United States or Ethiopia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
After lunch Jim crossed the marsh with Jake and stopped where a ridge of higher ground broke off at the edge of a muddy creek. In the corner, partly sheltered by a bank of gorse, stood a small white house with a roof of rusty iron where the thatch had been. The whitewash had fallen off in places, exposing a rough, granulated wall, for the house was a dabbin, built of puddled clay.
The smoke cleared and Carrie saw the dabbin had gone. A pile of rubbish, round which thin vapor drifted, marked the spot it had occupied. A man stood on the end of the ridge of high ground, his bent figure outlined against the sky, holding up his arms as if in protest. Then he vanished, and Jim and the others started silently for Langrigg.
"Of course, but unless he knows you're coming, Jim will be occupied at the marsh." "I won't mind if Jim is occupied." "Then come when you like," said Carrie, smiling. "I think you mean to be nice." In the meantime, Jim had got to work and under his superintendence a gang of men piled barrowsful of peat soil on the wreck of the dabbin.
"For that matter, we would all have been drowned," Jake said dryly. "It's a curious argument for leaving Shanks alone. I suspected we took some chances when we blew up the dabbin." "You blew up the dabbin," Jake rejoined. "Anyhow, Carrie had nothing to do with the thing, and she ran the worst risk when we were on the sands. It was hard to hold myself when I thought about it.
"Dabbin's bad, but it's mine," said Shanks. "You canna put me oot." "I don't want to put you out; I want you to go. Anyhow, the dabbin isn't yours. You have no title to the ground and I understand have been warned off, but we won't bother about that. Bank-end cottage is dry and comfortable and you can have it for your lifetime." "I willun't gan." Jim turned to the younger man.
Word Of The Day