This slur cast upon his birthplace aroused Ben’s pugnacity, and he at once began to enumerate all the unexpected vehicles which had passed the pike during the foregoing twelve months; and to reckon up on his fingers every newcomer to the district, from a bagman, detained in Crowford by a heavy fall of snow, to Mr. Coate, the Squire’s guest. Mr. Stogumber, apologizing with exaggerated humility for his error, added that Ben had forgotten to include his large cousin in the list. “And I’m sure he’s big enough for two,” he said. “What part of the country do you come from, Mr. Staple?”

“Hertfordshire,” responded John.

“Now, that’s a part I do know,” said Mr. Stogumber.

He then proceeded to discourse amiably on this topic. His manner was that of a naturally loquacious man, willing to fall into conversation with any stranger, but it appeared to John that the casual questions which fell from time to time from his lips were all directed to one end: he wanted to know the exact locality of John’s home, and what he had been doing since his supposed discharge from the Army. He seemed interested also in the whereabouts of the official gatekeeper, but Ben, bored by his idle chat, had drifted away, and John was able to evade his questions. He suspected Mr. Stogumber of being an informer, and thought that it would not be long before he received a visit from the trustees. But Mr. Stogumber, taking his leave presently, was still very affable, and said, somewhat surprisingly, that he expected to remain in the district for a day or two, and would no doubt see John again.

The rest of the day passed without incident. Nightfall brought on a slight recurrence of Ben’s dread of his father’s unknown visitor, but since the Captain had thoughtfully provided himself with a pack of playing-cards during his expedition to Tideswell he was very soon diverted by being initiated into the mysteries of casino. The Captain, good-naturedly instructing an eager if not very apt pupil, was glad to see that sundry sounds from outside the house went unnoticed. But just as Ben, with a squeal of triumph, succeeded in lurching him, an owl hooted from somewhere close at hand, twice. This brought the boy’s head up in a flash. He sat listening intently, and when the cry sounded again, jumped up from his chair, and ran to the door, shooting back the bolts, and pulling it open. John heard the creak of the wicket-gate into the garden, and a minute later soft, swift footsteps.

“’Evening to you, bantling!” said a crisp voice. “Is all bowman?”

“Ay! Me dad ain’t here, but it’s all rug!” Ben said eagerly. “Can I take Mollie? Can I, Mr. Chirk?”

He stood back, to allow a thin man in a long coat with several shoulder capes to enter the kitchen. Mr. Chirk stepped over the threshold, and checked, his keen, bright eyes staring at Captain Staple, who had not risen from his chair, but sat idly shuffling the cards, and looking with considerable interest at the newcomer. Mr. Chirk, a wiry man of medium height, wore, besides his great-coat, a wide brimmed and greasy hat, a muffler knotted about his throat, and a pair of spurred boots. The coat was stained and frayed, and the boots showed slight cracks, but he contrived in spite of these defects to give the impression of being a trim figure.

“Come in!” John invited him.

“What’s this?” There was a note of menace in the voice; Mr. Chirk shot a quick, suspicious look at Ben.

“It’s only Jack: he’s a Trojan! He’s got a bang-up prancer, too. A big, rum prancer, he is, but he don’t know how to shake hands for a carrot, not like Mollie. Oh, Mr. Chirk, can I show Jack the way Mollie—”

“Stubble it!” said Chirk briefly.

“Ay, but—”

“Dub your mummer, will you?” Chirk growled. “If Ned’s away, I’ll brush!”

“Don’t lope off on my account!” said John, putting the pack of cards on the table, and rising to his feet. “Go and stable the mare, Ben!”

Chirk, whose right hand had sought a pocket lost in the folds of his coat, stepped back a pace. His hand came up with a jerk, a serviceable pistol in its grasp. “Stand fast, cull!” he said softly. “Seems to me young bottlehead here has been talking a trifle too free!”

“I ain’t, I ain’t!” asseverated Ben, distressed to perceive that his most valued friend was displeased with him. “I ain’t whiddled nothing, only as how Mollie shakes hands for a carrot! You don’t want to brush, Mr. Chirk! Honest, he’s a bang-up cove, else I wouldn’t ha’ dubbed the jigger! And we got some rum peck and booze, Mr. Chirk! There’s a round o’ beef, and a whole cheese, and——”

“Ben, go and stable the mare!” interrupted the Captain. “You can put up your pistol, friend: I’m not a police-officer! God save the mark, do I look like one?”

Mr. Chirk’s left hand had shot out to grasp Ben by the shoulder, but it relaxed its grip. “I’m bound to say you don’t,” he replied, keeping his eyes on the Captain’s face, and his pistol levelled. “Maybe you’re a swell-trap: I dunno that. What might you be doing here, if you ain’t a trap?”

