d him out too late at night, which duty the boy
faithfully performed. In all the length and breadth of Cloisterham there
was no more noted man than the stone-mason, Durdles, not, I regret to say,
on account of his virtues, but rather because of his talent for remaining
out late at night, and not being able to guide his steps homeward. There
is a coarser term which might have been applied to this talent of Durdles,
but we have nothing to do with that, here and now; what we desire is an
introduction to the small boy who is Durdles's shadow.

One night, John Jasper, choir-master in Cloisterham Cathedral, on his way
home through the Close, is brought to a standstill by the spectacle of
Stony Durdles, dinner-bundle and all, leaning against the iron railing of
the burial-ground, while a hideous small boy in rags flings stones at him,
in the moonlight. Sometimes the stones hit him, and sometimes they miss
him, but Durdles seems indifferent to either fortune. The hideous small
boy, on the contrary, whenever he hits Durdles, blows a whistle of triumph
through a jagged gap in the front of his mouth, where half his teeth are
wanting; and whenever he misses him, yelps out, "Mulled agin!" and tries
to atone for the failure by taking a more correct and vicious aim.

"What are you doing to the man?" demands Jasper.

"Makin' a cock-shy of him," replies the hideous small boy.

"Give me those stones in your hand."

"Yes, I'll give 'em you down your throat, if you come a ketchin' hold of
me," says the small boy, shaking himself loose from Jasper's touch, and
backing. "I'll smash your eye if you don't look out!"

"What has the man done to you?"

"He won't go home."

"What is that to you?"

"He gives me a 'apenny to pelt him home if I ketches him out too late,"
says the boy. And then chants, like a little savage, half stumbling, and
half dancing, among the rags and laces of his dilapidated boots,----

_Widdy widdy wen!
I--ke--ches--'im out--ar--ter ten,
Widdy widdy wy!
Then--'E--don't--go--then--I shy,
Widdy widdy Wakecock warning!_

--with a sweeping emphasis on the last word, and one more shot at Durdles.
The bit of doggerel is evidently a sign which Durdles understands to mean
either that he must prove himself able to stand clear of the shots, or
betake himself immediately homeward, but he does not stir.

John Jasper crosses over to the railing where the Stony One is still
profoundly meditating.

"Do you know t