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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Puck of Pook’s Hill by Rudyard Kipling
+
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no
+restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under
+the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or
+online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+
+Title: Puck of Pook’s Hill
+
+Author: Rudyard Kipling
+
+Release Date: July 11, 2008 [Ebook #26027]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUCK OF POOK’S HILL***
+
+
+
+
+
+                           PUCK OF POOK’S HILL
+
+
+                         BOOKS BY RUDYARD KIPLING
+
+          PUCK OF POOK’S HILL
+          THEY
+          TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES
+          THE FIVE NATIONS
+          THE JUST SO SONG BOOK
+          JUST SO STORIES
+          KIM
+          STALKY & CO.
+          THE DAY’S WORK
+          THE BRUSHWOOD BOY
+          FROM SEA TO SEA
+          DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES AND BALLADS AND BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
+          PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS
+          THE LIGHT THAT FAILED
+          LIFE’S HANDICAP: BEING STORIES OF MINE OWN PEOPLE
+          UNDER THE DEODARS, THE PHANTOM ’RICKSHAW, AND WEE WILLIE WINKIE
+          SOLDIERS THREE, THE STORY OF THE GADSBYS, AND IN BLACK AND WHITE
+          SOLDIER STORIES
+          THE KIPLING BIRTHDAY BOOK
+          (WITH WOLCOTT BALESTIER) THE NAULAHKA
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: ‘“Go!� she says. “Go with my Leave an’ Goodwill.�’
+  _See page 247_]
+
+
+
+
+
+                          Puck of Pook’s Hill
+
+                            By Rudyard Kipling
+
+
+_Illustrated by_
+Arthur Rackham, A.R.W.S.
+
+
+
+NEW YORK
+DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
+1906
+
+
+
+
+
+                        Copyright, 1905, 1906, by
+                             RUDYARD KIPLING
+                         Published, October, 1906
+
+                         _All rights reserved,_
+         _including that of translation into foreign languages,_
+                       _including the Scandinavian_
+
+
+
+
+
+          ROBIN GOODFELLOW—HIS FRIENDS
+
+          By RUDYARD KIPLING
+
+             I. A Centurion of the Thirtieth.
+            II. On the Great Wall.
+           III. The Winged Hats.
+            IV. Hal o’ the Draft.
+             V. Dymchurch Flit.
+            VI. The Treasure and the Law.
+
+          Copyright, 1906, by RUDYARD KIPLING.
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                           PAGE
+_Puck’s Song_                                 1
+Weland’s Sword                                5
+_A Tree Song_                                29
+Young Men at the Manor                       33
+_Sir Richard’s Song_                         55
+_Harp Song of the Dane Women_                59
+The Knights of the Joyous Venture            61
+_Thorkild’s Song_                            87
+Old Men at Pevensey                          91
+_The Runes on Weland’s Sword_               119
+A Centurion of the Thirtieth                125
+_A British-Roman Song_                      145
+On the Great Wall                           149
+_A Song to Mithras_                         173
+The Winged Hats                             177
+_A Pict Song_                               201
+Hal o’ the Draft                            207
+_A Smugglers’ Song_                         227
+_The Bee Boy’s Song_                        231
+‘Dymchurch Flit’                            233
+_A Three-Part Song_                         251
+_Song of the Fifth River_                   255
+The Treasure and the Law                    257
+_The Children’s Song_                       276
+
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+‘“Go!� she says, “Go with my Leave an’ Goodwill.�’        _Frontispiece_
+                                                             FACING PAGE
+In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they saw a                6
+small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person
+with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes, and a grin that
+ran right across his freckled face.
+‘There’s where you meet hunters, and trappers for the                152
+Circuses, prodding along chained bears and muzzled
+wolves.’
+‘Hoity-toity!’ he cried. ‘Here’s Pride in purple                     212
+feathers! Here’s wrathy contempt and the Pomps of the
+Flesh!’... And he doffed his cap to the bubbling bird.
+
+
+
+
+
+                           PUCK OF POOK’S HILL
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PUCK’S SONG
+
+
+  _See you the dimpled track that runs,_
+    _All hollow through the wheat?_
+  _O that was where they hauled the guns_
+    _That smote King Philip’s fleet._
+
+  _See you our little mill that clacks,_
+    _So busy by the brook?_
+  _She has ground her corn and paid her tax_
+    _Ever since Domesday Book._
+
+  _See you our stilly woods of oak,_
+    _And the dread ditch beside?_
+  _O that was where the Saxons broke,_
+    _On the day that Harold died._
+
+  _See you the windy levels spread_
+    _About the gates of Rye?_
+  _O that was where the Northmen fled,_
+    _When Alfred’s ships came by._
+
+  _See you our pastures wide and lone,_
+    _Where the red oxen browse?_
+  _O there was a City thronged and known,_
+    _Ere London boasted a house._
+
+  _And see you, after rain, the trace_
+    _Of mound and ditch and wall?_
+  _O that was a Legion’s camping-place,_
+    _When Cæsar sailed from Gaul._
+
+  _And see you marks that show and fade,_
+    _Like shadows on the Downs?_
+  _O they are the lines the Flint Men made,_
+    _To guard their wondrous towns._
+
+  _Trackway and Camp and City lost,_
+    _Salt Marsh where now is corn;_
+  _Old Wars, old Peace, old Arts that cease,_
+    _And so was England born!_
+
+  _She is not any common Earth,_
+    _Water or wood or air,_
+  _But Merlin’s Isle of Gramarye,_
+    _Where you and I will fare._
+
+
+
+
+
+WELAND’S SWORD
+
+
+
+
+WELAND’S SWORD(1)
+
+
+The children were at the Theatre, acting to Three Cows as much as they
+could remember of _Midsummer Night’s Dream_. Their father had made them a
+small play out of the big Shakespeare one, and they had rehearsed it with
+him and with their mother till they could say it by heart. They began
+where Nick Bottom the weaver comes out of the bushes with a donkey’s head
+on his shoulder, and finds Titania, Queen of the Fairies, asleep. Then
+they skipped to the part where Bottom asks three little fairies to scratch
+his head and bring him honey, and they ended where he falls asleep in
+Titania’s arms. Dan was Puck and Nick Bottom, as well as all three
+Fairies. He wore a pointy-eared cloth cap for Puck, and a paper donkey’s
+head out of a Christmas cracker—but it tore if you were not careful—for
+Bottom. Una was Titania, with a wreath of columbines and a foxglove wand.
+
+The Theatre lay in a meadow called the Long Slip. A little mill-stream,
+carrying water to a mill two or three fields away, bent round one corner
+of it, and in the middle of the bend lay a large old fairy Ring of
+darkened grass, which was their stage. The mill-stream banks, overgrown
+with willow, hazel, and guelder rose made convenient places to wait in
+till your turn came; and a grown-up who had seen it said that Shakespeare
+himself could not have imagined a more suitable setting for his play. They
+were not, of course, allowed to act on Midsummer Night itself, but they
+went down after tea on Midsummer Eve, when the shadows were growing, and
+they took their supper—hard-boiled eggs, Bath Oliver biscuits, and salt in
+an envelope—with them. Three Cows had been milked and were grazing
+steadily with a tearing noise that one could hear all down the meadow; and
+the noise of the mill at work sounded like bare feet running on hard
+ground. A cuckoo sat on a gatepost singing his broken June tune,
+‘cuckoo-cuk,’ while a busy kingfisher crossed from the mill-stream to the
+brook which ran on the other side of the meadow. Everything else was a
+sort of thick, sleepy stillness smelling of meadow-sweet and dry grass.
+
+Their play went beautifully. Dan remembered all his parts—Puck, Bottom,
+and the three Fairies—and Una never forgot a word of Titania—not even the
+difficult piece where she tells the Fairies how to feed Bottom with
+‘apricocks, ripe figs, and dewberries,’ and all the lines end in ‘ies.’
+They were both so pleased that they acted it three times over from
+beginning to end before they sat down in the unthistly centre of the Ring
+to eat eggs and Bath Olivers. This was when they heard a whistle among the
+alders on the bank, and they jumped.
+
+  [Illustration: In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they now
+  saw a small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub
+  nose, slanting blue eyes, and a grin that ran right across his
+  freckled face.]
+
+The bushes parted. In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they saw a
+small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub nose,
+slanting blue eyes, and a grin that ran right across his freckled face. He
+shaded his forehead as though he were watching Quince, Snout, Bottom, and
+the others rehearsing _Pyramus__ and Thisbe_, and, in a voice as deep as
+Three Cows asking to be milked, he began:
+
+  ‘What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here,
+  So near the cradle of our fairy Queen?’
+
+He stopped, hollowed one hand round his ear, and, with a wicked twinkle in
+his eye, went on:
+
+  ‘What a play toward? I’ll be auditor,
+  An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.’
+
+The children looked and gasped. The small thing—he was no taller than
+Dan’s shoulder—stepped quietly into the Ring.
+
+‘I’m rather out of practice,’ said he; ‘but that’s the way my part ought
+to be played.’
+
+Still the children stared at him—from his dark blue cap, like a big
+columbine flower, to his bare, hairy feet. At last he laughed.
+
+‘Please don’t look like that. It isn’t _my_ fault. What else could you
+expect?’ he said.
+
+‘We didn’t expect any one,’ Dan answered, slowly. ‘This is our field.’
+
+‘Is it?’ said their visitor, sitting down. ‘Then what on Human Earth made
+you act _Midsummer Night’s Dream_ three times over, _on_ Midsummer Eve,
+_in_ the middle of a Ring, and under—right _under_ one of my oldest hills
+in Old England? Pook’s Hill—Puck’s Hill—Puck’s Hill—Pook’s Hill! It’s as
+plain as the nose on my face.’
+
+He pointed to the bare, fern-covered slope of Pook’s Hill that runs up
+from the far side of the mill-stream to a dark wood. Beyond that wood the
+ground rises and rises for five hundred feet, till at last you climb out
+on the bare top of Beacon Hill, to look over the Pevensey Levels and the
+Channel and half the naked South Downs.
+
+‘By Oak, Ash, and Thorn!’ he cried, still laughing. ‘If this had happened
+a few hundred years ago you’d have had all the People of the Hills out
+like bees in June!’
+
+‘We didn’t know it was wrong,’ said Dan.
+
+‘Wrong!’ The little fellow shook with laughter. ‘Indeed, it isn’t wrong.
+You’ve done something that Kings and Knights and Scholars in old days
+would have given their crowns and spurs and books to find out. If Merlin
+himself had helped you, you couldn’t have managed better! You’ve broken
+the Hills—you’ve broken the Hills! It hasn’t happened in a thousand
+years.’
+
+‘We—we didn’t mean to,’ said Una.
+
+‘Of course you didn’t! That’s just why you did it. Unluckily the Hills are
+empty now, and all the People of the Hills are gone. I’m the only one
+left. I’m Puck, the oldest Old Thing in England, very much at your service
+if—if you care to have anything to do with me. If you don’t, of course
+you’ve only to say so, and I’ll go.’
+
+He looked at the children and the children looked at him for quite half a
+minute. His eyes did not twinkle any more. They were very kind, and there
+was the beginning of a good smile on his lips.
+
+Una put out her hand. ‘Don’t go,’ she said. ‘We like you.’
+
+‘Have a Bath Oliver,’ said Dan, and he passed over the squashy envelope
+with the eggs.
+
+‘By Oak, Ash, and Thorn!’ cried Puck, taking off his blue cap, ‘I like you
+too. Sprinkle a little salt on the biscuit, Dan, and I’ll eat it with you.
+That’ll show you the sort of person I am. Some of us’—he went on, with his
+mouth full—‘couldn’t abide Salt, or Horseshoes over a door, or
+Mountain-ash berries, or Running Water, or Cold Iron, or the sound of
+Church Bells. But I’m Puck!’
+
+He brushed the crumbs carefully from his doublet and shook hands.
+
+‘We always said, Dan and I,’ Una stammered, ‘that if it ever happened we’d
+know ex-actly what to do; but—but now it seems all different somehow.’
+
+‘She means meeting a fairy,’ said Dan. ‘_I_ never believed in ’em—not
+after I was six, anyhow.’
+
+‘I did,’ said Una. ‘At least, I sort of half believed till we learned
+“Farewell Rewards.� Do you know “Farewell Rewards and Fairies�?’
+
+‘Do you mean this?’ said Puck. He threw his big head back and began at the
+second line:—
+
+    ‘Good housewives now may say,
+  For now foul sluts in dairies
+    Do fare as well as they;
+  For though they sweep their hearths no less
+
+(‘Join in, Una!’)
+
+    Than maids were wont to do,
+  Yet who of late for cleanliness
+    Finds sixpence in her shoe?’
+
+The echoes flapped all along the flat meadow.
+
+‘Of course I know it,’ he said.
+
+‘And then there’s the verse about the Rings,’ said Dan. ‘When I was little
+it always made me feel unhappy in my inside.’
+
+‘“Witness those rings and roundelays,� do you mean?’ boomed Puck, with a
+voice like a great church organ.
+
+    ‘Of theirs which yet remain,
+  Were footed in Queen Mary’s days
+    On many a grassy plain.
+  But since of late Elizabeth,
+    And later James came in,
+  Are never seen on any heath
+    As when the time hath been.
+
+‘It’s some time since I heard that sung, but there’s no good beating about
+the bush: it’s true. The People of the Hills have all left. I saw them
+come into Old England and I saw them go. Giants, trolls, kelpies,
+brownies, goblins, imps; wood, tree, mound, and water spirits;
+heath-people, hill-watchers, treasure-guards, good people, little people,
+pishogues, leprechauns, night-riders, pixies, nixies, gnomes and the
+rest—gone, all gone! I came into England with Oak, Ash, and Thorn, and
+when Oak, Ash, and Thorn are gone I shall go too.’
+
+Dan looked round the meadow—at Una’s oak by the lower gate, at the line of
+ash trees that overhang Otter Pool where the mill-stream spills over when
+the mill does not need it, and at the gnarled old white-thorn where Three
+Cows scratched their necks.
+
+‘It’s all right,’ he said; and added, ‘I’m planting a lot of acorns this
+autumn too.’
+
+‘Then aren’t you most awfully old?’ said Una.
+
+‘Not old—fairly long-lived, as folk say hereabouts. Let me see—my friends
+used to set my dish of cream for me o’ nights when Stonehenge was new.
+Yes, before the Flint Men made the Dewpond under Chanctonbury Ring.’
+
+Una clasped her hands, cried ‘Oh!’ and nodded her head.
+
+‘She’s thought a plan,’ Dan explained. ‘She always does like that when she
+thinks a plan.’
+
+‘I was thinking—suppose we saved some of our porridge and put it in the
+attic for you. They’d notice if we left it in the nursery.’
+
+‘Schoolroom,’ said Dan, quickly, and Una flushed, because they had made a
+solemn treaty that summer not to call the schoolroom the nursery any more.
+
+‘Bless your heart o’ gold!’ said Puck. ‘You’ll make a fine considering
+wench some market-day. I really don’t want you to put out a bowl for me;
+but if ever I need a bite, be sure I’ll tell you.’
+
+He stretched himself at length on the dry grass, and the children
+stretched out beside him, their bare legs waving happily in the air. They
+felt they could not be afraid of him any more than of their particular
+friend old Hobden, the hedger. He did not bother them with grown-up
+questions, or laugh at the donkey’s head, but lay and smiled to himself in
+the most sensible way.
