 place which, during the last century, the dodo
occupied in the world of animals. He is a curious, interesting, and nearly
perished link between obsolete forms of life and those which generally prevail.
    The decayed officer, by degrees, came up alongside his fellow-wayfarer, and
wished him good evening. The reddleman turned his head, and replied in sad and
occupied tones. He was young, and his face, if not exactly handsome, approached
so near to handsome that nobody would have contradicted an assertion that it
really was so in its natural colour. His eye, which glared so strangely through
his stain, was in itself attractive - keen as that of a bird of prey, and blue
as autumn mist. He had neither whisker nor moustache, which allowed the soft
curves of the lower part of his face to be apparent. His lips were thin, and
though, as it seemed, compressed by thought, there was a pleasant twitch at
their corners now and then. He was clothed throughout in a tight-fitting suit of
corduroy, excellent in quality, not much worn, and well-chosen for its purpose;
but deprived of its original colour by his trade. It showed to advantage the
good shape of his figure. A certain well-to-do air about the man suggested that
he was not poor for his degree. The natural query of an observer would have
been, Why should such a promising being as this have hidden his prepossessing
exterior by adopting that singular occupation?
    After replying to the old man's greeting he showed no inclination to
continue in talk, although they still walked side by side, for the elder
traveller seemed to desire company. There were no sounds but that of the booming
wind upon the stretch of tawny herbage around them, the crackling wheels, the
tread of the men, and the footsteps of the two shaggy ponies which drew the van.
They were small, hardy animals, of a breed between Galloway and Exmoor, and were
known as heath-croppers here.
    Now, as they thus pursued their way, the reddleman occasionally left his
companion's side, and, stepping behind the van, looked into its interior through
a small window. The look was always anxious. He would then return to the old
man, who made another remark about the state of the country and so on, to which
the reddleman again abstractedly replied, and then again they would lapse into
silence. The silence conveyed to neither any sense of awkwardness; in these
lonely places wayfarers, after a first greeting, frequently plod on for miles
without
