Latest / Notes on Nursing / Short Stories in Prose and Verse - Henry Lawson

Transcript

Short Stories in Prose and Verse - Henry Lawson · Notes on Nursing

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Short Stories in Prose and Verse. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Short
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Stories in Prose and Verse by Henry Lawson the preface.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: This is an attempt to publish in Australia a collection
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: of sketches and stories at a time when everything Australian
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: in the shape of a book must bear the imprint
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: of a London publishing firm, before our critics will condescend
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: to notice it, and before the reading public will think
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: it worth its while to buy nearly so many copies
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: as will pay for the mere cost of printing a
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: presentable volume. The Australian writer, until he gets a London hearing,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: is only accepted as an imitator of some recognized English
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: or American author, and so soon as he shows signs
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: of coming to the front, he is labeled the Australian Savvy,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: the Australian Burns, or the Australian Brett Hart, and lately
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: the Australian Kipling. Thus, no matter how original he may be,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: he is branded at the very start as a plagiarist
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: and by his own country, which thinks no doubt that
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: it is paying him a compliment and encouraging him, while
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: it is really doing him a cruel and an almost
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: irreparable injury. But Mark, so soon as the Southern writer
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: goes home and gets some recognition in England, he is
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: so and so the well known Australian author whose work
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: has attracted so much attention in London lately, and we
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: first hear of him by cable, even though he might
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: have been writing at his best for ten years in Australia.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: The same paltry spirit tried to dispose of the greatest
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: of modern short story writers as the Californian Dickens. But
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: America wasn't built that way. Neither was brett Hart. To
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: illustrate the above growl, a Sydney Daily paper, reviewing The
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Bulletin's Golden Shanty when the first edition came out, said
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: of my story his father's mate, that it stood out
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: distinctly as an excellent specimen of that kind of writing
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: which Brett Hart set the world imitating in vain and
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: being full of local color. It was no unworthy copy
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: of the great master. That critic evidently hadn't studied the
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Great Master any more than he did my yarn of
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Australian goldfield life. Then he spoke of another story as
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: also having the Californian flavor. For the other writers, I
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: can say that I feel sure that they could point
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: out their scenery and name, or in some cases introduce
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: the reader to their characters in the flesh. The first
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: seventeen years of my life were spent on the goldfields,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: and therefore I didn't need to go back in imagination
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: to a time before I was born and to a
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: country I had never seen for literary material. This pamphlet,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: I can scarcely call it a volume, contain some of
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: my earliest efforts, and they are sufficiently crude and faulty.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: They have been collected and printed hurriedly, with an eye
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: to Christmas, and without experienced editorial assistance, which last I
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: begin to think was sadly necessary. However, we all hope
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: to do better in future, and I shall have more
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: confidence in my first volume of Verse, which will probably
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: be published sometime next year. The stories and sketches were
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: originally written for the Bulletin Worker, Truth Antipody and Magazine
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: and the Brisbane Boomerang, which last was one of the
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: many Australian publications which were starved to death because they
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: tried to be original, to be honest, to pay for
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: and encourage Australian literature, and above all, to be Australian,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: while the high average intelligence of the Australians preferred to
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: patronize thievish imported rags of the faked bits. Order end
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: of preface, Chapter one of short stories in prose and
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: verse by Henry Lawson. This libravox recording is in the
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: public domain. Chapter one rats, Why there's two of them
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: and they havin a fight? Come on? It seemed a
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: strange place for a fight, that hot, lonely cotton bush plane,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: And yet not more than half a mile ahead there
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: were apparently two men struggling together on the track. The
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: three travelers postponed their smoke o and hurried on. They
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: were shearers, a little man and a big man, known
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: respectively as Sunlight and mc QUARRYE, and a tall, thin
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: young jackaroo whom they called Milky. I wonder where the
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: other man sprang from. I didn't see him before, said Sunlight.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: He must have been layin down in the bushes, said
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: mc quarry. They're goin at it proper too. Come on,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: hurry up and see the fun They hurried on. It's
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: a funny, lookin feller the other feller panted, milky, he
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: don't seem to have no head. Look he's down there,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: both down. They must have clinched on the ground. No,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: they're up, and added again. Why good lord, I think
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: the other's a woman. My oath, so it is, yelled Sunlight.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Look the brute's got her down again. He's kicking her.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Come on, chaps, come on, or he'll do for her.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: They dropped swags, water bags and all and raced forward.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: But presently Sunlight, who had the best eyes, slackened his
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: pace and dropped behind his mates. Glanced back at his face,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: saw a peculiar expression there, looked ahead again, and then
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: dropped into a walk. They reached the scene of the trouble,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: and there stood a little, withered old man by the track,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: with his arms folded close up under his chin. He
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: was dressed mostly in calico patches, and half a dozen corks,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: suspended on bits of string from the brim of his hat,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: dangled before his bleared optics to scare away the flies.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: He was scared bowling malignantly at a stout, dumpy swag
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: which lay in the middle of the track. Well, old rats,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: what's the trouble, asked Sunlight. Oh nothing, nahing, answered the
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: old man, without looking round. I fill out wi my swag,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: that's all. He knocked me down, but I've settled him.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Oh but look here, said Sunlight, winkin' at his mates.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: We saw you jump on him when he was down.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: That ain't fair, you know. But you didn't see at all,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: cried Rats, getting excited. E hit me down first, and
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: look here, I'll fight him again for nothing, and you
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: can see fair play. They talked awhile. Then Sunlight proposed
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: to second the swag, while his mate supported the old man,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: and after some persuasion, Milky agreed for the sake of
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: the lark to act as timekeeper and referee. Rats entered
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: into the spirit of the thing. He stripped to the waist,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: and while he was getting ready, the travelers pretended to
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: bet on the result. Mac Quarie took his place behind
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: the old man, and Sunlight up ended the swag. Rats
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: shaped and danced round. Then he rushed, fainted, ducked, retreated,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: darted in once more, and suddenly went down like a
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: shot on the broad of his back. No actor could
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: have done it better. He went down from that imaginary
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: blow as if a cannon ball had struck him in
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: the forehead. Milky called time, and the old man came
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: up looking shaky. However, he got in a tremendous blow
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: which knocked the swag into the bushes. Several rounds followed,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: with varying success. The men pretended to get more and
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: more excited and betted freely, and Rats did his best.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: At last they got tired of the fun, sunlight let
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: the swag lie. After Milky called time and the jackaroo
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: awarded the fight to Rats. They pretended to hand over
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: the stakes and then went back for their swags while
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the old man put on his shirt. Then he calmed down,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: carried his swag to the side of the track, sat
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: down on it, and talked rationally about bush matters for
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: a while. But presently he grew silent and began to
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: feel his muscles and smile idiotically. And ye, len us
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: a bit o meat, said he Suddenly they spared him
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: half a pound, but he said he didn't want it all,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: and cut off about an ounce, which he laid on
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: the end of his swag. Then he took the lid
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: off his billy and produced a fishing line. He baited
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: the hook, threw the line across the track, and waited
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: for a bite. Soon he got deeply interested in the line,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: jerked it once or twice, and drew it in rapidly.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: The bait had been rubbed off in the grass. The
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: old man regarded the hook disgustedly. Look at that, he cried,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: I had him, only I was in such a hurry.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: I should have played him a little more. Next time
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: he was more careful. He drew the line in warily,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: grabbed an imaginary fish, and laid it down on the grass.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Sunlight and call were greatly interested by this time. What
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: ye think o, that asked rats, it weighs thirty pound?
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: If it weighs an ounce, what ye think o that
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: for a cod? Bok's half way down his blessed gullot.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: He caught several cod and a bream while they were there,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: and invited them to camp and have tea with him.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: But they wished to reach a certain shed next day,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: So after the ancient had borrowed about a pound of
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: meat for bait, they went on and left him fishing contentedly,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: But first Sunlight went down into his pocket and came
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: up with half a crown, which he gave to the
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: old man, along with some tucker. You'd best push on
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: to the water before dark, old chap, he said kindly.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: When they turned their heads again, rats were still fishing.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: But when they looked back for the last time before
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: entering the timber, he was having another row with his swag,
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: and Sunlight reckoned that the trouble arose out of some
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: lies which the swag had been telling about the bigger
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: fish it caught. And late that evening a little withered
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: old man, with no corks round his hat, and with
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: a humorous twinkle instead of a wild glare in his eyes,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: called at a wayside shanty, had several drinks and entertained
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: the chaps with a yarn about the way in which
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: he had had three blanky fellers for suan tucker and
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: half a casa by pretending to be balmy. End of
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: chapter one, Chapter two of Short Stories in Prose and
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Verse by Henry Lawson. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: public domain. Chapter two A narrow escape. I suppose the
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: reader has experienced or heard of hair breadth escapes, the
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: memory of which has caused his own hair to stand
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: on end. Yet when he has read the following untruthful story,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: he will be ready to exclaim, in a tone of
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: intense conviction, that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. A
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: few years ago I was traveling with a prospecting party
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: in some place, and one morning I awoke and found
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: my horse gone. Without disturbing my companions, I took a
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: bridle and started to follow up the horse's tracks across
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: the sand. The horse must have broken loose some time
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: in the night, for I followed his tracks a good
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: distance until they disappeared in a grass patch. I wandered
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: about for some time in a vein endeavor to pick
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: up the trail, and ended up by getting lost myself.
