some one pulled up the blind and for ten minutes talked to william i was uncertain whether they talked for the window was not opened and i felt that had william spoken through the glass loud enough to be heard inside i must have heard him too yet he nodded and beckoned i was still bewildered when by setting off the way he had come he gave me the opportunity of going home knowing from the talk of the club what the lower orders are could i doubt that this was some love affair of s his solicitude for his wife had been mere pretence so far as it was genuine it meant that he feared she might recover he probably told her that he was detained nightly in the club till three i was miserable next day and blamed the for it whether william was to his wife was nothing to me but i had two plain reasons for on his going straight home from his club the one that as he had made me lose a bet i must punish him the other that he could wait upon me better if he went to bed the waiter yet i did not question him there was something in his face that well i seemed to see his dying wife in it i was so out of sorts that i could eat no dinner i left the club happening to stand for some time at the foot of the street i chanced to see the girl coming and no let me tell the truth though the whole club reads i was waiting for her how is william s wife to day i asked she told me to nod three times the little replied but she looked hke but a dead one till | 39 |
she got the brandy hush child i said shocked you don t know how the dead look bless yer she answered don t i just why i ve helped to lay em out i m going on seven is good to his wife course he is ain t she his why should that make him good to her i asked out of my knowledge of the poor but the girl in many ways had never had my opportunities of studying the lower classes in the newspapers fiction and club talk she shut one eye and looking up said ain t you green just when does william reach home at night t ain t night it s morning when i wakes up at half dark and half light and hears a door shutting i know as it s either father going off to his work or mr coming home from his who is mr the waiter him as we ve been speaking on william we calls him cause he s a father s just doing in garden but mr kicking he s a waiter and a clean shirt every day the old woman would like father to be a waiter but he t got the look what old woman go long that s my mother is it true there s a waiter in the club just for to open the door yes and another just for to the my william leaves the club at one o clock i said she nodded my mother she said is one to talk and she says to mr kicking as he should get away at twelve cause his needs him more n the gentlemen need him the old woman do talk and what does william answer to that he says as the gentlemen can t be kept waiting for their cheese but william does not go straight home when he leaves the club that s the kid kid i echoed scarcely understanding for knowing how little the poor love their children i had asked william no questions about the baby did n t you know his had a kid yes but that is no excuse for william s staying away from his sick wife i answered sharply a baby in such a home as s i reflected ft the waiter must be trying but still besides his class can sleep through any din the kid ain t in our court the girl explained he s in w he is and i ve never been out of w c not as i knows on this is w i suppose you mean that the child is at west well no doubt it was better for william s wife to get rid of the child better interposed the girl t ain t better for her not to have the kid ain t her not having him what she s always thinking on when she looks like a dead one how could you know that cause answered the girl her words with a gesture i watches her and i sees her arms going this way just like as she wanted to her kid possibly you are right i said frowning but william had put the child out to nurse because it disturbed his night s rest a man who has his work to do you are green then why have the mother and child been separated along of that there near all the young in our court has em bad have you had them i said the young and william sent the baby to west to escape took him he did it t the waiter against his wife s wishes na o you said she was dying for want of the child would n t she die than have the kid die don t speak so child why does william not go straight home from the club does he go to west to see it t ain t a hit it s an e course he do then he should not his wife has the first claim on him ain t you green it s his as wants him to go do you think she could sleep till she how the kid was but he does not go into the house at west is he soft course he don t go in fear of taking the to the kid they just holds the kid up at the window to him so as he can have a good look then he comes home and tells his he sits foot of the bed and tells and that takes place every night he can t have much to tell he has just he can only say whether the child is well or ill my he tells what a difference there is in the kid since he seed him last there can be no difference go long ain t a kid always growing have n t mr to tell how the hair is getting darker and heaps of things beside the waiter such as what like whether he and if he has her nose and how as he him he tells her them things more n once and all this time he is sitting at the foot of the bed when he holds her hand but when does he get to bed himself he don t get much he tells her as he has a sleep at the club he cannot say that t i heard him but he do go to his bed a bit and then they both quiet her pretending she is sleeping so as he can sleep and him to sleep case he should n t wake up to give her the bottle stuff what does the doctor say about her he s a good one the doctor sometimes he says she would get better if she could see the kid through the window nonsense and if she was took to the country then | 39 |
why does not william take her my you are green and if she drank port does n t she no but william he tells her about the gentlemen drinking them on the tenth day after my conversation with this child i was in my with the the waiter windows up and i sat back a paper before my face lest any one should look in naturally i was afraid of being seen in company of william s wife and for men about town are and despite the explanation i had ready might have charged me with pitying william as a matter of fact william was sending his wife into to stay with an old nurse of mine and i was driving her down because my horses needed an besides i was going that way at any rate i had arranged that the girl who was wearing an outrageous bonnet should accompany us because knowing the of her class i feared she might me at the club william joined us in the bringing the baby with him as i had foreseen they would all be occupied with it and to save me the trouble of conversing with them mrs kicking i found too pale and fragile for a s wife and i formed a mean opinion of her intelligence from her pride in the baby which was a very ordinary one she created quite a vulgar scene when it was brought to her though she had given me her word not to do so what irritated me even more than her tears being her ill bred apology that she had been baby would n t know her again i would have told her they did n t know any one for years had i not been afraid of the girl who the infant on her knees and talked to it as if it understood she kept me on hooks by asking it offensive questions such as oo know the waiter who give me that bonnet and answering them herself it was the pretty gentleman there and several times i had to affect sleep because she announced wants to kiss the pretty gentleman irksome as all this necessarily was to a man of taste i suffered even more when we reached our destination as we drove through the village the girl uttered shrieks of at the sight of flowers growing up the cottage walls and declared they were just like a music all without the drink license as my horses required a rest i was forced to abandon my intention of dropping these persons at their lodgings and returning to town at once and i could not go to the inn lest i should meet inquisitive acquaintances disagreeable circumstances therefore compelled me to take tea with a waiter s family close to a window too through which i could see the girl talking excitedly to villagers and telling them i felt certain that i had been good to william i had a desire to go out and put myself right with those people william s long connection with the club should have given him some manners but apparently his class cannot take them on for though he knew i regarded his thanks as an insult he looked them when he was not speaking them and hardly had he sat down by my orders than he remembered that i was a member of the club and jumped up nothing is in worse form than whispering yet the waiter again and again when he thought i was not listening he whispered to mrs kicking you don t feel faint or how are you now he was also in extravagant glee because she ate two cakes it takes so little to put these people in good spirits and when she said she felt like another being already the fellow s face charged me with the change i could not but conclude from the way mrs let the baby pound her that she was stronger than she had pretended i remained longer than was necessary because i had something to say to william which i knew he would and so i put off saying it but when he announced that it was time for him to return to london at which his wife suddenly so that he had to sign to her not to break down i delivered the message william i said the head waiter asked me to say that you could take a fortnight s holiday just now your wages will be paid as usual confound them william had me by the hand and his wife was in tears before i could reach the door is it your doing again sir william cried william i said fiercely we owe everything to you he insisted the port wine because i had no room for it in my cellar the money for the nurse in because i objected to being waited on by a man who got no sleep il ft the waiter these because i wanted to do something for my old nurse and now sir a fortnight s holiday good bye william i said in a fury but before i could get away mrs kicking signed to william to leave the room and then she kissed my hand she said something to me it was about my wife somehow i what business had william to tell her about my wife they are all back in lane now and william tells me that his wife sings at her work just as she did eight years ago i have no interest in this and try to check his talk of it but such people have no sense of propriety and he even speaks of the girl who sent me lately a gaudy pair of gloves worked by her own hand the meanest advantage they took of my weakness however was in calling their baby after me i have an uncomfortable | 39 |
suspicion too that william has given the other his version of the affair but i feel safe so long as it does not reach the committee the black by f the black by f i have set myself the task of relating in the course of this story without or a single detail the most painful and humiliating episode in my life i do this not because it will give me the least pleasure but simply because it affords me an opportunity of myself which has hitherto been wholly denied to me as a general rule i am quite aware that to publish a explanation of one s conduct in any questionable transaction is not the best means of recovering a lost reputation but in my own case there is one to whom i shall be permitted to justify myself by word of mouth even if i found myself able to attempt it and as she could not possibly think worse of me than she does at present i write this knowing it can do me no harm and faintly hoping that it may come to her notice and suggest a doubt whether i am quite so a villain so a as i have been forced to appear in her eyes the bare chance of such a result makes me perfectly indifferent to all else i cheerfully expose to the derision of the whole reading world the story the black of my weakness and my shame since by doing so i may possibly myself somewhat in the good opinion of one person having said so much i will begin my confession without further delay my name is and i may add that i am in one of the government that i am an only son and live at home with my mother we had had a house at until just before the period covered by this history when our lease my mother decided that my health required country air at the close of the day and so we took a desirable villa residence on one of the many new building estates which have lately sprung up in such profusion in the home we have called it villa it is a pretty little place the last of a row of detached each with its tiny rustic carriage gate and gravel sweep in front and lawn enough for a court behind which lines the road leading over the hill to the railway station i could certainly have wished that our landlord shortly after giving us the agreement could have found some other place to hang himself in than one of our for the consequence was that a left us in violent about every two months having learned the tragedy from the and naturally seen a immediately afterward the black still it is a pleasant house and i can now almost forgive the landlord for what i shall always consider an act of gross selfishness on his part in the country even so near town a next door neighbour is something more than a mere he is a possible acquaintance who will at least consider a new comer as worth the experiment of a call i soon knew that the next house to our own was occupied by a colonel a retired indian officer and often as across the low boundary wall i caught a glimpse of a graceful girlish figure flitting about among the rose bushes in the neighbouring garden i would lose myself in pleasant of a time not far distant when the wall which separated us would be i remember ah how vividly the thrill of excitement with which i heard from my mother on returning from town one evening that the had called and seemed disposed to be all that was and kind i remember too the sunday afternoon on which i returned their alone as my mother had already done so during the week i was standing on the steps of the villa waiting for the door to open when i was startled by a furious and behind and looking round discovered a large in the act of making for my legs he was a coal black with half of his right ear gone and absurd little thick the black at the end of his nose he was shaved in the fashion which is considered for some mysterious reason to improve a but the had left sundry little of hair which studded his i could not help being reminded as i looked at him of another black which entertained for a short time with unhappy results and i thought that a very moderate degree of would be enough to bring the out of this brute he made me intensely uncomfortable for i am of a slightly nervous temperament with a constitutional horror of dogs and a to attacks of on performing the ordinary social rites under the most favourable conditions and certainly the consciousness that a strange and apparently savage dog was engaged in worrying the heels of my boots was the reverse of the family received me with all possible kindness so charmed to make your acquaintance mr said mrs as i shook hands i see she added pleasantly you ve brought the in with you as a matter of fact i had brought the in at the ends of my coat tails but it was evidently no unusual occurrence for visitors to appear in this manner for she detached him quite as a matter of course and as soon as i was sufficiently collected we fell into conversation i discovered that the colonel and his wife were the black and the slender figure i had seen across the garden wall was that of their niece and adopted daughter she came into the room shortly afterward and i felt as i went through the form of an introduction that her sweet fresh face shaded by soft masses of dusky brown hair more than justified | 39 |
