and from this place I frequently passed a tall elderly
individual, dressed in rather a quaint fashion, with a skin cap on his
head and stout gaiters on his legs; on his shoulders hung a moderate
sized leathern sack; he seemed fond of loitering near sunny banks, and of
groping amidst furze and low scrubby bramble bushes, of which there were
plenty in the neighbourhood of Norman Cross. Once I saw him standing in
the middle of a dusty road, looking intently at a large mark which seemed
to have been drawn across it, as if by a walking-stick. "He must have
been a large one," the old man muttered half to himself, "or he would not
have left such a trail, I wonder if he is near; he seems to have moved
this way." He then went behind some bushes which grew on the right side
of the road, and appeared to be in quest of something, moving behind the
bushes with his head downwards, and occasionally striking their roots
with his foot: at length he exclaimed, "Here he is!" and forthwith I saw
him dart amongst the bushes. There was a kind of scuffling noise, the
rustling of branches, and the crackling of dry sticks. "I have him!"
said the man at last; "I have got him!" and presently he made his
appearance about twenty yards down the road, holding a large viper in his
hand. "What do you think of that, my boy?" said he, as I went up to him;
"what do you think of catching such a thing as that with the naked hand?"
"What do I think?" said I. "Why, that I could do as much myself." "You
do," said the man, "do you? Lord! how the young people in these days are
given to conceit; it did not use to be so in my time: when I was a child,
childer knew how to behave themselves; but the childer of these days are
full of conceit, full of froth, like the mouth of this viper;" and with
his forefinger and thumb he squeezed a considerable quantity of foam from
the jaws of the viper down upon the road. "The childer of these days are
a generation of--God forgive me, what was I about to say!" said the old
man; and opening his bag he thrust the reptile into it, which appeared
far from empty. I passed on. As I was returning, towards the evening, I
overtook the old man, who was wending in the same direction. "Good
evening to you, sir," said I, taking off a cap which I wore on my head.
"Good evening," said the old man; and then, looking at me, "How's this?"
said he, "you ar'n't, sure, the child I met in the morning?" "Yes," said
I, "I am; what makes you