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: The morning passed away, and I was still wandering hopefully,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: when about noon I descried three dark figures on the
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: horizon of the plane. I soon saw that they were blacks,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: and that they were coming in my direction. As they
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: advanced nearer, I saw that one was armed with a
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: nulla nullah, or club, whilst the other two carried spears,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: which they brandished in an unpleasant manner. I knew there
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: was not a moment to lose if I wished to
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: save my life, which I did, so I started to run.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: It was an awful race. I felt my underclothing sticking
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: to my body with the perspiration, and my braces and
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: bootlaces gently giving out. I kept on under the broiling heat,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: with the black steadily gaining in the rear, until at
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: last I felt that I could run no longer. My
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: time was come. I fell on the glistening sand and
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: prayed for a sudden and comparatively painless death. The Blacks
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: came up and surrounded me, and I saw in their
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: looks that I could not expect mercy at their hands.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: The memories of my life went through my brain like
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: a flash of lightning, or rather like flashes of lightning.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: The two Blacks, who were armed with spears, raised their
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: weapons to a horizontal position, and who aimed the points
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: at my heart. They swayed the spears backward and forward
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: several times to gain momentum. The suspense was very trying. Indeed,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: I drew a long breath and attempted to close my eyes,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: but just as they swung their spears back for a
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: final and fatal thrust. The black fellow, who carried the club,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: and who had up to this moment stood perfectly still
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: and silent, suddenly raised his weapon and brought it down
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: on my head with a sickening crash, and I fell
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: at his feet, a ghastly corpse. End of chapter two,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Chapter three of Short Stories in Prose and Verse by
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Henry Lawson. This Librevotch recording is in the public domain.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Chapter three. We called him Ali for short. I don't
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: believe in ghosts. I never did have any sympathy with them,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: being inclined to regard them as a nuisance and a boar.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: A ghost generally comes fooling around when you want to
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: go to sleep, and his conversation, if he speaks at all,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: invariably turns on murders and suicides and other unpleasant things
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: in which you are not interested and which only disturb
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: your rest. It is no use locking the door against
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: a ghost, for as is well known, he can come
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: in through the keyhole, and there are cases on record
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: when a ghost has been known to penetrate a solid wall.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: You cannot kick a ghost out. He is impervious to abuse,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: and if you throw a boot at him, lightly as not,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: it will go right through a new looking glass worth
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: eighteen shillings. I remember, about five years ago I was
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: greatly annoyed by a ghost while doing a job of
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: fencing in the bush between here and Perth. I was
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: camping in an old house which had been used as
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: a barrack for the convicts or their keepers, I am
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: not sure which, in the lively old days of the
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: broad Arrow. He was a common looking ghost of a
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: skeleton kind, and was arrayed in what appears to be
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: the tattered remnants of an old time convict uniform. He
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: still wore a pair of shadowy manacles, but being very
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: elastic and unsubstantial, and stretching the full length of his stride,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: he did not seem to notice them at all. He
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: had a kind of artful dodger expression about his bare
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: jaw bones, and in place of the ordinary halo of
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: the ring variety, he wore a shining representation of a
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: broad arrow, which shed a radiance over his skull. He
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: used to come round and wake me about midnight with
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: a confounded rigmarole about a convict who was buried alive
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: in his irons, and whose representative my unwelcome visitor claimed
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: to be. I tried all I knew to discourage him.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: I told him I wasn't interested and wanted to go
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: to sleep, But his perseverance wore me out at last,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: and I tried another tack. I listened to his confounded
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: yarn from beginning to end, and sympathized with him, and
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: told him that he or the individual he represented, had
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: been treated confoundedly badly, and I promised to make a
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: poem about it. But even then he wasn't satisfied. Nothing
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: would suit him, but he must spin his old yarn
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: and be sympathized with about seven times a week, always
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: choosing the most unbusinesslike hours between one and three in
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: the morning for his disclosures. At last, I could stand
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: it no longer. I was getting thin and exhausted from
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: want of sleep, so I determined on a course of action.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: I had a dog at home, a big black dog
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: with unpleasant eyes and a chewing up apparatus that an
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: alligator might have envied. He had a most enterprising appetite
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: and wasn't afraid of anything on the surface of this
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: earth or under it. As far as he could burrow.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: He would nor log to pieces, rather than let the
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: possum it contained escape him. He was not the sort
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: of dog to stand any nonsense, even from a ghost.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: His full name was Alligator Desolation. We called him Alley
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: for short, and as I considered that if any person
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: on earth could lay the ghost that annoyed me, that
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: person was Alligator Desolation, I decided to bring him along
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: the next time I journeyed home for rations, I brought
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Alligator Desolation back with me. On the trip back, he
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: killed five kangaroos, sixteen possums, four native rats, two native bears,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: three sheep, a cow and a calf, and another dog
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: that happened by. And before he had been two hours
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: at the hut, he had collected enough carcasses of indigenous
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: animals to stink a troop out in a week, or
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: to feed all the dogs in Constantinople. I had tea
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: and a smoke while Ali was resting, and about eleven
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: o'clock I lay down in my bunk, dressed as I was,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: and waited. At about one I heard the usual unearthly
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: noises which accompanied the arrival of my friend the ghost,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: and Ali went out to investigate. While the dog was gone,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: the ghosts strolled in through the door of the end room.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Apparently unconscious of his danger, he glided straight up to
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: the side of my bunk, took his accustomed seat on
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: a gin case, and commenced in a doleful voice to
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: pitches confounded old yarn again. But he hadn't uttered half
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: a dozen ghostly words when Alligate a desolation came in
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: through the side door. The ghost caught sight of Ali
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: before the latter saw him and made for the window.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Ali wasn't far behind. He made a grab at the
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: ghost's nether garments, but they gave way easy, being of
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: a ghostly material. Then Ali leaped out through the window
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: and chased the ghost three times round the house. And
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: then the latter came in through an opening in the
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: wall where a slab had fallen out. Being of an
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: easily compressible constitution, he came through, of course, with the
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: facility peculiar to his kind, but the crack was narrow
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: and the dog stuck fast. His ghost ship made the
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: best of his opportunity, and, approaching my bed hurriedly, endeavored
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: to continue his story as though his ghostly existence depended
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: upon it, But his utterances were drowned by the language
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: of alligator, whose canine oaths were simply terrific. At last,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: collecting all his energy for one mighty effort, Alligator came through,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: bringing down the slabs on each side of him. He
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: made for the ghost at once, and the ghost made
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: for the window. This time, Ali made a grab for
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the specter's ankle, and his teeth came together with a
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: crash that threatened their destruction. Ali must have been greatly
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: astonished and disgusted, because he so seldom missed anything he
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: reached for, But he wasn't the kind of dog to
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: give up. He leaped through the window, and after a
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: race round the hut lasting some minutes, the ghost gave
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: it up and made for the scrub. Seeing the retreat
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: through a crack in the slabs, I immediately rose, went
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: outside and mounted my horse, which I had kept ready
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: saddled in case of emergency. I followed the chase for
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: about five miles, and at last reached a mound under
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: some trees, which looked like an old grave. Down through
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: this mound, the ghost dived alligator desolation immediately commenced to
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: dig and made two feet in no time. It appeared
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: that a wombat had selected the grave as a suitable
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: sight for the opening of his burrow, and after having
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: sunk about three feet, was resting from his labors. There
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: was a short and angry interview between Alligator and the wombat,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: during which the latter expired, and then Ali continued his
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: work of excavation. After sinking two feet deeper, he dragged
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: out what appeared to be the leg bone of a
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: human being, attached to which was a pair of heavy
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: leg irons, such as were used in the old convict days.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: Ali went down the hall again, but presently he paused
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: in his digging operations, and I heard a noise like
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: a row in the Infernal regions. Then a thin, shadowy
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: form issued from the grave and made off through the scrub,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: with the dog in pursuit. My horse was knocked up,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: so I left the chase to Alligator and returned home
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: to await developments. Ali came back about three days later,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: with his hair badly singed and smelling strongly of brimstone.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: I have no doubt that he chased the ghost to
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: the Infernal regents and perhaps had an interview with Cerebeus
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: at the gate or the Boss himself. But the dog's
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: tail was well up, and a satisfied grin oozed from
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: the roots of his every fang. And by the same
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: tokens I concluded that the other party, whoever he was,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: had got fatally left. I haven't seen the ghost since
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: end of chapter three, Chapter four of Short Stories in
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Prose and Verse by Henry Lawson. This LibriVox recording is
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Chapter four. Bush cats domestic cats,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: we mean the descendants of cats who came from the
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Northern World during the last hundred odd years. We do
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: not know the name of the vessel in which the
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: first Thomas and his Maria came out to Australia, but
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: we suppose that it was one of the ships of
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: the first fleet. Most likely, Maria had kittens on the voyage,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: two lots, perhaps the majority of which were buried at sea,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: and no doubt the disembarkation caused her much maternal anxiety.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: The feline race has not altered much in Australia from
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: a physical point of view, not yet. The rabbit has
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: developed into something like a cross between a kangaroo and
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: a possum, but the bush has not begun to develop
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: the common cat. She is just as sedate and motherly
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: as the mummy cats of Egypt were, but she takes
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: longer strolls of knights, climbs gum trees instead of roofs,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: and hunts stranger rmin than ever came. Under the observation
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: of her northern ancestors, her views have widened. She is
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: mostly thinner than the English farm cat, which is they say,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: on account of eating lizards, English rats and English mice.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: We say English because everything which isn't Australian in Australia
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: is English or British. English rats and English mice are
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: rather rare or nonexistent in the bush, but the hut
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: cat has a wider range for game. She is always
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: dragging in things which are unknown in the halls of zoology,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: ugly loathsome crawling abortions which have not been classified yet
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: and perhaps could not be. The Australian zoologists ought to
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: rake up some more dead languages and then go out
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: back with a few bush cats. The Australian bush cat
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: has a nasty, unpleasant habit of dragging a long, wriggling,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: horrid black snake. She seems to prefer black snakes into
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: a room where there are ladies. Proudly laying it down
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: in a conspicuous place, usually in front of the exit,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: and then looking up for approbation. She wonders, perhaps why
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the visitors are in such a hurry to leave. Pussy
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: doesn't approve of live snakes round the place, especially if
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: she has kittens, and if she finds a snake in
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: the vicinity of her progeny, well it is bad for
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: that particular serpent. This brings recollections of a neighbour's cat
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: who went out in the scrub one midsummer day and
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: found a brown snake. Her name The cat's name was
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Mary Ann. She got hold of the snake all right,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: just within an inch of its head, but it got
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: the rest of its length wound around her body and
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: squeezed about eight lives out of her. She had the
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: presence of mind to keep her hold, but it struck
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: her that she was in a fix, and that if
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: she wanted to save her ninth life, it wouldn't be
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: a bad idea to go home for help. So she
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: started home. Snake and all the family were at dinner
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: when Mary Anne came in, and although she stood on
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: an open part of the floor, no one noticed her.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: For a while. She couldn't ask for help, for her
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: mouth was too full of snake. By and by, one
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: of the girls glanced round and then went over the
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: table with a shriek and out the back door. The
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: room was cleared very quickly. The eldest boy got a
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: long handled shovel and in another second would have killed
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: more cat than snake, but his father interfered. The father
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: was a shearer, and mary Anne was a favorite cat
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: with him. He got a pair of shears from the
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: shelf and deftly shore off the snake's head and one
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: side of mary Anne's whiskers. She didn't think it's safe
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: to let go yet, She kept her teeth in the
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: neck until the selector snipped the rest of the snake
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: off her. The bits were carried out on a shovel
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: to die. At sundown, mary Anne had a good drink
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: of milk and then got her tongue out and licked
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: herself back into the proper shape for a cat, after
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: which she went out to look for that snake's mate.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: She found it too, and dragged it home the same evening.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Cats will kill rabbits and drag them home. We knew
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: a fossica whose cat used to bring him a bunny.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Nearly every night, the Fossica had rabbits for breakfast until
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: he got sick of them, and then he used to
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: swap them with a butcher for meat. The cat was
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: named Ingersoll, which indicates his sex and gives an inkling
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: to his master's religious and political opinions. Ingersoll used to
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: prospect round in the gloaming until he found some rabbit
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: holes which showed encouraging indications. He would the shepherd one
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: hole for an hour or so every evening until he
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: found it was a duffer or worked it out, then
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: he would shift to another. One day he prospected a
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: big hollow log with a lot of holes in it
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: and more going down underneath. The indications were very good,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: but Ingersoll had no luck. The game had too many
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: ways of getting out and in. He found that he
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: could not work that claim by himself, so he floated
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: it into a company. He persuaded several cats from a
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: neighboring selection to take shares, and they watched the halls
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: together or in turns, they worked shifts. The dividends more
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: than realized even their wildest expectations, for each cat took
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: home at least one rabbit every night for a week.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: A selector started a vegetable garden about the time when
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: rabbits were beginning to get troublesome up country. The hare
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: had not shown itself yet. The farmer kept quite a
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: regiment of cats to protect his garden, and they protected it.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: He would shut the cats up all day with nothing
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: to eat, and let them out about sundown. Then they
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: would mooch off to the turnip patch like farm laborers
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: going to work. They would drag the rabbits home to
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: the back door and sit there and watch them until
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: the farmer opened the door and served out the ration
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: of milk. Then the cats would turn in. He nearly
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: always found a semi circle of dead rabbits and watchful
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: cats round the door. In the morning, they sold the
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: product of their labor direct to the farmer for milk.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: It didn't matter if one cat had been unlucky had
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: not got a rabbit. Each had an equal share in
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: the general result. They were true socialists, those cats. One
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: of those cats was a mighty big tom named Jack.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: He was death on rabbits. He would work hard all
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: night laying for them and dragging them home. Some weeks
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: he would graft every night, and at other times every
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: other night, but he was generally pretty regular. When he
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: reckoned he had done an extra night's work, he would
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: take the next night off and go three miles to
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: the nearest neighbors to see his Maria and take her
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: out for a stroll. Well one evening, Jack went into
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: the garden and chose a place where there was good
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: cover and lay low. He was a bit earlier than usual,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: so he thought he would have a doze till rabbit time.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: By and by he heard a noise, and slowly, cautiously
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: opening one eye, he saw two big ears sticking out
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: of the leaves in front of him. He judged that
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: it was an extra big bunny, so he put some
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: extra style into his maneuvers. In about five minutes he
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: made his spring. He must have thought if cats think
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: that it was a whopping old man rabbit, for it
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: was a pioneer hare, not an ordinary English hare, but
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: one of those great, coarse, lanky things which the bush
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: is breeding. The selector was attracted by an unusual commotion
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: and a cloud of dust among his cabbages, and came
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: along with his gun in time to witness the fight.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: First Jack would drag the hare, and then the hare
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: would drag Jack. Sometimes they would be down together, and
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: then Jack would use his hind claws with effect. Finally
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: he got his teeth in the right place and triumphed.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: Then he started to drag the corpse home, but he
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: had to give it best and ask his master to
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: lend a hand. The selector took up the hair and
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: Jack followed home. Much to the family's surprise. He did
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: not go back to work that night. He took a spell.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: He had a drink of milk, licked the dust off himself,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: washed it down with another drink, and sat in front
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: of the fire and thought for a goodish while. Then
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: he got up, walked over to the corner where the
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: hare was lying, had a good look at it, came
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: back to the fire, sat down again and thought hard.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: He was still thinking when the family retired. Our own cat,
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: dozing on the end of the table had just woke
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: up and favored us with a decided, unmistakable wink. We'll
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: close this article with that wink. End of chapter four,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: Chapter five of Short Stories in Prose and Verse by
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: Henry Lawson. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: Chapter five Johnson Elias Crow, where the seasons are divided,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: and the bush begins to change, and the lynks are
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: rather broken. In the great dividing Range, where the atmosphere
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: is hazy underneath the summer sky lies the little town
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: of Eaton, rather westward of Mackay. Near the township, in
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: the graveyard where the dead of Eaton go lies the
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: body of a sinner known as Johnson Elias Crow. He
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: was sixty four, was Johnson, and in other days Langsyne
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: was apprenticed to a shipwright in the land across the Rhine.
