登陆注册
5262700000020

第20章 The Darling River(3)

There came a man from Adelaide to Bourke once, and he collected all the empty bottles in town, stacked them by the river, and waited for a boat. What he wanted them for the legend sayeth not, but the people reckoned he had a "private still", or something of that sort, somewhere down the river, and were satisfied. What he came from Adelaide for, or whether he really did come from there, we do not know.

All the Darling bunyips are supposed to come from Adelaide.

Anyway, the man collected all the empty bottles he could lay his hands on, and piled them on the bank, where they made a good show.

He waited for a boat to take his cargo, and, while waiting, he got drunk.

That excited no comment. He stayed drunk for three weeks, but the townspeople saw nothing unusual in that. In order to become an object of interest in their eyes, and in that line, he would have had to stay drunk for a year and fight three times a day -- oftener, if possible -- and lie in the road in the broiling heat between whiles, and be walked on by camels and Afghans and free-labourers, and be locked up every time he got sober enough to smash a policeman, and try to hang himself naked, and be finally squashed by a loaded wool team.

But while he drank the Darling rose, for reasons best known to itself, and floated those bottles off. They strung out and started for the Antarctic Ocean, with a big old wicker-worked demijohn in the lead.

For the first week the down-river men took no notice; but after the bottles had been drifting past with scarcely a break for a fortnight or so, they began to get interested. Several whalers watched the procession until they got the jimjams by force of imagination, and when their bodies began to float down with the bottles, the down-river people got anxious.

At last the Mayor of Wilcannia wired Bourke to know whether Dibbs or Parkes was dead, or democracy triumphant, or if not, wherefore the jubilation?

Many telegrams of a like nature were received during that week, and the true explanation was sent in reply to each. But it wasn't believed, and to this day Bourke has the name of being the most drunken town on the river.

After dinner a humorous old hard case mysteriously took us aside and said he had a good yarn which we might be able to work up. We asked him how, but he winked a mighty cunning wink and said that he knew all about us.

Then he asked us to listen. He said:

"There was an old feller down the Murrumbidgee named Kelly.

He was a bit gone here. One day Kelly was out lookin' for some sheep, when he got lost. It was gettin' dark. Bymeby there came an old crow in a tree overhead.

"`Kel-ley, you're lo-o-st! Kel-ley, you're lo-o-st!' sez the crow.

"`I know I am,' sez Kelly.

"`Fol-ler me, fol-ler me,' sez the crow.

"`Right y'are,' sez Kelly, with a jerk of his arm. `Go ahead.'

"So the crow went on, and Kelly follered, an' bymeby he found he was on the right track.

"Sometime after Kelly was washin' sheep (this was when we useter wash the sheep instead of the wool). Kelly was standin' on the platform with a crutch in his hand landin' the sheep, when there came a old crow in the tree overhead.

"`Kelly, I'm hun-gry! Kel-ley, I'm hun-ger-ry!' sez the crow.

"`Alright,' sez Kelly; `be up at the hut about dinner time 'n' I'll sling you out something.'

"`Drown -- a -- sheep! Drown -- a -- sheep, Kel-ley,' sez the crow.

"`Blanked if I do,' sez Kelly. `If I drown a sheep I'll have to pay for it, be-God!'

"`Then I won't find yer when yer lost agin,' sez the crow.

"`I'm damned if yer will,' says Kelly. `I'll take blanky good care I won't get lost again, to be found by a gory ole crow.'"

. . . . .

There are a good many fishermen on the Darling. They camp along the banks in all sorts of tents, and move about in little box boats that will only float one man. The fisherman is never heavy.

He is mostly a withered little old madman, with black claws, dirty rags (which he never changes), unkempt hair and beard, and a "ratty" expression. We cannot say that we ever saw him catch a fish, or even get a bite, and we certainly never saw him offer any for sale.

He gets a dozen or so lines out into the stream, with the shore end fastened to pegs or roots on the bank, and passed over sticks about four feet high, stuck in the mud; on the top of these sticks he hangs bullock bells, or substitutes -- jam tins with stones fastened inside to bits of string. Then he sits down and waits. If the cod pulls the line the bell rings.

