Quicksilver: The Boy With No Skid to His Wheel Read online

  CHAPTER EIGHT.

  OLD DAN'L IS WROTH.

  Mr Grayson's was the best garden for twenty miles round.

  The Coleby people said so, and they ought to have known.

  But Dan'l Copestake said it was all nonsense. "Might be made a goodgarden if master wasn't so close," he used to say to everybody. "Wantsmore money spent on it, and more hands kept. How'm I to keep a placelike that to rights with only two--me and a lab'rer, under me, and Peterto do the sweeping?"

  Keep it to rights or not, it was to Helen Grayson four acres of delight,and she was to blame for a great deal which offended Dan'l Copestake,the head-gardener.

  "Papa," it would be, "did you give orders for that beautiful privethedge to be cut down!"

  "Eh? no, my dear, Copestake said it kept the light off some of thoseyoung trees, and I said he might cut it down."

  "Oh, do stop him," cried Helen. "It will take years to grow up, andthis past year it has been delightful, with its sweet-scented blossomand beautiful black berries."

  So it was with scores of things. Helen wanted to see them growingluxuriantly, Dan'l Copestake loved to hash and chop them into miserablycramped "specimints," as he called them, and the doctor got all theblame.

  But what a garden! It was full of old-fashioned flowers in greatclumps, many of them growing, to Dan'l's disgust, down among the fruitand vegetables.

  There were flowering shrubs and beautiful conifers, a greatmulberry-tree on the mossy lawn, and a huge red brick wall all round,literally covered with trained trees, which in their seasons were massesof white bloom, or glowing with purple and golden plums, and light red,black, or yellowy pink cherries, and great fat pears, while, facing thesouth, there were dozens of trees of peaches, nectarines, and downygolden apricots.

  As to the apples, they grew by the bushel, almost by the ton; and forstrawberries and the other lower fruits there was no such garden near.

  Then there was Helen's conservatory, always full of sweet-scentedflowers, and the vinery and pits, where the great purple and amberbunches hung and ripened, and the long green cucumber and melon came intheir good time.

  But Dan'l grumbled, as gardeners will.

  "Blights is offle," he said. "It's the blightiest garden I ever see,and a man might spend all his life keeping the birds down with a gun."

  But Dan'l did not spend any part of his life, let alone all, keeping thebirds down with a gun. The doctor caught him shooting one day, andnearly shot him out of the place.

  "How dare you, sir?" he cried. "I will not have a single birddestroyed."

  "Then you won't get no peace, sir, nor not a bit of fruit."

  "I shall have the place overrun with slugs and snails, and all kinds ofinjurious blight, sir, if you use that gun. No, sir, you'll put netsover the fruit when it's beginning to ripen. That will do."

  The doctor walked away with Helen, and as soon as they were out ofsight, behind the great laurustinus clump, Helen threw her arms abouthis neck, and kissed him for saving her pet birds.

  Consequently, in addition to abundance of fruit, and although it was soclose in the town, there was always a chorus of song in the season; andeven the nightingale came from the woodlands across the river and sangwithin the orchard, through which the river ran.

  That river alone half made the place, for it was one of those uselessrivers, so commercial men called it, where the most you could do waspleasure-boating; barges only being able to ascend to Coleby Bridge, asort of busy colony from the town, two miles nearer the sea.

  "Yes, sir," Sir James Danby had been known to say, "if the river couldbe deepened right through the town it would be the making of the place."

  "And the spoiling of my grounds," said the doctor, "so I'm glad it runsover the solid rock."

  This paradise of a garden was the one into which Dexter darted, and inwhich Dan'l Copestake was grumbling that morning--

  "Like a bear with a sore head, that's what I say," said Peter Cribb tothe under-gardener. "Nothing never suits him."

  "Yes, it do," said Dan'l, showing a very red face over a clump ofrhododendron. "Master said you was to come into the garden three days aweek, and last week I only set eyes on you twice, and here's half theweek gone and you've only been once."

  "Look here," said Peter Cribb, a hard-looking bullet-headed man offive-and-twenty; and he leaned on his broom, and twisted one verytightly trousered leg round the other, "do you think I can sit upon thebox o' that there wagginette, drivin' miles away, and be sweeping thishere lawn same time!"

  "Master said as it was your dooty to be in this garden three days aweek; and t'other three days you was to do your stable-work--there."

  "Didn't I go out with the carriage every day this week?"

  "I don't know when you went out with the carriage, and when you didn't,"said Dan'l; "all I know is as my lawn didn't get swept; and how thedoctor expects a garden like this here to be kept tidy without help, Ishould be glad to know."

  "Well, you'd better go and grumble at him, and not worry me, and--pst!Lookye there."

  He pointed with his broom, and both men remained paralysed at the sightwhich met their eyes.

  It was not so much from its extraordinary nature as from what Dan'lafterwards spoke of as its "imperence." That last, he said, was whatstaggered him, that any human boy should, in the very middle of the day,dare to do such a thing in his garden.

  He said _his_ garden, for when speaking of it the doctor seemed to beonly some one who was allowed to walk through it for a treat.

