“'God be good to us all,' I sez, for I saw his face. 'Will ye tell a man
the throuble. If 'tis not murder, maybe we'll mend it yet.'
“At that he laughed. 'D'you remimber fwhat I said in the Tyrone barricks
about comin' to you for ghostly consolation. I have not forgot,' he sez.
'That came back, an' the rest av my time is on me now, Terence. I've
fought ut off for months an' months, but the liquor will not bite any
more, Terence,' he sez. 'I can't get dhrunk.'
“Thin I knew he spoke the truth about bein' in hell, for whin liquor
does not take hould, the sowl av a man is rotten in him. But me bein'
such as I was, fwhat could I say to him?
“'Di'monds an' pearls,' he begins again. 'Di'monds and pearls I have
thrown away wid both hands--an' fwhat have I left? Oh, fwhat have I
left?'
“He was shakin' an' thremblin' up against my shouldher, an' the slugs
was singin' overhead, an' I was wonderin' whether my little bhoy wud
have sinse enough to kape his men quiet through all this firin'.
“'So long as I did not think,' sez Love-o'-Women, 'so long I did not
see--I wud not see--but I can now, what I've lost. The time an' the
place,' he sez, 'an' the very words I said whin ut pleased me to go off
alone to hell. But thin, even thin,' he sez, wrigglin' tremenjus, 'I
wud not ha' been happy. There was too much behind av me. How cud I ha'
believed her sworn oath--me that have bruk mine again an' again for the
sport av seein' thim cry. An' there are the others,' he sez. 'Oh, what
will I do--what will I do'?' He rocked back an' forward again, an' I
think he was cryin' like wan av the women he dealt wid.
“The full half av fwhat he said was Brigade Ordhers to me, but from the
rest an' the remnint I suspicioned somethin' av his throuble. 'Twas the
judgmint av God had grup the heel av him, as I tould him 'twould in the
Tyrone barricks. The slugs was singin' over our rock more an' more, an'
I sez for to divart him: 'Let bad alone,' I sez. 'They'll be thryin' to
rush the camp in a minut'.'
“I had no more than said that whin a Paythan man crep' up on his belly
wid his knife betune his teeth, not twinty yards from us. Love-o'-Women
jumped up an' fetched a yell, an' the man saw him an' ran at him (he'd
left his rifle under the rock) wid the knife. Love-o'-Women niver turned
a hair, but by the Living Power, for I saw ut, a stone twisted under
the Paythan man's feet an' he came down full sprawl, an' his knife wint
tinklin' acrost the rocks! 'I tould you I was Cain,' sez Love-o'-Women.'
'Fwhat's the use av killin' him? He's an honest man--by compare.'
“I was not dishputin' about the morils av Paythans that tide, so I
dhropped Love-o'-Women's burt acrost the man's face, an' 'Hurry into
camp,' I sez, 'for this may be the first av a rush.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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