Digger Smith | Page 9

is rather umptydoo,?An' some is--indiscreet.?But them that don't get to the crowd,?Them is the ones would make yeh proud."
With Digger Smith an' other blokes?'Oo 'ave returned it's much the same?They'll talk uv wot they've seen an' done?When they've been out to 'ave their fun;?But no word uv the game.?On fights an' all the tale uv blood?Their talk, as they remark, is dud.
It's so with soldiers, I 'ave 'eard,?All times. The things that they 'ave done,?War-mad, with blood before their eyes,?An' in their ears wild fightin' cries,?They ever after shun.?P'r'aps they forget; or find it well?Not to recall too much uv 'Ell.
An' when they won't loose up their talk?It's 'ard for us to understand?'Ow all those boys we used to know,?Ole Billo, Jim an' Tom an' Joe,?Done things to beat the band.?We knoo they'd fight; but they've became?'Ead ringers at the fightin' game.
Well, wot I've 'eard from Digger Smith?An' other soldier blokes like 'im?I've put together bit by bit,?An' chewed a long time over it;?An' now I've got a dim?An' 'azy notion in me 'ead?Why they is battlers, born an' bred.
Wot did they know uv war first off,?When they joined up? Wot did I know?When I was tossed out on me neck?As if I was a shattered wreck?The time I tried to go??Flat feet! Me feet 'as len'th an' brea'th?Enough to kick a 'Un to death!
They don't know nothin', bein' reared?Out 'ere where war 'as never spread--?"A land by bloodless conquest won,"?As some son uv a writin' gun?Sez in a book I read?They don't know nix but wot they're told?At school; an' that sticks till they're old.
Yeh've got to take the kid at school,?Gettin' 'is 'ist'ry lesson learned--?Then tales uv Nelson an' uv Drake,?Uv Wellin'ton an' Fightin' Blake.?'Is little 'eart 'as burned?To get right out an' 'ave a go,?An' sock it into some base foe.
Nothin' but glory fills 'is mind;?The British charge is somethin' grand;?The soldier that 'e reads about?Don't 'ave no time for fear an' doubt;?'E's the 'eroic brand.?So, when that boy gets in the game,?'E jist wades in an' does the same.
Not bein' old 'ands at the stunt,?They simply does as they are told;?But, bein' Aussies--Spare me days!--?They never thinks uv other ways,?But does it brave an' bold.?That's 'arf; an' for the other part?Yeh got to go back to the start.
Yeh've got to go right back to Dad,?To Gran'dad and the pioneers,?'Oo packed up all their bag uv tricks?An' come out 'ere in fifty-six,?An' battled thro' the years;?Our Gran'dads; and their women, too,?That 'ad the grit to face the new.
It's that old stock; an', more than that,?It's Bill an' Jim an' ev'ry son?Gettin' three good meat meals a day?An' 'eaps uv chance to go an' play?Out in the bonzer sun.?It's partly that; but, don't forget,?When it's all said, there's somethin' yet.
There's somethin' yet; an' there I'm beat.?Crowds uv these lads I've known, but then,?They 'ave got somethin' from this war,?Somethin' they never 'ad before,?That makes 'en better men.?Better? There's no word I can get?To name it right. There's somethin' yet.
We 'ear a lot about reward;?We praise, an' sling the cheers about;?But there was debts we can't repay?Piled up on us one single day--?When that first list come out.?There ain't no way to pay that debt.?Do wot we can--there's somethin' yet.
X. HALF A MAN
Half a Man
"I WASH me 'ands uv 'im," I tells 'em, straight.?"You women can do wot yeh dash well like.?I leave this 'arf a man to 'is own fate;?I've done me bit, an' now I'm gone on strike.?Do wot yeh please; but don't arsk 'elp from me;?'E's give me nerves; so now I'll let 'im be."
Doreen an' ole Mar Flood 'as got a scheme.?They've been conspirin' for a week or more?About this Digger Smith, an' now they dream?They've got 'is fucher waitin' in cool store?To 'and 'im out, an' fix 'im up for life.?But they've got Buckley's, as I tells me wife.
I've seen 'em whisperin' up in our room.?Now they wants me to join in the debate;?But, "Nix," I tells 'em. "I ain't in the boom,?An' Digger Smith ain't risin' to me bait;?'E's fur too fly a fish for me to catch,?An' two designin' women ain't 'is match."
I puts me foot down firm, an' tells 'em, No!?Their silly plan's a thing I wouldn't touch.?An' then me wife, for 'arf an hour or so,?Talks to me confident, of nothin' much;?Then, 'fore I know it, I am all red 'ot?Into the scheme, an' leader uv the plot.
'Twas Mar Flood starts it. She got 'old uv 'im--?You know the way they 'ave with poor, weak men--?She drops a tear or two concernin' Jim;?Tells 'im wot women 'ave to bear; an' then?She got 'im talkin', like a woman can.?'E never would 'ave squeaked to any man.
She leads 'im on--It's crook the way they scheme?To talk about this girl 'e's left be'ind.?Not