CHAPTER XXI
AN ADVENTURE ON THE ROADS--THE SIX FLINT STONES--A RURAL SCENE--MEAD--THEOLD MAN AND HIS BEES
I bent my course in the direction of the north, more induced by chancethan any particular motive; all quarters of the world having about equalattractions for me. I was in high spirits at finding myself once more onhorseback, and trotted gaily on, until the heat of the weather induced meto slacken my pace, more out of pity for my horse than because I felt anyparticular inconvenience from it--heat and cold being then, and still,matters of great indifference to me. What I thought of I scarcely know,save and except that I have a glimmering recollection that I felt somedesire to meet with one of those adventures, which upon the roads ofEngland are generally as plentiful as blackberries in autumn; andFortune, who has generally been ready to gratify my inclinations,provided it cost her very little by so doing, was not slow in furnishingme with an adventure, perhaps as characteristic of the English roads asanything which could have happened.
I might have travelled about six miles, amongst cross-roads and lanes,when suddenly I found myself upon a broad and very dusty road, whichseemed to lead due north. As I wended along this, I saw a man upon adonkey, riding towards me. The man was commonly dressed, with a broadfelt hat on his head, and a kind of satchel on his back; he seemed to bein a mighty hurry, and was every now and then belabouring the donkey witha cudgel. The donkey, however, which was a fine large creature of thesilver-grey species, did not appear to sympathize at all with its riderin his desire to get on, but kept its head turned back as much aspossible, moving from one side of the road to the other, and not makingmuch forward way. As I passed, being naturally of a very politedisposition, I gave the man the sele of the day, asking him, at the sametime, why he beat the donkey; whereupon the fellow, eyeing me askance,told me to mind my own business, with the addition of something which Ineed not repeat. I had not proceeded a furlong before I saw seated onthe dust by the wayside, close by a heap of stones, and with severalflints before him, a respectable-looking old man, with a straw hat and awhite smock, who was weeping bitterly.
'What are you crying for, father?' said I. 'Have you come to any hurt?''Hurt enough,' sobbed the old man, 'I have been just tricked out of thebest ass in England by a villain, who gave me nothing but these trash inreturn,' pointing to the stones before him. 'I really scarcelyunderstand you,' said I, 'I wish you would explain yourself moreclearly.' 'I was riding on my ass from market,' said the old man, 'whenI met here a fellow with a sack on his back, who, after staring at theass and me a moment or two, asked me if I would sell her. I told himthat I could not think of selling her, as she was very useful to me, andthough an animal, my true companion, whom I loved as much as if she weremy wife and daughter. I then attempted to pass on, but the fellow stoodbefore me, begging me to sell her; saying that he would give me anythingfor her, well, seeing that he persisted, I said at last that if I soldher, I must have six pounds for her, and I said so to get rid of him, forI saw that he was a shabby fellow, who had probably not six shillings inthe world; but I had better have held my tongue,' said the old man,crying more bitterly than before, 'for the words were scarcely out of mymouth, when he said he would give me what I asked, and taking the sackfrom his back, he pulled out a steelyard, and going to the heap of stonesthere, he took up several of them and weighed them, then flinging themdown before me, he said, "There are six pounds, neighbour; now, get offthe ass, and hand her over to me." Well, I sat like one dumbfounderedfor a time, till at last I asked him what he meant? "What do I mean,"said he, "you old rascal, why I mean to claim my purchase," and then heswore so awfully, that scarcely knowing what I did I got down, and hejumped on the animal and rode off as fast as he could.' 'I suppose hewas the fellow,' said I, 'whom I just now met upon a fine grey ass, whichhe was beating with a cudgel.' 'I dare say he was,' said the old man, 'Isaw him beating her as he rode away, and I thought I should have died.''I never heard such a story,' said I; 'well, do you mean to submit tosuch a piece of roguery quietly?' 'Oh, dear,' said the old man, 'whatcan I do? I am seventy-nine years of age; I am bad on my feet, anddaren't go after him.' 'Shall I go?' said I; 'the fellow is a thief, andany one has a right to stop him.' 'Oh, if you could but bring her againto me,' said the old man, 'I would bless you to my dying day; but have acare; I don't know but after all the law may say that she is his lawfulpurchase. I asked six pounds for her, and he gave me six pounds.' 'Sixflints you mean,' said I; 'no, no, the law is not quite so bad as thateither; I know something about her, and am sure that she will neversanction such a quibble. At all events, I'll ride after the fellow.'Thereupon turning the horse round, I put him to his very best trot; Irode nearly a mile without obtaining a glimpse of the fellow, and wasbecoming apprehensive that he had escaped me by turning down someby-path, two or three of which I had passed. Suddenly, however, on theroad making a slight turning, I perceived him right before me, moving ata tolerably swift pace, having by this time probably overcome theresistance of the animal. Putting my horse to a full gallop, I shoutedat the top of my voice, 'Get off that donkey, you rascal, and give her upto me, or I'll ride you down.' The fellow hearing the thunder of thehorse's hoofs behind him, drew up on one side of the road. 'What do youwant?' said he, as I stopped my charger, now almost covered with sweatand foam, close beside him. 'Do you want to rob me?' 