第18章

However,I see how it is:you are a sap-engro,a chap who catches snakes,and plays tricks with them!Well,it comes very nearly to the same thing;and if you please to list with us,and bear us pleasant company,we shall be glad of you.I'd take my oath upon it,that we might make a mort of money by you and that sap,and the tricks it could do;and,as you seem fly to everything,I shouldn't wonder if you would make a prime hand at telling fortunes.

'I shouldn't wonder,'said I.

MAN.Of course.And you might still be our God Almighty,or at any rate our clergyman,so you should live in a tilted cart by yourself,and say prayers to us night and morning-to wifelkin here,and all our family;there's plenty of us when we are all together:as I said before,you seem fly,I shouldn't wonder if you could read?

'Oh yes!'said I,'I can read';and,eager to display my accomplishments,I took my book out of my pocket,and,opening it at random,proceeded to read how a certain man,whilst wandering about a certain solitary island,entered a cave,the mouth of which was overgrown with brushwood,and how he was nearly frightened to death in that cave by something which he saw.

'That will do,'said the man;'that's the kind of prayers for me and my family,aren't they,wifelkin?I never heard more delicate prayers in all my life!Why,they beat the rubricals hollow!-and here comes my son Jasper.I say,Jasper,here's a young sap-engro that can read,and is more fly than yourself.Shake hands with him;I wish ye to be two brothers.'

With a swift but stealthy pace Jasper came towards us from the farther part of the lane;on reaching the tent he stood still,and looked fixedly upon me as I sat upon the stool;I looked fixedly upon him.A queer look had Jasper;he was a lad of some twelve or thirteen years,with long arms,unlike the singular being who called himself his father;his complexion was ruddy,but his face was seamed,though it did not bear the peculiar scar which disfigured the countenance of the other;nor,though roguish enough,a certain evil expression which that of the other bore,and which the face of the woman possessed in a yet more remarkable degree.For the rest,he wore drab breeches,with certain strings at the knee,a rather gay waistcoat,and tolerably white shirt;under his arm he bore a mighty whip of whalebone with a brass knob,and upon his head was a hat without either top or brim.

'There,Jasper!shake hands with the sap-engro.'

'Can he box,father?'said Jasper,surveying me rather contemptuously.'I should think not,he looks so puny and small.'

'Hold your peace,fool!'said the man;'he can do more than that-I tell you he's fly:he carries a sap about,which would sting a ninny like you to dead.'

'What,a sap-engro!'said the boy,with a singular whine,and,stooping down,he leered curiously in my face,kindly,however,and then patted me on the head.'A sap-engro,'he ejaculated;'lor!'

'Yes,and one of the right sort,'said the man;'I am glad we have met with him,he is going to list with us,and be our clergyman and God Almighty,ain't you,my tawny?'

'I don't know,'said I;'I must see what my father will say.'