`I'm all right,' I said.

`It's all right,' whispered Jack in a voice as if I was going to be hanged,
but it would soon be all over. `He can't use his hands much more

than you can -- take your time, Joe -- try to remember something I told you,
for God's sake!'

When two men fight who don't know how to use their hands,
they stand a show of knocking each other about a lot.

I got some awful thumps, but mostly on the body. Jimmy Nowlett
began to get excited and jump round -- he was an excitable little fellow.

`Fight! you ----!' he yelled. `Why don't you fight? That ain't fightin'.
Fight, and don't try to murder each other. Use your crimson hands or, by God,

I'll chip you! Fight, or I'll blanky well bullock-whip the pair of you;'
then his language got awful. They said we went like windmills,

and that nearly every one of the blows we made was enough to kill a bullock
if it had got home. Jimmy stopped us once, but they held him back.

Presently I went down pretty flat, but the blow was well up on the head and
didn't matter much -- I had a good thick skull. And I had one good eye yet.

`For God's sake, hit him!' whispered Jack -- he was trembling like a leaf.
`Don't mind what I told you. I wish I was fighting him myself!

Get a blow home, for God's sake! Make a good show this round
and I'll stop the fight.'

That showed how little even Jack, my old mate, understood me.
I had the Bushman up in me now, and wasn't going to be beaten

while I could think. I was wonderfully cool, and learning to fight.
There's nothing like a fight to teach a man. I was thinking fast,

and learning more in three seconds than Jack's sparring could have taught me
in three weeks. People think that blows hurt in a fight, but they don't --

not till afterwards. I fancy that a fighting man, if he isn't altogether
an animal, suffers more mentally than he does physically.

While I was getting my wind I could hear through the moonlight and still air
the sound of Mary's voice singing up at the house. I thought hard

into the future, even as I fought. The fight only seemed
something that was passing.

I was on my feet again and at it, and presently I lunged out
and felt such a jar in my arm that I thought it was telescoped.

I thought I'd put out my wrist and elbow. And Romany was lying
on the broad of his back.

I heard Jack draw three breaths of relief in one. He said nothing
as he straightened me up, but I could feel his heart beating.

He said afterwards that he didn't speak because he thought a word
might spoil it.

I went down again, but Jack told me afterwards that he FELT I was all right
when he lifted me.

Then Romany went down, then we fell together, and the chaps separated us.
I got another knock-down blow in, and was beginning to enjoy

the novelty of it, when Romany staggered and limped.
`I've done,' he said. `I've twisted my ankle.' He'd caught his heel

against a tuft of grass.
`Shake hands,' yelled Jimmy Nowlett.

I stepped forward, but Romany took his coat and limped to his horse.
`If yer don't shake hands with Wilson, I'll lamb yer!' howled Jimmy;

but Jack told him to let the man alone, and Romany got on his horse somehow
and rode off.

I saw Jim Bullock stoop and pick up something from the grass,
and heard him swear in surprise. There was some whispering,

and presently Jim said --
`If I thought that, I'd kill him.'

`What is it?' asked Jack.
Jim held up a butcher's knife. It was common for a man

to carry a butcher's knife in a sheath fastened to his belt.
`Why did you let your man fight with a butcher's knife in his belt?'

asked Jimmy Nowlett.
But the knife could easily have fallen out when Romany fell,

and we decided it that way.
`Any way,' said Jimmy Nowlett, `if he'd stuck Joe in hot blood before us all

it wouldn't be so bad as if he sneaked up and stuck him in the back
in the dark. But you'd best keep an eye over yer shoulder

for a year or two, Joe. That chap's got Eye-talian blood in him somewhere.
And now the best thing you chaps can do is to keep your mouth shut

and keep all this dark from the gals.'
Jack hurried me on ahead. He seemed to act queer, and when I glanced at him

I could have sworn that there was water in his eyes. I said that Jack
had no sentiment except for himself, but I forgot, and I'm sorry I said it.

`What's up, Jack?' I asked.
`Nothing,' said Jack.

`What's up, you old fool?' I said.
`Nothing,' said Jack, `except that I'm damned proud of you, Joe, you old ass!'

and he put his arm round my shoulders and gave me a shake.
`I didn't know it was in you, Joe -- I wouldn't have said it before,

or listened to any other man say it, but I didn't think you had the pluck --
God's truth, I didn't. Come along and get your face fixed up.'

We got into my room quietly, and Jack got a dish of water,
and told one of the chaps to sneak a piece of fresh beef from somewhere.

