"Then look here, Mester, I will speak if I nivver do again. No, I wouldn"t give up if I was you, not if they did a hundred worse things than they"ve done yet. Theer!"
Uncle Jack looked down on the man, and then said quickly:
"And you, what will you do?"
"Get to wuck again, Mester, as soon as I can."
"And the men who beat you like that?"
"Eh, what about "em?"
"Shall you try and punish them?"
"Punish "em, Mester! Why, how can I? They punished me."
"But you will turn upon them for this, Pannell, will you not?"
"Nay, Mester; I went again "em, and they k.n.o.b-sticked me for it, and it"s all done and over. I shall soon be back at my st.i.thy, if you"ll hev me again."
"Have you! Yes, my man, of course," said Uncle Jack. "I wish we could have more like you."
"Cob," said Uncle Jack as we strode on and got well out into the country, "we"ve got a very strong confederation to fight, and I do not feel at all hopeful of succeeding; but, there: we"ve put our hands to the plough, and we can"t look back. Now never mind business, let"s listen to the birds and enjoy the fresh country air for a time."
We were going up the valley, pa.s.sing every now and then "a wheel" as it was called, that is a water-wheel, turning a number of grindstones, the places being remarkably like ours, only that as we got farther out the people who ground and forged did their work under the shade of trees, while the birds piped their songs, and air and water were wonderfully different from what they were about our place on the edge of the great town.
"Let"s get back, Cob," said Uncle Jack despondently. "It makes me miserable to hear the birds, and see the beauty of the hills and vales, and the sparkling water, and know that men toiling together in towns can be such ruffians and so full of cruelty to their fellow creatures."
"And so strong and true and brave and ready to help one another."
"As who are, Cob?" said my uncle.
"Well, for want of thinking of anyone else just now," I said, "there"s poor Pannell; he saved me, and he has just shown us that he is too faithful to his fellow-workmen to betray them."
Uncle Jack laid his hand upon my shoulder and gave it a hearty grip.
"You"re right, my lad," he said. "You"re the better philosopher after all. There"s good and bad, and like so many more I think of the bad and overlook the good. But all the same, Cob, I"m very uneasy. These men have a spiteful feeling against you, and we shall not be doing right if we trust you out of our sight again."
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
WHAT I CAUGHT AND HEARD.
"I should say you will very likely have some sport," said Uncle d.i.c.k.
"Try by all means."
"I hardly like to, uncle," I said.
"Nonsense, my lad! All work and no play makes Jack--I mean Jacob--a dull boy."
"But it will seem as if I am neglecting my work."
"By no means. Besides, we shall not be busy for a day or two. Have a few hours" fishing, and I daresay one of us will come and see how you are getting on."
The opportunity was too tempting to be lost, so I got a cheap rod and a dear line--a thoroughly good one, asked a gardener just outside to dig up some small red worms for me, and, furnishing myself with some paste and boiled rice, I one morning took my place up at the head of the dam where the stream came in, chose a place where the current whirled round in a deep hole and began fitting my tackle together prior to throwing in.
I had been longing for this trial, for I felt sure that there must be some big fish in the dam. It was quite amongst the houses and factories, but all the same it was deep, there was a constant run of fresh water through it, and I had more than once seen pieces of bread sucked down in a curiously quiet way, as if taken by a great slow moving fish, a carp or tench, an old inhabitant of the place.
Certainly it was not the sort of spot I should have selected for a day"s fishing had I been offered my choice, but it was the best I could obtain then, and I was going to make the most of it.
I laughed to myself as I thought of the eels, and the great haul I had made down in the wheel-pit, and then I shuddered as I thought of the horrors I had suffered down there, and wondered whether our troubles with the men were pretty well over.
I hoped so, for from what I heard the business was succeeding beyond the hopes of the most sanguine of my uncles, and if we were left alone success on the whole was a.s.sured.
Of course it was this brilliant prospect that induced them to stay on and dare the perils that lurked around, though, during the past few weeks, everything had been so quiet that once more we were indulging in the hope that the war was at an end.
In spite of Dr Johnson"s harsh saying about a fisherman, I know of no more satisfactory amus.e.m.e.nt than is to be found in company with a rod and line. The sport may be bad, but there is the country, the bright sky, the waving trees, the dancing waters, and that delicious feeling of expectation of the finest bite and the biggest fish that never comes but always may.
I was in this state of expectancy that day. The sport was not good certainly, for the fish I caught were small, but I argued that where there were small fish there must be large, and sooner or later some of the monsters of the dam would see and take my bait.
I fished till dinner-time, varying my position, and when the bell rang some of the men came and sat on the edge and watched me, chatting civilly enough as they smoked their pipes.
As luck had it I caught a couple of good-sized silvery roach, and Stevens gave his leg a regular slap as he exclaimed:
"Well if they"d towd me there was fish like that i" th" dam I wouldn"t hev believed it."
The bell rang for work to be resumed, and the men slowly moved along the dam edge, Stevens being left, and he stopped to fill and light his pipe--so it seemed to me; but as he stooped over it, puffing away large clouds of smoke, I heard him say:
"Don"t look. Soon as men"s gone in, yow go and stand on ledge close under grinding-shop windows, and see what you catch."
"It"s such an awkward place to get to," I said. "I suppose it"s deep, but--"
"You do what I tell"ee, and don"t talk," growled Stevens, and he strolled off with his hands in his pockets after his mates.
"I sha"n"t go," I said. "It"s a very awkward place to get to; the ledge is not above nine inches wide, and if I got hold of a big fish, how am I to land him!"
The very idea of getting hold of a fish that would be too hard to land was too much for me, and I should have gone to the ledge if it had only been four and a half inches wide. So, waiting to have a few more throws, which were without result, I picked up my basket, walked right round the end of the dam, and then along the top of a narrow wall till I reached the end of the works at the far side, and from there lowered myself gently down on the ledge, along which Pannell had brought me when he rescued me from the wheel-pit, right at the other end, and towards which I was slowly making my way.
It was slow travelling, and my feet were not above a couple of inches above the water, while the windows of the grinding-shop were about four feet above my head.
I made no special selection, but stopped right in the middle, just where I imagined that the dam head would be deepest, and softly dropped in my line after setting down my basket and leaning my back against the stone building.
As I did so I wished that there had been a place to sit down, but there was of course only just room to stand, and there I was with the water gliding on and over the great wheel a few yards to my left; to my right the windows, out of which poured the black smoke of the forges, and from which came the _clink c.h.i.n.k_ of hammer upon anvil, while above me came throbbing and vibrating, screeching and churring, the many varied sounds made by the grinders as they pressed some piece of steel against the swiftly revolving stone, while, in spite of dripping drenching water, the least contact drew from the stone a shower of sparks.
I fished on, after making a few alterations in the depth of my bait, finding the water far deeper than I expected. I renewed that bait, too, but no monstrous fish came to take it, to hook itself, and to make a rush and drag me off my ledge. The sounds buzzed and rattled overhead; there was the echoing plash of the water over the wheel, and the whispering echoes which did not sound at all terrible now, and above all from the windows overhead, in intervals of the grinding, I could hear the men talking very earnestly at times.
I paid very little heed, for I was interested in my fishing and the water across which the spiders were skating. I wanted a big bite--that big bite--but still it did not come, and I began to wonder whether there were any fish of size in the place.
"There"s every reason why there should be," I thought. Deep clear water fed by the great dam up in the hills, and of course that dam was fed by the mountain streams. This place was all amongst buildings, and plenty of s.m.u.ts fell on the surface; in fact the wind used to send a regular black sc.u.m floating along to the sides.