I felt in better spirits now. My rest and breakfast, and my encounter
with the boy, had given me more confidence in myself. Then, too, I had
recovered my bundle, replacing in it my shoes, and, after carefully
wrapping them up, the remains of my bread and cheese.
Hour after hour I walked on, always taking the turnings that led to the
right, in the belief that sooner or later they would bring me to the
London Road, which, however, they never did; and at last, in the
afternoon, I sat down under a tree and made a second delicious meal.
I passed, during the rest of that day's journey, through a couple more
villages, at the latter of which I obtained a large mug of milk for a
penny; and at last, footsore and worn out, I found myself at nightfall
far away in a pleasant pastoral country, where haymaking seemed to be
carried on a good deal, from the stacks I passed. There were hills
behind me, and hills again straight before me, the part where I was
being very level.
"What am I to do?" I asked myself, for I could go no farther, and a
feeling of desolation began to make my heart sink. "I must sleep
somewhere--but where?"
The answer came in the shape of a haystack, one side of which was being
cut away, and soon after, I was seated on the sweet-scented, soft stuff,
feasting away once more, to drop at last, almost unconsciously, into a
sweet sleep, from which I started up to find it quite dark, and that I
was growing cold.
There was plenty of loose straw close by, as if threshing had been going
on, and taking my bundle for a pillow, and nestling beneath the straw
which I drew over the hay, I was soon fast asleep once more, only to
wake up rested and refreshed as the birds were singing cheerily upon
another sunshiny morning.
My toilet consisted in getting rid of the bits of straw and hay, after
which I started to walk on once more, following a winding lane, which
brought me out at a wooden bridge, crossing a river, down by whose
pebbly side I finished my toilet, and rose refreshed and decent-looking,
for my bundle contained my brush and comb.
There was a little public-house on the other side of the stream, with
cows in a field hard by, and directing my steps there, after stopping on
the bridge for a few minutes to gaze at the fish glancing in the
sunshine, I found I could buy some bread and milk, the privilege being
given me of sitting down on a bench and watching the sparkling river as
I made my breakfast.
With every mouthful came hope and confidence. I felt as if I really was
free, and that all I now had to do was to trudge steadily on to London.
How long it would take me I did not know--perhaps a month. But it did
not matter; I could continue to be very sparing of my money, so as to
make it last.
It was a red-armed, apple-faced woman who gave me the mug, and she
stared at me curiously, frightening me so much, lest she should ask me
questions, that I hastily finished my milk, and, picking up the bread,
said "good-morning," and walked along by the side of the river, there
being here a towing-path, upon which I soon encountered a couple of
horses, the foremost of which was ridden by a boy with a whip, while
they dragged a long rope which kept plashing down into the river, and
then, being drawn taut, showered down pearly drops of water, which
seemed to be smoothed out by a long, low, narrow barge, painted yellow
and red, at the end of which was a man smoking, with his eyes half shut,
as he leaned upon the tiller gear.
They were going against the stream, and their progress was slow, as I
sat down and watched them go out of sight round the bend of the river.
"I wonder where this river runs to, and where I should go, if I walked
all along this path?" I said to myself, and then like a flash, the idea
came, right or wrong, I could not tell, that it must go on and on to
London.
It was full of hope, that thought; so full that I leaped up, and trudged
on so steadily, that at the end of an hour I again saw a couple of
horses in front, drawing another barge, with the rope plashing in and
out of the river; but this barge was going on in the same direction as I
was, and as I drew nearer I began to envy the boy riding so idly on the
foremost horse, and wished it were my fate to change places with him,
for one of my feet was very sore.
It pained me a good deal; but, all the same, there was a joyous feeling
of freedom to cheer me on, and I limped forward, thinking how I had
nothing to fear now, no dreary copying to do, and then stand shivering,
expecting blows, if I had omitted a word, or forgotten to cross some
_t_. All was bright and beautiful, with the glancing river, the
glorious green meadows, and the gliding barge going so easily with the
stream.
There was a stolid-looking man holding the tiller of the barge, staring
dreamily before him, and smoking, looking as motionless, and smoking
nearly as much, as the chimney of the cabin beside him. The barge
itself was covered with great tarred cloths of a dingy black, but the
woodwork about the cabin was ornamented with yellow and scarlet diamonds
and ovals carved in the sides.
The man took not the slightest notice of me as I limped on, gazing at
him and the gliding barge, but smoked away steadily, and I went on,
getting nearer and nearer to the horses, thinking as I did so of how
pleasant it would be to lie down on that black tarpaulin, and glide
along upon the shiny river without a care; and it seemed to me then,
ill-used and weary as I was, that the life of a bargeman would be
perfect happiness and bliss.
As I drew near the boy, who was sitting sidewise on the foremost horse,
with a shallow round-bottomed zinc bucket hanging from the collar on the
other side, I found that he was watching me as he whistled some doleful
minor ditty, pausing every now and then to crack his whip and utter a
loud "Jeet!"
This was evidently a command to the horses, one of which gave its head a
toss up and the other a toss down, but paid no further heed, both
continuing their steady way along the tow-path, while the boy went on
with his whistling.
I gradually drew up closer and closer, as the whistling kept on, to find
that about every minute, as if calculated exactly, but of course from
mere habit, there was the crack of the whip, the loud "Jeet?" and the
nod up and nod down of the two horses.
I trudged up close alongside the boy now, being anxious to learn where
the river really did run, but not liking at first to show my ignorance,
so we went on for some time in silence.
