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Aurora uttered a little cry of pain and terror at the sight of him. There was blood upon the sheets and the pillows, and Wat Ryder, working in his shirt-sleeves, was deftly closing a gaping scalp wound with horsehair stitches. Ryder had carried Jim straight to Kyley's tent, and Mrs. Ben received the wounded man with open arms. 'We may be followed, he said.
Within two days the tents were up, and Mrs. Kyley's business was resumed, and was carried on as at Diamond Gully, and with much the same success. But here for some time Ben's services as 'chucker-out' were more in requisition, spirits being more unruly on Jim Crow.
You did not know me as the chief performer in that little comedy with Brigalow on Diamond Gully. You did not recognise me in the dark man who talked with you and Burton while the madcap from Kyley's was leading the troopers a merry dance along the lead. By the way, I admire your taste in women, Jim. She's a fine, unshamed barbarian, this Aurora. The subject was distasteful to Jim.
Throughout their previous meeting he had borne himself with seriousness, as if something of importance to him were at stake; to-night he was in a wholly different humour, more like the man who had encountered Jim in Mary Kyley's bar. 'Are we to consider the relationship established? he said. 'I am quite convinced, answered Jim. 'I have not doubted it from the moment you declared yourself.
Burton was perplexed by the note of gravity that had developed in his mate, until he made an accidental discovery of Lucy Woodrow's locket, and then he thought he understood all, especially as Jim's visits to Kyley's shanty were comparatively rare of late.
He determined to be content with sobriety for the future. This very excellent and virtuous resolution did not keep Done from Mary Kyley's tent, however, and he retained his relish for the revels there: the boisterous horseplay of the diggers, the dancing, the gay spirits of Aurora, her beauty and her music.
Quigley's jealous passion was just as artless and free from disguise. Done had intended to send that nugget as a natural curiosity to Lucy Woodrow. He put the shade of regret the recollection provoked hastily out of his mind. Mike had heard a good deal of talk about the new girl at Mrs. Kyley's, now Jim swelled the chorus of admiration. Both young men spent that evening at the washerwoman's tent.
'They pitch tents here? 'Ben and Mary are now seeking a good business site. 'Adjacent to a hollow tree? 'The same bein' a convanyint haunt fer Mary Kyley's familiar evil shpirits. Done laughed, giving Aurora a one-armed, parenthetical hug. 'They wouldn't part with you, then? 'They would not, nor I with them. Dan's been as good as a mother to me. But how is the luck, boys?
Somebody I know? Aurora clutched Mary Kyley's arm, and stared into her face with a sudden new fear. 'Yes, deary, somebody you know. It's Jim! Mary Kyley nodded her bead, and mopped her tears. 'Yes, it's Jimmy Done. Aurora paled to her eyes, her lips tightened to thin purple lines across her white teeth, and she fought with Mary for a moment, seeking to make her way into the tent; but Mrs.
Kyley's tent, for the Kyleys had shifted their prosperous business to the vicinity of Bakery Hill a month before. At the tent-door she was met by Mary. 'He is not amongst the dead, thank God! said Aurora, 'and he's not with the prisoners. Jim is safe, but poor Mike Burton 'Wounded, is he? 'Dead. Shot through the head. Mrs. Kyley threw up her hands. 'My God! she said. 'The poor lad!
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