all the dreamy hopes and fancies with which i had looked forward to that moment she talked to me in a pretty confidential appealing way which i have heard her dearest friends censure as childish and affected but i thought then that her manner had an indescribable charm and fascination about it and the memory of it makes my heart ache now with a pang that is not all pain even before the colonel made his appearance i had begun to see that my enemy the occupied an exceptional position in that household it was abundantly clear by the time i took my leave he seemed to be the centre of their domestic system and even lovely around him as a kind of he could do no wrong in his owner s eyes his prejudices and he was a narrow minded animal were respected and all domestic arrangements were made with a view to his convenience i may be wrong but i cannot think that it is wise to put any upon such a as that how this one in particular as ordinary a the black as ever breathed had contrived to impose thus upon his i never could understand but so it was he even engrossed the chief part of the conversation which after any lull seemed to round to him by a sort of natural law i had to endure a long sketch of him what a society paper would call an and each fresh anecdote seemed to me to exhibit the of the beast in a more glaring light and render the admiration of the family more than ever did you tell mr lily about was the s preposterous name and no oh i must tell him that it make him laugh is our gardener down in the village d ye know well was up here the other day up some work at the top of a ladder and all the time there was master sitting quietly at the foot of it looking on would n t leave it on any account said he was quite company for him well at last when had finished and was coming down what do you think that rascal there did just quietly up behind and him in both and ran off been looking out for that the whole time ha ha deep that eh i agreed with an inward shudder that it was very deep thinking privately that if this was a the black specimen of s usual treatment of the natives it would be odd if he did not find himself deeper still before probably before he died poor faithful old murmured mrs he thought was a nasty did n t he he was n t going to see master robbed was he capital house dog sir struck in the colonel i shall never forget how he made poor run for it the other day ever met of the well was staying here and the dog met him one morning as he was coming down from the did n t recognise him in and a dressing gown of course and made at him he kept poor old outside the landing window on the top of the for a quarter of an hour till i had to come and raise the siege such were the stories of that abandoned dog s ferocity to which i was forced to listen while all the time the brute sat opposite me on the hearth rug at me from under his shaggy mane with his evil eyes and where he would have me when i rose to go this was the beginning of an intimacy which soon all ceremony it was very pleasant to go in there after dinner even to sit with the colonel over his and hear more stories about for afterward i could go into the pretty drawing room and take my tea from s hands the black and listen while she played to us in the summer twilight the was always in the way to be sure but even his ugly black head seemed to lose some of its and ferocity when laid her pretty hand on it on the whole i think that the family were well disposed toward me the colonel considering me as a harmless specimen of the average eligible young man which i certainly was and mrs showing me favour for my mother s sake for whom she had taken a strong liking as for i believed i saw that she soon suspected the state of my feelings toward her and was not displeased by it i looked forward with some to a day when i could declare myself with no fear of a but it was a serious obstacle in my path that i could not secure s good opinion on any terms the family would often lament this themselves you see mrs would observe in apology is a dog that does not attach himself easily to strangers though for that matter i thought he was ready to attach himself to me i did try hard to him i brought him which was weak and ineffectual as he ate them with and hated me as bitterly as ever for he had conceived from the first a profound contempt for me and a distrust which no of mine could remove look the black ing back now i am inclined to think it was a prophetic instinct that warned him of what was to come upon him through my only his approbation was wanting to establish for me a firm footing with the and perhaps determine s wavering heart in my direction but though i that with an i blush to remember he remained firm still day by day s treatment of me was more encouraging day by day i gained in the esteem of her uncle and aunt i began to hope that soon i should be able | 39 |
to disregard influence altogether now there was one inconvenience about our villa besides its of suicide which it is necessary to mention here by common consent all the cats of the neighbourhood had selected our garden for their evening i fancy that a shell kitchen cat of ours must have been a sort of leader of local society i know she was at home with music and on most evenings my poor mother found this interfere with her after dinner nap and no wonder for if a of ghosts had been shrieking and as puts it in our back garden or it had been fitted up as a for a nursery of in the agonies of the noise could not possibly have been more we sought for some means of getting rid of the nuisance there was poison of course but we the black thought it would have an appearance and even lead to legal difficulties if each dawn were to discover an of cats in hideous in various parts of the same garden too were open to objection aiid would scarcely assist my mother s so for some time we were at a loss for a remedy at last one day walking down the strand i chanced to see in an evil hour what struck me as the very thing it was an air gun of superior construction displayed in a s window i went in at once purchased it and took it home in triumph it would be noiseless and would reduce the local average of cats without scandal one or two examples and fashion would soon to a more secluded spot i lost no time in putting this to the proof that same evening i lay in wait after dusk at the study window protecting my mother s repose as soon as i heard the long drawn wail the preliminary and the wild that followed i let fly in the direction of the sound i suppose i must have something of the national sporting instinct in me for my blood was with excitement but the constitution lead without serious inconvenience and i began to fear that no would remain to bear witness to my but all at once i made out a dark indistinct form in from behind the bushes i waited till it crossed a belt of light which streamed from the black the back kitchen below me and then i took careful aim and pulled the this time at least i had not failed there was a smothered yell a rustle and then silence again i ran out with the calm pride of a successful revenge to bring in the body of my victim and i found underneath a laurel no tom cat but as the reader will no doubt have foreseen long since the quivering of the colonel s black i intend to set down here the exact truth and i confess that at first when i knew what i had done i was not sorry i was quite innocent of any intention of doing it but i felt no regret i even madman that i at the thought that there was the end of at all events that was removed my weary task of was over for ever but soon the reaction came i the tremendous nature of my deed and shuddered i had done that which might banish me from s side for ever all i had a kind of sacred beast the animal around which the household had their affections how was i to break it to them should i send in with a card tied to his neck and my regrets and compliments that was too much like a present of game ought i not to carry him in myself i would him in the best i would put on black for him the would hardly consider a and a white sheet or sack the black cloth and ashes an excessive form of but i could not to quite such an abject extent i wondered what the colonel would say simple and hearty as a general rule he had a hot temper on occasions and it made me ill as i thought would he and worse still would believe it was really an accident they knew what an interest i had in the deceased would they believe the simple truth i vowed that they should believe me my genuine remorse and the absence of all concealment on my part would speak powerfully for me i would choose a favourable time for my confession that very evening i would tell all still i shrank from the duty before me and as i knelt down sorrowfully by the dead form and respectfully composed his limbs i thought that it was unjust of fate to place a well meaning man whose nerves were not of iron in such a position then to my horror i heard a well known ringing on the road outside and the peculiar fragrance of a it was the colonel himself who had been taking out the doomed for his usual evening run i don t know how it was exactly but a sudden panic came over me i held my breath and tried to down unseen behind the but he had seen me and came over at once to speak to me across the hedge the black he stood there not two yards from his favourite s body fortunately it was unusually dark that evening ha there you are eh he began heartily don t rise my boy don t rise i was trying to put myself in front of the and did not at least only my hair did you re out late ain t you he went on laying out your garden hey i could not tell him that i was laying out his my voice shook as with a guilty confusion that was veiled by the dusk i said it was | 39 |
a fine evening which it was not cloudy sir said the colonel cloudy rain before morning i think by the way have you seen anything of my in here this was the turning point what i ought to have done was to say mournfully yes i m sorry to say i ve had a most unfortunate accident with him here he is the fact is i m afraid i ve shot i mv but i could n t i could have told him at my own time in a prepared form of words but not then i felt i must use all my wits to gain time and fence with the questions why i said with a leaden he has n t given you the slip has he never did such a thing in his life said the colonel warmly he rushed off after a rat or a or something a few minutes ago and as i stopped to light another i lost sight of the black him i thought i saw him slip in imder your gate but i ve been him from the front there and he won t come out no and he never would come out any more but the colonel must not be told that just yet i again if i said if he had slipped in under the gate i should have seen him perhaps he took it into his head to run home oh i shall find him on the door step i expect the knowing old why what d ye think was the last thing he did now i could have given him the very latest but i dared not however it was altogether too ghastly to kneel there and laugh at anecdotes of told across s dead body i could not stand that listen i said suddenly was n t that his bark there again it seems to come from the front of your house don t you think well said the colonel i go and fasten him up before he s off again how your teeth are chattering you ve caught a chill man go indoors at once and if you feel equal to it look in half an hour later about time and i tell you all about it compliments to your mother don t forget about time i had got rid of him at last and i wiped my forehead gasping with relief i would go round in half an hour and then i should be prepared to make my melancholy announcement for even then i never the black thought of any other course until suddenly it flashed upon me with terrible clearness that my miserable shuffling by the hedge had made it impossible to tell the truth i had not told a direct lie to be sure but then i had given the colonel the impression that i had denied having seen the dog many people can their by reflecting that whatever may be the effect their words produce they did contrive to steer clear of a downright lie i never quite knew where the distinction lay morally but there is that feeling i have it myself unfortunately has this that if ever the truth comes to light the is in just the same case as if he had lied to the most extent and for a man to point out that the words he used contained no absolute falsehood will seldom restore confidence i might of course still tell the colonel of my misfortune and leave him to infer that it had happened after our interview but the was fast becoming cold and stiff and they would most probably suspect the real time of the occurrence and then would hear that i had told a string of to her uncle over the dead body of their an act no doubt of abominable of unspeakable in her eyes if it would have been difficult before to prevail on her to accept a blood stained hand it would be impossible after that no i had burned my ships i was cut off for ever from the the black ward course that one moment of had decided my conduct in spite of me i must go on with it now and keep up the deception at all it was bitter i had always tried to preserve as many of the moral principles which had been into me as can be conveniently retained in this grasping world and it had been my pride that roughly speaking i had never been guilty of an unmistakable falsehood but henceforth if i meant to win that boast must be for ever i should have to lie now with all my might without limit or scruple to incessantly and wear a mask as the poet beautifully expressed it long ago over my hollow heart i felt all this keenly i did not think it was right but what was i to do after thinking all this out very carefully i decided that my only course was to bury the poor animal where he fell and say nothing about it with some vague idea of precaution i first took off the silver collar he wore and then hastily him with a garden and succeeded in removing all traces of the disaster i fancy i felt a certain relief in the knowledge that there would now be no necessity to tell my pitiful story and risk the loss of my neighbours esteem by and by i thought i would plant a rose tree over his remains and some day as and i in the of our domestic bliss stood before it the black admiring its i might perhaps find courage to confess that the tree owed some of that to the long lost there was a touch of poetry in this idea that lightened my gloom for the moment i need scarcely say that i did not go round to that | 39 |
