The Loaded Dog
- Writer: Henry Lawson
- Genre: Humorous short story
- Main idea: Innocence vs danger
- Key event: Dog runs with
dynamite
- Ending: Explosion but no harm
About Author: Henry Lawson whose
full name is Henry Hertzberg Lawson is one of Australia's well known and
beloved writers. Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson was born on 17 June 1867
in Australia and died 2 September 1922. His father, Peter Larsen was
a Norwegian sailor and an active feminist and social radical. He was famous for
his short stories and poetry. In his short stories perfectly portrayed the life
of people in Australia.
He became deaf at the age of nine
years. Due to the deafness, poverty there was unhappiness in his
family. He
went to school for three years from age of eight. This school was established
after vigorous agitation which was led by his mother. He
left school at age 14 to help his father as a builder. He was an
Australian bush or rural poet. Lawson is considered
as one of the best Australian writer. He writers of the
colonial period and is often considered as Australia’s greatest short story
writer. He became the first Australian writer to whom has been approved
a state funeral.
From 1887, Lawson began
to write poetry for newspapers and by 1890 he got reputation as a poet. Lawson’s main works are In
the Days When the World Was Wide and Other Verses (1896), While
the Billy Boils (1896), On
the Track and over the Sliprails (1900), Joe
Wilson and His Mates (1901), Children
of the Bush (1902), and Triangles
of Life and Other Stories (1913) etc.
1.
Introduction
The Loaded Dog is a humorous short story by Henry
Lawson. It shows the funny life of gold miners in Australia and how a small
mistake creates a big, comic situation.
2. Summary
The story is about four gold
miners—Dave, Andy, Jim, and Tom—who are working near a river.
One day, Dave brings a dog named
Tommy. The dog is very playful and innocent.
The miners are using dynamite
to blast rocks. They prepare a stick of dynamite and light the fuse, then throw
it away to explode safely.
But the dog, thinking it is a stick,
picks up the dynamite in its mouth and runs away.
All the miners get scared and run to
save themselves. The dog runs after them happily, thinking they are playing.
Finally, the dog runs into a hut.
After some time, the dynamite explodes, destroying the hut.
Luckily, no one is injured. The
situation becomes very funny instead of tragic.
3. Main Theme
- Humor in serious situations
- Carelessness can lead to danger
- Simplicity of rural life
- Human fear vs animal innocence
4. Characters Main points only
Dave
- Owner of the dog
- Practical but careless
- Loves his dog
Andy
- Funny and talkative
- Adds humor to the story
Jim
- Calm but also frightened in crisis
Tom
- Quiet and less active
Tommy
(The Dog)
- Innocent and playful
- Does not understand danger
- Central cause of humor
5. Setting
- Gold mining area in Australia
- Near a river and hut
- Rough and simple rural life
🧩
6. Plot Structure
Beginning
Miners working and introducing the
dog
Middle
Dynamite is lit, dog takes it
Climax
Miners run in fear, dog chases them
Ending
Explosion destroys hut, everyone
safe
7.
Important Points
- The dog thinks dynamite is a toy
- Humans panic, dog remains happy
- Humor comes from misunderstanding
- No tragedy, only comic relief
8. Important Lines (Explained Simply)
- “The dog knew no better.”
The dog is innocent and unaware of danger - “They ran for their lives.”
Shows human fear and panic
9. Literary Devices
- Irony: Dangerous situation becomes
funny
- Humor: Created through
misunderstanding
- Satire: Shows human foolishness
- Realism: Simple life of miners
10. Moral / Message
- Carelessness can be dangerous
- Animals act innocently, humans overreact
- Life can turn serious situations into humor
11. Critical Analysis
Henry Lawson presents a perfect mix
of humor and danger. The story shows human weakness—fear and confusion—while
the dog represents innocence.
The use of simple language and
realistic setting makes the story easy and enjoyable. The irony makes readers
laugh even in a risky situation.
Summary:
At the opening of the story, we see the three men (Andy Page, Jim
Bentley and Dave Regan) searching for gold at a place known as Stony Creek.
Stony Creek is a place where there is shallow water. The three men know that
rich gold quartz reefs are somewhere around that place. To make a shaft the
three men dig a hole as deep as possible, lit the fuse of cartridge and get out
immediately. This results in the formation of a large hole with lots of rocks
blown up. They dig a deep hole, lit the fuse of cartridge and get out at once.
This results in the formation of a large hole with lots of rocks blown up. They
find there a large number of fishes. All of them like the fishes to eat. They
want to catch more fished as they have consent with a butcher for mutual
exchange of fishes with meat.
There comes an idea to
Daves that they will blow the water hole with a cartridge so they can catches
more fishes easily. As his friend Andy like the plain and they apply this for
catching the fishes. Andy makes a large cartage and Andy makes the use of
gunpowder which he has brought from Sydney. On Dave's suggestion, Andy
puts the cartridge into sail canvas and to increase the force of explosion he
pastes thick brown paper around it. After letting the papers dry, he puts more
canvas layers around it and ties it with fishing wire. To be even surer Andy
and Dave dip the cartridge in tallow or bee wax and bind it with fencing wire.
One day Dave and Jim go for work, and Andy stays back at their
tent to cook. Their pet dog Tommy which is a big black young retriever stays
with Andy and watches him work on the cartridge.
Once, Andy threw away a dead cat from tent, but next morning Tommy
brings it back into the tent. Tommy retrieves everything and puts it in the
tent when the friends are out for swimming in the river. If not
retrieving, Tommy goes swimming along with the friends and catches their hands
with its mouth or scratches their backs. So, if the friends want to enjoy a
good swim, they have to tie their dog. However, all of them love Tommy
heartedness and foolishness. Andy putting the cartridge aside, near the tent
peg starts his cooking work. Tommy then goes to see Dave and Jim leaving Andy
alone. Even while cooking, Andy continuously plans to make the cartridge
better. He sees a treacle tin which has thin neck and thinks that it makes the
perfect case for cartridge. He plans to fill the tin with sand and stones to
increase the explosion. Meanwhile, Jim and Dave come to the tent along with
Tommy, and they relax by the fireside. Tommy had not seen the
cartridge goes nosing around the tent to find it. As usually, after finding
cartridge, it brings it back to Andy, but on its way the fuse of the cartridge
gets lit up by the fire on which Andy is cooking. Dave and Jim shout at Andy
and ask him to run. Andy seeing Tommy carrying the spluttering cartridge runs
even before his brain can respond to the situation. The three friends run for
their lives, and runs behind them holding the cartridge in its mouth thinking
all this to be a game. They all run in circles with Jim screaming at
Dave not to follow him, Dave screaming at Andy to spread out in other direction
and Andy screaming at Tommy to go back home. Andy then stops and kicks Tommy as
hard as he can, but Tommy avoids and starts running again. Andy throws stones
and sticks on Tommy but in van. Tommy thought that he had made a mistake following
Andy, runs behind Dave. Dave had noticed the length of the fuse
snatches the cartridge from Tommy's mouth and throws it far. Tommy runs to the
fuse and after safely getting it back runs after Jim. Tommy gets eager; it
starts shaking its tail and plans to place the cartridge under the seedling. To
save his life Jim climbs the tree even higher. The tree breaks and Jim falls to
the ground and lands on his feet.
