A Little Boy Lost Page 4

  CHAPTER IV

  MARTIN IS FOUND BY A DEAF OLD MAN

  Martin kept his eyes shut for only about a minute, as he thought;but he must have been asleep some time, for when he opened them theFalse Water had vanished, and the sun, looking very large and crimson,was just about to set. He started up, feeling very thirsty andhungry and bewildered; for he was far, far from home, and lost onthe great plain. Presently he spied a man coming towards him onhorseback. A very funny-looking old man he proved to be, with a facewrinkled and tanned by sun and wind, until it resembled a piece ofancient shoe-leather left lying for years on some neglected spot ofground. A Brazil nut is not darker nor more wrinkled than was theold man's face. His long matted beard and hair had once been white,but the sun out of doors and the smoke in his smoky hut had giventhem a yellowish tinge, so that they looked like dry dead grass. Hewore big jack-boots, patched all over, and full of cracks and holes;and a great pea-jacket, rusty and ragged, fastened with horn buttonsbig as saucers. His old brimless hat looked like a dilapidatedtea-cosy on his head, and to prevent it from being carried off bythe wind it was kept on with an old flannel shirtsleeve tied underhis chin. His saddle, too, like his clothes, was old and full ofrents, with wisps of hair and straw-stuffing sticking out in variousplaces, and his feet were thrust into a pair of big stirrups made ofpieces of wood and rusty iron tied together with string and wire.

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  "Boy, what may you being a doing of here?" bawled this old man atthe top of his voice: for he was as deaf as a post, and like a goodmany deaf people thought it necessary to speak very loud to makehimself heard.

  "Playing," answered Martin innocently. But he could not make the oldman hear until he stood up on tip-toe and shouted out his answer asloud as he could.

  "Playing," exclaimed the old man. "Well, I never in all my life!When there ain't a house 'cepting my own for leagues and leagues,and he says he's playing! What may you be now?" he shouted again.

  "A little boy," screamed Martin.

  "I knowed that afore I axed," said the other. Then he slapped hislegs and held up his hands with astonishment, and at last began tochuckle. "Will you come home along o' me?" he shouted.

  "Will you give me something to eat?" asked Martin in return.

  "Haw, haw, haw," guffawed the old fellow. It was a tremendous laugh,so loud and hollow, it astonished and almost frightened Martin tohear it. "Well I never!" he said. "He ain't no fool, neither. Now,old Jacob, just you take your time and think a bit afore you makesyour answer to that."

  This curious old man, whose name was Jacob, had lived so long byhimself that he always thought out loud--louder than other peopletalk: for, being deaf, he could not hear himself, and never had asuspicion that he could be heard by others.

  "He's lost, that's what he is," continued old Jacob aloud to himself."And what's more, he's been and gone and forgot all about his ownhome, and all he wants is summat to eat. I'll take him and keep him,that's what I'll do: for he's a stray lamb, and belongs to him thatfinds him, like any other lamb I finds. I'll make him believe I'mhis old dad; for he's little and will believe most anything youtells him. I'll learn him to do things about the house--to boil thekettle, and cook the wittels, and gather the firewood, and mend theclothes, and do the washing, and draw the water, and milk the cow,and dig the potatoes, and mind the sheep and--and--and that's whatI'll learn him. Then, Jacob, you can sit down and smoke your pipe,'cos you'll have some one to do your work for you."

  Martin stood quietly listening to all this, not quite understandingthe old man's kind intentions. Then old Jacob, promising to give himsomething to eat, pulled him up on to his horse, and started home ata gallop.

  Soon they arrived at a mud hovel, thatched with rushes, the roofsloping down so low that one could almost step on to it; it wassurrounded with a ditch, and had a potato patch and a sheep enclosure;for old Jacob was a shepherd, and had a flock of sheep. There wereseveral big dogs, and when Martin got down from the horse, theybegan jumping round him, barking with delight, as if they knew him,half-smothering him with their rough caresses. Jacob led him intothe hut, which looked extremely dirty and neglected, and had onlyone room. In the corners against the walls were piles of sheep-skinsthat had a strong and rather unpleasant smell: the thatch above wascovered with dusty cobwebs, hanging like old rags, and the clayfloor was littered with bones, sticks, and other rubbish. The onlynice thing to see was a teakettle singing and steaming away merrilyon the fire in the grate. Old Jacob set about preparing the eveningmeal; and soon they sat down at a small deal table to a supper ofcold mutton and potatoes, and tea which did not taste very nice, asit was sweetened with moist black sugar. Martin was too hungry toturn up his nose at anything, and while he ate and drank the old manchuckled and talked aloud to himself about his good fortune infinding the little boy to do his work for him. After supper hecleared the table, and put two mugs of tea on it, and then got outhis clay pipe and tobacco.

  "Now, little boy," he cried, "let's have a jolly evening together.Your very good health, little boy," and here he jingled his mugagainst Martin's, and took a sip of tea.

  "Would you like to hear a song, little boy?" he said, afterfinishing his pipe.

