News from Nowhere | Page 7

the words slipped out of my mouth, and my
companion looked at me with a half smile which I thought I understood;
so to hide my confusion I said, "Please take me ashore now: I want to
get my breakfast."
He nodded, and brought her head round with a sharp stroke, and in a
trice we were at the landing-stage again. He jumped out and I followed
him; and of course I was not surprised to see him wait, as if for the

inevitable after-piece that follows the doing of a service to a
fellow-citizen. So I put my hand into my waistcoat-pocket, and said,
"How much?" though still with the uncomfortable feeling that perhaps I
was offering money to a gentleman.
He looked puzzled, and said, "How much? I don't quite understand
what you are asking about. Do you mean the tide? If so, it is close on
the turn now."
I blushed, and said, stammering, "Please don't take it amiss if I ask you;
I mean no offence: but what ought I to pay you? You see I am a
stranger, and don't know your customs--or your coins."
And therewith I took a handful of money out of my pocket, as one does
in a foreign country. And by the way, I saw that the silver had oxydised,
and was like a blackleaded stove in colour.
He still seemed puzzled, but not at all offended; and he looked at the
coins with some curiosity. I thought, Well after all, he IS a waterman,
and is considering what he may venture to take. He seems such a nice
fellow that I'm sure I don't grudge him a little over- payment. I wonder,
by the way, whether I couldn't hire him as a guide for a day or two,
since he is so intelligent.
Therewith my new friend said thoughtfully:
"I think I know what you mean. You think that I have done you a
service; so you feel yourself bound to give me something which I am
not to give to a neighbour, unless he has done something special for me.
I have heard of this kind of thing; but pardon me for saying, that it
seems to us a troublesome and roundabout custom; and we don't know
how to manage it. And you see this ferrying and giving people casts
about the water is my BUSINESS, which I would do for anybody; so to
take gifts in connection with it would look very queer. Besides, if one
person gave me something, then another might, and another, and so on;
and I hope you won't think me rude if I say that I shouldn't know where
to stow away so many mementos of friendship."
And he laughed loud and merrily, as if the idea of being paid for his
work was a very funny joke. I confess I began to be afraid that the man
was mad, though he looked sane enough; and I was rather glad to think
that I was a good swimmer, since we were so close to a deep swift
stream. However, he went on by no means like a madman:
"As to your coins, they are curious, but not very old; they seem to be all

of the reign of Victoria; you might give them to some
scantily-furnished museum. Ours has enough of such coins, besides a
fair number of earlier ones, many of which are beautiful, whereas these
nineteenth century ones are so beastly ugly, ain't they? We have a piece
of Edward III., with the king in a ship, and little leopards and
fleurs-de-lys all along the gunwale, so delicately worked. You see," he
said, with something of a smirk, "I am fond of working in gold and fine
metals; this buckle here is an early piece of mine."
No doubt I looked a little shy of him under the influence of that doubt
as to his sanity. So he broke off short, and said in a kind voice:
"But I see that I am boring you, and I ask your pardon. For, not to
mince matters, I can tell that you ARE a stranger, and must come from
a place very unlike England. But also it is clear that it won't do to
overdose you with information about this place, and that you had best
suck it in little by little. Further, I should take it as very kind in you if
you would allow me to be the showman of our new world to you, since
you have stumbled on me first. Though indeed it will be a mere
kindness on your part, for almost anybody would make as good a guide,
and many much better."
There certainly seemed no flavour in him of Colney Hatch; and besides
I thought I could