Jim starts running, and Tommy follows him like his own shadow. Jim
loses his control and falls into digger's hole. Tommy stands above
the hole and thinks it would be nice naughtiness to drop cartridge inside the
hole. Jim shouts and abuses Tommy, so it goes behind Dave. Dave hides behind a
log, flat on his face to avoid being found by Tommy. Dave then runs towards a
shanty where many Bushmen reconstruct themselves. He enters shanty and
announces everyone about Tommy and the cartridge. When Tommy was not able to
open the front door which was shut he enters from the back door. When they see
Tommy again they start crying but the dog calms them. Both the Bushmen and Dave
hide themselves hides in wash house.
As all the men were frightened so they scold Dave for having come
there and creating a chaos and confusion. Tommy goes towards the kitchen in his
way comes a Yellow mongrel Cattle dog. The Cattle dog attacks
Tommy by holding him and bites him. Tommy drops the cartridge, gives a great
shriek and runs from there into the bush. The yellow Cattle dog follows him for
a while and returns to see the object Tommy has dropped. In
that surrounding area all of the dogs are terrified so they left that place
until next evening. There was another dog who was one eyed who had
taken interest on cartridge next to the Yellow dog is left with hatred to the
smell of gun powder forever. Some Bushmen say that whenever they
bring a ramrod near its nose, it runs away into bushes and does not return at
least for a day. After some time later, some of the liberal Bushmen make fun of
Dave whenever they see him. Tommy has as usual smiles on its face for all the
fun. To the end, Tommy gives the smile of pleasure perhaps because it is
pleased for making everybody laugh. Tommy did not know that what type of
blunder was done by it.
Summery in Urdu
تعارف:
"دی لوڈڈ ڈاگ" ایک مزاحیہ مختصر کہانی ہے جسے ہنری لاسن نے لکھا ہے۔ یہ
کہانی پہلی بار 1901 میں جو ولسن اینڈ ہز میٹس کے مجموعے میں شائع ہوئی تھی۔ دی
لوڈڈ ڈاگ کی مقبولیت اتنی ہے کہ اسکاٹ لینڈ میں وائیلا ویٹرنری کلینک کے سامنے
ٹومی کا ایک بڑا چاندی کا مجسمہ ہے جس کے منہ میں کارتوس رکھا ہوا ہے۔ لاسن کی
زیادہ تر تحریروں کی طرح، یہ کہانی جھاڑی یعنی آسٹریلوی آؤٹ بیک سے زندگی کے واقعے
کا ایک حصہ ہے۔ یہ 1800 کی دہائی کے آخر میں ہوتا ہے اور اس میں تین آدمی اور ان
کے بڑے، پیارے بازیافت کتے شامل ہیں۔ اس کہانی میں، سونے کے تین کان کنوں نے بہت
ساری مچھلیاں پکڑنے کا ایک نیا طریقہ دریافت کیا اور پھر پتہ چلا کہ ان کی دریافت
ناکام ہو جاتی ہے کیونکہ ان کا کتا اس پر گرفت کرتا ہے۔ چنانچہ کہانی تین سونے کی
کان کنوں اور ان کے کتے کے گرد گھومتی ہے، اور ایک بم کارتوس کے مضحکہ خیز نتائج
کے بغیر کوئی توجہ نہیں دی جاتی۔ یہ مرد مشترکہ طور پر سونے کی کھدائی کا کام کر
رہے ہیں اور اپنے فارغ وقت میں مچھلیاں پکڑنا پسند کرتے ہیں۔ جب مچھلی کاٹنا چھوڑ
دیتی ہے تو وہ اسے پکڑنے کا فیصلہ کرتے ہیں بم بنا کر پانی میں بم کا استعمال کرتے
ہیں۔ کتا بم کو اٹھا لیتا ہے، اتفاق سے فیوز کو روشن کرتا ہے جب وہ کیمپ فائر سے
گزرتا ہے، اور اسے واپس دینے کی کوشش کرنے والے سونے کے کھیتوں کے ارد گرد مردوں
کا تعاقب کرنے میں بہت مزہ آتا ہے۔
خلاصہ:
تین آدمی ہیں اینڈی پیج، جم بینٹلی اور ڈیو ریگن جو سونے کی کان کن ہیں اور
آسٹریلیا کی جھاڑیوں میں رہتے ہیں۔ وہ شافٹ کان کنی کی تکنیک کا استعمال کرتے ہوئے
سونے کی کان کنی کرتے ہیں۔
کہانی
کے آغاز میں، ہم تین آدمیوں کو سٹونی کریک کے نام سے مشہور جگہ پر سونے کی تلاش کرتے
ہوئے دیکھتے ہیں۔ اسٹونی کریک ایک ایسی جگہ ہے جہاں گہرا پانی ہوتا ہے۔ تینوں آدمی
جانتے ہیں کہ اس جگہ کے آس پاس سونے کے کوارٹز کی چٹانیں ہیں۔ ایک شافٹ بنانے کے
لیے تینوں نے گہرا گڑھا کھود کر کارتوس کا فیوز جلایا اور فوراً باہر نکل گئے۔ اس
کے نتیجے میں ایک بڑا سوراخ بن جاتا ہے جس میں بہت سی چٹانیں اڑ جاتی ہیں۔ وہ ایک
گہرا گڑھا کھودتے ہیں، کارتوس کا فیوز جلاتے ہیں اور فوراً باہر نکل جاتے ہیں۔ اس
کے نتیجے میں ایک بڑا سوراخ بن جاتا ہے جس میں بہت سی چٹانیں اڑ جاتی ہیں۔ انہیں
وہاں بڑی تعداد میں مچھلیاں ملتی ہیں۔ یہ سب مچھلیاں کھانا پسند کرتے ہیں۔ وہ مزید
مچھلیاں پکڑنا چاہتے ہیں کیونکہ گوشت کے ساتھ مچھلیوں کے باہمی تبادلے کے لیے ان
کی رضامندی ایک قصاب سے ہے۔
ڈیوس
کو ایک خیال آتا ہے کہ وہ پانی کے سوراخ کو کارتوس سے اڑا دیں گے تاکہ وہ زیادہ
مچھلیاں آسانی سے پکڑ سکیں۔ جیسا کہ اس کے دوست اینڈی کو میدان پسند ہے اور وہ اسے
مچھلیاں پکڑنے کے لیے لگاتے ہیں۔ اینڈی ایک بڑا کارٹیج بناتا ہے اور اینڈی بارود
کا استعمال کرتا ہے جو وہ سڈنی سے لایا تھا۔ ڈیو کی تجویز پر، اینڈی کارٹریج کو
سیل کینوس میں رکھتا ہے اور دھماکے کی قوت کو بڑھانے کے لیے اس نے اس کے ارد گرد
موٹا بھورا کاغذ چسپاں کیا۔ کاغذات کو خشک کرنے کے بعد، وہ اس کے ارد گرد کینوس کی
مزید تہہ لگاتا ہے اور اسے فشنگ تار سے باندھ دیتا ہے۔ اس سے بھی زیادہ یقین کرنے
کے لیے اینڈی اور ڈیو کارٹریج کو لمبے یا مکھی کے موم میں ڈبو کر باڑ لگانے والے
تار سے باندھ دیں۔
ایک
دن ڈیو اور جم کام کے لیے جاتے ہیں، اور اینڈی کھانا پکانے کے لیے اپنے خیمے میں
واپس رہتا ہے۔ ان کا پالتو کتا ٹومی جو ایک بڑا سیاہ فام نوجوان بازیافت کرنے والا
ہے اینڈی کے ساتھ رہتا ہے اور اسے کارتوس پر کام کرتے دیکھتا ہے۔
ایک
بار، اینڈی نے ایک مردہ بلی کو خیمے سے پھینک دیا، لیکن اگلی صبح ٹومی اسے واپس
