I followed slowly, and sighted them--dusty, sweating, but still keeping up their long, swinging tramp--on the river bank. They crashed through the Forest Reserve, headed towards the Bridge of Boats, and presently established themselves on the bow of one of the pontoons. I rode cautiously till I saw three puffs of white smoke rise and die out in the clear evening air, and knew that peace had come again. At the bridge-head they waved me forward with gestures of welcome.
"Tie up your "orse," shouted Ortheris, "an" come on, Sir. We"re all goin" "home in this "ere bloomin" boat.
From the bridge-head to the Forest Officer"s bungalow is but a step.
The mess-man was there, and would see that a man held my horse. Did the Sahib require aught else--a peg, or beer? Ritchie Sahib had left half a dozen bottles of the latter, but since the Sahib was a friend of Ritchie Sahib, and he, the mess-man, was a poor man--
I gave my order quietly, and returned to the bridge. Mulvaney had taken off his boots, and was dabbling his toes in the water; Learoyd was lying on his back on the pontoon; and Ortheris was pretending to row with a big bamboo.
"I"m an ould fool," said Mulvaney, reflectively,"dhrag-gin" you two out here bekaze I was undher the Black Dog--sulkin" like a child. Me that was soldierin" when Mullins, an" be d.a.m.ned to him, was shquealin" on a counterpin for five shillin" a week--an" that not paid! Bhoys, I"ve took you five miles out av natural pevarsity. Phew!"
"Wot"s the odds so long as you"re "appy?" said Ortheris, applying himself afresh to the bamboo. "As well "ere as anywhere else."
Learoyd held up a rupee and an eight-anna bit, and shook his head sorrowfully. "Five mile from t" Canteen, all along o" Mulvaney"s blaasted pride."
"I know ut," said Mulvaney penitently. "Why will ye come wid me? An" yet I wud be mortial sorry if ye did not--any time--though I am ould enough to know betther. But I will do penance. I will take a dhrink av wather."
Ortheris squeaked shrilly. The butler of the Forest bungalow was standing near the railings with a basket, uncertain how to clamber down to the pontoon. "Might "a" know"d you"d "a" got liquor out o" bloomin"
desert, Sir," said Ortheris, gracefully, to me. Then to the mess-man: "Easy with them there bottles. They"re worth their weight in gold. Jock, ye long-armed beggar, get out o" that an" hike "em down."
Learoyd had the basket on the pontoon in an instant, and the Three Musketeers gathered round it with dry lips. They drank my health in due and ancient form, and thereafter tobacco tasted sweeter than ever. They absorbed all the beer, and disposed themselves in picturesque att.i.tudes to admire the setting sun--no man speaking for a while.
Mulvaney"s head dropped upon his chest, and we thought that he was asleep.
"What on earth did you come so far for?" I whispered to Ortheris.
"To walk "im orf, o" course. When "e"s been checked we allus walks "im orf. "E ain"t fit to be spoke to those times--nor "e ain"t fit to leave alone neither. So we takes "im till "e is."
Mulvaney raised his head, and stared straight into the sunset. "I had my rifle," said he dreamily,"an" I had my bay"nit, an" Mullins came round the corner, an" he looked in my face an" grinned dishpiteful. "_You_ can"t blow your own nose," sez he. Now, I cannot tell fwhat Mullins"s expayrience may ha" been, but, Mother av G.o.d, he was nearer to his death that minut" than I have iver been to mine--and that"s less than the thicknuss av a hair!"
"Yes," said Ortheris calmly, "you"d look fine with all your b.u.t.tons took orf, an" the Band in front o" you, walkin" roun" slow time. We"re both front-rank men, me an" Jock, when the rig"mint"s in "ollow square.
Bloomin" fine you"d look. "The Lord giveth an" the Lord taketh awai,--Heasy with that there drop!--Blessed be the naime o" the Lord,""
he gulped in a quaint and suggestive fashion.
"Mullins! Wot"s Mullins?" said Learoyd slowly. "Ah"d take a coomp"ny o"
Mullinses-ma hand behind me. Sitha, Mulvaney, don"t be a fool."
"_You_ were not checked for fwhat you did not do, an" made a mock av afther. "Twas for less than that the Tyrone wud ha" sent O"Hara to h.e.l.l, instid av lettin" him go by his own choosin", whin Rafferty shot him,"
retorted Mulvaney.
"And who stopped the Tyrone from doing it?" I asked.
"That ould fool who"s sorry he didn"t stick the pig Mullins." His head dropped again. When he raised it he shivered and put his hands on the shoulders of his two companions.
"Ye"ve walked the Divil out av me, bhoys," said he.
Ortheris shot out the red-hot dottel of his pipe on the back of the hairy fist. "They say "Ell"s "otter than that," said he, as Mulvaney swore aloud. "You be warned so. Look yonder!"--he pointed across the river to a ruined temple--"Me an" you an" _"im"_--he indicated me by a jerk of his head--"was there one day when Hi made a bloomin" show o"
myself. You an" "im stopped me doin" such--an" Hi was on"y wishful for to desert. You are makin" a bigger bloomin" show o" yourself now."
