THE SMITHY & NOBBY COLLECTION: 6 Novels & 90+ Stories in One Edition. Edgar Wallace

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СКАЧАТЬ yes I had,’ I sez.

      “‘What part?’ sez Nobby.

      “‘Your part,’ I sez.

      “But Nobby didn’t understand.”

9. The Clairvoyant

       Table of Contents

      “Do you believe in ghosts?” asked Private Smithy.

      “What kind of ghosts?” I asked cautiously.

      “There’s a chap in H Company,” explained Smithy— “his name’s Turner, Mouldy Turner, we call him, owin’ to his havin’ been a moulder by trade. You never saw such a chap in your lifo,” said Smithy enthusiastically. “Give him a pack o’ cards an’ a table an’ he’ll tell you things about your past life wot you’ve never heard before.

      “He charges tuppence a time, an’ it’s worth it. I had twopenn’orth myself the other day.

      “‘Smithy,’ he sez, dealin’ out the cards all over the table, you’re expectin’ a letter from a dark man.’

      “‘No, I ain’t,’ I sez.

      “‘Well, you’ll get it, he sez. ‘It will bring good news.’

      “An’ sure enough,” said Smithy, impassively, “that very afternoon Spud Murphy paid me two shillin’s he borrered on the manoeuvres.”

      “But,” I expostulated, “that wasn’t a letter.”

      “It was better than a letter,” said the satisfied Smithy.

      “Well, old Mouldy counts the cards, seven to the left an’ seven to the right.

      “‘There’s a fair woman wot loves you,’ sez Mouldy.

      “‘How fair?,’ I sez, thinkin’ of all the redhaired gals I know.

      “‘Pretty fair,’ sez Mouldy, ‘you’re goin’ on a long journey acrorse the sea.’

      WHAT NOBBY SAW

      “‘Battersea?’ sez Nobby, who was lookin on.

      “‘You shut up, Nobby,’ I sez, ‘go on, Mouldy.’

      “‘Tho nine o’ spades,’ sez Mouldy, scowlin’ like anything at Nobby, ‘is a sign of death. You’ll hear of a friend dyin’. Not much ot a friend, either, but a ignorant chap with big feet,’ he sez.

      “‘You leave my feet alone,’ sez Nobby.

      “All the chaps used to come to Mouldy, an’ he was doin’ well. I could see Nobby didn’t like the way Mouldy was rakin’ in the iron, an’ one night, when me an’ a few chaps was in the canteen torkin’ about how teetotallers die when they get into a hot climate, Pug Williams came dashin’ in, lookin’ as white as a ghost.

      “‘Nobby Clark’s took ill!’ he sez, an’ we rushes over to the barrackroom to find old Nobby sittin’ on his bed with a horrible stare in his eye.

      “‘Wot’s up, Nobby?’ I sez, and just then Mouldy Turner comes in.

      “‘I see,’ sez Nobby, in a moany sort of voice, ‘I see a public house.’

      “‘You’vo seen too many public houses,’ sez Mouldy, hastily.

      “‘The inside of a public house, sez Nobby.

      “‘That’s the part I mean,’ sez Mouldy.

      “‘I see a man with side whiskers an’ a big watch-chain,’ sez Nobby moanily; ‘he’s servin’ be’ind the counter, an’ there’s a redfaced gel with yeller hair a-countin’ money. Her name’s Gertie,’ sez Nobby, holding his for’ead. “Old Mouldy’s jaw dropped an’ he went white.

      “‘Where’s my George? Where’s my soldier boy?’ moans Nobby, ‘that’s what she’s a-sayin’ of.’

      “Mouldy’s face got red.

      “‘Boys,’ sez Mouldy, in a scared voice, ‘old Nobby’s got second-sight; he’s a seein’ the pub I go to up in London an’ my young lady.’

      “‘Where’s my brave soldier?’ sez Nobby, groanin’; ‘that’s what she’s a-sayin’ of; where is my brave soldier wot rescued the colonel at Paardeberg?’

      “‘He’s a wnnderin’ now,’ sez Mouldy, blushin’.

      “‘Let’s take him to the, hospital,’ sez Pug Williams, but just at that minuto Nobby sort of woke up.

      “‘Where am I?’ he sez faintly.

      “We told him what he’d been sayin’, an’ tried to persuade him to go to bed an’ sleep it off.

      “The next day the news got about that Nobby was second-sighted, an’ when me and Nobby went to got our dinner pint all the chaps crowded round an’ asked him to give a performance.

      “It appeared from what Nobby told ’em that he’d always been second-sighted, an’ when he was a kid he had to wear spectacles.

      FORTUNES

      “‘Can you tell fortunes, Nobby?’ sez Oatsey.

      “‘I can with hands, sez Nobby, lookin’ at Mouldy; ‘not with cards. Cards,’ he sez, ‘is swindlin’.’

      “Can you tell mine, Nobby?’ sez Pug Williams, holdin’ out hid hand.

      “‘Certainly,’ sez Nobby, who’d known Pug all his life, an’ went to school with him.

      “‘You was born under an unlucky star,’ sez Nobby, lookin’ at the hand.

      “‘That’s quite right,’ sez Pug, qhite proud.

      “‘At School you was always gettin’ into trouble,’ sez Nobby, who happened to know that Pug did six months at a truant school.

      “‘That’s right!’ sez Pug, highly delighted.

      “‘You’ve had a lot a trouble through a dark man,’ sez Nobby, knowin’ that Pug got forty-two days for knockin’ a nigger about, when the reg’ment was in India.

      “‘Marvellous!’ sez Pug.

      “From that day Nobby made money. Chaps used to come from every company to get their fortune told. Mouldy an’ his cards did no bus’ness at all.

      “Nobby charged thruppence a hand, cash on the nail; fourpenco if he ‘ad to wait till pay day.

      “For СКАЧАТЬ