Halifax, 1836.—“I am very sorry that there was a ‘great need’ for Mr. Wesley to bring (this) charge ... though unable to unravel the secret.”
URIAH WALKER
(Methodist Historian).
CONTENTS.
| —— | ||
| [BACK O’ THE MOON.] | ||
|---|---|---|
| CHAP. | PAGE | |
| [Introduction] | [1] | |
| [I.] | —Horwick Thursday | [9] |
| [II.] | —The Executive | [21] |
| [III.] | —“Johnny Cope” | [34] |
| [IV.] | —Eastwood Ellah | [46] |
| [V.] | —The Wadsworth Wedding | [61] |
| [VI.] | —Emmason | [77] |
| [VII.] | —Cicely | [89] |
| [VIII.] | —Crudelitas | [103] |
| [IX.] | —The Slack | [120] |
| [X.] | —The Home-coming | [133] |
| [XI.] | —A Hundred Pounds | [147] |
| [XII.] | —The Cloth Merchant | [162] |
| [XIII.] | —The Scout | [179] |
| [XIV.] | —One way in, none out | [193] |
| [XV.] | —The Cave in Soyland | [202] |
| [XVI.] | —Cover | [217] |
| [XVII.] | —The Moon turned round again | [232] |
| —— | ||
| [THE PILLERS.] | ||
| [I.] | —The Nightingale | [241] |
| [II.] | —The Ladyshaws | [248] |
| [III.] | —The Press | [256] |
| [IV.] | —At Portsannet | [267] |
| —— | ||
| [SKELF-MARY] | [279] | |
| [LAD-LASS] | [297] | |
| [THE FAIRWAY] | [317] | |
BACK O’ THE MOON.
INTRODUCTION.
THE first thing that the new parson noticed, as he rode up the narrow, precipitous street late in the October afternoon, was that the muffled knock-knocking that proceeded from the houses ceased as he ascended; and the next was that he had never in his life seen so many mongrel dogs as prowled and sniffed at his heels. He had left his grey galloway in Horwick Town, three miles back; he now saw the reason why they had laughed, and advised him that he might as well sell it there and then. Wadsworth Shelf had been steep; Wadsworth Street was precipitous; and at the head of the street rose Wadsworth Scout, dark and mountainous. The Scout was thinly wooded here and there with birch and mountain-ash. It overshadowed the village beneath it; and as the parson reached the small square at its foot he saw, over an irregular row of roofs, the squat belfry of the little church that was now his charge. A ramshackle inn, with a long horse-trough in front of it, occupied the lower side of the square.
As the knock-knocking ceased entirely, the parson became conscious that men and women had come softly out into the street behind him, and he knew without looking that behind every blind and shutter there was a pair of eyes. A raw-boned fellow lounged against the horse-trough of the inn, and he had taken off one of his wood-soled clogs and was peering into it as if for a stone. The parson had been warned that few in his new cure were known by their baptismal names, and had been told the name by which he must seek his own verger and bellringer. Approaching the fellow with the clog, he asked where he should find one Pim o’ Cuddy. The fellow jerked his head in the direction of the church under the dark Scout, and continued to peer into the clog. The dogs trailed after the parson as he crossed the square.
An hour later he returned. He had, apparently, learned which of the houses standing back up a stone-walled lane had been made ready for him, for he made for it without so much as a glance round him. He passed beneath the lanternless arch of wrought-iron that spanned his gateway. Very soon the old body who had made his house ready came out, sought a lad, and bade him go to Pim o’ Cuddy at the church. The lad and Pim o’ Cuddy (a wizened little man, who walked like a pair of callipers), returned across the square, carrying between them a small heavy chest. The chest contained, as the village knew, what remained of the papers and parchments that for so long had strewn the vestry. Later, the housekeeper reported that the parson had sat up with these half the night.