“Shut your door and put all yer lights out,” said Dan to the hotel-keeper ten minutes after. “They’ll never notice the place in the dark.”
The men marched past the hotel on their next visit, and to their astonishment found themselves on the bridge outside the town.
“What’s this?” cried Whip Thompson. “We haven’t come t’ the middle o’ the town where the pub is, an’ we’ve come to the bridge that’s outside it.”
“The town’s inside out,” said Darby the Bull, gravely. “Inside out an’ outside in. We’ve come to the outside ’fore we’ve lef’ the inside—I mean we’ve lef’—we’ve come—we’re outside in.”
“Darby,” said Dolly Grey, who had revived enough to join the processions, “I do b’lieve you’ve—hic—been drinkin’. Thash norra bridge—thash fensh roun’ hotel horsh paddock. I’ll—hic—show y’.”
He proceeded to climb the bridge rail, and was restrained with difficulty.
“You’re all drunk,” he asserted positively. “All drunk—I’m thonly man can drink ‘thout gettin’ drunk—Harrow on th’ Hill f’rever.”
A cautious return to the town was made, and the closed hotel discovered. Steve Knight had been drinking with the rest all night, but he was one of the sort whose wits never drown. He was enjoying the sport and didn’t mean to be cheated of it. “Come on, boss,” he shouted gaily, hammering the door. “If you don’t open, something ’ll get broken down.”
Trooper Dan came up and tried to persuade them it was after closing time.
“Run away, Dan,” said Steve. “We haven’t begun yet. Don’t make trouble.” So Dan wisely advised the publican to open again and went off. The men started for the other hotel again after a few more drinks, and, in order to make sure the door would not be shut when they returned, they took it off its hinges, carried it down to the bridge, and threw it over into the river.