Part 16

“But that's all over now, Alf; you mustn't think of it.”

“Your mother wrote to me.”

“I know she did”--(very low and gently).

“And do you know what she put in it, Mary?”

“Yes, Alf.”

“And did you ask her to put it in?”

“Don't ask me, Alf.”

“And it's all true, Mary?”

There was no answer, but the silence seemed satisfactory.

“And be sure you have yourself down here on Sunday, Alf, me son.” (“There's the old woman come back!” said Mitchell.)

“An' since the girl's willin' to have ye, and the ould woman's willin'--there's me hand on it, Alf, me boy. An' God bless ye both.” (“The old man's come now,” said Mitchell.)

. . . . .

“Come along,” said Mitchell, leading the way to the front of the tent.

“But I wouldn't like to intrude on them. It's hardly right, Mitchell, is it?”

“That's all right,” said Mitchell. He tapped the tent pole.

“Come in,” said Alf. Alf was lying on his bunk as before, with his arms under his head. His face wore a cheerful, not to say happy, expression. There was no one else in the tent. I was never more surprised in my life.

“Have you got the paper, Alf?” said Mitchell.

“Yes. You'll find it there at the foot of the bunk. There it is. Won't you sit down, Mitchell?”

“Not to-night,” said Mitchell. “We brought you a bottle of ale. We're just going to turn in.”

And we said “good-night”. “Well,” I said to Mitchell when we got inside, “what do you think of it?”

“I don't think of it at all,” said Mitchell. “Do you mean to say you can't see it now?”

“No, I'm dashed if I can,” I said. “Some of us must be drunk, I think, or getting rats. It's not to be wondered at, and the sooner we get out of this country the better.”

“Well, you must be a fool, Joe,” said Mitchell. “Can't you see? ALF THINKS ALOUD.”

“WHAT?”

“Talks to himself. He was thinking about going back to his sweetheart. Don't you know he's a bit of a ventriloquist?”

Mitchell lay awake a long time, in the position that Alf usually lay in, and thought. Perhaps he thought on the same lines as Alf did that night. But Mitchell did his thinking in silence.

We thought it best to tell the Oracle quietly. He was deeply interested, but not surprised. “I've heerd of such cases before,” he said. But the Oracle was a gentleman. “There's things that a man wants to keep to himself that ain't his business,” he said. And we understood this remark to be intended for our benefit, and to indicate a course of action upon which the Oracle had decided, with respect to this case, and which we, in his opinion, should do well to follow.

Alf got away a week or so later, and we all took a holiday and went down to Fremantle to see him off. Perhaps he wondered why Mitchell gripped his hand so hard and wished him luck so earnestly, and was surprised when he gave him three cheers.