"Hear, hear!" shouted a few voices in the crowd, who, for the most part, received the intimation with sullen silence and imperturbability of countenance. Corkam's words had done their work, and Willowton had veered round again and become incredulous. The doctor drove off, first to call at a fever-smitten house at the extreme end of the village, and then to beat up a committee of influential men for the meeting next day.
"Responsible fur the wages, indeed!" sneered Corkam. "I'd like ter know where they're agoin' ter git th'money from! They'll borrer it, I s'pose, and make a good thing out of it. Never fear, yer don't blind me; I know 'em!"
"Well," said a man who had hitherto preserved a stony silence, "th' wells have got to be dug somehow, and I don't see what call anybody hev ter bother about where th' money come from so that's good money, and that they come by it honest. I know sumthin' about well-diggin', and I shall go if they'll hev me."
"And so'll I, Martin, if yue due," said Tom Chapman, who stood beside him. "I don't know nothin' about it; but I know that's dangerous work, and is well paid, and I can work under yur and due my best."
"That you can, booy," said the other man, clapping him on the back, "an' a better mate I don't never want te see."
After a little more desultory talk the crowd separated, and they all went home to their evening meal, and to talk the matter over with their wives.
CHAPTER VII.
TOM CHAPMAN "TAKES ON" AT THE WELL
When Tom Chapman opened his door a sight met him that was not a grateful one to a tired man, and would have put most men into a rage, but Tom didn't seem to mind much. He picked his way cheerfully along over all manner of things, picking up a crowing infant as he went that was rolled up in a shawl under the table. "The only safe place in the room!" his wife said. A cry of joy greeted daddy's entrance, and half a dozen grubby little arms encircled his corduroy legs. His wife, with her hair all over her face, looked up from the couch where she was sitting, with the half-dressed youngster jumping about on her knees.
"What a mess!" was all Tom said.