He was a rough, common-looking lad, with fair curly hair, and the skin
of his face all in scaly patches where it had been blistered by the sun,
and I took him to be about my own age. He was dressed in a loose jacket
and a pair of cord trousers, both of which were several sizes too large
for him, but the jacket-sleeves had been cut off above the elbow, and
the trousers were rolled up above his knees, showing his bare legs and
clean white feet. His coarse shirt was clean, what could be seen of it,
but the tops of the trousers were drawn up by strings over his
shoulders, so that they took the place of vest.
Altogether, even to his old, muddy, torn felt hat, through which showed
tufts of his curly hair, he was ragged to a degree; but he seemed as
happy as the day was long and as healthy as could be, as he whistled
away, stared at me, and uttered another loud "_Jeet_!" going a little
further this time, and making it "Jeet, Sammy--jeet, Tommair-y!"
The horses this time tightened the rope a little, but only for a few
moments, when it fell back into the water with a plash, the barge glided
on, the horses' hoofs crushed the sandy gravel, and the rope whisked and
rustled as it brushed along the thick growth of sedge by the water-side.
"Woss the matter with yer foot, matey?" said the boy at last, breaking
the ice as he gave his whip another crack, and then caught and examined
the thong.
"Sore with walking," I said; and then there was another pause, during
which he kept on whistling the minor air over and over again, while I
waited for another opening.
"Why don't you take off your shoes, matey?" he said. "They allus makes
my feet sore. I don't like shoes. Jeet, Tommair-y! Jeet, Sam-mair-y?"
This was a new light, and I thought, perhaps, I should be easier, for
one shoe was constantly scraping the tendon at the back of my heel. So
sitting down on the grass, I untied and slipped off my shoes, my socks
following, to be thrust into my pocket, and I limped on, setting my feet
delicately on the gravel, which hurt them, till I changed on to the
short soft turf beside the path.
The barge had passed me, but I soon overtook it, and then reached the
boy, who watched me complacently as I trudged on, certainly feeling
easier.
"One on 'ems a-bleeding," said my new friend then. "Shoes allus hurts.
Jeet!"
"Yes, when you walk far," I said, the conversation beginning to warm
now.
"Walked far, matey?"
"Yes, ever so far. Have you come far?"
"_Pistol_," I thought he said.
"Where?" I asked.
"Bristol. Jeet, Sammy!" _Crack_!
"All along by the river?"
"We don't call it the river, we call it the canal here. It's river
farther up towards London."
"Are you going to London?" I said.
"Yes. Are you?"
"Yes," I said; and my heart was at rest, for I knew now that which I
wanted to find out without asking. This river did go right to London,
and I must be on the upper part of the Thames.
We went on for some little time in silence, and then my new friend
began:
"Why don't you go and paddle yer feet in the water a bit?"
It was a good suggestion, and the shallow sparkling water looked very
delicious and cool.
"Tie your shoestrings together and hing 'em on to Tommy's collar. You
can hing yer bundle, too, if yer li-ak."
I hesitated for a moment. One boy had already appropriated my bundle,
but he had not the frank honest look of the one on the horse, and
besides, I did not like to seem suspicious. So, tying the shoestrings
together, I hung them on the tall hame of the collar, and the bundle
beside them, before going quickly over the gravel down to the shallow
water.
"Turn up yer trousers!" shouted the boy; and I obeyed his good advice,
ending by walking along the shallow water close behind the tow-rope, the
soft sand feeling delicious to my feet as the cool water laved and eased
the smarting wound.
At last I walked out with my feet rested, and the blood-stain washed
away, to run forward and join my companion, who looked at me in a very
stolid manner.
"Hev a ride?" he said at last.
"May I?"
"Fey-ther!"
"Hel-lo-a!" came slowly from the barge.
"May this chap hev a ri-ad?"
"Ay-er!"
The boy slipped down off the horse with the greatest ease, and stuck his
whip into a link of the trace.
"Now, then," he said, "lay holt o' his collar, and I'll give yer a leg
up."
I obeyed him, and seizing my leg, he nearly shot me right over the
horse, but by hanging tightly on to the collar I managed to save myself,
and shuffled round into the proper position for riding sidewise, feeling
the motion of the horse, in spite of a certain amount of boniness of
spine, delightfully easy and restful.
"They're all right," the boy said, as I glanced at my bundle. "They
won't fall off. Are yer comf'able?"
"Yes, capital," I said, and we journeyed on, my luck seeming almost too
good to be believed.
We went on talking away, now and then passing another barge, when the
ropes were passed one over the other boat, and the journey continued.
Soon afterwards I made my first acquaintance with a lock, and got down
off the horse to stand by the barge and gaze in wonderment at the
process. As it glided softly into the space between walls, a pair of
great doors were shut behind it, and I and my new companion helped to
turn handles, with the result that I saw the water foam and rush out,
and the barge slowly sink down to a lower level, when a couple of great
doors were swung open at the other end. There was a certain amount of
pushing and thrusting, and the barge glided out into the river ten feet
lower than it was before.
Then the rope was once more made fast, the horses tugged, and we went on
again, but not far before a shrill voice shouted "Jack!" and my
companion stood still till the barge came abreast of him, being steered
close in, when I saw a woman lean over the side and hold out a basket,
which the boy caught, and then ran after me once more, where I was
mounted on the first horse.
"My dinner," he said eagerly. "Got yourn?"
"Yes," I said, colouring up as I pulled the remains of my bread and
cheese out of my pocket, there being a large piece of the latter.
"Steak pudden to-day," said my companion, hanging his basket on to the
collar by my knee, and revealing a basin half full of savoury-odoured
beef-steak pudding, which was maddening to me in my hungry state.
"I say, what a whacking great piece of cheese! I like cheese," said my
companion; "let's go halves."