THE NARROW PATH.
"Now, Master Joe Crang," the Churchwarden said firmly, but not quite as
sternly as he meant to put it, because he met the blacksmith's eyes
coming out of head; "how are we to know that you have not told us what
you call a cock-and-bull affair? Like enough you had a very fearsome
dream, after listening to a lot about those resurrection-men, and
running home at night with the liquor in your head."
"Go and see my door ahanging on the hinges, master, and the mark of the
big man's feet in the pilm, and the track of wheels under the hedge, and
the blood from the poor nag's frog, and the splinter of shoe I pulled
out with the pincers. But mercy upon me, I be mazed almost! I forgot I
put the iron in my pocket. Here it is?"
There it was sure enough, with dried blood on the jag of it, and the
dint from a stone which had driven it, like a knife through an
oyster-shell, into the quick. Such is the nature of human faith, that
the men, handling this, were convinced of every word. They looked at
each other silently, and shook their heads with one accord, and gave the
shivering blacksmith another draught of cider.
"Joe, I beg your pardon for doubting of your word," Farmer John
answered, as his own terror grew; "you have been through a most awesome
night. But tell us a thing or two you have left out. What way do you
reckon the cart came from, and what was the colour, and was there any
name on it, and by the sound, which way did it drive off?"
"Ay, ay, he hath hit it," the clerk chimed in; "the finest head-piece in
all the county belongeth to the hat of our Master John Horner."
"I'll tell 'e every blessed thing I knows, but one," Joe Crang was
growing braver, after handing horrors on; "can't say which way the cart
come from, because I was sound in my bed just then. But her hadn't been
through the ford, by the look of wheels, and so it seems her must have
come from Perlycrass direction. The colour was dark; I should say, a
reddish brown, so far as the light supported me. There was no name to
see; but I was on her near side, and the name would be t'other side of
course, if there wur one. Her drove off the way her was standing, I
believe; at least according to the sound of it; and I should have heard
the splash, if they had driven through the ford. Any other questions,
master?"
"There may be some more, Joe, when I come to think. But I don't see
clearly how you could have been on the near side of horse, to the other
side of lane, in case they were coming from our village way."
"You'm right enough there, sir, if so be they hadn't turned. I could see
by the marks that they went by my shop, and then turned the poor horse,
who was glad enough to stop; and then bided under hedge, in a sort of
dark cornder. Might a' come down the lane a' purpose like, seeking of
me to do the job. Seemeth as if they had heard of my shop, but not
ezactually where it waz."
"When you come to think of it, might be so." Farmer John was pretty safe
in his conclusions, because they never hurried him. "And if that was the
meaning, we should all have reason to be very joyful, Joe. You cannot
see it yet; nor even Master Channing. But to my mind it proveth that the
chaps in this queer job--mind, I don't say but what they may have been
respectable, and driving about because they could afford it--but to my
mind it showeth they were none of our own parish. Nor next parish
either, so far as reason goes. Every child in Perlycross, with legs to
go on, knows afore his alphabet, where Susscot forge be."
"A' knoweth it too well, afore he gets his breeches. Three quarters of a
mile makes no odds to they childer, when they take it in their heads to
come playing with the sparks. And then their mothers after 'em, and all
the blame on me!"
"It is the way of human nature, when it is too young. Master Clerk, a
word with you, before we go too far. Sit down upon this sack, Joe, and
try to eat a bit, while the wiser heads be considering."
The Churchwarden took the ancient clerk aside, and the blacksmith
beginning to be in better heart, renewed his faith in human nature upon
bread and bacon.
Before he was sure that he had finished, the elder twain came back to
him, fortified by each other's sense of right, and high position in the
parish. But Channing was to put the questions now, because they were
unpleasant, and he was poor.
"According to my opinion, Master Crang, you have told us everything
wonderful clear, as clear as if we had been there to see it, considering
of the time of night. But still there is one thing you've kept behind,
causally perhaps, and without any harm. But Churchwarden Horner saith,
and everybody knows the value of his opinion, that the law is such, that
every subject of the King, whatever his own opinion may be, hath to give
it the upper course, and do no more harm than grumble."