evening i was not hardened enough for that yet my manner might betray me and so i very stayed at home but that night my sleep was broken by frightful dreams i was perpetually trying to bury a great gaunt which would persist in rising up through the damp mould as fast as i covered him up and i were engaged and we were in church together on sunday and the resisting all attempts to him forbade our with it was our wedding day and at the critical moment the leaped between us and swallowed the ring or we were at the wedding breakfast and a black skeleton with flaming eyes sat on the cake and would not allow to cut it even the rose tree fancy was in a distorted form the tree grew and every blossom contained a miniature which and as i woke i was desperately trying to persuade the colonel that they were ordinary dog roses i went up to the office next day with my gloomy secret my bosom and whatever i did the of the murdered rose before me for two days after that i dared not go near o the black the until at last one evening after dinner i forced myself to call feeling that it was really not safe to keep away any longer my conscience smote me as i went in i put on an unconscious easy manner which was such a dismal failure that it was lucky for me that they were too much engrossed to notice it i never before saw a family so stricken down by a domestic misfortune as the group i found in the drawing room making a dejected pretence of reading or working we talked at first and hollow talk it on indifferent subjects till i could bear it no longer and plunged boldly into danger i don t see the dog i began i suppose you you found him all right the other evening colonel i wondered as i spoke whether they would not notice the break in my voice but they did not why the fact is said the colonel heavily his gray moustache we ve not heard anything of him since he s he s run off gone mr gone without a word said mrs as if she thought the dog might at least have left an address i would n t have believed it of him said the colonel it has completely knocked me over have n t been so cut up for the ungrateful rascal o uncle pleaded don t talk like that perhaps could n t help it perhaps some one has s s shot him the black i shot cried the colonel angrily by heaven if i thought there was a villain on earth capable of shooting that poor dog i d why should shoot him tell me that i i hope you won t let me hear you talk like that again you don t think he s shot eh i said heaven forgive me i that i thought it highly improbable he s not dead cried mrs if he were dead i should know it somehow i m sure i should but i m certain he s alive only last night i had such a beautiful dream about him i thought he came back to us mr driving up in a cab and he was just the same as ever only he wore blue spectacles and the shaved part of him was painted a bright red and i woke up with the joy so you know it s sure to come true it will be easily understood what torture conversations like these were to me and how i hated myself as i and spoke encouraging words concerning the dog s recovery when i knew all the time he was lying hid under my garden mould but i took it as a part of my punishment and bore it all practice even made me an in the art of consolation i believe i really was a great comfort to them i had hoped that they would soon get over the first bitterness of their loss and that would be first replaced and then forgotten in the usual the black way but there seemed no signs of this coming to pass the poor colonel was too plainly himself ill about it he went about searching and seeing people but all of course to no purpose and it told upon him he was more like a man whose only son and heir had been stolen than an indian officer who had lost a i had to affect the interest in all his inquiries and and to listen to and echo the most extravagant of the departed and the wear and tear of so much made me at last almost as ill as the colonel himself i could not help seeing that was not nearly so much impressed by my elaborate concern as her relatives and sometimes i detected an incredulous look in her frank brown eyes that made me very uneasy little by little a between us until at last in despair i determined to know the worst before the time came when it would be hopeless to speak at all i chose a sunday evening as we were walking across the green from church in the golden dusk and then i ventured to speak to her of my love she heard me to the end and was evidently very much agitated at last she murmured that it could not be unless no it never could be now unless what i asked miss something has come between us lately you will tell me what that something is won t you the black do you want to know really she said looking up at me through her tears then i tell you it it | 39 |
s i started back overwhelmed did she know all if not how much did she suspect i must find out that at once what about i managed to pronounce with a dry tongue you never l loved him when he was here she sobbed you know you did n t i was relieved to find it was no worse than this no i said candidly i did not love did n t love me he was always looking out for a chance of me somewhere surely you won t quarrel with me for that not for that she said only why do you pretend to be so fond of him now and so anxious to get him back again uncle john believes you but don t i can see quite well that you would n t be glad to find him you could find him easily if you wanted to what do you mean i said hoarsely how could i find him again i feared the worst you re in a government office cried and if you only chose you could easily g get g to find what s the use of government if it t do that mr would have found him long ago if i d asked him had never been so unreasonable as this before and yet i loved her more madly than ever but i did not like this allusion the black to a rising who lived with his sister in a pretty cottage near the station and had shown symptoms of being attracted by he was away on circuit just then luckily but at least even he would have found it a hard task to find there was comfort in that you know that is n t just i observed but only tell me what you want me to do bring back she said bring back i cried in horror but suppose i suppose he s out of the or dead what then i can t help it she said but i don t believe he is out of the country or dead and while i see you pretending to uncle that you cared awfully about him and going on doing nothing at all it makes me think you re not quite quite sincere i and i could n t possibly marry any one while i thought that of him and i shall always have that feeling unless you find it was of no use to argue with her i knew by that time with her pretty caressing manner she united a latent obstinacy which it was hopeless to attempt to shake i feared too that she was not quite certain as yet whether she cared for me or not and that this condition of hers was an expedient to gain time i left her with a heavy heart unless i proved my worth by bringing back within a very short time would probably have everything his own way and was dead the black however i took heart i thought that perhaps if i could succeed by my earnest efforts in persuading that i really was doing all in my power to recover the she might in time and dispense with his actual production so partly with this object and partly to the remorse which now revived and stung me deeper than before i undertook long and weary after office hours i spent many pounds in i dogs of every size colour and breed and of course i took care to keep informed of each successive failure but still her heart was not touched she was firm if i went on like that she told me i was certain to find one day then but not before would her doubts be set at rest i was walking one day through the somewhat district which lies between bow street and high when i saw in a small theatrical s window a hand bill stating that a black had followed a gentleman on a certain date and if not claimed and the before a stated time would be sold to pay expenses i went in and got a copy of the bill to show and although by that time i scarcely dared to look a in the face i thought i would go to the address given and see the animal simply to be able to tell i had done so the gentleman whom the dog had very followed was a certain mr william the black who kept a little shop near en street and called himself a bird though i should scarcely have him with the necessary imagination he was an evil in a fur cap with a broad broken nose and little eyes and after i had told him what i wanted he took me through a horrible little den with piles of wooden wire and each quivering with restless life and then out into a back yard in which were two or three rotten old and that there s him he said his thumb to the farthest tub me all the way ome from he did out will yer and out of the tub there crawled slowly with a and a rattling of its chain the identical dog i had slain a few evenings before at least so i thought for a moment and felt as if i had seen a the resemblance was so exact in size in detail even to the little of hair about the hind parts even to the of half an ear this dog might have been the of the deceased i suppose after all one black is very like any other black of the same size but the likeness startled me i think it was then that the idea occurred to me that here was a miraculous chance of securing the sweetest girl in the whole world and at the same time for my wrong by bringing back gladness with me to it | 39 |
only needed a the black little boldness one last deception and i could embrace once more almost unconsciously when my guide turned round and asked is that there i said hurriedly yes yes that s the dog i want that s he don t seem to be a of out about you again observed mr as the studied me with a calm interest oh he s not exactly my dog you see i said he belongs to a friend of mine he gave me a quick glance then maybe you re about him he said and i can t run no risks i was a goin down in the country this ere to see a party as lives at he s been a about a black he has but look here i said that s me he gave me a curious no offence you know nor he said but i should wish for some evidence as to that afore i part with a like this ere well i said here s one of my cards will that do for you he took it and it out with a pretence of great caution but i saw well enough that the old scoundrel suspected that if i had lost a dog at all it was not this particular dog ah he said as he put it in his pocket if i part with him to you i must be cleared of all risks i can t afford to get into trouble about no mistakes unless you the black likes to leave him for a day or two you must pay you see i wanted to get the hateful business over as soon as possible i did not care what i was worth all the expense i said i had no doubt myself as to the real of the animal but i would give him any sum in reason and would remove the dog at once and so we settled it i paid him an sum and came away with a a which i hoped to pass off at as the long lost i know it was wrong it even came near dog stealing but i was a desperate man i saw gradually slipping away from me i knew that nothing short of this could ever recall her i was sorely tempted i had gone far on the same road already it was the old story of being hung for a sheep and so i fell surely some who read this will be generous enough to consider the peculiar state of the case and mingle a little pity with their contempt i was dining in town that evening and took my chase home by a late train his was grave and intensely respectable he was not the animal to commit himself by any he was gentle and too and in all respects an agreeable contrast in character to the original still it may have been the after dinner workings of conscience but i could not help that i saw a certain look in the creature s eyes the black as if he were aware that he was required to at a fraud and rather resented it if he would only be good enough to back me up fortunately however he was such a perfect of the outward that the risk of detection was really when i got him home i put s silver collar round his neck myself on my in preserving it and took him in to see my mother she accepted him as what he seemed without the slightest but this though it encouraged me to go on was not decisive the would have to encounter the scrutiny of those who knew every on the genuine animal s body nothing would have induced me to undergo such an ordeal as that of personally restoring him to the we gave him supper and tied him up on the lawn where he howled all night and buried bones the next morning i wrote a note to mrs expressing my pleasure at being able to restore the lost one and another to containing only the words will you believe now that i am sincere then i tied both round the s neck and dropped him over the wall into the colonel s garden just before i started to catch my train to town i had an anxious walk home from the station that evening i went round by the longer way the black trembling the whole time lest i should meet any of the household to which i felt myself entirely unequal just then i could not rest until i knew whether my fraud had succeeded or if the to which i had my fate had betrayed me but my suspense was happily ended as soon as i entered my mother s room you can t think how delighted those poor were to see again she said at once and they said such charming things about you particularly quite affected she seemed poor child and they wanted you to go round and dine there and be thanked to night but at last i persuaded them to come to us instead and they re going to bring the dog to make friends oh and i met frank he s back from circuit again now so i asked him in too to meet them i drew a deep breath of relief i had played a desperate game but i had won i could have wished to be sure that my mother had not thought of bringing in on that of all evenings but i hoped that i could defy him after this the colonel and his people were the first to arrive he and his wife being so grateful that they made me very uncomfortable indeed met me with downcast eyes and the faintest possible blush but she said nothing just then five minutes afterward when she and i were alone together | 39 |
