E. W. Hornung

Name: The Luckiest Man in the Colony
Author: E. W. Hornung

Summary

“The Luckiest Man in the Colony”, published in 1891, is a work by E. W. Hornung. It explores elements such as Deverell, Dandong and swagman.

Quotes from The Luckiest Man in the Colony (E. W. Hornung)

E. W. Hornung, The Luckiest Man in the Colony (1891)

“ It does one good to see a man thoroughly appreciating his good luck. The thing is so seldom done. Deverell not only did this, but did it with complete sincerity. Even to-night, though personally most uncomfortable, and tightening his belt after every pipe, he could gaze at the stars with grateful eyes, obscure them with clouds of smoke, watch the clouds disperse and the stars shine bright again, and call himself gain and again, and yet again, the very luckiest man in the Colony.
"A man tramped into the pines." ”

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Source: Wikisource

E. W. Hornung, The Luckiest Man in the Colony (1891)

“ While Deverell sat thus, returning thanks on an empty stomach, at the northern edge of the ridge, a man tramped into the pines from the south. The heavy sand muffled his steps; but he stopped long before he came near Deverell, and threw down his swag with an emancipated air. The man was old, but he held himself more erect than does the typical swagman. The march through life with a cylinder of blankets on one's shoulders, with all one's worldly goods packed in that cylinder, causes a certain stoop of a very palpable kind ”

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Source: Wikisource

E. W. Hornung, The Luckiest Man in the Colony (1891)

“ In this country, thank God, the man is taken for what the man is worth—his father neither helps nor hinders him, when once he's gone. So I've managed to take my own part, and to get on well, thanks to my own luck. Yes, it would be devilish awkward; but I'd stand by him, before Heaven, I would!"
The old man breathed hard.
"I don't know how I've come to say so much to you, though you did know my father," added Deverell, with a sudden change of tone. "It isn't my way at all. I needn't tell you that from to-morrow forward you're the same as any other man to me. ”

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Source: Wikisource

E. W. Hornung, The Luckiest Man in the Colony (1891)

“ He had been sitting the whole evening on the old fool's blankets, and the old fool had been sitting on the ground!
"I say! Why on earth don't you come and sit on your own blankets?" asked Deverell, a little roughly; for to catch oneself in a grossly thoughtless act is always irritating.
"I am all right here, thank you," returned the swagman, mildly. "The sand is as soft as the blankets." ”

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Source: Wikisource

E. W. Hornung, The Luckiest Man in the Colony (1891)

“ If the old man had no appetite, there was no earthly reason for him to eat; his abstinence could not hurt him under the circumstances, and naturally it did not worry Deverell. If, on the other hand, the old man preferred to feed off Deverell—with his eyes—why, there is no accounting for preferences, and that did not worry Deverell either. Indeed, by the time his pipe was once more in blast, he felt most kindly disposed towards this taciturn tramp. ”

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Source: Wikisource

E. W. Hornung, The Luckiest Man in the Colony (1891)

“ No more will you," he said slowly and solemnly; "for your father is dead! I promised him to find you out when my time was up, and to tell you. I have taken my own way of breaking the news to you. Forgive me, sir; but I couldn't resist just seeing, first of all, if it would cut you up very badly!"
Deverell did not notice the quiet bitterness of the last words. He smoked his pipe out in silence. Then he said: "God rest him! Perhaps it's for the best. As for you, you've a billet at Dandong for the rest of your days, if you like to take and keep it. Let us turn in." ”

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Source: Wikisource

E. W. Hornung, The Luckiest Man in the Colony (1891)

“ But when it happens in the Bush, the moment is apt to become more than negatively disagreeable; for you may be miles from the nearest habitation, and an unpremeditated bivouac, with neither food nor blankets, is a thing that demands a philosophic temperament as well as the quality of endurance. This once befell the manager of Dandong, in the back-blocks of New South Wales, just on the right side of the Dandong boundary fence, which is fourteen miles from the homestead. ”

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Source: Wikisource

E. W. Hornung, The Luckiest Man in the Colony (1891)

“ I know him well; he wouldn't be a drag or a burden to you. He'd only just like to see you. All he would ask would be to see his son sometimes! That would be enough for him. I was his chum, mind you, so I know. ”

E. W. Hornung

Summary

Quotes from The Luckiest Man in the Colony (E. W. Hornung)

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