The Wolf Patrol Part 47

'There ain't none better,' replied the Raven, and set to work at once to prepare and cook the prey of his spade. In the end the scouts made an excellent breakfast. They enjoyed hedgehog done to a turn--or, rather, to a moment, as there was no turning in the matter--the remains of Mrs. Hardy's sandwiches, and a billy of water drawn from their own well. The well and the breakfast took some time, and their start was much later than they had intended that it should be. But, on the other hand, there were the blankets to dry, and between the sun and the fire the latter were quite dry enough to pack away in the haversacks when the scouts were ready to move.

d.i.c.k's foot had become quite easy during the night's rest, but after a couple of miles the cut began to let him know that it was there. By the time they had covered four miles it was very painful, and he was limping a little. Then they struck a ca.n.a.l on the side opposite to the towpath, and they sat down beside it on a gra.s.sy bank and cooled off a little before they stripped for a good swim in the clear water.

When d.i.c.k took off his shoe and stocking, the Raven whistled and looked uneasy. The flesh all round the cut looked red and angry, and the heel was sore to the touch.

'Isn't it a nuisance,' groaned d.i.c.k, 'for a jolly awkward cut like that to come in and make the going bad for me? But I'll stick it out, Chippy. It's the last day, and I'll hobble through somehow and finish the tramp.'

'We'll pa.s.s a little town 'bout a mile again, accordin' to the map,'

said the Raven, 'an' there we'll get some vaseline.'

'Good plan,' said d.i.c.k; 'that's splendid stuff for a cut.'

They had their dip, dressed, and pushed forward. At the little town they called at a chemist's and bought a penny box of vaseline. As soon as they reached quiet parts again, d.i.c.k took off his shoe and stocking, and rubbed the wound well with the healing ointment, then covered the bandage with a good layer, and tied it over the cut, and rested for half an hour. This greatly eased the pain and discomfort, and they trudged on strongly for a couple of hours.

Suddenly the scouts raised a cheer. Above a grove of limes a short distance ahead, a church steeple sprang into sight.

'Half-way!' cried d.i.c.k. 'We've done half the journey, Chippy. Here's Little Eston steeple.'

The Raven nodded. 'We'll halt t'other side,' he said.

In the village they bought a small loaf and a quarter of a pound of cheese, and those were put into Chippy's haversack. At a cottage beyond the hamlet they lent a hand to a woman who was drawing water from her well, and filled their billy with drinking-water at the same time. They made another three hundred yards, then settled on a shady bank under a tall hawthorn-hedge for their midday halt.

'How's yer foot, d.i.c.k?' queried the Raven anxiously.

'A bit stiff,' replied d.i.c.k; 'but that vaseline has done it a lot of good. I'll peg it out all right yet, Chippy, my son. Now for bread and cheese. It will taste jolly good after our tramp, I know.'

It did taste very good, and the scouts made a hearty meal, and then lay for a couple of hours at ease under the pleasant hawthorns, now filled with may-blossom.

CHAPTER L

THE OLD HIGGLER

Before they started again d.i.c.k gave his foot another rubbing with vaseline, but found it hard going after the rest.

'Look here, Chippy,' he said, 'I mustn't halt again for any length of time. If I do, my foot may stiffen up till I can't move. We must make one long swing in this afternoon.'

The road that ran from Little Eston in the direction of Bardon had a broad strip of turf beside the way, and d.i.c.k found this a great ease to his aching foot. But after a time the road narrowed, and was dusty from hedge to hedge. They pa.s.sed a sign-post which said, 'Two miles to Little Eston.'

'That's a couple scored off,' said d.i.c.k; 'the miles are less than double figures now, Chippy.'

'Yus,' said the latter; 'an' we'll get to Shotford Common soon.

That'll be easier walkin' than the road.'

A short distance beyond the sign-post an old man leading a small donkey in a little cart met them, and they pa.s.sed the time of day.