in the where i had brought her on pretence of showing a new she laid her hand on my sleeve and whispered almost the black i mr can you ever forgive me for being so cruel and unjust to you and i replied that upon the whole i could we were not in that long but before we left it beautiful had consented to make my life happy when we the drawing room we found frank who had been told the story of the recovery and i observed his jaw fall as he glanced at our faces and noted the triumphant smile which i have no doubt mine wore and the tender dreamy look in s soft eyes poor i was sorry for him although i was not fond of him was a good type of the rising young common law tall not bad looking with keen dark eyes black whiskers and the mouth which can express every shade of feeling from assent to cynical incredulity possessed too of an endless flow of conversation that was decidedly agreeable if a trifle too laboriously so he had been a dangerous rival but all that was over now he saw it himself at once and during dinner sank into dismal silence gazing at and sighing almost between the courses his stream of small talk seemed to have been cut off at the main you we done a kind thing said the colonel i can t tell you all that dog is to me and how i missed the poor beast i d quite given up all hope of ever seeing him again and the black all the time there was mr quietly searching all london till he found him i sha n t forget it it shows a really kind feeling i saw by face that he was telling himself he would have found fifty in half the time if he had only thought of it he smiled a melancholy assent to all the colonel said and then began to study me with an obviously air you can t think i heard mrs telling my mother how really touching it was to see poor dear s emotion at seeing all the old familiar objects again he went up and at them all in turn quite plainly everything and he was quite put out to find that we had moved his favourite out of the drawing room but he is so penitent too and so ashamed of having run away he hardly dares to come when john calls him and he kept under a chair in the hall all the morning he would n t come in here either so we had to leave him in your garden he s been sadly out of spirits all day said he has n t bitten one of the oh he s all right the rascal said the colonel cheerily he be after the cats again as well as ever in a day or two ah those cats said my poor innocent mother you have n t tried the air gun on them again lately have you they re worse than ever i troubled the colonel to pass the laughed for the first time that s a good idea the black he said in that carrying bar mess voice of his an air gun for cats ha ha make good bags eh i said that i did very good bags and felt i was getting painfully red in the face oh is an excellent quite a said my mother i remember oh long ago when we lived at he had a pistol and he used to in the garden for the and shoot at them out of the window he frequently hit one well said the colonel not much impressed by these sporting reminiscences don t go rolling over our by mistake you know my boy not but what you ve a sort of right after this only don t i would n t go through it all twice for anything if you really won t take any more wine i said hurriedly addressing the colonel and suppose we all go out and have our coffee on the lawn it it will be cooler there for it was getting very hot indoors i thought i left to amuse the ladies he could do no more harm now and taking the colonel aside i seized the opportunity as we strolled up and down the garden path to ask his consent to s engagement to me he gave it cordially there s not a man in england he said that i d sooner see her married to after to day you re a quiet steady young fellow and you ve a good kind heart as for the money that s neither here nor there the black won t come to you without a penny you know but really my boy you can hardly believe what it is to my poor wife and me to see that dog why bless my soul look at him now what s the matter with him eh to my unutterable horror i saw that that miserable after begging unnoticed at the for some time had retired to an open space before it where he was now standing on his head we gathered round and examined the animal curiously as he continued to balance himself gravely in his position good gracious john cried mrs i never saw do such a thing before in his life very odd said the colonel putting up his glasses never learned that from me i tell you what i fancy it is i suggested wildly you see he was always a sensitive animal and perhaps the the sudden joy of his return has gone to his head upset him you know they seemed disposed to accept this solution and indeed i believe they would have with every conceivable degree of sensibility but | 39 |
i felt myself that if this unhappy animal had many more of these accomplishments i was undone for the original had never been a dog of parts it s very odd said as the dog recovered his proper level but i always the black thought that it was half the right ear that had lost so it is is n t it said the colonel left eh well i thought myself it was the right my heart almost stopped with terror i had altogether forgotten that i hastened to set the point at rest oh it was the left i said positively i know it because i remember so particularly thinking how odd it was that it should be the left ear and not the right i told myself this should be positively my last lie why odd asked frank with his most offensive manner my dear fellow i can t tell you i said impatiently everything seems odd when you come to think at all about it said later on will you tell aunt mary and mr and and me how it was you came to find mr is quite anxious to hear all about it i could not very well refuse i sat down and told the story all my own way i painted perhaps rather bigger and than life and described an exciting scene in which i recognised by his collar in the streets and claimed and bore him off then and there in spite of all opposition i had the pleasure of seeing grinding his teeth with envy as i went on and feeling s soft slender hand glide silently into mine as i told my tale in the twilight the black all at once just as i reached the climax we heard the barking furiously at the hedge which separated my garden from the road there s a foreign looking man staring over the hedge said always did hate foreigners there certainly was a man there and though i had no reason for it then somehow my heart died within me at the sight of him don t be alarmed sir cried the colonel the dog won t bite unless there s a hole in the hedge anywhere the stranger took off his small straw hat with a sweep ah i am not afraid he said and his accent proclaimed him a frenchman he is not at me may i ask is it to speak i felt i must deal with this person alone for i feared the worst and asking them to excuse me i went to the hedge and faced the frenchman with the frightful calm of despair he was a short stout little man with blue cheeks sparkling black eyes and a coloured countenance he wore a short black coat and a large white with an immense oval in the centre of it which i mention because i found myself staring mechanically at it during the interview my name is i began with the bearing of a detected can i be of any service to you the black tt of a great service he said emphatically you can restore to me i see had called at last in the shape of a rival i staggered for an instant then i said oh i think you are under a mistake that dog is not mine i know it he said as been mistake so if dog is not to you you give him back to me i tell you i said that belongs to the gentleman over there and i pointed to the colonel seeing that it was best now to bring him into the affair without delay you are wrong he said is my and i was direct to you it is your name on and he presented me with that fatal card which i had been foolish enough to give to as a proof of my identity i saw it all now the old villain had betrayed me and to earn a double reward had put the real owner on my track i decided to call the colonel at once and attempt to brazen it out with the help of his sincere belief in the dog eh what s that what s it all about said the colonel bustling up followed at intervals by the others the frenchman raised his hat again i do not to make a trouble he began but is mistake my word of i the black see my own in your garden ven i appeal to to restore im he me to you you must allow me to know my own dog sir said the colonel why i ve had him from a old boy you know your master don t you but the brute ignored him altogether and began to leap wildly at the hedge in frantic to join the frenchman it needed no solomon to decide his i tell you you ave got wrong it is my own dog my he remember me well you see i lose him it is three four days i see a he is found and ven i go to address tell me oh he is he is gone a who has show me i follow ere and ven i arrive i see my in garden before me but look here said the colonel impatiently it s all very well to say that but how can you prove it i give you my word that the dog belongs to me you must prove your claim eh yes said mere assertion is no proof it s oath against oath at present attend an instant was he train had he some talents a dog tricks eh no he s not said the colonel i don t like the black to see dogs taught to play the fool there s none of that nonsense about him sir ah remark him well then mon done un and on the foreigner | 39 |
s whistling a lively air that infernal rose on his hind legs and danced solemnly about half way round the garden we inside followed his movements with dismay why dash it all cried the disgusted colonel he s dancing along like a d d but it s my for all that you are not convince you shall see more pour the four t he his tail and began to leap with joy pour la i and the too accomplished animal rolled over as if killed in battle where could have picked up so much french cried or so much french history added that serpent shall i command im to or reverse inquired the obliging frenchman we ve seen that thank you said the colonel gloomily upon my word i don t know what to think it can t be that that s not my after all i never believe it i tried a last desperate stroke will you come round to the front i said to the frenchman i let you in and we can discuss the matter o the black quietly then as we walked back together i asked him eagerly what he would take to abandon his claims and let the colonel think the was his after all he was furious he considered himself insulted with great emotion he informed me that the dog was the pride of his life it seems to be the mission of black to serve as domestic comforts of this kind that he would not part with him for twice his weight in gold figure he began as we joined the others ere as offer me money for dog he it is to me you see ver well is no more to be said why have you lost faith too then said the colonel i saw that it was no good all i wanted now was to get out of it and get rid of the frenchman i m sorry to say i replied that i m afraid i ve been deceived by the extraordinary likeness i don t think on reflection that that is what do you think asked the colonel well since you ask me said with quite unnecessary i never did think so nor i said the colonel i thought from the first that was never my why would make two of that beast and and her aunt both protested that they had had their doubts from the first the black you i remove im said the frenchman certainly said the colonel after some apologies on om part for the mistake he went off in triumph with the detestable after him when he had gone the colonel laid his hand kindly on my shoulder don t look so cut up about it my boy he said you did your best there was a sort of likeness to any one who did n t know as we did just then the frenchman again appeared at the hedge a thousand he said but i find upon my dog it is not to me suffer me to restore it many compliments it was s collar took it from his hand and brought it to us this was on the dog when you stopped that fellow did n t you say he asked me one more lie and i was so weary of falsehood y yes i said reluctantly that was so very extraordinary said that s the wrong beyond a doubt but when he s found he s wearing the right dog s collar now how do you account for that my good fellow i said impatiently i m not in the witness box i can t account for it it it s a mere coincidence but look here ray dear argued whether in good faith or not i never could quite make out don t you see what a the black important link it is here s a dog who as i understand the facts had a silver collar with his name engraved on it round his neck at the time he was lost here s that identical collar turning up soon afterward round the neck of a totally different dog we must follow this up we must get at the bottom of it somehow with a clue like this we re sure to find out either the dog himself or what s become of him just try to recollect exactly what happened there s a good fellow this is just the sort of thing i like it was the sort of thing i did not enjoy at all you must excuse me to night i said you see just now it s rather a sore subject for me and i m not feeling very well i was grateful just then for a glance of pity and confidence from s sweet eyes which revived my drooping spirits for the moment yes we go into it to morrow said the colonel and why there s that confounded frenchman again it was indeed he came back delicately with a malicious enjoyment on his wrinkled face once more i return to he said my as permit grave to make a very big at bottom of garden i assured him that it was of no consequence perhaps he replied looking steadily at me through his keen half shut eyes you not say ven you regard and you others i the black s to you von loses a is near all time it is ver droll eh my void ha ha ha and he off with an laugh that chilled my blood what the deuce did he mean by that eh said the colonel don t know said suppose we go and inspect the hole but before that i had contrived to draw near it myself in deadly fear lest the frenchman s last words had contained some which i had not understood it was light enough still for me to | 39 |
