He took off his cap and scratched his cropped head.

After a while he damned something indefinite and hastened in his dot-and-carry-one fashion to the van.
"Quite made up yer mind to go in search of yer 'ighborn parents ?" "Ay," said Paul.
"Like me to give yer a lift, say, as far as London ?" Paul sprang to the ground and opened his mouth to speak.

But his knees grew weak and he quivered all over like one who beholds the god.

The abstract nebulous romance of his pilgrimage had been crystallized, in a flash, into the concrete.

"Ay," he panted.
"Ay!" and he steadied himself with his back and elbows against the shafts.
"That's all right," said Barney Bill, in a matter-of fact way, calm and godlike to Paul.