Dick o' the Fens: A Tale of the Great East Swamp

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

  PREPARING FOR ACTION.

  Hickathrift shook his head; Mrs Hickathrift screwed up her lips, shuther eyes, and shuddered; and the former doubled up his hard fist andshook it in the air, as if he were going to hit nothing, as he gave outhis opinion--this being also the opinion of all the labouring peoplenear.

  "Ay, yow may laugh, Mester Dick, but they'll nivver find out nowt. It'ssperrits, that's what it is--sperrits of the owd fen, them as makes theager, and sends will-o'-the-wisps to lead folkses into the bog. Theydon't like the drain being med, and they shutes and bons, and does allthey can to stop it."

  "You're a great goose, Hicky," said Dick sharply. "Who ever heard of aghost--"

  "I didn't say ghost, my lad. I said sperrits!"

  "Well, they're all the same."

  "Nay, nay, ghosts is ghosts, and sperrits is sperrits."

  "Well, then, who ever heard of a spirit going out skating with alantern, or poling about with a punt, or shooting people, or blowing upsluice-gates, or cutting beasts' legs, or setting fire to their houses?Did you?"

  "I nivver did till now, Mester Dick."

  "It's all nonsense about spirits; isn't it, Tom?"

  "Of course it is," was the reply. "We're going to catch the spirit someday, and we'll bring him here."

  "Ay, do," said Hickathrift, nodding his head softly. "Well, I'm gladyou two hev made it up."

  "Never mind about that. Has Dave been over?"

  "Ay, lad. Soon as the ice went away and he could get his punt along hecome to me and asked me to get him some wood sawn out; and we done italready. Ice is gone and to-morrow I'm going to pole across and helphim knock up a frame, and he'll do the rest hissen."

  The damage was far more severe at the drainage works; but even here thetraces of the fire soon disappeared, and fresh huts were run up nearerto where the men were at work.

  One thing, however, was noticeable, and that was the action of thesquire, the engineer, and Farmer Tallington--the engineer, after hangingaway for a time, becoming again more friendly, though Dick never seemedat ease in his presence now.

  These three leaders on the north side of the fen held a meeting withdwellers on the west and south, and after long consultation the resultswere seen in a quiet way which must have been rather startling towrong-doer? and those who were secretly fighting to maintain the fenundrained.

  Tom was the first to begin talking about these precautions as he andDick started to go down to the drain one morning early in spring, aftera long spell of bitter miserable weather, succeeded by a continuance offierce squalls off the sea.

  "I say," he said, "father's got such a splendid new pair of pistols."

  "Has he? So has my father," said Dick staring. "Are yours mounted withbrass and with brass pans?"

  "Yes, and got lions' heads on the handles just at the end."

  "Ours are just the same," said Dick. "I say, Tom, it won't be verypleasant for the spirits if they come now. Hullo, what does Hickywant?"

  The big wheelwright was signalling to them to come, and they turned into his work-shed.

  "Thowt you lads 'd like to see," he said. "What d'yer think o' them?"

  He pointed to a couple of muskets lying on the bench.

  "Are these yours?" said Tom.

  "Yes and no, lads. They're for me and Jacob, and we've got orders to beready at any time to join in and help run down them as does all themischief; but it's a sorry business, lads. Powther and shot's no use.Yow can't get shut of sperrits that ways. Good goons, aren't they?"

  The pieces were inspected and the boys soon afterwards started.

  "I don't see much use in our going down here," said Tom, "for if thereis anything stupid it's the cutting of a drain. It's all alike, justthe same as the first bit they cut."

  "Only we don't have to go so far to see the men at work. I suppose oneof these days we shall have Mr Marston setting up huts for the menabout the Toft. Hist! look out! What's that?"

  "Whittrick!" said Tom, running in pursuit of the little animal whichcrossed their path. "There must be rabbits about here."

  "Yes. Do you know what they call whittricks down south?"

  "No."

  "Stoats."