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: But whatever were his prospects, in the days of long ago,
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: things went very bad with Johnson Heinrich Johnson Elias Crow.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: He at Eton, where he drifted in his age a
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: stranded wreck, got three pounds by false pretenses in connection
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: with a check, but he didn't long enjoy it. The
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: police soon got to know, and the lock up closed
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: on Johnson lonely Johnson alive Crow Friday night, and Crow retired, feeling,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: as he said, unwell, and the warder heard the falling
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: of a body in the cell going in the water,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: saw him bent with pain and crouching low. Death had
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: laid his hand on Johnson, Heinrich Johnson Elias Crow. Then
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: the constable bent o'er him asked him where he felt
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: the pain. Johnson only said I'm dying, and he never
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: spoke again. They had waited for a witness, and the
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: local people say Johnson's trial would have ended on that
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: very Saturday, but he took his case for judgment. Where
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: our cases all must go, and the higher court is
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: trying Heinrich Johnson, Elias Crow. End of chapter five, Chapter
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: six of Short Stories in prose and verse by Henry Lawson.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: This librevotch recording is in the public domain. Chapter six,
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: The Drover's Wife. The two roomed house is built of
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: round timber slabs and strnky bark, and floored with split slabs.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: A big bark kitchen standing at one end, is larger
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: than the house itself. Veranda included bush all round bush
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: with no horizon, for the country is flat, no ranges
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: in the distance. The bush consists of stunted, rotten native
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: apple trees, no undergrowth, nothing to relieve the eye save
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: the darker green of a few she oaks which are
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: sighing above the narrow, almost waterless creek. Nineteen miles to
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: the nearest sign of civilization, a shanty on the main road.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: The drover, an ex squatter, is away with sheep. His
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: wife and children are left here alone. Four ragged, dried
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: up looking children are plain about the house. Suddenly one
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: of them yells, snake, mother, he is a snake. The
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: gaunt sun brown bush woman dashes from the kitchen, snatches
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: her baby from the ground, holds it on her left hip,
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: and reaches for a stick. Where is it here? Gone
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: into the woody, yells the eldest boy, a sharp faced
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: urchin of eleven. Stop there, mother, I'll have him stand back.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: I'll have the beggar Tommy come here, or you'll be
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: bit Come here at once, when I tell you, you,
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: little wretch. The youngster comes reluctantly, carrying a stick bigger
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: than himself. Then he yells triumphantly. There it goes under
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: the house, and darts away with his club uplifted. At
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: the same time, the big black, yellow eyed dog of
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: all breeds, who has shown the wildest interest in the proceedings,
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: breaks his chain and rushes after that snake. He is
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: a moment late, however, and his nose reaches the crack
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: in the slabs just as the end of its tail disappears.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: Almost at the same moment, the boy's club comes down
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: and skins the aforesaid nose. Alligator takes small notice of
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: this and proceeds to undermine the building, but he is
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: subdued after a struggle and chained up. They cannot afford
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: to lose him. The drover's wife makes the children stand
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: together near the dog house while she watches for the snake.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: She gets two small dishes of milk and sets them
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: down near the wall to tempt it to come out.
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: But an hour goes by and it does not show itself.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: It is near sunset and a thunder storm is coming.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: The children must be brought inside. She will not take
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: them into the house, for she knows the snake is
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: there and may at any moment come up through a
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: crack in the rough slab floor. So she carries several
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: armfuls of firewood into the kitchen and then takes the
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: children there. The kitchen has no floor, or rather an
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: earthen one called a ground floor. In this part of
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: the bush there is a large, roughly made table in
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: the center of the place. She brings the children in
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: and makes them get on this table. They are two
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: boys and two girls, mere babies. She gives them some supper,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: and then before it gets dark, she goes into the
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: house and snatches up some pillows and bedclothes, expecting to
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: see or lay her hand on the snake any minute.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: She makes a bed on the kitchen table for the
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: children and sits down beside it to watch all night.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: She has an eye on the corner and a green
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: sapling club laid in readiness on the dresser by her side,
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: also her sewing basket and a copy of the Young
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: Lady's Journal. She has brought the dog into the room.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: Tommy turns in under protest, but says he'll lie awake
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: all night and smash that blinded snake. His mother asks
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: him how many times she has told him not to swear.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: He has his club with him under the bedclothes, and
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: Jackie protests, Mammy, Tommy's skin O me alive with his club,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: Make him take it out. Tommy, shut up, you little
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: jo Jo want to be bit with the snake. Jackie
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: shuts up. If you're bit, says Tommy, after a pause,
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: you'll swell up and smell and turn red and green
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: and blue all over till you're bust, won't he? Mother? Now, then,
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: don't frighten the child? Go to sleep, she says. The
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: two younger children go to sleep, and now and then
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: Jackie complains of being skeezed. More room is made for him. Presently,
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: Tommy says, mother, listen to them adjective little possums. I'd
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: like to screw their blanky necks. And Jackie protests drowsily,
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: but they don't hurt as the little blanks. Mother, there,
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: I told you you'd teach Jackie to swear, but the
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: remark makes your smile. Jackie goes to sleep presently. Tommy asks, mother,
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: do you think they'll ever extricate the adjective kangaroo? Lord?
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: How am I to know? Child? Go to sleep? Will
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: you wake me if the snake comes out? Yes? Go
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: to sleep. Near midnight, the children are all asleep, and
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: she sits there, still sewing and reading by turns. From
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: time to time she glances around the floor and wallplate,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: and whenever she hears a noise, she reaches for the stick.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: The thunderstorm comes on, and the wind rushing through the
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: cracks in the slab wall, threatens to blow out her candle.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: She places it on a sheltered part of the dresser
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: and fixes up a newspaper to protect it. At every
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: flash of lightning, the cracks between the slabs gleam like
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: polished silver. The thunder rolls, and the rain comes down
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: in torrents. Alligator lies at full length on the floor
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: with his eyes turned towards the putter. She knows by
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: this that the snake is there. There are large cracks
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: in that wall opening under the floor of the dwelling house.
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: She is not a coward, but recent events have shaken
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: her nerves. A little son of her brother in law
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: was lately bitten by a snake and died. Besides, she
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: has not heard from her husband for six months and
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: is anxious about him. He was a drover and started
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: squatting here when they were married. The drought of eighteen
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: ruined him. He had to sacrifice the remnants of his
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: flock and go droving again. He intends to move his
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: family into the nearest town when he comes back, and
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: in the meantime, his brother, who keeps a shanty on
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: the main road, comes over about once a month with provisions.
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: The wife has still a couple of cows one horse
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: and a few sheep. The brother in law kills one
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: of the latter, occasionally gives her what she needs of
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: it and takes the rest in return for other provisions.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: She is used to being left alone. She once lived
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: like this for eighteen months. As a girl. She built
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: the usual castles in the air, but all her girlish
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: hopes and aspirations have long been dead. She finds all
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: the excitement and recreation she needs in the Young Ladies Journal,
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: and Heaven help her takes a pleasure in the fashion plates.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: Her husband is an Australian, and so is she. He
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: is careless, but a good enough husband. If he had
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: the means, he would take her to the city and
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: keep her there like a princess. They are used to
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: being a part or at least she is now use fretting.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: She says. He may forget sometimes that he is married,
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: but if he has a good check when he comes back,
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: he will give most of it to her. When he
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: had money, he took it to the city several times,
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: hired a railway sleeping compartment, and put up at the
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: best hotels. He also brought her a buggy, but they
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: had to sacrifice that along with the rest. The last
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: two children were born in the bush, one while her
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: husband was bringing a drunken doctor by force to attend
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: to her. She was alone on this occasion and very weak.
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: She had been ill with a fever. She prayed to
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: God to send her assistance. God sent Black Mary, the
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: whitest gin in all the land, or at least God
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: sent King Jimmy first, and he sent black Mary. He
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: put his black face round the door post, took in
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: the situation at a glance, and said, cheerfully, all right, missus,
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: I bring my old woman. She down along a creek.
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: One of the children died while she was here alone.
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: She rode nineteen miles for assistance, carrying the dead child.
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: It must be near one or two o'clock. The fire
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: is burning low. Alligator lies with his head resting on
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: his paws and watches the wall. He is not a
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: very beautiful dog, and the light shows numerous old wounds
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: where the hair will not grow. He is afraid of
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: nothing on the face of the earth or under it.
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: He will tackle a bullock as ready as he will
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: tackle a flea. He hates all other dogs except kangaroo dogs,
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: and has a marked dislike to friends or relations of
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: the family. They seldom call. However, he sometimes makes friends
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: with strangers. He hates snakes and has killed many, but
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: he will be bitten some day and die. Most snake
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: dogs end that way. Now and then the bush woman
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: lays down her work and watches and listens and thinks.
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: She thinks of things in her own life, for there
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: is little else to think about. The rain will make
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: the grass grow, and this reminds her of how she
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: fought a bush fire once while her husband was away.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: The grass was long and very dry, and the fire
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: threatened to burn her out. She put on an old
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: pair of her husband's trousers and beat out the flames
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: with a green bough till great drops of sooty perspiration
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: stood out on her forehead and ran in streaks down
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: her blackened arms. The sight of his mother in trousers
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: greatly amused Tommy, who worked like a little hero by
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: her side. But the terrified baby howled lustily for his mummy.
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: The fire would have mastered her, but for four excited
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: bushmen who arrived in the nick of time. It was
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: a mixed up affair all round. When she went to
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: take up the baby, he screamed and struggled convulsively, thinking
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: it was a black man and alligator. Trusting more to
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: the child's sense than his own instinct, charged furiously, and,
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: being old and slightly deaf, did not, in his excitement
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: at first recognize his mistress's voice, but continued to hang
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: on to the moleskins until choked off by Tommy with
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: a saddle strap. The dog's sorrow for his blunder and
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: his anxiety to let it be known that it was
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: all the mistake was as evident as his ragged tail
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: and a twelve inch grin could make it. It was
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: a glorious time for the boys, a day to look
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: back to and talk about and laugh over for many years.
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: She thinks how she fought a flood during her husband's absence.
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: She stood for hours in the drenching downpour and dug
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: an overflow gutter to save the dam across the creek,
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: but she could not save it. There are things that
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: a bush woman can not do. Next morning, the dam
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: was broken, and her heart was nearly broken too, for
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: she thought how her husband would feel when he came
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: home and saw the result of years of labor swept away.
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: She cried, then She also fought the plural pneumonia, dosed
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: and bled the few remaining cattle, and wept again when
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: her two best cows died again. She fought a mad
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: bullock that besieged the house for a day. She made
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: bullets and fired at him through cracks in the slabs
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: with an old shotgun. He was dead in the morning.
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: She skinned him and got seventeen and sixpence for the hide.
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: She also fights the crows and eagles that have designs
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: on her chickens. Her plan of campaign is very original.
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: The children cry, crows, mother, and she rushes out and
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: aims a broomstick at the birds as though it were
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: a gun, and says bung. The crows leave in a hurry.
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: They are cunning, but a woman's cunning is greater. Occasionally
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: a bushman in the horrors or a villainous looking sundowner
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: comes and nearly scares the life out of her. She
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: generally tells the suspicious looking stranger that her husband and
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: two sons are at work below the dam or over
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: at the yard, for he always cunningly inquires for the boss.
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: Only last week, a gallows faced swagman, having satisfied himself
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: that there were no men on the place, threw his
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: swag down on the verandah and demanded tucker. She gave
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: him something to eat. Then he expressed his intention of
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: staying for the night. It was sundown. Then she got
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: a batton from the sofa, loosened the dog, and confronted
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: the stranger, holding the battern in one hand and the
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: dog's collar with the other. Now you go, she said.
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: He looked at her and at the dog, said all right,
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: ma'am in a cringing tone, and left. She was a
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: determined looking woman, and alligator's yellow eyes glared unpleasantly. Besides,
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: the dog's chewing apparatus greatly resembled that of the reptile
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: he was named after. She has few pleasures to think
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: of as she sits here alone by the fire, on
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: guard against a snake. All days are much the same
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: to her, but on Sunday afternoon, she dresses herself, tidies
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: the children, smartens up baby, and goes for a lonely
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: walk along the bush track, pushing an old perambulator in
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: front of her. She does this every Sunday. She takes
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: as much care to make herself and the children look
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: smart as she would if she were going to do
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: the block in the city. There is nothing to see, however,
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: and not a soul to meet. You might walk for
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: twenty miles along this track without being able to fix
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: a point in your mind, unless you are a bushman.
