Here are the quotations for this week (February 19th to 25th):

 

1. …'He was just the same. You'd ha' thought he'd show up in England like a fresh stiff on snow - but you never noticed him. You never heard him; and if he didn't want to be seen he wasn't there. He just joined up with his background…'
2. …He drank, and the tune rose louder, and he straightened himself yet more. Then he put out his long-taloned hands to a piece of plate opposite, and fingered it lovingly…he found the spring, pressed it, and laughed weakly. He rose from his chair and inspected a picture on the wall, then moved on to another picture, the mess watching him without a word…

3. Advancing cautiously to the river front, Gunga Dass stepped from tussock to tussock until he had reached a smooth patch of sand directly in the line of the boat's fire. The occupants of the boat took no notice. Here he stopped, and with a couple of dexterous turns of the wrist, pegged the bird on its back with outstretched wings…Half a dozen wild crows flew over at once to see what was going on, and also, as it proved, to attack the pinioned bird...

 

The sources of last week's extracts (Feb 12th to 18th) are as follows:

 

1.  (...'But though we were dead-tired, we did not forget to go to the Boy’s rooms and put away his revolver...)  This is from "Thrown Away" in Plain Tales from the Hills.

 

2.  ('...The exploded shell of an old brown cartridge dropped out of one of the pockets and rolled at my feet...' )  This is from 'The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes' from Wee Willie Winkie.

 

3.  ( '...He shouted wanst or twice, an’ thin I heard him say: "They shud ha’ got the range long ago...')  This is from 'Love o’ Women' in Many Inventions. 

 

Good wishes to all, John R