driving his carrier's cart, whereon lay all that was left
of Adam's belongings, save only what the good man carried in his
purse. And seeing how heavy the road was to one of Adam's years,
though his own were hardly fewer, poor old Chalse, recking nothing of
dignity lost thereby, would have had him to mount the shafts and
perch on the box behind the pony's tail. But Adam, thinking as little
of pride, said No, that every herring should hang by its own gills,
and the pony had its full day's work before it; moreover, that it was
his right to walk at his own expense now, having ridden twenty years
at the expense of the island. So he kept the good blackthorn moving,
and Greeba stepped along nimbly by his side. And when the Castletown
coach overtook and passed them on its way to Douglas, and some of the
farming folk who rode on it leaned over saucily and hailed Adam by
his Christian name, he showed no shame or rancor, until, when the
coach was gone, he caught a glimpse of the hot color that had mounted
to Greeba's cheeks. Then, without a word, he turned his mellow old
face to his feet, and strode along a good half mile in silence.

And meantime, Chalse, thinking to lighten the burden of the way with
cheerful talk, rattled along in his crazy screech on many subjects,
but found that all came round, by some strange twist, to the one
subject that might not be discussed. Thus, looking at his pony, he
told of the donkey he had before it, the same that Michael Sunlocks
rode long years ago; how he himself had fallen sick and could not to
keep it, and so gave it without a penny to a neighbor for feeding
it; and how when he got better he wanted to borrow it, but the
neighbor, in base ingratitude and selfishness, would not lend it
without pay.

"Faith, it's alwis lek that," said Chalse. "Give a man yer shirt, and
ye must cut yer lucky or he'll be after axing ye for yer skin."

When they came by Douglas, Chalse was for skirting round by the
Spring Valley through Braddon, but old Adam, seeing his drift, would
not pretend to be innocent of it, and said that if there were dregs
in his cup he was in the way of draining them without making too many
wry faces about it. And as for the people of the town, if they
thought no shame to stare at him he thought no shame to be stared at,
yet that what was good enough for himself might not be so for one who
had less deserved it, and Greeba could go with Chalse by Braddon, and
they would meet again o