A PAIR OF HANDCUFFS
Mr. Blee, to do him justice, was usually the first afoot at Monks
Barton, both winter and summer. The maids who slept near him needed no
alarum, for his step on the stair and his high-pitched summons, "Now
then, you lazy gals, what be snorin' theer for, an' the day broke?" was
always sufficient to ensure their wakening.
At an early hour of the morning that dawned upon Will's nocturnal
adventures, Billy stood in the farmyard and surveyed the shining river
to an accompaniment of many musical sounds. On Monks Barton thatches the
pigeons cooed and bowed and gurgled to their ladies, cows lowed from the
byres, cocks crew, and the mill-wheel, already launched upon the
business of the day, panted from its dark habitation of dripping moss
and fern.
Billy sniffed the morning, then proceeded to a pig's sty, opened a door
within it, and chuckled at the spectacle that greeted him.
"Burnish it all! auld sow 's farrowed at last, then. Busy night for her,
sure 'nough! An' so fine a litter as ever I seed, by the looks of it."
He bustled off to get refreshment for the gaunt, new-made mother, and as
he did so met Ted Chown, who now worked at Mr. Lyddon's, and had just
arrived from his home in Chagford.
"Marnin', sir; have 'e heard the news? Gert tidings up-long I 'sure 'e."
"Not so gert as what I've got, I'll lay. Butivul litter 't is. Come an'
give me a hand."
"Bonus was catched poachin' last night to the Red House. An' he've had
his faace smashed in, nose broke, an' all. He escaped arter; but he went
to Doctor fust thing to-day an' got hisself plastered; an' then, knawin'
't weern't no use to hide, comed right along an' gived hisself up to
faither."
"My stars! An' no more'n what he desarved, that's certain."
"But that ban't all, even. Maister Jan Grimbal's missing! He rode off
last night, Laard knaws wheer, an' never a sign of un seed since.
They've sent to the station 'bout it a'ready; an' they 'm scourin' the
airth for un. An' 't was Maister Blanchard as fought wi' Bonus, for Sam
said so."
"Guy Fawkes an' angels! Here, you mix this. I must tell Miller an' run
about a bit. Gwaine to be a gert day, by the looks of it!"
He hurried into the house, met his master and began with breathless
haste,--
"Awful doin's! Awful doin's, Miller. Such a sweet-smellin' marnin', tu!
Bear yourself stiff against it, for us caan't say what remains to be
told."
"What's wrong now? Doan't choke yourself. You 'm grawin' tu auld for all
the excitements of modern life, Billy. Wheer's Will?"
"You may well ax. Sleepin' still, I reckon, for he comed in long arter
midnight. I was stirrin' at the time an' heard un. Sleepin' arter black
deeds, if all they tell be true."
"Black deeds!"
"The bwoy Ted's just comed wi' it. 'T is this way: Bonus be at death's
door wi' a smashed nose, an' Blanchard done it; an' Jan Grimbal's
vanished off the faace o' the airth. Not a sign of un seed arter he
drove away last night from the Jubilee gathering. An' if 't is murder,
you'll be in the witness-box, knawin' the parties same as you do; an'
the sow 's got a braave litter, though what's that arter such news?"
"Guess you 'm dreamin', Blee," said Mr. Lyddon, as he took his hat and
walked into the farmyard.
Billy was hurt.
"Dreamin', be I? I'm a man as dreams blue murders, of coourse! Tu auld
to be relied on now, I s'pose. Theer! Theer!" he changed his voice and
it ran into a cracked scream of excitement. "Theer! P'r'aps I'm
dreamin', as Inspector Chown an' Constable Lamacraft be walkin' in the
gate this instant moment!"
But there was no mistaking this fact. Abraham Chown entered, marched
solemnly to the party at the door, cried "Halt!" to his subordinate,
then turned to Mr. Lyddon.
"Good-day to you, Miller," he said, "though 't is a bad day, I'm
fearin'. I be here for Will Blanchard, _alias_ Tom Newcombe."
