WHY JIM CAME TO THE HUT
Joe Calder shot dead on his track!
Glen had no time to waste or he would have gone back to hear more. He
must hurry on. Ping felt there was need for haste. His master seldom
pushed him as he was doing now.
Joe Calder done for at last! Glen had warned him it would come some day,
for the man was a brute. He had no human feeling, and how he earned
promotion over his fellows was one of those things no man could
understand.
Glen was overseer on his track, as Joe Calder was on the other, and the
two men often met, but they were as wide apart as the poles in every
respect.
Calder was a sneak. The men under him hated him. More than one
threatened to do for him, but he was a big powerful man, and dangerous.
He was one of the worst characters, and when he went to Boonara even
Bill Bigs fought shy of him. There was no doubt he was a criminal. His
face, his shifty eyes, the backward glances, his fear of being followed
and tracked down betrayed it. But he must have had a friend somewhere,
or he would never have got his post.
Glen was surprised, and yet he was not. The news was shot at him
unexpectedly, but he believed it, and wondered who had rid the world of
a scoundrel, and the track of a desperate man. Ping travelled well, his
head bound for home, such as it was, and every horse knows the way to
his stable. Mile after mile was traversed, until Glen saw a faint speck
in the distance and knew it was his hut. A townsman would have seen
nothing, but Glen's eyes were used to looking long distances, and were
almost as powerful as a glass in distinguishing objects.
"Go on, Ping. We'll soon be there," and the horse put on another spurt.
The tension in the hut was not relaxed for a moment. Hour after hour
passed, and still the dog stood on guard and eyed Jim. If the man moved
there came an ominous growl.
Two or three times the woman groaned, and Spotty pricked his ears
wonderingly. Such sounds were unfamiliar. Jim watched him. The dog
seemed half inclined to spring on the bed. Thinking better of it he
settled down again with his eyes fixed as before.
A drowsy feeling crept over Jim. He was fearful of going to sleep. He
had been sitting like a statue for the Lord knows how long and he had no
idea of the time.
He listened. Not a sound, except a few melancholy notes from a passing
bird. What was Glen doing all this time? He had promised to watch, but
Glen had not promised to come back. Jim's mind was in a chaotic state,
and he was hardly responsible for it.
Spotty pricked his ears. Jim accepted this as a sign that he heard
something, and listened intently.
The dog gave a short, sharp bark, a true signal this time.
In his great sense of relief Jim stood up. He could bear the strain no
longer.
Spotty flew at him, straight at his throat. Jim caught him with both
hands and held him, the dog growling, snarling, trying to wrench himself
free to bite his hands. Jim held on. He heard the hoof-beats. It was
Glen returning and all would be well, but he was tired and cramped with
the strain, and Spotty was a ferocious dog, and strong.
The woman moved and half sat up; then she sank back again. He was
thankful.
Ping halted. Glen got out of the saddle with the precious burden and
strode into the hut. Unstrung as he was, the sight that met his gaze
caused him to drop the package. With a cry of despair he caught at it,
just breaking its fall.
Spotty, seeing his master, ceased struggling. Jim let go his hold and
fell on the floor in a dead faint.
"Get out," almost yelled Glen, and the dog shot through the opening like
a fox bolting from hounds, dashing under Ping's belly and scouring
across country at top speed. Yet he had only guarded his master's hut,
and his doggy brain resented the injustice.
Glen opened the package before attending to Jim. There was no damage
done, and he had never felt so like offering up a prayer
before--supposing, after all, he had gone through, the precious bottles
had broken? He knelt down beside Jim, summing up the situation, and
wondering how long he had been subjected to the strain caused by the
dog. Opening one of the bottles, he poured a small quantity down Jim's
throat, being careful not to spill a drop.
Presently Jim sat up, looked round in a dazed way, and then seeing Glen
said, "It was a near go. The dog watched me for hours. I dared not move
for fear he would savage me or her, but when I heard you coming I could
stand it no longer. I got up, and he flew at me. She's been like that
ever since you left. What have you brought?"
