Part 2 (1/2)

Just as he was in despair of the wonderful little Lantern coming his way again, it came, and so fast did it come, and so afraid was he of its pa.s.sing him without making himself heard, that he shouted with all his might, 'Please, little Lantern Man, stop; I want to ask you something.' And to his joy the little Lantern Man stopped. The door of the little Lantern opened wide, and a tiny, s.h.i.+ning face looked out.

'Did anybody call?' asked the little Lantern Man in a voice so kind that the Piskey's little heart leaped for joy.

'Yes, I called,' said the little Piskey. 'I called twice before, but you did not stop.'

'I never heard you call till now,' said the little Lantern Man. 'Who are you, and what do you want?'

'I am an unfortunate little Piskey who has lost his laugh,' answered the Piskey, 'and I have tramped all the way from Tintagel Head to Rough Tor Marsh to ask if you have seen it.'

'Lost your laugh, you poor little chap!' e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the little Lantern Man in the same kind voice. 'How came you to lose it?'

The little Piskey told him how he had lost his laugh, and what Granfer Piskey had said, and how the mole who called herself the Lady Want had told him to come to him.

'I would gladly help you to find your laugh if I knew where it was,' said the Lantern Man when the Piskey had told him all; 'but, unfortunately, I have never seen it.'

'Haven't you?' cried the poor little Piskey. 'I am disappointed. As you are always travelling about the country in your little Lantern, I felt sure you had seen my laugh.'

'I only travel in marshy ground,' said the little Lantern Man, still standing in the doorway of his tiny Lantern; 'and your laugh may not have pa.s.sed along my way.'

'Do you happen to know anybody else who has seen my laugh?' asked the little Piskey anxiously.

'n.o.body except Giant Tregeagle, of whom I dare say you have heard--that unhappy fellow who for some terrible wrong-doing has to dip Dozmare [4] Pool dry with a limpet-sh.e.l.l.'

'Yes, I have heard about that great Giant from Granfer Piskey,'

answered the little Piskey. 'He was a wicked seigneur who once had a fine house at Dozmare Pool and a great park on Bodmin Moors, and he is often flying about the country with the Wicked One at his heels.'

'The very same,' cried the little Lantern Man. 'He travels from east to west, and from west to south, and back again. He will be sure to have seen your laugh.'

'I am afraid my laugh is too small for a great big giant to have noticed, even if it pa.s.sed him,' said the little Piskey.

'He isn't so big but what he can see a laugh,' said the little Lantern Man. 'You had better go and ask him.'

'I don't know where he is,' said the little Piskey, who was in a most dejected frame of mind.

'He is at Dozmare Pool--or was not long since, doing his best to dip the big pool dry.'

'I am rather tired after tramping here from Tintagel,' said the little fellow, 'and I don't feel like going all the way to Dozmare Pool. I have no spring in my legs since my laugh left me,' he added, as the little Lantern Man smiled rather sadly. 'I never knew what it was to be tired and wisht before I lost my laugh.'

'I don't suppose you did, you poor little chap!' cried the little Lantern Man, 'and you must do all you can to find your laugh. I am going to Dozmare Pool, or the Magic Lake, as it was called in the long ago; and if you don't mind travelling in my Lantern, I'll give you a lift as far as that.'

'Will you?' exclaimed the little Piskey, his tiny brown face brightening as the Lantern Man smiled. 'You are very kind, and I will go with you gladly.'

'That's right!' cried the little Lantern Man; and he held out his hand, which shone like his face, and helped the little brown Piskey into his Lantern.

When the Piskey was safe inside the Lantern, he thought it was the very brightest place he was ever in--'even brighter than a fairy's palace,' he said.

'There is no seat in my Lantern except the floor,' said the little Lantern Man, as the Piskey looked about him. 'The floor is not uncomfortable, if you care to sit down. I always sleep on it when my night work of giving light to the poor things that live in the marshes is done.'

'I would rather stand, thank you.' returned the Piskey. 'I can look out of your windows better.'