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: This is because of the everlasting, maddening sameness of the
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: stunted trees, that monotony which makes a man long to
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: break away and travel as far as trains can go,
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: and sail as far as ship can sail, and farther.
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: But this bushwoman is used to the loneliness of it.
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: As a girl wife, she hated it, but now she
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: would feel strange away from it. She is glad when
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: her husband returns, but she does not gush or make
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: a fuss about it. She gets him something good to
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: eat and tidies up the children. She seems contented with
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: her lot. She loves her children, but has no time
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: to show it. She seems harsh to them. Her surroundings
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: are not favorable to the development of the womanly or
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: sentimental side of nature. It must be near morning now,
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: but the clock is in the dwelling house. Her candle
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: is nearly done. She forgot that she was out of candles.
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: Some more wood must be got to keep the fire up,
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: and so she shuts the dog inside and hurries round
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: to the wood heap. The rain has cleared off. She
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: seizes a stick, pulls it out, and crash. The whole
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: pile collapses. Yesterday she bargained with the stray blackfellow to
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: bring her some wood, and while he was at work,
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: she went in search of a missing cow. She was
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: absent an hour or so, and the native black made
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: good use of his time. On her return, she was
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: so astonished to see a good heap of wood by
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: the chimney that she gave him an extra fig of
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: tobacco and praised him for not being lazy. He thanked
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: her and left with head erect and chest well out.
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: He was the last of his tribe and a king,
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: but he had built that wood heap hollow. She is
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: hurt now, and tears spring to her eyes as she
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: sits down again by the table. She takes up a
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: handkerchief to wipe the tears away, but pokes her eyes
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: with her bare fingers instead. The handkerchief is full of holes,
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: and she finds that she has put her thumb through one,
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: and her forefinger through another. This makes her laugh, to
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: the surprise of the dog. He has a keen, very
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: keen sense of the ridiculous, and some time or other
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: she will amuse bushmen with the story she had been
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: amused before like that. One day she sat down to
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: have a good cry, as she said, and the old
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: cat rubbed against her dress and cried too. Then she
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: had to laugh. It must be near daylight. Now the
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: room is very close and hot because of the fire.
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: Alligator still watches the wall from time to time. Suddenly
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: he becomes greatly interested. He draws himself a few inches
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: nearer the partition, and a thrill runs through his body.
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: The hair on the back of his neck begins to bristle,
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: and the battle light is in his yellow eyes. She
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: knows what this means, and lays her hand on the stick.
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: The lower end of one of the partitions slabs has
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: a large crack on both sides. An evil pair of small,
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: bright bead like eyes glisten At one of these holes.
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: The snake, a black one, comes slowly out about a
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: foot and moves its head up and down. The dog
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: lies still, and the woman sits as one fascinated. The
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: snake comes out afoot farther. She lifts her stick, and
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: the reptile, as though suddenly aware of the danger, sticks
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: his head in through the crack on the other side
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: of the slab and hurries to get his tail round
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: after him. Alligator springs and his jaws come together with
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: a snap. He misses, for his nose is large and
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: the snake's body close down in the angle formed by
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: the slabs and the floor. He snaps again as the
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: tail comes round. He has the snake now and tugs
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: it out eighteen inches. Thud thud. Comes the woman's club
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: on the ground. Alligator pulls again. Thud thud. Alligator gives
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: another pull, and he has the snake out. A black
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: brute five feet long. The head rises to dart about,
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: but the dog has the enemy close to the neck.
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: He is a big, heavy dog, but quick as a terrier.
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: He shakes the snake as though he felt the original
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: curse in common with mankind. The eldest boy wakes up,
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: seizes his stick and tries to get out of bed,
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: but his mother forces him back with a grip of iron.
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: Thud thud. The snake's back is broken in several places.
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: Thud thud, its head is crushed, and alligators nose skinned again.
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: She lifts the mangled reptile on the point of her stick,
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: carries it to the fire and throws it in, then
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: piles on the wood and watches the snake burn. The
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: boy and dog watch too. She lays her hand on
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: the dog's head and all the fierce, angry light dies
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: out of his yellow eyes. The younger children are quieted
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: and presently going to sleep. The dirty legged boy stands
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: for a moment in his shoes shirt, watching the fire. Presently,
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: he looks up at her, sees the tears in her eyes,
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: and throwing his arms round her neck, exclaims, mother, I
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: won't never go drovin, blush me if I do, And
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: she hugs him to her worn out breast and kisses him,
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: and they sit thus together while the sickly daylight breaks
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: over the bush. End of chapter six, Chapter seven of
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: Short Stories in Prose and Verse by Henry Lawson. This
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: librivotch recording is in the public domain. Chapter seven the
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: fire at Ross's farm. The squatter saw his pastures wide
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: decrease as one by one the farmers moving to the
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: west selected on his run. Selectors took the water up,
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: and all the black soil round. The best grassland the
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: squatter had was spoilt by Ross's ground. Now many schemes
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: to shift Old Ross had racked the squatter's brains, But
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: Sandy had the stubborn blood of Scotland in his veins.
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: He held the land and fenced it in. He clear'd
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: and plowed the soil, and year by year a richer
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: crop repaid him for his toil. Between the holmes. For
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: many years the devil left his tracks. The squatter pounded
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: Ross's stock, and Sandy pounded blacks. A well upon the
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: lower run was filled with earth and logs, and Black
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: laid bates about the farm to poison Ross's dogs. It
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: was indeed a deadly feud of class and creed and race.
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: But yet there was a Romeo and a Juliet in
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: the case, and more than once, across the flats beneath
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: the Southern Cross, young Robert Black was seen to ride
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: with pretty Jenny Ross. One Christmas time, when moths of
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: trought had parched the western creeks. The bush fires started
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: in the north and traveled south for weeks. At night
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: along the river side. The scene was grand and strange.
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: The hill fires looked like lighted streets of cities in
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: the range. The cattle tracks between the trees were light, long,
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: dusky aisles, and on a sudden breeze, the fire would
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: sweep along for miles, light sounds of distant musketry. It
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: crackled through the breaks and o'er the flat of silver grass.
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: It hissed like angry snakes. It leaped across the flowing
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: streams and raced our pastures broad. It climbed the trees
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: and lit the boughs, and through the scrubs it roared.
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: The bees fell stifled in the smoke, or perished in
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: their hives, and with the stock, the kangaroos went flying
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: for their lives. The sun had set on Christmas Eve
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: when through the scrublands wide young Robert Black came riding
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: home as only natives ride. He galloped to the homestead
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: door and gave the first alarm. The fire is past
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: the granite spur and close to Ross's farm. Now, Father,
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: send the men at once. They won't be wanted. Ear
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: Poor Ross's wheat is all he has to pull him
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: through the year. Then let it burn. The squatter said,
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: I'd like to see it done I'd bless the fire
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: if it would clear selectors from the run. Go if
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: you will, the squatter said, you shall not take the men.
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: Go out and join your precious friends, and don't come
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: here again. I won't come back. Young Robert cried, and
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: reckless in his ire. He sharply turned his horse's head
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: and galloped towards the fire. And there, for three long,
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: weary hours, half blind with smoke and heat, Old Ross
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: and Robert fought the flames that neared the ripened wheat.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: The farmer's hand was nerved by fears of danger and
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: of loss, and Robert fought the stubborn foe for the
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: love of Jenny Ross. But serpent like the curves and
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: lines slipped past them and between until they reached the
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: boundary where the old coach road had been. The track
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: is now our only hope. There we must stand, cried Ross,
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: for naught on earth can stop the fire if once
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: it gets across. Then came a cruel gust of wind,
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: and with a fiendish rush, the flames leaped o'er the
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: narrow path and lit the fence of brush. The crop
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: must burn. The farmer cried, we cannot save it now,
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: and down upon the blackened ground. He dashed the ragged bow,
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: but wildly, in a rush of hope, his heart began
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: to beat for o'er the crackling fire. He heard the
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: sound of horses feet. He is help at last, young
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: Robert cried, And even as he spoke, the squatter with
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: a dozen men, came racing through the smoke. Down on
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: the ground. The stockmen jumped and bared each brawny arm.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: They tore green branches from the trees and fought for
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: Ross's farm. And when before the gallant band the beaten
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: flames gave way, two grimy hands in friendship joined, and
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: it was Christmas Day. End of chapter seven, Chapter eight
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: of Short Stories in prose and verse by Henry Lawson.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter eight
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: The Union buries its dead. While outboating one Sunday afternoon,
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: on a billabong across the river, we saw a young
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: man on horseback driving some horses along the bank. He
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: said it was a fine day, and asked if the
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: water was deep there. The joker of our party said
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: it was deep enough to drown him, and he laughed
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: and rode farther. We didn't take much notice of him.
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: Next day, a funeral gathered at a corner pub and
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: asked each other inn to have a drink while waiting
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: for the hearse. They passed away, some of the time
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: dancing jigs to a piano in the bar parlor. They
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: passed away the rest of the time skylarking and fighting.
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: The defunct was a young union laborer about twenty five,
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: who had been drowned the previous day while trying to
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: swim some horses across a billabong of the darling. He
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: was almost a stranger in town, and the fact of
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: his having been a union man accounted for the funeral.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: The police found some union papers in his swag and
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: called at the General Laborer's Union office for information about him.
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: That's how we knew. The secretary had very little information
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: to give. The departed was a Roman, and the majority
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: of the town were otherwise. But you, unionism is stronger
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: than creed liquor. However, is stronger than unionism. And when
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: the hearse presently arrived, more than two thirds of the
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: funeral were unable to follow. The procession numbered fifteen, including
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: the corpse. Fourteen souls following the broken shell of a soul.
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: Perhaps not one of the fourteen possessed a soul any
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: more than the corpse did, but that doesn't matter. Four
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: or five of the funeral, who were boarders at the pub,
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 1: borrowed a trap which the landlord used to carry passengers
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: to and from the railway station. They were strangers to
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: us who were on foot, and we to them. We
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: were all strangers to the corpse. A horseman who looked
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: like a drover just returned from a big trip, dropped
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: into our dusky wake and followed us a few hundred yards,
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: dragging his pack horse behind him. But a friend made
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: wild and demonstrative signals for from a hotel verandah, hooking
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: at the air in front with his right hand and
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: jobbing his left thumb over his shoulder in the direction
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: of the bar. So the drover hauled off and didn't
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: catch up to us any more. He was a stranger
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: to the entire show. We walked in twos. There were
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 1: three twos. It was very hot and dusty. The heat
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: rushed in fierce, dazzling rays across every iron roof and
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: light colored wall that was turned to the sun. One
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: or two pubs closed, respectfully until we got past. They
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: closed their bar doors, and the patrons went in and
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: out through some side or back entrance for a few minutes.
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: Bushmen seldom grumble at an inconvenience of this sort when
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 1: it is caused by a funeral. They have too much
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: respect for the dead. On the way to the cemetery,
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: we passed three shearers sitting on the shady side of
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: a fence. Was drunk, very drunk. The other two covered
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 1: their right ears with their hats out of respect for
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: the departed, whoever he might have been, and one of
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: them kicked the drunk and muttered something to him. He
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 1: straightened himself up, stared, and reached helplessly for his hat,
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: which he shoved half off and then on again. Then
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: he made a great effort to pull himself together, and succeeded.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: He stood up, braced his back against the fence, knocked
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: off his hat, and remorsefully placed his foot on it
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: to keep it off his head till the funeral passed
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: a tall sentimental driver who walked by my side cynically
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: quoted byronic verses suitable to the occasion to death, and asked,
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: with pathetic humor whether we thought the dead man's ticket
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: would be recognized over yonder. It was a glu ticket,
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: and the general opinion was that it would be reckoned. Presently,
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: my friend said, you remember when we were in the
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: boat yesterday we saw a man driving some horses along
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: the bank. Yes, he nodded at the hearse and said, well,
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: that's him. I thought, awhile I didn't take any particular
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: notice of him. I said, he said something, didn't he? Yes,
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: said it was a fine day. Ye'd have taken more
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: notice if you'd known that he was doomed to die
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 1: in the hour, and that those were the last words
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 1: he would say to any man in this world. To
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: be sure, said a full voice from the rear. If
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 1: ye'd known that, ye'd have prolonged the conversation. We plodded
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: on across the railway line and along the hot, dusty
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: road which ran to the cemetery, some of us talking
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: about the accident and lying about the narrow escapes we
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 1: had had ourselves. Presently, some one said, there's the devil.
