The lights of the houseboat flashed upon the flying waggon as it passed; the beat of hoofs and the rattle of the vehicle gradually coalesced and died away; and presently, to the trio on the riverside, silence had redescended.
'It's the most extraordinary thing,' cried the slimmer of the two gentlemen, 'but that's the cart.'
'And I know I saw a piano,' said the girl.
'O, it's the cart, certainly; and the extraordinary thing is, it's not the man,' added the first.
'It must be the man, Gid, it must be,' said the portly one.
'Well, then, why is he running away?' asked Gideon.
'His horse bolted, I suppose,' said the Squirradical.
'Nonsense! I heard the whip going like a flail,' said Gideon. 'It simply defies the human reason.'
'I'll tell you,' broke in the girl, 'he came round that corner. Suppose we went and--what do you call it in books?--followed his trail? There may be a house there, or somebody who saw him, or something.'
'Well, suppose we did, for the fun of the thing,' said Gideon.
The fun of the thing (it would appear) consisted in the extremely close juxtaposition of himself and Miss Hazeltine. To Uncle Ned, who was excluded from these simple pleasures, the excursion appeared hopeless from the first; and when a fresh perspective of darkness opened up, dimly contained between park palings on the one side and a hedge and ditch upon the other, the whole without the smallest signal of human habitation, the Squirradical drew up.
'This is a wild-goose chase,' said he.
With the cessation of the footfalls, another sound smote upon their ears.
'O, what's that?' cried Julia.
'I can't think,' said Gideon.
The Squirradical had his stick presented like a sword. 'Gid,' he began, 'Gid, I--'
'O Mr Forsyth!' cried the girl. 'O don't go forward, you don't know what it might be--it might be something perfectly horrid.'
'It may be the devil itself,' said Gideon, disengaging himself, 'but I am going to see it.'
'Don't be rash, Gid,' cried his uncle.
The barrister drew near to the sound, which was certainly of a portentous character. In quality it appeared to blend the strains of the cow, the fog-horn, and the mosquito; and the startling manner of its enunciation added incalculably to its terrors. A dark object, not unlike the human form divine, appeared on the brink of the ditch.
'It's a man,' said Gideon, 'it's only a man; he seems to be asleep and snoring. Hullo,' he added, a moment after, 'there must be something wrong with him, he won't waken.'
Gideon produced his vestas, struck one, and by its light recognized the tow head of Harker.
'This is the man,' said he, 'as drunk as Belial. I see the whole story'; and to his two companions, who had now ventured to rejoin him, he set forth a theory of the divorce between the carrier and his cart, which was not unlike the truth.
'Drunken brute!' said Uncle Ned, 'let's get him to a pump and give him what he deserves.'
'Not at all!' said Gideon. 'It is highly undesirable he should see us together; and really, do you know, I am very much obliged to him, for this is about the luckiest thing that could have possibly occurred. It seems to me--Uncle Ned, I declare to heaven it seems to me--I'm clear of it!'
'Clear of what?' asked the Squirradical.
'The whole affair!' cried Gideon. 'That man has been ass enough to steal the cart and the dead body; what he hopes to do with it I neither know nor care. My hands are free, Jimson ceases; down with Jimson. Shake hands with me, Uncle Ned--Julia, darling girl, Julia, I--'
'Gideon, Gideon!' said his uncle. 'O, it's all right, uncle, when we're going to be married so soon,' said Gideon. 'You know you said so yourself in the houseboat.'
'Did I?' said Uncle Ned; 'I am certain I said no such thing.'
'Appeal to him, tell him he did, get on his soft side,' cried Gideon. 'He's a real brick if you get on his soft side.'
'Dear Mr Bloomfield,' said Julia, 'I know Gideon will be such a very good boy, and he has promised me to do such a lot of law, and I will see that he does too.