"I know. You mean Mr. Metcalf, don't you?"
"Yes."
"What would he do? How could he help us?"
"Lend me the donkey. I'll ride and tell him. All them houses—see them mill cottages, down yonder?"
"Certainly. They look very pretty from here, with all the trees about them."
"They've got wells. Once in six months the wells has to be cleared out. That's orders. Me an' another fellow goes down 'em, after the pump's drawed out all it can. We bail 'em out. I clean cisterns, too. Ain't another fellow in the village as good at a cistern as me. See, I'm slim. I can get down a man-hole 't nobody else can. Shall I go?"
"I'll ask Hallam."
Who, upon consultation, replied:—
"I suppose it's the only thing we can do, but it does go against my inclination to ask favors of anybody."