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It didn't look much like a dam at first, and some of Paddy's visitors turned up their noses when they first saw it. They had heard stories of what a wonderful dam-builder Paddy was, and they had expected to see something like the smooth, grass-covered bank with which Farmer Brown kept the Big River from running back on his low lands.
All I have been describing took place within a few seconds of time. With a boat-hook, fortunately at hand, he got a hold of Paddy's jacket, which considerably relieved Needham; and at the same moment, the shark coming up again towards the schooner, he and Needham were hauled on board again, his leg being happily released from the coil which had caught it without the necessity of cutting the rope.
A feeling of uneasiness possessed him. He felt in his bones that danger in the shape of a hunter with a terrible gun was not far distant. But the hours slipped away, and little by little he grew less uneasy. He began to hope that that day would prove as peaceful as the previous day had been. Then suddenly there was a sharp report from the farther end of Paddy's pond.
It did no good to say how much the father had paid for the same amount of meal. The gombeen man insisted that Paddy's father had given eighteen shillings, and Paddy was being charged just three shillings and three pence interest. Or only 144 per cent per annum! "Why do we buy from him? Why don't we get together and do our own buying?" asked the insurgent Paddy.
'If it were summer, said Higgins, 'I'd take to Paddy's work, and go as a navvy, or haymaking, or summut, and ne'er see Milton again. But it's winter, and th' childer will clem. 'A pretty navvy you'd make! why, you couldn't do half a day's work at digging against an Irishman. 'I'd only charge half-a-day for th' twelve hours, if I could only do half-a-day's work in th' time.
He spent that night browsing not far from Paddy's pond. With the coming of daylight he lay down in a thicket of young hemlock-trees near the upper end of the pond. It was a quiet, peaceful day. It was so quiet and peaceful and beautiful it was hard to believe that hunters with terrible guns were searching the Green Forest for beautiful Lightfoot.
Everything looked strange and delightful to the eager boy, and even the dirty work he was ordered to do seemed pleasant because there were engines everywhere, and mysteries of cogs and wheels that he would be able to find out, as the days went by. The all-pervading smell of oil and grease reminded him of Paddy's boiler-house, and he resolved to spend his first evening in writing to him.
She seated herself with emphasis on a chair, and says I to myself, "It's lucky for you, you haven't Paddy's trap-door under you, or we'd see your heels disappear, coming down like that."
He fired, and immediately cried out, "By St. Patrick, but that's amongst them, if they should happen to be there." This blunder caused a general laugh at poor Paddy's expense, who seemed a little nettled, and peevishly replied, "Fait! you may laugh, but that's more than those will who were kilt by that shell just now."
A small but lively stream, called Paddy's River, runs at the bottom of this pass, and immediately to the S.W. of it, an open forest country of granite base extends for many miles, on which the eucalyptus manifera is prevalent, and which affords the best grazing tracts in Argyle.
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