Digger Smith | Page 6

'e ain't frettin', seems to me;?More--puzzled, fur as I can see.
The clouds above the hills was tore?Apart, until, some'ow,?It seemed like some big, shinin' gate.?Said 'e, "Why, lad, I tell yeh straight,?I feel like startin' now,?An' walkin' on, an' on, an' thro',?Dead game an'--Ain't it so to you?
"I've seen enough uv pain," 'e said,?"An' cursin', killin' 'ordes.?I ain't the man to smooge with God?To get to 'Eaven on the nod,?Or 'owl 'ymns for rewards.?But this believin'? Why--Oh, 'Struth?This never 'it me in me youth.
"They talk uv love 'twixt men," said 'e.?"That sounds dead crook to you.?But lately I 'ave come to see." . . .?"'Old on," I said; "it seems to me?There's love uv women too.?An you?" 'E turns away 'is 'ead.?"I'm only 'arf a man," 'e said.
"I've seen so much uv death," said 'e,?"Me mind is in a whirl.?I've 'ad so many thoughts uv late." . . .?Said I, "Now, tell me, tell me straight;?Own up; ain't there a girl?"?Said 'e, "I've done the best I can.?Wot does she want with 'arf a man?"
It weren't no use. 'E wouldn't talk?Uv nothin' but that sky.?Said 'e, "Now, dinkum, talkin' square,?When you git gazin' over there?Don't you 'arf want to cry??I wouldn't be su'prised to see?An angel comin' out," said 'e.
"Gone West!" said Digger Smith. "Ah, lad,?I've seen 'em goin' West,?An' often wonder, when I look,?If they 'ave 'ad it dealt 'em crook,?Or if they've got the rest?They earned twice over by the spell?They spent down in that dinkum 'Ell."
The gold was creepin' up, the sun?Was 'arf be'ind the range.?It don't seem strange a man should cry?To see that glory in the sky?To me it don't seem strange.?"Digger!" said 'e. "Look at it now!?There must be somethin' else--some'ow."
VI. OVER THE FENCE
Over the Fence
'TAINT my idea uv argument to call a man a fool,?An' I ain't lookin' round for bricks to 'eave at ole man Poole; But when 'e gets disputin' 'e's inclined to lose 'is 'ead. It ain't so much 'is choice uv words as 'ow the words is said.
'E's sich a coot for takin' sides, as I sez to Doreen.?Sez she, "'Ow can 'e, by 'imself ?" Wotever that may mean. My wife sez little things sometimes that nearly git me riled. I knoo she meant more than she said be that soft way she smiled.
To-day, when I was 'arrowin', Poole comes down to the fence To get the loan uv my long spade; an' uses that pretence?To 'ave a bit uv friendly talk, an' one word leads to more, As is the way with ole man Poole, as I've remarked before.
The spade reminds 'im 'ow 'e done some diggin' in 'is day,?An' diggin' brings the talk to earth, an' earth leads on to clay, Then clay quite natural reminds a thinkin' bloke uv bricks, An' mortar brings up mud, an' then, uv course, it's politics.
Now, Poole sticks be 'is Party, an' I don't deny 'is right; But when 'e starts abusin' mine 'e's lookin' for a fight.?So I delivers good 'ome truths about 'is crowd; then Poole Wags 'is ole beard across the fence an' tells me I'm a fool.
Now, that's the dizzy limit; so I lays aside the reins,?An' starts to prove 'e's storin' mud where most blokes keeps
their brains.?'E decorates 'is answers, an' we're goin' it ding-dong,?When this returned bloke, Digger Smith, comes sauntering along.
Poole's gripped the fence as though 'e means to tear the rails
in two,?An' eyes my waggin' finger like 'e wants to 'ave a chew.?Then Digger Smith 'e grins at Poole, an' then 'e looks at me, An' sez, quite soft an' friendly-like, "Winnin' the war?" sez 'e.
Now, Poole deserves it, an' I'm pleased the lad give 'im that jolt. 'E goes fair mad in argument when once 'e gets a holt.?"Yeh make me sad," sez Digger Smith; "the both uv you," sez 'e. "The both uv us! Gawstruth!" sez I. "You ain't includin' me?"
"Well, it takes two to make a row," sez little Digger Smith. "A bloke can't argue 'less 'e 'as a bloke to argue with.?I've come 'ome from a dinkum scrap to find this land uv light Is chasin' its own tail around an' callin' it a fight.
"We've seen a thing or two, us blokes 'oo've fought on many fronts; An' we've 'ad time to think a bit between the fightin' stunts. We've seen big things, an' thought big things, an' all the
silly fuss,?That used to get us rattled once, seems very small to us.
"An' when a bloke's fought for a land an' gets laid on the shelf It pains 'im to come 'ome an' find it scrappin' with itself; An' scrappin' all for nothin', or for things that look so
small--?To us, 'oo've been in bigger things, they don't seem reel at all.
"P'r'aps we 'ave 'ad some skite knocked out, an'