The Skeleton Crew; or, Wildfire Ned

"The Skeleton Crew; or, Wildfire Ned" This illustrated serial story, published by the Newsagents' Publishing Company in 1867, unfolds a tale set in rural England over a century before publication. The narrative begins in a snow-covered December at the village of Darlington, near London, where Christmas festivities proceed at the Black Bull inn. Outside sits Rambling Bob, a discharged farmhand and son of Farmer Bertram, listening forlornly to the merriment within. He encounters a mysterious well-dressed horseman who purchases Bob's walking stick and learns of the youth's estrangement from his father over an intended marriage and illegitimate child. The stranger, revealed to be Bolton—a collecting clerk—arrives at Farmer Bertram's house under false pretenses. Bertram, bedridden after a riding accident, mistakes Bolton for an associate of his money-lender Mr. Redgill. Bolton learns that Bertram possesses substantial ready money: £300, £200, and £1,000 in collected receipts, with £2,000 more owed. Bolton's subsequent intentions, detailed through foreshadowing and the ominous howling of the farm's dogs, suggest robbery or violence.