+
+‘Have you a knife on you?’ he said at last.
+
+Dan handed over his big one-bladed outdoor knife, and Puck began to carve
+out a piece of turf from the centre of the Ring.
+
+‘What’s that for—Magic?’ said Una, as he pressed up the square of
+chocolate loam that cut like so much cheese.
+
+‘One of my little Magics,’ he answered, and cut another. ‘You see, I can’t
+let you into the Hills because the People of the Hills have gone; but if
+you care to take seizin from me, I may be able to show you something out
+of the common here on Human Earth. You certainly deserve it.’
+
+‘What’s taking seizin?’ said Dan, cautiously.
+
+‘It’s an old custom the people had when they bought and sold land. They
+used to cut out a clod and hand it over to the buyer, and you weren’t
+lawfully seized of your land—it didn’t really belong to you—till the other
+fellow had actually given you a piece of it—like this.’ He held out the
+turves.
+
+‘But it’s our own meadow,’ said Dan, drawing back. ‘Are you going to magic
+it away?’
+
+Puck laughed. ‘I know it’s your meadow, but there’s a great deal more in
+it than you or your father ever guessed. Try!’
+
+He turned his eyes on Una.
+
+‘I’ll do it,’ she said. Dan followed her example at once.
+
+‘Now are you two lawfully seized and possessed of all Old England,’ began
+Puck, in a sing-song voice. ‘By Right of Oak, Ash, and Thorn are you free
+to come and go and look and know where I shall show or best you please.
+You shall see What you shall see and you shall hear What you shall hear,
+though It shall have happened three thousand year; and you shall know
+neither Doubt nor Fear. Fast! Hold fast all I give you.’
+
+The children shut their eyes, but nothing happened.
+
+‘Well?’ said Una, disappointedly opening them. ‘I thought there would be
+dragons.’
+
+‘Though It shall have happened three thousand year,’ said Puck, and
+counted on his fingers. ‘No; I’m afraid there were no dragons three
+thousand years ago.’
+
+‘But there hasn’t happened anything at all,’ said Dan.
+
+‘Wait awhile,’ said Puck. ‘You don’t grow an oak in a year—and Old
+England’s older than twenty oaks. Let’s sit down again and think. _I_ can
+do that for a century at a time.’
+
+‘Ah, but you are a fairy,’ said Dan.
+
+‘Have you ever heard me use that word yet?’ said Puck, quickly.
+
+‘No. You talk about “the People of the Hills,� but you never say
+“fairies,�’ said Una. ‘I was wondering at that. Don’t you like it?’
+
+‘How would you like to be called “mortal� or “human being� all the time?’
+said Puck; ‘or “son of Adam� or “daughter of Eve�?’
+
+‘I shouldn’t like it at all,’ said Dan. ‘That’s how the Djinns and Afrits
+talk in the _Arabian Nights_.’
+
+‘And that’s how _I_ feel about saying—that word that I don’t say. Besides,
+what you call _them_ are made-up things the People of the Hills have never
+heard of—little buzzflies with butterfly wings and gauze petticoats, and
+shiny stars in their hair, and a wand like a schoolteacher’s cane for
+punishing bad boys and rewarding good ones. _I_ know ’em!’
+
+‘We don’t mean that sort,’ said Dan. ‘We hate ’em too.’
+
+‘Exactly,’ said Puck. ‘Can you wonder that the People of the Hills don’t
+care to be confused with that painty-winged, wand-waving,
+sugar-and-shake-your-head set of impostors? Butterfly wings, indeed! I’ve
+seen Sir Huon and a troop of his people setting off from Tintagel Castle
+for Hy-Brasil in the teeth of a sou’-westerly gale, with the spray flying
+all over the castle, and the Horses of the Hill wild with fright. Out
+they’d go in a lull, screaming like gulls, and back they’d be driven five
+good miles inland before they could come head to wind again.
+Butterfly-wings! It was Magic—Magic as black as Merlin could make it, and
+the whole sea was green fire and white foam with singing mermaids in it.
+And the Horses of the Hill picked their way from one wave to another by
+the lightning flashes! _That_ was how it was in the old days!’
+
+‘Splendid,’ said Dan, but Una shuddered.
+
+‘I’m glad they’re gone, then; but what made the People of the Hills go
+away?’ Una asked.
+
+‘Different things. I’ll tell you one of them some day—the thing that made
+the biggest flit of any,’ said Puck. ‘But they didn’t all flit at once.
+They dropped off, one by one, through the centuries. Most of them were
+foreigners who couldn’t stand our climate. _They_ flitted early.’
+
+‘How early?’ said Dan.
+
+‘A couple of thousand years or more. The fact is they began as Gods. The
+Phœnicians brought some over when they came to buy tin; and the Gauls, and
+the Jutes, and the Danes, and the Frisians, and the Angles brought more
+when they landed. They were always landing in those days, or being driven
+back to their ships, and they always brought their Gods with them. England
+is a bad country for Gods. Now, _I_ began as I mean to go on. A bowl of
+porridge, a dish of milk, and a little quiet fun with the country folk in
+the lanes was enough for me then, as it is now. I belong here, you see,
+and I have been mixed up with people all my days. But most of the others
+insisted on being Gods, and having temples, and altars, and priests, and
+sacrifices of their own.’
+
+‘People burned in wicker baskets?’ said Dan. ‘Like Miss Blake tells us
+about?’
+
+‘All sorts of sacrifices,’ said Puck. ‘If it wasn’t men, it was horses, or
+cattle, or pigs, or metheglin—that’s a sticky, sweet sort of beer. _I_
+never liked it. They were a stiff-necked, extravagant set of idols, the
+Old Things. But what was the result? Men don’t like being sacrificed at
+the best of times; they don’t even like sacrificing their farm-horses.
+After a while men simply left the Old Things alone, and the roofs of their
+temples fell in, and the Old Things had to scuttle out and pick up a
+living as they could. Some of them took to hanging about trees, and hiding
+in graves and groaning o’ nights. If they groaned loud enough and long
+enough they might frighten a poor countryman into sacrificing a hen, or
+leaving a pound of butter for them. I remember one Goddess called
+Belisama. She became a common wet water-spirit somewhere in Lancashire.
+And there were hundreds of other friends of mine. First they were Gods.
+Then they were People of the Hills, and then they flitted to other places
+because they couldn’t get on with the English for one reason or another.
+There was only one Old Thing, I remember, who honestly worked for his
+living after he came down in the world. He was called Weland, and he was a
+smith to some Gods. I’ve forgotten their names, but he used to make them
+swords and spears. I think he claimed kin with Thor of the Scandinavians.’
+
+‘_Heroes of Asgard_ Thor?’ said Una. She had been reading the book.
+
+‘Perhaps,’ answered Puck. ‘None the less, when bad times came, he didn’t
+beg or steal. He worked; and I was lucky enough to be able to do him a
+good turn.’
+
+‘Tell us about it,’ said Dan. ‘I think I like hearing of Old Things.’
+
+They rearranged themselves comfortably, each chewing a grass stem. Puck
+propped himself on one strong arm and went on:
+
+‘Let’s think! I met Weland first on a November afternoon in a sleet storm,
+on Pevensey Level——’
+
+‘Pevensey? Over the hill, you mean?’ Dan pointed south.
+
+‘Yes; but it was all marsh in those days, right up to Horsebridge and
+Hydeneye. I was on Beacon Hill—they called it Brunanburgh then—when I saw
+the pale flame that burning thatch makes, and I went down to look. Some
+pirates—I think they must have been Peofn’s men—were burning a village on
+the Levels, and Weland’s image—a big, black wooden thing with amber beads
+round its neck—lay in the bows of a black thirty-two-oar galley that they
+had just beached. Bitter cold it was! There were icicles hanging from her
+deck, and the oars were glazed over with ice, and there was ice on
+Weland’s lips. When he saw me he began a long chant in his own tongue,
+telling me how he was going to rule England, and how I should smell the
+smoke of his altars from Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight. _I_ didn’t
+care! I’d seen too many Gods charging into Old England to be upset about
+it. I let him sing himself out while his men were burning the village, and
+then I said (I don’t know what put it into my head), “Smith of the Gods,�
+I said, “the time comes when I shall meet you plying your trade for hire
+by the wayside.�’
+
+‘What did Weland say?’ said Una. ‘Was he angry?’
+
+‘He called me names and rolled his eyes, and I went away to wake up the
+people inland. But the pirates conquered the country, and for centuries
+Weland was a most important God. He had temples everywhere—from
+Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight, as he said—and his sacrifices were
+simply scandalous. To do him justice, he preferred horses to men; but men
+_or_ horses, I knew that presently he’d have to come down in the
+world—like the other Old Things. I gave him lots of time—I gave him about
+a thousand years—and at the end of ’em I went into one of his temples near
+Andover to see how he prospered. There was his altar, and there was his
+image, and there were his priests, and there were the congregation, and
+everybody seemed quite happy, except Weland and the priests. In the old
+days the congregation were unhappy until the priests had chosen their
+sacrifices; and so would _you_ have been. When the service began a priest
+rushed out, dragged a man up to the altar, pretended to hit him on the
+head with a little gilt axe, and the man fell down and pretended to die.
+Then everybody shouted: “A sacrifice to Weland! A sacrifice to Weland!�’
+
+‘And the man wasn’t really dead?’ said Una.
+
+‘Not a bit. All as much pretence as a dolls’ tea-party. Then they brought
+out a splendid white horse, and the priest cut some hair from its mane and
+tail and burned it on the altar, shouting, “A sacrifice!� That counted the
+same as if a man and a horse had been killed. I saw poor Weland’s face
+through the smoke, and I couldn’t help laughing. He looked so disgusted
+and so hungry, and all he had to satisfy himself was a horrid smell of
+burning hair. Just a dolls’ tea-party!
+
+‘I judged it better not to say anything then (’twouldn’t have been fair),
+and the next time I came to Andover, a few hundred years later, Weland and
+his temple were gone, and there was a Christian bishop in a Church there.
+None of the People of the Hills could tell me anything about him, and I
+supposed that he had left England.’ Puck turned; lay on the other elbow,
+and thought for a long time.
+
+‘Let’s see,’ he said at last. ‘It must have been some few years later—a
+year or two before the Conquest, I think—that I came back to Pook’s Hill
+here, and one evening I heard old Hobden talking about Weland’s Ford.’
+
+‘If you mean old Hobden the hedger, he’s only seventy-two. He told me so
+himself,’ said Dan. ‘He’s a intimate friend of ours.’
+
+‘You’re quite right,’ Puck replied. ‘I meant old Hobden’s ninth
+great-grandfather. He was a free man and burned charcoal hereabouts. I’ve
+known the family, father and son, so long that I get confused sometimes.
+Hob of the Dene was my Hobden’s name, and he lived at the Forge cottage.
+Of course, I pricked up my ears when I heard Weland mentioned, and I
+scuttled through the woods to the Ford just beyond Bog Wood yonder.’ He
+jerked his head westward, where the valley narrows between wooded hills
+and steep hop-fields.
+
+‘Why, that’s Willingford Bridge,’ said Una. ‘We go there for walks often.
+There’s a kingfisher there.’
+
+‘It was Weland’s Ford then, dear. A road led down to it from the Beacon on
+the top of the hill—a shocking bad road it was—and all the hillside was
+thick, thick oak-forest, with deer in it. There was no trace of Weland,
+but presently I saw a fat old farmer riding down from the Beacon under the
+greenwood tree. His horse had cast a shoe in the clay, and when he came to
+the Ford he dismounted, took a penny out of his purse, laid it on a stone,
+tied the old horse to an oak, and called out: “Smith, Smith, here is work
+for you!� Then he sat down and went to sleep. You can imagine how _I_ felt
+when I saw a white-bearded, bent old blacksmith in a leather apron creep
+out from behind the oak and begin to shoe the horse. It was Weland
+himself. I was so astonished that I jumped out and said: “What on Human
+Earth are you doing here, Weland?�’
+
+‘Poor Weland!’ sighed Una.
+
+‘He pushed the long hair back from his forehead (he didn’t recognise me at
+first). Then he said: “_You_ ought to know. You foretold it, Old Thing.
+I’m shoeing horses for hire. I’m not even Weland now,� he said. “They call
+me Wayland-Smith.�’
+
+‘Poor chap!’ said Dan. ‘What did you say?’
+
+‘What could I say? He looked up, with the horse’s foot on his lap, and he
+said, smiling, “I remember the time when I wouldn’t have accepted this old
+bag of bones as a sacrifice, and now I’m glad enough to shoe him for a
+penny.�
+
+‘“Isn’t there any way for you to get back to Valhalla, or wherever you
+come from?� I said.
+
+‘“I’m afraid not,� he said, rasping away at the hoof. He had a wonderful
+touch with horses. The old beast was whinnying on his shoulder. “You may
+remember that I was not a gentle God in my Day and my Time and my Power. I
+shall never be released till some human being truly wishes me well.�
+
+‘“Surely,� said I, “the farmer can’t do less than that. You’re shoeing the
+horse all round for him.�
+
+‘“Yes,� said he, “and my nails will hold a shoe from one full moon to the
+next. But farmers and Weald Clay,� said he, “are both uncommon cold and
+sour.�
+
+‘Would you believe it, that when that farmer woke and found his horse shod
+he rode away without one word of thanks? I was so angry that I wheeled his
+horse right round and walked him back three miles to the Beacon just to
+teach the old sinner politeness.’
+
+‘Were you invisible?’ said Una. Puck nodded, gravely.
+
+‘The Beacon was always laid in those days ready to light, in case the
+French landed at Pevensey; and I walked the horse about and about it that
+lee-long summer night. The farmer thought he was bewitched—well, he _was_,
+of course—and began to pray and shout. _I_ didn’t care! I was as good a
+Christian as he any fair-day in the County, and about four o’clock in the
+morning a young novice came along from the monastery that used to stand on
+the top of Beacon hill.’
+
+‘What’s a novice?’ said Dan.
+
+‘It really means a man who is beginning to be a monk, but in those days
+people sent their sons to a monastery just the same as a school. This
+young fellow had been to a monastery in France for a few months every
+year, and he was finishing his studies in the monastery close to his home
+here. Hugh was his name, and he had got up to go fishing hereabouts. His
+people owned all this valley. Hugh heard the farmer shouting, and asked
+him what in the world he meant. The old man spun him a wonderful tale
+about fairies and goblins and witches; and I _know_ he hadn’t seen a thing
+except rabbits and red deer all that night. (The People of the Hills are
+like otters—they don’t show except when they choose.) But the novice
+wasn’t a fool. He looked down at the horse’s feet, and saw the new shoes
+fastened as only Weland knew how to fasten ’em. (Weland had a way of
+turning down the nails that folks called the Smith’s Clinch.)