خیمے میں لے آیا۔ جب دوست دریا میں تیراکی کے لیے باہر ہوتے ہیں تو ٹومی سب کچھ
بازیافت کرتا ہے اور اسے خیمے میں رکھتا ہے۔ اگر بازیافت نہیں ہوتا ہے تو، ٹومی
دوستوں کے ساتھ تیراکی کرتا ہے اور ان کے ہاتھ اپنے منہ سے پکڑتا ہے یا ان کی پیٹھ
کھجاتا ہے۔ لہذا، اگر دوست اچھی تیراکی سے لطف اندوز ہونا چاہتے ہیں، تو انہیں
اپنے کتے کو باندھنا ہوگا۔ تاہم، ان سب کو ٹومی کی دل آزاری اور حماقت پسند ہے۔
اینڈی نے کارتوس کو ایک طرف رکھتے ہوئے، خیمے کے کھونٹے کے پاس اپنا کھانا پکانے
کا کام شروع کیا۔ ٹومی پھر ڈیو اور جم کو اینڈی کو اکیلا چھوڑ کر دیکھنے جاتا ہے۔
کھانا پکانے کے دوران بھی، اینڈی مسلسل کارتوس کو بہتر بنانے کا منصوبہ بناتا ہے۔
اسے ایک ٹریکل ٹن نظر آتا ہے جس کی گردن پتلی ہوتی ہے اور سوچتا ہے کہ یہ کارتوس
کے لیے بہترین کیس بناتا ہے۔ وہ دھماکے کو بڑھانے کے لیے ٹن کو ریت اور پتھروں سے
بھرنے کا ارادہ رکھتا ہے۔ اسی دوران، جم اور ڈیو ٹامی کے ساتھ خیمے میں آتے ہیں،
اور وہ فائر سائڈ پر آرام کرتے ہیں۔ ٹومی نے نہیں دیکھا تھا کہ کارتوس اسے ڈھونڈنے
کے لیے خیمے کے ارد گرد گھومتا ہے۔ عام طور پر، کارتوس تلاش کرنے کے بعد، وہ اسے
اینڈی کے پاس واپس لاتا ہے، لیکن راستے میں کارتوس کا فیوز آگ سے جل جاتا ہے جس پر
اینڈی کھانا پکا رہا ہے۔ ڈیو اور جم اینڈی پر چیختے ہیں اور اسے بھاگنے کو کہتے
ہیں۔ اینڈی نے ٹامی کو پھٹتے کارتوس کو اٹھاتے ہوئے دیکھا اس سے پہلے کہ اس کا
دماغ صورتحال کا جواب دے سکے۔ تینوں دوست اپنی جان بچانے کے لیے بھاگتے ہیں، اور
کارتوس منہ میں پکڑے ان کے پیچھے بھاگتے ہیں یہ سب کچھ ایک کھیل ہے۔ وہ سب حلقوں
میں دوڑتے ہیں جس میں جم ڈیو پر چیختا ہے کہ وہ اس کا پیچھا نہ چھوڑے، ڈیو اینڈی
کو دوسری سمت پھیلنے کے لیے چیخ رہا ہے اور اینڈی گھر واپس جانے کے لیے چیخ رہا
ہے۔ اینڈی پھر رک جاتا ہے اور ٹامی کو جتنی سختی سے لات مار سکتا ہے، لیکن ٹومی
ٹال دیتا ہے اور دوبارہ بھاگنا شروع کر دیتا ہے۔ اینڈی نے ٹومی پر پتھر اور لاٹھیاں
پھینکیں لیکن وین میں۔ ٹومی نے سوچا کہ ڈیو کے پیچھے بھاگتے ہوئے اینڈی کے پیچھے
اس نے غلطی کی ہے۔ ڈیو نے دیکھا تھا کہ فیوز کی لمبائی ٹومی کے منہ سے کارتوس چھین
کر دور پھینک دیتی ہے۔ ٹومی فیوز کی طرف دوڑتا ہے اور اسے محفوظ طریقے سے واپس
لانے کے بعد جم کے پیچھے بھاگتا ہے۔ ٹومی بے تاب ہو جاتا ہے۔ یہ اپنی دم ہلانا
شروع کر دیتا ہے اور کارتوس کو انکر کے نیچے رکھنے کا ارادہ رکھتا ہے۔ اپنی جان
بچانے کے لیے جم درخت پر چڑھ جاتا ہے۔ درخت ٹوٹ جاتا ہے اور جم زمین پر گرتا ہے
اور اپنے پیروں پر اتر جاتا ہے۔
جم
بھاگنا شروع کر دیتا ہے، اور ٹومی اپنے سائے کی طرح اس کا پیچھا کرتا ہے۔ جم اپنا
کنٹرول کھو دیتا ہے اور کھودنے والے کے سوراخ میں گر جاتا ہے۔ ٹومی سوراخ کے اوپر
کھڑا ہے اور سوچتا ہے کہ سوراخ کے اندر کارتوس چھوڑنا اچھی شرارت ہوگی۔ جم چیختا
ہے اور ٹومی کو گالی دیتا ہے، تو یہ ڈیو کے پیچھے چلا جاتا ہے۔ ڈیو ایک لاگ کے
پیچھے چھپ جاتا ہے، اس کے چہرے پر چپٹا ہوتا ہے تاکہ ٹومی کو نہ ملے۔ ڈیو پھر ایک
جھونپڑی کی طرف بھاگتا ہے جہاں بہت سے بش مین خود کو دوبارہ تعمیر کرتے ہیں۔ وہ
جھونپڑی میں داخل ہوتا ہے اور سب کو ٹومی اور کارتوس کے بارے میں اعلان کرتا ہے۔
جب ٹومی سامنے کا دروازہ کھولنے کے قابل نہیں تھا جو بند تھا وہ پچھلے دروازے سے
داخل ہوا۔ جب وہ ٹومی کو دوبارہ دیکھتے ہیں تو وہ رونے لگتے ہیں لیکن کتا انہیں
پرسکون کرتا ہے۔ بش مین اور ڈیو دونوں اپنے آپ کو واش ہاؤس میں چھپاتے ہیں۔
چونکہ
تمام مرد خوفزدہ تھے لہذا انہوں نے ڈیو کو وہاں آنے اور افراتفری اور الجھن پیدا
کرنے پر ڈانٹا۔ ٹومی کچن کی طرف جاتا ہے اس کے راستے میں ایک پیلے رنگ کا مویشی کا
کتا آتا ہے۔ کیٹل ڈاگ ٹومی کو پکڑ کر حملہ کرتا ہے اور اسے کاٹتا ہے۔ ٹومی کارتوس
گراتا ہے، ایک زبردست چیختا ہے اور وہاں سے جھاڑی میں بھاگتا ہے۔ پیلا کیٹل کتا
تھوڑی دیر کے لیے اس کا پیچھا کرتا ہے اور یہ دیکھنے کے لیے واپس آتا ہے کہ ٹامی
گرا ہوا ہے۔ اس آس پاس کے علاقے میں تمام کتے خوفزدہ ہیں اس لیے وہ اگلی شام تک وہ
جگہ چھوڑ گئے۔ ایک اور کتا تھا جو ایک آنکھ والا تھا جس نے پیلے کتے کے ساتھ والے
کارتوس میں دلچسپی لی تھی اسے ہمیشہ کے لیے گن پاؤڈر کی بدبو سے نفرت ہو جاتی ہے۔
بعض جھاڑیوں کا کہنا ہے کہ جب بھی وہ اس کی ناک کے قریب رامروڈ لاتے ہیں تو وہ
جھاڑیوں میں بھاگ جاتا ہے اور کم از کم ایک دن تک واپس نہیں آتا۔ کچھ عرصے بعد،
کچھ لبرل بش مین جب بھی ڈیو کو دیکھتے ہیں تو اس کا مذاق اڑاتے ہیں۔ تمام تفریح
کے لیے ٹومی کے چہرے پر ہمیشہ کی طرح مسکراہٹ ہے۔ آخر تک، ٹومی خوشی کی مسکراہٹ
دیتا ہے شاید اس لیے کہ یہ سب کو ہنسانے کے لیے خوش ہوتا ہے۔ ٹامی کو معلوم نہیں تھا
کہ اس نے کس قسم کی غلطی کی ہے۔
Text of “The Loaded Dog”
DAVE REGAN, Jim
Bently, and Andy Page were sinking a shaft at Stony Creek in search of a rich
gold quartz reef which was supposed to exist in the vicinity. There is always a
rich reef supposed to exist in the vicinity; the only questions are whether it
is ten feet or hundreds beneath the surface, and in which direction. They had
struck some pretty solid rock, also water which kept them baling. They used the
old fashioned blasting powder and time fuse. They’d make a sausage or cartridge
of blasting powder in a skin of strong calico or canvas, the mouth sewn and
bound round the end of the fuse; they’d dip the cartridge in melted tallow to
make it water tight, get the drill -hole as dry as possible, drop in the
cartridge with some dry dust, and wad and ram with stiff clay and broken brick.
