'“Take out the luggage, you divil,” sez I, “or I'll murther you!”
'The lights av the thraps people comin' from the Gaff was showin' across
the parade ground, an', by this an' that, the way thim two women worked
at the bundles an' thrunks was a caution! I was dyin' to help, but,
seein' I didn't want to be known, I sat wid the blanket roun' me an'
coughed an' thanked the Saints there was no moon that night.
'Whin all was in the house again, I niver asked for _bukshish_ but dhruv
tremenjus in the opp'site way from the other carr'ge an' put out my
lights. Presintly, I saw a naygur man wallowin' in the road. I slipped
down before I got to him, for I suspicioned Providence was wid me all
through that night. 'Twas Jungi, his nose smashed in flat, all dumb sick
as you please. Dennis's man must have tilted him out av the thrap. Whin
he came to, “Hutt!” sez I, but he began to howl.
'“You black lump av dirt,” I sez, “is this the way you dhrive your
_gharri?_ That _tikka_ has been _owin'_ an' _fere-owin'_ all over the
bloomin' country this whole bloomin' night, an' you as _mut-walla_ as
Davey's sow. Get up, you hog!” sez I, louder, for I heard the wheels
av a thrap in the dark; “get up an' light your lamps, or you'll be run
into!” This was on the road to the Railway Station.
'“Fwhat the divil's this?” sez the Capt'n's voice in the dhark, an' I
could judge he was in a lather av rage.
'”_Gharri_ dhriver here, dhrunk, Sorr,” sez I; “I've found his _gharri_
sthrayin' about cantonmints, an' now I've found him.”
'“Oh!” sez the Capt'n; “fwhat's his name?” I stooped down an' pretended
to listen.
'“He sez his name's Jungi, Sorr,” sez I.
'“Hould my harse,” sez the Capt'n to his man, an' wid that he gets down
wid the whip an' lays into Jungi, just mad wid rage an' swearin' like
the scutt he was.
'I thought, afther a while, he wud kill the man, so I sez:--“Stop, Sorr,
or you'll, murdher him!” That dhrew all his fire on me, an' he cursed
me into Blazes, an' out again. I stud to attenshin an' saluted:--“Sorr,”
sez I, “av ivry man in this wurruld had his rights, I'm thinkin' that
more than wan wud be beaten to a jelly for this night's work--that niver
came off at all, Sorr, as you see?” “Now,” thinks I to myself, “Terence
Mulvaney, you've cut your own throat, for he'll sthrike, an' you'll
knock him down for the good av his sowl an' your own iverlastin'
dishgrace!”
'But the Capt'n niver said a single wurrd. He choked where he stud, an'
thin he went into his thrap widout sayin' good-night, an' I wint back to
barricks.'
'And then?' said Ortheris and I together.
'That was all,' said Mulvaney; 'niver another word did I hear av the
whole thing. All I know was that there was no e-vasion, an' that was
fwhat I wanted. Now, I put ut to you, Sorr, is ten days' C. B. a fit an'
a proper tratement for a man who has behaved as me?'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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