  "No," said Martin, who was getting sleepy; but Jacob took no to meanyes, and so he stood up on his legs and sang this song:--

  "My name is Jacob, that's my name; And tho' I'm old, the old man's game-- The air it is so good, d'ye see: And on the plain my flock I keep, And sing all day to please my sheep, And never lose them like Bo-Peep, Becos the ways of them are known to me."

  "When winter comes and winds do blow, Unto my sheep so good I go-- I'm always good to them, d'ye see-- Ho, sheep, say I, both ram, both ewe, I've sung you songs all summer through, Now lend to me a skin or two, To keep the cold and wet from out o' me."

  This song, accompanied with loud raps on the table, was bellowedforth in a dreadfully discordant voice; and very soon all the dogsrushed into the room and began to bark and howl most dismally, whichseemed to please the old man greatly, for to him it was a kind ofapplause. But the noise was too much for Martin; so he stopped uphis ears, and only removed his fingers from them when theperformance was over. After the song the old man offered to dance,for he had not yet had amusement enough.

  "Boy, can you play on this?" he shouted, holding up a frying-pan anda big stick to beat it with. Of course Martin could play on _that_instrument: he had often enough played on one like it to startle theechoes on the lake, in other days. And so, when he had been liftedon to the table, he took the frying-pan by the handle, and beganvigorously beating on it with the stick. He did not mind the noisenow since he was helping to make it. Meanwhile old Jacob beganflinging his arms and legs about in all directions, looking like ascarecrow made to tumble about by means of springs and wires. Hepounded the clay floor with his ponderous old boots until the roomwas filled with a cloud of dust; then in his excitement he kickedover chairs, pots, kettles, and whatever came in his way, while hekept on revolving round the table in a kind of crazy fandango.Martin thought it fine fun, and screamed with laughter, and beat hisgong louder than ever; then to make matters worse old Jacob atintervals uttered whoops and yells, which the dogs answered withlong howls from the door, until the din was something tremendous.

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  At length they both grew tired, and then after resting and sippingsome more cold tea, prepared to go to bed. Some sheep-skins werepiled up in a corner for Martin to sleep on, and old Jacob coveredhim with a horse-rug, and tucked him in very carefully. Then the kindold man withdrew to his own bed on the opposite side of the room.

  About midnight Martin was wakened by loud horrible noises in the room,and started up on bed trembling with fear. The sounds came from theold man's nose, and resembled a succession of blasts on a ram's horn,which, on account of its roughness and twisted shape, makes a verybad trumpet. As soon as Martin discovered the cause of the noise hecrept out of bed and tried to waken the old snore
r by shouting at him,tugging at his arms and legs, and finally pulling his beard. Herefused to wake. Then Martin had a bright idea, and groping his wayto the bucket of cold water standing beside the fire-place, hemanaged to raise it up in his arms, and poured it over the sleeper.The snoring changed to a series of loud choking snorts, then ceased.Martin, well pleased at the success of his experiment, was about toreturn to his bed when old Jacob struggled up to a sitting posture.

  "Hullo, wake up, little boy!" he shouted. "My bed's all full o'water--goodness knows where it comes from."

  "I poured it over you to wake you up. Don't you know you were makinga noise with your nose?" cried Martin at the top of his voice.

  "You--you--you throwed it over me! You--O you most wicked littlevillain you! You throwed it over me, did you!" and here he pouredout such a torrent of abusive words that Martin was horrified andcried out, "O what a naughty, wicked, bad old man you are!"

  It was too dark for old Jacob to see him, but he knew his way aboutthe room, and taking up the wet rug that served him for covering hegroped his way to Martin's bed and began pounding it with the rug,thinking the naughty little boy was there.

  "You little rascal you--I hope you like that!--and that!--and that!"he shouted, pounding away. "I'll learn you to throw water over yourpoor old dad! And such a--a affectionate father as I've been too,giving him sich nice wittels--and--and singing and dancing to him toteach him music. Perhaps you'd like a little more, you takes it soquietly? Well, then, take that!--and that!--and that! Why, how'sthis--the young warmint ain't here arter all! Well, I'm blowed ifthat don't beat everythink! What did he go and chuck that water overme for? What a walloping I'll give him in the morning when it's light!and now, boy, you may go and sleep on my bed, 'cos it's wet, d'ye see;and I'll sleep on yourn, 'cos it's dry."

  Then he got into Martin's bed, and muttered and grumbled himself tosleep. Martin came out from under the table, and after dressinghimself with great secrecy crept to the door to make his escape. Itwas locked and the key taken away. But he was determined to make hisescape somehow, and not wait to be whipped; so, by and by, he drewthe little deal table close against the wall, and getting on to itbegan picking the rushes one by one out of the lower part of thethatch. After working for half-an-hour, like a mouse eating his wayout of a soft wooden box, he began to see the light coming throughthe hole, and in another half hour it was large enough for him tocreep through. When he had got out, he slipped down to the ground,where the dogs were lying. They seemed very glad to see him, andbegan pressing round to lick his face; but he pushed them off, andran away over the plain as fast as he could. The stars were shining,but it was very dark and silent; only in moist places, where thegrass grew tall, he heard the crickets strumming sadly on theirlittle harps.

  At length, tired with running, he coiled himself in a large tussockof dry grass and went to sleep, just as if he had been accustomed tosleep out of doors all his life.