Part 7 (2/2)
Before he leaves Bray at Cooper's Creek, he drors out--what do you think?-- well, he drors out a plan o' forti--(adj)--fications, like they got in ole wore-out countries; an' Bray had to keep his fellers workin' an' cursin'
at this thing till the ti the tamest blackfellers in the world Why, Burke was dotin'
Wants a young feller, with soition; an'
on top o' Burke's swellishness an' uselessness, dash me if he wasn't forty!”
”Well, no; he war n't too old, Mosey,” interposed Price deprecatingly
”Wants a experienced man fer sich work Same ti'lar thing, you'll never hear one good word o' that man,” observed Cooper
”Different from all the other explorers Can't account for it, no road”
”Another singular thing is that you'll never read a word against him,”
added Thompson ”In conversation, you'll always learn that Burke never did a thing worth doing or said a thing worth saying; and that his raced a new-chum schoolboy; and old Victorian policemen will tell you that he left the force with the name of a bully and a snob, and a et into print”
”De mortuis nil nisi bonuhby
”It is that,” retorted Mosey ”Divil a fear but they'll nicely bone anythin'
in the shape o' credit Toffs is no slouches at barrickin'
for theyre own push An' I'll tell you another dash good maximum,-- it's to keep off of weltin' a dyin' hby?” asked Thoes of the foolishest trash that any ; and I'm afraid it's about a fair sample of Burke
I wish you could talk to some fellows that I know--Barefooted Bob, for instance Now, there's athat he was n't sure of; and he's been all over the country that Burke was over, and heard all that is to be known of the expedition
And Bob's a oes with his eyes open I wish you could talk to hiets down here into civilisation ”
”There is a certain justice in Mosey's contention,” I reues that, as Burke, by dying of hardshi+p, earned himself a statue, so Brown, Jones, and Robinson--whose souls, we trust, are in a less torrid climate than their unburied bones--should, in bare justice, have sinition For Burke's sake, of course, the comparison in value of service had better not be entered on
Mosey would have our cities resecitizens”
”Your allusion to Athens is singularly happy,” replied the whaler; ”but you will remember that the Athenians were, in many respects, as exclusive as ourselves The impassable chasm which separates your illustrious explorer froh, perhaps, not so jealously guarded
But let us change the subject”
”Yes; do,” said Cooper cordially ”I hate argyin' Fust go off, it's all friendly;--'Yes, ood man'--'No, my dear feller'--'Don't run aith that idear'--'You're puttin' the boot on the wrong foot'-- 'You got the wrong pig by the tail'--an' so on, as sweet as sugar
But by-'n'-by it's, 'To (sheol) with you for a (adj) fool!'-- 'You're a (adj) liar!'--'Who the (adj sheol) do you think you're talking to?'--an' one word fetchin' on another till it grows into a sort o' unpleasantness”
”Hear anything of Bob and Bat lately?” asked Thoone to have a confab with Burke; an' good enough for the likes o' them,”
replied Mosey ”Them sort o' varmin's the curse o' the country
I ain't a very honorable sort, o on one feed every two days before I'd coo, you know, ole M'Gregor he sent the (adj) skunks out with cattle to some new country, a hundred mile beyond (sheol); an' between hardshi+p, an' bad tucker, an' bad conscience, they both pegged out So a feller froo”
”Smart fellows in their way,” reh they rounded me up twice, and made ested Mosey ”They grabbed us there once, an' it was touch-an'-go another time But the place is worth a bit o' risk”
”No; both times it was on Wo-Winya, on the Deniliquin side,” replied Thoo Bob and Bat were du after the Skeleton paddock Flash young fellers they were then Cunningha up e at grey daylight, but it was a bit foggy, and instead of finding the bullocks, we found Bob and Bat cantering round, looking for theham and I separated, and so did the other two; and the four of us spent the liveliest half-hour you could wish for; chasing, and crossing, andone another in all directions, and not a word spoken, and not a hoof to be seen At last the fog lifted a bit, and Cunningham spotted cattle in a timbered swaently, and was edging up to get a good start when Bat took the alar with theht andour o off on the juhaot within a quarter of a mile, I saw there was only part of our lot there
Just then I saw Bob turn his horse, and race straight toward , I saw more cattle