The Pride of the Peacock Read Online Free PDF

thought it was the end of me. I was collecting nobbies.
    Clinging to the roof, they were, like oysters . yes, just like oysters. I couldn’t believe my luck. Picture me . gouging away. It was in a cave and I was deep in, and there they were in this gritty reddish seam . lovely nobbies. Suddenly there was a rumble and down came the roof of this cave. It was three hours before they could get me out. I’d got my opals, though, and one of them-well, it was a real beaut, worth losing a leg for, or so I told myself. But between you and me your own limbs shouldn’t be bartered for anything . not even this little beauty of mine. By God, she’s a prize. For a moment I thought I’d found the Green Flash again. Not quite, though . still, there’s a wonderful green in this one . a magic sort of green. She was the first thing I saw when I came round . because I was in a hospital for a long time while they cut my leg off. Had to.
    Gangrene and all that. It was a long time before they could get me down to Sydney, and by that time the leg was a goner. And the first thing I said was: “Show me that green opal.” And there she was lying in the palm of my hand, and though I knew there was nothing there where my leg used to be, I felt such pride as you wouldn’t understand just to look at the lovely thing lying there in my hand. 8 “It ought to have brought you protection against the falling rock,” I commented.
    “Well you see, it wasn’t mine until the rock started to crack. I look at it like this: It was the price I had to pay for my nobbies. That strike made me a millionaire.”
    “It would have been awful to lose your leg for nothing.”
    “I knew it was the end of my mining days. Whoever heard of a one-legged gouger? But perhaps I’ll get out again when I get used to hobbling around. But first I’ll have to educate myself in the way of my wooden leg. I’ve got to have a long rest, they tell me, so I thought the best place to come to was Oakland. And here I am trying to get used to a crutch and at wooden leg and relying on this old chair to carry me around,” and you see what nearly happened to me but for a
    certain young lady “I’m so glad I saw you, not only because…”
    “Yes, because what?”
    “So that we could meet and I could hear about opals.”
    There’s been a sort of feud between our families. ” He laughed aloud, and I laughed with him. It was a certain bond between us, which kept us laughing for not much reason, for it wasn’t so much the laughter provoked by amusement as that of sheer pleasure and the unusual nature of our meeting. I thought then-and I became sure of it later-that he liked the idea of snapping his fingers at my family.
    I bought their home, you see,” he said, ‘and it had been in their family for ages. They’ve got the Clavering arms over the hall fireplace … all drawn out on the wall and very pretty too. This one married that one and there’d been Claverings at Oakland Hall since 1507, until this rough Henniker came along and took it from them-not with fire and sword, not with gunpowder and battering rams-but with money!”
    The Claverings should never have let it go if they wanted to keep it so much. As for you, Mr. Henniker, you risked your life to get it and you’ve got it. and I’m glad. “
    “Strange words from a Clavering,” he said.
    “Ah, but this one’s an Opal.”
    “I could never think why they gave me such a name-except that I was born in Italy. I think my mother must have been very different then ” People change,” said Mr. Henniker.
    “What happens to them can often bring a turn-about. I’ve got a man calling to see me at half past four, so I shall have to go now, but listen. We’re going to meet again.”
    “Oh yes, please, Mr. Henniker.”
    What about here . at this spot . tomorrow at this time? “
    I’d love it. “
    “I reckon we’d have a lot to say to each other. Same time tomorrow then.”
    I watched him guide his chair towards the