"Big or little, old or young, male or female, no distinction, baronet
or blacksmith;" said Farmer John, impressively.
"And therefore, Joe, in bounden duty we must put the question, and you
must answer. Who was the man according to your judgment, that kept so
close behind the horse, and jumped away so suddenlike, when the light of
your fire shone into the lane? You said that the big man called him
'Jem,' and you as good as told us that you certified his identity."
"I don't understand 'e, Master Channing. I never was no hand at big
words." The blacksmith began to edge away, till the farmer took the old
man's staff, and hooked him by the elbow.
"No lies, Crang! You know me pretty well. I am not the man to stand
nonsense. Out of this potato-field you don't budge, till you've told us
who the short man was."
"A' worn't short, sir; a' worn't short at all--taller than I be, I
reckon; but nort to what the other were. Do 'e let go of me, Farmer
Hornder. How could I see the man, through the nag?"
"That's your own business, Crang. See him you did. Horse or no horse,
you saw the man; and you knew him, and you were astonished. Who was he,
if you please, Master Joseph Crang?"
"I can't tell 'e, sir, if I was to drop down dead this minute. And if I
said ort to make 'e vancy that I knowed the gentleman, I must a' been
mazed as a drummeldrone."
"Oh, a gentleman, was it? A queer place for a gentleman! No wonder you
cockle yourself to keep it dark. A five-pound note to be made out of
that, Joe; if the officers of justice was agreeable."
"Master Hornder, you'm a rich man, and I be but a poor one. I wouldn't
like to say that you behaved below yourself, by means of what I thought;
without knowing more than vancy."
"Joe, you are right, and I was wrong;" the farmer was a just man,
whenever he caught sight of it; "I was going to terrify of 'e, according
to the orders of the evil-thinkers, that can't believe good, because it
bain't inside theirselves. But I put it to you now, Joe, as a bit of
dooty; and it must tell up for you, in t'other way as well. For the
sake of all good Christians, and the peace of this here parish, you be
held to bail by your own conscience, the Lord having placed you in that
position, to tell us the full names of this man, gentleman or ploughboy,
gipsy or home-liver."
The blacksmith was watching Mr. Horner's eyes, and saw not a shadow of
relenting. Then he turned to the old man, for appeal. But the Clerk,
with the wisdom of fourscore years, said,--"Truth goes the furthest. Who
would go to jail for you, Joe?"
"Mind that you wouldn't give me no peace; and that I says it against my
will, under fear of the King and religion"--Master Crang protested, with
a twist, as if a clod-crusher went over him--"likewise that I look to
you to bear me harmless, as a man who speaketh doubtful of the sight of
his own eyes. But unless they was wrong, and misguided by the Devil, who
were abroad last night and no mistake, t'other man--in the flesh, or out
of it, and a' might very well a' been out of it upon such occasion, and
with that there thing behind him, and they say that the Devil doth get
into a bush, as my own grandmother zee'd he once--'twixt a Rosemary
tree, which goes far to prove it, being the very last a' would have
chosen----"
"None of that stuff," cried the Churchwarden sternly; and the Clerk
said, "No beating about the bush, Joe! As if us didn't know all the
tricks of Zatan!"
"Well then, I tell 'e--it waz Doctor Jemmy Vox."
They both stood, and stared at him, as if to ask whether his brain was
out of order, or their own ears. But he met their gaze steadily, and
grew more positive, on the strength of being doubted.
"If ever I zee'd a living man, I tell 'e that man, t'other side of the
nag, waz Doctor Jemmy Vox, and no other man."
The men of Devon have earned their place (and to their own knowledge the
foremost one) in the records of this country, by taking their time about
what they do, and thinking of a thing before they say it. Shallow folk,
having none of this gift, are apt to denounce it as slowness of brain,
and even to become impatient with the sage deliberators.
Both Horner, and Channing, had excellent reasons for thinking very
highly of Dr. Fox. The Churchwarden, because the doctor had saved the
life of his pet child Sally, under Providence; and the Clerk, inasmuch
as he had the privilege of making the gentleman's trousers, for working
and for rustic use.