'Mortal hot, ain't it?' said the old man; and the scouts agreed with him. The heat was, indeed, sweltering. It was one of those days of early summer which seem borrowed from the dog-days, and the scouts, tough as they were, were dripping with sweat as they marched along with s.h.i.+rt-sleeves rolled nearly to their shoulders, their shoes and stockings thickly powdered with the white dust which lay deep under foot.

Suddenly Chippy pulled up. 'I'll 'ave that haversack o' yourn,' he remarked.

'You won't, old boy,' replied d.i.c.k. 'Every man shoulders his own pack on a day like this.'

'I'll have that haversack,' went on Chippy calmly. 'Bit too bad for a scout wi' a damaged foot to pull a load while another strolls along as easy as can be. So pa.s.s it over.'

'I won't,' said d.i.c.k. 'It's no load in particular.'

'Then why mek' a row about handin' it over?' queried the Raven.

d.i.c.k was about to reply when he paused, looked ahead, and said: 'By Jingo, Chippy, here comes a choker. The haversacks will come handy to put our heads into.'

The Raven turned and saw a huge pillar of dust whirling towards them.

It rose high above the hedges beyond a bend near at hand, and came on at great speed. The scouts knew that a motor-car was at the fore-foot of the pillar, and they stepped back into the shallow ditch which bordered the way.

In another moment a big, heavy car, flying at terrific speed, came shooting round the bend, and as it flew it gathered the deep white dust, and hurled it thirty feet into the air; leaving the road in the wake of the car one utterly blinding, choking ma.s.s of eddying dust.

The scouts threw themselves into the bank and covered their faces with their hats: it was the only way of drawing some sort of breath, and even then their throats were choked with dust till they coughed.

'Nice thing, a motor-car running forty miles an hour over two inches of dust,' remarked d.i.c.k in ironical tones.

'It 'ud serve 'em right to bust their tyres on a broken bottle end,'

murmured Chippy. 'It ain't safe to scoot along like that on these 'ere narrow roads.'

'It's to be hoped they eased up before pa.s.sing the old man and his donkey-cart,' said d.i.c.k. 'The wind of their pa.s.sing would be enough almost to upset him.'

'That's wot they've done,' cried Chippy suddenly. 'Look! look! his cart's in the ditch.'

d.i.c.k looked, and saw through the thinning cloud that the poor old man was in distress. His cart was turned over, and the donkey was struggling on its side. The scouts ran back at full speed to help him.

'What's wrong?' cried d.i.c.k. 'Did the car hit you?'

''Twor comin' a main sight too fast,' cried the old man, 'an' just as it pa.s.sed, the noise o' it med Jimmy start round an' swerve a bit, an'

suthin' stickin' out caught him on the shoulder an' knocked him into the ditch as if he'd been hit wi' a cannon-ball.'

'And they never stopped or asked what was the matter?' cried d.i.c.k.

'Not they,' said the old man; 'on they went as fast as iver.'

'What cads!' cried d.i.c.k. 'Did you see the number, Chippy?'

'No,' replied the Raven. 'Too much dust.'

'There were four men in it,' went on the old man, 'an' they looked back at me, but they niver pulled up.'

The scouts were loud in their anger against the inconsiderate motorists, and they were perfectly right. The truth was that the men had fled in fear. A chauffeur had taken his master's car without permission to give some of his fellow servants a run, and they dreaded detection, which would get them into trouble at home. However, the car had gone, and its number was not known, and within half a mile there was a meeting of cross roads where the motorists could turn aside without pa.s.sing through the village. The comrades gave their attention to the matter immediately in hand, and helped the old man to unharness the struggling donkey and draw the little cart back.

The poor beast did not attempt to rise when it was freed. There was a cut on the shoulder where it had been struck, but the wound was not bleeding much, and the old man did not think the hurt was so bad as it proved to be.

'S'pose we tried to get Jimmy on his legs,' he proposed, and the two scouts sprang to help him. They were trying to raise the poor brute when a gamekeeper with his gun under his arm came through a gate near at hand.