He had a sensation as if
all the blood in his body was flying to his head: his face must
certainly be crimson. He put both hands to this top-heavy head, to
support it; and in a blind fit of vertigo all but lost his balance in
the saddle: the trees spun round, the distance went black. For a second
still he kept upright; then he flopped to the ground, falling face
downwards, his arms huddled under him.
The mare, all her spirit gone, stood lamb-like and waited. As he did not
stir she turned and sniffed at him, curiously. Still he lay prone, and,
having stretched her tired jaws, she raised her head and uttered a
whinny--an almost human cry of distress. This, too, failing in its
effect, she nosed the ground for a few yards, then set out at a gentle,
mane-shaking trot for home.
* * * * *
Found, a dark conspicuous heap on the long bare road, and carted back to
town by a passing bullock-waggon, Mahony lay, once the death-like coma
had yielded, and tossed in fever and delirium. By piecing his broken
utterances together Mary learned all she needed to know about the case
he had gone out to attend, and his desperate ride home. But it was
Purdy's name that was oftenest on his lips; it was Purdy he reviled and
implored; and when he sprang up with the idea of calling his false
friend to account, it was as much as she could do to restrain him.
She had the best of advice. Old Dr. Munce himself came two and three
times a day.
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