Whether the traveller was possessed by thoughts which the fury of the night had heated and stimulated into a quicker current, or was merely impelled by some strong motive to reach his journey"s end, on he swept more like a hunted phantom than a man, nor checked his pace until, arriving at some cross roads, one of which led by a longer route to the place whence he had lately started, he bore down so suddenly upon a vehicle which was coming towards him, that in the effort to avoid it he well-nigh pulled his horse upon his haunches, and narrowly escaped being thrown.
"Yoho!" cried the voice of a man. "What"s that? Who goes there?"
"A friend!" replied the traveller.
"A friend!" repeated the voice. "Who calls himself a friend and rides like that, abusing Heaven"s gifts in the shape of horseflesh, and endangering, not only his own neck (which might be no great matter) but the necks of other people?"
"You have a lantern there, I see," said the traveller dismounting, "lend it me for a moment. You have wounded my horse, I think, with your shaft or wheel."
"Wounded him!" cried the other, "if I haven"t killed him, it"s no fault of yours. What do you mean by galloping along the king"s highway like that, eh?"
"Give me the light," returned the traveller, snatching it from his hand, "and don"t ask idle questions of a man who is in no mood for talking."
"If you had said you were in no mood for talking before, I should perhaps have been in no mood for lighting," said the voice.
"Hows"ever as it"s the poor horse that"s damaged and not you, one of you is welcome to the light at all events--but it"s not the crusty one."
The traveller returned no answer to this speech, but holding the light near to his panting and reeking beast, examined him in limb and carcass. Meanwhile, the other man sat very composedly in his vehicle, which was a kind of chaise with a depository for a large bag of tools, and watched his proceedings with a careful eye.
The looker-on was a round, red-faced, sturdy yeoman, with a double chin, and a voice husky with good living, good sleeping, good humour, and good health. He was past the prime of life, but Father Time is not always a hard parent, and, though he tarries for none of his children, often lays his hand lightly upon those who have used him well; ****** them old men and women inexorably enough, but leaving their hearts and spirits young and in full vigour. With such people the grey head is but the impression of the old fellow"s hand in giving them his blessing, and every wrinkle but a notch in the quiet calendar of a well-spent life.
The person whom the traveller had so abruptly encountered was of this kind: bluff, hale, hearty, and in a green old age: at peace with himself, and evidently disposed to be so with all the world. Although muffled up in divers coats and handkerchiefs--one of which, passed over his crown, and tied in a convenient crease of his double chin, secured his three-cornered hat and bob-wig from blowing off his head--there was no disguising his plump and comfortable figure; neither did certain dirty finger-marks upon his face give it any other than an odd and comical expression, through which its natural good humour shone with undiminished lustre.
"He is not hurt," said the traveller at length, raising his head and the lantern together.
"You have found that out at last, have you?" rejoined the old man. "My eyes have seen more light than yours, but I wouldn"t change with you."
"What do you mean?"
"Mean! I could have told you he wasn"t hurt, five minutes ago.
Give me the light, friend; ride forward at a gentler pace; and good night."
In handing up the lantern, the man necessarily cast its rays full on the speaker"s face. Their eyes met at the instant. He suddenly dropped it and crushed it with his foot.
"Did you never see a locksmith before, that you start as if you had come upon a ghost?" cried the old man in the chaise, "or is this," he added hastily, thrusting his hand into the tool basket and drawing out a hammer, "a scheme for robbing me? I know these roads, friend. When I travel them, I carry nothing but a few shillings, and not a crown"s worth of them. I tell you plainly, to save us both trouble, that there"s nothing to be got from me but a pretty stout arm considering my years, and this tool, which, mayhap from long acquaintance with, I can use pretty briskly. You shall not have it all your own way, I promise you, if you play at that game. With these words he stood upon the defensive.
"I am not what you take me for, Gabriel Varden," replied the other.
"Then what and who are you?" returned the locksmith. "You know my name, it seems. Let me know yours."
"I have not gained the information from any confidence of yours, but from the inscription on your cart which tells it to all the town," replied the traveller.
"You have better eyes for that than you had for your horse, then," said Varden, descending nimbly from his chaise; "who are you? Let me see your face."
While the locksmith alighted, the traveller had regained his saddle, from which he now confronted the old man, who, moving as the horse moved in chafing under the tightened rein, kept close beside him.
"Let me see your face, I say."
"Stand off!"
"No masquerading tricks," said the locksmith, "and tales at the club to-morrow, how Gabriel Varden was frightened by a surly voice and a dark night. Stand--let me see your face."
Finding that further resistance would only involve him in a personal struggle with an antagonist by no means to be despised, the traveller threw back his coat, and stooping down looked steadily at the locksmith.
