Part 14 (1/2)
”If they get fightin' it'll no be Bob here I'll hit, I warn yo', M'Adam,” said the Master grimly.
”Gin ye sae muckle as touched Wullie d'ye ken what I'd do, James Moore?”
asked the little man very smoothly.
”Yes--sweer,” the other replied, and strode out of the room amid a roar of derisive laughter at M'Adam's expense.
Owd Bob had now attained wellnigh the perfection of his art. Parson Leggy declared roundly that his like had not been seen since the days of Rex son of Rally. Among the Dalesmen he was a heroic favorite, his prowess and gentle ways winning him friends on every hand. But the point that told most heavily for him was that in all things he was the very ant.i.thesis of Red Wull.
Barely a man in the country-side but owed that ferocious savage a grudge; not a man of them all who dared pay it. Once Long Kirby, full of beer and valor, tried to settle his account. Coming on M'Adam and Red Wull as he was driving into Grammoch-town, he leant over and with his thong dealt the dog a terrible sword-like slash that raised an angry ridge of red from hip to shoulder; and was twenty yards down the road before the little man's shrill curse reached his ear, drowned in a hideous bellow.
He stood up and lashed the colt, who, quick on his legs for a young un, soon settled to his gallop. But, glancing over his shoulder, he saw a hounding form behind, catching him as though he were walking. His face turned sickly white; he screamed; he flogged; he looked back. Right beneath the tail-board was the red devil in the dust; while racing a furlong behind on the turnpike road was the mad figure of M'Adam.
The smith struck back and flogged forward. It was of no avail. With a tiger-like bound the murderous brute leapt on the flying trap. At the shock of the great body the colt was thrown violently on his side; Kirby was tossed over the hedge; and Red Wull pinned beneath the debris.
M'Adam had time to rush up and save a tragedy.
”I've a mind to knife ye, Kirby,” he panted, as he bandaged the smith's broken head.
After that you may be sure the Dalesmen preferred to swallow insults rather than to risk their lives; and their impotence only served to fan their hatred to white heat.
The working methods of the antagonists were as contrasted as their appearances. In a word, the one compelled where the other coaxed.
His enemies said the Tailless Tyke was rough; not even Tammas denied he was ready. His brain was as big as his body, and he used them both to some purpose. ”As quick as a cat, with the heart of a lion and the temper of Nick's self,” was Parson Leggy's description.
What determination could effect, that could Red Wall; but achievement by inaction--supremest of all strategies--was not for him. In matters of the subtlest handling, where to act anything except indifference was to lose, with sheep restless, fearful forebodings hymned to them by the wind, panic hovering unseen above them, when an ill-considered movement spelt catastrophe--then was Owd Bob o' Kenmuir incomparable.
Men still tell how, when the squire's new thras.h.i.+ng-machine ran amuck in Grammoch-town, and for some minutes the market square was a turbulent sea of blaspheming men, yelping dogs, and stampeding sheep, only one flock stood calm as a mill-pond by the bull-ring, watching the riot with almost indifference. And in front, sitting between them and the storm, was a quiet gray dog, his mouth stretched in a capacious yawn: to yawn was to win, and he won.
When the worst of the uproar was over, many a glance of triumph was shot first at that one still pack, and then at M'Adam, as he waded through the disorder of huddling sheep.
”And wheer's your Wullie noo?” asked Tapper scornfully.
”Weel,” the little man answered with a quiet smile, ”at this minute he's killin' your Rasper doon by the pump.” Which was indeed the case; for big blue Rasper had interfered with the great dog in the performance of his duty, and suffered accordingly.
Spring pa.s.sed into summer; and the excitement as to the event of the approaching Trials, when at length the rivals would be pitted against one another, reached such a height as old Jonas Maddox, the octogenarian, could hardly recall.
Down in the Sylvester Arms there was almost nightly a conflict between M'Adam and Tammas Thornton, spokesman of the Dales men. Many a long-drawn bout of words had the two anent the respective merits and Cup chances of red and gray. In these duels Tammas was usually worsted. His temper would get the better of his discretion; and the cynical debater would be lost in the hot-tongued partisan.
During these encounters the others would, as a rule, maintain a rigid silence. Only when their champion was being beaten, and it was time for strength of voice to vanquish strength of argument, they joined in right l.u.s.tily and roared the little man down, for all the world like the gentlemen who rule the Empire at Westminster.
Tammas was an easy subject for M'Adam to draw, but David was an easier.
Insults directed at himself the boy bore with a stolidity born of long use. But a poisonous dart shot against his friends at Kenmuir never failed to achieve its object. And the little man evinced an amazing talent for the concoction of deft lies respecting James Moore.
”I'm hearin',” said he, one evening, sitting in the kitchen, sucking his twig; ”I'm hearin' James Moore is gaein' to git married agin.”
”Yo're hearin' lies--or mair-like tellin' 'em,” David answered shortly.
For he treated his father now with contemptuous indifference.