+
+‘“H’m!� said the novice. “Where did you get your horse shod?�
+
+‘The farmer wouldn’t tell him at first, because the priests never liked
+their people to have any dealings with the Old Things. At last he
+confessed that the Smith had done it. “What did you pay him?� said the
+novice. “Penny,� said the farmer, very sulkily. “That’s less than a
+Christian would have charged,� said the novice. “I hope you threw a ‘Thank
+you’ into the bargain.� “No,� said the farmer; “Wayland-Smith’s a
+heathen.� “Heathen or no heathen,� said the novice, “you took his help,
+and where you get help there you must give thanks.� “What?� said the
+farmer—he was in a furious temper because I was walking the old horse in
+circles all this time—“What, you young jackanapes?� said he. “Then by your
+reasoning I ought to say ‘Thank you’ to Satan if he helped me?� “Don’t
+roll about up there splitting reasons with me,� said the novice. “Come
+back to the Ford and thank the Smith, or you’ll be sorry.�
+
+‘Back the farmer had to go! I led the horse, though no one saw me, and the
+novice walked beside us, his gown swishing through the shiny dew and his
+fishing-rod across his shoulders spearwise. When we reached the Ford
+again—it was five o’clock and misty still under the oaks—the farmer simply
+wouldn’t say “Thank you.� He said he’d tell the Abbot that the novice
+wanted him to worship heathen gods. Then Hugh the novice lost his temper.
+He just cried, “Out!� put his arm under the farmer’s fat leg, and heaved
+him from his saddle on to the turf, and before he could rise he caught him
+by the back of the neck and shook him like a rat till the farmer growled,
+“Thank you, Wayland-Smith.�’
+
+‘Did Weland see all this?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Oh, yes, and he shouted his old war-cry when the farmer thudded on to the
+ground. He was delighted. Then the novice turned to the oak and said, “Ho!
+Smith of the Gods, I am ashamed of this rude farmer; but for all you have
+done in kindness and charity to him and to others of our people, I thank
+you and wish you well.� Then he picked up his fishing-rod—it looked more
+like a tall spear than ever—and tramped off down your valley.’
+
+‘And what did poor Weland do?’ said Una.
+
+‘He laughed and cried with joy, because he had been released at last, and
+could go away. But he was an honest Old Thing. He had worked for his
+living and he paid his debts before he left. “I shall give that novice a
+gift,� said Weland. “A gift that shall do him good the wide world over,
+and Old England after him. Blow up my fire, Old Thing, while I get the
+iron for my last task.� Then he made a sword—a dark grey, wavy-lined
+sword—and I blew the fire while he hammered. By Oak, Ash, and Thorn, I
+tell you, Weland was a Smith of the Gods! He cooled that sword in running
+water twice, and the third time he cooled it in the evening dew, and he
+laid it out in the moonlight and said Runes (that’s charms) over it, and
+he carved Runes of Prophecy on the blade. “Old Thing,� he said to me,
+wiping his forehead, “this is the best blade that Weland ever made. Even
+the user will never know how good it is. Come to the monastery.�
+
+‘We went to the dormitory where the monks slept. We saw the novice fast
+asleep in his cot, and Weland put the sword into his hand, and I remember
+the young fellow gripped it in his sleep. Then Weland strode as far as he
+dared into the Chapel and threw down all his shoeing-tools—his hammer, and
+pincers, and rasps—to show that he had done with them for ever. It sounded
+like suits of armour falling, and the sleepy monks ran in, for they
+thought the monastery had been attacked by the French. The novice came
+first of all, waving his new sword and shouting Saxon battle-cries. When
+they saw the shoeing-tools they were very bewildered, till the novice
+asked leave to speak, and told what he had done to the farmer, and what he
+had said to Wayland-Smith, and how, though the dormitory light was
+burning, he had found the wonderful rune-carved sword in his cot.
+
+‘The Abbot shook his head at first, and then he laughed and said to the
+novice: “Son Hugh, it needed no sign from a heathen God to show me that
+you will never be a monk. Take your sword, and keep your sword, and go
+with your sword, and be as gentle as you are strong and courteous. We will
+hang up the Smith’s tools before the Altar,� he said, “because, whatever
+the Smith of the Gods may have been in the old days, we know that he
+worked honestly for his living and made gifts to Mother Church.� Then they
+went to bed again, all except the novice, and he sat up in the garth
+playing with his sword. Then Weland said to me by the stables: “Farewell,
+Old Thing; you had the right of it. You saw me come to England, and you
+see me go. Farewell!�
+
+‘With that he strode down the hill to the corner of the Great Woods—Woods
+Corner, you call it now—to the very place where he had first landed—and I
+heard him moving through the thickets towards Horsebridge for a little,
+and then he was gone. That was how it happened. I saw it.’
+
+Both children drew a long breath.
+
+‘But what happened to Hugh the novice?’ said Una.
+
+‘And the sword?’ said Dan.
+
+Puck looked down the meadow that lay all quiet and cool in the shadow of
+Pook’s Hill. A corncrake jarred in a hay-field near by, and the small
+trouts of the brook began to jump. A big white moth flew unsteadily from
+the alders and flapped round the children’s heads, and the least little
+haze of water-mist rose from the brook.
+
+‘Do you really want to know?’ Puck said.
+
+‘We do,’ cried the children. ‘Awfully!’
+
+‘Very good. I promised you that you shall see What you shall see, and you
+shall hear What you shall hear, though It shall have happened three
+thousand year; but just now it seems to me that, unless you go back to the
+house, people will be looking for you. I’ll walk with you as far as the
+gate.’
+
+‘Will you be here when we come again?’ they asked.
+
+‘Surely, sure-ly,’ said Puck. ‘I’ve been here some time already. One
+minute first, please.’
+
+He gave them each three leaves—one of Oak, one of Ash, and one of Thorn.
+
+‘Bite these,’ said he. ‘Otherwise you might be talking at home of what
+you’ve seen and heard, and—if I know human beings—they’d send for the
+doctor. Bite!’
+
+They bit hard, and found themselves walking side by side to the lower
+gate. Their father was leaning over it.
+
+‘And how did your play go?’ he asked.
+
+‘Oh, splendidly,’ said Dan. ‘Only afterwards, I think, we went to sleep.
+It was very hot and quiet. Don’t you remember, Una?’
+
+Una shook her head and said nothing.
+
+‘I see,’ said her father.
+
+  ‘Late—late in the evening Kilmeny came home,
+  For Kilmeny had been she could not tell where,
+  And Kilmeny had seen what she could not declare.
+
+But why are you chewing leaves at your time of life, daughter? For fun?’
+
+‘No. It was for something, but I can’t azactly remember,’ said Una.
+
+And neither of them could till—
+
+
+
+
+A TREE SONG
+
+
+  _Of all the trees that grow so fair,_
+    _Old England to adorn,_
+  _Greater are none beneath the Sun,_
+    _Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn._
+  _Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good Sirs_
+    _(All of a Midsummer morn)!_
+  _Surely we sing no little thing,_
+    _In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Oak of the Clay lived many a day,_
+    _Or ever Æneas began;_
+  _Ash of the Loam was a lady at home,_
+    _When Brut was an outlaw man;_
+  _Thorn of the Down saw New Troy Town_
+    _(From which was London born);_
+  _Witness hereby the ancientry_
+    _Of Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Yew that is old in churchyard mould,_
+    _He breedeth a mighty bow;_
+  _Alder for shoes do wise men choose,_
+    _And beech for cups also._
+  _But when ye have killed, and your bowl is spilled,_
+    _And your shoes are clean outworn,_
+  _Back ye must speed for all that ye need,_
+    _To Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Ellum she hateth mankind, and waiteth_
+    _Till every gust be laid,_
+  _To drop a limb on the head of him,_
+    _That anyway trusts her shade_
+  _But whether a lad be sober or sad,_
+    _Or mellow with ale from the horn,_
+  _He will take no wrong when he lieth along_
+    _’Neath Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight,_
+    _Or he would call it a sin;_
+  _But—we have been out in the woods all night_
+    _A-conjuring Summer in!_
+  _And we bring you news by word of mouth—_
+    _Good news for cattle and corn—_
+  _Now is the Sun come up from the South,_
+    _With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good Sirs_
+    _(All of a Midsummer morn)!_
+  _England shall bide till Judgment Tide,_
+    _By Oak, and Ash and Thorn!_
+
+
+
+
+
+YOUNG MEN AT THE MANOR
+
+
+
+
+YOUNG MEN AT THE MANOR
+
+
+They were fishing, a few days later, in the bed of the brook that for
+centuries had cut deep into the soft valley soil. The trees closing
+overhead made long tunnels through which the sunshine worked in blobs and
+patches. Down in the tunnels were bars of sand and gravel, old roots and
+trunks covered with moss or painted red by the irony water; foxgloves
+growing lean and pale towards the light; clumps of fern and thirsty shy
+flowers who could not live away from moisture and shade. In the pools you
+could see the wave thrown up by the trouts as they charged hither and yon,
+and the pools were joined to each other—except in flood time, when all was
+one brown rush—by sheets of thin broken water that poured themselves
+chuckling round the darkness of the next bend.
+
+This was one of the children’s most secret hunting-grounds, and their
+particular friend, old Hobden the hedger, had shown them how to use it.
+Except for the click of a rod hitting a low willow, or a switch and tussle
+among the young ash-leaves as a line hung up for the minute, nobody in the
+hot pasture could have guessed what game was going on among the trouts
+below the banks.
+
+‘We’s got half-a-dozen,’ said Dan, after a warm, wet hour. ‘I vote we go
+up to Stone Bay and try Long Pool.’
+
+Una nodded—most of her talk was by nods—and they crept from the gloom of
+the tunnels towards the tiny weir that turns the brook into the
+mill-stream. Here the banks are low and bare, and the glare of the
+afternoon sun on the Long Pool below the weir makes your eyes ache.
+
+When they were in the open they nearly fell down with astonishment. A huge
+grey horse, whose tail-hairs crinkled the glassy water, was drinking in
+the pool, and the ripples about his muzzle flashed like melted gold. On
+his back sat an old, white-haired man dressed in a loose glimmery gown of
+chain-mail. He was bareheaded, and a nut-shaped iron helmet hung at his
+saddle-bow. His reins were of red leather five or six inches deep,
+scalloped at the edges, and his high padded saddle with its red girths was
+held fore and aft by a red leather breastband and crupper.
+
+‘Look!’ said Una, as though Dan were not staring his very eyes out. ‘It’s
+like the picture in your room—“Sir Isumbras at the Ford.�’
+
+The rider turned towards them, and his thin, long face was just as sweet
+and gentle as that of the knight who carries the children in that picture.
+
+‘They should be here now, Sir Richard,’ said Puck’s deep voice among the
+willow-herb.
+
+‘They are here,’ the knight said, and he smiled at Dan with the string of
+trouts in his hand. ‘There seems no great change in boys since mine fished
+this water.’
+
+‘If your horse has drunk, we shall be more at ease in the Ring,’ said
+Puck; and he nodded to the children as though he had never magicked away
+their memories the week before.
+
+The great horse turned and hoisted himself into the pasture with a kick
+and a scramble that tore the clods down rattling.
+
+‘Your pardon!’ said Sir Richard to Dan. ‘When these lands were mine, I
+never loved that mounted men should cross the brook except by the paved
+ford. But my Swallow here was thirsty, and I wished to meet you.’
+
+‘We’re very glad you’ve come, sir,’ said Dan. ‘It doesn’t matter in the
+least about the banks.’
+
+He trotted across the pasture on the sword-side of the mighty horse, and
+it was a mighty iron-handled sword that swung from Sir Richard’s belt. Una
+walked behind with Puck. She remembered everything now.
+
+‘I’m sorry about the Leaves,’ he said, ‘but it would never have done if
+you had gone home and told, would it?’
+
+‘I s’pose not,’ Una answered. ‘But you said that all the fair—People of
+the Hills had left England.’
+
+‘So they have; but I told you that you should come and go and look and
+know, didn’t I? The knight isn’t a fairy. He’s Sir Richard Dalyngridge, a
+very old friend of mine. He came over with William the Conqueror, and he
+wants to see you particularly.’
+
+‘What for?’ said Una.
+
+‘On account of your great wisdom and learning,’ Puck replied, without a
+twinkle.
+
+‘Us?’ said Una. ‘Why, I don’t know my Nine Times—not to say it dodging;
+and Dan makes the most _awful_ mess of fractions. He can’t mean _us_!’
+
+‘Una!’ Dan called back. ‘Sir Richard says he is going to tell what
+happened to Weland’s sword. He’s got it. Isn’t it splendid?’
+
+‘Nay—nay,’ said Sir Richard, dismounting as they reached the Ring, in the
+bend of the mill-stream bank. ‘It is you that must tell me, for I hear the
+youngest child in our England to-day is as wise as our wisest clerk.’ He
+slipped the bit out of Swallow’s mouth, dropped the ruby-red reins over
+his head, and the wise horse moved off to graze.
+
+Sir Richard (they noticed he limped a little) unslung his great sword.
+
+‘That’s it,’ Dan whispered to Una.
+
+‘This is the sword that Brother Hugh had from Wayland-Smith,’ Sir Richard
+said. ‘Once he gave it to me, but I would not take it; but at the last it
+became mine after such a fight as never christened man fought. See!’ He
+half drew it from its sheath and turned it before them. On either side
+just below the handle, where the Runic letters shivered as though they
+were alive, were two deep gouges in the dull, deadly steel. ‘Now, what
+Thing made those?’ said he. ‘I know not, but you, perhaps, can say.’
+
+‘Tell them all the tale, Sir Richard,’ said Puck. ‘It concerns their land
+somewhat.’
+
+‘Yes, from the very beginning,’ Una pleaded, for the knight’s good face
+and the smile on it more than ever reminded her of ‘Sir Isumbras at the
+Ford.’
+
+They settled down to listen, Sir Richard bare-headed to the sunshine,
+dandling the sword in both hands, while the grey horse cropped outside the
+Ring, and the helmet on the saddle-bow clinged softly each time he jerked
+his head.
+
+‘From the beginning, then,’ Sir Richard said, ‘since it concerns your
+land, I will tell the tale. When our Duke came out of Normandy to take his
+England, great knights (have ye heard?) came and strove hard to serve the
+Duke, because he promised them lands here, and small knights followed the
+great ones. My folk in Normandy were poor; but a great knight, Engerrard
+of the Eagle—Engenulf De Aquila—who was kin to my father, followed the
+Earl of Mortain, who followed William the Duke, and I followed De Aquila.
+Yes, with thirty men-at-arms out of my father’s house and a new sword, I
+set out to conquer England three days after I was made knight. I did not
+then know that England would conquer me. We went up to Santlache with the
+rest—a very great host of us.’
+
+‘Does that mean the Battle of Hastings—Ten Sixty-Six?’ Una whispered, and
+Puck nodded, so as not to interrupt.
+
+‘At Santlache, over the hill yonder’—he pointed south-eastward towards
+Fairlight—‘we found Harold’s men. We fought. At the day’s end they ran. My
+men went with De Aquila’s to chase and plunder, and in that chase
+Engerrard of the Eagle was slain, and his son Gilbert took his banner and
+his men forward. This I did not know till after, for Swallow here was cut
+in the flank, so I stayed to wash the wound at a brook by a thorn. There a
+single Saxon cried out to me in French, and we fought together. I should
+have known his voice, but we fought together. For a long time neither had
+any advantage, till by pure ill-fortune his foot slipped and his sword
+flew from his hand. Now I had but newly been made knight, and wished,
+above all, to be courteous and fameworthy, so I forebore to strike and
+bade him get his sword again. “A plague on my sword,� said he. “It has
+lost me my first fight. You have spared my life. Take my sword.� He held
+it out to me, but as I stretched my hand the sword groaned like a stricken
+man, and I leaped back crying, “Sorcery!�
+
+[The children looked at the sword as though it might speak again.]
+
+‘Suddenly a clump of Saxons ran out upon me and, seeing a Norman alone,
+would have killed me, but my Saxon cried out that I was his prisoner, and
+beat them off. Thus, see you, he saved my life. He put me on my horse and
+led me through the woods ten long miles to this valley.’
