He looked at me with his face working, and sc.r.a.ping a hole in the ashes he buried the trap, seized hammer and pincers, and worked away again, but stopped every now and then to laugh.
"I say," he said suddenly, "it"ll sarve "em right; but if they knowed as I did it they"d wait for me coming home and give me the k.n.o.bsticks. Ay, that they would."
"But they will not know, Pannell," I said. "It"s our secret, mind."
"Hey, but I"d like to see the rat i" the trap!" he whispered, after exploding with another fit of mirth.
"Let"s have the trap first," I said. "I don"t know that I shall catch him then."
"What are you going to bait with?" he said between two fierce attacks upon a piece of steel.
"Oh, I have not settled that yet!"
"I"ll tell "ee," he whispered with his face working. "Bait it with a wheel-band."
He roared with laughter again, and if I had had any doubts before of his understanding that I wanted a very strong man-trap, I had none now.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
SOMETHING FOR ME.
Rash--cruel--unwise. Well, I"m afraid it was all those, but I was only a boy, and I was stung by the injustice and cowardly cruelty of the outrages perpetrated on us by the men who earned their bread in our works; and hence it was, that, instead of feeling any compunction in doing what I proposed, I was delighted with the idea, and longed for an opportunity to put it in force.
I was, then, very eager to begin, for the present calm, I felt sure, was only going before the storm, and after what I had found out I was anxious to be ready.
Pannell did not keep me waiting long.
Two days after I had made my plans with him I went into his smithy, and in answer to my inquiring look he said, in a heavy, unmoved way:
"Theer"s summut for you hung up i" the forge chimney. She goes hard, but theer"s a steel bar "long wi" her as you can prise down the spring till she"s set. On"y mind thysen, lad--mind thysen."
"And will it hold a man, Pannell?" I cried.
"Ay; this here"s noo pattern. I haven"t got into it yet I"ve got a rare lot of "em to do."
"But tell me," I whispered, "will it?"
"Think this here noo steel"s better than owd fashion stoof?" he said.
"Bother the steel!" I said, speaking lower still. "I want you to tell me whether--"
"Bull-p.o.o.p"s gettin" too fat, Mester Jacob," said Pannell. "Don"t give "im so much meat. Spoils a dorg. Give un bones as he can break oop and yeat. That"s the stoof for dorgs. Gives un such a coat as never was."
"Will you tell me?" I began, angrily.
"Nay, I wean"t tell thee nowt," he growled. "I"ve telled thee enew as it is. Tek it when I"m not here, and good luck to thee!"
I could get no more from him, for he would not say another word about the trap, so I waited impatiently for the night so that I might smuggle it from the forge chimney into my desk.
When the time came it was quite absurd how many hindrances there were to my little task. I did not want to set it that night. I only wanted to get it in safety to my desk; but first there were men hanging about the smithies as if they were watching me; then there were my uncles; and lastly, there was Gentles, who made signs that he wished to speak to me, and I didn"t care to say anything to the sleek, oily fellow, who only wanted to what he called make it up.
At last, though, everyone had gone but Uncle Jack, who was busy writing a letter or two, and I was to wait for him, and we were going back together.
I slipped off to the smithy, and just as I was half-way there I turned quickly round, feeling quite cold, and as if I was found out, for I heard a curious yawning noise behind me.
It was only Piter, who looked up in my face and gave his tail a wag, and then b.u.t.ted his great head against my leg, holding it tightly there as if it was so heavy that he was glad to give it a rest.
I went on at once impatiently, and Piter"s head sank down, the dog uttering a low, discontented whine on being left. I glanced up at the wall, half expecting to see some one looking over and watching me; then up at the windows, fearing that one of the men might still be left.
But all was perfectly quiet, and though I half antic.i.p.ated such an accident there was no one seated on the top of either of the great chimney-shafts in the neighbourhood watching me with a telescope.
I had a few more absurdly impossible ideas of this kind as I went along the yard, feeling horribly guilty and ready to give up my undertaking.
The very silence and solitariness of the place startled me, but I went on and turned in at the open door of the smithy where Pannell worked, and breathed more freely as I looked round and saw that I was alone.
But to make sure I stepped up on to the work-bench and looked out of the window, but there was nothing but the dam to be seen there, and I leaped down and climbed on to the forge, with the coal-dust crushing under my feet, gave a last glance round, and was about to peer up the funnel-like, sheet-iron chimney, when there was a loud clang, and I bounded down, with my heart beating furiously.
I stamped my foot directly after and bit my lips angrily because I had been such a coward, for I had moved a pair of smiths" tongs when I stepped up, and they had slid off on to the ground.
"I"m doing what I ought not to do," I said to myself as I jumped on to the forge again, "but now I"ve gone so far I must go on."
I peered up in the dark funnel and could see nothing, but I had come prepared, and striking a match I saw just before me, resting on a sooty ledge, the object of my quest.
I lifted it down, astounded at its size and weight, and found that it was an exact imitation of the rat-trap, but with blunt teeth, and a short steel lever with a point like a crowbar was attached to it by means of a bit of wire.
It was enormous, and I quite trembled at the idea of carrying it to the office; but after a sharp glance out of the doorway I took hold of the trap by the iron chain bound round it, and walked quickly to my own place, hoping that even if I had been seen, the watcher would not have been able to make out what I was carrying.
There was not much room to spare when I had laid the great trap in my desk, the lid of which would only just shut down over it; but once safely there, and with the key in the lock ready for me to turn if I heard steps, I had a good look at my treasure.
I was nervous now, and half repentant, for the instrument looked so formidable that I felt that I should not dare to use it.
I had a good look though, and found that it was very complete with chain and ring, and that the lever had a head to it like a pin, evidently so that after it had been used, it could be placed through the ring at the end of the chain, and driven down to act as a peg in the ground.
I had hardly arrived at all this when I heard Uncle Jack"s cough, and hastily closing the desk and locking it, I went to meet him.
"Sorry to keep you waiting so long, my boy," he said; "but I wanted to send word to your father how we are going on."
It was on the second night that I put my plan into practice.
I had thought it all well out, and inspected my ground, which was just below the wall, pretty close to the edge of the dam, where I had seen some marks which had made me suspicious.
So as soon as Uncle Bob had gone to lie down, and I had begun my half of the watch, I fastened up Piter, took out my heavy trap, carried it down to the edge of the dam, and carefully felt the wall for the place I had marked by driving in a little nail.
I soon found it, placed my trap exactly beneath it, and wrenching down the spring by means of the lever, I tried to set it.
I had practised doing this in my own place, and could manage it pretty well, but in the darkness and excitement that troubled me now, it proved to be an exceedingly difficult job. Twice I managed to get it set, and was moving away when it went off with a startling clang that made me jump, and expect to see Uncle Bob come running out, especially as the dog set up a furious bark.