'
'What did it?' I asked.
'A drink they ca' brandy. Bein' a teetotaller I keepit off the
whisky, but I was nip-nippin' a' day at this brandy, and I doubt I'll
no be weel for a fortnicht.' His voice died away into a splutter, and
sleep once more laid its heavy hand on him.
My plan had been to get out at some station down the line, but
the train suddenly gave me a better chance, for it came to a standstill
at the end of a culvert which spanned a brawling porter-coloured
river. I looked out and saw that every carriage window was closed
and no human figure appeared in the landscape. So I opened the
door, and dropped quickly into the tangle of hazels which edged
the line.
it would have been all right but for that infernal dog. Under the
impression that I was decamping with its master's belongings, it
started to bark, and all but got me by the trousers. This woke up
the herd, who stood bawling at the carriage door in the belief that I
had committed suicide. I crawled through the thicket, reached the
edge of the stream, and in cover of the bushes put a hundred yards
or so behind me. Then from my shelter I peered back, and saw the
guard and several passengers gathered round the open carriage
door and staring in my direction. I could not have made a more
public departure if I had left with a bugler and a brass band.
Happily the drunken herd provided a diversion.
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