+
+‘To here, d’you mean?’ said Una.
+
+‘To this very valley. We came in by the Lower Ford under the King’s Hill
+yonder’—he pointed eastward where the valley widens.
+
+‘And was that Saxon Hugh the novice?’ Dan asked.
+
+‘Yes, and more than that. He had been for three years at the monastery at
+Bec by Rouen, where’—Sir Richard chuckled—‘the Abbot Herluin would not
+suffer me to remain.’
+
+‘Why wouldn’t he?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Because I rode my horse into the refectory, when the scholars were at
+meat, to show the Saxon boys we Normans were not afraid of an abbot. It
+was that very Saxon Hugh tempted me to do it, and we had not met since
+that day. I thought I knew his voice even inside my helmet, and, for all
+that our Lords fought, we each rejoiced we had not slain the other. He
+walked by my side, and he told me how a Heathen God, as he believed, had
+given him his sword, but he said he had never heard it sing before. I
+remember I warned him to beware of sorcery and quick enchantments.’ Sir
+Richard smiled to himself. ‘I was very young—very young!
+
+‘When we came to his house here we had almost forgotten that we had been
+at blows. It was near midnight, and the Great Hall was full of men and
+women waiting news. There I first saw his sister, the Lady Ælueva, of whom
+he had spoken to us in France. She cried out fiercely at me, and would
+have had me hanged in that hour, but her brother said that I had spared
+his life—he said not how he saved mine from his Saxons—and that our Duke
+had won the day; and even while they wrangled over my poor body, of a
+sudden he fell down in a swoon from his wounds.
+
+‘“This is _thy fault_,� said the Lady Ælueva to me, and she kneeled above
+him and called for wine and cloths.
+
+‘“If I had known,� I answered, “he should have ridden and I walked. But he
+set me on my horse; he made no complaint; he walked beside me and spoke
+merrily throughout. I pray I have done him no harm.�
+
+‘“Thou hast need to pray,� she said, catching up her underlip. “If he
+dies, thou shalt hang!�
+
+‘They bore off Hugh to his chamber; but three tall men of the house bound
+me and set me under the beam of the Great Hall with a rope round my neck.
+The end of the rope they flung over the beam, and they sat them down by
+the fire to wait word whether Hugh lived or died. They cracked nuts with
+their knife-hilts the while.’
+
+‘And how did you feel?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Very weary; but I did heartily pray for my schoolmate Hugh his health.
+About noon I heard horses in the valley, and the three men loosed my ropes
+and fled out, and De Aquila’s men rode up. Gilbert de Aquila came with
+them, for it was his boast that, like his father, he forgot no man that
+served him. He was little, like his father, but terrible, with a nose like
+an eagle’s nose and yellow eyes like an eagle. He rode tall
+war-horses—roans, which he bred himself—and he could never abide to be
+helped into the saddle. He saw the rope hanging from the beam and laughed,
+and his men laughed, for I was too stiff to rise.
+
+‘“This is poor entertainment for a Norman knight,� he said, “but, such as
+it is, let us be grateful. Show me, boy, to whom thou owest most, and we
+will pay them out of hand.�’
+
+‘What did he mean? To kill ’em?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Assuredly. But I looked at the Lady Ælueva where she stood among her
+maids, and her brother beside her. De Aquila’s men had driven them all
+into the Great Hall.’
+
+‘Was she pretty?’ said Una.
+
+‘In all my life I had never seen woman fit to strew rushes before my Lady
+Ælueva,’ the knight replied, quite simply and quietly. ‘As I looked at her
+I thought I might save her and her house by a jest.
+
+‘“Seeing that I came somewhat hastily and without warning,� said I to De
+Aquila, “I have no fault to find with the courtesy that these Saxons have
+shown me.� But my voice shook. It is—it was not good to jest with that
+little man.
+
+‘All were silent awhile, till De Aquila laughed. “Look, men—a miracle!�
+said he. “The fight is scarce sped, my father is not yet buried, and here
+we find our youngest knight already set down in his Manor, while his
+Saxons—ye can see it in their fat faces—have paid him homage and service!
+By the Saints,� he said, rubbing his nose, “I never thought England would
+be so easy won! Surely I can do no less than give the lad what he has
+taken. This Manor shall be thine, boy,� he said, “till I come again, or
+till thou art slain. Now, mount, men, and ride. We follow our Duke into
+Kent to make him King of England.�
+
+‘He drew me with him to the door while they brought his horse—a lean roan,
+taller than my Swallow here, but not so well girthed.
+
+‘“Hark to me,� he said, fretting with his great war-gloves. “I have given
+thee this Manor, which is a Saxon hornets’ nest, and I think thou wilt be
+slain in a month—as my father was slain. Yet if thou canst keep the roof
+on the hall, the thatch on the barn, and the plough in the furrow till I
+come back, thou shalt hold the Manor from me; for the Duke has promised
+our Earl Mortain all the lands by Pevensey, and Mortain will give me of
+them what he would have given my father. God knows if thou or I shall live
+till England is won; but remember, boy, that here and now fighting is
+foolishness and�—he reached for the reins—“craft and cunning is all.�
+
+‘“Alas, I have no cunning,� said I.
+
+‘“Not yet,� said he, hopping abroad, foot in stirrup, and poking his horse
+in the belly with his toe. “Not yet, but I think thou hast a good teacher.
+Farewell! Hold the Manor and live. Lose the Manor and hang,� he said, and
+spurred out, his shield-straps squeaking behind him.
+
+‘So, children, here was I, little more than a boy, and Santlache fight not
+two days old, left alone with my thirty men-at-arms, in a land I knew not,
+among a people whose tongue I could not speak, to hold down the land which
+I had taken from them.’
+
+‘And that was here at home?’ said Una.
+
+‘Yes, here. See! From the Upper Ford, Weland’s Ford, to the Lower Ford, by
+the Belle Allée, west and east it ran half a league. From the Beacon of
+Brunanburgh behind us here, south and north it ran a full league—and all
+the woods were full of broken men from Santlache, Saxon thieves, Norman
+plunderers, robbers, and deerstealers. A hornets’ nest indeed!
+
+‘When De Aquila had gone, Hugh would have thanked me for saving their
+lives; but Lady Ælueva said that I had done it only for the sake of
+receiving the Manor.
+
+‘“How could I know that De Aquila would give it me?� I said. “If I had
+told him I had spent my night in your halter he would have burned the
+place twice over by now.�
+
+‘“If any man had put _my_ neck in a rope,� she said, “I would have seen
+his house burned thrice over before _I_ would have made terms.�
+
+‘“But it was a woman,� I said; and I laughed and she wept and said that I
+mocked her in her captivity.
+
+‘“Lady,� said I, “there is no captive in this valley except one, and he is
+not a Saxon.�
+
+‘At this she cried that I was a Norman thief, who came with false, sweet
+words, having intended from the first to turn her out in the fields to beg
+her bread. Into the fields! She had never seen the face of war!
+
+‘I was angry, and answered, “This much at least I can disprove, for I
+swear�—and on my sword-hilt I swore it in that place—“I swear I will never
+set foot in the Great Hall till the Lady Ælueva herself shall summon me
+there.�
+
+‘She went away, saying nothing, and I walked out, and Hugh limped after
+me, whistling dolorously (that is a custom of the English), and we came
+upon the three Saxons that had bound me. They were now bound by my
+men-at-arms, and behind them stood some fifty stark and sullen churls of
+the House and the Manor, waiting to see what should fall. We heard De
+Aquila’s trumpets blow thin through the woods Kentward.
+
+‘“Shall we hang these?� said my men.
+
+‘“Then my churls will fight,� said Hugh, beneath his breath; but I bade
+him ask the three what mercy they hoped for.
+
+‘“None,� said they all. “She bade us hang thee if our master died. And we
+would have hanged thee. There is no more to it.�
+
+‘As I stood doubting a woman ran down from the oak wood above the King’s
+Hill yonder, and cried out that some Normans were driving off the swine
+there.
+
+‘“Norman or Saxon,� said I, “we must beat them back, or they will rob us
+every day. Out at them with any arms ye have!� So I loosed those three
+carles and we ran together, my men-at-arms and the Saxons with bills and
+bows which they had hidden in the thatch of their huts, and Hugh led them.
+Half-way up the King’s Hill we found a false fellow from Picardy—a sutler
+that sold wine in the Duke’s camp—with a dead knight’s shield on his arm,
+a stolen horse under him, and some ten or twelve wastrels at his tail, all
+cutting and slashing at the pigs. We beat them off, and saved our pork.
+One hundred and seventy pigs we saved in that great battle.’ Sir Richard
+laughed.
+
+‘That, then, was our first work together, and I bade Hugh tell his folk
+that so would I deal with any man, knight or churl, Norman or Saxon, who
+stole as much as one egg from our valley. Said he to me, riding home:
+“Thou hast gone far to conquer England this evening.� I answered: “England
+must be thine and mine, then. Help me, Hugh, to deal aright with this
+people. Make them to know that if they slay me De Aquila will surely send
+to slay them, and he will put a worse man in my place.� “That may well be
+true,� said he, and gave me his hand. “Better the devil we know than the
+devil we know not, till we can pack you Normans home.� And so, too, said
+his Saxons; and they laughed as we drove the pigs downhill. But I think
+some of them, even then, began not to hate me.’
+
+‘I like Brother Hugh,’ said Una, softly.
+
+‘Beyond question he was the most perfect, courteous, valiant, tender, and
+wise knight that ever drew breath,’ said Richard, caressing the sword. ‘He
+hung up his sword—this sword—on the wall of the Great Hall, because he
+said it was fairly mine, and never he took it down till De Aquila
+returned, as I shall presently show. For three months his men and mine
+guarded the valley, till all robbers and nightwalkers learned there was
+nothing to get from us save hard tack and a hanging. Side by side we
+fought against all who came—thrice a week sometimes we fought—against
+thieves and landless knights looking for good manors. Then we were in some
+peace, and I made shift by Hugh’s help to govern the valley—for all this
+valley of yours was my Manor—as a knight should. I kept the roof on the
+hall and the thatch on the barn, but.... The English are a bold people.
+His Saxons would laugh and jest with Hugh, and Hugh with them, and—this
+was marvellous to me—if even the meanest of them said that such and such a
+thing was the Custom of the Manor, then straightway would Hugh and such
+old men of the Manor as might be near forsake everything else to debate
+the matter—I have seen them stop the mill with the corn half ground—and if
+the custom or usage were proven to be as it was said, why, that was the
+end of it, even though it were flat against Hugh, his wish and command.
+Wonderful!’
+
+‘Aye,’ said Puck, breaking in for the first time. ‘The Custom of Old
+England was here before your Norman knights came, and it outlasted them,
+though they fought against it cruel.’
+
+‘Not I,’ said Richard. ‘I let the Saxons go their stubborn way, but when
+my own men-at-arms, Normans not six months in England, stood up and told
+me what was the custom of the country, _then_ I was angry. Ah, good days!
+Ah, wonderful people! And I loved them all.’
+
+The knight lifted his arms as though he would hug the whole dear valley,
+and Swallow, hearing the chink of his chain-mail, looked up and whinnied
+softly.
+
+‘At last,’ he went on, ‘after a year of striving and contriving and some
+little driving, De Aquila came to the valley, alone and without warning. I
+saw him first at the Lower Ford, with a swine-herd’s brat on his
+saddle-bow.
+
+‘“There is no need for thee to give any account of thy stewardship,� said
+he. “I have it all from the child here.� And he told me how the young
+thing had stopped his tall horse at the Ford, by waving of a branch, and
+crying that the way was barred. “And if one bold, bare babe be enough to
+guard the Ford in these days, thou hast done well,� said he, and puffed
+and wiped his head.
+
+He pinched the child’s cheek, and looked at our cattle in the flat by the
+brook.
+
+‘“Both fat,� said he, rubbing his nose. “This is craft and cunning such as
+I love. What did I tell thee when I rode away, boy?�
+
+‘“Hold the Manor or hang,� said I. I had never forgotten it.
+
+‘“True. And thou hast held.� He clambered from his saddle and with sword’s
+point cut out a turf from the bank and gave it me where I kneeled.’
+
+Dan looked at Una, and Una looked at Dan.
+
+‘That’s seizin,’ said Puck, in a whisper.
+
+‘“Now thou art lawfully seized of the Manor, Sir Richard,� said he—’twas
+the first time he ever called me that—“thou and thy heirs for ever. This
+must serve till the King’s clerks write out thy title on a parchment.
+England is all ours—if we can hold it.�
+
+‘“What service shall I pay?� I asked, and I remember I was proud beyond
+words.
+
+‘“Knight’s fee, boy, knight’s fee!� said he, hopping round his horse on
+one foot. (Have I said he was little, and could not endure to be helped to
+his saddle?) “Six mounted men or twelve archers thou shalt send me
+whenever I call for them, and—where got you that corn?� said he, for it
+was near harvest, and our corn stood well. “I have never seen such bright
+straw. Send me three bags of the same seed yearly, and furthermore, in
+memory of our last meeting—with the rope round thy neck—entertain me and
+my men for two days of each year in the Great Hall of thy Manor.�
+
+‘“Alas!� said I, “then my Manor is already forfeit. I am under vow not to
+enter the Great Hall.� And I told him what I had sworn to the Lady
+Ælueva.’
+
+‘And hadn’t you ever been into the house since?’ said Una.
+
+‘Never,’ Sir Richard answered smiling. ‘I had made me a little hut of wood
+up the hill, and there I did justice and slept.... De Aquila wheeled
+aside, and his shield shook on his back. “No matter, boy,� said he. “I
+will remit the homage for a year.�’
+
+‘He meant Sir Richard needn’t give him dinner there the first year,’ Puck
+explained.
+
+‘De Aquila stayed with me in the hut and Hugh, who could read and write
+and cast accounts, showed him the roll of the Manor, in which were written
+all the names of our fields and men, and he asked a thousand questions
+touching the land, the timber, the grazing, the mill, and the fish-ponds,
+and the worth of every man in the valley. But never he named the Lady
+Ælueva’s name, nor went he near the Great Hall. By night he drank with us
+in the hut. Yes, he sat on the straw like an eagle ruffled in her
+feathers, his yellow eyes rolling above the cup, and he pounced in his
+talk like an eagle, swooping from one thing to another, but always binding
+fast. Yes; he would lie still awhile, and then rustle in the straw, and
+speak sometimes as though he were King William himself, and anon he would
+speak in parables and tales, and if at once we saw not his meaning he
+would yerk us in the ribs with his scabbarded sword.
+
+‘“Look you, boys,� said he, “I am born out of my due time. Five hundred
+years ago I would have made all England such an England as neither Dane,
+Saxon, nor Norman should have conquered. Five hundred years hence I should
+have been such a councillor to Kings as the world hath never dreamed of.
+’Tis all here,� said he, tapping his big head, “but it hath no play in
+this black age. Now Hugh here is a better man than thou art, Richard.� He
+had made his voice harsh and croaking, like a raven’s.
+
+‘“Truth,� said I. “But for Hugh, his help and patience and long-suffering,
+I could never have kept the Manor.�
+
+‘“Nor thy life either,� said De Aquila. “Hugh has saved thee not once, but
+a hundred times. Be still, Hugh!� he said. “Dost thou know, Richard, why
+Hugh slept, and why he still sleeps, among thy Norman men-at-arms?�
+
+‘“To be near me,� said I, for I thought this was truth.
