“No thank ee, An’rew.”
In breathless haste he spoke, and with a shout he was gone, his path picked out in sparks, as the good horse without bridle or rein covered the ground to the slumbering village.
Andrew stood peering through the night till the tiny fires died away and the beat of the hoofs struck faint as the footfall of a child.
This incident had unnerved the lonely Earthstopper.
More than once as he ascended the Galver he turned his head, though without staying his steps, to see that it was but the terrier that followed him. Panting from the hurried climb he rested on a boulder of the cairn and set the lantern down on the turf at his feet. The bitch nestled between her master and the flickering flame.
The stars shone in all their splendour, but it was the glow-worm light that crept through the gloom below which riveted the Earthstopper’s gaze.
“Well, Vennie me beety, theere’s death and worse nor death in thet theere cottage, and et’s shook me tar’ble, but our night’s work must be got through somehow or theer’ll be no spoart to-day. With this wind a fox es moast sure to make for Zonnor Cliffs.
“Come, me dear, ’tes cold up heere, two mile waan’t see us to cliff, and thee must furst run through the radgell on the Little Galver.”
So, taking up the lantern, he went to the clitter of rocks and sent the bitch in. He could follow her by the patter of her feet as she ran through the cavernous hollows. On coming out at the far end of the rocks she awaited her master and, when he came up, took her place at his heels. Before leaving the high ground the Earthstopper stood listening for a few moments with his face towards Madron, whither Jago had ridden to summon the doctor. Hearing nothing, he made his way down the slope of the cairn to the rugged waste that stretches away to the Northern coast.
Their work was now done till they reached the cliffs. He seldom spoke to his dog in going from one earth to another, and to-night he had enough to think about.