"If you mean my son-in-law, he 's not out of bed to my knawledge."
"Dear sawls! Doan't 'e say 't is blue murder--doan't 'e say that!"
implored Mr. Blee. His head shook and his tongue revolved round his
lips.
"Not as I knaws. We 'm actin' on instructions from the military to
Plymouth."
"Theer 's allus wickedness hid under a alias notwithstanding," declared
Billy, rather disappointed; "have 'e found Jan Grimbal?"
"They be searchin' for un. Jim Luke, Inspector to Moreton, an' his men
be out beatin' the country. But I'm here, wi' my staff, for William
Blanchard. March!"
Lamacraft, thus addressed, proceeded a pace or two until stopped by Mr.
Lyddon.
"No call to go in. He'll come down. But I'm sore puzzled to knaw what
this means, for awnly last night I heard tell from Jan Grimbal's awn
lips that he'd chaanged his mind about a private matter bearin' on
this."
"I want the man, anyways, an' I be gwaine to have un," declared
Inspector Chown. He brought a pair of handcuffs from his pocket and gave
them to the constable.
"Put up them gashly things, Abraham Chown," said the miller sternly.
"Doan't 'e knaw Blanchard better 'n that?"
"Handcuffed he'll be, whether he likes it or not," answered the other;
"an' if theer's trouble, I bid all present an' any able-bodied men 'pon
the premises to help me take him in the Queen's name."
Billy hobbled round the corner, thrust two fingers into his mouth, and
blew a quavering whistle; whereupon two labourers, working a few hundred
yards off, immediately dropped their tools and joined him.
"Run you here," he cried. "P'lice be corned to taake Will Blanchard, an'
us must all give the Law a hand, for theer'll be blows struck if I knaw
un."
"Will Blanchard! What have he done?"
"Been under a alias--that's the least of it, but--God, He knaws--it may
rise to murder. 'T is our bounden duty to help Chown against un."
"Be danged if I do!" said one of the men.
"Nor me," declared the other. "Let Chown do his job hisself--an' get his
jaw broke for his trouble."
But they followed Mr. Blee to where the miller still argued against
Lamacraft's entrance.
"Why didn't they send soldiers for un? That's what he reckoned on,"
said Mr. Lyddon.
"'T is my job fust."
"I'm sorry you've come in this high spirit. You knaw the man and ought
to taake his word he'd go quiet and my guarantee for it."
"I knaw my duty, an' doan't want no teachin' from you."
"You're a fule!" said Miller, in some anger. "An' 't will take more 'n
you an' that moon-faced lout to put them things on the man, or I'm much
mistaken."
He went indoors while the labourers laughed, and the younger constable
blushed at the insult.
"How do 'e like that, Peter Lamacraft?" asked a labourer.
"No odds to me," answered the policeman, licking his hands nervously and
looking at the door. "I ban't feared of nought said or done if I've got
the Law behind me. An' you'm liable yourself if you doan't help."
"Caan't wait no more," declared Mr. Chown. "If he's in bed, us'll take
un in bed. Come on, you!"
Thus ordered to proceed, Lamacraft set his face resolutely forward and
was just entering the farm when Phoebe appeared. Her tears were dry,
though her voice was unsteady and her eyelids red.
"Gude mornin', Mr. Chown," she said.
"Marnin', ma'am. Let us pass, if you please."
"Are you coming in? Why?"
"Us caan't bide no more, an' us caan't give no more reasons. The Law
ban't 'spected to give reasons for its deeds, an' us won't be bamboozled
an' put off a minute longer," answered Chown grimly. "March, I tell 'e,
Peter Lamacraft."
"You caan't see my husband."
"But we'm gwaine to see un. He've got to see me, an' come along wi' me,
tu. An' if he's wise, he'll come quiet an' keep his mouth shut. That
much I'll tell un for his gude."
