MS-WU-MSS008-3-49

[1932] a ditch, I don't know why, and it was in this ditch that I became aware
of what had happened to me. [1933] I suppose it was the fall into the ditch that
opened my eyes, for why s ^{[place = overwritten] w}ould they have opened otherwise? [1934] I looked at the
plain rolling away as far as the eye could see. [1935] No, not quite so far as
the eye could see. [1936] For my eyes having got used to the light, I fancied I
saw, faintly outlined against the horizon, the towers and steeples of a
town, which of course I could not assume was mine, on such slight evidence.

[1937] It is true the plain seemed familiar, but in my region all the plains
looked alike, when you knew one you knew them all. [1938] Anyway, whether it
was my town or not, whether somewhere under that faint haze my mother
breathed or whether she poisoned the air a hundred miles away, were
ludicrously idle questions for a man in my position, though of undeniable
interest on the plane of pure knowledge. [1939] For how could I drag myself over
this vast moor, where my crutches would fumble in vain. [1940] Rolling perhaps.

[1941] And then? [1942] Would they let me roll on to my mother's door? [1943] Fortunately for
me at this painful juncture, which I had vaguely foreseen, but not in all
its bitterness, I heard a voice telling me not to worry, that help was
coming. [1944] Literally. [1945] These words struck it's not too much to say as
clearly on my ear, and on my understanding, as the urchin's thanks I
suppose when I stooped and picked up his marble. [1946] Don't worry Molloy, we're
coming.

[1947] Well, I suppose you have to try everything once, succour included,
to get a complete pick ^{[place = overwritten] t}ure of the resources of their planet. [1948] I slithered
down to the bottom of the ditch. [1949] It must have been Spring, a morning in
Spring. [1950] I thought I heard birds, skylarks perhaps. [1951] I had not heard a
bird for a long time. [1952] How was it I hadn't heard any in the forest? [1953] Nor
seen any. [1955] It had not seemed strange to me. [1956] Had I heard any at the
seaside? [1957] Seagulls? [1958] I couldn't remember. [1959] I remembered the corn-crakes.