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: I looked up and saw a priest standing in the
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: shade of a tree. I looked up and saw a
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: priest standing in the shade of the tree. By the
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: cemetery gate, the hearse was drawn up and the tail
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: boards were opened. The funeral extinguished its right ear with
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: its hat, as four men lifted the coffin out and
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: laid it over the grave. The priest, a pale, quiet
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: young fellow, stood under the shade of a sapling which
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: grew at the head of the grave. He took off
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: his hat, dropped it carelessly on the ground, and proceeded
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: to business. I noticed that one or two heathens winced
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: slightly when the holy water was sprinkled on the coffin.
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: The drops quickly evaporated, and the little round black spots
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: they left were soon dusted over. But the spots showed
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: by contrast the cheapness and shabbiness of the cloth with
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: which the coffin was covered. It seemed black before now
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: it looked a dusky gray. Just here. Man's ignorance and
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 1: vanity made a face of the funeral. A big, bull
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: necked publican with heavy blotchy features and a supremely ignorant expression,
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: picked up the priest's straw hat and held it about
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 1: two inches over the head of his reverence. During the
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: whole of the service. The father be it remembered was
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: standing in the shade. A few shoved their hats on
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: and off, uneasily struggling between their disgust for the living
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: and their respect for the dead. The hat had a
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: conical crown and a brim sloping down all round like
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 1: a sunshade, and the publican held it with his great
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: red claw spread over the crown to do the priest justice.
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: Perhaps he didn't notice the incident. A stage priest or
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 1: parson in the same position might have said, put the
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: hat down, my friend, is not the memory of our
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: departed brother worth more than my complexion. A wattle bark
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: layman might have expressed himself in stronger language, none the
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: less to the point. But my priest seemed unconscious of
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: what was going on. Besides, the publican was a great
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: and important pillar of the church. He couldn't, as an
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 1: ignorant and conceited ass lose such a good opportunity of
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: asserting his faithfulness and importance to his church. The grave
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 1: looked very narrow under the coffin, and I drew a
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: breath of relief. When the box slid easily down. I
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: saw a coffin get stuck. Once at Rookwood, and it
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 1: had to be yanked out with difficulty and laid on
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: the sods at the feet of the heartbroken relations, who
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: howled dismally, while the grave diggers widened the hall. But
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: they don't cut contracts so fine. In the west, our
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: grave digger was not altogether bowerless, and out of respect
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: for that human quality described as feelings, he scraped out
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: some light and dusty soil and threw it down to
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: deaden the fall of the clay lumps on the coffin.
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: He also tried to steer the first few shovelfuls gently
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: down against the end of the grave, with the back
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 1: of the shovel turned outwards, but the hard, dry, darling
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: river clods rebounded and knocked all the same. It didn't
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: matter much. Nothing does. The fall of lumps of clay
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: on a stranger's coffin doesn't sound any different from the
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: fall of the same things on an ordinary wooden box.
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: At least, I didn't notice anything awesome or unusual in
• 1:11:41
  Speaker 1: the sound. But perhaps one of us, the most sensitive,
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: might have been impressed by being reminded of a burial
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: of long ago, when the thump of every sod jolted
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: his heart I have left out the wattle because it
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: wasn't there. I have also neglected to mention the heart
• 1:12:01
  Speaker 1: broken old mate, with his grizzled head bowed and great
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 1: pearly drops streaming down his rugged cheeks. He was absent.
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: He was probably out back. For similar reasons, I have
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 1: omitted reference to the suspicious moisture in the eyes of
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: a bearded bush Ruffian named Bill. Bill failed to turn up,
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: and the only moisture was that which was induced by
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: the heat. I have left out the sad Australian sunset
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: because the sun was not going down at the time.
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: The burial took place exactly at midday. The dead bushman's
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: name was Jim apparently, but they found no portraits, nor
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: locks of hair, nor any love letters nor anything of
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: that kind in his swag, not even a reference to
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 1: his mother, only some papers relating to union matters. Most
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: of us didn't know the name till we saw it
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: on the coffin. We knew him as that poor chap
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: that got drowned yesterday. So his name's James Tyson, said,
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: my drover acquaintance, looking at the plate, Why didn't you
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 1: know that before? I asked, no, But I knew he
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: was a Union man. It turned out afterwards that j.
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: T wasn't his real name, only the name he went by. Anyhow,
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: he was buried by it, and most of the great
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: Australian dailies have mentioned in their brevity columns that a
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: young man named James John Tyson was drowned in a
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 1: billibong of the Darling last Sunday. We did hear later
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 1: on what his real name was, but if we ever
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: get the chance to read it in the Missing Friend's column,
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: we shall not be able to give any information to
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: heartbroken mother or sister or wife, nor to any one
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: who could let him hear something to his advantage, for
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: we have already forgotten the name. End of chapter eight,
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: Chapter nine of Short Stories in Prose and Verse by
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: Henry Lawson. This LIBRIVOTX recording is in the public domain.
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: Chapter nine a typical bush yarn. They were two chaps
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: named Gory and Blankie. They were tramping from nevermind where
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: to some other place. Gory was a bad egg and
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: Blankie knew it, but they'd fallen in with each other
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: on the track and agreed to travel together for the
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: sake of company. Blankie had twenty five pounds, which fact
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 1: was known to Gory, who was stumped every night. Gory
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: tried to get the money, which fact was known to Blankie,
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: who never slept with more than one eye shut. When
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: their tracks divided, Gory said to Blankie, I'll look her here.
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: Where the deuce do you keep that stuff of yours?
• 1:14:59
  Speaker 1: I've been trying to get up every night when you
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: were asleep. I know you have, said, Blankie, Well, where
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 1: the blazes did you put it under your head? The
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: perpsy did? They grinned, shook hands, and parted, and Gory
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: scratched his head very hard and very often as he
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: tramped along the track. End of chapter nine, Chapter ten
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: of Short Stories in Prose and Verse by Henry Lawson.
• 1:15:35
  Speaker 1: This librivotch recording is in the public domain. Chapter ten,
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: The Bush Undertaker. Five Bob, the old man shaded his
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: eyes and peered through the dazzling glow of that broiling
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: Christmas day. He stood just within the door of a
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: slab and bark hut situated upon the bank of a
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: barren creek. Sheep yards lay to the right, and a
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: low line of bare brown ridges formed a suitable background
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: to the scene. Five Bob shouted he again, and a
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: dusty sheep dog rose wearily from the shaded side of
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: the hut and looked inquiringly at his master, who pointed
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: towards some sheep which was straggling from the flock. Fetch
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: eem back, he said confidently. The dog went off, and
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: his master returned to the interior of the hut. We'll
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: yard em early, he said to himself. The souper won't know.
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: We'll yard em early and have the afternoon to ourselves.
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: We'll get dinner, he added, glancing at some pots on
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: the fire. I could do a bit of dough boy,
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: and that there boggle briar ate like marra. Along of
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: the salt meat. He moved one of the black buckets
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: from the blaze. I likes to keep it just on
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: the sizzle, he said in explanation to himself. Hard boil
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: and makes it tough. I'll keep it just a simmerin here.
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: His soliloquy was interrupted by the return of the dog.
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: All right, five, Bob, said the hatter. Dinner'll be ready directly.
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: Just keep your eye on the sheep till I cause
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: you keep em well rounded up, and we'll yard 'em afterwards.
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: And have a holiday. This speech was accompanied by a
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 1: gesture evidently intelligible for the dog retired as though he
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: understood English, and the cooking proceeded. I'll take a pick
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: and shovel with me and root up that old black fellow,
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: mused the shepherd, evidently following up a recent train of thought.
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: I reckon, it'll do now, I'll put in the spuds.
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: The last sentence referred to the cooking, the first to
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: a blackfellow's grave, about which he was curious. The sheep's
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: are campin', said the soliloquiser, glancing through the door. So
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: me and five Bob will be able to get our
• 1:17:56
  Speaker 1: dinner in peace. I wish I had just enough fat
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: to make the pan siss. I'd treat myself to a
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: leather jacket, But it took three weeks skimming to get
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: enough for them there dough boys. In due time, the
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 1: dinner was dished up, and the old man seated himself
• 1:18:13
  Speaker 1: on a block with the lid of a gin case
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: across his knees for a table. Five Bobs squatted opposite,
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: with the liveliest interest and appreciation depicted on his intelligent countenance.
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: Dinner proceeded very quietly, except when the kaver paused to
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: ask the dog how some tasty morsel went with him,
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: and five Bob's tail declared that it went very well. Indeed,
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: heah try this, cried the old man, tossing him a
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: large piece of dough. Boy a click of five Bob's jaws,
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: and the dough was gone clean into his liver, said
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: the old man, with a faint smile. He washed up
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: the tinware in the water the duff had been boiled in,
• 1:18:55
  Speaker 1: and then, with the assistance of the dog, yarded the sheep.
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: This accomplished, he took a pick and shovel and an
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: old sack and started out over the ridge, followed of
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 1: course by his four legged mate. After tramping some three miles,
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: he reached a spur running out from the main ridge.
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: At the extreme end of this, under some gum trees,
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: was a little mound of earth, barely defined in the
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: grass and indented in the center, as all Blackfellow's graves were.
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: He set to work to dig it up, and sure enough,
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: in about half an hour he bottomed on payable dirt.
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: When he had raked up all the bones, he amused
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: himself by putting them together on the grass, and by
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: speculating as to weather, they had belonged to black or white,
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: male or female. Failing, however, to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion,
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 1: he dusted them with great care, put them in the bag,
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 1: and started for home. He took a short cut, this
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: time over the ridge and down a gully which was
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: full of ring barked trees and long white grass. He
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: had nearly reached its mouth when a great, greasy black
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: goanner clambered up a sapling from under his feet and
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: looked fightable. Dang the jumped up thing, cried the old man.
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: It gin me a star. At the foot of the sapling,
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: he espied an object, which he at first thought was
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: the blackened carcass of a sheep, but on closer examination,
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 1: discovered to be the body of a man. It lay
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: with its forehead resting on its hands, dried to a
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: mummy by the intense heat of the western summer. Me
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: luck's in for the day, and no mistake, said the shepherd,
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: scratching the back of his head. While he took stock
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: of the remains. He picked up a stick and tapped
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: the body on the shoulder. The flesh sounded like leather.
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 1: He turned it over on its side. It fell flat
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: on its back like a board, and the shriveled eyes
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: seemed to peer up at him from under the blackened wrists.
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: He stepped back involuntarily, but recovering himself, leant on his
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: stick and took in all the ghastly details. There was
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 1: nothing in the blackened features to tell aught of name
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: or race, but the dress proclaimed the remains to be
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: those of a European. The old man caught sight of
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: a black bottle in the grass close beside the corpse.
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: This set him thinking. Presently, He knelt down and examined
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: the soles of the dead man's blucher boots, and then,
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: rising with an air of conviction, exclaimed, brummy, by gosh,
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: bust that up at last. I told you so, brummy,
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: he said, impressively, addressing the corpse. I always told ye
• 1:21:47
  Speaker 1: as how it'd be, And he are you thunderin jumped
• 1:21:50
  Speaker 1: up cuss A good fool. You could earn more many
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: men in the colony, but you'd lush it all away.
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: I all has said as how it had end up,
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: and now ye can see for yourself. I spect yo
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 1: was comin to me to get fixed up an set
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: straight again. Then ye was a gunna swear off, same
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: as yer alas did. And here yeah, an, now I
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: expect I'll have to fix y up for the last time,
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: an make yer decent for twont do leave in yer
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: a lion out here like a dead sheep. He picked
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 1: up the corked bottle and examined it. To his great surprise,
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 1: it was nearly full of rum. Well this gets me,
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: exclaimed the old man. Me. Luck's in this Christmas an
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: no mistake. He must have got the jams early in
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: his spree, or he wouldn't be a makin for me
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: with near a bottleful left howsome? An ever, here goes
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: looking around. His eyes lit up with satisfaction as he
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 1: saw some bits of bark which had been left by
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: a party of strippers who had been getting bark there
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 1: for the stations. He picked up two pieces, one about
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: four and the other six feet long and each about
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: two feet and brought them over to the body. He
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: laid the longest strip by the side of the corpse,
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: which he proceeded to lift on to it. Come on, brummy,
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: he said, in a softer tone than usual. Ye ain't
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 1: as bad as you might be considerin as it must
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: be three good months since you slipped your wind. I
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 1: spect it was the rum as preserved you. It was
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: the death of you when you were as alive, and
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: now you're dead. It preserves you like a mummy. Then
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: he placed the other strip on top, with the hollow
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: side downwards, thus sandwiching the defunct between the two pieces,
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: removed the saddle strap, which he wore for a belt,
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: and buckled it round one end while he tried to
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: think of something with which to tie up the other. Or.
