The road that ran from Clinton St. Mary to Borhaze across the moor was
certainly a wild, rambling, beautiful affair, and when the sea-mists
swept across it and the wind carried the cry of the Bell of Trezent Rock
in and out above and below, you had a strange and moving experience. Mr.
Lasher was certainly compelled to ride on his bicycle from Clinton St.
Mary to Borhaze and back again, and never thought it either strange or
moving. "Only ten at the Bible meeting to-night. Borhaze wants waking
up. We'll see what open-air services can do." What the moor thought
about Mr. Lasher it is impossible to know!
Hugh Seymour thought about the moor continually, but he was afraid to
mention his ideas of it in public. There was a legend in the village
that several hundred years ago some pirates, driven by storm into
Borhaze, found their way on to the moor and, caught by the mist,
perished there; they are to be seen, says the village, in powdered wigs,
red coats, gold lace, and swords, haunting the sand-dunes. God help the
poor soul who may fall into their hands! This was a very pleasant story,
and Hugh Seymour's thoughts often crept around and about it. He would
like to find a pirate, to bring him to the vicarage, and present him to
Mr. Lasher. He knew that Mrs. Lasher would say, "Fancy, a pirate. Well!
now, fancy! Well, here's a pirate!" And that Mr. Lasher would say, "It's
a pity, Hugh, that you don't choose your company more carefully. Look at
the man's nose!"
Hugh, although he was only eleven, knew this. Hugh did on one occasion
mention the pirates. "Dreaming again, Hugh! Pity they fill your head
with such nonsense! If they read their Bibles more!"
Nevertheless, Hugh continued his dreaming. He dreamt of the moor, of
the pirates, of the cobbled street in Borhaze, of the cry of the Trezent
Bell, of the deep lanes and the smell of the flowers in them, of making
five hundred not out at cricket, of doing a problem in Euclid to Mr.
Lasher's satisfaction, of having a collar at the end of the week as
clean as it had been at the beginning, of discovering the way to make a
straight parting in the hair, of not wriggling in bed when Mrs. Lasher
kissed him at night, of many, many other things.
He was at this time a very lonely boy. Until Mr. Pidgen paid his visit
he was most remarkably lonely. After that visit he was never lonely
again.
III
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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