There would be three of them against one man. She walked faster as she thought of it, and her breath was drawn heavily.
Lowrie bent down in his hiding-place, smiling grimly. He knelt upon the gra.s.s behind a hedge at the road-side. He had reached the place a quarter of an hour before, and he had chosen his position as coolly as if he had been sitting down to take his tramp dinner in the shade. There was a gap in the hedge and he must not be too near to it or too far from it. It would be easier to rush through this gap than to leap the hedge; but he must not risk being seen. The corner where the other men lay concealed was not far above him. It was only a matter of a few yards, but if he stood to wait at one turn and the engineer took the other, the game would escape.
So he had placed his comrades at the second, and he had taken the first.
"I"d loike to ha" th" first yammer at him," he had said, savagely. "Yo"
can coom when yo" hear me."
As he waited by the hedge, he put his hand out stealthily toward his "k.n.o.b-stick" and drew it nearer, saying to himself:
"When I ha" done settlin" wi" him fur mysen, I shall ha" a bit o" an account to settle fur her. If it"s his good looks as she"s takken wi", she"ll be noan so fond on him when she sees him next, I"ll warrant."
He had hit upon the greater villainy of stopping short of murder,--if he could contain himself when the time came.
At this instant a sound reached his ears which caused him to start. He bent forward slightly toward the gap to listen. There were footsteps upon the road above him--footsteps that sounded familiar. Clouds had drifted across the sky and darkened it, but he had heard that tread too often to mistake it now when every nerve was strung to its highest tension. A cold sweat broke out upon him in the impotence of his wrath.
"It"s th" la.s.s hersen," he said. "She"s heerd summat, an" she"s as good as her word!"--with an oath.
He got up and stood a second trembling with rage. He drew his sleeve across his forehead and wiped away the sweat, and then turned round sharply.
"I"ll creep up th" road an" meet her afore she reaches th" first place,"
he panted. "If she sees th" lads, it"s aw up wi" us. I"ll teach her summat as she"ll noan forget."
He was out into the Knoll Road in a minute more.
"I"ll teach her to go agen me," he muttered.
"I"ll teach her, by ------" But the sentence was never ended. There was a murmur he did not understand, a rush, a heavy rain of blows, a dash of something in his face that scorched like liquid fire, and with a shriek, he fell writhing.
CHAPTER x.x.x - The Slip of Paper
A minute after there rushed past Joan, in the darkness, two men,--stumbling and cursing as they went, out of breath, horror-stricken and running at the top of their speed.
"It wur Lowrie hissen, by ------!" she heard one say, as he dashed by.
"Feyther! Feyther, wheer are yo"? Feyther, are yo" nigh me?" she cried, for she heard both the blows and the shriek.
But there came no answer to her ear. The rapid feet beating upon the road, their echo dying in the distance, made the only sound that broke the stillness. There was not even a groan. Yet a few paces from her, lay a battered, bleeding form. There was no starlight now, she could see only the vague outline of the figure, which might be that of either one man or the other. For an instant, the similarity in stature which had deceived his blundering companions, deceived her also; but when she knelt down and touched the shoulder, she knew it was not the master who lay before her.
"It"s feyther hissen," she said, and then she drew away her hand, shuddering. "It"s wet wi" blood," she said. "It"s wet wi" blood!"
He did not hear her when she spoke; he was not conscious that she tried to raise him; his head hung forward when she lifted him; he lay heavily, and without motion, upon her arms.
"They ha" killed him!" she said. "How is it, as it is na _him?_"
There was neither light nor help nearer than "The Crown" itself, and when her brain became clearer, she remembered this. Without light and a.s.sistance, she could do nothing; she could not even see what hurt he had sustained. Dead or dying, he must lie here until she had time to get help.
She took off her shawl, and folding it, laid his head gently upon it Then she put her lips to his ear.
"Feyther," she said, "I"m goin" to bring help to thee. If tha con hear me, stir thy hond."
He did not stir it, so she disengaged her arm as gently as possible, and, rising to her feet, went on her way.
There were half a dozen men in the bar-room when she pushed the door inward and stood upon the threshold. They looked up in amazement.
"Those on yo" as want to help a deeing mon," she said, "come wi" me. My feyther"s lyin" in the Knoll Road, done to death."
All were astir in a moment. Lanterns and other necessaries were provided, and bearing one of these lanterns herself, Joan led the way.
As she stepped out onto the pavement a man was pa.s.sing, and, attracted by the confusion, turned to the crowd:
"What is the matter?" he asked.
"There"s a mon been killed up on th" Knoll Road," answered one of the colliers. "It"s this la.s.s"s feyther, Dan Lowrie."
The man strode into the light and showed an agitated face.
"Killed!" he said, "Dan Lowrie!"
It was Fergus Derrick.
He recognized Joan immediately, and went to her.
"For pity"s sake," he exclaimed, "don"t go with them. If what they say is true, this is no place for you. Let me take you home. You ought not----"
"It wur me," interrupted Joan, in a steady voice, "as found him."
He could not persuade her to remain behind, so he walked on by her side.
He asked her no questions. He knew enough to understand that his enemy had reaped the whirlwind he had himself sown.
It was he who knelt first by the side of the prostrate man, holding the lantern above the almost unrecognizable face. Then he would have raised the lifeless hand, but Joan, who had bent down near him, stopped him with a quick move.
"Dunnot do that," she faltered, and when he looked up in surprise, he comprehended her meaning, even before she added, in a pa.s.sionate undertone, the miserable words:
"Ther"s blood on it, as might ha" bin yo"re own."
"Theer"s a bottle here," some one cried out suddenly. "A bottle as I just set my foot on. Chaps, theer"s been vitriol throwed."
"Ay," cried another, "so theer has; chaps, look yo" here. Th" villains has vitriolled him."
They laid him upon the shutter they had brought, and carried him homeward. Joan and Derrick were nearest to him as they walked.
They were not far from the cottage, and it was not long before the light glimmered through the window upon them. Seeing it, Joan turned to Derrick suddenly.
"I mun hurry on before," she said. "I mun go and say a word to Liz.