Mr Marston went over at once with the squire, Dick obtaining permission to accompany them; and upon their arrival it was to find all the work at a stand-still, the men being grouped about with their sleeves rolled-up, and smoking, and staring silently at the rough peat hovel where their fellow-worker lay.
The engineer entered the shelter—it did not deserve the title of cottage—and the squire and Dick followed, to find the man nearly insensible, and quite unable to give any account of how the affair had happened.
The men were questioned, but knew nothing beyond the fact that they had parted from him as usual to go to their own quarters, Bargle being the only one who lodged alone. There had been no quarrel as far as Mr Marston could make out, everyone he spoke to declaring that the work had gone on the previous day in the smoothest way possible; and at last there seemed to be nothing to do but wait until the great, rough fellow could give an account of the case for himself.
The doctor came at last, and formed his opinion.
“He is such a great, strong fellow that unless he was attacked by two or three together, I should say someone came upon him as he lay asleep and stunned him with a blow on the head.”
“The result of some quarrel or offence given to one of the men under him, I’m afraid,” said the engineer with a look of intense vexation in his eyes. “These men are very brutal sometimes to their fellows, especially when they are placed in authority. Will he be long before he is better?”
“No,” replied the doctor. “The blows would have killed an ordinary man, but he has a skull like an ox. He’ll be at work again in a fortnight if he’ll behave sensibly, and carry out my instructions.”
A couple of days later Bargle was sitting up smoking, when the engineer entered the reed-thatched hut, in company with Dick.
“Hallo, youngster!” growled the great fellow, with a smile slowly spreading over his rugged face, and growing into a grin, which accorded ill with his bandaged head; “shak’ hands!”
Dick obeyed heartily enough, the great fellow retaining the lad’s hand in his, and slowly pumping it up and down.