"If you'll listen, I might make you onderstand how 'tis you caan't see
Will," said Phoebe quietly. "You must knaw he runned away an' went
soldiering before he married me. Then he comed back for love of me
wi'out axin' any man's leave."
"So much the worse, ma'am; he'm a desarter!"
"The dark wickedness!" gasped Mr. Blee; "an' him dumb as a newt 'bout it
all these years an' years! The conscience of un!"
"Well, you needn't trouble any more," continued Phoebe to the policemen.
"My husband be gwaine to take this matter into his awn hands now."
Inspector Chown laughed.
"That's gude, that is!--now he 'm blawn upon!"
"He 's gwaine to give himself up--he caan't do more," said Phoebe,
turning to her father who now reappeared.
"Coourse he caan't do more. What more do 'e want?" the miller inquired.
"Him," answered Mr. Chown. "No more an' no less; an' everything said
will be used against him."
"You glumpy auld Dowl!" growled a labouring man.
"All right, all right. You just wait, all of 'e! Wheer's the man? How
much longer be I to bide his pleasure? March! Damn it all! be the Law a
laughing-stock?" The Inspector was growing very hot and excited.
"He's gone," said Phoebe, as Mr. Lamacraft entered the farm, put one
foot on the bottom step of the stairs, then turned for further orders.
"He's gone, before light. He rested two hours or so, then us harnessed
the trap an' he drove away to Moreton to take fust train to Plymouth by
way o' Newton Abbot. An' he said as Ted Chown was to go in arter
breakfast an' drive the trap home."
"Couldn't tell me nothin' as had pleased me better," said the miller.
"'T is a weight off me--an' off him I reckon. Now you 'm answered, my
son; you can telegraph back as you corned wi' your auld handcuffs tu
late by hours, an' that the man's on his way to give hisself up."
"I've only got your word for it."
"An' what better word should 'e have?" piped Billy, who in the space of
half a minute had ranged himself alongside his master. "You to question
the word o' Miller Lyddon, you crooked-hearted raven! Who was it spoke
for 'e fifteen year ago an' got 'em to make 'e p'liceman 'cause you was
tu big a fule to larn any other trade? Gert, thankless twoad! An' who
was it let 'em keep the 'Green Man' awpen two nights in wan week arter
closin' time, 'cause he wanted another drop hisself?"
"Come you away," said the Inspector to his constable. "Ban't for the
likes of we to have any talk wi' the likes o' they. But they'll hear
more of this; an' if theer's been any hookem-snivey dealin's with the
Law, they'll live to be sorry. An' you follow me likewise," he added to
his son, who stood hard by. "You come wi' me, Ted, for you doan't do no
more work for runaway soldiers, nor yet bald-headed auld antics like
this here!"
He pointed to Mr. Blee, then turned to depart.
"Get off honest man's land, you black-bearded beast!" screamed Billy.
"You 'm most like of any wan ever I heard tell of to do murder yourself;
an' auld as I be, I'd crawl on my hands an' knees to see you scragged
for 't, if 't was so far as the sun in heaven!"
"That's libel," answered Mr. Chown, with cold and haughty authority;
"an' you've put yourself in the grip of the Law by sayin' it, as you'll
knaw before you 'm much aulder."
Then, with this trifling advantage, he retreated, while Lamacraft and
Ted brought up the rear.
"So theer's an end of that. Now us'll fall to wi' no worse appetites,"
declared Miller. "An' as to Will," he added, "'fore you chaps go, just
mind an' judge no man till you knaw what's proved against him. Onless
theer's worse behind than I've larned so far, I'm gwaine to stand by
un."
"An' me, tu!" said Mr. Blee, with a fine disregard for his recent
utterances. "I've teached the chap purty nigh all he knaws an' I ban't
gwaine to turn on un now, onless 't is proved blue murder. An' that
Chown 's a disgrace to his cloth; an' I'd pull his ugly bat's ears on my
awn behalf if I was a younger an' spryer man."