see something at the unexpected horror of which i very nearly fainted that accursed which i had been insane enough to attempt to upon the colonel must it seems have buried his supper the night before very near the spot in which i had laid and in his attempts to his bone had brought the remains of my victim to the surface there the corpse lay on the very top of the time had not of course improved its appearance which was ghastly in the extreme but still plainly by the eye of affection it s a very ordinary hole i gasped putting myself before it and trying to turn them back nothing in it nothing at all except one esq eh whispered in my ear the black ft t no but persisted the colonel advancing look here has the dog any of your shrubs no no i cried quite the reverse let s all go indoors now it s getting so cold see there is a or something said the colonel still coming nearer that fatal hole why look there what s that who was by his side gave a slight scream uncle she cried it looks like the colonel turned suddenly upon me do you hear he demanded in a choked voice you hear what she says can t you speak out is that our i gave it up at last i only longed to be allowed to crawl away under something yes i said in a dull whisper as i sat down heavily on a garden seat yes that s misfortune shoot him quite an accident there was a terrible explosion after that they saw at last how i had deceived them and put the very worst construction upon everything even now i at times and my cheeks smart and with humiliation as i recall that scene the colonel s very plain speaking s passionate reproaches and contempt and her aunt s speechless of disappointment i made no attempt to defend myself i was not perhaps the complete villain they deemed me but i felt that no doubt it all served me perfectly right the black still i do not think i am under any obligation to put their remarks down in black and white here had vanished at the first opportunity whether out of delicacy or the fear of breaking out into mirth i cannot say and shortly afterward the others came to where i sat silent with bowed head and bade me a stem and final farewell and then as the last gleam of s white dress vanished down the garden path i laid my head down on the table among the coffee cups and cried like a beaten child i got leave as soon as i could and went abroad the morning after my return i noticed while that there was a small square marble placed against the wall of the colonel s garden i got my opera glass and read and pleasant reading it was the following inscription in affectionate memory of secretly and cruelly put to death in cold blood by a neighbour and friend june if this explanation of mine ever reaches my neighbours eyes i humbly hope they will have the either to take away or tone down the black that they cannot conceive what i suffer when curious visitors insist as they do every day on out the words from our windows and asking me countless questions about them sometimes i meet the about the village and as they pass me with averted heads i feel myself growing crimson is almost always with now he has given her a dog a and they take elaborate precautions to keep it out of my garden i should like to assure them here that they need not be under any alarm i have shot one dog that brute by arthur that brute by arthur s infamous behaviour toward his wife is still matter for profound among the neighbours the other women had all along regarded him as a model husband and certainly mrs was a most conscientious wife she toiled and for that man as any woman in the whole street would have maintained far more than any husband had a right to expect and now this was what she got for it perhaps he had suddenly gone mad before she married mrs had been the mrs ford ford had got a berth as on a tramp steamer and that steamer had gone down with all hands off the cape a judgment the widow woman feared for long years of which had in the wickedness of taking to the sea and taking to it as a an fall for a capable engine twelve years as mrs ford had left her still and she remained as mrs as for he it was held was fortunate in that capable wife he was a good that brute carpenter and but no man of the world and he wanted one nobody could tell what might not have happened to if there had been no mrs to take care df him he was a meek and quiet man with a boyish face and limp whiskers he had no vices even his pipe departed him after his marriage and mrs had on him divers virtues he went solemnly to chapel every sunday under a tall hat and put a penny one returned to him for the purpose out of his week s wages in the plate then mrs he took off his best clothes and brushed them with solicitude and pains on saturday he cleaned the knives the forks the boots the and the windows patiently and on tuesday evenings he took the clothes to the and on saturday nights he attended mrs in her to carry the mrs s own virtues were native and numerous she was a wonderful manager every penny of s thirty six or | 39 |
thirty eight shillings a week was bestowed to the greatest advantage and never ventured to guess how much of it she saved her cleanliness in was to behold she met at the front door whenever he came home and then and there he changed his boots for slippers himself painfully on alternate feet on the cold flags this was because she the passage and door step turn about with the wife of the down that brute stairs family and because the stair carpet was her own she her husband all through the process of cleaning himself after work so as to come between her walls and the possibility of random and if in spite of her diligence a spot remained to tell the tale she was at pains to impress the fact on s memory and to set forth at length all the circumstances of his ungrateful selfishness in the beginning she had always escorted him to the clothes shop and had selected and paid for his clothes for the reason that men are such perfect fools and do as they like with them but she presently improved on that she found a man selling cheap at a and straightway she conceived the idea of making s s clothes herself decision was one of her virtues and a suit of check was begun that afternoon from the pattern furnished by an old one more it was finished by sunday when overcome by astonishment at the feat was in it and pushed off to chapel ere he could recover his senses the things were not altogether comfortable he found the trousers clung tight against his but hung loose behind his heels and when he sat it was on a wilderness of hard folds and also his waistcoat collar his but his coat collar went straining across from shoulder to shoulder while the main garment generously below his waist use made a habit of his discomfort that brute but it never reconciled him to the of his for as mrs successive suits each one on the last the accidents of her design developed into principles and grew even bolder and more pronounced it was vain for to as hint he that he should n t like her to herself being bad for the eyes and there was a new tailor s in the mile end road very cheap where ho she retorted you re very i there a lie before your own wife thomas as though i could n t see through you like a book a lot you care about me as long turn s served away money like dirt in the street on a lot o an me an ere to save a a penny an this is my return for it any one ud think you could pick up money in the road an i b i d be thought better of if i laid in bed all day like some would that i do so that thomas avoided the subject nor even murmured when she resolved to cut his hair so his placid fortune endured for years then there came a golden summer evening when mrs herself with a basket to do some small and was left at home he washed and put away the tea things and then he fell to meditating on a new pair of trousers finished that day and hanging behind the parlour there they hung in all their decent that brute of shape in the seat and they were shorter of leg longer of waist and of pattern than he had ever worn before and as he looked on them the small devil of original sin awoke and in his breast he was ashamed of it of course for well he knew the gratitude he owed his wife for those same trousers among other blessings still there the small devil was and the small devil was fertile in base suggestions and could not be kept from at the new crop of that would spring at s first public appearance in such things pitch em in the dust bin said the small devil at last it s all they re fit for turned away in sheer horror of his wicked self and for a moment thought of washing the tea things over again by way of discipline then he made for the back room but saw from the landing that the front door was standing open probably by the fault of the child downstairs now a front door standing open was a thing that mrs would not abide it looked low so went down that she might not be with him for the thing when she came back and as he shut the door he looked forth into the street a man was on the pavement and curiously about the door his face was his hands were deep in the pockets of his blue trousers and well back on his head he wore the high crowned cap with a of wool which is affected by jack ashore about that brute the he a step nearer to the door and mrs ford ain t in is she he said stared at him for a matter of five seconds and then said eh mrs ford as was then now ain t it he said this with a that neither liked nor understood no said she ain t in now you ain t her are ye the man took his pipe from his mouth and grinned silently and long he said at length you look the sort o she d like and with that he grinned again then seeing that made ready to shut the door he put a foot on the sill and a hand against the don t be in a he said i come ere t ave a little talk with you man to man d ye see and he frowned fiercely felt uncomfortable but the door would not shut so he want | 39 |
he asked i you then if you excuse the liberty i in a manner of speaking he touched his cap with a bob of mock humility i m bob ford he said come back out o kingdom come so to say me as went down with the safe dead five year gone i come to see my wife during this speech thomas s jaw was that brute dropping lower and lower at the end of it he his fingers up through his hair looked down at the mat then up at the then out into the street then hard at his visitor but he found nothing to say come to see my wife the man repeated so now we can talk it over as man to man slowly shut his mouth and led the way upstairs mechanically his fingers still in his hair a sense of the state of affairs sank gradually into his brain and the small devil woke again suppose this man was ford suppose he did claim his wife would it be a knock down blow would it hit him out or not he thought of the trousers the tea things the the knives the and the windows and he thought of them in the way of a on the landing ford clutched at his arm and asked in a hoarse whisper ow long fore she s back bout a hour i expect replied having first of all repeated the question in his own mind and then he opened the parlour door ah said ford looking about him you ve bin pretty table them chairs an things his pipe toward them was hers mine that is to say straight and man to man he sat down at his pipe and presently well he continued ere i am ol bob ford dead an done for gone down in the on y i ain t done for see and g that brute he pointed the stem of his pipe at s waistcoat i ain t done for cause why o bein picked up by a ov german an took to fore the mast i ve ad a few years o about since then an now looking hard at i ve come back to see my wife she don t like smoke in ere said as it were at random no i bet she don t ford answered taking his pipe from his mouth and holding it low in his hand i know ow d you find er do she make ye clean the well admitted uneasily i i do er sometimes o course ah an the knives too i bet an the i know w y he rose and bent to look behind s head s me i b she cuts yer air well i m damned she would do too he the blushing from divers points of then he lifted a leg of the trousers hanging behind the door i d bet a trifle he said she made these ere nobody else ud do em like that they re n you re got on the small devil began to have the argument all its own way if this man took his wife back perhaps he d have to wear those trousers ah ford pursued she ain t got no an my a that brute began to feel that this was no longer his business plainly was this other man s wife and he was bound in honour to acknowledge the fact the small devil put it to him as a matter of duty well said ford suddenly time s short an this ain t business won t be ard on you i ought ly to stand on my rights but as you re a well young man so to speak an all settled an a ere quiet an i u this with a burst of generosity i compound the an take me come i name a figure as man to man an last no less an no more five pound does it had n t five pounds he had n t even and he said so an i would n t think for to come between a man an is wife he added not on no account it may be rough on me but it s a it no said ford hastily clutching by the arm don t do that i make it a bit cheaper say three come that s reasonable ain t it three ain t much compensation for me goin away for ever where the stormy winds do blow so to say an never as much as me own wife for better nor between man an man now three an i that s fair ain t it of course it s fair replied it s more n fair it s noble downright noble call it but i ain t goin to take a mean that brute o your good mr ford she s your wife an i ought n t to a come between you i you stop an ave yer proper rights it s me as ought to an i will and he made a step toward the door old on ford and got between and the door don t do things rash look a loss it be to you with no ome to go to an nobody to look after ye an all that it be dreadful say a couple there we won t quarrel jest a single between man an man an i stand a pot out o the money you can easy raise a the clock ud pretty nigh do it a does it an i there was a loud double knock at the front door in the east end a double knock is always for the upstairs s that asked bob ford see said thomas in reply and he made | 39 |