  What the two men gazed at was the figure of a boy, in shirt andtrousers, going up the vinery roof, between where the early and the latehouses joined and there was a sloping brick coping. From this they sawhim reach the big wall against which the vinery was built, and there hesat for a few moments motionless.

  "Why, who is he?" said Peter, in a whisper. "He went up that vineryjust like a monkey."

  Peter had never seen a monkey go up the roof of a vinery, but Dan'l didnot notice that.

  "Hold your row," said Dan'l, in a low voice; "don't speak, and we'llketch my nabs. Now we know where my peaches went last year."

  "But who is he!" whispered Peter.

  "I don't know, and I don't care, but I mean to have him as sure as he'sthere. Now if master hadn't been so precious 'tickler about a gun, Icould ha' brought him down like a bird."

  "Lookye there," cried Peter. "See that?"

  "Oh yes, I see him," said Dan'l, as the figure ran easily along the topof the twelve-foot wall on all-fours. "I see my gentleman. Nice littlegame he's having. I'll bet a shilling he's about gorged with grapes,and now he's on the look-out for something else. But let him alone;wait a bit and we'll put salt on his tail before he can say what's what.I knowed some grapes was a-going. I could about feel it, like."

  "Well, I never!" whispered Peter, peering through the laurustinus, andwatching the boy. "See that?"

  "Oh yes, I see him. Nice un he is."

  This last was consequent upon the boy running a few yards, and thenholding tightly with his hands, and kicking both legs in the air two orthree times before trotting on along the wall again as easily as atomcat.

  "See that?" said Peter.

  "Oh yes, I can see," said Dan'l. "He's so full o' grapes it makes himlively," and he stared at the boy, who had suddenly stopped, andplanting his hands firmly, stood up on them, balancing himself, with hislegs spread wide in the air.

  "He'll break his neck, that's what he'll do," said Peter.

  "Good job too, I says," grumbled Dan'l. "Boys like that ought to bedone away with. He's one on 'em out o' the town. Now look here, Peter,we've got to get him, that's what we've got to do."

  "Ah, that's better," said Peter, who had been nervous ever since a horseran away with him. "I don't like to see a boy doing dangerous thingsthat how."

  "Don't call a thing like that a boy, do yer!" said Dan'l. "I calls itmonkey rubbidge. Now you step round the house, and through the stable,and get down that sid
e o' the wall, and I'll go this. Don't you seem tosee him till you hear me whistle. Then grab."

  "But how am I to grab when he's up there!" said Peter.

  "Ah! 'tis high up," said Dan'l. "Wish I'd got one o' themgrappling-irons as hangs down by the bridge; I'd fetch him off prettyquick."

  "Shall I get a fruit-ladder?" suggested Peter.

  "Nay, we don't want no fruit-ladders," grumbled Dan'l. "We'll soonfetch his lordship down. Now then, you be off."

  "Stop a moment," said Peter, as he watched the boy intently. "Look athim! Well, I never did!"

  It was a very true remark. Peter certainly never did, and very few boyswould have cunning enough to perform such a feat with so much ease.For, after running about fifty yards along the top of the wall, thelittle fellow turned quickly and ran back again, made offers as if hewere going to leap down, and then suddenly squatted down in exactimitation of a cat, and began licking his arms, and passing them overhis head.

  "Well, he caps me!" cried Peter. "I never see a boy do anything likethat since I was at a show at Exeter, and then it was a bigger chap thanhim."

  "Look here," said Dan'l; "I've got it. You get a big strongclothes-prop, and I'll get another, and we'll poke him off. If he comesdown your side, mind this: he'll be like a rat, and off as quick asquick; but don't you let him go. Drop your prop, and throw yourself onhim; we'll ketch him, and take him in to the gov'nor, and he'll know nowwhere the fruit goes. You couldn't net chaps like this."

  In happy ignorance of the doctor's plans, Peter and Dan'l each providedhimself with a clothes-prop, and in due time made for the appointedsides of the wall; but no sooner did the boy catch sight of his pursuersthan he started off on another all-fours run; but this took him awayfrom the house, and before he had gone far he turned and ran back.

  Dan'l whistled, and Peter made a poke at the runner from one side of thewall, while Dan'l made a savage poke from the other.

  The boy, who seemed as active as a squirrel, dodged them both, ran alongtoward the vinery, and as fast as the various trees would allow the twomen followed.

  Peter was soon out of the race, for a lean-to shed on his side of thewall put a stop to further pursuit, and Dan'l, who looked as maliciousas a savage after a wild beast, had the hunt all to himself.

  "Ah!" he shouted, as he stopped panting, "now I've got you, my finefellow."

  This was untrue, for he was as far off his quarry as ever, he being atthe front of the vinery, and the boy on the top of the wall right at theback of the glass slope.

  "Now, then, none o' yer nonsense, and down yer come."

  Down the boy did not come, for he squatted there at the top, in asitting position, with his arms round his knees, gazing coolly butwatchfully at the gardener.

  "D'yer hear? come down!"