Jack was as proud as a dog with a tin tail as he fussed round me.
He fixed up my face in the best style he knew, and he knew a good many --

he'd been mended himself so often.
While he was at work we heard a sudden hush and a scraping of feet

amongst the chaps that Jack had kicked out of the room,
and a girl's voice whispered, `Is he hurt? Tell me. I want to know, --

I might be able to help.'
It made my heart jump, I can tell you. Jack went out at once,

and there was some whispering. When he came back he seemed wild.
`What is it, Jack?' I asked.

`Oh, nothing,' he said, `only that damned slut of a half-caste cook
overheard some of those blanky fools arguing as to how Romany's knife

got out of the sheath, and she's put a nice yarn round amongst the girls.
There's a regular bobbery, but it's all right now. Jimmy Nowlett's

telling 'em lies at a great rate.'
Presently there was another hush outside, and a saucer

with vinegar and brown paper was handed in.
One of the chaps brought some beer and whisky from the pub,

and we had a quiet little time in my room. Jack wanted to stay all night,
but I reminded him that his little wife was waiting for him in Solong,

so he said he'd be round early in the morning, and went home.
I felt the reaction pretty bad. I didn't feel proud of the affair at all.

I thought it was a low, brutal business all round. Romany was a quiet chap
after all, and the chaps had no right to chyack him. Perhaps he'd had

a hard life, and carried a big swag of trouble that we didn't know
anything about. He seemed a lonely man. I'd gone through enough myself

to teach me not to judge men. I made up my mind to tell him
how I felt about the matter next time we met. Perhaps I made

my usual mistake of bothering about `feelings' in another party
that hadn't any feelings at all -- perhaps I didn't; but it's generally best

to chance it on the kind side in a case like this. Altogether I felt
as if I'd made another fool of myself and been a weak coward.

I drank the rest of the beer and went to sleep.
About daylight I woke and heard Jack's horse on the gravel.

He came round the back of the buggy-shed and up to my door,
and then, suddenly, a girl screamed out. I pulled on

my trousers and 'lastic-side boots and hurried out. It was Mary herself,
dressed, and sitting on an old stone step at the back of the kitchen

with her face in her hands, and Jack was off his horse
and stooping by her side with his hand on her shoulder.

She kept saying, `I thought you were ----! I thought you were ----!'
I didn't catch the name. An old single-barrel, muzzle-loader shot-gun

was lying in the grass at her feet. It was the gun they used to keep
loaded and hanging in straps in a room of the kitchen ready for a shot

at a cunning old hawk that they called `'Tarnal Death', and that used to be
always after the chickens.

When Mary lifted her face it was as white as note-paper,
and her eyes seemed to grow wilder when she caught sight of me.

`Oh, you did frighten me, Mr Barnes,' she gasped. Then she gave
a little ghost of a laugh and stood up, and some colour came back.

`Oh, I'm a little fool!' she said quickly. `I thought I heard
old 'Tarnal Death at the chickens, and I thought it would be a great thing

if I got the gun and brought him down; so I got up and dressed quietly so as
not to wake Sarah. And then you came round the corner and frightened me.

I don't know what you must think of me, Mr Barnes.'
`Never mind,' said Jack. `You go and have a sleep, or you won't be able

to dance to-night. Never mind the gun -- I'll put that away.'
And he steered her round to the door of her room off the brick verandah

where she slept with one of the other girls.
`Well, that's a rum start!' I said.

`Yes, it is,' said Jack; `it's very funny. Well, how's your face
this morning, Joe?'

He seemed a lot more serious than usual.
We were hard at work all the morning cleaning out the big wool-shed

and getting it ready for the dance, hanging hoops for the candles,
making seats, &c. I kept out of sight of the girls as much as I could.

One side of my face was a sight and the other wasn't too classical.
I felt as if I had been stung by a swarm of bees.

`You're a fresh, sweet-scented beauty now, and no mistake, Joe,'
said Jimmy Nowlett -- he was going to play the accordion that night.

`You ought to fetch the girls now, Joe. But never mind,
your face'll go down in about three weeks. My lower jaw is crooked yet;

but that fight straightened my nose, that had been knocked crooked
when I was a boy -- so I didn't lose much beauty by it.'

When we'd done in the shed, Jack took me aside and said --
`Look here, Joe! if you won't come to the dance to-night -- and I can't say

you'd ornament it -- I tell you what you'll do. You get little Mary away
on the quiet and take her out for a stroll -- and act like a man.

The job's finished now, and you won't get another chance like this.'
`But how am I to get her out?' I said.

`Never you mind. You be mooching round down by the big peppermint-tree
near the river-gate, say about half-past ten.'

`What good'll that do?'
`Never you mind. You just do as you're told, that's all you've got to do,'

said Jack, and he went home to get dressed and bring his wife.
After the dancing started that night I had a peep in once or twice.

