第26章 THE THREE WOMEN(25)

The picture alarmed the boy.By a little stove inside the van sat a figure red from head to heels--the man who had been Thomasin's friend.He was darning a stocking, which was red like the rest of him.Moreover, as he darned he smoked a pipe, the stem and bowl of which were red also.

At this moment one of the heath-croppers feeding in the outer shadows was audibly shaking off the clog attached to its foot.Aroused by the sound, the reddleman laid down his stocking, lit a lantern which hung beside him, and came out from the van.In sticking up the candle he lifted the lantern to his face, and the light shone into the whites of his eyes and upon his ivory teeth, which, in contrast with the red surrounding, lent him a startling aspect enough to the gaze of a juvenile.

The boy knew too well for his peace of mind upon whose lair he had lighted.Uglier persons than gipsies were known to cross Egdon at times, and a reddleman was one of them.

"How I wish 'twas only a gipsy!" he murmured.

The man was by this time coming back from the horses.

In his fear of being seen the boy rendered detection certain by nervous motion.The heather and peat stratum overhung the brow of the pit in mats, hiding the actual verge.

The boy had stepped beyond the solid ground; the heather now gave way, and down he rolled over the scarp of grey sand to the very foot of the man.

The red man opened the lantern and turned it upon the figure of the prostrate boy.

"Who be ye?" he said.

"Johnny Nunsuch, master!"

"What were you doing up there?"

"I don't know."

"Watching me, I suppose?"

"Yes, master."

"What did you watch me for?"

"Because I was coming home from Miss Vye's bonfire.""Beest hurt?"

"No."

"Why, yes, you be--your hand is bleeding.Come under my tilt and let me tie it up.""Please let me look for my sixpence."

"How did you come by that?"

"Miss Vye gied it to me for keeping up her bonfire."The sixpence was found, and the man went to the van, the boy behind, almost holding his breath.

The man took a piece of rag from a satchel containing sewing materials, tore off a strip, which, like everything else, was tinged red, and proceeded to bind up the wound.

"My eyes have got foggy-like--please may I sit down, master?" said the boy.

"To be sure, poor chap.'Tis enough to make you feel fainty.

Sit on that bundle."

The man finished tying up the gash, and the boy said, "I think I'll go home now, master.""You are rather afraid of me.Do you know what I be?"The child surveyed his vermilion figure up and down with much misgiving and finally said, "Yes.""Well, what?"

"The reddleman!" he faltered.

"Yes, that's what I be.Though there's more than one.

You little children think there's only one cuckoo, one fox, one giant, one devil, and one reddleman, when there's lots of us all.""Is there? You won't carry me off in your bags, will ye, master? 'Tis said that the reddleman will sometimes.""Nonsense.All that reddlemen do is sell reddle.

You see all these bags at the back of my cart? They are not full of little boys--only full of red stuff.""Was you born a reddleman?"

"No, I took to it.I should be as white as you if Iwere to give up the trade--that is, I should be white in time--perhaps six months; not at first, because 'tis grow'd into my skin and won't wash out.Now, you'll never be afraid of a reddleman again, will ye?""No, never.Willy Orchard said he seed a red ghost here t'other day--perhaps that was you?""I was here t'other day."

"Were you making that dusty light I saw by now?""Oh yes, I was beating out some bags.And have you had a good bonfire up there? I saw the light.Why did Miss Vye want a bonfire so bad that she should give you sixpence to keep it up?""I don't know.I was tired, but she made me bide and keep up the fire just the same, while she kept going up across Rainbarrow way.""And how long did that last?"

"Until a hopfrog jumped into the pond."

The reddleman suddenly ceased to talk idly."A hopfrog?"he inquired."Hopfrogs don't jump into ponds this time of year.""They do, for I heard one."

"Certain-sure?"

"Yes.She told me afore that I should hear'n; and so I did.

They say she's clever and deep, and perhaps she charmed 'en to come.""And what then?"

"Then I came down here, and I was afeard, and I went back;but I didn't like to speak to her, because of the gentleman, and I came on here again.""A gentleman--ah! What did she say to him, my man?""Told him she supposed he had not married the other woman because he liked his old sweetheart best; and things like that.""What did the gentleman say to her, my sonny?""He only said he did like her best, and how he was coming to see her again under Rainbarrow o' nights.""Ha!" cried the reddleman, slapping his hand against the side of his van so that the whole fabric shook under the blow.

"That's the secret o't!"

The little boy jumped clean from the stool.

"My man, don't you be afraid," said the dealer in red, suddenly becoming gentle."I forgot you were here.

That's only a curious way reddlemen have of going mad for a moment; but they don't hurt anybody.And what did the lady say then?""I can't mind.Please, Master Reddleman, may I go home-along now?""Ay, to be sure you may.I'll go a bit of ways with you."He conducted the boy out of the gravel pit and into the path leading to his mother's cottage.When the little figure had vanished in the darkness the reddleman returned, resumed his seat by the fire, and proceeded to darn again.

9 - Love Leads a Shrewd Man into Strategy Reddlemen of the old school are now but seldom seen.

Since the introduction of railways Wessex farmers have managed to do without these Mephistophelian visitants, and the bright pigment so largely used by shepherds in preparing sheep for the fair is obtained by other routes.