Then they’d light the fuse and get out of the hole and wait. The result was
usually an ugly pot -hole in the bottom of the shaft and half a barrow -load of
broken rock.
There was plenty of
fish in the creek, fresh -water bream, cod, and cat -fish, and tailers. The
party was fond of fish, and Andy and Dave of fishing. Andy would fish for three
hours at a stretch if encouraged by a ‘nibble’ or a ‘bite’ now and then—say
once in twenty minutes. The butcher was always willing to give meat in exchange
for fish when they caught more than they could eat; but now it was winter, and
these fish wouldn’t bite. However, the creek was low, just a chain of muddy
water -holes, from the hole with a few bucketfuls in it to the sizable pool
with an average depth of six or seven feet, and they could get fish by baling
out the smaller holes or muddying up the water in the larger ones till the fish
rose to the surface. There was the cat -fish, with spikes growing out of the
sides of its head, and if you got pricked you’d know it, as Dave said. Andy
took off his boots, tucked up his trousers, and went into a whole one day to
stir up the mud with his feet, and he knew it. Dave scooped one out with his
hand and got pricked, and he knew it too; his arm swelled, and the pain
throbbed up into his shoulder, and down into his stomach too, he said, like a
toothache he had once, and kept him awake for two nights—only the toothache
pain had a ‘burred edge’, Dave said.
Dave got an idea.
‘Why not blow the fish
up in the big water -hole with a cartridge?’ he said. ‘I’ll try it.’
He thought the thing
out and Andy Page worked it out. Andy usually put Dave’s theories into practice
if they were practicable, or bore the blame for the failure and the chaffing of
his mates if they weren’t.
He made a cartridge
about three times the size of those they used in the rock. Jim Bently said it
was big enough to blow the bottom out of the river. The inner skin was of stout
calico; Andy stuck the end of a six -foot piece of fuse well down in the powder
and bound the mouth of the bag firmly to it with whipcord. The idea was to sink
the cartridge in the water with the open end of the fuse attached to a float on
the surface, ready for lighting. Andy dipped the cartridge in melted bees’ -wax
to make it water -tight. ‘We’ll have to leave it sometime before we light it,’
said Dave, ‘to give the fish time to get over their scare when we put it in,
and come nosing round again; so we’ll want it well water -tight.’
Round the cartridge
Andy, at Dave’s suggestion, bound a strip of sail canvas—that they used for
making water -bags—to increase the force of the explosion, and round that he
pasted layers of stiff brown paper—on the plan of the sort of fireworks we
called ‘gun -crackers’. He let the paper dry in the sun, and then he sewed a
covering of two thicknesses of canvas over it, and bound the thing from end to
end with stout fishing -line. Dave’s schemes were elaborate, and he often worked
his inventions out to nothing. The cartridge was rigid and solid enough now—a
formidable bomb; but Andy and Dave wanted to be sure. Andy sewed on another
layer of canvas, dipped the cartridge in melted tallow, twisted a length of
fencing -wire round it as an afterthought, dipped it in tallow again, and stood
it carefully against a tent -peg, where he’d know where to find it, and wound
the fuse loosely round it. Then he went to the camp -fire to try some potatoes
which were boiling in their jackets in a billy, and to see about frying some
chops for dinner. Dave and Jim were at work in the claim that morning.
They had a big black
young retriever dog—or rather an overgrown pup, a big, foolish, four -footed
mate, who was always slobbering round them and lashing their legs with his
heavy tail that swung round like a stock -whip. Most of his head was usually a
red, idiotic, slobbering grin of appreciation of his own silliness. He seemed
to take life, the world, his two -legged mates, and his own instinct as a huge
joke. He’d retrieve anything - he carted back most of the camp rubbish that
Andy threw away. They had a cat that died in hot weather, and Andy threw it a
good distance away in the scrub; and early one morning the dog found the cat,
after it had been dead a week or so, and carried it back to camp, and laid it
just inside the tent -flaps, where it could best make its presence known when
the mates should rise and begin to sniff suspiciously in the sickly smothering
atmosphere of the summer sunrise. He used to retrieve them when they went in
swimming; he’d jump in after them, and take their hands in his mouth, and try
to swim out with them, and scratch their naked bodies with his paws. They loved
him for his good -heartedness and his foolishness, but when they wished to
enjoy a swim they had to tie him up in camp.
He watched Andy with
great interest all the morning making the cartridge, and hindered him
considerably, trying to help; but about noon he went off to the claim to see
how Dave and Jim were getting on, and to come home to dinner with them. Andy
saw them coming, and put a panful of mutton -chops on the fire. Andy was cook
to -day; Dave and Jim stood with their backs to the fire, as Bushmen do in all
weathers, waiting till dinner should be ready. The retriever went nosing round
after something he seemed to have missed.
Andy’s brain still
worked on the cartridge; his eye was caught by the glare of an empty kerosene
-tin lying in the bushes, and it struck him that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to
sink the cartridge packed with clay, sand, or stones in the tin, to increase the
force of the explosion. He may have been all out, from a scientific point of
view, but the notion looked all right to him. Jim Bently, by the way, wasn’t
interested in their ‘damned silliness’. Andy noticed an empty treacle -tin—the
sort with the little tin neck or spout soldered on to the top for the
convenience of pouring out the treacle—and it struck him that this would have
made the best kind of cartridge -case - he would only have had to pour in the
powder, stick the fuse in through the neck, and cork and seal it with bees’
-wax. He was turning to suggest this to Dave, when Dave glanced over his
shoulder to see how the chops were doing—and bolted. He explained afterwards
that he thought he heard the pan spluttering extra, and looked to see if the
chops were burning. Jim Bently looked behind and bolted after Dave. Andy stood
stock -still, staring after them.
