Many
a long dull talk he held upon the benches or the grass;
many a strange waif he came to know; many strange
things he heard, and saw some that were abominable. It
was to one of these last that he owed his deliverance
from the Domain. For some time the rain had been
merciless; one night after another he had been obliged
to squander fourpence on a bed and reduce his board to
the remaining eightpence: and he sat one morning near
the Macquarrie Street entrance, hungry, for he had gone
without breakfast, and wet, as he had already been for
several days, when the cries of an animal in distress
attracted his attention. Some fifty yards away, in the
extreme angle of the grass, a party of the chronically
unemployed had got hold of a dog, whom they were
torturing in a manner not to be described. The heart
of Norris, which had grown indifferent to the cries of
human anger or distress, woke at the appeal of the dumb
creature. He ran amongst the Larrikins, scattered
them, rescued the dog, and stood at bay. They were six
in number, shambling gallows-birds; but for once the
proverb was right, cruelty was coupled with cowardice,
and the wretches cursed him and made off.
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