"Don"t mind him, Mulvaney," I said; "Dinah Shadd won"t let you hang yourself yet awhile, and you don"t intend to try it either. Let"s hear about the Tyrone and O"Hara. Rafferty shot him for fooling with his wife. What happened before that?"
"There"s no fool like an ould fool. You know you can do anythin" wid me whin I"m talkin". Did I say I wud like to cut Mullins"s liver out? I deny the imputashin, for fear that Orth"ris here wud report me--Ah!
You wud tip me into the river, wud you? Sit quiet, little man. Anyways, Mullins is not worth the trouble av an extry p"rade, an" I will trate him wid outrajis contimpt. The Tyrone an" O"Hara! O"Hara an" the Tyrone, begad! Ould days are hard to bring back into the mouth, but they"re always inside the head."
Followed a long pause.
"O"Hara was a Divil. Though I saved him, for the honour av the rig"mint, from his death that time, I say it now. He was a Divil--a long, bould, black-haired Divil."
"Which way?" asked Ortheris.
"Women."
"Thin I know another."
"Not more than in reason, if you mane me, ye warped walkin "-shtick.
I have been young, an" for why should I not have tuk what I cud? Did I iver, whin I was Corp"ril, use the rise av my rank--wan step an" that taken away, more"s the sorrow an" the fault av me!--to prosecute a nefarious inthrigue, as O"Hara did? Did I, whin I was Corp"ril, lay my spite upon a man an" make his life a dog"s life from day to day? Did I lie, as O"Hara lied, till the young wans in the Tyrone turned white wid the fear av the Judgment av G.o.d killin" thim all in a lump, as ut killed the woman at Devizes? I did not! I have sinned my sins an" I have made my confesshin, an" Father Victor knows the worst av me. O"Hara was tuk, before he cud spake, on Rafferty"s doorstep, an" no man knows the worst av him. But this much I know!
"The Tyrone was recruited any fashion in the ould days. A draf from Connemara--a draf" from Portsmouth--a draf" from Kerry, an" that was a blazin" bad draf"--here, there and iverywhere--but the large av thim was Oirish--Black Oirish. Now there are Oirish an" Oirish. The good are good as the best, but the bad are wurrst than the wurrst. "Tis this way. They clog together in pieces as fast as thieves, an" no wan knows fwhat they will do till wan turns informer an" the gang is bruk. But ut begins again, a day later, meetin" in holes an" corners an" swearin" b.l.o.o.d.y oaths an" shtickin" a man in the back an" runnin" away, an" thin waitin"
for the blood-money on the reward papers--to see if ut"s worth enough.
Those are the Black Oirish, an" "tis they that bring dishgrace upon the name av Oireland, an" thim I wud kill--as I nearly killed wan wanst.
"But to reshume. My room--"twas before I was married--was wid twelve av the sc.u.m av the earth--the pickin"s av the gutter--mane men that wud neither laugh nor talk nor yet get dhrunk as a man shud. They thried some av their dog"s thricks on me, but I dhrew a line round my cot, an"
the man that thransgressed ut wint into hospital for three days good.
"O"Hara had put his spite on the room--he was my Colour Sargint--an"
nothin" cud we do to plaze him. I was younger than I am now, an" I tuk what I got in the way av dressing down and punishment-dhrill wid my tongue in my cheek. But it was diff"rint wid the others, an" why I cannot say, excipt that some men are borrun mane an" go to dhirty murdher where a fist is more than enough. Afther a whoile, they changed their chune to me an" was desp"rit frien"ly--all twelve av thim cursin"
O"Hara in chorus.
""Eyah," sez I, "O"Hara"s a divil an" I"m not for denyin" ut, but is he the only man in the wurruld? Let him go. He"ll get tired av findin" our kit foul an" our "coutrements onproperly kep"."
""We will _not_ let him go," sez they.
""Thin take him," sez I, "an" a dashed poor yield you will get for your throuble."
""Is he not misconductin" himself wid Slimmy"s wife?" sez another.
""She"s common to the rig"mint," sez I. "Fwhat has made ye this partic"lar on a suddint?"
""Has he not put his spite on the roomful av us? Can we do anythin" that he will not check us for?" sez another.
""That"s thrue," sez I.
""Will ye not help us to do aught," sez another--"a big bould man like you."
""I will break his head upon his shoulthers av he puts hand on me," sez I. "I will give him the lie av he says that I"m dhirty, an" I wud not mind duckin" him in the Artillery troughs if ut was not that I"m thryin"
for my shtripes."
""Is that all ye will do?" sez another. "Have ye no more s.p.u.n.k than that, ye blood-dhrawn calf?"