ie accompaniments
to the tale he piped in my ear:--

"When my grandfather were a boy," he said, "there lighted in Dunburgh
Exciseman Jones. P'r'aps the village had gained an ill reputation.
P'r'aps Exciseman Jones's predecessor had failed to secure the confidence
o' the exekitive. At any rate, the new man was little to the fancy of the
village. He was a grim, sour-looking, brass-bound galloot; and
incorruptible--which was the worst. The keg o' brandy left on his
doorstep o' New Year's Eve had been better unspiled and run into the
gutter; for it led him somehow to the identification of the innocent that
done it, and he had him by the heels in a twinkling. The squire snorted
at the man, and the parson looked askance; but Dark Dignum, he swore he'd
be even with him, if he swung for it. They was hurt and surprised, that
was the truth, over the scrupulosity of certain people; and feelin'
ran high against Exciseman Jones.

"At that time Dark Dignum was a young man with a reputation above his
years for profaneness and audacity. Ugly things there were said about
him; and amongst many wicked he was feared for his wickedness. Exciseman
Jones had his eye on him; and that was bad for Exciseman Jones.

"Now one murk December night Exciseman Jones staggered home with a
bloody long slice down his scalp, and the red drip from it spotting the
cobble-stones.

"'Summut fell on him from a winder,' said Dark Dignum, a little later, as
he were drinkin' hisself hoarse in the Black Boy. 'Summut fell on him
retributive, as you might call it. For, would you believe it, the man had
at the moment been threatenin' me? He did. He said, "I know damn well
about you, Dignum; and for all your damn ingenuity, I'll bring you with a
crack to the ground yet."'

"What had happened? Nobody knew, sir. But Exciseman Jones was in his bed
for a fortnight; and when he got on his legs again, it was pretty evident
there was a hate between the two men that only blood-spillin' could
satisfy.

"So far as is known, they never spoke to one another again. They played
their game of death in silence--the lawful, cold and unfathomable; the
unlawful, swaggerin' and crool--and twenty year separated the first move
and the last.

"This were the first, sir--as Dark Dignum leaked it out long after in his
cups. This were the first; and it brought Exciseman Jones to his grave on
the cliff here.

"It were a deep soft summer night; and the young smuggler sat by hisself
in t