Page:A Child of the Jago - Arthur Morrison.djvu/63



Sleep in the Jago was at best a thing of intermission, for reasons—reasons of multitude—already denoted; nevertheless, Dicky slept well enough to be unconscious of his father's home-coming. In the morning, however, there lay Josh Perrott, snoring thunderously on the floor, pie-bald with road-dust. This was not a morning whereon father would want breakfast, it was plain; he would wake thirsty and savage. So Dicky made sure of a crust from the cupboard and betook himself in search of Tommy Rann. As to washing, he was never especially fond of it, and in any case there were fifty excellent excuses for neglect. The only water was that from the little tap in the back yard. The little tap