‘Run, Andy! run!’ they
shouted back at him. ‘Run!!! Look behind you, you fool!’ Andy turned slowly and
looked, and there, close behind him, was the retriever with the cartridge in
his mouth—wedged into his broadest and silliest grin. And that wasn’t all. The
dog had come round the fire to Andy, and the loose end of the fuse had trailed
and waggled over the burning sticks into the blaze; Andy had slit and nicked
the firing end of the fuse well, and now it was hissing and spitting properly.
Andy’s legs started
with a jolt; his legs started before his brain did, and he made after Dave and
Jim. And the dog followed Andy.
Dave and Jim were good
runners—Jim the best—for a short distance; Andy was slow and heavy, but he had
the strength and the wind and could last. The dog leapt and capered round him,
delighted as a dog could be to find his mates, as he thought, on for a frolic.
Dave and Jim kept shouting back, ‘Don’t foller us! Don’t foller us, you
coloured fool!’ but Andy kept on, no matter how they dodged. They could never
explain, any more than the dog, why they followed each other, but so they ran,
Dave keeping in Jim’s track in all its turnings, Andy after Dave, and the dog
circling round Andy—the live fuse swishing in all directions and hissing and
spluttering and stinking. Jim yelling to Dave not to follow him, Dave shouting
to Andy to go in another direction— to ‘spread out’, and Andy roaring at the
dog to go home. Then Andy’s brain began to work, stimulated by the crisis - he
tried to get a running kick at the dog, but the dog dodged; he snatched up
sticks and stones and threw them at the dog and ran on again. The retriever saw
that he’d made a mistake about Andy, and left him and bounded after Dave. Dave,
who had the presence of mind to think that the fuse’s time wasn’t up yet, made
a dive and a grab for the dog, caught him by the tail, and as he swung round
snatched the cartridge out of his mouth and flung it as far as he could - the
dog immediately bounded after it and retrieved it. Dave roared and cursed at
the dog, who seeing that Dave was offended, left him and went after Jim, who
was well ahead. Jim swung to a sapling and went up it like a native bear; it
was a young sapling, and Jim couldn’t safely get more than ten or twelve feet
from the ground. The dog laid the cartridge, as carefully as if it was a
kitten, at the foot of the sapling, and capered and leaped and whooped joyously
round under Jim. The big pup reckoned that this was part of the lark—he was all
right now—it was Jim who was out for a spree. The fuse sounded as if it were
going a mile a minute. Jim tried to climb higher and the sapling bent and
cracked. Jim fell on his feet and ran. The dog swooped on the cartridge and
followed. It all took but a very few moments. Jim ran to a digger’s hole, about
ten feet deep, and dropped down into it—landing on soft mud—and was safe. The
dog grinned sardonically down on him, over the edge, for a moment, as if he
thought it would be a good lark to drop the cartridge down on Jim.
‘Go away, Tommy,’ said
Jim feebly, ‘go away.’
The dog bounded off
after Dave, who was the only one in sight now; Andy had dropped behind a log,
where he lay flat on his face, having suddenly remembered a picture of the
Russo -Turkish war with a circle of Turks lying flat on their faces (as if they
were ashamed) round a newly -arrived shell.
There was a small
hotel or shanty on the creek, on the main road, not far from the claim. Dave
was desperate, the time flew much faster in his stimulated imagination than it
did in reality, so he made for the shanty. There were several casual Bushmen on
the verandah and in the bar; Dave rushed into the bar, banging the door to
behind him. ‘My dog!’ he gasped, in reply to the astonished stare of the
publican, ‘the blanky retriever— he’s got a live cartridge in his mouth—’
The retriever, finding
the front door shut against him, had bounded round and in by the back way and
now stood smiling in the doorway leading from the passage, the cartridge still
in his mouth and the fuse spluttering. They burst out of that bar. Tommy
bounded first after one and then after another, for, being a young dog, he
tried to make friends with everybody.
The Bushmen ran round
corners, and some shut themselves in the stable. There was a new weather board
and corrugated iron kitchen and wash house on piles in the back yard, with some
women washing clothes inside. Dave and the publican bundled in there and shut
the door—the publican cursing Dave and calling him a crimson fool, in hurried
tones, and wanting to know what the hell he came here for.
The retriever went in
under the kitchen, amongst the piles, but, luckily for those inside, there was
a vicious yellow mongrel cattle dog sulking and nursing his nastiness under
there—a sneaking, fighting, thieving canine, whom neighbours had tried for
years to shoot or poison. Tommy saw his danger—he’d had experience from this
dog—and started out and across the yard, still sticking to the cartridge. Half
way across the yard the yellow dog caught him and nipped him. Tommy dropped the
cartridge, gave one terrified yell, and took to the Bush. The yellow dog
followed him to the fence and then ran back to see what he had dropped. Nearly
a dozen other dogs came from round all the corners and under the
buildings—spidery, thievish, cold blooded kangaroo, dogs, mongrel sheep - and
cattle, dogs, vicious black and yellow dogs—that slip after you in the dark,
nip your heels, and vanish without explaining—and yapping, yelping small fry.
They kept at a respectable distance round the nasty yellow dog, for it was
dangerous to go near him when he thought he had found something which might be
good for a dog to eat. He sniffed at the cartridge twice, and was just taking a
third cautious sniff when——
It was very good
blasting powder—a new brand that Dave had recently got up from Sydney; and the
cartridge had been excellently well made. Andy was very patient and painstaking
in all he did, and nearly as handy as the average sailor with needles, twine,
canvas, and rope.
Bushmen say that that
kitchen jumped off its piles and on again. When the smoke and dust cleared
away, the remains of the nasty yellow dog were lying against the paling fence
of the yard looking as if he had been kicked into a fire by a horse and
afterwards rolled in the dust under a barrow, and finally thrown against the
fence from a distance. Several saddle, horses, which had been ‘hanging up’
round the verandah, were galloping wildly down the road in clouds of dust, with
broken bridle reins flying; and from a circle round the outskirts, from every point
of the compass in the scrub, came the yelping of dogs. Two of them went home,
to the place where they were born, thirty miles away, and reached it the same
night and stayed there; it was not till towards evening that the rest came back
cautiously to make inquiries. One was trying to walk on two legs, and most of
’em looked more or less singed; and a little, singed, stumpy tailed dog, who
had been in the habit of hopping the back half of him along on one leg, had
reason to be glad that he’d saved up the other leg all those years, for he
needed it now. There was one old one eyed cattle dog round that shanty for
years afterwards, who couldn’t stand the smell of a gun being cleaned. He it
was who had taken an interest, only second to that of the yellow dog, in the
cartridge. Bushmen said that it was amusing to slip up on his blind side and
stick a dirty ramrod under his nose - he wouldn’t wait to bring his solitary
eye to bear—he’d take to the Bush and stay out all night.
For half an hour or so
after the explosion there were several Bushmen round behind the stable who
crouched, doubled up, against the wall, or rolled gently on the dust, trying to
laugh without shrieking. There were two white women in hysterics at the house,
and a half caste rushing aimlessly round with a dipper of cold water. The
publican was holding his wife tight and begging her between her squawks, to
‘hold up for my sake, Mary, or I’ll lam the life out of ye.’
Dave decided to
apologise later on, ‘when things had settled a bit,’ and went back to camp. And
the dog that had done it all, ‘Tommy’, the great, idiotic mongrel retriever,
came slobbering round Dave and lashing his legs with his tail, and trotted home
after him, smiling his broadest, longest, and reddest smile of amiability, and
apparently satisfied for one afternoon with the fun he’d had.