“That’s a long story. Let the boy go!” said the Captain, walking over to the cupboard which served the toll-house as a larder, and collecting from its depths the beef which Mrs. Skeffling had roasted on the spit that morning, and a large cheese. Setting these on the table, he glanced at Chirk, on whose lean countenance a smile was hovering, and said: “You’ll find a loaf of bread in the bin over there.”

Chirk slipped the pistol back into his pocket. “You’re a cool hand, ain’t you?” he remarked curiously.

The Captain, emerging from the cupboard again with a jar of pickles and a pipkin of butter, said: “Do you expect me to break into a sweat because you point a gun at me? I’ve been hoping you might come here sooner or later.”

“Oh, you have, have you?” said Chirk. “And why—if I’m not making too bold to ask?”

“Well, as far as I can discover,” said John, holding a large jug under the spigot of his new barrel of beer, and watching the ale froth into it, “you may be the only person who can tell me where Ned Brean may have gone to.”

“Ain’t he here?” demanded Chirk.

“No, and hasn’t been, since Friday evening.”

“Well, may I be stuck in the nitch!” exclaimed Chirk, considerably astonished. “What should have taken him to lope off?”

“Don’t you know?”

Chirk shook his head. “Don’t young Ben know?”

“No. He went out, telling Ben he would be back in an hour or so, and he hasn’t been seen or heard of since.”

“Strike me lucky!” said Chirk blankly. “Wonder what his lay is? He ain’t one as suffers from windmills in the head neither. Nor he wouldn’t pike on the bean without he took Ben along with him—leastways, not to my way of thinking.”

The Captain laid a plate and a knife and fork before him. “Help yourself! Is he fond of Ben?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that,” temporized Chirk. “He’s a hard sort of a cove, if you take me, but he done his duty by the boy, so far as he was able.” He picked up the carving knife, but lowered it again, looking in a puzzled way at his host. “I don’t know where Ned is, nor what lay he’s on, and another thing I don’t know is what your lay is! And nor I don’t know what the likes of you are doing in this ken, because from the way you talk you’re a nib-cove!”

“Oh, I’m here by accident!” replied John, pouring the beer into two mugs. “I came to the pike on Friday night, and found Ben alone, and scared out of his wits, so as I had had enough of the weather, and he was afraid to be alone, I racked up for the night—thinking that his father would very likely return before morning. But he didn’t, so here I am still.”

“So here you are still!” agreed Chirk, looking at him very hard. “I suppose you’re minding the gate, what’s more!”

“That’s it.”

“Well, if it is, you must be dicked in the nob!” said Chirk frankly.

John grinned at him. “No, I’m quite sane. I’ve several reasons for remaining here. Besides, I don’t know what the devil to do about the boy. He’s scared of being sent to work in Sheffield, if his father don’t return, and I’ve promised he shan’t be thrown on the Parish.”

“Scared of that, is he?” Chirk gave a short laugh. “Ay, he might well be! That’s the way I started, when my old dad tipped off. By the time my mother had buried him decent we were properly dished-up. A couple of hordes—what you call shillings, Mr. Nib-Cove!—a groat, and three grigs was all she had left in the stocking. So I went to work in a factory. Not here: up north, it was. Just about Ben’s age, I must ha’ been. Three years I stayed, and I ain’t forgotten, though I’m turned forty now, nor I never will, not if I reach fourscore! I loped off when my mother went to roost.”

“Was that when you took to the bridle-lay?” John asked.

“A peevy cove, ain’t you?” Chirk said. “What d’ye want to do? Cry rope on me? Who told you I was on the bridle lay?”

“Who told you I was a green ’un?” retorted John.

Chirk smiled reluctantly, and applied himself to the beef. “Danged if I know what you are!” he said. “But I wasn’t a rank-rider all them years ago. Lordy, when you get to be that you’re top-o’-the-trees! I started on the dub-lay, and worked my way up.”

“Is it worth it?” John asked curiously.

Mr. Chirk smiled a little wryly. “It’s all according to the way you look at it,” he replied. “You might be lucky, and end up with the dibs in tune, but I ain’t met many as did. It’s a free life, and if you’ve a taste for excitement there’ll be plenty o’ that. The chances are you’ll go up the ladder to bed—at York Gaol, with a Black-coat saying prayers, and the nubbing-cheat ready to top you. It’s well enough when you’re young, but when you get to my time o’ life, and maybe have a fancy to settle down—well, that’s where the rub comes, and no remedy! If I could lay my hands on a bit o’ balsam—and I don’t mean a truss with six or seven goblins in it, and a couple o’ diamond rings which turn out to be Bristol stone!—no, some real mint-sauce: a monkey, in some old gager’s strong-box, or even a couple o’ plums: why, I don’t know but what I wouldn’t turn to pound dealing! A tidy little farm, maybe. But I’m not a lucky cove: never have been!”