“Aw’m noan his keeper, am I? Hannot aw enuff to do wi’ thee o’ mi hands wi’out John Booth? Go to sleep wi’ thee, th’rt talking too much.”
“Yo’re hiding summot, ’Si. Na tell me, an’ then aw’ll be quiet.”
“Well, there’s nowt much to tell. Booth wer’ hit, that’s all aw know. Aw seed him liggin’ on th’ ground, an’ he’ wer’ bleeding i’ th’ leg. But Soldier ’ll see to him.”
“Soldier?”
“Aye, he said’ tha wouldn’t be easy if tha thowt John wer’ left, so after we’d tugged an’ tewed an’ hustled thee here, an’ sich a huggin’ an’ a tewin’ an’ a hustlin’ aw nivver had i’ mi life afore, what wi’ thee keep on swounding every fifty yards o’ so, Jack first o’ all went back an’ gate some brandy. Aw dunnot know wheer he sammed it up, but Jack knows his way about, an’ no mistake. We should ha’ been fair done but for Jack. Then he said he’d hark back an’ see what could be done for Booth; but he shouldn’t come back here till neet, an’ then we’d see what could be done about movin’ thee. An’ we wer to ca’er here till he come back. Naa, that’s all aw know, except aw wish aw wer’ a caa.”
I was feeling very drowsy now and just remember murmuring:
“A caa; what for, ’Si?”
“So’s aw could chew th’ cud o’ mi last meat, for aw’m awmost famished, an’ aw cannot mak’ a meal o’ milk like a caulf.”
And then I must have dozed off, for I heard no more for a long time.
The weary day dragged its lingering length. I slept by fits and starts. ’Siah, worn out, slumbered heavily. A swallow darted through the slit high up in the wall, skimmed round the rafters, intent upon nest building in the thatch—a rat ran across my feet. I could hear the crowing of a cock and the clucking of hens in the yard outside, and the song of a lark soaring in the heavens made me long for light and freedom. After what seemed an eternity of time the kine were driven in from the pastures for milking. I heard a voice coaxing them in: