Harry Foster was his name--the carrier's, I mean--and a common one
enough in Northumberland. Many a ride have I gotten on his cart, which
was a light one on springs--blue body, orange shafts, panelled with
red, and the shafts lined red. You could tell the cart anywhere. At
least any of the Breckonside boys could, quite a mile away. And if it
was too far to see the cart, there was no mistaking Dappled Bess, the
carrier's horse, which was bright orange colour with white patches,
like the circus pony the clown rides. You've seen that pony. They
have one like that in every circus that has ever come to our town, and
there's few that pass Breckonside--Seager's, and Lord George's, and
Bostock's, the Original and the Real Original, both, and in old days,
so my father tells me, Wombwell's itself. Oh, a great place for
circuses is Breckonside!
I will tell you about it. Breckonside, where I live, is a good big
village about ten miles from the big town of East Dene, where there are
docks and a floating landing-stage, and a jail--everything modern and
up to date--with railways and electricity cars, and a theatre every
night almost, and tramcars that you can hang on behind, and mostly
everything that makes a boy happy--that is, for a day.
But still, give me Breckonside for steady. Why, there's only one
policeman in Breckonside, and he owes my father for his grocer's
bill--oh, ever so much! I shall not tell how much, but he knows that I
know. More than that, he always tells his wife what he is going to do,
and where he is going to go, and she tells Mrs. Robb, her neighbour
over the hedge, and Mrs. Robb tells Mrs. Martin, and Mrs. Martin's
Tommy tells me, or else I lick him. So we know. We like our policeman
in Breckonside. He can make lovely whistles out of bore-tree, and his
name is Codling.
You can see the sea from Breckon Hill, which is wooded to the top, only
by climbing up a tree. And away to the north, Scotland way, you can
make out the hills called Cheviots, like a long, low, blue cloud.
But about the Bewick carrier, Harry Foster, the thing is just this, and
it is a Mystery. I saw the red and blue cart come in--the piebald pony
lame, and the splashboard all leaves and blood, but no Harry Foster to
be seen anywhere.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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