Daley

“ We was talkin' in the parlor, me and Daley, quiet like,
When a blow-fly starts a-buzzin' round the ceilin',
Up gets Daley, and he says to me, You wait a minute, Mike,
And I'll show you what a dorg he is at heelin'. ”

“ WINE AND ROSES: A New Volume of Poems.
By Victor J. Daley. With portrait. Cloth gilt, gilt top, 3s. 6d.; full morocco, gilt edges, 6s. (postage 2d.) Daily Telegraph: "Most of his verse is tinged with sadness—as in most Irish poetry—but there is a fine imaginative quality that lifts it to a far higher plane than that of the conventional melancholy rhymer. There are poems in this book that recall the magic of Rossetti... Victor Daley has left his mark in the beginnings of an Australian literature."
HOW HE DIED, AND OTHER POEMS.
By John Farrell. ”

“ It moves as we move, only more steadily. It is some vessel," declared Dave. "I wouldn't wonder if it was the Swallow."
The mere conjecture excited Daley greatly. The men worked at the oars again. This, however, proved lost energy. When it resulted in one of the oars being torn from the grasp of its holder, and cast adrift into the sea, Daley uttered a heart-rending groan. ”

“ Daley looked sheepish, then surly.
"If you should get hold of it what could you do with it?" pursued Dave. "You can't spend it on the Windjammers' Island. You can never get it away from there except in a stanch vessel, such as may not come along for years. I should think," added Dave, "after all the trouble you have seen grow out of the Hankers stealing what was not their own, you would take a new tack."
"How, a new tack?" demanded Daley, surlily surveying Dave from under his bushy, bent brows.
"Be square and honest. The Raven people have deceived you. I have a proposition to make you. ”

“ Yet it should not matter a great deal to Victor Daley, living or dead. He was never a great popular success. He never aspired to be a great social success. His personal gifts and graces were reserved for the comparatively few. The average individual, who deals in groceries, or who has laid hands on mining shares, could have bought and sold him many times, even in his most prosperous days. ”

“ We wouldn't run across a ship in a hundred years on this out-of-the-way route. We can never hope to row thousands of miles to a continent coast. No--provender being gone, and especially the rum, we don't feel quite as bold as we did when we started out," confessed Daley, with a dejected air.
"No," put in one of his companions lazily, "we'll go back and take pot-luck with what's left of the Raven crowd."
"If they'll have us," put in his companion. "Looked to me all along as if for some purpose or other Nesik wanted to get rid of us." ”

“ Daley very coolly took the bottle of claret by the neck, and holding it between himself and the light, took a lunar squint at it, as if doubting its contents; and then, putting it down, exclaimed, “Ah! the divil a red I'd give you for your claret. Sure, why didn't ye bring a token of good old hardware?” “Hardware! what is hardware?” inquired Manuel. “Ah! botheration to the bunch of yees—a drap of old whiskey, that 'd make the delight cum f'nent. Have ye ne'er a drap among the whole o' yees?” ”

“ Before he had shut off the motor the Earth Mother was out of the convertible. Standing by the statue she called, "Hey! Is there anybody here?" Then she ran to the sidewalk.
Markel, reaching for the M-1, his eyes on the girl, suddenly stiffened. The wind blew a sound to him, a faint growling sound. He did not believe the sound, knew it to be a trick of his imagination, yet he sat stunned, unable to think. Then the Earth Mother screamed. Markel got out of the car and went after her. ”

“ The thin rain drifted across the road, past a big barn and a farmhouse, past cornfields and yellow wheat and into wet woods. The Earth Mother leaned closer to him. "Just think, there's nobody here but us."
Autumn chill seeped into the car, but the girl was warm. Markel said, "Yes, only us alive in the vast desolation of the Earth." He looked across her shoulder at the gray, slanting sky and the low black clouds like blurred ink-blots. "But there will be more of us, strong intelligent children, inheritors of the earth, guardians of Phoenix." ”

“ Markel, working constantly, made several traps for Rocky in the area around the ledge. When he finished these there was nothing to do but wait.
Markel liked it there. Big autumn clouds shadowed the ledge; mist drifted in the green valleys in the mornings and at night the loons called through the wind in the woods. The Earth Mother grew tan in the sun and she sang to herself. Markel sat by the waterfall, cleaning and polishing the M-1. And, inevitably, one morning Rocky came. ”