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: I can't take any more strips off my shirt, he said, critically,
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: examining the skirts of the old blue overshirt he wore.
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: I might get a strip or two more off, but
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 1: it's short enough already. Let's see how long have I
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: been awarin of that shirt? Oh? I remember I bought
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 1: it just two days afore five Bob was pupped. I
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 1: can't afford a new shirt just yet. How are someone
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: of us seein? It's brummy. I'll just borrow a couple
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: more strips, and so I'm on again. When I get on,
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: he up ended Brummy and placing his shoulder against the
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: middle of the lower sheet of bark lifted the corpse
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 1: to a horizontal position. Then, taking the bag of bones
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 1: in his hand, he started for home. I ain't spending
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 1: such a dull Christmas, after all, he reflected as he
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: plodded on. But he had not walked above a hundred
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: yards when he saw a black goanner sidling into the grass.
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: That's another of them, there, dang things, he said. That's
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: too I've seed this mornin' presently, he remarked, you don't
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: smell none too sweet, Brummy, It must have been just
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: about the middle o sheer an when you pegged out.
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: I wonder who got your last check? Show. There's another
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: black goanna. There must be a flock of them. He
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: rested Brummy on the ground while he had another pull
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: at the bottle, and before going on, packed the bag
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: of bones on his shoulder under the body. And he
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: soon stopped again the thunder and jumped up. Bones is
• 1:25:19
  Speaker 1: all skew whiffed, he said, ol on, Brummy, and off
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: fix em, and he leaned the dead man against a
• 1:25:25
  Speaker 1: tree while he settled the bones on his shoulder and
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: took another pull at the bottle. About a mile further on,
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: he heard a rustling in the grass to the right,
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 1: and looking round, saw another goanna gliding off sideways with
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: its long, snaky neck turned towards him. This puzzled the
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: shepherd considerably, the strangest part of it being that five
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: Bob wouldn't touch the reptile, but slunk off with his
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: tail down when ordered to sick em. There's something comic
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: about them, there goannas said the old man at last.
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: I've seen swarms of grasshoppers and big mobs of kangaroos,
• 1:26:03
  Speaker 1: but dang me if I ever see a flock of
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: black goanners afore. On reaching the hut, the old man
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: dumped the corpse against the wall wrong end up, and
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: stood scratching his head while he endeavored to collect his
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: muddled thoughts. But he had not placed brummy at the
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: correct angle, and consequently that individual fell forward and struck
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: him a violent blow on the shoulder with the iron
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: toes of his blitcher boots. The shock sobered him. He
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: sprang a good yard, instinctively hitching up his moleskins in
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: preparation for flight, But a backward glance revealed to him
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: the true cause of this supposed attack from the rear.
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: Then he lifted the body stood it on its feet
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: against the chimney and ruminated as to where he should
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: lodge his mate for the night, not noticing that the
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: shorter sheet of bark had slipped down on the boots
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 1: and left the face exposed. I spect I'll have to
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 1: put your into the chimney trough for the night, brummy,
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: he said, he turning round to confront the corpse. YA
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: can't expect me to take ye into the hut, though
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: I did it when you was in a worse state
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 1: than Lord. The shepherd was not prepared for the awful
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 1: scrutiny that gleamed on him from those empty sockets. His
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 1: nerves received a shock, and it was some time before
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 1: he recovered himself sufficiently to speak. Now, look a here, brummy,
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: said he, shaking his fingers severely at the delinquent. I
• 1:27:30
  Speaker 1: don't want to pick a row with Yer. I'd do
• 1:27:32
  Speaker 1: as much, fear an more than any other man. An well,
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 1: Yer knows it. But if ye starts playin' any of
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 1: yer jumped up pranctical jokes on me and a scarin
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 1: of me after the humpin of y arm by the
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: only frost, I'll kick Yer to Jim Rag's, So I
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: will this admonition delivered. He hoisted Brummy into the chimney trough, and,
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 1: with a last glance towards the sheep yards, he retired
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 1: to his bunk to have, as he said, a snooze.
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: He had more and a snooze, however, for when he
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: woke it was dark, and the bushman's instinct told him
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: it must be nearly nine o'clock. He lit a slush
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: lamp and poured the remainder of the rum into a pannikin.
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: But just as he was about to lift the draft
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: to his lips, he heard a peculiar rustling sound overhead,
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 1: and put the pot down on the table with a
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: slam that spilled some of the precious liquor. Five Bob whimpered,
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: and the old shepherd, though used to the weird and
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 1: dismal as one living alone in the bush, must, necessarily be,
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: felt the icy breath of fear at his heart. He
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 1: reached hastily for his old shotgun and went out to investigate.
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: He walked round the hut several times and examined the
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 1: roof on all sides, but saw nothing. Brummy appeared to
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 1: be in the same position. At last, persuading himself that
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 1: the noise was caused by possums or the wind, the
• 1:28:58
  Speaker 1: old man went inside, boiled his billy, and after composing
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 1: his nerve somewhat with a light supper and a meditative smoke,
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 1: retired for the night. He was aroused several times before
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 1: midnight by the same mysterious sound overhead, but though he
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: rose and examined the roof on each occasion by the
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 1: light of the rising moon, he discovered nothing. At last,
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 1: he determined to sit up and watch until daybreak, and
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: for this purpose took up a position on a log
• 1:29:28
  Speaker 1: a short distance from the hut, with his gun laid
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 1: in readiness across his knee. After watching for about an hour,
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 1: he saw a black object coming over the ridgepole. He
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 1: grabbed his gun and fired. The thing disappeared. He ran
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: round to the other side of the hut, and there
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: was a great black goanner in violent convulsions on the ground.
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 1: Then the old man saw it all the thundering, jumped
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: up fingers been the heaven of me, says the same
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 1: cussagod wretch as followed me home and has been having
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 1: its Christmas dinner. Offer brummy and ownting me into the bargain,
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: the jumped up tinker. As there was no one by
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 1: whom he could send a message to the station, and
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: the old man dared not leave the sheep and go himself.
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: He determined to bury the body the next afternoon, reflecting
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: that the authorities could disinter it for inquest if they pleased.
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 1: So he brought the sheep homerly and made the arrangements
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 1: for the burial by measuring the outer casing of Brummy
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: and digging a hole. According to those dimensions that minds me,
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 1: he said, I never rightly knowed Brummy's religion, blessed if
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: I ever did howsome and ever, there's one thing certain,
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: none of them via piano fingered parsons is are going
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: to take the trouble for travel out into this god
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 1: forgotten part to hold service over him, seeing as how
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: his last checks blewed. But as I've got the funeral
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 1: arrangements all in my own hands, I'll do justice to
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: it and see that Brummy has a good comfortable buryin'
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: And more's unpossible. It's time you turned in, Brum, he said.
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: Lifting the body down, he carried it to the grave
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: and dropped it in one corner like a post. He
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: arranged the bark so as to cover the face, and
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: by means of a piece of clothes line, lowered the
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: body to a horizontal position. Then he threw in an
• 1:31:26
  Speaker 1: armful of gum leaves, and then very reluctantly took the
• 1:31:31
  Speaker 1: shovel and dropped in a few shovels of earth. And
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: this is the last of brummy, he said, leaning on
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 1: his spade and looking away over the tops of the
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: ragged guns on the distant range. This reflection seemed to
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: engender a flood of memories in which the old man
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: became absorbed. He leaned heavily upon his spade and thought,
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 1: arter all, he murmured sadly, Arter all it were brummy, Brummy,
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: he said at length. It's all over now. Nothing matters now,
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 1: nothing didn't ever matter, nor nor don't you used to
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 1: say as how it'd be all right. Tomorrow tomorrow's come, brummy,
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: come for you. It ain't come for me yet, but
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: it's a comin'. He threw in some more earth. You
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: don't remember, brummy, and maybe you don't want to remember.
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: I don't want to remember. But well, but you see,
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: that's where you got the pull on me. He shoveled
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: in some more earth, and paused again. The dog rose
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 1: with ears erect and looked anxiously, first at his master
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 1: and then into the grave. There ought to be something,
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: said muttered The old man tain't right to put him
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: under like a dog. There ought to be some sort
• 1:32:49
  Speaker 1: of salmon. He sighed heavily in the listening silence that
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: followed this remark, and proceeded with his work. He filled
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: the grave to the brim this time, and fashion the
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: mound carefully with his spade. Once or twice he muttered
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 1: the words I am the Resurrection. As he laid the
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 1: tools quietly aside and stood at the head of the grave.
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 1: He was evidently trying to remember the something that ought
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: to be said. He removed his hat, placed it carefully
• 1:33:19
  Speaker 1: on the grass, held his hands out from his sides,
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: and a little to the front, drew a long, deep breath,
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: and said, with a solemnity that greatly disturbed five bob
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 1: ashes to ashes, dust to dust, brummy, and and in
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: hopes of a great and glorious resurrection. He sat down
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: on a log near by, rested his elbows on his knees,
• 1:33:43
  Speaker 1: and passed his hand wearily over his forehead, but only
• 1:33:47
  Speaker 1: as one who was tired and felt the heat. And
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 1: presently he rose, took up the tools, and walked back
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 1: to the hut, and the sun sank again on the
• 1:33:58
  Speaker 1: Grand Australian Bush. The Nurse and Tutor of Eccentric Mines,
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 1: the Home of the Weird end of chapter ten, Chapter
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 1: eleven of short Stories in prose and verse by Henry Lawson.
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: This librivotch recording is in the public domain. Chapter eleven,
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 1: the legend of Couy Gully. The night came down through
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: Deadman's Gap, where the ghostly saplings bent before a wind
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: that tore the fly from many a digger's tent darkest pitch,
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 1: And the rain rushed past on a wind that howled again,
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 1: and we crowded into the only hut that stood on
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 1: the hillside. Then the strong pine rafters creaked and strained
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: till we thought that the roof would go, and we
• 1:34:50
  Speaker 1: felt the box bark walls bend in and bulge like calico.
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: A flood had come from the gorgeous round through the
• 1:34:57
  Speaker 1: gully's bed. It poured down many a deep, deserted shaft.
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: The yellow waters roared, the scene leapt out when the
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: lightning flashed and shone with a ghastly gray, and the
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 1: night sprang back to the distant range neath the sky
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: as bright as day. Then the darkness closed like a
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: trap that was sprung, and the night grew black as coals,
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 1: And we heard the ceaseless thunder of the water down
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: the halls, and now and then, like a cannon's note
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: that sounds in the battle din, we heard the louder
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 1: thunder spring from a shaft when the sides fell in.
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 1: We had gathered close to the broad hut fire to
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 1: yarn of the by gone years. When a coui that
• 1:35:40
  Speaker 1: came from the flooded grounds fell sharp on our startled ears.
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 1: We sprang to our feet, for well we knew that
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 1: in speed lay the only hope. One caught, and over
• 1:35:50
  Speaker 1: his shoulder threw a coil of yellow rope. Then, blinded
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 1: off by the lightnings, flashed down the steep hill sides,
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: we sped, and at times we slipped on the sodden
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: path that ran to the gully's bed, and on past
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 1: many a broken shaft. All reckless of risk, we ran
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: for the wind still brought in spiteful gusts the cry
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 1: of the drowning man. But the cooying ceased when we
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 1: reached the place, and there eerrow Man could think we
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 1: heard the treacherous earth give way and fall from a
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: shaft's black brink, and deep and wide the rotten side
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 1: slipped into the hungry hole, and the phosphorus leapt and vanished,
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: like the flight of the stranger's saw. And still in
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 1: the sound of the rushing rain, when the night comes
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: dark and drear from the pitch black side of that
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 1: gully wide the cooie you hear, and hear cooie, cooie.
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 1: Lowered eerily, it whispers afire and drear, and then to
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 1: the heart, like an icy dart, it strikes through the
• 1:36:51
  Speaker 1: startled ear, dreader than wrung from the human tongue. It
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 1: shrieks o'er the sound of the rain, and back on
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 1: the hill when the wind is still, it whispers and
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 1: dies again, and on through the night, like the voice
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 1: of a sprite that tells of a dire mishap. It
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: echoes around in the gullies, bound and out through dead
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: Man's Gap. End of chapter eleven, Chapter twelve of short
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 1: Stories in prose and verse by Henry Lawson. This LibriVox
• 1:37:28
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Chapter twelve mc quarry's mate.
