Mushroom Town

, twenty of them, men and women, with others hurrying over the sandhills to join them. Eesaac Oliver ran panting up again, and they entered the schoolhouse. This was a large, yellow-washed room wit

oks for caps and cloaks at the back, and a harmonium, completed the furniture. A short covered way near Miss Pritchard's desk gave access to the

legendary and dear and native to their land, it was in their he

lar brows and a round bald forehead. "It iss not even finiss; there iss holes in the wall

g seen it, would not leave it again until it had been safely dropped through the slot of the money-box into which the savings for Eesaac Oliver's education went. Eesaac Oliver was not

rstruck as the rest of them, now affect

rr! Well, it make trade. Indeed, I need a bigger s

en, as if in a camera obscura, that vision of a Kerr blowing into the vent-hole of a barrel, while

of his brows all marred with anxiety. "They sit in the Sta-tion Hotel Porth Neig

'ano-ther cup of t

ry smart

deep voice came in.-"

Morgan spo

ms Porth Neigr, he say to me it would not surprise him i

ke out. "And he say in

t-tut-d

a moment, contempla

now," one resumed. "They sen

opulation," said Howe

f the yellow chairs with his knees a

m to do here," he said. "No work

f money. Their bacon sme

rd them wipe the frying-pan out as

: "Finiss their breakfast indeed!

ave let-ter from my cousin Thomas Thomas in Towyn, and he say they buy lot-t of alders up the Dysynni two years ago of Mr. Ll

than a hut at Ll

s belong to the old days. There iss no new H

s was new things o

ns had squatted down at Llanyglo while they had slept, and, by force or process of law, might be difficult to turn out again. Howell's jocosity subsided; among the children's forms and benches they took counsel together; and when, at half-past

ave some-thing to say," showed how pertinent the observation was considered. For Mr. Tudor Williams, the Member, would be able to tell them, if anybody could, w

Wynne," Hugh Morgan remarked. "It will be the Sq

day outside the Co

liams wass in the right-it was about the Ti

ss Members they alte

he Bis-sop of St. Asa

he look at a Chap-pil like as if

g moodily at the floor, had not spoken yet. He g

robber," he muttered w

estions of eccles

aid Dafydd Dafis, again re

was the day's work to be done. Soon all moved to the door, but before going a

aving worked all night, would now be sleeping, they were wrong. They could

ss before Sunday,

itchard glared

d. "That other one will have gone for more beer." And

te had now sunk i

y gully on his way to the Methodist Chapel, heard sounds of carousing. He turned aside to look. The door of the Hafod stood open, and a second barrel of beer, together with provisions and some sticks of furniture, had been fe

said. "Are ye comin

turne

godless levity from afar. Others gathered round them by the gap in the thy

ng 'Thomas, make Room for your Uncle!' I said it was a den of li-ons, but indeed no li-ons ever behave so s'ock-kingl

d a half had drooped like a wet head

gain," he said quickly. "They come out of the house sometime t

heir living by drinking beer and having continua

in Llanyglo now till Mr.

s's head dr

Tudor Williams for this," h

ey could plant themselves thus in the enemy's

ut whose friendly help the Llanyglo Guide would have been d

culable thing; you never know how far they will carry it, nor how soon it will end in black eyes and bloody noses. And in the second place, there w

t altogether, leaving somebody else 'holding the baby'-I believe that's the expression. Their idea was simplicity itself: to buy land at a shilling and sell it again at ten; but they didn't express

, two brothers, in the produce line. They went down, and came back again, and quietly sold out, keeping strictly to Terry's representations; and I believe they warned Terry then that if he wasn't careful he'd be getting into trouble. I asked them what they'd been thinking of to let themselves be persuaded by a hare-brained enthusiast like that. They told me it was all very well for me to talk now. They knew perfectly well all the time that it was only one of Terry's dreams of a better and a brighter world, but they bought for all that, and so did crowds of others. Terry didn't

we started from) is probably

began to get up at about three o'clock that afternoon; all day there had been a swell; and Dafydd Dafis and others, returning from Howell Gruffydd's house (where a second letter to Mr. Tudor Williams Ponteglwys had been written, as urgent as Eesaac Oliver's pen could make it), saw all four of the brothers on the roof, trying to secure the tarpaulin in which the wind volleyed; their roof-slates were not expected till the following Wednesday. The ground w

to sea. Then, without moving his head, Ned put up his hand and appeared to be shouting something to the

d tumblingwise by the others. There was a rip and a crack, and the released tarpaulin was a hundred yards away, flapping grotesq

gddry

s a w

te sea and brown sand there was a towering ridge to be seen beyond, maned with spray, that rushed forward and burst only to show another in the same

shouted anoth

he Hafod he had s

rrs, and another man, were hauling. All save the youngest Kerr continued to tumble aboard as the boat lifted. He tried to

wn, and a moment later the water had slipped from under her and she sat down on the sand, with every plank started. They got ashore again as best they could, and raced for another boat and more oars. They put out again. They dare not

ng with spray. The wall came on and broke with a crash that shook the

nk that that open boat w

gh they watched,

black ice; the dim seas resembled a lair of white bears at play. Seven o'clock passed, and eight.... Already in folks' minds the grim thought was born; it might have been w

clock c

came on, and another hideous range lifted its grey ridge.... By a miracle, it boiled far away to right and left, but r

n insect, another crest rose, tilted them so

swept out by the bac

back empty-handed. They had

nt), an hour later Dafydd Dafis, opening his eyes for the first time since he had been hauled ou

pull that one

osed his e

oncerned, Mr. Tudor Williams's