Joe Wilson and His Mates [94]
to the floor,
rested his elbows on his knees, took his unfortunate head between his hands,
and came back to life gradually.
He lifted his head, looked at the girl across the top of the bar,
and formed with his lips, rather than spoke, the words --
`Put up a drink?'*
--
* `Put up a drink' -- i.e., `Give me a drink on credit', or `Chalk it up'.
--
She shook her head tightly and went on reading.
He staggered up, and, leaning on the bar, made desperate distress signals
with hand, eyes, and mouth.
`No!' she snapped. `I means no when I says no! You've had too many
last drinks already, and the boss says you ain't to have another.
If you swear again, or bother me, I'll call him.'
He hung sullenly on the counter for a while, then lurched to his swag,
and shouldered it hopelessly and wearily. Then he blinked round,
whistled, waited a moment, went on to the front verandah, peered round,
through the heat, with bloodshot eyes, and whistled again.
He turned and started through to the back-door.
`What the devil do you want now?' demanded the girl,
interrupted in her reading for the third time by him.
`Stampin' all over the house. You can't go through there!
It's privit! I do wish to goodness you'd git!'
`Where the blazes is that there dog o' mine got to?' he muttered.
`Did you see a dog?'
`No! What do I want with your dog?'
He whistled out in front again, and round each corner. Then he came back
with a decided step and tone.
`Look here! that there dog was lyin' there agin the wall when I went to sleep.
He wouldn't stir from me, or my swag, in a year, if he wasn't dragged.
He's been blanky well touched [stolen], and I wouldn'ter lost him for a fiver.
Are you sure you ain't seen a dog?' then suddenly, as the thought struck him:
`Where's them two chaps that was playin' cards when I wenter sleep?'
`Why!' exclaimed the girl, without thinking, `there was a dog,
now I come to think of it, but I thought it belonged to one of them chaps.
Anyway, they played for it, and the other chap won it and took it away.'
He stared at her blankly, with thunder gathering in the blankness.
`What sort of a dog was it?'
Dog described; the chain round the neck settled it.
He scowled at her darkly.
`Now, look here,' he said; `you've allowed gamblin' in this bar --
your boss has. You've got no right to let spielers gamble away a man's dog.
Is a customer to lose his dog every time he has a doze to suit your boss?
I'll go straight across to the police camp and put you away,
and I don't care if you lose your licence. I ain't goin' to lose my dog.
I wouldn'ter taken a ten-pound note for that blanky dog! I ----'
She was filling a pewter hastily.
`Here! for God's sake have a drink an' stop yer row.'
He drank with satisfaction. Then he hung on the bar with one elbow
and scowled out the door.
`Which blanky way did them chaps go?' he growled.
`The one that took the dog went towards Tinned Dog.'
`And I'll haveter go all the blanky way back after him, and most likely
lose me shed! Here!' jerking the empty pewter across the bar,
`fill that up again; I'm narked properly, I am, and I'll take
twenty-four blanky hours to cool down now. I wouldn'ter lost that dog
for twenty quid.'
He drank again with deeper satisfaction, then he shuffled out,
muttering, swearing, and threatening louder every step, and took the track
to Tinned Dog.
--------------------
Now the man, girl, or woman, who told me this yarn has never quite settled it
in his or her mind as to who really owned the dog. I leave it to you.
Telling Mrs Baker.
Most Bushmen who hadn't `known Bob Baker to speak to',
had `heard tell of him'. He'd been a squatter, not many years before,
on the Macquarie river in New South Wales, and had made money
in the good seasons, and had gone in for horse-racing and racehorse-breeding,
and long trips to Sydney, where he put up at swell hotels and went the pace.
So after a pretty severe drought, when the sheep died by
rested his elbows on his knees, took his unfortunate head between his hands,
and came back to life gradually.
He lifted his head, looked at the girl across the top of the bar,
and formed with his lips, rather than spoke, the words --
`Put up a drink?'*
--
* `Put up a drink' -- i.e., `Give me a drink on credit', or `Chalk it up'.
--
She shook her head tightly and went on reading.
He staggered up, and, leaning on the bar, made desperate distress signals
with hand, eyes, and mouth.
`No!' she snapped. `I means no when I says no! You've had too many
last drinks already, and the boss says you ain't to have another.
If you swear again, or bother me, I'll call him.'
He hung sullenly on the counter for a while, then lurched to his swag,
and shouldered it hopelessly and wearily. Then he blinked round,
whistled, waited a moment, went on to the front verandah, peered round,
through the heat, with bloodshot eyes, and whistled again.
He turned and started through to the back-door.
`What the devil do you want now?' demanded the girl,
interrupted in her reading for the third time by him.
`Stampin' all over the house. You can't go through there!
It's privit! I do wish to goodness you'd git!'
`Where the blazes is that there dog o' mine got to?' he muttered.
`Did you see a dog?'
`No! What do I want with your dog?'
He whistled out in front again, and round each corner. Then he came back
with a decided step and tone.
`Look here! that there dog was lyin' there agin the wall when I went to sleep.
He wouldn't stir from me, or my swag, in a year, if he wasn't dragged.
He's been blanky well touched [stolen], and I wouldn'ter lost him for a fiver.
Are you sure you ain't seen a dog?' then suddenly, as the thought struck him:
`Where's them two chaps that was playin' cards when I wenter sleep?'
`Why!' exclaimed the girl, without thinking, `there was a dog,
now I come to think of it, but I thought it belonged to one of them chaps.
Anyway, they played for it, and the other chap won it and took it away.'
He stared at her blankly, with thunder gathering in the blankness.
`What sort of a dog was it?'
Dog described; the chain round the neck settled it.
He scowled at her darkly.
`Now, look here,' he said; `you've allowed gamblin' in this bar --
your boss has. You've got no right to let spielers gamble away a man's dog.
Is a customer to lose his dog every time he has a doze to suit your boss?
I'll go straight across to the police camp and put you away,
and I don't care if you lose your licence. I ain't goin' to lose my dog.
I wouldn'ter taken a ten-pound note for that blanky dog! I ----'
She was filling a pewter hastily.
`Here! for God's sake have a drink an' stop yer row.'
He drank with satisfaction. Then he hung on the bar with one elbow
and scowled out the door.
`Which blanky way did them chaps go?' he growled.
`The one that took the dog went towards Tinned Dog.'
`And I'll haveter go all the blanky way back after him, and most likely
lose me shed! Here!' jerking the empty pewter across the bar,
`fill that up again; I'm narked properly, I am, and I'll take
twenty-four blanky hours to cool down now. I wouldn'ter lost that dog
for twenty quid.'
He drank again with deeper satisfaction, then he shuffled out,
muttering, swearing, and threatening louder every step, and took the track
to Tinned Dog.
--------------------
Now the man, girl, or woman, who told me this yarn has never quite settled it
in his or her mind as to who really owned the dog. I leave it to you.
Telling Mrs Baker.
Most Bushmen who hadn't `known Bob Baker to speak to',
had `heard tell of him'. He'd been a squatter, not many years before,
on the Macquarie river in New South Wales, and had made money
in the good seasons, and had gone in for horse-racing and racehorse-breeding,
and long trips to Sydney, where he put up at swell hotels and went the pace.
So after a pretty severe drought, when the sheep died by