st waits."

The subject was hurriedly changed, Dick being after all able to make a
good meal, during which he thought of the past, and of how glad he was
to be friends with Tom Tallington again; and then, as he had his second
help of pie to Tom's third, it seemed to him that the same person must
be guilty of all these outrages, and if so it could not by any
possibility be Farmer Tallington, for he never skated, and even if he
could, he weighed at least sixteen stone, and the ice had broken under
the weight of Tom's seven or eight.

"We shall find him yet, Marston; never fear," said the squire; "and when
we do--well, I shall be sorry for the man."

"Why?" said Mrs Winthorpe.

"Because," said the squire gravely, "I have been so near death myself
that--there, this is not a pleasant subject to talk about. We will
wait."

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

PREPARING FOR ACTION.

Hickathrift shook his head; Mrs Hickathrift screwed up her lips, shut
her eyes, and shuddered; and the former doubled up his hard fist and
shook it in the air, as if he were going to hit nothing, as he gave out
his opinion--this being also the opinion of all the labouring people
near.

"Ay, yow may laugh, Mester Dick, but they'll nivver find out nowt. It's
sperrits, that's what it is--sperrits of the owd fen, them as makes the
ager, and sends will-o'-the-wisps to lead folkses into the bog. They
don't like the drain being med, and they shutes and bons, and does all
they can to stop it."

"You're a great goose, Hicky," said Dick sharply. "Who ever heard of a
ghost--"

"I didn't say ghost, my lad. I said sperrits!"

"Well, they're all the same."

"Nay, nay, ghosts is ghosts, and sperrits is sperrits."

"Well, then, who ever heard of a spirit going out skating with a
lantern, or poling about with a punt, or shooting people, or blowing up
sluice-gates, or cutting beasts' legs, or setting fire to their houses?
Did you?"

"I nivver did till now, Mester Dick."

"It's all nonsense about spirits; isn't it, Tom?"

"Of course it is," was the reply. "We're going to catch the spirit some
day, and we'll bring him here."

"Ay, do," said Hickathrift, nodding his head softly. "Well, I'm glad
you two hev made it up."

"Never mind about that. Has Dave been over?"

"Ay, lad. Soon as the ice went away and he could get his punt along he
come to me and asked me to get him some wood sawn out; and we done it
already. Ice is gone and to-morrow I'm g