Jon Cleary - The Climate of Courage

Jon Cleary

The Climate of Courage

Copyright Copyright Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Keep Reading About the Author Also by the Author About the Publisher

Harper An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in 1954 by William Collins Sons & Co Ltd

Copyright © Jon Cleary 1954

Jon Cleary asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

Source ISBN: 9780006139652

Ebook Edition © JULY 2015 ISBN: 9780007568987

Version: 2015-04-26

Dedication Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Keep Reading About the Author Also by the Author About the Publisher

ToBarry

Contents

Cover

Title Page Jon Cleary The Climate of Courage

Copyright Copyright Copyright Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Keep Reading About the Author Also by the Author About the Publisher Harper An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in 1954 by William Collins Sons & Co Ltd Copyright © Jon Cleary 1954 Jon Cleary asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library. This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication. Source ISBN: 9780006139652 Ebook Edition © JULY 2015 ISBN: 9780007568987 Version: 2015-04-26

Dedication Dedication Dedication Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Keep Reading About the Author Also by the Author About the Publisher ToBarry

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Keep Reading

About the Author

Also by the Author

About the Publisher

Chapter One

SYDNEY AND home came towards them gradually, a slowly returning memory. The outer suburbs, shallows of the city, were behind them and now the familiar stations were rushing past. Granville, Auburn, Lidcombe, the names all at once were personal. Rookwood cemetery went past, the long rows of ghostly headstones stretching away to the pale morning sky, the dead arranged neatly for Judgment Day. The old jokes were made about digging up a friend and everyone laughed: laughter hung on the lips like a bubble, ready to burst at any moment. Strathfield, Ashfield, Summer Hill: there was a yell as each station went past, of recognition and greeting and excitement. People on the platforms waved, and even their fleeting smiles, out of sight almost as soon as they were seen, left an impression that warmed the men. They were coming home and every welcome counted.

A sergeant, his thick black hair blown into a frightened wig about his small head, his lean body still bent from the wind, plunged into the carriage from the outside platform. He slammed the door behind him and leaned back against it, laughing and his eyes quick and bright in the brownness of his thin smooth face. Men looked at him for a moment, for Greg Morley was the sort of man everyone looked at, always expecting him to say something that would make them laugh or take their minds for the moment from their particular problem; but he had nothing to say this time, still laughing to himself because of his inner good feeling, and the men went back to finishing the game of Five Hundred, to staring out the windows, to waiting for the end of the journey. Sergeant Morley slapped a man on the shoulder and moved on through the carriage, picking his way none too carefully through the litter of bodies and legs.

Morley at last came to a vacant seat. He dropped into it almost gracefully; every movement was quick but there was never any awkwardness. He was the battalion swimming champion and had been a State champion before the war; nearly all his life had been spent close to the sea and there was the fluidity of water in every movement he made. There was also some of the unreliability of water in him. Strangers meeting him would note the faded sergeant’s stripes on his sleeves, there too long, and the purple ribbon of the Victoria Cross on his chest, and they would wonder that he wasn’t an officer by now; then after a while they would be aware of the lack of stability in him and would reason that the Army authorities were also probably aware of it. Morley himself was aware of it, but it didn’t bother him. Nothing bothered him, except getting home.