80
POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF
" Yo — yo~yo — yoel " wont the secoiul.
- ' Yo— yo- yo— yoel' chimed in old Wardle himself, most lustily,
with his head and half his body out of the coach window,
" Yo— yo— yo— yoe I " shouted Mr. Pickwick, taking- up the burden' of the cry, though he had not the slightest notion of its meaning or object. And amidst the yo— yoing- of the whole four, the chaise stopped.
" What's the matter? " inquired Mr. Pickwick.
« There's agate here," replied old Wardle, "We shall hear some- thing of the fugitives."
After a lapse of five minutes, consumed in incessant knocking and shouting, an old man in his shirt and trousers emerged from the turn- pike-house, and opened the gate.
" How long is it since a post-chaise went through here ? " inquired Mr. Wardle.
" How long ? " . "Ah! "
" Why, I don't rightly know. It worn't a long time ago, nor i; worn't a short time ago— just between the two, perhaps."
" Has any chaise been by at all ? "
" Oh yes, there's been a chay by."
" How long ago, my friend,'* interposed Mr. Pickwick, " an hour ? '*
" Ah, I dare say it might be," replied the man.
" Or two hours?" inquired the post-boy on the wheeler.
" Well, I should n't wonder if it was," returned the old man doubt- fully.
" Drive on, boys," cried the testy old gentleman : " don't waste any more time with that old idiot ! "
" Idiot ! " exclaimed the old man with a grin, as he stood in the middle of the road with the gate half closed, watching the chaise which rapidly diminished in the increasing distance. " No — not much o' that either ; you've lost ten minutes here, and gone away as wise as you came arter all. If every man on the line as has a guinea give him earns it half as well, you won't catch t'other chay this side Mich'lmas, old short and fat." And with another prolonged gJ'in, the old man closed the gate, re-entered his house, and bolted the door after him.
Meanwhile thie chaise proceeded, without any slackening of pace, towards the conclusion of the stage. The moon, as Wardle had fore- told, was rapidly on the wane ; large tiers of dark heavy clouds which had been gradually overspreading the sky for some time past, now formed one black mass over head ; and large drops of rain which pat-, tered every now and then against the windows of the chaise, seemed to warn the travellers of the rapid approach of a -stormy night. The wind, too, which was directly against them, swept in furious gusts down the narrow road, and howled dismally through the trees which skirted the pathway. Mr. Pickwick drew his coat closer about him, coiled himself inore snugly up into the corner of the chaise, and fell into a sound sleep, from which he was only awakened by the stopping of the vehicle, the sound of the hostler's bell, and a loud crv of '• Horses on directlv ! "