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: The chaps in the bar of Stiffness Shandy were talking
• 1:37:37
  Speaker 1: about mc quarry, an absent shearer who seemed, from their
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: conversation to be better known than liked by them. I
• 1:37:46
  Speaker 1: ain't seen mc quarry for ever so long, remarked box
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: of tricks. After a pause. Wonder where he could have
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 1: got to jail perhaps or hell? Growled Barku. He ain't
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 1: much loss any road my oath like baku, interposed Sallie Thompson.
• 1:38:03
  Speaker 1: But now I come to think of it, old awful example,
• 1:38:06
  Speaker 1: there was a mate of his one time blest if
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 1: the old soaker ain't coming to life again. A shaky
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: rag and dirt covered framework of a big man rose
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: uncertainly from a corner of the room, and, staggering forward,
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 1: brushed the staring thatch back from his forehead with one hand,
• 1:38:24
  Speaker 1: reached blindly for the edge of the bar with the other,
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 1: and drooped heavily. Well, awful example, demanded the shanty keeper,
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 1: what's up with you now? The drunkard lifted his head
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 1: and glared wildly around with bloodshot eyes. Don't you don't
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: you talk about him? Drop it? I say, drop it?
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: What's the devil's the matter with you? Now? Anyway? Growled
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: the barman. Got him again. Hey, don't you don't you
• 1:38:52
  Speaker 1: talk about mac Quarie? He's a mate of mine? Here,
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: give me a drink. Well, what if he is a
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 1: mate of yours? Neared Baku. It don't reflect much credit
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 1: on you nor him neither. The logic contained in the
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 1: last three words was unanswerable and awful. Example was still
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 1: fairly reasonable, even when rum oozed out of him at
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: every pore. He gripped the edge of the bar with
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: both hands, let his ruined head fall forward until it
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: was on a level with his temporarily rigid arms, and
• 1:39:25
  Speaker 1: stared blindly at the dirty floor. Then he straightened himself up,
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: still keeping his hold on the bar. Some of you chaps,
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 1: he said, huskily, One of you chaps in this bar
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: to day called Macquarie a scoundrel and a loafer and
• 1:39:41
  Speaker 1: a blagguard, and as a sneak and a liar. Well
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: what if we did, said Barkoo defiantly. He's all that
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: and a cheat into the bargain, And now what are
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 1: you going to do about it. The old man swung
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 1: sideways to the bar, rested his elbow on it and
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 1: his head on his hand. Macquarry wasn't a sneak, and
• 1:40:03
  Speaker 1: he wasn't a liar, he said, in a quiet, tired tone,
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 1: And Macquarry wasn't a cheat. Well, old man, you needn't
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: get your rag out about it, said Sally Thompson soothingly.
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: Perhaps he was a bit too hard on him, and
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 1: it isn't altogether right. Jack's considering he's not here. But
• 1:40:22
  Speaker 1: then you know, awful he might have acted straight to you.
• 1:40:26
  Speaker 1: That was his mate, the meanest blank if he is
• 1:40:30
  Speaker 1: a man at all, will do that. Oh to blazers
• 1:40:34
  Speaker 1: with the old soot, shouted Barku. I gave my opinion
• 1:40:38
  Speaker 1: about Macquary. On what's more, I'll stand to it. I've
• 1:40:43
  Speaker 1: I've got a point for the defense. The old man
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: went on, without heeding the interruptions. Ah, I've got a
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: point or two for the defense. Well, let's have it,
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: said Stiffner. In the first place. In the first place,
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 1: but Macquarry never talked about no man behind his back.
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 1: There was an uneasy movement and a painful silence. Barkou
• 1:41:06
  Speaker 1: reached for his drink and drank slowly. He needed time
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 1: to think boxer tricks studdied his boots. Sally Thompson looked
• 1:41:16
  Speaker 1: out at the weather. The shanty keeper wiped the top
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 1: of the bar very hard, and the rest shifted round.
• 1:41:25
  Speaker 1: And suppose they'd try a game of cards? Baku set
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 1: his glass down very softly, pocketed his hands deeply and defiantly,
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 1: and said, well, what of that? Macquarie was as strong
• 1:41:38
  Speaker 1: as a bull, and the greatest bully on the river
• 1:41:40
  Speaker 1: into the bargain. He could call a man a liar
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: to his face and smash his face afterwards, and he
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 1: did it often too, and with smaller men than himself.
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 1: There was a breath of relief in the bar. Do
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: you want to make out that I'm talking about a
• 1:41:56
  Speaker 1: man behind his back? Continued Barko, threatn to awful example.
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 1: You'd best take care, old man. My quarry wasn't a coward,
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 1: remonstrated the drunkard softly, but in an injured tone. What's
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 1: up with you anyway? Yelled the public, And what'ch your growl? Laugh?
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 1: Do you want to row? Get out? If you can't
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 1: be agreeable? The boozer swung his back to the bar,
• 1:42:21
  Speaker 1: hooked himself on by his elbows, and looked vacantly out
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 1: the door. I've got another point for the defense, he muttered.
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 1: It's always best. It's always best to kick the last
• 1:42:34
  Speaker 1: point to the last. Oh, lord, well, out with it,
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 1: out with it. My quarry's dead. That's what it is.
• 1:42:46
  Speaker 1: Everyone moved uneasily. Sally Thompson turned to the other side
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: to the bar, crossed one leg behind the other, and
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: looked down over his hip at the sole and heel
• 1:42:55
  Speaker 1: of his elastic side. The barman rinsed the glasses vigorously.
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: Longbones shuffled and dealt on the top of a cask,
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: and some of the others gathered round him and got interested.
• 1:43:08
  Speaker 1: Barkoo thought he heard his horse breaking away and went
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: out to see to it, followed by box of tricks
• 1:43:14
  Speaker 1: and a couple more who thought that it might be
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 1: one of their horses. Some one, a tall, gaunt, determined
• 1:43:21
  Speaker 1: looking bushman with square features and haggard gray eyes, had
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 1: ridden in unnoticed through the scrub to the back of
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 1: the shanty and dismounted by the window. When Baku and
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 1: the others re entered the bar. It soon became evident
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: that Sally Thompson had been thinking for presently he came
• 1:43:39
  Speaker 1: to the general rescue as follows. There's a blessed lot
• 1:43:44
  Speaker 1: of Tommy rot about dead people in this world, a
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: lot of damned old woman nonsense. There's more sympathy wasted
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 1: over dead and rotten skunks than there is injustice done
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 1: to straight, honest, living chaps. I don't believe in this
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 1: gory sentiment of the dead at the expense of the living.
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 1: I believe in justice for the living, and the dead
• 1:44:05
  Speaker 1: too for that matter, but justice for the livin macquarry
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 1: was a bad egg, and it don't alter the case
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 1: if he was dead a thousand times there was another
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 1: breath of relief in the bar, and presently someone said
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 1: you're tight, Sally. Good for you, Sally, old man cried,
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 1: box of tricks taking it up. And besides, I don't
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: believe mcquarie is dead at all. He's always dying or
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: being reported dead and then turning up again. Where did
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 1: you hear about it? Awful? The example ruefully rubbed a
• 1:44:39
  Speaker 1: corner of his roof with the palm of his hand.
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 1: There's a lot in what you say, Sally Thompson, he admitted, slowly,
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: totally ignoring box of tricks. But oh, we've had enough
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: of the old fool, yelled Barco. Mcquarry was a speeler,
• 1:44:56
  Speaker 1: and any man that ha'd be his mate ain't much better. Here,
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: take a drink and dry up your old house, said
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 1: the man behind the bar, pushing a bottle and glass
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 1: towards the drunkard. D'ye want a row? The old man
• 1:45:11
  Speaker 1: took the bottle and glass in his shaking hands and
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 1: painfully poured out a drink. There's a lot in what
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 1: Salie Thompson says. He went on obstinately. But but he added,
• 1:45:22
  Speaker 1: in a strained tone, there's another point that I near forgot,
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: and none of you seem to think of it, not
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: even Sally Thompson, nor nor box o' tricks. There, Stiffner
• 1:45:33
  Speaker 1: turned his back and barkoo spat viciously and impatiently. Yes,
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 1: driveled the drunkard. I've got another point for for the
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: defense of my mate mac quarry. Oh, out with it,
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 1: Spit it out for God's sake, or you'll bust roared Stiffner.
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 1: What the blazers is it is? Mates? Alive? Yelled the
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 1: old man. Mac Quarrie's mates alive. That's what it is.
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: He reeled back from the bar, dashed his glass and
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: hat to the boards, gave his pants a hitch by
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 1: the waistband that almost lifted him off his feet, and
• 1:46:09
  Speaker 1: tore at his shirt sleeves. Make a ring, boys, he shouted.
• 1:46:13
  Speaker 1: His mates alive, put up your hands, Baku, bye God,
• 1:46:17
  Speaker 1: his mates alive. Some one had turned his horse loose
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 1: at the rear and had been standing by the back
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: door for the last five minutes. Now he slipped quietly.
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 1: In Keep the old fool off or you'll get hurt,
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 1: snarled Barku. Stiffner jumped the counter. There were loud, hurried
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 1: words of remonstrance, then some stump splitting oaths and a
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 1: scuffle consequent upon an attempt to chuck the old man out,
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 1: Then a crash. Stiffner and box of tricks were down.
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 1: Two others were holding Barku back, and some one had
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 1: pinned awful example by the shoulders from behind. Let me go,
• 1:46:58
  Speaker 1: he yelled, too blind with passion to notice the movements
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 1: of surprise among the men before him. Let me go,
• 1:47:05
  Speaker 1: he yelled, too blind with passion to notice the movements
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 1: of surprise among the men before him. Let me go,
• 1:47:12
  Speaker 1: I'll smash any man that that says a word again.
• 1:47:16
  Speaker 1: A mate of mine behind his back, Barku, I'll have
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 1: your blood. Let me go, I'll ah ah. Who's oldn me?
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 1: You you it's my quarry old mate, said a quiet voice.
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 1: Barkou thought he heard his horse again, and went out
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 1: in a hurry. Perhaps he thought that the horse would
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 1: get impatient and break loose if he left it any longer.
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 1: For he jumped into the saddle and rode off. End
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: of chapter twelve, Chapter thirteen of Short Stories in prose
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: and Verse by Henry Lawson. This Librevotch recording is in
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Chapter thirteen. When the children come home
• 1:48:03
  Speaker 1: on a lonely selection far out in the west, an
• 1:48:06
  Speaker 1: old woman works all the day without rest, and she
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: croons as she toils neath the skies glazed dawn. Sure
• 1:48:14
  Speaker 1: I'll keep the old place till the children come home.
• 1:48:18
  Speaker 1: She mends all the fences, She grubs, and she plows,
• 1:48:21
  Speaker 1: She drives the old horse, and she milks all the cows.
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 1: And she sings to herself as she thatches the stack.
• 1:48:28
  Speaker 1: Sure I'll keep the old place till the children come home.
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 1: It is five weary years since her old husband died,
• 1:48:36
  Speaker 1: and oft as he lay on his death bed, he said,
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 1: sure one man can bring up ten children. He can,
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 1: and it's sad that ten some cannot keep one old man.
• 1:48:47
  Speaker 1: Whenever the scowling old Sundown has come and cunningly asks
• 1:48:51
  Speaker 1: if the master's at home, be off, She replies, we
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 1: jabarni and can't, or I'll call my son Andy. He's
• 1:48:58
  Speaker 1: workin be out out, she replies, though she trembles with fear,
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 1: for she lives all alone and no neighbors are near.
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 1: But she says to herself, when she's like to despond,
• 1:49:10
  Speaker 1: that the boys are at work in the paddock beyond Ah.
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: None of her children need follow the plow, and some
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 1: have grown rich in the city ere now. Yet she says,
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 1: they might come when the shearing is done, and I'll
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 1: keep the old place if it's only for one. End
• 1:49:30
  Speaker 1: of chapter thirteen. Chapter fourteen of Short Stories in prose
• 1:49:40
  Speaker 1: and Verse by Henry Lawson. This librovox recording is in
• 1:49:44
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Chapter fourteen, The Mystery of Dave Reagan,
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: And then there was Dave Reagan, said the traveler Dave
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 1: used to die oftener than any other bushman I knew.
• 1:49:58
  Speaker 1: He was always being reported dead and turning up again.
