Part 45 (2/2)
”An' one cove, he was stopped close in front o' the butt end o' the log at the time; an' he jumps off his horse, an' sticks his head in the holler o' the log, an' lets a oath out of him Fearful feller to swear, he was
I disremember his name jis' now; but he'd bin on Grundle ever since he bolted from his ole man's place, in Bullarook Forest, on account of a lickin'
he got; an' it was hard to best hi sheep; an' now I rec'lect his name was dick--dick--it's jist on the tip o' ue”----
”No raat mayority too”
”Well, as I was sayin',” continued the patient Saunders, ”we lis'ned at the mouth o' the holler, an' heard the kid whinin' inside; an' e sung-out to him, he was as quiet as a mouse An' we struck , an' the log was a bit crooked; an' when you got in a couple o' yards, the hole was so small you 'd wonder how he done it Anyhow, the two station blokes rode out to pass the word; an' the ood thirty foot up the log; an' there was no satisfaction to be got out of him
He would n't shi+ft; an' by-'n'-by we co an' at last we had to chop him out, like a bees' nest
Turned out after, that the little (stray) had foun' hiuh to set dohere he was, an' wait for ot lost But by-'n'-by he heard 'Hen-ree! Hen-ree!' boomin' an'
bellerin' back an' forrid across the bend in the dark; an' he thought the boody-man, an' the bunyip, an' the banshee, an' (sheol) knohat all, was after hiit fur enough into it He was about seven year old then; an' that was in '71-- the year after the big flood--an' the shearin' was jist about over
How old would that make hio, to travel with a sheep-drover, name o' Sep Halliday, an' he's bin with the same bloke ever since Mos' likely some o' you chaps knows this Sep? Stout butt of a feller, with a red baird Used to ot tooelse--an' he went out back, Cooper's Creek ith three thousand Gunbar yowes, the beginnin' o' las' winter, an' I ain't heard of him since he crossed at Wilcanniar”----
”No wonder,” I observed; ”he's gone aloft, like the rest”
There was a pause, broken by Stevenson, in a voice that brought constraint on us all:
”Bad enough to lose a youngster for a day or two, and find him alive and well; worse, beyond co of all is for a youngster to be lost in the bush, and never found, alive or dead That's what happened to ht year old You must remember it, Thompson?”
”Was n't my father out on the search?” replied Tho on the Upper Ca his throat; ”I've been thinking over it every night for these five-and-twenty years, and it see that could have happened to hi, like that other little chap Then after five years, or ten years, or twenty years, the log gets burned, and nobody notices a few little bones, cru the ashes
”I was three or four years older than Eddie,” he resumed hoarsely ”and he just worshi+ppedwithto school; and Eddie was lost the day after I caether--about a ot cross with the poor little fellow, and gave hi He turned round and looked atthe trees; and that was the last that was ever seen of him alive or dead My God!
When I think of that look, it s me nearer to the end The spot where he turned round is in the ht to it in the ht
”Yes; he started off ho We all went the same way so soon afterward that I expected every ht we must have passed hi with grief, to think how I'd treated the little chap; so I gave Maggie and Billy the slip, and went back to lad he would be
”Ah well! the time that followed is like some horrible dream He was lost at about four in the afternoon; and there would be about a dozen people looking for hiht Next day, I daresay there would be about thirty Next , my father offered 100 reward for hiuaranteed 10 each Next day, my father's reas doubled; and five other men put down their names for another 50 Next day, Governenuine sy 500, the bush was fairly alive with people; and everyone within thirty radually dropped, till no one was left but my father
Month afterat ho for the news heAnd, time after time, he took stray bones to the doctor; but they always turned out to belong to sheep, or kangaroos, or soether, and it went to wreck; and our cattle got lost; and he was alwayswith people that sympathised with him, and asked him to have a drink--and you can hardly call him responsible for the rest
However, on the anniversary of the day that Eddie got lost, s to a head My father had borrowed every shi+lling that the place would carry, to keep up the search; and there was neither interest nor principal forthcoee-- Wesleyan et his money
We had three uncles; each of the forlower and lower, till he was found dead in a stable, one cold winter
That was about four years after Eddie was lost”
Stevenson paused, and restlessly changed his position, then muttered, in evident torture of , he looked back over his shoulder at ainst a sapling, and staggered--and I laughed!--Great God!--I laughed!”
That was the end of the tank-sinker's story; and silence fell on our camp
Doubtless each one of us recalled actions of petty tyranny toward leal, loving, helpless dependents, or inferiors in strength--actions which now see their exes self-forgiveness in course of tiuiltyany brother whose keeper he is by virtue of superior strength; and that brand will burn while life endures
(Conversely--does such remorse ever follow disdain of authority, or defiance of power? I, for one, have never experienced it)