Explore "Landtakers: The Story of an Epoch" by Brian Penton on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Twelve convicts lived in the lags' hut. They slept on heaps of straw and ragged blankets spread over the floor, which was foul with spit. The stench of the place suggested not merely filth but that utter abandonment of every physical decency that is the last sign of despair.
Three men were sitting at the table--Joe Gursey, the blacksmith; Red, the butcher and general rouseabout; and one of the shepherds named Jimmy Coyle. Coyle and Gursey were arguing. As their movements fluttered the flame of the slush lamp, features flicked out of the darkness--a wart-crusted ear, a yawning mouth, a naked chest, arms, legs.