Andy chained the dog
up securely, and cooked some more chops, while Dave went to help Jim out of the
hole.
And most of this is
why, for years afterwards, lanky, easy -going Bushmen, riding lazily past
Dave’s camp, would cry, in a lazy drawl and with just a hint of the nasal
twang—
‘’Ello, Da -a -ve!
How’s the fishin’ getting on, Da -a -ve?’
Glossary/Meaning of Difficult Words
quartz: a crystal:like mineral
reef: a ridge of
rock or sand above a large water body
vicinity: surrounding area
bailing: scoop water
out (of a ship or boat)
time fuse : a fuse which can
be set to explode a bomb or shell at a specified time
sausage : meat, usually
minced pork, shaped into a cylinder
calico: a kind of plain white
or unbleached cotton cloth
tallow: a kind of animal fat
formerly used in the manufactu of candles
burred : rough
whipcord: thin, tough,
capered : skipped or danced
in a lively way
whooped : gave a loud cry of
joy and/or excitement
lark : amusing adventure
grimly mocking
sardonically: grimly mocking
shanty: a small, crudely built
shack
stimulated: state of increased
activity
Bushmen: people who live in
a semi:wild area of land
publican : a person who
owns or manages a pub
corrugated: material
shaped into ridges or grooves,
mongrel: a dog of no
definable breed
small fry: insignificant
vicious : cruel and
violent
painstaking: done with great
care
twine : a type of strong
cotton thread
singed: burnt
lam: hit hard
Textual Questions:
A. Answer the following
in a single word, phrase or sentence each.
1. What were Dave, Jim
and Andy doing in Stony Creek?
Ans. The trio Dave, Jim and
Andy were searching the gold in Stony Creek.
2. What was Dave's idea?
Ans. Dave’s idea was to
use cartridge for catching fishes.
3. Who executed plans
among the trio?
Ans. Andy executed plans
among the trio.
4. Why did Dave run away
all of a sudden?
Ans. Dave runs away because
the bog Tommy was carrying the spluttering cartridge in mouth and was chasing
him.
5. What was the dog's
reaction to the trio running away?
Ans. The dog was chasing the
trio like their shadow because he takes this a playing game.
6. What did Jim do to
escape from the dog?
Ans. Jim runs as fast
as he can and finally he climbs the tree to escape from the dog.
7. What happened when
Tommy went into the bar?
Ans. All the people in
the bar hide in wash house to save their life.
8. How was the entire
incident remembered afterwards?
Ans. Not only humans
but also animals were terrified and the liberal Bushmen make its
fun.
B. Answer the following
in about 150 words each.
1. What procedure did
the trio follow for mining gold?
Ans. The trio in the story is: Dave Regan, Andy Page, and Jim Bently. The
party is fond of fish, and Andy and Dave are fond of fishing. One day in the
middle of winter, Dave, Andy, and Jim are working on sinking shafts – a
particularly dangerous form of mining that involves creating a near vertical
tunnel to the bottom of the mine by using explosive cartridges. Because they
are near Stony Creek, and because Andy and Dave are devoted fishermen, Dave
comes up with a way that they could catch many fish at once: if they blow up
the riverbed with one of their mining cartridges, they could kill a lot of
fish, some to eat and some trade to the butcher for meat. Jim thinks this idea
is “damned silliness” and wants nothing to do with it. But Andy is always game
for whatever Dave comes up with, even if he sometimes ends up taking the blame
when Dave’s theories don’t pan out. Back at their camp, Andy starts to work on
setting up a cartridge to put in the river. This involves creating a cartridge
three times the normal width and then wrapping it in canvas and brown paper to
increase the size of the explosion. But in the middle of his preparations, the
men’s dog Tommy interrupts procedure the trio follow for mining gold.
2. Describe the trio's
dog.
Ans. The trio in the story had a dog Tommy with them. The
dog itself is one of the vital characters in the story, because everything goes
unexpectedly when the dog steals the cartridge and chases the men with it.
Tommy is the pet dog of three miner friends. It is a foolish young Golden
Retriever which takes the life of its human mates as a joke. He has
the habit of slobbering and lashing legs of his friends with his tail. Tommy
goes swimming along with the trio and catches their hands with its mouth or
scratches their backs. So, if the trio wants to enjoy a good swim, they have to
tie their dog. However, trio love Tommy heartedness and foolishness. He has a
smile on his face as if it is proud of its foolishness. His habit of retrieving
everything lands him and his friends into trouble. He creates panic in the
story as it carries a cartridge in its mouth and chases his
friends. Tommy with ignorance does not perceive even for a while the
danger which it is carrying. So, it is really foolish.
3. How did the people
gathered in the bar attempt to escape from the bomb?
Ans. In the story when the
dog follows Dave he enters in a bar where many Bushmen reconstruct themselves.
He enters bar and announces everyone about Tommy and the cartridge. When they
see Tommy all in the bar start crying but the dog calms them. Both the Bushmen
and Dave hide themselves hides in wash house. As all the men were
frightened so they hide and gathered in the bar to escape from the expulsion of
the bomb in the bar. They scold Dave for having come there and creating a chaos
and confusion. All the men in the bar gathered in the bar because
they want to save their lives from the expulsion of the bomb. Tommy goes
towards the kitchen in his way comes a Yellow mongrel Cattle
dog. The Cattle dog attacks Tommy by holding him and bites
him. Tommy drops the cartridge, gives a great shriek and runs from there into
the bush. Tommy has as usual smiles on its face for all the fun. Tommy did not
know that what type of blunder was done by it.
4. How did the bomb's
explosion affect the animals in the story?
Ans. The bomb’s explosion affects all the animals in
the story directly or indirectly except Tommy. All the animals in the story
have been frightened with the bomb’s explosion. When Tommy
enters towards the kitchen of shanty in his way comes a Yellow
mongrel Cattle dog. The Cattle dog attacks Tommy by holding
him and bites him. Tommy drops the cartridge, gives a great shriek and runs
from there into the bush. The yellow Cattle dog follows him for a while and
returns to see the object Tommy has dropped. In that surrounding
area all of the dogs are terrified so they left that place until next
evening. There was another dog who was one eyed who had taken
interest on cartridge next to the Yellow dog is left with hatred to the smell
of gun powder forever. Some Bushmen say that whenever they bring a
ramrod near its nose, it runs away into bushes and does not return at least for
a day. To the end, Tommy gives the smile of pleasure perhaps because it is
pleased for making everybody laugh. Tommy did not know that what type of
blunder was done by it.
5. What does the trio's
reaction to the after-effects of the bomb's explosion reveal about them?
Ans. The trio reacts very
humbly to the dog even after the bomb’s explosion but they have fear with
everyman for its type of attitude. He is ignorant of the danger it carries and
just tries to be playful. Fear attacks him in form yellow mongrel Cattle dog
near the pub. He is terrified seeing the Yellow dog, and his fear saves him
from being killed by the cartridge. They apologize for the uproar,
while Tommy goes back to camp “smiling his broadest, longest, and reddest smile
of amiability, and apparently satisfied for one afternoon with the fun he’d
had.” For a long time afterward, any time one of the Bushmen encounters Dave,
they ask him how fishing is going. Dave decided to apologise later on, ‘when
things had settled a bit,’ and went back to camp. And the dog that had done it
all, ‘Tommy’, the great, idiotic mongrel retriever, came slobbering round Dave
and lashing his legs with his tail, and trotted home after him, smiling his
broadest, longest, and reddest smile of amiability, and apparently satisfied
for one afternoon with the fun he’d had. Andy chained the dog up securely, and
cooked some more chops, while Dave went to help Jim out of the hole.
