Digger Smith | Page 8

ain't no cause at all for
you to feel
Modest about the things you 'ave to tell;
An' wot yeh say
sounds wonderfully reel.
Your talk'--an' 'ere I seen 'er eyelids flick--
'Makes me 'omesick.
"'I reckerlect,' she sez--'Now, let me see--
In Gippsland, long ago,
when I was young,
I 'ad a little pet Corroboree,'
(I sits up in me
chair like I was stung.)
'On its 'ind legs,' she sez, 'it used to stand.
Fed from me 'and.'
"Uv course, I threw me alley in right there.
This Princess was a
dinkum Aussie girl.
I can't do nothin' else but sit an' stare,
Thinkin'
so rapid that me 'air roots curl.
But 'er? She sez, 'I ain't 'eard talk so
good

Since my child'ood.
"'I wish,' sez she, 'I could be back again
Beneath the wattle an' that
great blue sky.
It's like a breath uv 'ome to meet you men.
You've
done reel well,' she sez. 'Don't you be shy.
When yer in Blighty once
again,' sez she,
'Come an' see me.'
"I don't see 'er no more; 'cos I stopped one.
But, 'fore I sails, I gits a
billy doo
Which sez, 'Give my love to the dear ole Sun,
An' take an
exile's blessin' 'ome with you.
An' if you 'ave some boomerangs to
spare,
Save me a pair.
"'I'd like to see 'em play about,' she wrote,
'Out on me lawn, an' stroke
their pretty fur.
God bless yeh, boy.' An' then she ends 'er note,
'Yer
dinkum cobber,' an' 'er moniker.
A sport? You bet! She's marri'd to an
Earl--
An Aussie girl."
VIII. JIM'S GIRL
Jim's Girl
"'Oo is that girl," sez Digger Smith,
"That never seems to bother with

No blokes: the bint with curly 'air?
I've often seen 'er over there

Talkin' to Missus Flood, an' she
Seems like a reel ripe peach to me.
"Not that I'm askin'" . . . 'Ere 'is eyes
Goes sort uv swiv'ly, an' 'e sighs.

"Not that I'm askin' with idears
Uv love an' marridge; 'ave no fears.

I've chucked the matrimony plan,"
'E sez. "I'm only 'arf a man."
This Digger Smith 'as fairly got
Me rampin' with 'is "'arf man" rot.


'E 'as a timber leg, it's true;
But 'e can do the work uv two.
Besides,
the things 'e's done Out There
Makes 'im one man an' some to spare.
I knoo 'is question was jist kid.
'E'd met this girl; I know 'e did.
'E
knoo Jim Flood an' 'er was booked
For double when the 'Un was
cooked.
But, seein' 'er, it used to start
'Im thinkin' uv another tart.
"Oh, 'er?" sez I. "She is a pearl.
I've 'eard she used to be Jim's girl;

But she was jist a child when Jim
Got out. She 'as forgotten 'im."
I
knows jist wot was in 'is mind,
An' sez, "Wade in, if you're inclined."
'E give me sich a narsty look
I thought 'e meant to answer crook;

But, "I ain't out for jokes," sez 'e
"Yeh needn't sling that stuff to me.

I only was jist thinkin'--p'r'aps . . . . .
There's some," 'e sez, "that
sticks to chaps.
"Some girls," sez 'e, "keeps true to chaps,
An' wed 'em when they've
done with scraps,
An' come 'ome whole. Yeh don't ixpec'
No tart to
tie up to a wreck?
Besides," 'e sez. . . . "Well, any'ow,
That girl's all
right; I know it now.
"I know," sez Smith. "I got it right.
Jim used to talk to me at night

About a little girl 'e tracked.
'Er name is Flo. Ain't that a fact?
That's
'er. I know she writes to 'im
Each mail. She ain't forgotten Jim.
"I'd like to swap my luck for Jim's
If 'e comes 'ome with all 'is limbs.

An', if 'e don't--well, I dunno.
I've taken notice uv this Flo,
An'
wonder if"--'e stares at me--
"If there is more like 'er" sez 'e.
Now, Digger Smith 'as learned a lot
Out fightin' there, but 'e ain't got

The cunnin' for to 'ide 'is 'eart.
'E's too dam honest, for a start;
'Is
mind's dead simple to a friend.
I've read 'im through from end to end.
I've learned from things 'e 'asn't said
Jist wot's been runnin in 'is 'ead.

I know there is a girl, somewhere;

Some one 'oo 'ad the 'eart to care


For 'im when 'e went to the war.
I know all that, an' somethin'
more.
I know that since 'e came back 'ere
'E 'asn't seen that girl for fear

She'd turn 'im down--give 'im the bird,
An' 'and 'im out the frozen
word,
Because 'e's left a leg in France;
An' 'e's afraid to take a
chance.
Well, not afraid, per'aps, but--shook.
It's jist the form 'is nerves 'ave
took.
Now 'e's been watchin' Flo an' seen
'Er style, an' 'ow she's
always keen
For news uv Jim. Then 'e starts out
To 'ope, an' 'esitate,
an' doubt.
'E wonders if 'is own girl spoke
Jist this same way about 'er bloke.

'E wonders if in 'is girl's eyes
That same look came; an' then 'e sighs,

An' dulls 'is senses with the dope
That 'arf a man ain't got no 'ope.
'E makes me tired. But, all the same,
I tries to work a