Bob, Son of Battle by Alfred Ollivant (classic literature list TXT) đ
- Author: Alfred Ollivant
- Performer: -
Book online «Bob, Son of Battle by Alfred Ollivant (classic literature list TXT) đ». Author Alfred Ollivant
Some score yards from the lower edge of the spinney, upon the farther side of the ridge, a tiny beck babbled through its bed of peat. The two men, as they topped the rise, noticed a flock of black-faced mountain-sheep clustered in the dip âtwixt wood and stream. They stood martialled in close array, facing half toward the wood, half toward the newcomers, heads up, eyes glaring, handsome as sheep only look when scared.
On the crest of the ridge the two men halted beside Gyp. The postman stood with his head a little forward, listening intently. Then he dropped in the heather like a dead man, pulling the other with him.
âDoon, mon!â he whispered, clutching at Gyp with his spare hand.
âWhat isât, Jim?â asked the Master, now thoroughly roused.
âSummat movinâ iâ thâ wood,â the other whispered, listening weasel-eared.
So they lay motionless for a while; but there came no sound from the copse.
ââAppen âtwas nowt,â the postman at length allowed, peering cautiously about. âAnd yet I thowtâI dunno reetly what I thowt.â
Then, starting to his knees with a hoarse cry of terror: âSave us! whatâs yon theer?â
Then for the first time the Master raised his head and noticed, lying in the gloom between them and the array of sheep, a still, white heap.
James Moore was a man of deeds, not words. âItâs past waitinâ!â he said, and sprang forward, his heart in his mouth.
The sheep stamped and shuffled as he came, and yet did not break.
âAh, thanks be!â he cried, dropping beside the motionless body; âitâs nobâbut a sheep.â As he spoke his hands wandered deftly over the carcase. âBut whatâs this?â he called. âStoutâ she was as me. Look at her fleeceâ crisp, close, strong; feel the fleshâfinn as a rock. And neâer a bone broke, neâre a scrat on her body a pin could makâ. As healthy as a monâand yet dead as mutton!â
Jim, still trembling from the horror of his fear, came up, and knelt beside his friend. âAh, but thereâs bin devilry in this!â he said; âI reckâned they sheep had bin badly skeared, and not so long agone.â
âSheepmurder, sure enough!â the other answered. âNo foxâs doinââa girt-grown twoshear as could âmaist knock a hâox.â
Jimâs hands travelled from the body to the dead creatureâs throat. He screamed.
âBy gob, Master! look âee theer!â He held his hand up in the moonlight, and it dripped red. âAnd warm yet! warm!â
âTear some bracken, Jim!â ordered the other, âand set a-light. We mun see to this.â
The postman did as bid. For a moment the fern smouldercd and smoked, then the flame ran crackling along and shot up in the darkness, weirdly lighting the scene: to the right the low wood, a block of solid blackness against the sky; in front the wall of sheep, staring out of the gloom with biight eyes; and as centrepiece that still, white body, with the kneeling men and lurcher sniffing tentatively round.
The victim was subjected to a critical examination. The throat, and that only, had been hideously mauled; from the raw wounds the flesh hung in horrid shreds; on the ground all about were little pitiful dabs of wool, wrenched off apparently in a struggle; and, crawling among the fern-roots, a snake-like track of red led down to the stream.
âA dogâs doinâ, and no mistakinâ thot,â said Jim at length, after a minute inspection.
âAy,â declared the Master with slow emphasis, âand a sheepdogâs too, and an old unâs, or Iâm no shepherd.â
The postman looked up.
âWhy thot?â he asked, puzzled.
âBecos,â the Master answered, ââim as did this killed for bloodâand for blood only. If had bin ony other dogâgreyhound, bull, tarrier, or even a young sheepdogâdâyoâ think heâd haâ stopped wiâ the one? Not he; heâd haâ gone through âem, and be runninâ âem as like as not yet, nippinâ âem, pullinâ âem down, till heâd maybe killed the half. But âim as did this killed for blood, I say. He got itâkilled just the one, and nary touched the others, dâyo âsee, Jim?â
The postman whistled, long and low.
âItâs just what owd Wrottesleyâd tell on,â he said. âI never nobâbut half believed him thenâI do now though. Dâyoâ mind what thâ owd ladâd tell, Master?â
James Moore nodded.
âThotâs it. Iâve never seen the like afore myself, but Iâve heard ma grandad speak oât monyâs the time. An owd dogâll git the cray-inâ for sheepâs blood on him, just the same as a mon does for the drink; he creeps oot oâ nights, gallops afar, hunts his sheep, downs âer, and satisfies the cravinâ. And he nary kills but the one, they say, for he knows the value oâ sheep same as you and me. He has his gallop, quenches the thirst, and then heâs for home, maybe a score mile away, and no one the wiser iâ thâ morninâ. And so on, till he cooms to a bloody death, the murderinâ traitor.â
âIf he does!â said Jim.
âAnd he does, they say, nigh always. For he gets bolder and bolder wiâ not beinâ caught, until one fine night a bullet lets light into him. And some mon gets knocked nigh endways when they bring his best tyke home iâ thâ morninâ, dead, wiâ the sheepâs wool yet stickinâ in his mouth.â
The postman whistled again.