  The Yankee 'coon in the tree, when he saw the celebrated ColonelCrockett taking aim at him, and in full possession of the hunter'sreputation as a dead shot, is reported to have said, "Don't shoot; I'llcome down;" and the boy might have said something of the kind to Dan'lCopestake. But he had no faith in the gardener, and it is expecting toomuch of a boy who is seated in a safe place, to conclude that he willsurrender at the first summons, especially to a fierce-looking man, whois armed with a very big stick.

  This boy had not the least intention of giving himself up as a prisoner,and he sat and stared at Dan'l, and Dan'l stared at him.

  "Do you hear me?" cried Dan'l; but the boy did not move a muscle, heonly stared.

  "Are you over there, Peter?" shouted Dan'l.

  "Ay! All right!"

  "You stop there, then, and nip him if he comes your way. I'll get aladder, and will soon have him down."

  "All right!" came from Peter again; and the boy's eyes watched keenlythe old gardener's movements.

  "Do you hear what I say!" continued Dan'l. "Am I to fetch that ladder,or will you come down without!"

  The boy did not move.

  "Let's see: I can reach you with this here, though," Dan'l went on."Not going to have any more of your nonsense, my fine fellow, so nowthen."

  The boy's eyes flashed as he saw the gardener come close up to the footof the glass slope, and reach toward him with the long ash clothes-prop;but he measured mentally the length of that prop, and sat still, for, ashe had quickly concluded, the gardener could not, even with his armfully extended, reach to within some feet of where he sat.

  Dan'l pushed and poked about, and nearly broke a pane of glass, but theboy did not stir.

  "Oh, very well: only you'd better get down; you'll have it all the worseif I do fetch that ladder."

  Still the boy made no sign. He merely glanced to right and left, andcould have dashed along the wall at once, but that would have taken himdown the garden, toward the river, and that was the direction in whichhe did not want to go.

  To his left there was a portion of the house, the wall rising a goodheight, so that there was no escape in that direction. His way waseither by the garden wall, or else down the slope of the vinery, as hehad gone up.

  But, like a lion in his path, there at the foot of this slope stoodDan'l, with the great clothes-prop, and the boy, concluding that he wasbest where he was, sat and stared at the gardener, and waited.

  "Oh, very well then, my fine fellow: ladder it is," cried Dan'l; and,sticking the prop into the ground with a savage dig, he turned and ranoff.

  It was only a feint, and he turned sharply at the end of a dozen steps,to find, as he expected, that the boy had moved, and begun to descend.

  Dan'l ran back, and the boy slipped into his former place, and sat likea monument of stone.

  "Oh, that's your game, is it!" said Dan'l. "But it won't do, my finefellow. Now, are you coming down?"

  No reply.

  Dan'l reflected.

  If he went off to fetch the ladder from the stable-yard, the boy wouldslide down the top of the vinery and escape.

  That would not do.

  If he called to Peter to fetch the ladder, the boy would wait till thegroom was gone, and slip over the wall, drop, and escape that way.

  That would not do either.

  Hah! There was the labourer. He could call him.

  It was past twelve, and he had gone to his dinner, Dan'l, like Peter,taking his at the more aristocratic hour of one.

  Dan'l was in a fix. He meant to have that boy, and make an example ofhim, but a great difficulty stared him in the face.

  There was no one to call, unless he waited till the doctor came. If thedoctor came, he would perhaps take a lenient view of the matter, and letthe boy go, and, unless Dan'l could first give the prisoner a soundthrashing with a hazel stick, one of a bundle which he had in histool-shed, all his trouble would have been in vain.

  So he would not call the doctor.

  He made two or three more feints of going, and each time the boy beganto descend, but only to dart back as the gardener turned.

  "Oh, that's your game, is it!" said Dan'l. "Very well; come down, butyou can't get out of the garden if you do."

  The next time, after a few minutes' thought, Dan'l turned and ran ashard as he could, with every appearance now of going right off for theladder. But he had made his plans with no little calculation ofprobabilities; and his idea was now to go right on till he had given theboy time to descend, and make for one of the entrances, when he meant toreturn, run him down, and seize him, before the young scamp, as hecalled him, had time to clamber up any other place.

  Dan'l ran on, and the boy watched him; and as soon as the gardenershowed by his movements that he was evidently going away, began todescend.

  Hardly, however, had he reached the ground than Dan'l turned, saw him,and made a fresh dash to capture him.

  If the gardener had waited a couple more minutes he would have had abetter chance. As it was, the boy had time to reach the dividing wallof the vinery wall again, but just as he was scrambling up, Dan'l wasupon him, and was in the act of grasping one arm, when it was snatchedaway.

&nbs
p; In the effort the boy lost his composure, and the steady easy-goingconfidence which had enabled him to trot along with such facility; andthe consequence was that as he made a final bound to reach the back wallhis right foot slipped, went through a pane of glass, and as thisstartled him more, he made another ill-judged attempt, and, slipping,went through the top of the vinery, only saving himself from droppingdown inside by spreading his arms across the rafters, and hanging,caught as if in a trap.

  "Here, just you come down!"

  Directly after the doctor appeared in the study window, and, closelyfollowed by Helen, hurried toward the front of the vinery, where thegardener stood.