I must
ha' been on forty or fifty prisoners' gyards, first an' last, an'
I hate ut new ivry time."
"Let's see. You were on Losson's, Lancey's, Dugard's, and
Stebbins's, that I can remember," I said.
"Ay, an' before that an' before that - scores av thim," he
answered with a worn smile. "Tis betther to die than to live for
thim, though. Whin Raines comes out - he'll be changin' his kit at
the jail now - he'll think that too. He shud ha' shot himself an'
the woman by rights, an' made a clean bill av all. Now he's left
the woman - she tuk tay wid Dinah Sunday gone last - an' he's left
himself. Mackie's the lucky man."
-
"He's probably getting it hot where he is," I ventured, for I knew
something of the dead Corporal's record.
"Be sure av that," said Terence, spitting over the edge of the
verandah. "But fwhat he'll get there is light marchin'-ordher to
fwhat he'd ha' got here if he'd lived."
"Surely not. He'd have gone on and forgotten like the others."
"Did ye know Mackie well, Sorr?" said Terence.
"He was on the Pattiala guard of honour last winter, and I went
out shooting with him in an ekka for the day, and I found him
rather an amusing man."
"Well, he'll ha' got shut av amusemints, excipt turnin' from wan
side to the other, these few years come.
Pages:
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28