âItâs what owd Wrottesleyâd tell on to a tick. And heâd say, if ye mind, Master, as hoo the dogâd niver kill his masterâs sheepâkind oâ conscience-like.â
âAy, Iâve heard that,â said the Master. âQueer too, and âim beinâ such a bad un!â
Jim Mason rose slowly from his knees.
âMa word,â he said, âI wish Thâ Owd Un was here. Heâd âappen show us sum-mat!â
âI nobâbut wish he was, pore owd lad!â said the Master.
As he spoke there was a crash in the wood above them; a sound as of some big body bursting furiously through brusliwood.
The two men rushed to the top of the rise. In the darkness they could see nothing; only, standing still and holding. their breaths, they could hear the faint sound, ever growing fainter, of some creature splashing in a hasty gallop over the wet moors.
âYonâs him! Yonâs no fox, Iâll takâ oath. And a main big un, too, hark to him!â cried Jim. Then to Gyp, who had rushed off in hot pursuit: Coom back, chunk-âead. Whatâs usc oâ you agin a gallopinâ potamus?â
Gradually the sounds died away and away, and were no more.
âThotâs âim, the devil!â said the Master at length.
âNay; the devil has a tail, they do say,â
replied Jim thoughtfully. For already the light of suspicion was focusing its red glare.
âNoo I reckân weâre in for bloody times amang the sheep for a while,â said the Master, as Jim picked up his bags.
âBetter a sheep nor a mon,â answered the postman, still harping on the old theme.
Chapter XIX. LAD AND LASS
AN immense sensation this affair of the Scoop created in the Daleland. It spurred the Dalesmen into fresh endeavors. James Moore and M Adam were examined and re-examined. as to the minutest details of the matter. The whole countryside was placarded with huge bills, offering 100 pounds reward for the capture of the criminal dead or alive. While the vigilance of the watchers was such that in a single week they bagged a donkey, an old woman, and two amateur detectives.
In Wastreldale the near escape of the Killer, the collision between James Moore and Adam, and Owd Bobâs unsuccess, who was not wont to fail, aroused intense excitement, with which was mingled a certain anxiety as to their favorite.
For when the Master had reached home that night, he had found the old dog already there; and he must have wrenched his foot in the pursuit or run a thorn into it, for he was very lame. Whereat, when it was reported at the Sylvester Arms, MâAdam winked at Red Wull and muttered, âAh, forty foot is an ugly tumble.â
A week later the little man called at Kenmuir. As he entered the yard, David was standing outside the kitchen window, looking very glum and miserable. On seeing his father, however, the boy started forward, all alert.
âWhat dâyoâ want here?â he cried roughly. âSame as you, dear lad,â the little man giggled, advancing. âI come on a visit.â
âYour visits to Kenmuir are usually paid by night, so Iâve heard,â David sneered.
The little man affected not to hear.
âSo they dinna allow ye indoors wiâ the Cup,â he laughed. âThey know yer little ways then, David,â
âNay, Iâm not wanted in there,â David answered bitterly, but not so loud that his father could hear. Maggie within the kitchen heard, however, but paid no heed; for her heart was hard against the boy, who of late, though he never addressed her, had made himself as unpleasant in a thousand little ways as only David MâAdam could.
At that moment the Master came stalking into the yard, Owd Bob preceding him; and as the old dog recognized his visitor he bristled involuntarily.
At the sight of the Master MâAdam hurried forward.
âI did but come to ask after the tyke,â he
~said. âIs he gettinâ over his lameness?â
James Moore looked surprised; then his stern face relaxed into a cordial smile. Such generous anxiety as to the welfare of Red Wullâs rival was a wholly new characteristic in the little man,
âI takâ it kind in yoâ, MâAdam,â he said, âto come and inquire.â
âIs the thorn oot?â asked the little man with eager interest, shooting his head forward. to stare closely at the other.
âIt came oot last night wiâ the poulticinâ,â the Master answered, returning the otherâs gaze, calm and steady.
âIâm glad oâ that,â said the little man, still staring. But his yellow, grinning face said as plain words, âWha1~ a liar ye are, James Moore.â
The days passed on. His fatherâs taunts and gibes, always becoming more bitter, drove David almost to distraction.
He longed to make it up with Maggie; he longed for that tender sympathy which the girl had always extended to him when his troubles with his father were heavy on him. The quarrel had lasted for months now, and. he was well weary of it, and utterly ashamed. For, at least, he had the good grace to acknowledge that no one was to blame but himself; and that it had been fostered solely by his ugly pride.
At length he could endure it no longer, and determined to go to the girl and ask forgiveness. It would be a bitter ordeal to him; always unwilling to acknowledge a fault, even to himself, how much harder would it be to confess it to this strip of a girl. For a time he thought it was almost more than he could do. Yet, like his father, once set upon a course, nothing could divert him. So, after a week of doubts and determinations, of cowardice and courage, he pulled himself together and off he set.
An hour it took him from the Grange to the bridge over the Wastrelâan hour which had wont to be a quarter. Now, as he walked on up the slope from the stream, very slowly, heartening himself for his penance, he was aware of a strange disturbance in the yard above him: the noisy cackling of hens, the snorting of pigs disturbed, and above the rest the cry of a little child ringing out in shrill distress.
He set to running, and sped up the slope as fast as his long legs would carry him. As he took the gate in his stride, he saw the white-clad figure of Wee Anne fleeing with unsteady, toddling steps, her fair hair streaming out behind, and one bare arm striking wildly back
Comments (0)