The Beano
Payne, the foreman carpenter, occupied the position of honour on the third brake, while Crass presided over the fourth, on the step of which was perched the man with the coach horn.
The mean streets of Windley were soon left far behind and the bean-feasters found themselves journeying along a sunlit, winding road bordered with hedges of hawthorn, holly and briar, past rich brown fields of standing corn, through lofty avenues of elms and oaks, over old mossy stone bridges, past thatched wayside cottages where the people waved their hands in friendly greeting, and the sunburnt children ran, cheering, behind the brakes, for the pennies the men threw to them.
From time to time the men made half-hearted attempts at singing, but it never came to much because most of them were very hungry. They had not had time for dinner and would not have taken any even if they had, for they wished to reserve their appetites for the banquet at the 'Queen Elizabeth' at half past three. However, they cheered up a little after the first halt at the 'Blue Lion', where most of them got down and had a drink. Two or three, including the Semi-Drunk, Ned Dawson, Bill Bates and Joe Philpot, had more than one and felt so much happier that shortly after they started off again sounds of melody were heard from their brake. But it was not very successful, and though after the second halt—about five miles further on—at the 'Warrior's Head' fitful bursts of singing arose from time to time from each of the brakes, there was no heart in it. It is not easy to be jolly on an empty stomach. Neither could they properly appreciate the scenes through which they were passing. They wanted their dinners, and that was the reason why this long ride, instead of being a pleasure, after a while became a weary journey which seemed as if it were never coming to an end.
The next stop was at the 'Bird in Hand', a wayside public house that stood all by itself in a lonely hollow. The landlord was a fat, jolly-looking man, and there were several customers in the bar, men who looked like farm labourers, but there were no other houses to be seen anywhere. This extraordinary circumstance exercised the minds of the travellers and formed the principal topic of conversation until they arrived at the 'Dewdrop Inn' about half-an-hour afterwards. The first brake, containing Rushton and his friends, passed on without
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