+
+‘“Fool!� said De Aquila. “It is because his Saxons have begged him to rise
+against thee, and to sweep every Norman out of the valley. No matter how I
+know. It is truth. Therefore Hugh hath made himself an hostage for thy
+life, well knowing that if any harm befell thee from his Saxons thy
+Normans would slay him without remedy. And this his Saxons know. It is
+true, Hugh?�
+
+‘“In some sort,� said Hugh, shamefacedly; “at least, it was true half a
+year ago. My Saxons would not harm Richard now. I think they know him; but
+I judged it best to make sure.�
+
+‘Look, children, what that man had done—and I had never guessed it! Night
+after night had he lain down among my men-at-arms, knowing that if one
+Saxon had lifted knife against me his life would have answered for mine.
+
+‘“Yes,� said De Aquila. “And he is a swordless man.� He pointed to Hugh’s
+belt, for Hugh had put away his sword—did I tell you?—the day after it
+flew from his hand at Santlache. He carried only the short knife and the
+long-bow. “Swordless and landless art thou, Hugh; and they call thee kin
+to Earl Godwin.� (Hugh was indeed of Godwin’s blood.) “The Manor that was
+thine was given to this boy and to his children for ever. Sit up and beg,
+for he can turn thee out like a dog, Hugh!�
+
+‘Hugh said nothing, but I heard his teeth grind, and I bade De Aquila, my
+own overlord, hold his peace, or I would stuff his words down his throat.
+Then De Aquila laughed till the tears ran down his face.
+
+‘“I warned the King,� said he, “what would come of giving England to us
+Norman thieves. Here art thou, Richard, less than two days confirmed in
+thy Manor, and already thou hast risen against thy overlord. What shall we
+do to him, _Sir_ Hugh?�
+
+‘“I am a swordless man,� said Hugh. “Do not jest with me,� and he laid his
+head on his knees and groaned.
+
+‘“The greater fool thou,� said De Aquila, and all his voice changed; “for
+I have given thee the Manor of Dallington up the hill this half-hour
+since,� and he yerked at Hugh with his scabbard across the straw.
+
+‘“To me?� said Hugh. “I am a Saxon, and, except that I love Richard here,
+I have not sworn fealty to any Norman.�
+
+‘“In God’s good time, which because of my sins I shall not live to see,
+there will be neither Saxon nor Norman in England,� said De Aquila. “If I
+know men, thou art more faithful unsworn than a score of Normans I could
+name. Take Dallington, and join Sir Richard to fight me to-morrow, if it
+please thee!�
+
+‘“Nay,� said Hugh. “I am no child. Where I take a gift, there I render
+service�; and he put his hands between De Aquila’s, and swore to be
+faithful, and, as I remember, I kissed him, and De Aquila kissed us both.
+
+‘We sat afterwards outside the hut while the sun rose, and De Aquila
+marked our churls going to their work in the fields, and talked of holy
+things, and how we should govern our Manors in time to come, and of
+hunting and of horse-breeding, and of the King’s wisdom and unwisdom; for
+he spoke to us as though we were in all sorts now his brothers. Anon a
+churl stole up to me—he was one of the three I had not hanged a year
+ago—and he bellowed—which is the Saxon for whispering—that the Lady Ælueva
+would speak to me at the Great House. She walked abroad daily in the
+Manor, and it was her custom to send me word whither she went, that I
+might set an archer or two behind and in front to guard her. Very often I
+myself lay up in the woods and watched on her also.
+
+‘I went swiftly, and as I passed the great door it opened from within, and
+there stood my Lady Ælueva, and she said to me: “Sir Richard, will it
+please you enter your Great Hall?� Then she wept, but we were alone.’
+
+The knight was silent for a long time, his face turned across the valley,
+smiling.
+
+‘Oh, well done!’ said Una, and clapped her hands very softly. ‘She was
+sorry, and she said so.’
+
+‘Aye, she was sorry, and she said so,’ said Sir Richard, coming back with
+a little start. ‘Very soon—but _he_ said it was two full hours later—De
+Aquila rode to the door, with his shield new scoured (Hugh had cleansed
+it), and demanded entertainment, and called me a false knight, that would
+starve his overlord to death. Then Hugh cried out that no man should work
+in the valley that day, and our Saxons blew horns, and set about feasting
+and drinking, and running of races, and dancing and singing; and De Aquila
+climbed upon a horse-block and spoke to them in what he swore was good
+Saxon, but no man understood it. At night we feasted in the Great Hall,
+and when the harpers and the singers were gone we four sat late at the
+high table. As I remember, it was a warm night with a full moon, and De
+Aquila bade Hugh take down his sword from the wall again, for the honour
+of the Manor of Dallington, and Hugh took it gladly enough. Dust lay on
+the hilt, for I saw him blow it off.
+
+‘She and I sat talking a little apart, and at first we thought the harpers
+had come back, for the Great Hall was filled with a rushing noise of
+music. De Aquila leaped up; but there was only the moonlight fretty on the
+floor.
+
+‘“Hearken!� said Hugh. “It is my sword,� and as he belted it on the music
+ceased.
+
+‘“Over Gods, forbid that I should ever belt blade like that,� said De
+Aquila. “What does it foretell?�
+
+‘“The Gods that made it may know. Last time it spoke was at Hastings, when
+I lost all my lands. Belike it sings now that I have new lands and am a
+man again,� said Hugh.
+
+‘He loosed the blade a little and drove it back happily into the sheath,
+and the sword answered him low and crooningly, as—as a woman would speak
+to a man, her head on his shoulder.
+
+‘Now that was the second time in all my life I heard this Sword sing.’...
+
+
+
+‘Look!’ said Una. ‘There’s mother coming down the Long Slip. What will she
+say to Sir Richard? She can’t help seeing him.’
+
+‘And Puck can’t magic us this time,’ said Dan.
+
+‘Are you sure?’ said Puck; and he leaned forward and whispered to Sir
+Richard, who, smiling, bowed his head.
+
+‘But what befell the sword and my brother Hugh I will tell on another
+time,’ said he, rising. ‘Ohé, Swallow!’
+
+The great horse cantered up from the far end of the meadow, close to
+mother.
+
+They heard mother say: ‘Children, Gleason’s old horse has broken into the
+meadow again. Where did he get through?’
+
+‘Just below Stone Bay,’ said Dan. ‘He tore down simple flobs of the bank!
+We noticed it just now. And we’ve caught no end of fish. We’ve been at it
+all the afternoon.’
+
+And they honestly believed that they had. They never noticed the Oak, Ash,
+and Thorn leaves that Puck had slyly thrown into their laps.
+
+
+
+
+SIR RICHARD’S SONG
+
+
+  _I followed my Duke ere I was a lover,_
+    _To take from England fief and fee;_
+  _But now this game is the other way over—_
+    _But now England hath taken me!_
+
+  _I had my horse, my shield and banner,_
+    _And a boy’s heart, so whole and free;_
+  _But now I sing in another manner—_
+    _But now England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my Father in his tower,_
+    _Asking news of my ship at sea;_
+  _He will remember his own hour—_
+    _Tell him England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my Mother in her bower,_
+    _That rules my Father so cunningly;_
+  _She will remember a maiden’s power—_
+    _Tell her England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my Brother in Rouen city,_
+    _A nimble and naughty page is he;_
+  _But he will come to suffer and pity—_
+    _Tell him England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my little Sister waiting_
+    _In the pleasant orchards of Normandie;_
+  _Tell her youth is the time for mating—_
+    _Tell her England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my Comrades in camp and highway,_
+    _That lift their eyebrows scornfully;_
+  _Tell them their way is not my way—_
+    _Tell them England hath taken me!_
+
+  _Kings and Princes and Barons famed,_
+    _Knights and Captains in your degree;_
+  _Hear me a little before I am blamed—_
+    _Seeing England hath taken me!_
+
+  _Howso great man’s strength be reckoned,_
+    _There are two things he cannot flee;_
+  _Love is the first, and Death is the second—_
+    _And Love, in England, hath taken me!_
+
+
+
+
+
+THE KNIGHTS OF THE JOYOUS VENTURE
+
+
+
+
+HARP SONG OF THE DANE WOMEN
+
+
+  _What is a woman that you forsake her,_
+  _And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,_
+  _To go with the old grey Widow-maker_?
+
+  _She has no house to lay a guest in—_
+  _But one chill bed for all to rest in,_
+  _That the pale suns and the stray bergs nest in._
+
+  _She has no strong white arms to fold you,_
+  _But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you_
+  _Bound on the rocks where the tide has rolled you._
+
+  _Yet, when the signs of summer thicken,_
+  _And the ice breaks, and the birch-buds quicken,_
+  _Yearly you turn from our side, and sicken—_
+
+  _Sicken again for the shouts and the slaughters,_
+  _You steal away to the lapping waters,_
+  _And look at your ship in her winter quarters._
+
+  _You forget our mirth, and talk at the tables,_
+  _The kine in the shed and the horse in the stables—_
+  _To pitch her sides and go over her cables!_
+
+  _Then you drive out where the storm-clouds swallow:_
+  _And the sound of your oar-blades falling hollow,_
+  _Is all we have left through the months to follow!_
+
+  _Ah, what is Woman that you forsake her,_
+  _And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,_
+  _To go with the old grey Widow-maker?_
+
+
+
+
+THE KNIGHTS OF THE JOYOUS VENTURE
+
+
+It was too hot to run about in the open, so Dan asked their friend, old
+Hobden, to take their own dinghy from the pond and put her on the brook at
+the bottom of the garden. Her painted name was the _Daisy_, but for
+exploring expeditions she was the _Golden Hind_ or the _Long Serpent_, or
+some such suitable name. Dan hiked and howked with a boat-hook (the brook
+was too narrow for sculls), and Una punted with a piece of hop-pole. When
+they came to a very shallow place (the _Golden Hind_ drew quite three
+inches of water) they disembarked and scuffled her over the gravel by her
+tow-rope, and when they reached the overgrown banks beyond the garden they
+pulled themselves up stream by the low branches.
+
+That day they intended to discover the North Cape like ‘Othere, the old
+sea-captain,’ in the book of verses which Una had brought with her; but on
+account of the heat they changed it to a voyage up the Amazon and the
+sources of the Nile. Even on the shaded water the air was hot and heavy
+with drowsy scents, while outside, through breaks in the trees, the
+sunshine burned the pasture like fire. The kingfisher was asleep on his
+watching-branch, and the blackbirds scarcely took the trouble to dive into
+the next bush. Dragon-flies wheeling and clashing were the only things at
+work, except the moor-hens and a big Red Admiral who flapped down out of
+the sunshine for a drink.
+
+When they reached Otter Pool the _Golden Hind_ grounded comfortably on a
+shallow, and they lay beneath a roof of close green, watching the water
+trickle over the floodgates down the mossy brick chute from the
+mill-stream to the brook. A big trout—the children knew him well—rolled
+head and shoulders at some fly that sailed round the bend, while once in
+just so often the brook rose a fraction of an inch against all the wet
+pebbles, and they watched the slow draw and shiver of a breath of air
+through the tree-tops. Then the little voices of the slipping water began
+again.
+
+‘It’s like the shadows talking, isn’t it?’ said Una. She had given up
+trying to read. Dan lay over the bows, trailing his hands in the current.
+They heard feet on the gravel-bar that runs half across the pool and saw
+Sir Richard Dalyngridge standing over them.
+
+‘Was yours a dangerous voyage?’ he asked, smiling.
+
+‘She bumped a lot, sir,’ said Dan. ‘There’s hardly any water this summer.’
+
+‘Ah, the brook was deeper and wider when my children played at Danish
+pirates. Are you pirate-folk?’
+
+‘Oh, no. We gave up being pirates years ago,’ explained Una. ‘We’re nearly
+always explorers now. Sailing round the world, you know.’
+
+‘Round?’ said Sir Richard. He sat him in the comfortable crotch of the old
+ash-root on the bank. ‘How can it be round?’
+
+‘Wasn’t it in your books?’ Dan suggested. He had been doing geography at
+his last lesson.
+
+‘I can neither write nor read,’ he replied. ‘Canst _thou_ read, child?’
+
+‘Yes,’ said Dan, ‘barring the very long words.’
+
+‘Wonderful! Read to me, that I may hear for myself.’
+
+Dan flushed, but opened the book and began—gabbling a little—at ‘The
+Discoverer of the North Cape.’
+
+  ‘Othere, the old sea captain,
+  Who dwelt in Helgoland,
+  To Alfred, lover of truth,
+  Brought a snow-white walrus tooth,
+  That he held in his right hand.’
+
+‘But—but—this I know! This is an old song! This I have heard sung! This is
+a miracle,’ Sir Richard interrupted. ‘Nay, do not stop!’ He leaned
+forward, and the shadows of the leaves slipped and slid upon his
+chain-mail.
+
+  ‘I ploughed the land with horses,
+  But my heart was ill at ease,
+  For the old sea-faring men
+  Came to me now and then
+  With their Sagas of the Seas.’
+
+His hand fell on the hilt of the great sword. ‘This is truth,’ he cried,
+‘for so did it happen to me,’ and he beat time delightedly to the tramp of
+verse after verse.
+
+  ‘“And now the land,� said Othere,
+  “Bent southward suddenly,
+  And I followed the curving shore,
+  And ever southward bore
+  Into a nameless sea.�’
+
+‘A nameless sea!’ he repeated. ‘So did I—so did Hugh and I.’
+
+‘Where did you go? Tell us,’ said Una.
+
+‘Wait. Let me hear all first.’ So Dan read to the poem’s very end.
+
+‘Good,’ said the knight. ‘That is Othere’s tale—even as I have heard the
+men in the Dane ships sing it. Not in those same valiant words, but
+something like to them.’
+
+‘Have you ever explored North?’ Dan shut the book.
+
+‘Nay. My venture was South. Farther South than any man has fared, Hugh and
+I went down with Witta and his heathen.’ He jerked the tall sword forward,
+and leaned on it with both hands; but his eyes looked long past them.
+
+‘I thought you always lived here,’ said Una, timidly.
+
+‘Yes; while my Lady Ælueva lived. But she died. She died. Then, my eldest
+son being a man, I asked De Aquila’s leave that he should hold the Manor
+while I went on some journey or pilgrimage—to forget. De Aquila, whom the
+Second William had made Warden of Pevensey in Earl Mortain’s place, was
+very old then, but still he rode his tall, roan horses, and in the saddle
+he looked like a little white falcon. When Hugh, at Dallington over
+yonder, heard what I did, he sent for my second son, whom being unmarried
+he had ever looked upon as his own child, and, by De Aquila’s leave, gave
+him the Manor of Dallington to hold till he should return. Then Hugh came
+with me.’
+
+‘When did this happen?’ said Dan.
+
+‘That I can answer to the very day, for as we rode with De Aquila by
+Pevensey—have I said that he was Lord of Pevensey and of the Honour of the
+Eagle?—to the Bordeaux ship that fetched him his wines yearly out of
+France, a Marsh man ran to us crying that he had seen a great black goat
+which bore on his back the body of the King, and that the goat had spoken
+to him. On that same day Red William our King, the Conqueror’s son, died
+of a secret arrow while he hunted in a forest. “This is a cross matter,�
+said De Aquila, “to meet on the threshold of a journey. If Red William be
+dead I may have to fight for my lands. Wait a little.�
+
+‘My Lady being dead, I cared nothing for signs and omens, nor Hugh either.
