Lady Eleanour looked uneasy. Usually the lucky winner was unable to hear her little speech, as she gave the Cup away, so deafening was the applause. Now there was utter silence. She glanced up at the crowd, but there was no response to her unspoken appeal in that forest of hostile faces. And her gentle heart bled for the forlorn little man before her. To make it up she smiled on him so sweetly as to more than compensate him.
"I'm sure you deserve your success, Mr. M'Adam," she said. "You and Red Wull there worked splendidly--everybody says so.""I've heard naethin' o't," the little man answered dryly. At which some one in the crowd sniggered.
"And we all know what a grand dog he is; though"--with a reproving smile as she glanced at Red Wull's square, truncated stern--" he's not very polite.""His heart is good, your Leddyship, if his manners are not,"M'Adam answered, smiling.
"Liar!" came a loud voice in the silence. Lady Eleanour looked up, hot with indignation, and half rose from her seat. But M'Adam merely smiled.
"Wullie, turn and mak' yer bow to the leddy," he said. "They'll no hurt us noo we're up; it's when we're doon they'll flock like corbies to the carrion."At that Red Wull walked up to Lady Eleanour, faintly wagging his tail; and she put her hand on his huge bull head and said, "Dear old Ugly!" at which the crowd cheered in earnest.
After that, for some moments, the only sound was the gentle ripple of the good lady's voice and the little man's caustic replies.
"Why, last winter the country was full of Red Wull's doings and yours. It was always M'Adam and his Red Wull have done this and that and the other. I declare I got quite tired of you both, I heard such a lot about you."The little man, cap in hand, smiled, blushed and looked genuinely pleased.
"And when it wasn't you it was Mr. Moore and Owd Bob.""Owd Bob, bless him!" called a stentorian voice. "There cheers for oor Bob!"'Ip! 'ip! 'ooray!" It was taken up gallantly, and cast from mouth to mouth; and strangers, though they did not understand, caught the contagion and cheered too; and the uproar continued for some minutes.
When it was ended Lady Eleanour was standing up, a faint flush on her cheeks and her eyes flashing dangerously, like a queen at bay.
"Yes," she cried, and her clear voice thrilled through the air like a trumpet. "Yes; and now three cheers for Mr. M'Adam and his Red Wull! Hip! hip--""Hooray!" A little knowt of stalwarts at the back--James Moore, Parson Leggy, Jim Mason, and you may be sure in heart, at least, Owd Bob--responded to the call right lustily. The crowd joined in;and, once off, cheered and cheered again.
"Three cheers more for Mr. M'Adam!"
But the little man waved to them.
"Dinna be bigger heepocrites than ye can help," he said. "Ye've done enough for one day, and thank ye for it."Then Lady Eleanour handed him the Cup.
"Mr. M'Adam, I present you with the Champion Challenge Dale Cup, open to all corners. Keep it, guard it, love it as your own, and win it again if you can. Twice more and it's yours, you know, and it will stop forever beneath the shadow of the Pike. And the right place for it, say I--the Dale Cup for Dalesmen."The little man took the Cup tenderly.
"It shall no leave the Estate or ma hoose, yer Leddyship, gin Wullie and I can help it," he said emphatically.
Lady Eleanour retreated into the tent, and the crowd swarmed over the ropes and round the little man, who held the Cup beneath his arm.
Long Kirby laid irreverent hands upon it.
"Dinna finger it!" ordered M'Adam.
"Shall!''
"Shan't! Wullie, keep him aff." Which the great dog proceeded to do amid the laughter of the onlookers.
Among the last, James Moore was borne past the little man. At sight of him, M'Adam's face assumed an expression of intense concern.
"Man, Moore!" he cried, peering forward as though in alarm;"man, Moore, ye're green--positeevely verdant. Are ye in pain?"Then, catching sight of Owd Bob, he started back in affected horror.
"And, ma certes! so's yer dog! Yer dog as was gray is green. Oh, guid life! "--and he made as though about to fall fainting to the ground.
Then, in bantering tones: "Ah, but ye shouldna covet--"He'll ha' no need to covet it long, I can tell yo'," interposed Tammas's shrill accents.
"And why for no?"
"Becos next year he'll win it fra yo'. Oor Bob'll win it, little mon.
Why? thot's why."
The retort was greeted with a yell of applause from the sprinkling of Dalesmen in the crowd.
But M'Adam swaggered away into the tent, his head up, the Cup beneath his arm, and Red Wull guarding his rear.
"First of a' ye'll ha' to beat Adam M'Adam and his Red Wull!" he cried back proudly.
