294 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



and resting the weight of his " heth " bundle on it, 

 he peered out from underneath his eyes, winking 

 and blinking. By no means dull eyes they were, 

 like those of some old, pot-bellied dog-fox at the 

 mouth of his earth, very wideawake, yet restless 

 winkers. After he had looked me well over, with 

 most exasperating deliberation he said, " I dessay 

 as how you knows all about it." 



I promptly assure him in the most emphatic man- 

 ner that if I did know, I would not have stopped to 

 ask him. 



Oh ee woudn't eh ? " 



" No. Am I in the right road, if you please ? " 



" Well, I dun know ef ee be in right road er no, 

 but I ken tell ee one thing, if ee gets off this ere 

 road, ee'l goo wrang." 



Giving that aged fox-like winker a silent but hearty 

 back-handed blessing, I left him with his " heth." 



We certainly have " to goo off that 'ere road " for 

 a considerable distance before we can get into the 

 right one, the people themselves are a little bit hazy 

 as to the locality of certain villages and hamlets 

 which we would consider to be quite in their own 

 neighbourhood. As to distance, one of their so- 