“ The Earth Mother's cries faded to sniffles. She blew her nose, wiped her eyes, and gave him his handkerchief. "Keep it," he said, coughing.
"Thanks. Oh, it's so good to see somebody else. You don't know how lonesome it's been here with nobody around but that goofy Rocky. I been praying somebody would come. Somebody real cool-looking, like you." She leaned toward him, blinking her eyes.
He leaned away from her. "And who, may I ask, is Rocky?"
"Joe Nowhere, that's who he is. Rides around on his goofy motorcycle all the time. He's mean, and real square. Like a cube, you know?" ”

“ Gteris was looking at him reproachfully. "Really, Kjem, yours is conduct unbecoming a Noble. If you had to murder somebody why did it have to be a Scientist? And then all this forcing your own rift into the time-pattern. The Nobles are unhappy with you, Kjem."
"You know, I don't regret any of it," said Mr. Kemper, watching Ulbasar moving close to the crowd by the cages. "Tell me, how's the hunting back home?"
"Not too bad; I got some fine hawks a while back. I still wish I could handle cats the way you do, instead of—what's wrong with that crowd in front of the cage down there?" ”

“ Turning, Markel threw the burning branch at the campfire and walked away angrily. Behind him Rocky said, "You losing your guts, square man?"
All that night Markel sat thinking by the campfire. Slightly before dawn he had the answer; it was so simple that he wondered why he hadn't thought of it before. The point was, if you can't kill an indestructible man you can still stop him.
When the Earth Mother came out of the lean-to she found Markel standing by both rolled packs. Answering her questioning glance he said, "We're leaving right now, for the convertible." ”

“ There are no others. I came alone."
Kemper, his eyes on the people at the cage, slowly folded his handkerchief. Without warning he flung the full force of his mind-probe at the man beside him. Ulbasar staggered and lurched to his left, throwing out a desperate block that was contemptuously brushed aside. Kemper reached out, gripped his arm, then eased the power of the probe. "Don't lie to me," he said softly. "It will take more than one of you to force me to go back; you know that. Now, where are the others?"
"Only one other," said Ulbasar, shaking his head. "Lord Gteris. He's on his way. ”

“ Markel said, "Darlene! Don't be frightened! Get the M-1 from the front seat of the car. When he moves, shoot him!"
Hesitant footsteps shuffled on cement, and the car door clicked. Rocky did not move. "She ain't got the guts," he said. Noiselessly, Markel moved toward Rocky, but quick as thought Rocky spun, the knife ready. Markel stopped, tense.
"I can't wait, square man. I just can't wait to start working on you."
"You haven't a chance, Rocky. After she shoots you I'll chop you into a hundred pieces and burn every one. Even a freak like you won't recover from that." ”

“ All that would be accomplished would be to put every predator within miles in possession of the address of an Abandoned.
She took a dictator and said into it: "Dear children, I am leaving you 1300 credit." She stopped then and shook her head. The tears made it so that she could not see, and she did not seem to be able to think. "Correction," she sobbed "Erase preceding. Dear Children of Yan, I make you this gift of 1300. I am sure that your excellence will continue to deserve much more than so small a gift. ”

“ Kemper wondered if she had a special intuition about him, like dogs, whose noses warned them that he was not quite the kind of man they were accustomed to. Women, particularly those with children, seemed to feel that way. He watched her leave, having decided that she was unsuited for what he had in mind.
Two things happened simultaneously, interrupting his thoughts. The big man beside him tapped him on the shoulder and asked him for a match; at the same time Kemper saw, just beyond the retreating woman, a man in a tweed jacket and gray slacks, watching him. ”

“ Markel decided later, lying on his back looking at the stars, that she was much too emotional to be the mother of the children of Phoenix. She was also stupid, illiterate, and boring. A strong, peasant body was her only asset. He would have preferred a woman closer to his own intelligence, but that, of course, was impossible. Remembering some of the women he had seen in other cities, he shuddered, and decided to make the best of the Earth Mother. ”

