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8 Jun 2008 1:29 PM

George may not have known what Martha meant, but the men noticed the enlarging of Martha's eyes when she looked down at George's attributes, and they burst out laughing, making Martha even more aware of what George might have to offer her.
When George had arrived at the hospital the ambulance officers took him to the bathroom, and leaving him on the stretcher, and with the assistance of a hospital orderly, they removed his clothes and scrubbed his body of years of grime.  They did take some care around his many lacerations and bruising, but in general, concentrated on removing any chance of infection, both to other hospital inmates and staff, and to George himself.
With the continued groans of pain coming from George, and the doctor being satisfied that there was a clean spot on his body, and injection was given to sedate George for the remainder of the bathing ordeal.
The hospital gardener was called in, and with pitchfork in hand, collected George's clothing and carried them at arms length to the incinerator.
George spent three weeks in the care of the Blackall hospital.  He developed an enormous appetite, and the kitchen staff often complained to the doctor about George's continued demand for food.
The doctor, being kindly, suggested that as George would be out of the hospital as quickly, and as medically expedient as possible, that he should be fed to speed up the healing process.  This gave the kitchen staff the encouragement to supply George with a continued supply of healthy, wholesome food.
There was one curiosity that the doctor could not fathom.  The purple streaks on George's face and neck, where the orderly had not shaved him, caused the doctor to enquire of George if he could explain the marks.
George could not, but he did try as his nature to expand on the truth had returned in earnest.
"The blokes that bashed me rubbed some stuff in me' face to knock me out...I had 'em almost beat...fought like a wild animal, I did, but when they rubbed that stuff in me' face, I knew I was done for".
The doctor didn't believe George, and as he had determined that the stains would not impede the healing process, he soon forgot about the matter.
George's brother had taken the liberty of arranging a tractor to knock down George's old shack with the intention of building something much more comfortable for him.  It was during this process that the ammunition box of coins was found.
  Bob Cooper had turned the sack of money over to Jack Wormwood, or Woodward as he called himself.  Jack had no concern about using this money to better his brother's life style, and there would be plenty left for George afterwards.
The tractor driver gave jack the ammunition box full of coins, such was the general honesty of these outback people.
"I wonder if George has any other hidden cash lying around?"
"I dunno', mate," said the tractor driver, "But if I find any I'll hand it over".
Three weeks after his admittance to the hospital, George was released.  He still suffered pain in the area of his broken ribs, and the scars of the lacerations were still well pronounced, but he was clean, dressed in clothes brought over by his brother, and had put on a considerable amount of weight.
The hospital orderly had even taken to scrubbing George's teeth.  It was an easy exercise when George was unconscious, but became a harder chore as the patient got better.  However with strong persistence, and the threat of no food until he cleaned his teeth, George's general hygiene improved to that of an average human being.
All in all, George was a vastly different man than he was before his stay in Blackall.
By the Thursday morning after the bashing and associated events, and well before any arrival in New South Wales of stolen Riverview Station stock would be expected, Bob Cooper, using the unique interrogation methods practised by outback police officers, and not to be found in any police training manual, had a full, signed confession from both Mick Jackson and his cohort, Bill Williams.
The police officer had enough evidence to recommend the apprehending of Bull McGinnis, who was subsequently arrested and held in the Brisbane Watch House pending further investigation by Stock Squad detectives.
The wallet had been found, which conclusively implicated the prisoners in a planned stock theft, and with this information, and a little persuasion, Bob Cooper was able to sow the case up before the Stock Squad detectives arrived to escort the two back to Brisbane to await, in custody, their trial.
George arrived back in Targaroo amongst much cheering and hooting from the gathered locals.
"Good on ya', mate" they shouted.
"Caught the buggers red handed, ya' did," they also shouted, referring the capture of the stock thieves.

"Well, blue handed, " someone muttered.
There was no amount of offers to buy George a drink, all his 'mates', of course.  However, Tiny stepped and took George under his protection.  Jack, his brother, had not passed any money on to George after picking him up at the hospital and driving him back home, but many tried to plead a case of need of financial help that George had no trouble ignoring.
The hangers-on should have realised that a man that was too mean to feed himself out of his dole money would not be throwing it around on some bloke that George had never been spoken to by in the past.
Jack had sorted out the problem with the dole cheque, and although the one sent had been cancelled for payment, a second cheque was sent.
The second cheque gave the Post Master heartburn for a month.  The bile rose in his chest every time he thought about the money that George had secreted all these years, and at the thought that his tax money was going to continue to find its way into some hidden flour sack in the future.
Eventually, Jack gave George both cheques, and he told him about the dud one, but George put it in the pocket of his new trousers anyway.
George cashed the good cheque at the post office as usual, but not before the Post Master had rang Toowoomba to verify which cheque was the good one, in the forlorn hope that there had been a mistake and both cheques were no good.
George was to go to Brisbane to the court hearings of the criminals, much to the discomfort of Bob Cooper who soon realised that George was back to his expansion of matters truthful.  But George was the key witness in the case, and it had to be done.
Bob Cooper would drive George down to the city, something that he would never had done if George had not been cleaned up, and it would be around two weeks before they would return.  Cooper's replacement would soon fit in with the town's way of life, or he would rue the day if he didn't.
George had been staying in the spare room at the side of the cafe, a room that had originally built for truck drivers to rest for a few hours before carrying on in their, often long and tiresome journeys.
Martha had fussed over him to the point where George was becoming uneasy about the attention.
The worst moment was when the overly fat Martha tried to get a little too close to George, and only succeeded in leaning on his still painful ribs.
The scream of agony that escaped from George shook the rafters of the diner, and brought gales of laughter from the patrons inside.
Martha would have to wait to have George attend to her soft spot.
Jack had given George several good talks about becoming respectable, about keeping himself showered and in decent clothes, and even about trying to find a job.
Given the last suggestion, George felt that if he complied with the other advice that it would be enough to satisfy his brother, so George would be seen heading into the shower every third night, and exiting with the change of clothes that Jack had purchased from George's flour sack.
Martha would wash and iron the dirty clothes for George, and have them ready for three nights hence.
The publican had retained the bets on George.  Not one punter had picked the date that close to the start of betting, and as George had been cleaned up legitimately, although unforeseen, the bets still stood.
The hotel host did show some sympathy for the losers, and put a small percentage of his winnings on the bar for all to drink out.  This event was announced, and George was invited as the guest of honour.
As it turned out the party happened on the night before George and Bob Cooper were due to travel to Brisbane, but both George and Bob joined in the festivities.
George had become the centre of attention, as was expected.  He drank freely, and freely, until he became overcome with gratitude.
"Listen everyone," the well lubricated George opened, "I wanna say thanks to all me' mates that helped me..."
A cheer rose from the crowded bar. Men drank up and shouted, "We'll drink to that".
George continued, "I want to shout you all a drink...all me' good mates," which included everyone in the pub.
"Settle down, Notty...You don't have to do that," the publican said.
"No, I wanna...fill 'em up".
When the long task of filling every empty glass in the bar was complete George dug into his trouser pocket and withdrew the dud cheque that he had carried since Jack gave it to him, and handed it to the publican.
Without a flinch, George said, "Here, take it out of this," and handed the publican the worthless scrap of paper.
The hotel owner looked at the cheque for a minute or two, his suspicious mind making him wary, but as he had not heard about the two dole cheques, he said "Yeah! sure, if you can't trust the government, who can you trust". He put the cheque in the till, and gave George the change.
"Good on ya' Notty, you're a good bloke," they yelled.

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