Now, the chance that works for certain purposes sent a smart shower from the sinking sun, and the wet sent two strangers for shelter in the lane behind the hedge where the boys reclined. One was a travelling tinker, who lit a pipe and spread a tawny11 umbrella. The other was a burly young countryman, pipeless and tentless. They saluted12 with a nod, and began recounting for each other’s benefit the day-long doings of the weather, as it had affected13 their individual experience and followed their prophecies. Both had anticipated and foretold14 a bit of rain before night, and therefore both welcomed the wet with satisfaction. A monotonous15 betweenwhiles kind of talk they kept droning, in harmony with the still hum of the air. From the weather theme they fell upon the blessings16 of tobacco; how it was the poor man’s friend, his company, his consolation17, his comfort, his refuge at night, his first thought in the morning.
“Better than a wife!” chuckled18 the tinker. “No curtain-lecturin’ with a pipe. Your pipe an’t a shrew.”
“That be it!” the other chimed in. “Your pipe doan’t mak’ ye out wi’ all the cash Saturday evenin’.”
“Take one,” said the tinker, in the enthusiasm of the moment, handing a grimy short clay. Speed-the-Plough filled from the tinker’s pouch19, and continued his praises.
“Penny a day, and there y’are, primed! Better than a wife? Ha, ha!”
“And you can get rid of it, if ye wants for to, and when ye wants,” added tinker.
“So ye can!” Speed-the-Plough took him up. “And ye doan’t want for to. Leastways, t’other case. I means pipe.”
“And,” continued tinker, comprehending him perfectly20, “it don’t bring repentance21 after it.”
“Not nohow, master, it doan’t! And”— Speed-the-Plough cocked his eye —“it doan’t eat up half the victuals22, your pipe doan’t.”
Here the honest yeoman gesticulated his keen sense of a clincher, which the tinker acknowledged; and having, so to speak, sealed up the subject by saying the best thing that could be said, the two smoked for some time in silence to the drip and patter of the shower.
Ripton solaced23 his wretchedness by watching them through the briar hedge. He saw the tinker stroking a white cat, and appealing to her, every now and then, as his missus, for an opinion or a confirmation24; and he thought that a curious sight. Speed-the-Plough was stretched at full length, with his boots in the rain, and his head amidst the tinker’s pots, smoking, profoundly contemplative. The minutes seemed to be taken up alternately by the grey puffs25 from their mouths.
It was the tinker who renewed the colloquy26. Said he, “Times is bad!”
His companion assented27, “Sure-ly!”
“But it somehow comes round right,” resumed the tinker. “Why, look here. Where’s the good o’ moping? I sees it all come round right and tight. Now I travels about. I’ve got my beat. ‘Casion calls me t’other day to Newcastle! — Eh?”
“Coals!” ejaculated Speed-the-Plough sonorously28.
“Coals!” echoed the tinker. “You ask what I goes there for, mayhap? Never you mind. One sees a mort o’ life in my trade. Not for coals it isn’t. And I don’t carry ’em there, neither. Anyhow, I comes back. London’s my mark. Says I, I’ll see a bit o’ the sea, and steps aboard a collier. We were as nigh wrecked29 as the prophet Paul.”
“— A— who’s him?” the other wished to know.
“Read your Bible,” said the tinker. “We pitched and tossed —‘tain’t that game at sea ’tis on land, I can tell ye! I thinks, down we’re a-going — say your prayers, Bob Tiles! That was a night, to be sure! But God’s above the devil, and here I am, ye see.”
Speed-the-Plough lurched round on his elbow and regarded him indifferently. “D’ye call that doctrin’? He bean’t al’ays, or I shoo’n’t be scrapin’ my heels wi’ nothin’ to do, and, what’s warse, nothin’ to eat. Why, look heer. Luck’s luck, and bad luck’s the contrary. Varmer Bollop, t’other day, has’s rick burnt down. Next night his gran’ry’s burnt. What do he tak’ and go and do? He takes and goes and hangs unsel’, and turns us out of his employ. God warn’t above the devil then, I thinks, or I can’t make out the reckonin’.”
The tinker cleared his throat, and said it was a bad case.
