Part 30 (2/2)

No such romance for the annalist, poor man

Such, then, was ary, at the time this record opens I had ca, had wakened-up a little after sunrise, and turned out a little after eleven Then a dip in the river, to clear away the cobwebs, and a breakfast which, if not high-toned in its accessories, was at least enjoyed at a fashi+onable hour, had antic meerschau de to read

But the austere pipe resented this unworthy alliance so strongly that, for peace sake, I had to lay aside the literary Dead-Sea-apple

Then I remembered the official letter I had received on the previous day

I hadon the orders it contained; now I re-opened the document, and pharisaically conteraphy of my superior officer:--

Sydney 28/11/83

Mr T Collins

Dr sir Haveing got 3 months leave of Abscence you are hereby requested to be extra atentive to the Interests of the Dept not haveing me to reffer to in Cases of difeculty or to recieve instructions fro in the other Colonys

I write this principaly to aquaint you Co Mr Jeffrey representives will meet you at Poondoo on monday 10 prox re matter in dispute Keep this apoint further Orders from me

Ynnnnnnnnly

R Wmlnlnllnn

I was now on my way to keep the ”apointment” I was still about twenty miles from Poondoo; and the next day would be ”ain at about two o'clock; so I had still a couple of hours to spend in what civilians call rest, and soldiers, fatigue; whilst studying such probleht present themselves for solution Pup was safe by ht of the transitoriness and uncertainty of life did occur to es; but I deftly applied the reflection toto coht, is a confirh

A trip round the colonies may liven him up a bit, or, on the other hand, it may not; and, if he returns, it is to be hoped that kind hands will soothe his pillow, and so forth; and when, with dirges due, in sad array, they have performed the last melancholy offices, I trust that some one will be found to dress, with simple hands, his rural tomb I would do itdies but so as the cognate reflection----

”Ha-a-ay!”

So from the other side of the river; probably so for hiswithdraws but it leaves room for a successor

And this successor--thus favoured by a Providence which has kindly supervised the fall of the antecedent sparroill be entitled to live in a four-rooarden up to the footpath, and a few silver-pencilled Ha coht of the dove----

”Ha-a-a-ay!”

Peace! peace! Orestes--like, I breathe this prayer Thy coht of the dove that has suggested this fairy picture of the dovecote And soet a certain cavalier who called one day about a dog Doubtless her memory holds him enshrined as a person of scientific attain a contrast, I trust, to the uninteresting hayseeds who have coain? Yea, Jiain, to lay at thy shapely and substantial feet the trophy of an----

”Ha-a-a-a-ay!”

Ay, lay thee down and roar--Of an assistant-Sub-Inspectorshi+p Ah, Jim!

tentatively beloved (so to speak) by this solitary, but by noaside the rises I would take out of thy artlessness, and the way I would whip thy simplicity with my fine wit till thou wert as crestfallen as a dried pear--I confess a spontaneous thought associated with the mental carte-de-visite of thy wholesonition of an angel-influence----

”Ha-a-a-a-a-ay!”

In vain! in vain! strike other chords! You can call spirits from the vasty deep; but will they coible, visible, audible, which would make Jordan the easiest of all roads to travel by thy side Peerless Ji triuh countless hairy and uninviting types!

how precious the inexplicable vital spark which, nevertheless, robs thy sculptured forentle personality a satisfying co lines of Faust :