“Now you hear, lad,” said one of the boy’s tormentors. “The Order is for the importation of foreign grain.”
“Just as if I did not know that half-an-hour ago,” said John solemnly. “Why, I was at the Cock and Gun the minute after the news came.”
And the lad rescued himself from the man’s grasp; and went in search of some one else whom he might throw into a state of admiration. He met Mr. Oliver himself, saying,
“What is all this about? The people stand in the heat as if it was no more than a warm bath; and my work is spoiling all the time, I suppose.”
“They are talking about the news, sir,—the great news that is just come.”
“News? What news?”
“The King is going to unbar the forts, sir; and he allows the importance of foreign grain.”
“It is high time he should. Your father and I have seen the importance you speak of, this long while.”
“I’ll warrant you have, sir. And now, perhaps, father will let me go and see it, if you speak a word to him.”
Mr. Oliver laughed, and told him he would probably see more of it than he liked as he grew up. John thought he had rather not wait till then to see the sight; besides that he thought it hardly likely that the King should go on unlocking forts all that time. The fort that he could just remember to have seen, when his grandfather once took him a journey, might, he believed, be unlocked in five minutes. The young politician proceeded on his rounds, hoping to find a dull person here and there, who had rather go on with his castings, and be talked to, than flock with the rest round the main furnace.