The Loaded Dog
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.
Introduction:
"The
Loaded Dog" written by Henry Lawson. This was first published
in the collection Joe Wilson and His Mates in 1901.
This is a comical short story about three gold miners and their
dog. The story was like most of Lawson’s writing, the
story is a portion of life event from the bush i.e. the Australian outback. There are three men Andy Page, Jim Bentley and Dave Regan who are gold miners and live
in Australian bushes. They mine gold using the technique of shaft mining. In
this story, three gold miners 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. So the story revolves around three gold
miners and their dog, and the ridiculous consequences of a bomb cartridge
unattended.
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.
