n't worth while carting them to
Liverpool?

But Ted was not only the village Radical: he was also the village wag,
with a reputation for humour which rendered him enormously popular. He
was about thirty-five years old; a small man with sandy hair, a
serious, not to say solemn, expression of countenance, and twinkling
light grey eyes, which he had a trick of blinking when about to
perpetrate a joke. His trousers were a little too short, his
coat-sleeves--when he wore a coat--a little too long. On ordinary
occasions his hat was tilted to the back of his head, and when in a
jocular humour he cocked it knowingly over one eye. Probably these
peculiarities, coupled with a certain dry method of enunciating, added
largely to Ted's renown.

As they walked briskly along this hot summer's afternoon, the two men
did not take the trouble to converse with each other. Joe, indeed, was
at all times a taciturn person, and Ted was probably reserving himself
for the delectation of the cronies whom he expected to meet at the
"Thornleigh Arms." When he had caught up Joe on the road he had
volunteered that he was steppin' up yonder, and Joe had replied that
that was reet, jerking his head forward at the same time as an
indication that he was steppin' up yonder too; thenceforth they had,
as a matter of course, proceeded together, Ted walking a pace or two
in advance and whistling to himself.

The village was now left behind, and on one side of the road, behind
the dusty hedge, some colts were keeping step with them, occasionally
starting and floundering forward after the manner of their kind, and
then wheeling and coming slowly back with foolish heads extended and
ears pricked, all ready for another bounce if either of the
pedestrians raised his hand or kicked a stone out of his path. To
their left the corn stood tall and yellow, almost ready for the
harvest. Now they approached some woods, familiarly known as "the
Mosses," from the peaty nature of the soil. A few weeks before the
thick undergrowth of rhododendrons had been ablaze with clustering
purple blossoms, and many wild flowers grew now on the borders of the
deep ditch which surrounded them. These woods lay cornerwise with the
main road, a sandy lane following the angle they described. On the
grassy border of this lane a flock of geese were tranquilly basking,
and, as Ted approached, a vigilant and pugnacious gander rushed
towards him, flapping its wings and extending its long neck