Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction; Peddlers -- Fiction; Riots -- England -- Fens, The -- Fiction
Horse and man had been discovered in the water about a mile above the
drove that led to Crumbland, his farm. Runham had been found with his
legs entangled in the stirrups. Possibly, had he been able to disengage
himself when falling, he might have escaped to land. Certainly the
horse would have found its way out; but the weight of the rider had
prevented the poor beast from reaching the bank. It was observed that
Runham had gone into the canal on his right hand, and that the lantern
had been slung to his left foot.
There were, it was noticed, contusions on the head and body of the
deceased, but these were easily accounted for without recourse to
the supposition of violence. At intervals in the course of the Lark
piles were driven into the banks to protect them against the lighters,
and horse and man might have been carried by the stream, or in their
struggles, against these stakes, and thus the abrasions of the skin and
the bruises might have been produced.
Something was, indeed, said about a recent quarrel between the dead
man and his neighbour, Drownlands; but then, it was asked, when, for
the last nineteen years, had there been an occasion on which they had
met without quarrelling? The quarrel, according to report, had been
inconsiderable, and had concerned nothing more than a flail for which
both men had bidden high. Furthermore, Drownlands, it was ascertained,
had been detained on his way to Prickwillow, before reaching the
spot where the corpse had been found. He had been detained by the
Cheap Jack's daughter on account of the Cheap Jack's sickness. It was
known that Drownlands had summoned his men, and with a team of horses
had removed the van to his rickyard. He had been attentive to the
unfortunate vagabond, and had been at his side till his death.
There was no specifying the exact hour when Runham had fallen into the
water, but, as far as could be judged, it must have been about the time
when Drownlands was occupied with the Cheap Jack.
A floating suspicion that Ki might have had a hand in the death of Jake
did exist, but there was nothing tangible on which a charge could be
based. On the contrary, there was a great deal to show that he was not
present; enough to free him from suspicion.
When the funerals were over,—and both had taken place simultaneously,
the graves being adjacent, one chaplain performing the service over
both,—then the waggons returned. That in which the Cheap Jack's coffin
had been conveyed to its last resting-place was empty. Zita declared
her intention to walk.
Those who had walked behind the waggon of Runham were taken up into it,
the horses started at a trot, and both conveyances were soon far away,
and appeared as specks in the distance.
Zita walked slowly along the road. She was in no hurry. She had to
resolve what she was to do for her maintenance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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