a rush for the staircase bob ford heard him open the front door then he went to the window and just below him he saw the crown of a bonnet it vanished and borne to him from within the door there fell upon his ear the sound of a well remembered female voice where ye goin now with no at asked the voice sharply there s there s somebody upstairs to see you answered and as bob ford could see a man went down that brute the street in the gathering dusk and behold it was thomas ford reached the landing in three strides his wife was still at the front door staring after he flung into the back room threw open the window dropped from the wash house roof into the back yard scrambled desperately over the fence and disappeared into the gloom he was seen by no living soul and that is why s base desertion under his wife s very eyes too is still an astonishment to the neighbours c a rose of the by a rose of the by one day it occurred to that he ought to get married he went to the forthwith i have the very thing for you said the great marriage is she pretty asked her father has a boot and shoe replied then there ought to be a with her said eagerly certainly a a fine man like you how much do you think it would be of course it is not a large but then you could get your boots at trade price and your wife s perhaps for the cost of the leather when could i see her i will arrange for you to call next sabbath afternoon you won t charge me more than a sovereign not a more such a pious maiden i m sure you will be happy she has so much way of the country breeding and of course five per cent on the it rose of the h m well i don t mind perhaps they won t give a he thought with a sense of the on the saturday went to see the and on the sunday he went to see the but your maiden he cried an excellent thing said a wife who can never look her husband straight in the face and him who would before a woman with a i could endure the went on but she also well what is better in the event of a quarrel the difficulty she has in talking will keep her far more silent than most wives you had best secure her while you have the chance but she on the left leg cried exasperated in do you mean to say you do not see what an advantage it is to have a wife unable to accompany you in all your lost patience why the girl is a he protested furiously my dear said the marriage his shoulders and spreading out his palms you can t expect perfection nevertheless persisted in his unreasonable attitude he accused of wasting his time of making a fool of him a rose of the a fool of you echoed the indignantly when i give you a chance of a boot and shoe s daughter you will make a fool of yourself if you refuse i dare say her would be enough to set you up as a master tailor at present you are compelled to slave away as a for thirty shillings a week it is most unjust if you only had a few machines you would be able to employ your own and they can be got so cheap nowadays this gave pause and he departed without having definitely broken the his whole week was by doubt his work became his chalk marks lacked their usual decision and he did not always cut his coat according to his cloth his became so marked that pretty rose green the s eldest daughter who managed a machine in the same room divined with all a woman s that he was in love what is the matter she said in when they were taking their lunch of bread and cheese and beer amid the clatter of machines whose had not yet knocked off work they are proposing me a match he answered sullenly a match ejaculated rose thou she had worked by his side for years and familiarity bred the second person singular nodded his head and put a of dutch cheese into it i a rose of the with whom asked rose somehow he felt ashamed he the answer into the stone beer bottle which he put to his thirsty lips with gasped rose the boot and shoe s daughter hung his head he scarce knew why he did not dare meet her gaze his said yes there was a long pause and why dost thou not have her said rose it was more than an inquiry there was contempt in it and perhaps even did not reply the embarrassing silence reigned again and reigned long rose broke it at last is it that thou me better she asked seemed to see a ball of lightning in the air it burst and he felt the electric current strike right through his heart the shock threw his head up with a jerk so that his eyes gazed into a face whose beauty and tenderness were revealed to him for the first time the face of his old acquaintance had vanished this was a smiling face suggesting of things yes he replied without perceptible pause good she rejoined as quickly and in the ecstasy of that moment of mutual understanding forgot to wonder why he had never thought of rose before afterward he remembered that she had always been his social it a rose of the io the situation seemed too dream like for explanation to the room just yet lovingly passed the bottle of beer | 39 |
know a rose of the tt not yet ah then i must get his consent said i i thought of speaking to him myself yourself echoed in horror are you in the head why that would be worse than the mistake you have already made what mistake asked firing up the mistake of asking the maiden herself when you quarrel with her after your marriage she will always throw it in your teeth that you wished to marry her moreover if you tell a maiden you love her her father will think you ought to marry her as she stands still what is done is done and he sighed and what more do i want i love her you piece of clay cried contemptuously love will not turn machines much less buy them you must have a her father has a big he can well afford it eyes lit up there was really no reason why he should not have bread and cheese with his kisses now if you went to her father pursued the the odds are that he would not even you his daughter to say nothing of the after all it is a cheek of you to so high as you told me from the first you have n t saved a penny even my commission you won t be able to pay till you get the but if go a rose of the ii i do not despair of getting a substantial to say nothing of the daughter yes i think you had better go said eagerly but if i do this thing for you i shall want a pound more rejoined a pound more echoed in dismay why because rose green s is of gold replied also she is fair to see and many men desire her but you have always your five per cent on the it will be less than s explained you see green has other and less beautiful daughters yes but then it settles itself more easily say five shillings green is a hard man said the instead ten shillings is the most i will give twelve and sixpence is the least i will take green so terribly they split the difference and so eleven and represented the of green s over s the very next day invaded the green rose bent over her her heart fluttering had duly her of the manner in which she would have to be won and she had in the comedy a rose of the at the least it would save her the trouble of s entry was and breathless he was overwhelmed with joyous emotion his blue from his coat tail at last he cried addressing the little master tailor i have the very man for you yes the was packed with emotion it said have you really the face to come to me again with an ideal man he has all the qualities that you desire began the in a tone that the of the he is young strong god fearing has he any money interrupted he have money replied when he ah the father s voice relaxed and his foot lay limp on the he worked one of his machines himself and paid himself the wages so as to enjoy the profit how much will he have i think he will have fifty pounds and the least you can do is to let him have fifty pounds replied with the same happy shook his head on principle yes you will said when you learn how fine a man he is the flush of confusion and already a rose of the ii on s countenance became a rosy glow of modesty for he could not help what was being said owing to the lull of the master tailor s machine tell me then rejoined tell me first if you will give fifty to a young healthy hard working god fearing man whose idea it is to start as a master tailor on his own account and you know how profitable that is to a man like that said in a burst of enthusiasm i would give as much as pounds ten groaned inwardly but heart leaped with joy to get four months wages at a stroke with twenty seven pounds ten he could certainly procure several machines especially on the system out of the comers of his eyes he shot a glance at rose who was beyond unless you can promise thirty it is waste of time mentioning his name said well who is he bent down lowering his voice into the father s ear what cried outraged sh said or he will your delight and ask more he has his nose high enough as it is b b b ut the bewildered parent i know myself i see him every day i don t want a to find me a man i know a mere hand in my own il a rose of the your talk has neither face nor figure answered sternly it is just the people one sees every day that one knows least i warrant that if i had not put it into your head you would never have of as a son in law come now confess vaguely and the went on triumphantly i thought as much and yet where could you find a better man to keep your daughter he ought to be content with her alone grumbled her father saw the signs of and dashed in full strength it s a question whether he will have her at all i have not been to him about her yet i awaited your approval of the idea admired the verbal accuracy of these statements which he just caught but i did n t know he would be having money murmured of course you did n t know that s what the is for to point out the things that | 39 |
are under your nose but where will he be getting this money from from you said frankly from me from whom else are you not his employer it has been put by for his marriage day he has saved it he has not spent it said impatiently a rose of the ii but do you mean to say he has saved fifty pounds if he could manage to save fifty pounds out of your wages he would be indeed a treasure said perhaps it might be thirty but you said fifty well you came down to thirty retorted the you cannot expect him to have more than your daughter brings i never said thirty reminded him twenty seven ten was my last bid very well that will do as a basis of said i will call upon him this evening if i were to go over and speak to him now he would perceive you were anxious and raise his terms and that will never do of course you will not mind allowing me a pound more for finding you so economical a son in law not a penny more you need not fear said it is not likely i shall be able to persuade him to take so economical a father in law so you will be none the worse for promising be it so said with a gesture of weariness and he started his machine again twenty seven pounds ten remember said above the nodded his head his louder and paid before the wedding mind the machine took no notice ti ll a rose of the before the wedding mind repeated before we go under the go now go now with a gesture of impatience it shall be all well and the white haired head bowed over its work in the evening rose extracted from her father the motive of s visit and confessed that the idea was to her liking but dost thou think he will have me little father she asked with eyes any one would have my rose ah but is different so many years he has sat at my side and said nothing he had his work to think of he is a good saving youth at this very moment is trying to persuade him not so i suppose he will want much money be easy my child and he passed his hand over her hair turned up the next day and reported that was under thirty pounds and weary of the contest called over till that moment carefully absorbed in his scientific chalk marks and mentioned the thing to him for the first time i am not a man to bargain said and so he gave the young man his hand and a bottle of rum sprang from somewhere and work was suspended for five minutes and the hands all drank amid surprised a rose of the ii excitement s visits had prepared them to congratulate rose but was a shock the formal engagement was marked by even greater and at last the marriage day came was in a cut by his own hand and rose stepped from the cab a of flowers and white silk and behind her came two her sisters a that the spectator strewn pavement outside the looked almost tall in his shiny high hat and arrived on foot carrying little tucked under his arm and rose were not the only couple to be disposed of for it was the thirty third day of the a day fruitful in marriages but at last their turn came they did not however come in their turn and their special friends among the audience wondered why they had lost their after several later marriages had taken place a whisper began to the rumour of a gained ground steadily and the sensation was and indeed the rose was not to be picked without a touch of the thorn gradually the facts out and a of talk and comment ran through the waiting had not paid up at first he declared he would put down the money immediately after the ceremony but the wary by experience demanded its instant delivery on behalf of his other i a rose of the hard pressed produced ten sovereigns from his trousers pocket and them on account these refused and the were suspended the bridegroom s party was in one room the bride s in another and after a painful delay sent an to say that half the amount should be the extra five pounds in a bright new bank of england note instructed and encouraged by stood firm and then arose a of voices a chaos of suggestions friends rushed to and fro between the some emerging from their seats in the to add to the confusion but had taken his stand upon a rock he had no more ready money to morrow the next day he would have some and pale and dogged clutched at those machines that were slipping away from him he had not yet seen his bride that morning and so her face was shadowy compared with the of those machines most of the other maidens were married women by now and the situation was growing desperate from the female camp came terrible of in and a bride that tore her wreath in a passion of shame and humiliation sent word that he would give an i o u for the balance but that he really could not muster any more current coin instructed the to suggest that should raise the money among his friends a rose of the and the short spring day slipped away in vain the minister of the block lengthened out the for the other pairs and blessed them with more it was impossible to off the green item and at last rose remained the only orange in the and then there was a hush of solemn suspense that swelled gradually into a steady | 39 |
