Weary cast a furtive glance at Happy Jack, and hoped he had not
overheard. Catnip! Still, how could he be expected to know what the
blamed stuff was? He untied the black medicine-case and brought it and
put it at the feet of Old Dock. "Well, here's the joker, anyhow," he
said. "It like to wore a hole clear through my leg, but I was careful
and I don't believe any uh the bottles are busted."
Dock looked at it and sat heavily down upon a box. He looked at the
case queerly, then lifted his shaggy head to gaze up at Weary. And
behind the bleared gravity of his eyes was something very like a
twinkle. "Dis, she not cure seek mans, neider. She--" He pressed a
tiny spring which Weary had not discovered and laid the case open upon
the ground. "You see?" he said plaintively. "She not good for
Patsy--she tree-dossen can-openaire."
Weary stared blankly. Happy Jack came up, looked and doubled
convulsively. Can-openers! Three dozen of them. Old Dock was
explaining in his best English, and he was courteously refraining from
the faintest smile.
"Dey de new, bettaire kind. I send for dem, I t'ink maybe I sell. I
put her in de grip--so--I carry dem all togedder. My mediceen, she in
de beeg ches'."
Weary had sat down and his head was dropped dejectedly into his hands.
He had bungled the whole thing, after all. "Well," he said
apathetically. "The chest was locked; I never opened it."
Old Dock nodded his head gravely. "She lock," he assented, gently.
"She mooch mediceen--she wort' mooch mooney. De key, she in mine
pocket--" "Oh, I don't give a damn where the key is--now," flared
Weary. "I guess Patsy'll have to cash in; that's all."
"Aw, gwan!" cried Happy Jack. "A sheepman come along just after you
left, and he had a quart uh whisky. We begged it off him and give
Patsy a good bit jolt. That eased him up some, and we give him
another--and he got to hollerin' so loud for more uh the same, so we
just set the bottle in easy reach and let him alone. He's in there
now, drunk as a biled owl--the lazy old devil. I had to get supper and
breakfast too--and looks like I'd have to cook dinner. Poison--hell!
I betche he never had nothing but a plain old belly-ache!"
Weary got up and went to the mess-tent, lifted the flap and looked in
upon Patsy lying on the flat of his back, snoring comfortably. He
regarded him silently a moment, then looked over his shoulder to where
Old Dock huddled over the three dozen can-openers.
"Oh, mamma!" he whispered, and poured himself a cup of coffee.
THE LAMB
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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