The Broad Highway | Page 9

very much tried one--many thanks." With
which words he clapped the much-tried friend upon his head, and with
another movement that might have been a bow, turned short round and
strode away. And as he went, despite the careless swing of his shoulder,
his legs seemed to falter somewhat in their stride and once I thought he
staggered; yet, as I watched, half minded to follow after him, he settled
his hat more firmly with a light tap upon the crown and, thrusting his
hands into the pockets of his threadbare coat, fell to whistling lustily,
and so, turning a bend in the road, vanished from my sight.
And presently, my thirst recurring to me, I approached the inn, and
descending three steps entered its cool shade. Here I found four men,
each with his pipe and tankard, to whom a large, red-faced, big-fisted
fellow was holding forth in a high state of heat and indignation.
"Wot's England a-comin' to?--that's wot I wants to know," he was
saying; "wot's England a-comin' to when thievin' robbers can come
a-walkin' in on you a-stealin' a pint o' your best ale out o' your very
own tankard under your very own nose--wot's it a-comin' to?"
"Ah!" nodded the others solemnly, "that's it, Joel--wot?"

"W'y," growled the red-faced innkeeper, bringing his big fist down with
a bang, "it's a-comin' to per--dition; that's wot it's a-comin' to!"
"And wot," inquired a rather long, bony man with a face half-hidden in
sandy whisker, "wot might per--dition be, Joel; likewise, wheer?"
"You must be a danged fule, Tom, my lad!" retorted he whom they
called Joel, redder in the face than ever.
"Ay, that ye must!" chorused the others.
"I only axed 'wot an' wheer."
"Only axed, did ye?" repeated Joel scornfully,
"Ah," nodded the other, "that's all."
"But you're always a-axin', you are," said Joel gloomily.
"W'ich I notice," retorted the man Tom, blowing into his tankard,
"w'ich I notice as you ain't never over-fond o' answerin'."
"Oh!--I ain't, ain't I?"
"No, you ain't," repeated Tom, "nohow."
Here the red-faced man grew so very red indeed that the others fell to
coughing, all together, and shuffling their feet and giving divers other
evidences of their embarrassment, all save the unimpressionable Tom.
Seizing the occasion that now presented itself, I knocked loudly upon
the floor with my stick, whereupon the red-faced man, removing his
eyes slowly and by degrees from the unconcerned Tom, fixed them
darkly upon me.
"Supposing," said I, "supposing you are so very obliging as to serve me
with a pint of ale?"
"Then supposin' you show me the color o' your money?" he growled,

"come, money fust; I aren't takin' no more risks."
For answer I laid the coins before him. And having pocketed the money,
he filled and thrust a foaming tankard towards me, which I emptied
forthwith and called upon him for another.
"Wheer's your money?"
"Here," said I, tossing a sixpence to him, "and you can keep the
change."
"Why, ye see, sir," he began, somewhat mollified, "it be precious 'ard
to know who's a gentleman, an' who ain't; who's a thief, an' who ain't
these days."
"How so?"
"Why, only a little while ago--just afore you--chap comes a-walkin' in
'ere, no account much to look at, but very 'aughty for all that--comes
a-walkin in 'ere 'e do an' calls for a pint o' ale--you 'eard 'im, all on ye?"
He broke off, turning to the others; "you all 'eard 'im call for a pint o'
ale?"
"Ah--we 'eard 'im," they nodded.
"Comes a-walkin' in 'ere 'e do, bold as brass--calls for a pint o'
ale--drinks it off, an'--'ands me 'is 'at; you all seen 'im 'and me 'is 'at?"
he inquired, once more addressing the others.
"Every man of us," the four chimed in with four individual nods.
"'Wot's this 'ere?' says I, turnin' it over. 'It's a 'at, or once was,' says 'e.
'Well, I don't want it,' says I. 'Since you've got it you'd better keep it,'
says 'e. 'Wot for?' says I? 'Why,' says 'e, 'it's only fair seein' I've got
your ale--it's a case of exchange,' says 'e. 'Oh! is it?' says I, an' pitched
the thing out into the road an' 'im arter it--an' so it ended. An' wot," said
the red-faced man nodding his big head at me, "wot d'ye think o' that
now?"

"Why, I think you were perhaps a trifle hasty," said I.
"Oh, ye do, do ye?"
"Yes," I nodded.
"An' for why?"
"Well, you will probably remember that the hat had a band round it--"
"Ay, all wore away it were too--"
"And that in the band was a buckle--"
"Ay, all scratched an' rusty it were--well?"
"Well, that tarnished buckle was of silver--"
"Silver!" gasped the man, his jaw falling.
"And