The fisherman is a great authority on the river and fish, but has usually forgotten everything else, including his name.

同类推荐
  • 教观纲宗释义

    教观纲宗释义

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 憨休禅师敲空遗响

    憨休禅师敲空遗响

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 山海慧菩萨经

    山海慧菩萨经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 书旨述

    书旨述

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 长沙方歌括

    长沙方歌括

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 今夕何夕,凤凰涅磐

    今夕何夕,凤凰涅磐

    过去是一封纯朴的信,我写着稚嫩的故事;现在是一个黑暗的漩涡,我渴望光明,却看到?世界是一个巨大的垃圾场,我在这头,他在那头。这是他的故事,也是我的人生,或将也是你的?我希望不是,你来,亦或去。
  • 鹿皮子集

    鹿皮子集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 如何让孩子喜欢读书

    如何让孩子喜欢读书

    书是全人类其同创造的精神财富,是人类知识与智慧的源泉。读书,是人们接受新知识、获得新信息、提高思维水平和能力的重要途径,也是人们扩大生活视野、愉悦身心和陶冶情操的重要方式,一个喜欢读书、博览群书的孩子,其智力水平、知识积累、品德修养都会大大高于同龄人,因此,让孩子爱读书、多读书,就成了当代父母普遍的期望和欣喜。我们所编著的这本《如何让孩子喜欢读书》,以家长为基本读者对象,遵循少年儿童成长发育的自然规律,结合当代家教的具体情况,以专家的视角和观点,就广大父母最关心的孩子读书的问题,提出了切合实际、行之有效的方法和途径,书中所阐述的道理通俗明了,所介绍的方法易学易用,可以说,它是一部有益于孩子学习与成长的家教读物。让孩子多读好书吧。书中自有孩子们想要的一切。
  • 无敌圣尊系统

    无敌圣尊系统

    沐林海携无敌圣尊系统降临洪荒重生为先天人族!以洪荒为起点,征战万界诸天!统御天下,诸天共尊!九天十地我为尊!万界诸天我称雄!
  • 太上飞步南斗太微玉经

    太上飞步南斗太微玉经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 超神攻略系统

    超神攻略系统

    一觉醒来,李志的脑海中多了一个自称为了响应万千女神而存在的系统……“叮,发布任务:帮助苏楠楠获得冠军”“任务成功,苏楠楠好感+10,获得150积分。”“任务失败:在电视观众面前跳一段完整的社会摇!”李志:“mmp!”
  • 红妆素裹,倾城女知县

    红妆素裹,倾城女知县

    新文《重生嫡女,辣手皇后》火热开坑!请猛戳。*他不知道该如何唤醒沉睡的她,然后倾其一生去告诉她,其实这个睨视天下的狂傲男人,只爱她。*她是闻名国内的美貌法官,一朝穿越成了名动天下的倾国知县。清明端方间英姿飒爽,一心只为百姓谋福,却不料款款回身间,那满身清冷便无端欠下诸多情债。他身世莫测,邪魅纨绔却内敛深沉,覆尽天下,只博一笑,是怎样的疯狂?他驰骋天下,傲然冷冽却如火炽热,运筹帷幄,肆意纵横,是怎样的狂傲?迈过烽烟弥漫,看过花落花开,此生执手之人,除你以外,不作他想!
  • 重生之城市修仙

    重生之城市修仙

    在这浩瀚的都市,金钱,权利,皆为浮云,唯有至强实力,方可掌控一切,制霸天下!
  • 影响中国历史进程的战役(世界军事之旅)

    影响中国历史进程的战役(世界军事之旅)

    战争带来劳民伤财、废墟残骸的同时,也推动了历史车轮的进程。本书就是一本收集了影响中国历史进程的战争书籍。它集聚了历史上的秦赵长平之战、汉匈平城之战、赤壁之战、山海关之战、镇南关大捷、台儿庄战役、淮海战役等重大战役,详述了它们的深远影响及重大意义。
  • 一波三折的穿越

    一波三折的穿越

    老套的穿越,老套的嫁人,本来以为抱上大腿,和表面夫君离婚以后就可以生活无忧,但是,生活从来都不是那么简单。