“ Kemper said, "Lord Gteris."
Gteris said, "I hate to do this; you know that. We were friends once. I hope you won't try to resist."
"I told Ulbasar I wouldn't. Together you're considerably stronger than I am. I'd be a fool to try anything."
"That's smart of you," said Gteris. "Now let's get to business. Ulbasar says you wouldn't tell him the location of your time rift. Is this true?"
"Certainly. Does a Noble answer to a Scientist? But of course I'll tell you, Gteris. The time rift is down there, behind the hedge opposite the lion cage." ”

“ Her number was finally called.
"I am here," she said as the machine hummed, and she gave her number.
"Your availability petition has been taken up," said the machine. "You are however to receive twenty-eight demerits for disposing of 6300 credit after having been abandoned. Do you accept?"
"I accept," she said. She was so dizzy that she could hardly stand. The machine whirred and produced a reception-area card. She read it, and walked as in a daze to the indicated reception area. Yan waited for her there.
"You look terrible," he said as he put his arm around her. "I'm sorry. ”

“ How can a man from the past affect the future? Besides, it isn't our future; it belongs to the ape-people."
"I know, but that makes no difference."
"I've been to their libraries. There are no records of us, unless you count some foolish legends of continents sinking in the sea." He looked at a man a few feet away who was throwing popcorn at a gull. A piece of popcorn bounced off the gull's head, and the man laughed. People standing nearby laughed too, and the man pitched more popcorn. Sighing, Kemper looked at his wrist watch. "When is he coming?" ”

“ But oh! my heart was sore to think
Of friends I left behind.
We rode o'er hills that seemed to sweep
Skyward like swelling waves;
The living stirred not in their sleep,
The dead slept in their graves. ”

“ The Earth Mother's feet blistered and swelled, her shoulders were rubbed raw by the pack straps, but Markel drove her steadily forward. On the fourth day he shot a pheasant, roasting it that evening while the Earth Mother sat with her feet in a pool. They had camped on a wide ledge backed by a cliff; a thin waterfall splashed down this cliff and pooled on the ledge before sloping down the mountain. ”

“ The waters make a music low:
The river reeds
Are trembling to the tunes of long ago —
Dead days and deeds
Become alive again, as on
I float, and float,
Through shadows of the golden summers gone
And springs remote.
Above my head the trees bloom out
In white and red
Great blossoms, that make glad the air about;
And old suns shed
Their rays athwart them. Ah, the light
Is bright and fair! ”

“ Goes flitting all about the place,
Master and mistress both in one;
But though she sings, or though she sighs,
He sees her not—he sees instead
A gray-haired Shade with gentle eyes —
The good old wife, long dead, long dead. ”

“ Few men were Daly's equals in point of strength; but although he with whom he now grappled made no resistance whatever, Daly never stirred him from the spot, to which he seemed fast and firmly rooted.
“Well, that's enough of it!” said the fellow, as with a rough jerk he freed himself from the grasp, and sent Daly several paces back into the room.
“Not so!” cried Daly, whose passion now boiled over, and, drawing a pistol from his bosom, he levelled it at him. Quick as the motion was, the other was equally ready, for his hand now presented a similar weapon at Daly's head. ”

“ Like spectres in the sun,
Stand shivering nigh Avonaise,
Where all is dead and gone.
The sere leaves make a music vain,
With melancholy chords;
Like cries from some old battle-plain,
Like clash of phantom swords. ”

“ Of brave Explorers dead,
Who perished — while the burning arch
Of blue laughed overhead;
The Solitary Man who stares
At the mirage so fair,
While Death steals on him unawares
And grasps him by the hair ”

“ My voice faints down the wooded ways
And dies along the darkling flood.
The past is past; I cry in vain,
For when did Death an answer deign
To Love's heart-broken questionings?
The dead are deaf; dust chokes their ears ”

“ So all delights and days expire:
Down in the dim, sad West the sun
Is dying like a dying fire.
The fiercest lances of his light
Are spent; I watch him droop and die,
Like a great king who falls in fight ”

“ How they rustle, every one!
And the sap beneath the bark
Hearing, leaps to meet the sun.
O, the world is wondrous fair
When the tide of life's at flood!
There is magic in the air,
There is music in the blood ”