had just arrived with a
load of earth to add to the many tons already poured upon that hungry
central patch. He held the tailboard of the cart in his hand and was
about to remove it; when, looking up, his heart fluttered a moment
despite his sturdy consciousness of right. On the moor above him rode
grey old Vogwell, the Duchy's man. His long beard fluttered in the wind,
and Will heard the thud of his horse's hoofs as he cantered quickly to
the scene, passed between two of the stakes, and drew up alongside
Blanchard.

"Marnin', Mr. Vogwell! Fine weather, to be sure, an' gude for the peat
next month; but bad for roots, an' no mistake. Will 'e have a drink?"

Mr. Vogwell gazed sternly about him, then fixed his little bright eyes
on the culprit.

"What do this mean, Will Blanchard?"

"Well, why not? Duchy steals all the gude land from Venwell men; why for
shouldn't us taake a little of the bad? This here weern't no gude to
man or mouse. Ban't 'nough green stuff for a rabbit 'pon it. So I just
thought I'd give it a lick an' a promise o' more later on."

"'A lick an' a promise'! You've wasted a month's work on it, to the
least."

"Well, p'raps I have--though ban't wasted. Do 'e think, Mr. Vogwell, as
the Duchy might be disposed to give me a hand?"

Will generally tackled difficulties in this audacious fashion, and a
laugh already began to brighten his eye; but the other quenched it.

"You fool! You knawed you was doin' wrong better'n I can tell you--an'
such a plaace! A babe could see you 'm workin' awver living springs. You
caan't fill un even now in the drouth, an' come autumn an' rain 't will
all be bog again."

"Nothing of the sort," flamed out Will, quite forgetting his recent
assertion as to the poverty of the place. "Do 'e think, you, as awnly
rides awver the Moor, knaws more about soil than I as works on it?
'Twill be gude proofy land bimebye--so good as any Princetown way, wheer
the prison men reclaim, an' wheer theer's grass this minute as carries a
bullock to the acre. First I'll plant rye, then swedes, then maybe more
swedes, then barley; an', with the barley, I'll sow the permanent grass
to follow. That's gude rotation of crops for Dartymoor, as I knaw an'
you doan't; an' if the Duchy encloses the best to rob our things[11],
why for shouldn't we--"

[11] _Things_ = beasts; sheep and cattle.

"That'll do. I caan't bide here listenin' to your child's-talk all the
marnin'. What Duchy does an' doan