Come over the level crossing to the river."
They passed the station hut and came to a little landing stage near
which a boat was tied.
"There's a boat," said Stewart. "Shall we ask at that hut?"
The wooden hut stood above their heads on a pedestal of stone; from its
side the haunch of the stone bridge sprang away into the air, but
stopped abruptly where it had been broken off. The hut, once perhaps a
toll-house, was on a level with what had been the height of the bridge,
and now it could be reached by stone steps which wound up to a small
platform in front of the door. From within came men's voices singing.
"Look in here!"
A flickering light issued from a small window, and having climbed the
steps they could see inside. Two boys, about sixteen, a soldier and an
old man, sat round a table beneath a hanging lamp, and sang from scraps
of paper which they held in their hands. Behind the old man a girl stood
cleaning a cup with a cloth.
"They are practising something. Knock!"
But there was no need, for a dog chained in a barrel close to them set
up a wild barking.
"Is he chained? Keep this side. The old man is coming."
The door opened. The voices ceased; the girl stood by the old man's
side.
"Yes, it could be arranged. People still crossed that way; their boat
was a sort of ferry and there was a charge.
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