"From choice?"
"No; but I've told my story to no one yet. It would scarcely be believed. But tell me about your friends and the sailor."
"There's a mother there, that lost a son when she lost her sailor"--Joshua pressed his fingers to his face, and sobbed convulsively at the thought of his own dear mother, who had lost a son when she lost her sailor; and the mail-driver felt a choking in his throat, and had to wait a few moments before he could proceed. "And a father that lost a son at the same time. And a wife that lost a husband. And a friend that lost a friend. And a little child that can hardly be said to have lost a father, for she never saw her father's face."
"Merciful God!"
"What's the matter, mate?"
For Joshua was trembling--like a child; and great sobs came from his chest--like a man.
"You remind me--you remind me," sobbed Joshua. "Don't think me unmanly, don't think me mad. I have been sorely, sorely tried!"
Whereat Ramsay stopped the mare, and got out of the cart, and went into the bush to look for birds. He must have had a great difficulty in finding them, he was away so long; and the old mare stood perfectly still and contented the while, twitching her tail to knock off the flies, which was the only spirited action she was ever known to be guilty of. When they were jogging along again, they did not speak a word for a full hour, and then it was Joshua who spoke first, taking up the thread where it had been dropped.
"The child who has never seen her father--a girl then?"
"Yes, mate."