folk would set to on a piece of real necessary work. They had been
resting, and had only just begun work again as we came up; so that
the rattle of the picks was what woke me from my musing. There were
about a dozen of them, strong young men, looking much like a boating
party at Oxford would have looked in the days I remembered, and not
more troubled with their work: their outer raiment lay on the road-
side in an orderly pile under the guardianship of a six-year-old boy,
who had his arm thrown over the neck of a big mastiff, who was as
happily lazy as if the summer-day had been made for him alone. As I
eyed the pile of clothes, I could see the gleam of gold and silk
embroidery on it, and judged that some of these workmen had tastes
akin to those of the Golden Dustman of Hammersmith. Beside them lay
a good big basket that had hints about it of cold pie and wine: a
half dozen of young women stood by watching the work or the workers,
both of which were worth watching, for the latter smote great strokes
and were very deft in their labour, and as handsome clean-built
fellows as you might find a dozen of in a summer day. They were
laughing and talking merrily with each other and the women, but
presently their foreman looked up and saw our way stopped. So he
stayed his pick and sang out, "Spell ho, mates! here are neighbours
want to get past." Whereon the others stopped also, and, drawing
around us, helped the old horse by easing our wheels over the half
undone road, and then, like men with a pleasant task on hand, hurried
back to their work, only stopping to give us a smiling good-day; so
that the sound of the picks broke out again before Greylocks had
taken to his jog-trot. Dick looked back over his shoulder at them
and said:

"They are in luck to-day: it's right down good sport trying how much
pick-work one can get into an hour; and I can see those neighbours