Gursey replaced the lamp on the table and brushed
the tumble ofwhite hair out of his eyes.
Theyd be there for the ironing-up any time. He was
always looking round at the bush, back the way theyhad come, as though expecting
someone.
Each word hadto be pulled out of his mouth with
both hands, a laboriousbusiness.
A little snuffling nose that was running all the
time completed hislook of abject misery.
For why was he hurrying to Winjee Creek now if he
only wanted tocross the river?
Thefit was so violent that he had to lean against
the wall for awhile.
Itll only be them dingoes, Robins said
persuasively.
A skull had come up under his florid skin,his eyes
had fallen in.
The lightning came again,and immediately after a
dog barked. Suddenly he went hot and trembled all over.
Gursey stood near the window, Pete at thefarthest
end of the table. Robins stood by watching, the axe across his shoulder. His bravado
seemed to crush the spirit out of them. Gursey stood upunder the window and did not
move. McGovern wont bring no lobsters here, Gursey said, and you
knowwhy.
Robins, standing between Pete and Red, was the
first to speak. The dogs followed with anincessant whining and barking. Davy, the
shepherd, talked to himself in his bunk. A light wavered and the rectangle of
doorway stood out against theebony plaque of darkness. Suddenly he went hot and
trembled all over. Amoment of silence in which two strained shadows blackened the
wall,motionless. Suddenly he got up and went outinto the darkness.
If yed take my advice, he said, the countrys good
up thecoast. Here, Ive brought you those cattle and sheep.
Cabell wonderedfearfully as he rode out of the yard
behind McGovern. Yet healways believed that he blundered through that night under
themerciful hand of Heaven. From the depths of thescrub a mopoke cried harshly, a
lonely, unanswered cry.