"Now I tell 'e what it is," said Farmer John, looking wrathful, because
he saw nothing else to do, and Channing shrank back from doing anything;
"either thou art a born liar, Joe; or the Devil hath gotten hold of
thee."
"That's the very thing I been afeared of. But would un let me spake the
truth, without contempt of persons?"
"Will 'e stand to it, Joe, afore a Justice of the Peace?" The Clerk
thought it was high time to put in a word. "Upon occasion, I mean, and
if the law requireth."
"There now! Look at that! The right thing cometh, soon or late;" cried
the persecuted blacksmith. "Take me afore Squire Walders himself--no,
no, can't be, considerin' I were at his funeral yesterday--well take me
afore Squire Mockham, if be fitty; and ax of him to putt, I don't care
what it be, stocks, or dead water, or shears atop of me; and I'll tell
un the very zame words I telled to thee. Can't hev no relief from
gospel, if the Passon's by the heels; shall have some relief by law, if
the Lord hath left it living. No man can't spake no vairer than that
there be."
This adjuration was of great effect. "To Zeiser shalt thou go?" replied
the senior Churchwarden; "us have no right to take the matter out of
Zeiser's hands. I was dwelling in my mind of that all along, and so was
you, Clerk."
Mr. Channing nodded, with his conscience coming forward; and after some
directions at the upper end of field--where the men had been taking it
easily, and the women putting heads together--the two authorities set
off along the lane, with the witness between them, towards Perlycross.
But, as if they had not had enough of excitement to last them for a
month of thoughts and words, no sooner did they turn the corner at the
four-cross roads (where the rectory stands, with the school across the
way), than they came full butt upon a wondrous crowd of people hurrying
from the Churchyard.
"Never heard the like of it!" "Can't believe my eyes a'most." "Whatever
be us a'coming to?" "The Lord in heaven have mercy on the dead!" "The
blessed dead, as can't help theirselves!"
These, and wilder cries, and shrieks, from weeping women along the
cottage-fronts; while in the middle of the street came slowly men with
hot faces, and stern eyes. Foremost of all was Sergeant Jakes, with his
head thrown back, and his gray locks waving, and his visage as hard as
when he scaled the ramparts, and leaped into the smoke and swordflash.
Behind him was a man upon a foaming horse, and the strength of the
village fiercely silent.
"Where be all agoing to? What's up now? Can't any of 'e spake a word of
sense?" cried Farmer John, as the crowd stopped short, and formed a ring
around him.
"High Jarks, tell un."
"Us was going to your house."
"Hold your tongue, will 'e, and let High Jarks speak."
The Sergeant took discipline, and told his tale in a few strong words,
which made the Farmer's hair stand up.
"Let me see the proof," was all he said; for his brain was going round,
being still unseasoned to any whirl fiercer than rotation of farm-crops.
All the others fell behind him, with that sense of order which still
swayed the impulse of an English crowd; for he was now the foremost
layman in the parish, and everybody knew that the Parson was laid up.
The gloom of some black deed fell upon them; and they passed along the
street like a funeral.
"Clap the big gate to, and shoot the iron bar across. No tramping inside
more than hath been a'ready."
Master Horner gave this order, and it was obeyed, even by those who
excluded themselves. At the west end, round the tower, was a group of
"foreign" workmen--as the artisans from Exeter were called--but under
orders from Mr. Adney they held back, and left the parish matter to the
natives thereof.
"Now come along with me, the men I call for;" commanded the
Churchwarden, with his hand upon the bars, as he rose to the authority
conferred upon him; "and they be Sergeant Jakes, Clerk Channing, Bob
that hath ridden from Walderscourt, and Constable Tapscott, if so be he
hath arrived."
"I be here, sure enough, and my staff along o' me--hath the pictur' of
His Majesty upon him. Make way, wull 'e, for the Officer of the King?"
Then these men, all in a cold sweat more or less--except Sergeant Jakes,
who was in a hot one--backing up one another, took the narrow path which
branched to the right from the Churchyard cross, to the corner where
brave Colonel Waldron had been laid.