The first time I saw Mary dancing with Jack, and looking serious;
and the second time she was dancing with the blarsted Jackaroo dude,

and looking excited and happy. I noticed that some of the girls,
that I could see sitting on a stool along the opposite wall,

whispered, and gave Mary black looks as the Jackaroo swung her past.
It struck me pretty forcibly that I should have taken fighting lessons

from him instead of from poor Romany. I went away and walked about four miles
down the river road, getting out of the way into the Bush whenever I saw

any chap riding along. I thought of poor Romany and wondered where he was,
and thought that there wasn't much to choose between us as far as

happiness was concerned. Perhaps he was walking by himself in the Bush,
and feeling like I did. I wished I could shake hands with him.

But somehow, about half-past ten, I drifted back to the river slip-rails
and leant over them, in the shadow of the peppermint-tree,

looking at the rows of river-willows in the moonlight.
I didn't expect anything, in spite of what Jack said.

I didn't like the idea of hanging myself: I'd been with a party who found
a man hanging in the Bush, and it was no place for a woman round where he was.

And I'd helped drag two bodies out of the Cudgeegong river in a flood,
and they weren't sleeping beauties. I thought it was a pity that a chap

couldn't lie down on a grassy bank in a graceful position in the moonlight
and die just by thinking of it -- and die with his eyes and mouth shut.

But then I remembered that I wouldn't make a beautiful corpse, anyway it went,
with the face I had on me.

I was just getting comfortablymiserable when I heard a step behind me,
and my heart gave a jump. And I gave a start too.

`Oh, is that you, Mr Wilson?' said a timid little voice.
`Yes,' I said. `Is that you, Mary?'

And she said yes. It was the first time I called her Mary,
but she did not seem to notice it.

`Did I frighten you?' I asked.
`No -- yes -- just a little,' she said. `I didn't know

• mostly [´məustli] ad.主要地；多半；通常 (初中英语单词)
• learning [´lə:niŋ] n.学习；学问；知识 (初中英语单词)
• moonlight [´mu:nlait] n.&a.月光(的) (初中英语单词)
• presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
• relief [ri´li:f] n.救济；援救；减轻 (初中英语单词)
• beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始，开端；起源 (初中英语单词)
• sentiment [´sentimənt] n.情绪；多愁善感 (初中英语单词)
• waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
• reaction [ri´ækʃən] n.反应(力) (初中英语单词)
• lonely [´ləunli] a.孤独的；无人烟的 (初中英语单词)
• altogether [,ɔ:ltə´geðə] ad.完全；总而言之 (初中英语单词)
• daylight [´deilait] n.日光；黎明 (初中英语单词)
• trousers [´trauzəz] n.裤子，长裤 (初中英语单词)
• cunning [´kʌniŋ] a.&n.狡猾(诡诈)的 (初中英语单词)
• frighten [´fraitn] vt.吓唬，使惊惧 (初中英语单词)
• ornament [´ɔ:nəmənt] n.装饰(物) vt.装饰 (初中英语单词)
• whenever [wen´evə] conj.&ad.无论何时 (初中英语单词)
• sleeping [´sli:piŋ] n.&a.睡着(的) (初中英语单词)
• graceful [´greisfəl] a.优美的，流畅的 (初中英语单词)
• miserable [´mizərəbəl] a.悲惨的；可怜的 (初中英语单词)
• crimson [´krimzən] a.&n.深(紫)红(的) (高中英语单词)
• novelty [´nɔvəlti] n.新奇(的事物) (高中英语单词)
• decided [di´saidid] a.明显的；决定的 (高中英语单词)
• hurried [´hʌrid] a.仓促的，慌忙的 (高中英语单词)
• damned [dæmd] a.该死的 ad.非常，极 (高中英语单词)
• amongst [ə´mʌŋst] prep.其中之一 =among (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• hanging [´hæŋiŋ] n.绞刑 a.悬挂着的 (高中英语单词)
• crooked [´krukid] a.弯曲的；畸形的 (高中英语单词)
• stroll [strəul] n.&v.漫步；散步；游荡 (高中英语单词)
• concerned [kən´sə:nd] a.有关的；担心的 (高中英语单词)
• comfortably [´kʌmfətəbli] ad.舒适地 (高中英语单词)
• wonderfully [´wʌndəfuli] ad.令人惊讶地；奇妙地 (英语四级单词)
• sheath [ʃi:θ] n.鞘，壳，套 (英语四级单词)
• vinegar [´vinigə] n.醋 (英语四级单词)
• brutal [´bru:tl] a.兽性的；残暴的 (英语四级单词)
• grassy [´grɑ:si] a.多草的；青草味的 (英语四级单词)
• corpse [kɔ:ps] n.尸体 (英语四级单词)
• forcibly [´fɔ:səbli] ad.强行地，强烈地 (英语六级单词)