In spite of his long-skirted coat he was as
active as any of them, now clutching desperately at the eel with his
hand, now running at full speed for a few yards and then plunging down
on his knees, and all the while laughing and whinnying with a noise
more like that of a horse than of a man. The boys, though at first a
little startled at the appearance of such a figure in their midst, soon
screamed louder than ever with laughter at his strange antics; until at
last the ragged man got the eel fairly clamped between his fingers and
ran away with it, the whole of the children following him in full cry.
He had almost reached the road when his foot slipped and down he fell
violently on his face. The squirrel, scared to death, ran out of his
coat-pocket, and the eel slipped through his fingers into the long
grass by the ditch and was seen no more.
The man got up looking dazed and foolish, with his hair full of
forget-me-nots, into which he had plunged in his fall. The children
gathered round him hooting and screaming; and he stared at them
grinning vacantly without a word. From shouts the boys soon went on to
taunts of "Shockhead! Shockhead!" but still the ragged man stood and
grinned, until at last two of them caught sight of the squirrel and
began to hunt it about the field. Then the man's whole demeanour
changed in an instant; and charging down upon the boys he gave them a
push which laid both of them flat on the ground, while the squirrel ran
hastily up his leg and nestled in terror against his cheek.
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