C. Answer the following
in about 300 words each.
1. What kind of comedy
is employed in the story? Explain your reasons for your choice.
Ans. The whole story of this
play is comic and humorous. It is planned as a comedic tall tale, but the basic
situation sets up a hardship for the men at the center of the story. It
highlights the very real efforts those living that kind of life faced my humans
in everyday life. Likewise, the easy friendship between the men and their
dependence upon one another reminds the use of the value of strong social bonds
within such a self supportive community. In this comic story, three gold miners
discover a new way to catch a lot of fish and then find that their discovery
fails as their dog gets a grip of it. So the story revolves around
three gold miners and their dog, and the comic consequences of a bomb
cartridge unattended. The men are working jointly digging for gold and like to
go fishing in their spare time. When the fish stop biting, they decide to catch
them by making a bomb and make the use of bomb in the water. The dog picks up
the bomb, by chance lights the fuse as he runs past the campfire, and has great
fun pursuing the men around the gold fields trying to give it back. The plot
and structure of the play has many elements of a comedy.
All the important
characters are comic and help to make this play a great comedy. The
dog/ Tommy humors characters in the story, because everything goes unexpectedly
when the dog steals the cartridge and chases the men with it. It is a foolish
young Golden Retriever which takes the life of its human mates as a
joke. It has the habit of slobbering and lashing legs of his friends
with his tail. It has a smile on his face as if it is proud of its foolishness.
Dave is one of the three men "sinking the shaft" at Stony Creek in the story. He
is careless comic gold miner, who loves fishing. It is his idea to use a
cartridge to catch fish which helps to make the play in to a great comedy. Andy Page is also
comic gold miner and like his friend Dave, Andy likes fishing. He puts
Dave’s theories into practice if they were feasible, or bore the blame for the
failure and the mocking of his mates if they were not feasible.
2. How does Lawson's
story go against the established norms of the rural idyll?
Ans. Idyll is a plain eloquent work in poetry
or prose that deals with rural life or rural scenes or advocates a mood of calm
and pleasure. In other words an Idyll is neither a poem nor a description
but shares qualities of both. The ‘rural idyll’ is considered to be
the generally erected and usually shared romanticized image, or is
the representation of life in villages, frequently represented as a place where
the world is still all exact and unaltered by overall
transforms. The established norms of the rural idyll are: its
brevity and charming effect.
In
this story Lawson goes against the established norms of the rural idyll. The
structure and plot of the story does not follow the established norms of the
rural idyll. There is the third person, omniscient narration. The play has
Linear structure. There is a mix of short sentences and long
descriptive paragraphs. There is shifting between long descriptive paragraphs
and short sentences like "Dave got an idea." creates grabs the
attention of the responder. Three men are mining at
a close claim and camping in the bush. After deciding that they'd like to go
fishing, they discover a way to fish using their mining skills, and decide to
blow up the fish in the waterhole. They set about creating a cartridge, but before
they can test their fishing ability, the retriever dog steals the lit
cartridge, chasing the men with before finally blowing up the Mongrel dog in
town. This is set during the Gold Rush age. However, the humorist elements hide
the harsh living conditions of characters.
The story has uncertainty in many respects as it is full of
unexpected events. Nothing the story happens as planned. The three
friends who are important characters of the story were in
search of gold but no one knows that will they find gold or not. Also Tommy
takes the cartridge which is actually made to blast the surface of Stony Creek
to catch fish. All were uncertain about that what will happen within minutes,
but suddenly Yellow dog enters the story, and it gets killed. In
short, it is clear from the above that most of the story go against the
established norms of the rural idyll.
Important Additional
Questions
Q1. Write a short note on the beginning of the story.
Ans. The story begins with three miners: Dave Regan, Jim Bently, and Andy Page : attempting to sink a shaft at Stony Creek
in exploration of a rich gold quartz reef. The party is fond of fish, and Andy
and Dave are fond of fishing. One day in the middle of winter, Dave, Andy, and
Jim are working on sinking shafts – a particularly dangerous form of mining
that involves creating a near vertical tunnel to the bottom of the mine by
using explosive cartridges. Because they are near Stony Creek, and because Andy
and Dave are devoted fishermen, Dave comes up with a way that they could catch
many fish at once: if they blow up the riverbed with one of their mining
cartridges, they could kill a lot of fish, some to eat and some trade to the
butcher for meat. Jim thinks this idea is “damned silliness” and wants nothing
to do with it. But Andy is always game for whatever Dave comes up with, even if
he sometimes ends up taking the blame when Dave’s theories don’t pan out. Back
at their camp, Andy starts to work on setting up a cartridge to put in the
river. This involves creating a cartridge three times the normal width and then
wrapping it in canvas and brown paper to increase the size of the explosion.
But in the middle of his preparations, the men’s dog Tommy, a retriever puppy,
becomes interested in what they are doing. Tommy’s main joy in life is
retrieving things – a dead cat the men tried to throw away, any garbage they
leave behind, and even the men themselves when they go swimming.
Q2. What is Dave’s Scheme for catching the fishes?
Ans. Dave is usually the one to come up with schemes, and Andy is the
one to apply them. Andy usually puts Dave’s theories into practice if they are
feasible, or bears the responsibility for their failure. Andy makes a cartridge
about three times the size of those they usually use. Dave’s schemes are elaborate,
and he often worked his inventions out to nothing
Q3. Write a short note on the on the incident which the Dog plays
in the story.
Ans.: Dogs as pet animals
make great friendship with humans. In this short story The
Loaded Dog, Andy, a miner, loves having his retriever, Tommy, with him at
camp and enjoys playing a game of fetch. It never occurs to him how much
trouble it will cause when Andy and his comrades, Dave and Jim, decide to make
an explosive to deal with the prickly catfish. The dog thinks it is another
game of bring when the men run away from him after the dog takes the cartridge
in his mouth and drags the fuse through the fire. The dog runs the fuse through
the campfire, prompting the three men to flee. Seeing the lit
explosive, the three men try to flee – but Tommy treats their panicked attempts
to get away as a game of chase. Dave and Jim are faster than Andy, but no
matter how much they shout at each other not to follow each other – at least if
they split up they won’t all blow up – they’re all still running together.
Jim tries to
climb a tree and then drops down a mine shaft; meanwhile Andy has hidden behind
a log. When Dave seeks refuge in the local pub, the dog bounds in after him,
causing the Bushmen inside to scatter. Tommy comes across a "vicious
yellow mongrel cattle-dog sulking and nursing his nastiness under [the
kitchen]," who takes the cartridge for himself. A crowd of dogs, curious
about this unusual object, gather around the cartridge. The subsequent
explosion blows apart the yellow cattle-dog and maims numerous others. In the yard, Tommy runs
into a vicious, feral yellow dog that’s been a neighborhood problem for a while
now. The yellow dog bites Tommy, who drops the explosives, running away in
fear. A bunch of other undomesticated dogs surrounds the yellow dog to see what
it’s got. Just as the yellow dog goes in to try to bite the cartridge, it
explodes so hard that the shack rattles. The yellow dog is killed, and some of
the other dogs are also hurt. For the next half hour, the Bushmen and their
wives laugh uproariously. Eventually, Dave apologizes for the commotion, while
Tommy goes back to camp “smiling his broadest, longest, and reddest smile of
amiability, and apparently satisfied for one afternoon with the fun he’d had.”