  "How stupid!" said Tom after a vain chase after the snaky-looking littlecreature. "They must be very silly people down south. Do they callthem stoats in London?"

  "Haven't got any in London--only rats."

  The engineer greeted the lads warmly and went up to the temporary hut heoccupied to fetch his gun, when, in the corner of the room Dick sawsomething which made him glance at Tom.

  "Yes," said the engineer, who saw the glance; "we're going to show yourfen-men, Master Dick, that we do not mean to be trifled with. I've gotmuskets; and as the law does not help us, we shall help ourselves. Soif anyone intends to come shooting us, blowing up our works, or settingfire to our huts, he had better look out for bullets."

  "But you wouldn't shoot anyone, Mr Marston?" said Tom.

  "Indeed but we would, or any two, sir. It's a case of self-defence.There, Dick, don't look at me as if I were a bloodthirsty savage. Ihave got all these muskets down and shown my men how to use them, and Iam letting it be known that we are prepared."

  "Seems rather horrible," said Dick.

  "More horrible for your father to be shot, Dick, and for people to beburned in their beds, eh!"

  "Ever so much," cried Tom. "You shoot 'em all, Mr Marston."

  "Precaution is better than cure, Tom," said the engineer smiling. "Nowthat we are prepared, you will see that we shall not be interfered with,and my arming the men will save bloodshed instead of causing it."

  "Think so, sir?"

  "I am sure of it, my lad. Besides, if I had not done something, my menwould not have stayed. Even Bargle said it was getting too warm. Hesaid he was not afraid, but he would not stay. So here we are ready forthe worst: self-defence, my lads. And now let's go and get a few ducksfor dinner. They are pretty plentiful, and my men like them as well asI."

  The result was a long walk round the edge of the fen and the bringingback of a fairly miscellaneous bag of wild-fowl, the engineer havingbecome a skilful gunner during his stay in the wild coast land.

  Mr Marston was right; the preparations made by him and all the farmersround who had an interest in the draining of the fen had the effect ofputting a stop to the outrages. The work went on as the weeks glidedby, and spring passed, and summer came to beautify the wild expanse ofbog and water. There had been storm and flood, but people had slept inpeace, and the troubles of the past were beginning to be forgotten.

  There were plenty of fishing and fowling expeditions, visits to thedecoy with good results, and journeys to John Warren's home for thehunting out of rabbits; but life was beginning seriously for the twolads, who found occupation with Mr Marston and began to acquire therudiments of knowledge necessary for learning to be draining engineers.Sometimes they were making drawings, sometimes overlooking, and atothers studying works under their teacher's guidance.

  But it was a pleasant time, for Marston readily broke off work to jointhem in some expedition.

  One day, as they were poling along, Tom gave Dick a queer look, andnodded in the direction of a fir-crowned gravelly island lying about amile away.

  "When's the Robinson Crusoe business going to begin, Dick?" he said.

  Dick laughed, but it was not a merry laugh, for the memory was a painfulone, and mingled with recollections of times when everyone wassuspicious of him, or seemed to be; and he was fast relapsing into anunhappy morbid state.

  "What was the Robinson Crusoe business?" said Marston; and on beingtold, he laughingly proposed going on.

  "Let's have a look at the place, boys," he said. "Why shouldn't we havea summer-house out here to come and stay at sometimes, shooting,fishing, or collecting. We cannot always work."

  The pole was vigorously plied, and at the end of half an hour they hadlanded, to find the place just as t
hey remembered it to have been theyear before. There were the bushes, the heath, and heather in thegravelly soil, and the fir-trees flourishing.

  "A capital place!" said the engineer. "I tell you what, boys, we'llbring Big Bargle over, and a couple of men; the wheelwright shall cut ussome posts, rafters, and a door, and we'll make a great hut, and--"

  He stopped short at that point and stared, as they all stood in thedepths of the little fir-wood, with the water and reed-beds hidden fromsight. For there, just before them, as if raised by magic, was the verybuilding Mr Marston had described, and upon examination they found itvery dry and warm, with a bed of heath in one corner.