'To rob you?' saidI. 'No! but to take from you that ass, of which you have just robbed itsowner.' 'I have robbed no man,' said the fellow; 'I just now purchasedit fairly of its master, and the law will give it to me; he asked sixpounds for it, and I gave him six pounds.' 'Six stones, you mean, yourascal,' said I; 'get down, or my horse shall be upon you in a moment;'then with a motion of my reins, I caused the horse to rear, pressing hissides with my heels as if I intended to make him leap. 'Stop,' said theman, 'I'll get down, and then try if I can't serve you out.' He then gotdown, and confronted me with his cudgel; he was a horrible-lookingfellow, and seemed prepared for anything. Scarcely, however, had hedismounted, when the donkey jerked the bridle out of his hand, andprobably in revenge for the usage she had received, gave him a pair oftremendous kicks on the hip with her hinder legs, which overturned him,and then scampered down the road the way she had come. 'Pretty treatmentthis,' said the fellow, getting up without his cudgel, and holding hishand to his side, 'I wish I may not be lamed for life.' 'And if you be,'said I, 'it would merely serve you right, you rascal, for trying to cheata poor old man out of his property by quibbling at words.' 'Rascal!'said the fellow, 'you lie, I am no rascal; and as for quibbling withwords--suppose I did! What then? All the first people does it! Thenewspapers does it! The gentlefolks that calls themselves the guides ofthe popular mind does it! I'm no ignoramus. I reads the newspapers, andknows what's what.' 'You read them to some purpose,' said I. 'Well, ifyou are lamed for life, and unfitted for any active line--turn newspapereditor; I should say you are perfectly qualified, and this day'sadventure may be the foundation of your fortune,' thereupon I turnedround and rode off. The fellow followed me with a torrent of abuse.'Confound you!' said he--yet that was not the expression either--'I knowyou; you are one of the horse-patrol, come down into the country on leaveto see your relations. Confound you, you and the like of you haveknocked my business on the head near Lunnon, and I suppose we shall haveyou shortly in the country.' 'To the newspaper office,' said I, 'andfabricate falsehoods out of flint stones;' then touching the horse withmy heels, I trotted off, and coming to the place where I had seen the oldman, I found him there, risen from the ground, and embracing his ass.
I told him that I was travelling down the road, and said, that if his waylay in the same direction as mine, he could do no better than accompanyme for some distance, lest the fellow, who, for aught I knew, might behovering nigh, might catch him alone, and again get his ass from him.After thanking me for my offer, which he said he would accept, he gotupon his ass, and we proceeded together down the road. My newacquaintance said very little of his own accord; and when I asked him a
question, answered rather incoherently. I heard him every now and thensay, 'Villain!' to himself, after which he would pat the donkey's neck,from which circumstance I concluded that his mind was occupied with hislate adventure. After travelling about two miles, we reached a placewhere a drift-way on the right led from the great road; here my companionstopped, and on my asking him whether he was going any farther, he toldme that the path to the right was the way to his home.
I was bidding him farewell, when he hemmed once or twice, and said, thatas he did not live far off, he hoped that I would go with him and tastesome of his mead. As I had never tasted mead, of which I had frequentlyread in the compositions of the Welsh bards, and, moreover, felt ratherthirsty from the heat of the day, I told him that I should have greatpleasure in attending him. Whereupon, turning off together, we proceededabout half a mile, sometimes between stone walls, and at other timeshedges, till we reached a small hamlet, through which we passed, andpresently came to a very pretty cottage, delightfully situated within agarden, surrounded by a hedge of woodbines. Opening a gate at one cornerof the garden, he led the way to a large shed, which stood partly behindthe cottage, which he said was his stable; thereupon he dismounted andled his donkey into the shed, which was without stalls, but had a longrack and manger. On one side he tied his donkey, after taking off hercaparisons, and I followed his example, tying my horse at the other sidewith a rope halter which he gave me; he then asked me to come in andtaste his mead, but I told him that I must attend to the comfort of myhorse first, and forthwith, taking a whisp of straw, rubbed him carefullydown. Then taking a pailful of clear water which stood in the shed, Iallowed the horse to drink about half a pint; and then turning to the oldman, who all the time had stood by looking at my proceedings, I asked himwhether he had any oats? 'I have all kinds of grain,' he replied; and,going out, he presently returned with two measures, one a large and theother a small one, both filled with oats, mixed with a few beans, andhanding the large one to me for the horse, he emptied the other beforethe donkey, who, before she began to despatch it, turned her nose to hermaster's face, and fairly kissed him. Having given my horse his portion,I told the old man that I was ready to taste his mead as soon as hepleased, whereupon he ushered me into his cottage, where, making me sitdown by a deal table in a neatly-sanded kitchen, he produced from anold-fashioned closet a bottle, holding about a quart, and a couple ofcups, which might each contain about half a pint, then opening the bottleand filling the cups with a brown-coloured liquor, he handed one to me,and taking a seat opposite to me, he lifted the other, nodded, and sayingto me--'Health and welcome,' placed it to his lips and drank.