“And a darn’d bad case. I’ll tak’ my oath on’t!” cried Speed-the-Plough. “Well, look heer! Heer’s another darn’d bad case. I threshed for Varmer Blaize — Blaize o’ Beltharpe — afore I goes to Varmer Bollop. Varmer Blaize misses pilkins. He swears our chaps steals pilkins. ‘Twarn’t me steals ’em. What do he tak’ and go and do? He takes and tarns30 us off, me and another, neck and crop, to scuffle about and starve, for all he keers. God warn’t above the devil then, I thinks. Not nohow, as I can see!”
The tinker shook his head, and said that was a bad case also.
“And you can’t mend it,” added Speed-the-Plough. “It’s bad, and there it be. But I’ll tell ye what, master. Bad wants payin’ for.” He nodded and winked31 mysteriously. “Bad has its wages as well’s honest work, I’m thinkin’. Varmer Bollop I don’t owe no grudge32 to: Varmer Blaize I do. And I shud like to stick a Lucifer in his rick some dry windy night.” Speed-the-Plough screwed up an eye villainously. “He wants hittin’ in the wind — jest where the pocket is, master, do Varmer Blaize, and he’ll cry out ‘O Lor’!’ Varmer Blaize will. You won’t get the better o’ Varmer Blaize by no means, as I makes out, if ye doan’t hit into him jest there.”
The tinker sent a rapid succession of white clouds from his mouth, and said that would be taking the devil’s side of a bad case. Speed-the-Plough observed energetically that, if Farmer Blaize was on the other, he should be on that side.
There was a young gentleman close by, who thought with him. The hope of Raynham had lent a careless half-compelled attention to the foregoing dialogue, wherein a common labourer and a travelling tinker had propounded33 and discussed one of the most ancient theories of transmundane dominion35 and influence on mundane34 affairs. He now started to his feet, and came tearing through the briar hedge, calling out for one of them to direct them the nearest road to Bursley. The tinker was kindling36 preparations for his tea, under the tawny umbrella. A loaf was set forth37, on which Ripton’s eyes, stuck in the hedge, fastened ravenously38. Speed-the-Plough volunteered information that Bursley was a good three mile from where they stood, and a good eight mile from Lobourne.
“I’ll give you half-a-crown for that loaf, my good fellow,” said Richard to the tinker.
“It’s a bargain,” quoth the tinker, “eh, missus?”
His cat replied by humping her back at the dog.
The half-crown was tossed down, and Ripton, who had just succeeded in freeing his limbs from the briar, prickly as a hedgehog, collared the loaf.
“Those young squires39 be sharp-set, and no mistake,” said the tinker to his companion. “Come! we’ll to Bursley after ’em, and talk it out over a pot o’ beer.” Speed-the-Plough was nothing loath40, and in a short time they were following the two lads on the road to Bursley, while a horizontal blaze shot across the autumn land from the Western edge of the rain-cloud.
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1
chivalrous
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| adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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5
sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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6
pertinacity
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| n.执拗，顽固 | |
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7
probation
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| n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期) | |
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8
forsaking
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| 放弃( forsake的现在分词 )； 弃绝； 抛弃； 摒弃 | |
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9
budge
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| v.移动一点儿；改变立场 | |
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10
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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11
tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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12
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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13
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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14
foretold
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| v.预言，预示( foretell的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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16
blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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17
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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18
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
pouch
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| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
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20
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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21
repentance
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| n.懊悔 | |
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22
victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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23
solaced
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| v.安慰，慰藉( solace的过去分词 ) | |
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24
confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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25
puffs
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| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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26
colloquy
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| n.谈话，自由讨论 | |
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27
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
sonorously
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| adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；堂皇地；朗朗地 | |
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29
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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30
tarns
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| n.冰斗湖，山中小湖( tarn的名词复数 ) | |
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31
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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32
grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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33
propounded
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| v.提出（问题、计划等）供考虑[讨论]，提议( propound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
mundane
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| adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的 | |
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35
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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36
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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37
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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38
ravenously
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| adv.大嚼地，饥饿地 | |
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39
squires
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| n.地主，乡绅( squire的名词复数 ) | |
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40
loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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