Page 1041 - ULYSSES
P. 1041
Ulysses
bottle and uncork it or unscrew and, applying its nozz1e
to his lips, take a good old delectable swig out of it with a
gurgling noise. The irrepressible Bloom, who also had a
shrewd suspicion that the old stager went out on a
manoeuvre after the counterattraction in the shape of a
female who however had disappeared to all intents and
purposes, could by straining just perceive him, when duly
refreshed by his rum puncheon exploit, gaping up at the
piers and girders of the Loop line rather out of his depth as
of course it was all radically altered since his last visit and
greatly improved. Some person or persons invisible
directed him to the male urinal erected by the cleansing
committee all over the place for the purpose but after a
brief space of time during which silence reigned supreme
the sailor, evidently giving it a wide berth, eased himself
closer at hand, the noise of his bilgewater some little time
subsequently splashing on the ground where it apparently
awoke a horse of the cabrank. A hoof scooped anyway for
new foothold after sleep and harness jingled. Slightly
disturbed in his sentrybox by the brazier of live coke the
watcher of the corporation stones who, though now
broken down and fast breaking up, was none other in
stern reality than the Gumley aforesaid, now practically on
the parish rates, given the temporary job by Pat Tobin in
1040 of 1305