of tongues as minute succeeded minute and the final party still failed to appear the latest pictured the bride in a dead faint the afternoon was fast the minister left his post near the under which so many lives had been united and came to add his white tie to the forces for compromise but he no better than the others at the obstinacy of the he declared he would close the he gave the couple ten minutes to marry in or quit then chaos came and a frantic of suggestion and from the crowd when five minutes had passed a from announced that his side had scraped together twenty pounds and that this was their final bid wavered the long day s combat had told upon him the reports of the bride s distress had weakened him even had lost his of victory a few minutes more and both might slip through his fingers once the parties left the it would not be easy to drive them there another day but he a rose of the cheered on his man still one could always surrender at the tenth minute at the eighth the of tongues faltered suddenly to be into a new key so to speak through the assembly swept that murmur of expectation which crowds know when the procession is coming at last by some mysterious all were aware that the bride the poor had left the paternal camp was coming in person to plead with her lover and as the glory of her and the flowers and the white loomed upon vision his heart melted in worship and he knew his would in ruins at her first glance at her first touch was it fair fighting as his troubled vision cleared and as she came nigh unto him he saw to his amazement that she was and composed no trace of tears the of her face there was no in her wreath the clock showed the ninth minute she put her hand on his arm while a heavenly light came into her face the expression of a of arc her country do not give in she said do not have me do not let them persuade thee by my life thou must not go home so at the minute the produced the balance and they all lived happily ever afterward an of london by an of london by it was one o clock and many of the students in the national gallery had left off work and were refreshing themselves with lunch and conversation there was one old who had not stirred from his place but he had put down his brush and had taken from his pocket a small book which was like its thin and shabby of covering he seemed to find pleasure in reading it for he turned over its pages with all the tenderness characteristic of one who loves what he reads now and again he glanced at his unfinished copy of the beautiful portrait of and once his eyes rested on another copy next to his better and truer than his and once he stooped to pick up a coloured tie which had fallen from the neighbouring after this he seemed to become unconscious of his surroundings as unconscious indeed as any one of the pictures near him any one might have been justified in him for the portrait of a man but that his lips moved for it was his custom to read softly to himself the students passed back to their places not an of london troubling to notice him because they knew from experience that he never noticed them and that all greetings were wasted on him and all words were wanton expenditure of breath they had come to regard him very much in the same way as many of us regard the wonders of nature without astonishment without any and often without any interest one girl a new comer did chance to say to her companion how ill that old man looks oh he always looks like that was the answer you will soon get accustomed to him come along i must finish my blind beggar this afternoon in a few minutes most of the workers were busy again although there were some who continued to chat quietly and several young men who seemed reluctant to leave their girl friends and who were by no means encouraged to go i one young man came to claim his book and pipe which he had left in the charge of a bright eyed girl who was sir s angels she gave him his treasures and received in exchange a dark red rose which she fastened in her belt and then he returned to his portrait of mrs but there was something in his manner which made one suspect that he thought less of mrs s beauty than of the beauty of the girl who was wearing the dark red rose the strangers strolling through the rooms stopped now and again to peer curiously at the students an of london work they were stared at indignantly by the students themselves but they made no attempt to move away and even ventured sometimes to pass of no tender character on some of the copies the fierce looking man who was the horse fair deliberately put down his folded his arms and waited until they had gone by but others wiser in their generation went on painting calmly several workers were painting the new one of them was a white haired old whose hand was trembling and yet skilful still more than once she turned to give a few hints to the young girl near her who looked in some distress and doubt just the needful help was given and then the girl plied her brush merrily smiling the while with pleasure and gratitude there seemed to be a genial kindly influence at work a certain too which must needs | 39 |
assert itself where many are gathered together working side by side all made a harmony the wonderful pictures collected from many lands and many centuries each with its meaning and its message from the past the memories of the painters themselves who had worked and and conquered and the living human beings each with his wealth of earnest endeavour and hope meanwhile the old man read on until two hands were put over his book and a gentle voice said mr you have had no lunch again an of london do you know i begin to hate he always makes you forget your food the old man looked up and something like a smile passed over his face when he saw bending over him ah he answered you must not hate have had more pleasant s with him than with any living person he rose and came forward to examine her copy of s portrait yours is better than mine he said in fact mine is a e i think i shall only get a small price for mine indeed i doubt whether i shall get sufficient to pay for my funeral you speak she answered smiling i missed you yesterday he continued half i left my work and wandered through the rooms and i did not even read something seemed to have gone from my life at first i thought it must be my favourite or the but it was neither the one nor the other it was you that was strange was n t it but you know we get accustomed to anything and perhaps i should have missed you less the second day and by the end of a week i should not have missed you at all we have in us the power of forgetting i do not wish to plead for myself she said but i do not believe that you or any one could really forget that which call forgetfulness might be called by the better name of resignation an of london i don t care about talking any more now he said suddenly and he went to his and worked silently at his picture and glanced at him and thought she had never seen her old companion look so forlorn and desolate as he did to day he looked as if no gentle hand had ever been placed on him in and affection and that seemed to her a terrible thing for she was one of those minded persons who persist in believing that affection is as needful to human life as rain to flower life when first she came to work at the gallery some twelve months ago she had noticed this old man and had wished for his companionship she was herself lonely and sorrowful and although had to fight her own battles and had learned something of the difficulties of fighting and this had given her an experience beyond her years she was not more than twenty four years of age but she looked rather older and though she had beautiful eyes full of meaning and kindness her es were decidedly plain as well as there were some in the gallery who said among themselves that as mr had waited so many years before talking to any one he might have chosen some one better worth the waiting for but they soon became accustomed to seeing and mr together and they laughed less than before and meanwhile the acquaintance into a sort of friendship half sulky on his part and wholly kind on her part he told nothing about himself and ve a n w an of london herself for weeks he never even knew her name sometimes he did not speak at all and the two friends would work silently side by side until it was time to go and then he waited until she was ready and walked with her across square where they parted and went their own ways but occasionally when she least expected it he would speak with glowing enthusiasm on art then his eyes seemed to become bright and his bent figure more erect and his whole bearing proud and dignified there were times too when he would speak on other subjects on the of free thought and on those who had died to free thought on of blessed memory on him and scores of others too he would speak of the different schools of philosophy he would laugh at himself and at all who having given time and thought to the study of hfe s complicated problems had not reached one step further than the old world perhaps he would quote one of his favourite philosophers and then suddenly into silence returning to his abstraction and to his indifference to his surroundings had learned to understand his ways and to appreciate his mind and without on him in any manner had put herself gently into his life as his quiet champion and his friend no one in her presence dared speak of the old man or to make fun of his tumble down appearance or of his worn out silk hat with a crack in the side or of his rag of a black tie which to an of london with his overcoat had seen better days once she brought her needle and thread and the torn sleeve during her lunch time and though he never knew it it was a satisfaction to her to have helped him to day she noticed that he was painting badly and that he seemed to take no interest in his work but she went on busily with her own picture and was so engrossed in it that she did not at first observe that he had packed up his and was preparing to go home three more strokes he said quietly and you will have finished your picture i shall never finish mine perhaps you will be good enough to set it | 39 |
in spirit though i myself have never been outwardly a i have never sat in a place of worship but that for the time being i have felt a better man but directly the voice of doctrine or was raised the spell was broken for me and that which i hoped was being made clear had no further meaning for me there was only one voice which ever helped me the voice of the organ me thrilling me filling me with strange longing with welcome sadness with solemn gladness i have always thought that music can give an answer when everything else is of no avail i do not know what you believe i am so young to have found out she said almost don t worry yourself he answered kindly be brave and strong and let the rest go i should like to live long enough to see what you will make of your life i believe you will never be false to yourself or to any one that is rare i believe you will not let any lower ideal take the place of your high ideal of what is beautiful and noble in art in life i believe that you will never let despair get the upper hand of you if it does an of london you may as well die yes you may as well and i entreat you not to lose your entire faith in humanity there is nothing like that for withering up the very core of the heart tell you humanity and nature have so much in common with each other that if you lose your entire faith in the former you will lose part of your pleasure in the latter you will see less beauty in the trees the flowers and the fields less grandeur in the mighty mountains and the sea the seasons will come and go and you will scarcely heed their coming and going winter will settle over your soul just as it settled over mine and you see what i am they had now passed into the and they sat down in one of the recesses of the windows and looked out upon the rich plot of grass which the there was not a soul there except themselves the cool and the quiet and the beauty of the spot refreshed these and they rested in calm enjoyment was the first to break the silence i am glad you have brought me here she said i shall never now at not being able to afford a fortnight in the country this is better than anything else it has always been my summer holiday to come here he said when i first came i was like you young and hopeful and i had wonderful visions of what i intended to do and to be here it was i made a vow that i would become a great painter and win for myself a resting place in this k an of london very abbey there is humour in the situation is there not i don t like to hear you say that she answered it is not always possible for us to fulfil all our still it is better to have had them and failed of them than not to have had them at all possibly he replied coldly then he added i wish you would tell me something about yourself you have always interested me i have nothing to tell you about myself she answered frankly i am alone in the world without friends and without relations the very name i use is not a real name i was a at times i am sorry do not belong to any one and at other times i am glad you know i am fond of books and of art so my life is not altogether empty and find my pleasure in hard work when i saw you at the gallery wished to know you and i asked one of the students who you were he told me you were a then i did not care so much about knowing you until one day you spoke to me about my painting and that was the beginning of our friendship forty years ago he said sadly the friend of my boyhood deceived me i had not thought it possible that he could be false to me he himself behind me and became prosperous and respected at the expense of my honour i vowed i would never again make a friend a few years later when i was beginning to hold up my head the woman whom i loved deceived me then i an of london put from me all affection and all love greater natures than mine are better able to bear these troubles but my heart contracted and withered up he paused for a moment many recollections overpowering him then he went on telling her the history of his life to her the story of his hopes and describing to her the very home where he was bom and the dark eyed sister whom he had loved and with whom he had played over the fields and through the woods and all among the richly tinted one day he was told she was dead and that he must never speak her name but he spoke it all the day and all the night nothing but and he looked for her in the fields and in the woods and among the it seemed as if he had unlocked the of his heart closed for so many years and as if all the memories of the past and all the secrets of his life were rushing out glad to be free once more and grateful for the open air of sympathy was as swift as a deer he exclaimed you would have laughed to see her on the ah it was hard to give up all thoughts of meeting her again they | 39 |