"Many things, but I'd a job to work round Bill. There'd been a row in
his shanty. Two of your fellows smashed things up, and he was in a
towering rage. Fetch some water. It's funny we can get it nice, cool,
clean and fresh. We haven't done that for months, have we?"
As he spoke he was busy with the package placing the things carefully on
the floor. Bill had made amends after all, and opened his heart. He was
a dashed good sort, and should be repaid.
Jim staggered out for the water. The tank was overflowing into sundry
water-catchers. It was far too precious to waste, although many times
the quantity would have been used to wash up after a single meal in a
big hotel.
Glen made the mixture weak, then, taking a bit of rag, he moistened her
lips with it, squeezing a little into her mouth.
He was glad she was alive. A tremendous sense of relief came over him,
and with it relaxation from the strain he too had gone through. He could
have lain down on the floor and slept for many hours.
"Get some rest, Jim. You need it," he said.
"Not so much as you."
"Yes, your struggle was greater than mine. Sleep, man; then you can
watch when I give up."
Jim lay down. He was in a dead slumber in a minute or two.
Glen sat looking at the woman. A slight colour came into her cheeks, her
lips were not so blue, a warmth spread over her body; he could feel it
as he touched her bare arm. Then a curious thing happened. He bent down
and kissed her, not like Jim Benny, on the lips, but on her forehead,
reverently, tenderly, like a father would a child--and he was the most
reckless rider on the fence. Both men were among the legion of the lost,
why was only known to themselves, but they had given this woman what
many a one of her sex in a great city would have been thankful
for--human kindness.
"Sleep's best for her," he thought, as he moistened her lips again.
"She's been hot and cold, but there's a nice glow on her now. It's
healthy. She'll pull through. I'll bet she pulls through, and we'll
have done it, Jim, and I, and Bill. He's had a big share in it. I should
say the three of us will be able to look after her and find out all
about her."
Jim had his rest. Glen roused him when he found sleep would overcome him
whether he willed it or no.
"Wet her lips with it when they're dry. Place your finger on and feel."
Jim nodded. He thought how he had placed his lips to hers when Glen was
away. He was ashamed of it; somehow he thought he ought to tell him.
He'd think it over while he slept.
In the midst of nature's great silent solitudes these three were working
out their fate. It was so still that to most people the silence would
have been worse than the noise and rush of traffic. Outside, Ping,
neglected after his long journey, unsaddled, was finding refreshment.
The horse was weary, leg tired, but his heart was in the right place. He
was the sort that never gives in until something snaps.
Spotty called a halt when he had gone a couple of miles, and considered
the question of the unjustness of his master. He must have arrived at
some conclusion for he retraced his steps slowly. Near the hut he
encountered Ping, so nosed round him as though apologising for the
sudden bolt under him. Ping and Spotty were chums. They were both
mongrels, but there is often a lot of good to be found in such animals.
Eventually when Ping lay down Spotty curled up close to his back; the
silence was unbroken.
When Glen awoke he saw at a glance the woman was coming round. She began
to mutter. They listened but could make out no words.
"She's pulling through. I reckon she'll mend now. We've all of us got to
get her round."
"All of us?"
"Yes, you and Bill and me."
"And what about the fence?" asked Jim.
"Damn the fence," answered Glen fiercely, "I've done with it."
"Then so have I," echoed Jim almost gladly.
"Good boy. It's a cursed job. Keepers of the fence. I tell you, Jim,
it's slow murder. I'd as lief have solitary confinement."
"I guess we'd get better tucker in prison," said Jim.
The word murder recalled to Glen's mind the death of Calder.
"Jim!"
"Well?"
"Joe Calder's been shot dead on the track."
"Serves the brute right," replied Jim in a hard voice.
"You haven't told me yet what brought you here," said Glen looking at
him.
"That was it."
"What?"
"The Calder business."
"You--?"
Jim nodded.
"I shot him."