Brother Dusty-Feet Read Online Free PDF Page B

bright and joyous that it looked as if it was a patch cut from the clear sky; and the mare’s dappled coat shone with grooming, her mane was plaited with golden straws, and her horse-brasses that were shaped like roses and stars and crescent moons sparkled in the sunshine. The rest of the company were gathered round, pushing odds and ends into the back of the cart or talking to the mare.
    ‘Ah!’ said the man with the rose behind his ear. ‘The gentlemen have fed, and the road calls us. But stay! Before we set out, you’d best know who we all are, beginning with myself, Tobias Pennifeather, devotedly your servant, the leader of this band of brethren – romantic villainy is my line. Gentleman with the die-away expression and scarlet stockings, Jasper Nye, who plays the lead in all our pieces. This with the peacock’s feather in his bonnet is Benjamin Bunsell; comic relief, the trusty henchman who falls over his own feet. This in the laced hat, Nicholas Bodkyn, our Heroine. Make a curtsey, Nicky,’ and Nicholas Bodkyn spread his imaginary skirts and dropped a billowing curtsey. ‘That’s right,’ said Master Pennifeather, approvingly. ‘Lastly, at your elbow, Jonathan Whiteleafe, who plays the devil in scarlet tights, and is the best tumbler in the South Country, beside.’
    Then everybody was crowding round Hugh, patting him on the back and telling him that he would soon get to know which of them was which, andbelting Argos in the ribs in a friendly way; and in the middle of it all he felt a hand on his shoulder, and the Fifth Man, who was Jonathan Whiteleafe, said in his ear, ‘I’d put the periwinkle in the back of the cart, if I were you. ’Twill be quite safe there.’ So they went round to the back of the tilt-cart and found a nice secure place for the periwinkle between a pile of planks, which Jonathan said were part of the stage, and a battered hamper with purple and spangles showing through the gaps in the wickerwork, which he said was a costume basket. Immediately after that Master Pennifeather gave the order to start.
    ‘For we must be in South Molton before noon if we’re to put on a performance this afternoon,’ said Master Pennifeather. ‘And if we don’t put on a performance this afternoon, we can’t sup tonight. So gid-up, Saffronilla, old girl.’
    Nobody seemed to be at all worried about supper being so uncertain, because they were used to it. Saffronilla, who had been dozing gently where she stood, woke up and shook her head and lumbered forward; the yellow-and-scarlet wheels of the tilt-cart began to turn, squeaking blithely, and they were off. The Players trudged alongside, Master Pennifeather with a hand on Saffronilla’s neck, whistling softly but very cheerfully to himself; and Jonathan and Hugh and Argos all dropped a little to the rear, beyond the soft white dust-cloud (somebody always had to walk behind the cart to pick up the things that fell out). The three of them were very well contented with each other’s company.
    ‘If you get tired, you can ride on the shafts, youknow,’ said Jonathan, looking down at Hugh after a while as they trudged along.
    But Hugh had forgotten about being tired or footsore; he was too happy to bother about things like that. He was part of this lovely, joyous, disreputable company. Before him the tilt-cart lurched and rumbled, wobbled and squeaked along the deep-rutted road, the dust curling up in spirals round Saffronilla’s hooves as she clip-clopped along, and the brasses on her collar and breast-band chiming and jingling like all the bells of Elfland. The hedges were clouded with lady’s-lace and flushed with campion, and the cuckoos called from the woodlands far and wide; and it really seemed to Hugh that summer had come to the world overnight.

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The True and Noble History of St George
    They travelled rather slowly, because the lanes were not really meant for carts, and sometimes they were so narrow that the wheels were in the ditch on both