+We took that wine-ship to go to Bordeaux; but the wind failed while we
+were yet in sight of Pevensey; a thick mist hid us, and we drifted with
+the tide along the cliffs to the west. Our company was, for the most part,
+merchants returning to France, and we were laden with wool and there were
+three couple of tall hunting-dogs chained to the rail. Their master was a
+knight of Artois. His name I never learned, but his shield bore gold
+pieces on a red ground, and he limped much as I do, from a wound which he
+had got in his youth at Mantes siege. He served the Duke of Burgundy
+against the Moors in Spain, and was returning to that war with his dogs.
+He sang us strange Moorish songs that first night, and half persuaded us
+to go with him. I was on pilgrimage to forget—which is what no pilgrimage
+brings. I think I would have gone, but....
+
+‘Look you how the life and fortune of man changes! Towards morning a Dane
+ship, rowing silently, struck against us in the mist, and while we rolled
+hither and yon Hugh, leaning over the rail, fell outboard. I leaped after
+him, and we two tumbled aboard the Dane, and were caught and bound ere we
+could rise. Our own ship was swallowed up in the mist. I judge the Knight
+of the Gold Pieces muzzled his dogs with his cloak, lest they should give
+tongue and betray the merchants, for I heard their baying suddenly stop.
+
+‘We lay bound among the benches till morning, when the Danes dragged us to
+the high deck by the steering-place, and their captain—Witta, he was
+called—turned us over with his foot. Bracelets of gold from elbow to
+armpit he wore, and his red hair was long as a woman’s, and came down in
+plaited locks on his shoulder. He was stout, with bowed legs and long
+arms. He spoiled us of all we had, but when he laid hand on Hugh’s sword
+and saw the runes on the blade hastily he thrust it back. Yet his
+covetousness overcame him and he tried again and again, and the third time
+the Sword sang loud and angrily, so that the rowers leaned on their oars
+to listen. Here they all spoke together, screaming like gulls, and a
+Yellow Man, such as I have never seen, came to the high deck and cut our
+bonds. He was yellow—not from sickness, but by nature. Yellow as honey,
+and his eyes stood endwise in his head.’
+
+‘How do you mean?’ said Una, her chin on her hand.
+
+‘Thus,’ said Sir Richard. He put a finger to the corner of each eye, and
+pushed it up till his eyes narrowed to slits.
+
+‘Why, you look just like a Chinaman!’ cried Dan. ‘Was the man a Chinaman?’
+
+‘I know not what that may be. Witta had found him half dead among ice on
+the shores of Muscovy. _We_ thought he was a devil. He crawled before us
+and brought food in a silver dish which these sea-wolves had robbed from
+some rich abbey, and Witta with his own hands gave us wine. He spoke a
+little in French, a little in South Saxon, and much in the Northman’s
+tongue. We asked him to set us ashore, promising to pay him better ransom
+than he would get price if he sold us to the Moors—as once befell a knight
+of my acquaintance sailing from Flushing.
+
+‘“Not by my father Guthrum’s head,� said he. “The Gods sent ye into my
+ship for a luck-offering.�
+
+‘At this I quaked, for I knew it was still the Dane’s custom to sacrifice
+captives to their gods for fair weather.
+
+‘“A plague on thy four long bones!� said Hugh. “What profit canst thou
+make of poor old pilgrims that can neither work nor fight?�
+
+‘“Gods forbid I should fight against thee, poor Pilgrim with the Singing
+Sword,� said he. “Come with us and be poor no more. Thy teeth are far
+apart, which is a sure sign thou wilt travel and grow rich.�
+
+‘“What if we will not come?� said Hugh.
+
+‘“Swim to England or France,� said Witta. “We are midway between the two.
+Unless ye choose to drown yourselves no hair of your head will be harmed
+here aboard. We think ye bring us luck, and I myself know the runes on
+that Sword are good.� He turned and bade them hoist sail.
+
+‘Hereafter all made way for us as we walked about the ship, and the ship
+was full of wonders.’
+
+‘What was she like?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Long, low, and narrow, bearing one mast with a red sail, and rowed by
+fifteen oars a side,’ the knight answered. ‘At her bows was a deck under
+which men might lie, and at her stern another shut off by a painted door
+from the rowers’ benches. Here Hugh and I slept, with Witta and the Yellow
+Man, upon tapestries as soft as wool. I remember’—he laughed to
+himself—‘when first we entered there a loud voice cried, “Out swords! Out
+swords! Kill, kill!� Seeing us start Witta laughed, and showed us it was
+but a great-beaked grey bird with a red tail. He sat her on his shoulder,
+and she called for bread and wine hoarsely, and prayed him to kiss her.
+Yet she was no more than a silly bird. But—ye knew this?’ He looked at
+their smiling faces.
+
+‘We weren’t laughing at you,’ said Una. ‘That must have been a parrot.
+It’s just what Pollies do.’
+
+‘So we learned later. But here is another marvel. The Yellow Man, whose
+name was Kitai, had with him a brown box. In the box was a blue bowl with
+red marks upon the rim, and within the bowl, hanging from a fine thread,
+was a piece of iron no thicker than that grass stem, and as long, maybe,
+as my spur, but straight. In this iron, said Witta, abode an Evil Spirit
+which Kitai, the Yellow Man, had brought by Art Magic out of his own
+country that lay three years’ journey southward. The Evil Spirit strove
+day and night to return to his country, and therefore, look you, the iron
+needle pointed continually to the South.’
+
+‘South?’ said Dan, suddenly, and put his hand into his pocket.
+
+‘With my own eyes I saw it. Every day and all day long, though the ship
+rolled, though the sun and the moon and the stars were hid, this blind
+Spirit in the iron knew whither it would go, and strained to the South.
+Witta called it the Wise Iron, because it showed him his way across the
+unknowable seas.’ Again Sir Richard looked keenly at the children. ‘How
+think ye? Was it sorcery?’
+
+‘Was it anything like this?’ Dan fished out his old brass pocket-compass,
+that generally lived with his knife and key-ring. ‘The glass has got
+cracked, but the needle waggles all right, sir.’
+
+The knight drew a long breath of wonder. ‘Yes, yes. The Wise Iron shook
+and swung in just this fashion. Now it is still. Now it points to the
+South.’
+
+‘North,’ said Dan.
+
+‘Nay, South! There is the South,’ said Sir Richard. Then they both
+laughed, for naturally when one end of a straight compass-needle points to
+the North, the other must point to the South.
+
+‘Té,’ said Sir Richard, clicking his tongue. ‘There can be no sorcery if a
+child carries it. Wherefore does it point South—or North?’
+
+‘Father says that nobody knows,’ said Una.
+
+Sir Richard looked relieved. ‘Then it may still be magic. It was magic to
+_us_. And so we voyaged. When the wind served we hoisted sail, and lay all
+up along the windward rail, our shields on our backs to break the spray.
+When it failed, they rowed with long oars; the Yellow Man sat by the Wise
+Iron, and Witta steered. At first I feared the great white-flowering
+waves, but as I saw how wisely Witta led his ship among them I grew
+bolder. Hugh liked it well from the first. My skill is not upon the water;
+and rocks, and whirlpools such as we saw by the West Isles of France,
+where an oar caught on a rock and broke, are much against my stomach. We
+sailed South across a stormy sea, where by moonlight, between clouds, we
+saw a Flanders ship roll clean over and sink. Again, though Hugh laboured
+with Witta all night, I lay under the deck with the Talking Bird, and
+cared not whether I lived or died. There is a sickness of the sea which,
+for three days, is pure death! When we next saw land Witta said it was
+Spain, and we stood out to sea. That coast was full of ships busy in the
+Duke’s war against the Moors, and we feared to be hanged by the Duke’s men
+or sold into slavery by the Moors. So we put into a small harbour which
+Witta knew. At night men came down with loaded mules, and Witta exchanged
+amber out of the North against little wedges of iron and packets of beads
+in earthen pots. The pots he put under the decks, and the wedges of iron
+he laid on the bottom of the ship after he had cast out the stones and
+shingle which till then had been our ballast. Wine, too, he bought for
+lumps of sweet-smelling grey amber—a little morsel no bigger than a
+thumbnail purchased a cask of wine. But I speak like a merchant.’
+
+‘No, no! Tell us what you had to eat,’ cried Dan.
+
+‘Meat dried in the sun, and dried fish and ground beans, Witta took in;
+and corded frails of a certain sweet, soft fruit, which the Moors use,
+which is like paste of figs, but with thin, long stones. Aha! Dates is the
+name.
+
+‘“Now,� said Witta, when the ship was loaded, “I counsel you strangers, to
+pray to your gods, for from here on our road is No Man’s road.� He and his
+men killed a black goat for sacrifice on the bows; and the Yellow Man
+brought out a small, smiling image of dull-green glass and burned incense
+before it. Hugh and I commended ourselves to God, and Saint Bartholomew,
+and Our Lady of the Assumption, who was specially dear to my Lady. We were
+not young, but I think no shame to say, when as we drove out of that
+secret harbour at sunrise over a still sea, we two rejoiced and sang as
+did the knights of old when they followed our great Duke to England. Yet
+was our leader an heathen pirate; all our proud fleet but one galley
+perilously overloaded; for guidance we leaned on a pagan sorcerer; and our
+port was beyond the world’s end. Witta told us that his father Guthrum had
+once in his life rowed along the shores of Africa to a land where naked
+men sold gold for iron and beads. There had he bought much gold, and no
+few elephants’ teeth, and thither by help of the Wise Iron would Witta go.
+Witta feared nothing—except to be poor.
+
+‘“My father told me,� said Witta, “that a great Shoal runs three days’
+sail out from that land, and south of the shoal lies a Forest which grows
+in the sea. South and east of the Forest my father came to a place where
+the men hid gold in their hair; but all that country, he said, was full of
+Devils who lived in trees, and tore folk limb from limb. How think ye?�
+
+‘“Gold or no gold,� said Hugh, fingering his sword, “it is a joyous
+venture. Have at these devils of thine, Witta!�
+
+‘“Venture!� said Witta, sourly. “I am only a poor sea-thief. I do not set
+my life adrift on a plank for joy, or the venture. Once I beach ship again
+at Stavanger, and feel the wife’s arms round my neck, I’ll seek no more
+ventures. A ship is heavier care than a wife or cattle.�
+
+‘He leaped down among the rowers, chiding them for their little strength
+and their great stomachs. Yet Witta was a wolf in fight, and a very fox in
+cunning.
+
+‘We were driven South by a storm, and for three days and three nights he
+took the stern-oar and threddled the longship through the sea. When it
+rose beyond measure he brake a pot of whale’s oil upon the water, which
+wonderfully smoothed it, and in that anointed patch he turned her head to
+the wind and threw out oars at the end of a rope, to make, he said, an
+anchor at which we lay rolling sorely, but dry. This craft his father
+Guthrum had shown him. He knew, too, all the Leech-Book of Bald, who was a
+wise doctor, and he knew the Ship-Book of Hlaf the Woman, who robbed
+Egypt. He knew all the care of a ship.
+
+‘After the storm we saw a mountain whose top was covered with snow and
+pierced the clouds. The grasses under this mountain, boiled and eaten, are
+a good cure for soreness of the gums and swelled ankles. We lay there
+eight days, till men in skins threw stones at us. When the heat increased
+Witta spread a cloth on bent sticks above the rowers, for the wind failed
+between the Island of the Mountain and the shore of Africa, which is east
+of it. That shore is sandy, and we rowed along it within three bowshots.
+Here we saw whales, and fish in the shape of shields, but longer than our
+ship. Some slept, some opened their mouths at us, and some danced on the
+hot waters. The water was hot to the hand, and the sky was hidden by hot,
+grey mists, out of which blew a fine dust that whitened our hair and
+beards of a morning. Here, too, were fish that flew in the air like birds.
+They would fall on the laps of the rowers, and when we went ashore we
+would roast and eat them.’
+
+The knight paused to see if the children doubted him, but they only nodded
+and said, ‘Go on.’
+
+‘The yellow land lay on our left, the grey sea on our right. Knight though
+I was, I pulled my oar amongst the rowers. I caught seaweed and dried it,
+and stuffed it between the pots of beads lest they should break.
+Knighthood is for the land. At sea, look you, a man is but a spurless
+rider on a bridleless horse. I learned to make strong knots in ropes—yes,
+and to join two ropes end to end, so that even Witta could scarcely see
+where they had been married. But Hugh had tenfold more sea-cunning than I.
+Witta gave him charge of the rowers of the left side. Thorkild of Borkum,
+a man with a broken nose, that wore a Norman steel cap, had the rowers of
+the right, and each side rowed and sang against the other. They saw that
+no man was idle. Truly, as Hugh said, and Witta would laugh at him, a ship
+is all more care than a Manor.
+
+‘How? Thus. There was water to fetch from the shore when we could find it,
+as well as wild fruit and grasses, and sand for scrubbing of the decks and
+benches to keep them sweet. Also we hauled the ship out on low islands and
+emptied all her gear, even to the iron wedges, and burned off the weed,
+that had grown on her, with torches of rush, and smoked below the decks
+with rushes dampened in salt water, as Hlaf the Woman orders in her
+Ship-Book. Once when we were thus stripped, and the ship lay propped on
+her keel, the bird cried, “Out swords!� as though she saw an enemy. Witta
+vowed he would wring her neck.’
+
+‘Poor Polly! Did he?’ said Una.
+
+‘Nay. She was the ship’s bird. She could call all the rowers by name....
+Those were good days—for a wifeless man—with Witta and his heathen—beyond
+the world’s end.... After many weeks we came on the Great Shoal which
+stretched, as Witta’s father had said, far out to sea. We skirted it till
+we were giddy with the sight and dizzy with the sound of bars and
+breakers; and when we reached land again we found a naked black people
+dwelling among woods, who for one wedge of iron loaded us with fruits and
+grasses and eggs. Witta scratched his head at them in sign he would buy
+gold. They had no gold, but they understood the sign (all the gold-traders
+hide their gold in their thick hair), for they pointed along the coast.
+They beat, too, on their chests with their clenched hands, and that, if we
+had known it, was an evil sign.’
+
+‘What did it mean?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Patience. Ye shall hear. We followed the coast eastward sixteen days
+(counting time by sword-cuts on the helm-rail) till we came to the Forest
+in the Sea. Trees grew out of mud, arched upon lean and high roots, and
+many muddy water-ways ran allwhither into darkness under the trees. Here
+we lost the sun. We followed the winding channels between the trees, and
+where we could not row we laid hold of the crusted roots and hauled
+ourselves along. The water was foul, and great glittering flies tormented
+us. Morning and evening a blue mist covered the mud, which bred fevers.
+Four of our rowers sickened, and were bound to their benches, lest they
+should leap overboard and be eaten by the monsters of the mud. The Yellow
+Man lay sick beside the Wise Iron, rolling his head and talking in his own
+tongue. Only the Bird throve. She sat on Witta’s shoulder and screamed in
+that noisome, silent darkness. Yes; I think it was the silence we feared.’
+
+He paused to listen to the comfortable home noises of the brook.
+
+‘When we had lost count of time among those black gullies and swashes, we
+heard, as it were, a drum beat far off, and following it we broke into a
+broad, brown river by a hut in a clearing among fields of pumkins. We
+thanked God to see the sun again. The people of the village gave the good
+welcome, and Witta scratched his head at them (for gold), and showed them
+our iron and beads. They ran to the bank—we were still in the ship—and
+pointed to our swords and bows, for always when near shore we lay armed.