told me i should see her in heaven but i did not care about heaven i wanted on earth as i knew her a merry laughing sister i think you are right we don t forget we become resigned in a dead dull kind of way suddenly he said i don t know why i have told you all this and yet it has been such a pleasure an of london to me you are the only person to whom i could have spoken about myself for no one else but you would have cared don t you think she said gently that you made a mistake in letting your experiences you because you had been unlucky in one or two instances it did not follow that all the world was against you perhaps you unconsciously put yourself against all the world and therefore saw every one in an able light it seems so easy to do that trouble comes to most people does n t it and your philosophy should have taught you to make the best of it at least that is my notion of the value of philosophy she spoke hesitatingly as though she gave utterance to these words against her will i am sure you are right child he said eagerly he put his hands to his eyes but he could not keep back the tears i have been such a lonely old man he sobbed no one can tell what a lonely life mine has been if i were not so old and so tired i should like to begin all over again he sobbed for many minutes and she did not know what to say to him of comfort but she took his hand within her own and gently it as one might do to a little child in pain he looked up and smiled through his tears you have been very good to me he said and i dare say you have thought me ungrateful you mended my coat for me one morning and not a an of london day has passed but that i have looked at the dam and thought of you i liked to remember that you had done it for me but you have done far more than this for me you have put some sweetness into my life whatever becomes of me hereafter i shall never be able to think of my life on earth as anything but beautiful because you thought kindly of me and acted kindly for me the other night when this terrible pain came over me i wished you were near me i wished to hear your voice there is very beautiful music in your voice i would have come to you gladly she said smiling quietly at him you must make a promise that when you feel ill again you will send for me then you will see what a splendid nurse i am and how soon you will become strong and well under my care strong enough to paint many more es each one better than the last now will you promise yes he said and he raised her hand reverently to his lips you are not angry with me for doing that he asked suddenly i should not like to vex you i am not vexed she answered kindly then perhaps i may kiss it once more he asked yes she answered and again he raised her hand to his lips thank you he said quietly that was kind of you do you see that broken sun ray yonder an of london is it not golden i find it very pleasant to sit here and am quite happy and almost free from pain lately i have been troubled with a dull pain near my heart but now feel so strong that believe i shall finish that after all of course you will she answered cheerily and shall have to confess that yours is better than mine am quite willing to yield the palm to you i must alter the expression of the mouth he replied that is the part which has worried me i don t think i told you that have had a commission to copy s old jew i must set to work on that next week but you have given me your and she laughed you must be generous enough to lend them to me he said smiling by the way i intend to give you my books all of them some day i must show them to you i especially value my philosophical books they have been my faithful companions through many years i believe you do not read greek that is a pity because you would surely enjoy i think must teach you greek it would be an agreeable to leave you when i pass away into the great silence i should like to learn she said wondering to hear him speak so it seemed as if some vast barrier had been rolled aside and as if she were getting to know him better having been an of london allowed to glance into his past life to with his past mistakes and with the failure of his and with the of his heart you must read he continued and if i mistake not the will be an epoch in your life you will find that all these studies will serve to your art and you will be able to put mind into your work and not merely form and colour do you know i feel so well that i believe i shall not only live to finish but also to smoke another pipe you have been too rash to day she laughed giving away your pipe and your and in this reckless manner i must get you a new pipe to morrow i wonder you did not part with your venerable that reminds me he said in his pocket i think have dropped my i fancy | 39 |
i left it somewhere in the poets comer it would grieve me to lose that book let me go and look for it she said and she advanced a few steps and then came back to him you have been saying many kind words to me she said as she put her hand on his arm and i have not told you that i value your friendship and am grateful to you for letting me be more than a mere stranger to you i have been very lonely in my life for i am not one to make friends easily and it has been a great privilege to me to talk with you i want you to know this for if i have been an of london anything to you you have been a great deal to me i have never met with much sympathy from those of my own age i have found them narrow and and they foimd me dull and uninteresting they had passed through few experiences and knew nothing about failure or success and some of them did not even understand the earnestness of endeavour and laughed at me when i spoke of a high ideal so i withdrew into myself and should probably have grown still more isolated than i was before but that i met you and as time went on we became friends i shall always remember your teaching and i will try to keep ta a high ideal of life and art and endeavour and i will not let despair creep into my heart and i will not lose my faith in humanity as she spoke a lingering ray of sunshine lit up her face and gently her soft brown hair slight though her form and sombre her clothes and her features she seemed a because of her earnestness now she said cheerily you rest here until i come back with your and then i think i must be getting on my way home but you must fix a time for our first greek lesson for we must begin to morrow when she had gone he walked in the holding his hat in his hand and his stick under his arm there was a quiet smile on his face which was called forth by pleasant thoughts in his mind and he did not look quite so and an of london as usual his eyes were fixed on the ground but he raised them and observed a white cat creeping toward him it came and rubbed itself against his foot and with all its might seemed determined to win some kind of notice from him the old man stooped down to stroke it and was just touching its sleek coat when he suddenly withdrew his hand and groaned deeply he struggled to the recess and sank back the stick fell on the stone with a clatter and the battered hat rolled down beside it and the white cat fled away in terror but that there was no cause for alarm it came back and crouched near the silent figure of the old man watching him intently then it stretched out its and played with his hand doing its utmost to him into a little fun but he would not be and the cat lost all patience with him and left him to himself meanwhile was looking for the lost in the poets she found it lying near s tomb and was just going to take it to her friend when she saw the workman to whom they had spoken in square he recognised her at once and came toward her i ve been having a quiet half hour here he said it does me a sight of good to sit in the abbey you should go into the she said kindly i have been sitting there with my friend he will be interested to hear that you love this beautiful abbey an of london i should like to see him again said the workman he had a kind way about him and that pipe he gave me is an uncommon good one still i am sorry i smashed the little clay pipe i d grown used to it i d smoked it ever since my little girl died and left me alone in the world i used to bring my httle girl here and now i come alone but it is n t the same thing no it could not be the same thing said gently but you find some little comfort here some little comfort he answered one can t expect much they went together into the and as they came near the recess where the old man rested said why he has fallen asleep he must have been very tired and he has dropped his hat and stick thank you if you will put them down there i will watch by his side until he wakes up i don t suppose he will sleep for long the workman stooped down to pick up the hat and stick and glanced at the something in the s countenance arrested his attention he turned to the girl and saw that she was watching him what is it she asked anxiously what is the matter with you he tried to speak but his voice failed him and all he could do was to point with trembling hand to the old man looked and a loud broke from her lips the old man was dead the by couch the by couch a ll that follows was spoken in a small tavern a stone s throw from the day before i left london it was spoken in a dull voice across a greasy table cloth and amid an atmosphere so thick with the of cooking that one longed to change it for the street again to in an furnace old tom spoke it who has been a clerk for fifty two years in t s east | 39 |
india and in all that time has never been out of london but when he takes a holiday it in hanging about s and observing that place of business from the outside the dust if not the iron of s has entered into his soul and s young men know him as the he is a thin bald with sloping shoulders and a habit of regarding the pavement when he walks so that he seems to steer his way by instinct rather than sight in general he keeps silence while eating his chop and on this occasion there was something unnatural in his utterance a divorce of manner between the speaker and his words such as one would expect in a under stress of the god i fancied it had something to do with the a black that he wore instead of the blue bird s eye familiar to s and with his extraordinary conduct in refusing to day the chop that the waiter brought and his lunch to cheese and having pulled the to pieces he pushed himself back a little from the table looked over his spectacles at me then at the table cloth and began in a dreamy voice old is dead i heard the news at the office this morning and went out and bought a black tie i am the oldest man in s older by six years than sam who comes next so there is no mistake about it sam is looking for the place i saw it in his eye when he told me and i expect he get it but i m the oldest clerk in s only god almighty can alter that and it s very satisfactory to me i don t care about the money sam will be stuck up over it like enough but he never write a hand like s not if he lives to be a hundred and he knows it and knows i be there to remind him of it s was a beautiful fist so small too if he chose why once in his spare hours he wrote out all the with the on one side of a sheet and had it framed and hung up in his parlour out at shepherd s bush he died in the oh yes quite easily he was down at the office all yesterday and spoke to me as brisk as a bird they found him dead in his bed this morning the i seem cut up about it well not exactly ah you noticed that i refused my chop to day bless your soul that s not on account i am well on in years and i suppose it would be natural of me to pity old men and expect pity but i can t no s only the young that i pity if you must know i did n t take a chop to day because i have n t the money in my pocket to pay for it you see there was this black tie that i gave for but something else happened this morning that i tell you about i came down in a as usual you remember what weather it was up to ten o clock though you would n t think it to feel the heat now well the was packed inside and out at least there was just room for one more inside when we pulled up by cross and there he got in a boy with a stick and a bundle in a blue handkerchief he was n t more than thirteen bound for the you could tell at a glance and by the way he looked about you could tell as easily that in stepping outside cross station he d set foot on london stones for the first time god knows how it struck him the and the ugly shop fronts the horses slipping in the brown mud the crowd on the pavement pushing him this side and that the poor little chap was standing in the middle of it with dazed eyes like a hare s when the pulled up his eyelids were pink and swollen but he was n t crying though he the wanted to instead he gave a as he came on board with stick and bundle and tried to look brave as a lion i d have given worlds to speak to him but i could n t on my word sir i should have cried it was n t so much the little chap s look but to the knot of his bundle there was tied a bunch of cottage flowers sweet boy s love and a rose or two and the sight and smell of them in that were like tears on thirsty eyelids it s the young that i pity sir for in his bed up at shepherd s bush there s no more to be said as far as i can see and as for me i m the oldest clerk in s which is very satisfactory it s the young faces set toward the road along which we have travelled that trouble me sometimes sir i lie awake in my lodgings and listen and the whole of this london seems filled with the sound of children s feet running and i can sob aloud you may say that it is only selfishness and what i really pity is my own boyhood i dare say you re right it s certain that as i kept glancing at the boy and his sea and his bunch of flowers my mind went back to the january morning years back when the coach took me off for the first time from the village where i was born to a london charity school i was worse off than the boy in the for i had just lost father and mother yet it was the sticks and stones and flower | 39 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.