  "Some sportsman has forestalled us," said the engineer. "One of thefarmers, I suppose, from the other side of the fen."

  They came away, with the lads sharing the same feeling ofdisappointment, for the little island was robbed of all its romance. Itwas no longer uninhabited, and the temptation to have a hut there wasgone.

  "Plenty more such places, boys," said Mr Marston, "so never mind.We'll hunt one out and make much of it before my drain turns all thiswaste into fertile fields. Now let's get back, for I have a lot to chatover with the wheelwright."

  The next morning Hickathrift was beaming, and he came up to the Toft tocatch Dick, who was feeding Solomon and avoiding his friendly kicks,while he waited for Tom to go over with him to the works.

  "Say, Mester Dick, on'y think of it! Leave that owd ass alone, lad, andlisten to me."

  "What is it, Hicky?"

  "Why, lad, I'm a man full o'--what do you call that when a chap wants toget on in the world?"

  "Ambition, Hicky."

  "That's it, Mester Dick. I'm full on it, bud I've nivver hed a chance.You see I've had to mend gates, and owd carts, and put up fences. I didnearly get the job to build a new barn, bud I lost it, and all my life'sbeen jobs."

  "And what now?" said Dick warmly.

  "What now, lad! Why, Mester Marston's set me to mak three sets o' smallwatter gates for sides o' the dreern, and I'm to hev money in advancefor the wood and iron work, and my fortune's about made."

  "Hooray, Hicky! I am glad," cried Dick; and Tom, coming up, wasinitiated into the great new step in advance, and added hiscongratulations.

  "Why, you're carpenter and joiner to the works now, Hicky!" said Dick,laughing.

  "Ay, lad, that's it, and I don't fear for nowt."

  It was less than a fortnight after, that Dick lay asleep one night anddreaming of being in a boat on the mere, or one of its many additionalpools, when he started into wakefulness with the impression that thehouse was coming down.

  "Eh? What is it?" he cried, as there was a heavy thumping on the wallclose to his bed's head.

  "Get up--fire!" came in muffled tones; and bounding out of bed he sawthat there was a lurid light on the water, evidently reflected fromsomething burning pretty near at hand, while there was the distant humof voices, mingled with shrieks and the barking of a dog.

  Dick began hurriedly dressing, and threw open the window, to find thatthe dog was Grip, who was out in the yard barking frantically, as if toalarm the house.

  "What is it, father? Where?" cried Dick.

  "Don't know; not here. Labourers' cottages, I think," replied thesquire, who was still dressing. Then, as a burst of flame seemed torush up skyward, and a cloud of brilliant sparks floated away, he added,"Dick, my lad, it is poor Hickathrift's turn now."

  He was quite right, for as they ran the few hundred yards whichseparated them from the burning place, it was to find that the poorfellow's house, work-shed, stock of wood, peat-stack, and out-buildingswere in a blaze; even his punt, which had been brought up for its annualrepair and pitching, blazing furiously.

  Hickathrift, Jacob, Mrs Hickathrift, and the farm people were all atwork with buckets, which they handed along from the dipping place by theold willows; but at the first glance the squire saw that it was in vain,and that the fire had taken such hold that nothing could be saved. Bothhe and Dick, however, joined in the efforts, saying nothing but workingwith all their might, the squire taking Jacob's place and dipping thewater, while the apprentice and Dick helped to pass the full bucketsalong and the empty back, for they were not enough to form a doubleline.

  For about a quarter of an hour this was kept up, the wheelwrightthrowing the water where he thought it would do most good; but theflames only roared the louder, and, fanned by a pleasant breeze,fluttered and sent up sparks of orange and gold, till a cask of pitchgot well alight, and then the smoke arose in one dense cloud.

  It was a glorious sight in spite of its horror, for the wood in the shedand the pile without burned brilliantly, lighting up the mere, gildingthe reeds, and spreading a glow around that was at times dazzling.