+Soon they fetched store of gold in bars and in dust from their huts, and
+some great blackened elephant teeth. These they piled on the bank, as
+though to tempt us, and made signs of dealing blows in battle, and pointed
+up to the tree tops, and to the forest behind. Their captain or chief
+sorcerer then beat on his chest with his fists, and gnashed his teeth.
+
+‘Said Thorkild of Borkum: “Do they mean we must fight for all this gear?�
+and he half drew his sword.
+
+‘“Nay,� said Hugh. “I think they ask us to league against some enemy.�
+
+‘“I like this not,� said Witta, of a sudden. “Back into midstream.�
+
+‘So we did, and sat still all, watching the black folk and the gold they
+piled on the bank. Again we heard drums beat in the forest, and the people
+fled to their huts, leaving the gold unguarded.
+
+‘Then Hugh, at the bows, pointed without speech, and we saw a great Devil
+come out of the forest. He shaded his brows with his hand, and moistened
+his pink tongue between his lips—thus.’
+
+‘A Devil!’ said Dan, delightfully horrified.
+
+‘Yea. Taller than a man; covered with reddish hair. When he had well
+regarded our ship, he beat on his chest with his fists till it sounded
+like rolling drums, and came to the bank swinging all his body between his
+long arms, and gnashed his teeth at us. Hugh loosed arrow, and pierced him
+through the throat. He fell roaring, and three other Devils ran out of the
+forest and hauled him into a tall tree out of sight. Anon they cast down
+the blood-stained arrow, and lamented together among the leaves. Witta saw
+the gold on the bank; he was loath to leave it. “Sirs,� said he (no man
+had spoken till then), “yonder is that we have come so far and so
+painfully to find, laid out to our very hand. Let us row in while these
+Devils bewail themselves, and at least bear off what we may.�
+
+‘Bold as a wolf, cunning as a fox was Witta! He set four archers on the
+foredeck to shoot the Devils if they should leap from the tree, which was
+close to the bank. He manned ten oars a side, and bade them watch his hand
+to row in or back out, and so coaxed he them toward the bank. But none
+would set foot ashore, though the gold was within ten paces. No man is
+hasty to his hanging. They whimpered at their oars like beaten hounds, and
+Witta bit his fingers for rage.
+
+‘Said Hugh of a sudden, “Hark!� At first we thought it was the buzzing of
+the glittering flies on the water, but it grew loud and fierce, so that
+all men heard.’
+
+‘What?’ said Dan and Una.
+
+‘It was the sword.’ Sir Richard patted the smooth hilt. ‘It sang as a Dane
+sings before battle. “I go,� said Hugh, and he leaped from the bows and
+fell among the gold. I was afraid to my four bones’ marrow, but for
+shame’s sake I followed, and Thorkild of Borkum leaped after me. None
+other came. “Blame me not,� cried Witta behind us, “I must abide by my
+ship.� We three had no time to blame or praise. We stooped to the gold and
+threw it back over our shoulders, one hand on our swords and one eye on
+the tree, which nigh overhung us.
+
+‘I know not how the Devils leaped down, or how the fight began. I heard
+Hugh cry: “Out! out!� as though he were at Santlache again; I saw
+Thorkild’s steel cap smitten off his head by a great hairy hand, and I
+felt an arrow from the ship whistle past my ear. They say that till Witta
+took his sword to the rowers he could not bring his ship in shore; and
+each one of the four archers said afterwards that he alone had pierced the
+Devil that fought me. I do not know. I went to it in my mail-shirt, which
+saved my skin. With long-sword and belt-dagger I fought for the life
+against a Devil whose very feet were hands, and who whirled me back and
+forth like a dead branch. He had me by the waist, my arms to my side, when
+an arrow from the ship pierced him between the shoulders, and he loosened
+grip. I passed my sword twice through him, and he crutched himself away
+between his long arms, coughing and moaning. Next, as I remember, I saw
+Thorkild of Borkum bareheaded and smiling, leaping up and down before a
+Devil that leaped and gnashed his teeth. Then Hugh passed, his sword
+shifted to his left hand, and I wondered why I had not known that Hugh was
+a left-handed man; and thereafter I remembered nothing till I felt spray
+on my face, and we were in sunshine on the open sea. That was twenty days
+after.’
+
+‘What had happened? Did Hugh die?’ the children asked.
+
+‘Never was such a fight fought by christened man,’ said Sir Richard. ‘An
+arrow from the ship had saved me from my Devil, and Thorkild of Borkum had
+given back before his Devil, till the bowmen on the ship could shoot it
+all full of arrows from near by; but Hugh’s Devil was cunning, and had
+kept behind trees, where no arrow could reach. Body to body there, by
+stark strength of sword and hand, had Hugh slain him, and, dying, the
+Thing had clenched his teeth on the sword. Judge what teeth they were!’
+
+Sir Richard turned the sword again that the children might see the two
+great chiselled gouges on either side of the blade.
+
+‘Those same teeth met in Hugh’s right arm and side,’ Sir Richard went on.
+‘I? Oh, I had no more than a broken foot and a fever. Thorkild’s ear was
+bitten, but Hugh’s arm and side clean withered away. I saw him where he
+lay along, sucking a fruit in his left hand. His flesh was wasted off his
+bones, his hair was patched with white, and his hand was blue-veined like
+a woman’s. He put his left hand round my neck and whispered, “Take my
+sword. It has been thine since Hastings, O, my brother, but I can never
+hold hilt again.� We lay there on the high deck talking of Santlache and,
+I think, of every day since Santlache, and it came so that we both wept. I
+was weak, and he little more than a shadow.
+
+‘“Nay—nay,� said Witta, at the helm-rail. “Gold is a good right arm to any
+man. Look—look at the gold!� He bade Thorkild show us the gold and the
+elephants’ teeth, as though we had been children. He had brought away all
+the gold on the bank, and twice as much more, that the people of the
+village gave him for slaying the Devils. They worshipped us as gods,
+Thorkild told me: it was one of their old women healed up Hugh’s poor
+arm.’
+
+‘How much gold did you get?’ asked Dan.
+
+‘How can I say? Where we came out with wedges of iron under the rowers’
+feet we returned with wedges of gold hidden beneath planks. There was dust
+of gold in packages where we slept; and along the side and crosswise under
+the benches we lashed the blackened elephants’ teeth.
+
+‘“I had sooner have my right arm,� said Hugh, when he had seen all.
+
+‘“Ahai! That was my fault,� said Witta. “I should have taken ransom and
+landed you in France when first you came aboard, ten months ago.�
+
+‘“It is over-late now,� said Hugh, laughing.
+
+‘Witta plucked at his long shoulder-lock. “But think!� said he. “If I had
+let ye go—which I swear I would never have done, for I love ye more than
+brothers—if I had let ye go, by now ye might have been horribly slain by
+some mere Moor in the Duke of Burgundy’s war, or ye might have been
+murdered by land-thieves, or ye might have died of the plague at an inn.
+Think of this and do not blame me overmuch, Hugh. See! I will only take a
+half of the gold.�
+
+‘“I blame thee not at all, Witta,� said Hugh. “It was a joyous venture,
+and we thirty-five here have done what never men have done. If I live till
+England, I will build me a stout keep over Dallington out of my share.�
+
+‘“I will buy cattle and amber and warm red cloth for the wife,� said
+Witta, “and I will hold all the land at the head of Stavanger Fiord. Many
+will fight for me now. But first we must turn North, and with this honest
+treasure aboard I pray we meet no pirate ships.�
+
+‘We did not laugh. We were careful. We were afraid lest we should lose one
+grain of our gold for which we had fought Devils.
+
+‘“Where is the Sorcerer?� said I, for Witta was looking at the Wise Iron
+in the box, and I could not see the Yellow Man.
+
+‘“He has gone to his own country,� said he. “He rose up in the night while
+we were beating out of that forest in the mud, and said that he could see
+it behind the trees. He leaped out on to the mud, and did not answer when
+we called; so we called no more. He left the Wise Iron, which is all that
+I care for—and see, the Spirit still points to the South!�
+
+‘We were troubled for fear that the Wise Iron should fail us now that its
+Yellow Man had gone, and when we saw the Spirit still served us we grew
+afraid of too strong winds, and of shoals, and of careless leaping fish,
+and of all the people on all the shores where we landed.’
+
+‘Why?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Because of the gold—because of our gold. Gold changes men altogether.
+Thorkild of Borkum did not change. He laughed at Witta for his fears, and
+at us for our counselling Witta to furl sail when the ship pitched at all.
+
+‘“Better be drowned out of hand,� said Thorkild of Borkum, “than go tied
+to a deck-load of yellow dust.�
+
+‘He was a landless man, and had been slave to some King in the East. He
+would have beaten out the gold into deep bands to put round the oars, and
+round the prow.
+
+‘Yet, though he vexed himself for the gold, Witta waited upon Hugh like a
+woman, lending him his shoulder when the ship rolled, and tying of ropes
+from side to side that Hugh might hold by them. But for Hugh, he said—and
+so did all his men—they would never have won the gold. I remember Witta
+made a little, thin gold ring for our Bird to swing in. Three months we
+rowed and sailed and went ashore for fruits or to clean the ship. When we
+saw wild horsemen, riding among sand-dunes, flourishing spears we knew we
+were on the Moors’ coast, and stood over north to Spain; and a strong
+south-west wind bore us in ten days to a coast of high red rocks, where we
+heard a hunting-horn blow among the yellow gorse and knew it was England.
+
+‘“Now find ye Pevensey yourselves,� said Witta. “I love not these narrow
+ship-filled seas.�
+
+‘He set the dried, salted head of the Devil, which Hugh had killed, high
+on our prow, and all boats fled from us. Yet, for our gold’s sake, we were
+more afraid than they. We crept along the coast by night till we came to
+the chalk cliffs, and so east to Pevensey. Witta would not come ashore
+with us, though Hugh promised him wine at Dallington enough to swim in. He
+was on fire to see his wife, and ran into the Marsh after sunset, and
+there he left us and our share of gold, and backed out on the same tide.
+He made no promise; he swore no oath; he looked for no thanks; but to
+Hugh, an armless man, and to me, an old cripple whom he could have flung
+into the sea, he passed over wedge upon wedge, packet upon packet of gold
+and dust of gold, and only ceased when we would take no more. As he
+stooped from the rail to bid us farewell he stripped off his right-arm
+bracelets and put them all on Hugh’s left, and he kissed Hugh on the
+cheek. I think when Thorkild of Borkum bade the rowers give way we were
+near weeping. It is true that Witta was an heathen and a pirate; true it
+is he held us by force many months in his ship, but I loved that
+bow-legged, blue-eyed man for his great boldness, his cunning, his skill,
+and, beyond all, for his simplicity.’
+
+‘Did he get home all right?’ said Dan.
+
+‘I never knew. We saw him hoist sail under the moon-track and stand away.
+I have prayed that he found his wife and the children.’
+
+‘And what did you do?’
+
+‘We waited on the Marsh till the day. Then I sat by the gold, all tied in
+an old sail, while Hugh went to Pevensey, and De Aquila sent us horses.’
+
+Sir Richard crossed hands on his sword-hilt, and stared down stream
+through the soft warm shadows.
+
+‘A whole shipload of gold!’ said Una, looking at the little _Golden Hind_.
+‘But I’m glad I didn’t see the Devils.’
+
+‘I don’t believe they were Devils,’ Dan whispered back.
+
+‘Eh?’ said Sir Richard. ‘Witta’s father warned him they were
+unquestionable Devils. One must believe one’s father, and not one’s
+children. What were my Devils, then?’
+
+Dan flushed all over. ‘I—I only thought,’ he stammered; ‘I’ve got a book
+called _The Gorilla Hunters_—it’s a continuation of _Coral Island_,
+sir—and it says there that the gorillas (they’re big monkeys, you know)
+were always chewing iron up.’
+
+‘Not always,’ said Una. ‘Only twice.’ They had been reading _The Gorilla
+Hunters_ in the orchard.
+
+‘Well, anyhow, they always drummed on their chests, like Sir Richard’s
+did, before they went for people. And they built houses in trees, too.’
+
+‘Ha!’ Sir Richard opened his eyes. ‘Houses like flat nests did our Devils
+make, where their imps lay and looked at us. I did not see them (I was
+sick after the fight), but Witta told me and, lo, ye know it also?
+Wonderful! Were our Devils only nest-building apes? Is there no sorcery
+left in the world?’
+
+‘I don’t know,’ answered Dan, uncomfortably. ‘I’ve seen a man take rabbits
+out of a hat, and he told us we could see how he did it, if we watched
+hard. And we did.’
+
+‘But we didn’t,’ said Una sighing. ‘Oh! there’s Puck!’
+
+The little fellow, brown and smiling, peered between two stems of an ash,
+nodded, and slid down the bank into the cool beside them.
+
+‘No sorcery, Sir Richard?’ he laughed, and blew on a full dandelion head
+he had picked.
+
+‘They tell me that Witta’s Wise Iron was a toy. The boy carries such an
+Iron with him. They tell me our Devils were apes, called gorillas!’ said
+Sir Richard, indignantly.
+
+‘That is the sorcery of books,’ said Puck. ‘I warned thee they were wise
+children. All people can be wise by reading of books.’
+
+‘But are the books true?’ Sir Richard frowned. ‘I like not all this
+reading and writing.’
+
+‘Ye-es,’ said Puck, holding the naked dandelion head at arm’s length. ‘But
+if we hang all fellows who write falsely, why did De Aquila not begin with
+Gilbert, the Clerk? _He_ was false enough.’
+
+‘Poor false Gilbert. Yet in his fashion, he was bold,’ said Sir Richard.
+
+‘What did he do?’ said Dan.
+
+‘He wrote,’ said Sir Richard. ‘Is the tale meet for children, think you?’
+He looked at Puck; but, ‘Tell us! Tell us!’ cried Dan and Una together.
+
+
+
+
+THORKILD’S SONG
+
+
+  _There is no wind along these seas,_
+    Out oars for Stavanger!
+    Forward all for Stavanger!
+  _So we must wake the white-ash breeze,_
+    Let fall for Stavanger!
+    A long pull for Stavanger!
+
+  _Oh, hear the benches creak and strain!_
+    (A long pull for Stavanger!)
+  _She thinks she smells the Northland rain!_
+    (A long pull for Stavanger!)
+
+  _She thinks she smells the Northland snow,_
+  _And she’s as glad as we to go!_
+
+  _She thinks she smells the Northland rime,_
+  _And the dear dark nights of winter-time._
+
+  _Her very bolts are sick for shore,_
+  _And we—we want it ten times more!_
+
+  _Hoe—all you Gods that love brave men,_
+  _Send us a three-reef gale again!_
+
+  _Send us a gale, and watch us come,_
+  _With close-cropped canvas slashing home!_
+
+  But—_there’s no wind in all these seas,_
+    A long pull for Stavanger!
+  _So we must wake the white-ash breeze,_
+    A long pull for Stavanger!
+
+
+
+
+
+OLD MEN AT PEVENSEY
+
+
+
+
+OLD MEN AT PEVENSEY
+
+
+‘It has nought to do with apes or devils,’ Sir Richard went on, in an
+undertone. ‘It concerns De Aquila, than whom there was never bolder nor
+craftier, nor more hardy knight born. And, remember, he was an old, old
+man at that time.’