For a long time afterward, any time one of the Bushmen encounters Dave, they
ask him how fishing is going.
Q4. Write some
sentences upon the important characters of the play.
Ans.
I. Dave Regan: Dave is one of the three
men "sinking the shaft" at Stony Creek in the story. He is careless gold miner,
who loves fishing. It is Dave's idea to use a cartridge to catch fish. He gives
theories which are applied Andy. He and a fellow friend Andy like fishing,
so Dave comes up with an idea to blow up fish in the water-hole with a
cartridge. Later, when Tommy the retriever chases the men with the cartridge in
his mouth, Dave seeks help at local pub and leads the dog with the explosive
into the inhabited area.
II. Andy Page: He is also gold
miner and like his
friend Dave, Andy likes fishing. He puts Dave’s theories into
practice if they were feasible, or bore the blame for the failure and the
mocking of his mates if they were not feasible.
III. Jim Bently: He was different to the other
men; he wasn't interested in their 'damned silliness'. He is described in the
story as being dispassionate in the desperate madness of Dave and Andy's
scheme. He enjoys eating fish, but has no interest in fishing. His not interested in
“damned silliness," and therefore he does not participate in the
development of Dave’s idea. Jim is serious with his life compared to his other
friends. He thinks the plan of blowing the Creek as 'damn
silliness'. He is disinterested but doesn't stop his friends from executing
their idea. Jim creates ultimate comedy by climbing a weak tree and falling in
digger's hole.
IV. The Dog/ Tommy: The dog itself is one of
the vital characters in the story, because everything goes unexpectedly when
the dog steals the cartridge and chases the men with it. Tommy is the pet dog
of three miner friends. It is a foolish young Golden Retriever which takes the
life of its human mates as a joke. He has the habit of slobbering
and lashing legs of his friends with his tail. He has a smile on his face as if
it is proud of its foolishness. His habit of retrieving everything lands him
and his friends into trouble. He creates panic in the story as it carries a
cartridge in its mouth and chases his friends. Tommy with ignorance
does not perceive even for a while the danger which it is carrying. So, it is
really foolish.
He is a black,
overgrown pup. His head was usually a red. He is foolish and slavers. He seemed
to take life, the world, and the two men who are his mates. Tommy is portrayed as a
big, stupid dog which keeps slobbering around his two-footed mates. He lashes
his friends with his heavy tail. He took everything around him as a big joke.
He had the habit of retrieving everything which the three friends threw away.
Q5. What are the important
themes of the play?
Ans.: There are so
many themes of this play the important themes are discussed below:
I. Theme
of humor and Life in the Bush:
The whole story is
humorous and it is planned as a comedic tall tale, of course, but the basic
situation sets up a hardship for the men at the center of the story that
underscores the very real struggle those living that kind of life faced every
day. Likewise, the easy camaraderie between the men and their dependence upon
one another—as well as their willingness to take an everybody for himself
approach when survival is on the line—reminds the reader of the value of strong
social bonds within such a self supportive community.
II. Theme
of Man verses beast:
The center of the story
is not on how the dog is presented as an opponent hindering the men
from their end, but rather how the dog and the men respond to the exact same
narrative stimulus. The language often serves to personify the dog, even to the
point of giving him a human name rather than one for suitable for an animal.
And yet despite this imagery of personification, Tommy manifests himself as
quite unlike the humans through behavior. The dog is endowed with a sentient
awareness of the absurdity of the situation that has sent the men scampering
for safety and even reveals the unusual canine ability to appreciate the
situation with sardonic humor expressed through a grin.
III. Theme
of Exploitation for benefit:
Andy, Dave, and Jim
exploit the environment as miners to make a profit. Their behavior runs the
risk of being interpreted as ravenous and more evidently destructive. They
liberally use explosives and their extensive knowledge of manipulating nature
to extract valuable minerals and resources. However when Tommy grabs the
explosive the narrative shifts the target. Lawson begins to draw out the irony
of torture and greed.
IV. Theme
of Fear:
One of the themes of the
story is fear. When the dog takes the cartridge, he puts himself and everyone
near him in danger, but he has no concept of fear because he is ignorant of
what the cartridge is capable of doing to him. As the three men run away, the
dog chases them playfully. The men react to their fear with an everyman for
himself attitude. This fearful reaction continues as, in an attempt to find
safety, Dave runs into a bar, exposing more men to danger.
Q6. Write in few sentences the story of “The Loaded Dog”.
Ans.: One day, Dave Regan, Andy Page, and Jim Bently are
plummeting ray at Stony Creek. Dave and Andy like to fish. Dave discovered a
new way of catching the fish. He suggests they should try to explode the fish
with cartridge. Jim is not interested in this but Andy accepts plan. Then they
come back at the camp, Tommy gets grip of the explosive. He starts running
after the three men, who are trying to run away. The Dog runs after Dave and he
runs into a local inn. Tommy meets a violent yellow dog, so he drops the
cartridge and runs away. The yellow dog smells the explosive when it
unexpectedly explodes.
Q7. Write the plot of the play?
Ans.: Three men are mining
at a close claim and camping in the bush. After deciding that they'd like to go
fishing, they discover a way to fish using their mining skills, and decide to
blow up the fish in the waterhole. They set about creating a cartridge, but
before they can test their fishing ability, the retriever dog steals the lit
cartridge, chasing the men with before finally blowing up the Mongrel dog in
town. This is set during the Gold Rush age. However, the humorist elements hide
the harsh living conditions of characters.
Q8. Write a
short note on the form of this play?
Ans.: There is the
third person, omniscient narration. The play has Linear
structure. There is a mix of short sentences and long descriptive
paragraphs. There is shifting between long descriptive paragraphs and short
sentences like "Dave got an idea." creates grabs the attention of the
responder.
Q9. Write a short not on
the ‘Life in Bushes’ or ‘Life at Mining sites’ incident in the story.
Ans.: Life at mining sites in
the forest was not easy. This can be seen through the life of three miners in
the story. These men spend many hours in search of gold, but they do not know
its exact location. The cartridge which they make is dangerous and can blast
anywhere. If Tommy had not taken the cartridge, w do not know what would have
happened the actual plan is executed.
These men live in tent
without proper facilities to sleep and cook. Fishing is their only means of
food, and if they do not catch fish they will have to starve for the day.
Q10. Write a
short note on Uncertainty in the play.
Ans.: The story has
uncertainty in many respects as it is full of unanticipated events. Nothing the
story happens as planned. The three friends who are
important characters of the story were in search of gold but no one
knows that will they find gold or not. Also Tommy takes the cartridge which is
actually made to blast the surface of Stony Creek to catch fish. All were uncertain
about that what will happen within minutes, but suddenly Yellow dog enters the
story, and it gets killed.
Q11. Write a short note
on fear in the story.
Ans.: Fear is introduced
in the story in the form of Tommy who carries lives his life foolishly and
makes the story fearful. When the dog takes the cartridge, he puts himself and
everyone near him in danger, but he has no concept of fear because he is
ignorant of what the cartridge is capable of doing to him. As the three men run
away, the dog chases them playfully. The men react to their fear with an
everyman for him attitude. He is ignorant of the danger it carries and just
tries to be playful. Fear attacks him in form yellow mongrel Cattle dog near
the pub. He is terrified seeing the Yellow dog, and his fear saves him from
being killed by the cartridge.
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