his eyes and shifted clumsily on his bad leg. Among the men in the
front rows the same guilty reaction followed her words. They glanced
at each other and then away, moving awkwardly in shame. A man stood
up, and started down the aisle towards the door. Half-way there he
stopped and turned.
'Sorry, Missus. I didn't know there'd be any of that,' and he went on
towards the door. As he passed Ronny Pye he tossed a sovereign into
his lap. Another man stood up, grinned uneasily at Ruth and hurried
out. Then in twos and threes the others followed him. The last of
them trooped out in a bunch, and Sean noted with relish that not all of
them returned Ronny's sovereigns.
At the end of the schoolroom Garry dithered, uncertain whether to leave
or to stay and attempt to brazen his way out of a situation he had
seriously misjudged.
Sean stood up slowly and encircled Ruth's waist with one arm, he
cleared his throat for it was choked with his pride of her.
'Not only that,' he called, 'but she's one of the best goddamned cooks
in the district also. ' In the laughter and cheers that followed Garry
stumbled and pushed his way out of the room.
The following day Garrick Courtney announced his intention of
contesting the Ladyburg seat as an Independent, but not even the
Loyalist newspapers gave him an outside chance of winning-until six
weeks before polling-day.
On that evening, long after dark, Dirk hitched Sun Dancer at the rail
outside the hotel. After he had loosened the girth and slipped the bit
from her mouth, he left her to drink at the trough and went up onto the
sidewalk. As he sauntered past the bar he peered in through the large
window with its gold-and-red-lettered slogan,
'Got a thirst, drink a Goldberg Beer!'
Quickly he checked the clientele at the bar for informers.
There were none of his father's foremen-they were always dangerous, nor
were Messrs. Petersen or Pye or Erasmus present this evening. He
recognized two of the factory mechanics, a couple of railway gangers, a
bank clerk, a counter-hand from the Co-operative Society among the
half-dozen strangers-and he decided that it was safe.
None of these ranked high enough in Ladyburg society to carry news to
Sean Courtney of his son's drinking habits.
Dirk walked to the end of the block, paused there for a few seconds,
and then strolled casually back. But his eyes were restlessly checking
the shadows for tale carriers. Tonight the main street was deserted,
and as he came level with the swing doors of the bar he stepped
sideways through them and into the warm yellow lamplight of the saloon.
He loved this atmosphere-he loved the smell of sawdust, liquor, tobacco
smoke and men. It was a place of men. A place of rough voices and
laughter, of crude humour and companionship.
A few of the men along the bar glanced up as he entered.
'Hey, Dirk!'
'We've missed you-where have you been all week?' Dirk returned Archy's
greeting self-consciously and when he walked to take the stool beside