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 1: He seemed to like it, except once when his brother
• 1:50:04
  Speaker 1: drew his money and drank it all to drown his
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 1: grief at what he called Dave's untimely end. Well, Dave
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 1: went up to Queensland once with cattle and was away
• 1:50:14
  Speaker 1: three years and reported dead. As usual, he was drowned
• 1:50:17
  Speaker 1: in the bogan, this time while trying to swim his
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 1: horse across the flood, and his sweeter hurried up and
• 1:50:23
  Speaker 1: got spliced to a worse man before Dave got back. Well,
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 1: one day I was out in the bush looking for
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 1: timber when the biggest storm ever knowed in that place
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 1: come on. There was ale in it too, as big
• 1:50:35
  Speaker 1: as bullets, and if I hadn't got behind a stump
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 1: and crouched down in time, I'd have been riddled like
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 1: a like a bush ranger. As it was, I got
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 1: soaken wet. The storm was over in a few minutes,
• 1:50:47
  Speaker 1: the water run off down the gullies, and the sun
• 1:50:49
  Speaker 1: come out, and the scrub steamed and stunk like a
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 1: new pair of moleskin trousers. I went on along the
• 1:50:57
  Speaker 1: track and presently I seen a long lanky chair get
• 1:51:00
  Speaker 1: onto a long lanky horse and ride out of a
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 1: bush yard at the end of a clearin'. I knowed
• 1:51:06
  Speaker 1: it was Dave'd directly I set eyes on him. Dave
• 1:51:09
  Speaker 1: used to ride a tall, olive backed thoroughbred with a
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 1: body and limbs like a kangaroo dog, and it would
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 1: circle around you and sidle away, as if it was
• 1:51:17
  Speaker 1: frightened you was going to jab a knife into it. Hello, Dave,
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 1: said I as he came, spurring up. How are yer, Hello, Jim,
• 1:51:26
  Speaker 1: says he. How are you all right? Says I? How
• 1:51:30
  Speaker 1: are you getting on? But before he could say any more,
• 1:51:33
  Speaker 1: that horse shied away and broke off through the scrub
• 1:51:36
  Speaker 1: to the right. I waited because I know Dave would
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 1: come back again if I waited long enough, And in
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 1: about ten minutes he came sidling in from the scrub
• 1:51:45
  Speaker 1: to the left. Oh, I'm all right, says he, spurring
• 1:51:48
  Speaker 1: up sideways. How are you right, says I? How's the
• 1:51:52
  Speaker 1: old people? Oh? I ain't been home yet, says he,
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 1: holding out his hand. But afore I could grip it,
• 1:51:59
  Speaker 1: the cussin horse sidled off to the south end of
• 1:52:02
  Speaker 1: the clearing, and broke away again through the scrub. I
• 1:52:05
  Speaker 1: heard Dave swearing about the country for twenty minutes or so,
• 1:52:09
  Speaker 1: and then he came, spurling and cursing him from the
• 1:52:12
  Speaker 1: other end of the clearing. Where have you been all
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: this time? I said, as the horse came curving up
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 1: like a boomerang golf country. Said Dave, that was a storm,
• 1:52:23
  Speaker 1: Dave said, I my oath, says Dave, get caught in it.
• 1:52:26
  Speaker 1: YEH got the shelter now, but your dry as a bone, Dave.
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 1: Dave grinned and he yelled. He said that to the
• 1:52:38
  Speaker 1: horse as it boomeranged off again and broke away through
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 1: the scrub. I waited, but he didn't come back, and
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 1: I reckoned he'd got so far away before he could
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 1: pull up that he didn't think it worthwhile coming back.
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 1: So I went on by and bye. I got thinking
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: Dave was as dry as a bone, and I knowed
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 1: that he hadn't had time to get to shell, for
• 1:53:00
  Speaker 1: there wasn't a shed within twelve miles. He wasn't only dry,
• 1:53:05
  Speaker 1: but his coat was creased and dusty too, same as
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 1: if he'd been sleeping in a hollow log. And when
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 1: I come to think of it. His face seemed thinner
• 1:53:14
  Speaker 1: and whiter than at Euster, and soldid his hands and
• 1:53:18
  Speaker 1: wrists which always stuck a long way out of his
• 1:53:21
  Speaker 1: coat sleeves, and there was blood on his face, but
• 1:53:24
  Speaker 1: I thought he'd got scratched with a twig. Dave used
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 1: to wear a coat three or four sizes too small
• 1:53:30
  Speaker 1: for him, with sleeves that didn't come much below his elbows,
• 1:53:34
  Speaker 1: and a tail that scarcely reached his waist behind, and
• 1:53:38
  Speaker 1: his hair seemed dark and lank instead of being sandy
• 1:53:42
  Speaker 1: and sticking out like an old fiberbrush as it used to.
• 1:53:46
  Speaker 1: And then I thought his voice sounded different, too, And
• 1:53:49
  Speaker 1: when I inquired next day, there was no one heard
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 1: of Dave, and the chaps reckoned I must have been
• 1:53:55
  Speaker 1: drunk or seen his ghost. It didn't seem all right
• 1:53:59
  Speaker 1: at all, and it worried me a lot. I couldn't
• 1:54:02
  Speaker 1: make out how Dave kept dry, and the horse and
• 1:54:05
  Speaker 1: saddle and saddlecloth was wet. I told the chaps how
• 1:54:09
  Speaker 1: he talked to me and what he said, and how
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 1: he swore at the horse that they only said it
• 1:54:14
  Speaker 1: was Dave's ghost and nobody else's. I told him about
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 1: him beIN dry as a bone after gettin caught in
• 1:54:20
  Speaker 1: that storm. But they only laughed and said it was
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 1: a dry place where Dave went to. I talked and
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 1: argued about it until the chaps began to tap their
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 1: foreheads and wink. Then I left off talking, but I
• 1:54:33
  Speaker 1: didn't leave off thinking. I always hated a mystery. Even
• 1:54:37
  Speaker 1: Dave's father told me that Dave couldn't be alive, or
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 1: else's ghost wouldn't be round. He said he knew Dave
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 1: better than that. One or two fellows did turn up
• 1:54:47
  Speaker 1: afterwards that had seen Dave about the time that I did,
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 1: And then the chap said they were sure that Dave
• 1:54:53
  Speaker 1: was dead. But one fine day, as a lot of
• 1:54:57
  Speaker 1: us chaps were playin pitch and toss at the shanty,
• 1:55:00
  Speaker 1: one of the fellows yelled out, by gee, here comes
• 1:55:03
  Speaker 1: Dave Reagan. And I looked up and saw Dave himself
• 1:55:07
  Speaker 1: sidlin out of a cloud of dust on a long,
• 1:55:10
  Speaker 1: lanky horse. He rode into the stock yard, got down,
• 1:55:14
  Speaker 1: hung his horse up to a post, put up the rails,
• 1:55:17
  Speaker 1: and then come sloping towards us with a half acre
• 1:55:20
  Speaker 1: grin on his face. Dave had long, thin bow legs,
• 1:55:24
  Speaker 1: and when he was on the ground, he moved as
• 1:55:27
  Speaker 1: if he was on roller skates. Hello, Dave says, I,
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 1: how are ye? Hello? Jim said he How the blazes
• 1:55:35
  Speaker 1: are you all right? Says I shakin hands? How are ye? Oh?
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 1: I'm all right? He says, how are yo? Poppin up? Well,
• 1:55:46
  Speaker 1: when we got all that settled and the other chaps
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 1: had asked how he was, he said, ah, well, let's
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 1: have a drink, And all the other chaps crawfished up
• 1:55:54
  Speaker 1: and flung themselves round the corner and sidled into the bar.
• 1:55:58
  Speaker 1: After Dave we had a lot of talk, and he
• 1:56:01
  Speaker 1: told us that he'd been down before, but had gone
• 1:56:04
  Speaker 1: away without seeing any of us except me, because he'd
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 1: suddenly heard of a mob of cattle at a station
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 1: two hundred miles away. And after a while I took
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 1: him aside and said, look, ye at, Dave, do you
• 1:56:17
  Speaker 1: remember the day I met you? After the storm? He
• 1:56:20
  Speaker 1: scratched his head. Why, yes, he says, did you get
• 1:56:25
  Speaker 1: under shelter that day? Why? No? Then, how the blazers
• 1:56:30
  Speaker 1: didn't you get wet? Dave grinned. Then he says, why
• 1:56:35
  Speaker 1: when I seen the storm coming up, I took off
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 1: me clothes and stuck him in a hollow rog till
• 1:56:40
  Speaker 1: the rain was over. Yes, he says, after the other
• 1:56:43
  Speaker 1: coves had done laughin, But before I'd done thinkin', I
• 1:56:47
  Speaker 1: kept my clothes dry and got a good refreshing shower
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 1: bath into the bargain. Then he scratched the back of
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 1: his neck with his little finger and dropped his jaw
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 1: and thought a bit. Then he rubbed the top of
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 1: his head and his shoulder reflective like. And then he said,
• 1:57:03
  Speaker 1: but I didn't reckon for them, blanky hailstones. End of
• 1:57:08
  Speaker 1: chapter fourteen, Chapter fifteen of Short Stories in prose and
• 1:57:18
  Speaker 1: verse by Henry Lawson. This Libervotch recording is in the
• 1:57:22
  Speaker 1: public domain. Chapter fifteen, A derry on a cove Twas
• 1:57:28
  Speaker 1: in the felon's dock. He stood, His eyes were black
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 1: and blue, his voice with grief was broken, and his
• 1:57:35
  Speaker 1: nose was broken too. He muttered, as that broken nose
• 1:57:39
  Speaker 1: he wiped upon his cap. It's awful when the police
• 1:57:42
  Speaker 1: has got a derry on a chap. I am an
• 1:57:46
  Speaker 1: honest working cove, as any bloke can see. It's just
• 1:57:49
  Speaker 1: because the police has got a dairy sir on me.
• 1:57:53
  Speaker 1: Oh yes, the legal gents can grin. I say, it
• 1:57:55
  Speaker 1: ain't no joke. It's cruel when the police has got
• 1:57:59
  Speaker 1: a derry on bloke. Why don't you go to work?
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 1: He said? He muttered, why don't you? Your honor knows
• 1:58:06
  Speaker 1: as well as me there ain't no work to do.
• 1:58:09
  Speaker 1: And when I try to find a job, I'm shaddered
• 1:58:12
  Speaker 1: by a trap. It's awful when the police has got
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 1: a derry on a chap. I sighed and shed a
• 1:58:19
  Speaker 1: tealalt for that. Noble nature marred. But ah, the bench
• 1:58:23
  Speaker 1: was rough on him and gave him six months hard.
• 1:58:26
  Speaker 1: He only said, beyond the grave you'll copy it ot
• 1:58:29
  Speaker 1: by jove, there ain't no angel. Please to get a
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 1: derry on a cove. End of chapter fifteen, Chapter sixteen
• 1:58:44
  Speaker 1: of Short Stories in prose and Verse by Henry Lawson.
• 1:58:48
  Speaker 1: This librivotch recording is in the public domain. Chapter sixteen,
• 1:58:54
  Speaker 1: Trouble on the selection, You lazy boy, You hear at last?
• 1:58:58
  Speaker 1: You must be wooden Land. Now are you sure? The
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 1: gate is fast and all the slip rails pegged, and
• 1:59:04
  Speaker 1: all the milker's at the yard, the calves all in
• 1:59:07
  Speaker 1: the pen. We don't want Foley's calf to suck his
• 1:59:10
  Speaker 1: mother dry again. And did you mend the broken rail
• 1:59:14
  Speaker 1: and make it firm and neat? I suppose you want
• 1:59:17
  Speaker 1: that brindled steer all night among the wheat, And if
• 1:59:20
  Speaker 1: he finds the looser patch, he'll stuff his belly full.
• 1:59:23
  Speaker 1: He'll eat till he gets blown on that and busts
• 1:59:27
  Speaker 1: like Ryan's bull. Old spot is lost. You'll drive me mad.
• 1:59:31
  Speaker 1: You will upon my soul. She might be in the
• 1:59:34
  Speaker 1: boggy swamps or down a digger's hole. You needn't talk.
• 1:59:37
  Speaker 1: You never looked. You'll find her if you choose instead
• 1:59:41
  Speaker 1: of poking possum logs and hunting kangaroos. How came your
• 1:59:45
  Speaker 1: boots as wet as muck? You tried to drown the ants?
• 1:59:48
  Speaker 1: Why don't you take your bluechers off? Good lord, he's
• 1:59:51
  Speaker 1: tore his pants. Your father's coming home to night. You'll
• 1:59:55
  Speaker 1: catch it hot, you'll see. Now, go and wash your
• 1:59:58
  Speaker 1: filthy face, and come and get End of Chapter sixteen.
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 1: End of Short Stories in prose and Verse by Henry
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 1: Lawson