'Health and thanks,' I replied; and being very thirsty, emptied my cup ata draught; I had scarcely done so, however, when I half repented. Themead was deliciously sweet and mellow, but appeared strong as brandy; myeyes reeled in my head, and my brain became slightly dizzy. 'Mead is astrong drink,' said the old man, as he looked at me, with a half smile onhis, countenance. 'This is, at any rate,' said I, 'so strong indeed,that I would not drink another cup for any consideration.' 'And I wouldnot ask you,' said the old man; 'for, if you did, you would most probablybe stupid all day, and wake next morning with a headache. Mead is a gooddrink, but woundily strong, especially to those who be not used to it, asI suppose you are not?' 'Where do you get it?' said I. 'I make itmyself,' said the old man, 'from the honey which my bees make.' 'Haveyou many bees?' I inquired. 'A great many,' said the old man. 'And doyou keep them,' said I, 'for the sake of making mead with their honey?''I keep them,' he replied, 'partly because I am fond of them, and partlyfor what they bring me in; they make me a great deal of honey, some ofwhich I sell, and with a little I make me some mead to warm my poor heartwith, or occasionally to treat a friend with like yourself.' 'And do yousupport yourself entirely by means of your bees?' 'No,' said the oldman; 'I have a little bit of ground behind my house, which is myprincipal means of support.' 'And do you live alone?' 'Yes,' said he;'with the exception of the bees and the donkey, I live quite alone.''And have you always lived alone?' The old man emptied his cup, and hisheart being warmed with the mead, he told me his history, which wassimplicity itself. His father was a small yeoman, who, at his death hadleft him, his only child, the cottage, with a small piece of groundbehind it, and on this little property he had lived ever since. Aboutthe age of twenty-five he had married an industrious young woman, by whomhe had one daughter, who died before reaching years of womanhood. Hiswife, however, had survived her daughter many years, and had been a greatcomfort to him, assisting him in his rural occupations; but, about fouryears before the present period, he had lost her, since which time he hadlived alone, making himself as comfortable as he could; cultivating hisground, with the help of a lad from the neighbouring village, attendingto his bees, and occasionally riding his donkey to market, and hearingthe word of God, which he said he was sorry he could not read, twice aweek regularly at the parish church. Such was the old man's tale.
When he had finished speaking, he led me behind his house, and showed mehis little domain. It consisted of about two acres in admirablecultivation; a small portion of it formed a kitchen garden, whilst therest was sown with four kinds of grain, wheat, barley, pease, and beans.The air was full of ambrosial sweets, resembling those proceeding from anorange grove; a place which, though I had never seen at that time, Isince have. In the garden was the habitation of the bees, a long box,supported upon three oaken stumps. It was full of small round glasswindows, and appeared to be divided into a great many compartments, muchresembling drawers placed sideways. He told me that, as one compartmentwas filled, the bees left it for another, so that whenever he wantedhoney, he could procure some without injuring the insects. Through thelittle round windows I could see several of the bees at work; hundredswere going in and out of the doors; hundreds were buzzing about on theflowers, the woodbines, and beans. As I looked around on thewell-cultivated field, the garden, and the bees, I thought I had neverbefore seen so rural and peaceful a scene.
When we returned to the cottage we again sat down, and I asked the oldman whether he was not afraid to live alone. He told me that he was not,for that, upon the whole, his neighbours were very kind to him. Imentioned the fellow who had swindled him of his donkey upon the road.'That was no neighbour of mine,' said the old man, 'and, perhaps, I shallnever see him again or his like.' 'It's a dreadful thing,' said I, 'tohave no other resource, when injured, than to shed tears on the road.''It is so,' said the old man, 'but God saw the tears of the old, and senta helper.' 'Why did you not help yourself?' said I. 'Instead of gettingoff your ass, why did you not punch at the fellow, or at any rate usedreadful language, call him villain, and shout robbery?' 'Punch!' saidthe old man, 'shout! what, with these hands, and this voice--Lord, how,you run on! I am old, young chap, I am old!' 'Well,' said I, 'it is ashameful thing to cry even when old.' 'You think so now,' said the oldman, 'because you are young and strong; perhaps, when you are as old asI, you will not be ashamed to cry.'
Upon the whole I was rather pleased with the old man, and much with allabout him. As evening drew nigh, I told him that I must proceed on myjourney; whereupon he invited me to tarry with him during the night,telling me that he had a nice room and bed above at my service. I,however, declined; and bidding him farewell, mounted my horse, anddeparted. Regaining the road, I proceeded once more in the direction ofthe north; and, after a few hours, coming to a comfortable public-house,I stopped and put up for the night.