Skeeter asked it gently.
“Oh, we uns lives with the spring-keeper.”
“The spring-keeper! Who is he?”
“Oh, we uns found him when they took my maw! He is a little daffy—that is what folks say, but we uns can’t see but he is as smart as them what laughs at him.”
The young people were quite aghast at the news that the person with whom this strange being lived was considered daffy. The boys had their doubts about the advantage of asking shelter in a house where two crazy people lived, but perhaps the spring-keeper was not crazy, after all. This young man certainly seemed harmless enough, and perhaps he could show them the way to Greendale.
“Does the spring-keeper live far from here?” asked Lil.
“Oh, no, just round the mounting. We uns will show you uns the way.”
He filled his bucket at the crystal spring and then led the way along the narrow path.
“Who taught you to play the jew’s-harp?” asked Lucy.