"Might you be shouting at me?" inquired Barnabas.
"Well," replied Stentor, looking up and down the lane, "I don't see nobody else to shout at, so let's s'pose as I be shouting at ye, bean't deaf, be ye?"
"No, thank God."
"'Cause if so be as y' are deaf, a can shout a tidy bit louder nor that a reckon."
"I can hear you very well as it is."
"Don't go for to be too sartin, now; ye see I've got a tidy voice, I have, which I aren't noways afeared o' usin'!"
"So it would appear!" nodded Barnabas.
"You're quite sure as ye can 'ear me, then?"
"Quite."
"Werry good then, if you are sure as you can 'ear me I'd like to ax 'ee a question, though, mark me, I'll shout it, ah! an' willin'; if so be you're minded, say the word!"
But, before Barnabas could reply, another man appeared, being also clad in velveteens and carrying a long barrelled gun.
"Wot be doin', Jarge?" he inquired of Stentor, in a surly tone, "wot be wastin' time for"
"W'y, lookee, I be about to ax this 'ere deaf chap a question, though ready, ah! an' willin' to shout it, if so be 'e gives the word."
"Stow yer gab, Jarge," retorted Surly, more surly than ever, "you be a sight too fond o' usin' that theer voice o' your'n!" saying which he turned to Barnabas:
"Did ye see ever a desprit, poachin' wagabone run down this 'ere lane, sir?" he inquired.
"No," answered Barnabas.
"Well, did ye see ever a thievin' wastrel run oop this 'ere lane?" demanded Stentor.
"No," answered Barnabas.
"But we seen 'im run this way," demurred Surly.
"Ah!--he must ha' run oop or down this 'ere lane," said Stentor.
"He did neither," said Barnabas.
"Why, then p'r'aps you be stone blind as well as stone deaf?" suggested Stentor.
"Neither one nor the other," answered Barnabas, "and now, since I have answered all your questions, suppose you go and look somewhere else?"
"Look, is it?--look wheer--d'ye mean--?"
"I mean--go."
"Go!" repeated Stentor, round of eye, "then s'pose you tell us--wheer!"
"Anywhere you like, only--be off!"
"Now you can claw me!" exclaimed Stentor with an injured air, nodding to his gun, seeing his companion had already hurried off, "you can grab and duck me if this don't beat all!--you can burn an' blister me if ever I met a deaf cove as was so ongrateful as this 'ere deaf cove,--me 'avin' used this yer v'ice o' mine for 'is be'oof an' likewise benefit; v'ices like mine is a gift as was bestowed for deaf 'uns like 'im;--I've met deaf 'uns afore, yes,--but such a ongrateful deaf 'un as 'im,--no. All I 'opes is as 'e gets deafer an' deafer, as deaf as a stock, as a stone, as a--dead sow,--that's all I 'opes!"
Having said which, Stentor nodded to his gun again, glanced at Barnabas again, and strode off, muttering, after his companion.
Hereupon Barnabas once more opened his book; yet he was quite aware that the fugitive had thrust his head out of the ditch, and having glanced swiftly about, was now regarding him out of the corners of his eyes.
"Why do you stare at me?" he demanded suddenly.
"I was wondering why you took the trouble and risk of shielding such a thing as I am," answered the fugitive.
"Hum!" said Barnabas, "upon my soul,--I don't know."
"No," said the man, with the ghostly smile upon his lips again, "I thought not."
Now, as he looked at the man, Barnabas saw that his cheeks, beneath their stubble, were hollow and pinched, as though by the cruel hands of want and suffering. And yet in despite of all this and of the grizzled hair at his temples, the face was not old, moreover there was a merry twinkle in the eye, and a humorous curve to the wide-lipped mouth that appealed to Barnabas.
"And you are a poacher, you say?"
"Yes, sir, and that is bad, I confess, but, what is worse, I was, until I took to poaching, an honest man without a shred of character."
"How so?"
"I was discharged--under a cloud that was never dispelled."
"To be sure, you don't look like an ordinary poacher."
"That is because I am an extraordinary one."
"You mean?"
"That I poach that I may live to--poach again, sir. I am, at once, a necessitous poacher, and a poacher by necessity."
"And what by choice?"
"A gentleman, sir, with plenty of money and no ambitions."
"Why deny ambition?"
"Because I would live a quiet life, and who ever heard of an ambitious man ever being quiet, much less happy and contented?"
"Hum!" said Barnabas, "and what were you by profession?"
"My calling, sir, was to work for, think for, and shoulder the blame for others--generally fools, sir. I was a confidential servant, a valet, sir. And I have worked, thought, and taken the blame for others so very successfully, that I must needs take to poaching that I may live."
"But--other men may require valets!"
"True, sir, and there are plenty of valets to be had--of a sort; but the most accomplished one in the world, if without a character, had better go and hang himself out of the way, and have done with it. And indeed, I have seriously contemplated so doing."
"You rate yourself very highly."
"And I go in rags! Though a professed thief may do well in the world, though the blackest rascal, the slyest rogue, may thrive and prosper, the greatest of valets being without a character, may go in rags and starve--and very probably will."
"Hum!" said Barnabas.
"Now, to starve, sir, is unpleasant; thus I, having a foolish, though very natural, dread of it, poach rabbits that I may exist. I possess also an inborn horror of rags and dirt, therefore I--exchanged this coat and breeches from a farmhouse, the folk being all away in the fields, and though they are awkward, badly-made garments, still beggars--and--"
"Thieves!" added Barnabas.
"And thieves, sir, cannot always be choosers, can they?"
"Then you admit you are a thief?"
Here the fugitive glanced at Barnabas with a wry smile.
"Sir, I fear I must. Exchange is no robbery they say; but my rags were so very ragged, and these garments are at least wearable."
"You have also been a--great valet, I understand?"