Still trembling with excitement, he made a fire
andlighted torches. Hedragged half a hollow log under the dray and slept on
that.
But dont say a word of it in front of the old
woman,Mickey pleaded. It must be on the other side of that, he said andplunged in.
To move at all, in shambling steps ofa few inches, was a battle of will renewed at
every step. This kepthim busy for three days, but it was finished at last. Vell, it
aint my fault, he said with resolution. Been wastin all that money onbooze for five
years and never once you go to England. And carryin on fit to be hanged, the
lout.
He plodded through the mud tothe shelter of the
scrub that was really no shelter at all. He climbed a tree and surveyed a country in
flood. It was foul, but he swallowed a few mouthfuls, andswam the river a third
time. You say me I have one drink and cant swim that ploodycreek. Cloudsof sandflies
immediately settled upon it.
I got the best three-star in the country, he
saidproudly.
The mans eyes came slowly alight, as though seeing
Cabellfor the first time.
Approached by a boozy individual who said Down on
your luck,eh, mate?
Approached by a boozy individual who said Down on
your luck,eh, mate?
This was December the twelfth, his seventh day from
the dray andseventy-fifth from the homestead. Drink up, me beauty, he was saying in
a gruff Irish voice.
So it must lie twenty-four miles from the point
wherethey met. He said nothing, and his dark,brooding face remained set.