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- Колин Маккалоу
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Arne
detained
Luke
.
"
Let
me
see
your
hands
.
"
He
inspected
the
bleeding
cuts
,
the
blisters
,
the
stings
.
"
Bluebag
them
first
,
then
use
this
ointment
.
And
if
you
take
my
advice
you
'll
rub
coconut
oil
into
them
every
night
of
your
life
.
You
've
got
big
hands
,
so
if
your
back
can
take
it
you
'll
make
a
good
cutter
.
In
a
week
you
'll
harden
,
you
wo
n't
be
so
sore
.
"
Every
muscle
in
Luke
's
splendid
body
had
its
own
separate
ache
;
he
was
conscious
of
nothing
but
a
vast
,
crucifying
pain
.
Hands
wrapped
and
anointed
,
he
stretched
himself
on
his
allotted
bed
,
pulled
down
his
mosquito
net
and
closed
his
eyes
on
a
world
of
little
suffocating
holes
.
Had
he
dreamed
what
he
was
in
for
he
would
never
have
wasted
his
essence
on
Meggie
;
she
had
become
a
withered
,
unwanted
and
unwelcome
idea
in
the
back
of
his
mind
,
shelved
.
He
knew
he
would
never
have
anything
for
her
while
he
cut
the
cane
.
It
took
him
the
predicted
week
to
harden
,
and
attain
the
eight-ton-a-day
minimum
Arne
demanded
of
his
gang
members
.
Then
he
settled
down
to
becoming
better
than
Arne
.
He
wanted
the
biggest
share
of
the
money
,
maybe
a
partnership
.
But
most
of
all
he
wanted
to
see
that
same
look
that
came
into
every
face
for
Arne
directed
at
himself
;
Arne
was
something
of
a
god
,
for
he
was
the
best
cutter
in
Queensland
,
and
that
probably
meant
he
was
the
best
cutter
in
the
world
.
When
they
went
into
a
town
on
Saturday
night
the
local
men
could
n't
buy
Arne
enough
rums
and
beers
,
and
the
local
women
whirred
about
him
like
hummingbirds
.
There
were
many
similarities
between
Arne
and
Luke
.
They
were
both
vain
and
enjoyed
evoking
intense
female
admiration
,
but
admiration
was
as
far
as
it
went
.
They
had
nothing
to
give
to
women
;
they
gave
it
all
to
the
cane
.
For
Luke
the
work
had
a
beauty
and
a
pain
he
seemed
to
have
been
waiting
all
his
life
to
feel
.
To
bend
and
straighten
and
bend
in
that
ritual
rhythm
was
to
participate
in
some
mystery
beyond
the
scope
of
ordinary
men
.
For
,
as
watching
Arne
taught
him
,
to
do
this
superbly
was
to
be
a
top
member
of
the
most
elite
band
of
workingmen
in
the
world
;
he
could
bear
himself
with
pride
no
matter
where
he
was
,
knowing
that
almost
every
man
he
met
would
never
last
a
day
in
a
cane
field
.
The
King
of
England
was
no
better
than
he
,
and
the
King
of
England
would
admire
him
if
he
knew
him
.
He
could
look
with
pity
and
contempt
on
doctors
,
lawyers
,
pen-pushers
,
cockies
.
To
cut
sugar
the
money-hungry
white
man
's
way
--
that
was
the
greatest
achievement
.
He
would
sit
on
the
edge
of
his
cot
feeling
the
ribbed
,
corded
muscles
of
his
arm
swell
,
look
at
the
horny
,
scarred
palms
of
his
hands
,
the
tanned
length
of
his
beautifully
structured
legs
,
and
smile
.
A
man
who
could
do
this
and
not
only
survive
but
like
it
was
a
man
.
He
wondered
if
the
King
of
England
could
say
as
much
.
*
*
*
It
was
four
weeks
before
Meggie
saw
Luke
.
Each
Sunday
she
powdered
her
sticky
nose
,
put
on
a
pretty
silk
dress
--
though
she
gave
up
the
purgatory
of
slips
and
stockings
--
and
waited
for
her
husband
,
who
never
came
.
Anne
and
Luddie
Mueller
said
nothing
,
just
watched
her
animation
fade
as
each
Sunday
darkened
dramatically
,
like
a
curtain
falling
on
a
brilliantly
lit
,
empty
stage
.
It
was
n't
that
she
wanted
him
,
precisely
;
it
was
just
that
he
was
hers
,
or
she
was
his
,
or
however
best
it
might
be
described
.
To
imagine
that
he
did
n't
even
think
of
her
while
she
passed
her
days
and
weeks
waiting
with
him
in
her
thoughts
all
the
time
,
to
imagine
that
was
to
be
filled
with
rage
,
frustration
,
bitterness
,
humiliation
,
sorrow
.
Much
as
she
had
loathed
those
two
nights
at
the
Dunny
pub
,
at
least
then
she
had
come
first
with
him
;
now
she
found
herself
actually
wishing
she
had
bitten
off
her
tongue
sooner
than
cried
out
in
pain
.
That
was
it
,
of
course
.
Her
suffering
had
made
him
tire
of
her
,
ruined
his
own
pleasure
.
From
anger
at
him
,
at
his
indifference
to
her
pain
,
she
passed
to
remorse
,
and
ended
in
blaming
it
all
on
herself
.