  "Pass it along quick! pass it along!" Jacob kept saying, probably toincite people to work harder; but it was not necessary, for everyone wasdoing his or her best, when, just as they were toiling their hardest,the wheelwright took a bucket of water, hurled it as far as he could,and then dashed on the empty vessel and turned away.

  "No good," he said bitterly, as he wiped his face. "Fire joost spits atme when I throw in the watter. It must bon down, squire, eh?"

  "Yes, my man, nothing could save the place now."

  "And all my same [lard] in a jar--ten pounds good," murmured MrsHickathrift.

  "Ay, moother, and my Sunday clothes," said the wheelwright with a bitterlaugh.

  "And my best frock."

  "Ay, and my tools, and a bit o' mooney I'd saved, and all my stoof. Eh,but I'm about ruined, moother, and just when I was going to get on anddo the bit o' work for the dreern folk."

  The fire seemed to leap up suddenly with a great flash as if toenlighten the great fellow's understanding, but he did not grasp thesituation for a few moments, till his wife, as she bemoaned the loss ofa paste-board and a flour-tub, suddenly exclaimed:

  "It's them sperrits of the fen as has done it all."

  "Ay, so it be!" roared Hickathrift. "Ay! Hey, bud if I could git oneof 'em joost now by scruff of his neck and the seat of his breeches,I'd--I'd--I'd roast him."

  "Then it was no accident, Hickathrift?"

  "Yes, squire," said the man bitterly; "same sort o' axden as bont FarmerTallington's stable and shed. Hah, here he is!" he added, as the farmercame panting up with Tom. "Come to waarm theesen, farmer? It's my turnnow."

  "My lad! My lad!" panted the farmer, "I am sorry."

  "Thanky, farmer; but fine words butter no parsneps. Theer, bairn," hecried, putting his arm round his wife's waist; "don't cry that away. Wearen't owd folks, and I'm going to begin again. Be a good dry plaaceafter fire's done, and theer'll be some niced bits left for yow to heatthe oven when fire's out."

  "And no oven, no roof, no fireside."

  "Hush! hush! bairn!" said the big fellow thickly. "Don't I tell theeI'm going to begin again! What say, Mester Dick? Nay, nay, lad, nay."

  "What did Dick say?" said the squire sharply.

  "Hush, Hicky!" whispered Dick quickly.

  "Nay, lad, I wean't hoosh! Said, squire, as he's got thretty shillingssaved up, and he'd give it to me to start wi'."

  "And so he shall, my man, and other neighbours will help you too. I'llmake Dick's thirty shillings a hundred guineas."

  "Well, I can't do that, Hickathrift," said Farmer Tallington; "but ifever you want to borrow twenty guineas come to me; and there's my horseand sled to lead wood wheniver you like, and a willing hand or two tohelp."

  Hickathrift turned sharply to say something; but he could only utter agreat gulp, and, turning away, he went a few yards, and leaned his headupon his arm against a willow tree, and in the bright glow of theburning building, whose gilded smoke rose up like some vast plume, theycould see his shoulders heave, while his wife turned to the squire, andin a simple, homely fashion, kissed his hand.

  The squire turned to stop Dick, but it was too late, for the lad hadreached the wheelwright and laid his hand upon his shoulder.
/>   "Hicky," he said softly; "be a man!"

  "Ay, lad, I will," said the great fellow, starting up with his eyes wetwith tears. "It isn't the bont plaace made me soft like that, butwhat's been said."

  He had hardly spoken before there was a peculiar noise heard in thedistance, as if a drove of cattle had escaped and were coming along thehard road of the fen; but it soon explained itself, for there wereshouts and cries, and five minutes later Mr Marston and his men, nearlya hundred strong, came running up, ready to assist, and then utter thefiercest of denunciations against those who had done this thing.

  Then there was an ominous silence, as all stood and watched the burningbuilding till there was nothing but a heap of smouldering wood, whichwas scattered and the last sparks quenched.