+
+‘When?’ said Dan.
+
+‘When we came back from sailing with Witta.’
+
+‘What did you do with your gold?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Have patience. Link by link is chain-mail made. I will tell all in its
+place. We bore the gold to Pevensey on horseback—three loads of it—and
+then up to the north chamber, above the Great Hall of Pevensey Castle,
+where De Aquila lay in winter. He sat on his bed like a little white
+falcon, turning his head swiftly from one to the other as we told our
+tale. Jehan the Crab, an old sour man-at-arms, guarded the stairway, but
+De Aquila bade him wait at the stair-foot, and let down both leather
+curtains over the door. It was Jehan whom De Aquila had sent to us with
+the horses, and only Jehan had loaded the gold. When our story was told,
+De Aquila gave us the news of England, for we were as men waked from a
+year-long sleep. The Red King was dead—slain (ye remember?) the day we set
+sail—and Henry, his younger brother, had made himself King of England over
+the head of Robert of Normandy. This was the very thing that the Red King
+had done to Robert when our Great William died. Then Robert of Normandy,
+mad, as De Aquila said, at twice missing of this kingdom, had sent an army
+against England, which army had been well beaten back to their ships at
+Portsmouth. A little earlier, and Witta’s ship would have rowed through
+them.
+
+‘“And now,� said De Aquila, “half the great Barons of the north and west
+are out against the King between Salisbury and Shrewsbury; and half the
+other half wait to see which way the game shall go. They say Henry is
+overly English for their stomachs, because he hath married an English wife
+and she hath coaxed him to give back their old laws to our Saxons. (Better
+ride a horse on the bit he knows, _I_ say.) But that is only a cloak to
+their falsehood.� He cracked his finger on the table where the wine was
+spilt, and thus he spoke:—
+
+‘“William crammed us Norman barons full of good English acres after
+Santlache. _I_ had my share too,� he said, and clapped Hugh on the
+shoulder; “but I warned him—I warned him before Odo rebelled—that he
+should have bidden the Barons give up their lands and lordships in
+Normandy if they would be English lords. Now they are all but princes both
+in England and Normandy—trencher-fed hounds, with a foot in one trough and
+both eyes on the other! Robert of Normandy has sent them word that if they
+do not fight for him in England he will sack and harry out their lands in
+Normandy. Therefore Clare has risen, Fitz Osborn has risen, Montgomery has
+risen—whom our First William made an English earl. Even D’Arcy is out with
+his men, whose father I remember a little hedge-sparrow knight nearby
+Caen. If Henry wins, the Barons can still flee to Normandy, where Robert
+will welcome them. If Henry loses, Robert, he says, will give them more
+lands in England. Oh, a pest—a pest on Normandy, for she will be our
+England’s curse this many a long year!�
+
+‘“Amen,� said Hugh. “But will the war come our ways, think you?�
+
+‘“Not from the North,� said De Aquila. “But the sea is always open. If the
+Barons gain the upper hand Robert will send another army into England for
+sure; and this time I think he will land here—where his father, the
+Conqueror, landed. Ye have brought your pigs to a pretty market! Half
+England alight, and gold enough on the ground�—he stamped on the bars
+beneath the table—“to set every sword in Christendom fighting.�
+
+‘“What is to do?� said Hugh. “I have no keep at Dallington; and if we
+buried it, whom could we trust?�
+
+‘“Me,� said De Aquila. “Pevensey walls are strong. No man but Jehan, who
+is my dog, knows what is between them.� He drew a curtain by the
+shot-window and showed us the shaft of a well in the thickness of the
+wall.
+
+‘“I made it for a drinking-well,� he said, “but we found salt water, and
+it rises and falls with the tide. Hark!� We heard the water whistle and
+blow at the bottom. “Will it serve?� said he.
+
+‘“Needs must,� said Hugh. “Our lives are in thy hands.� So we lowered all
+the gold down except one small chest of it by De Aquila’s bed, which we
+kept as much for his delight in its weight and colour as for any our
+needs.
+
+‘In the morning, ere we rode to our Manors, he said: “I do not say
+farewell; because ye will return and bide here. Not for love nor for
+sorrow, but to be with the gold. Have a care,� he said, laughing, “lest I
+use it to make myself Pope. Trust me not, but return!�’
+
+Sir Richard paused and smiled sadly.
+
+‘In seven days, then, we returned from our Manors—from the Manors which
+had been ours.’
+
+‘And were the children quite well?’ said Una.
+
+‘My sons were young. Land and governance belong by right to young men.’
+Sir Richard was talking to himself. ‘It would have broken their hearts if
+we had taken back our Manors. They made us great welcome, but we could
+see—Hugh and I could see—that our day was done. I was a cripple and he a
+one-armed man. No!’ He shook his head. ‘And therefore’—he raised his
+voice—‘we rode back to Pevensey.’
+
+‘I’m sorry,’ said Una, for the knight seemed very sorrowful.
+
+‘Little maid, it all passed long ago. They were young; we were old. We let
+them rule the Manors. “Aha!� cried De Aquila from his shot-window, when we
+dismounted. “Back again to earth, old foxes?� but when we were in his
+chamber above the hall he puts his arms about us and says, “Welcome,
+ghosts! Welcome, poor ghosts!�... Thus it fell out that we were rich
+beyond belief, and lonely. And lonely!’
+
+‘What did you do?’ said Dan.
+
+‘We watched for Robert of Normandy,’ said the knight. ‘De Aquila was like
+Witta. He suffered no idleness. In fair weather we would ride along
+between Bexlei on the one side, to Cuckmere on the other—sometimes with
+hawk, sometimes with hound (there are stout hares both on the Marsh and
+the Downland), but always with an eye to the sea, for fear of fleets from
+Normandy. In foul weather he would walk on the top of his tower, frowning
+against the rain—peering here and pointing there. It always vexed him to
+think how Witta’s ship had come and gone without his knowledge. When the
+wind ceased and ships anchored, to the wharf’s edge he would go and,
+leaning on his sword among the stinking fish, would call to the mariners
+for their news from France. His other eye he kept landward for word of
+Henry’s war against the Barons.
+
+‘Many brought him news—jongleurs, harpers, pedlars, sutlers, priests, and
+the like; and, though he was secret enough in small things, yet, if their
+news misliked him, then, regarding neither time nor place nor people,
+would he curse our King Henry for a fool or a babe. I have heard him cry
+aloud by the fishing-boats: “If I were King of England I would do thus and
+thus�; and when I rode out to see that the warning-beacons were laid and
+dry, he hath often called to me from the shot-window: “Look to it,
+Richard! Do not copy our blind King, but see with thine own eyes and feel
+with thine own hands.� I do not think he knew any sort of fear. And so we
+lived at Pevensey, in the little chamber above the Hall.
+
+‘One foul night came word that a messenger of the King waited below. We
+were chilled after a long riding in the fog towards Bexlei, which is an
+easy place for ships to land. De Aquila sent word the man might either eat
+with us or wait till we had fed. Anon Jehan, at the stair-head, cried that
+he had called for horse, and was gone. “Pest on him!� said De Aquila. “I
+have more to do than to shiver in the Great Hall for every gadling the
+King sends. Left he no word?�
+
+‘“None,� said Jehan, “except�—he had been with De Aquila at
+Santlache—“except he said that if an old dog could not learn new tricks it
+was time to sweep out the kennel.�
+
+‘“Oho!� said De Aquila, rubbing his nose, “to whom did he say that?�
+
+‘“To his beard, chiefly, but some to his horse’s flank as he was girthing
+up. I followed him out,� said Jehan the Crab.
+
+‘“What was his shield-mark?�
+
+‘“Gold horseshoes on black,� said the Crab.
+
+‘“That is one of Fulke’s men,� said De Aquila.’
+
+Puck broke in very gently, ‘Gold horseshoes on black is _not_ the Fulkes’
+shield. The Fulkes’ arms are——’
+
+The knight waved one hand statelily.
+
+‘Thou knowest that evil man’s true name,’ he replied, ‘but I have chosen
+to call him Fulke because I promised him I would not tell the story of his
+wickedness so that any man might guess it. I have changed _all_ the names
+in my tale. His children’s children may be still alive.’
+
+‘True—true,’ said Puck, smiling softly. ‘It is knightly to keep faith—even
+after a thousand years.’
+
+Sir Richard bowed a little and went on:—
+
+‘“Gold horseshoes on black?� said De Aquila. “I had heard Fulke had joined
+the Barons, but if this is true our King must be of the upper hand. No
+matter, all Fulkes are faithful. Still, I would not have sent the man away
+empty.�
+
+‘“He fed,� said Jehan. “Gilbert the Clerk fetched him meat and wine from
+the kitchens. He ate at Gilbert’s table.�
+
+‘This Gilbert was a clerk from Battle Abbey, who kept the accounts of the
+Manor of Pevensey. He was tall and pale-coloured, and carried those
+new-fashioned beads for counting of prayers. They were large brown nuts or
+seeds, and hanging from his girdle with his penner and inkhorn they
+clashed when he walked. His place was in the great fireplace. There was
+his table of accounts, and there he lay o’ nights. He feared the hounds in
+the Hall that came nosing after bones or to sleep on the warm ashes, and
+would slash at them with his beads—like a woman. When De Aquila sat in
+Hall to do justice, take fines, or grant lands, Gilbert would so write it
+in the Manor-roll. But it was none of his work to feed our guests, or to
+let them depart without his lord’s knowledge.
+
+‘Said De Aquila, after Jehan was gone down the stair: “Hugh, hast thou
+ever told my Gilbert thou canst read Latin hand-of-write?�
+
+‘“No,� said Hugh. “He is no friend to me, or to Odo my hound either.� “No
+matter,� said De Aquila. “Let him never know thou canst tell one letter
+from its fellow, and�—here he jerked us in the ribs with his
+scabbard—“watch him both of ye. There be devils in Africa, as I have
+heard, but by the Saints there be greater devils in Pevensey!� And that
+was all he would say.
+
+‘It chanced, some small while afterwards, a Norman man-at-arms would wed a
+Saxon wench of the Manor, and Gilbert (we had watched him well since De
+Aquila spoke) doubted whether her folk were free or slave. Since De Aquila
+would give them a field of good land, if she were free, the matter came up
+at the justice in Great Hall before De Aquila. First the wench’s father
+spoke; then her mother; then all together, till the hall rang and the
+hounds bayed. De Aquila held up his hands. “Write her free,� he called to
+Gilbert by the fireplace. “A’ God’s Name write her free, before she
+deafens me! Yes, yes,� he said to the wench that was on her knees at him;
+“thou art Cerdic’s sister, and own cousin to the Lady of Mercia, if thou
+wilt be silent. In fifty years there will be neither Norman nor Saxon, but
+all English,� said he, “and _these_ are the men that do our work!� He
+clapped the man-at-arms, that was Jehan’s nephew, on the shoulder, and
+kissed the wench, and fretted with his feet among the rushes to show it
+was finished. (The Great Hall is always bitter cold.) I stood at his side;
+Hugh was behind Gilbert in the fireplace making to play with wise rough
+Odo. He signed to De Aquila, who bade Gilbert measure the new field for
+the new couple. Out then runs our Gilbert between man and maid, his beads
+clashing at his waist, and the Hall being empty, we three sit by the fire.
+
+‘Said Hugh, leaning down to the hearthstones, “I saw this stone move under
+Gilbert’s foot when Odo snuffed at it. Look!� De Aquila digged in the
+ashes with his sword; the stone tilted; beneath it lay a parchment folden,
+and the writing atop was: “Words spoken against the King by our Lord of
+Pevensey—the second part.�
+
+‘Here was set out (Hugh read it us whispering) every jest De Aquila had
+made to us touching the King; every time he had called out to me from the
+shot-window, and every time he had said what he would do if he were King
+of England. Yes, day by day had his daily speech, which he never stinted,
+been set down by Gilbert, tricked out and twisted from its true meaning,
+yet withal so cunningly that none could deny who knew him that De Aquila
+had in some sort spoken those words. Ye see?’
+
+Dan and Una nodded.
+
+‘Yes,’ said Una, gravely. ‘It isn’t what you say so much. It’s what you
+mean when you say it. Like calling Dan a beast in fun. Only grown-ups
+don’t always understand.’
+
+‘“He hath done this day by day before our very face?� said De Aquila.
+
+“Nay, hour by hour,� said Hugh. “When De Aquila spoke even now, in the
+hall, of Saxons and Normans, I saw Gilbert write on a parchment, which he
+kept beside the Manor-roll, that De Aquila said soon there would be no
+Normans left in England if his men-at-arms did their work aright.�
+
+‘“Bones of the Saints!� said De Aquila. “What avail is honour or a sword
+against a pen? Where did Gilbert hide that writing? He shall eat it.�
+
+‘“In his breast when he ran out,� said Hugh. “Which made me look to see
+where he kept his finished stuff. When Odo scratched at this stone here, I
+saw his face change. So I was sure.�
+
+‘“He is bold,� said De Aquila. “Do him justice. In his own fashion, my
+Gilbert is bold.�
+
+‘“Overbold,� said Hugh. “Hearken here,� and he read: “Upon the feast of
+St. Agatha, our Lord of Pevensey, lying in his upper chamber, being
+clothed in his second fur gown reversed with rabbit——�
+
+‘“Pest on him! He is not my tire-woman!� said De Aquila, and Hugh and I
+laughed.
+
+‘“Reversed with rabbit, seeing a fog over the marshes, did wake Sir
+Richard Dalyngridge, his drunken cup-mate� (here they laughed at me) “and
+said, ‘Peer out, old fox, for God is on the Duke of Normandy’s side.’�
+
+‘“So did I. It was a black fog. Robert could have landed ten thousand men,
+and we none the wiser. Does he tell how we were out all day riding the
+marsh, and how I near perished in a quicksand, and coughed like a sick ewe
+for ten days after?� cried De Aquila.
+
+‘“No,� said Hugh. “But here is the prayer of Gilbert himself to his master
+Fulke.�
+
+‘“Ah,� said De Aquila. “Well I knew it was Fulke. What is the price of my
+blood?�
+
+‘“Gilbert prayeth that when our Lord of Pevensey is stripped of his lands
+on this evidence which Gilbert hath, with fear and pains, collected——�
+
+‘“Fear and pains is a true word,� said De Aquila, and sucked in his
+cheeks. “But how excellent a weapon is a pen! I must learn it.�
+
+‘“He prays that Fulke will advance him from his present service to that
+honour in the Church which Fulke promised him. And lest Fulke should
+forget, he has written below, ‘To be Sacristan of Battle.’�
+
+‘At this De Aquila whistled. “A man who can plot against one lord can plot
+against another. When I am stripped of my lands Fulke will whip off my
+Gilbert’s foolish head. None the less Battle needs a new Sacristan. They
+tell me the Abbot Henry keeps no sort of rule there.�
+
+‘“Let the Abbot wait,� said Hugh. “It is our heads and our lands that are
+in danger. This parchment is the second part of the tale. The first has
+gone to Fulke, and so to the King, who will hold us traitors.�
+
+‘“Assuredly,� said De Aquila. “Fulke’s man took the first part that
+evening when Gilbert fed him, and our King is so beset by his brother and
+his Barons (small blame, too!) that he is mad with mistrust. Fulke has his
+ear, and pours poison into it. Presently the King gives him my land and
+yours. This is old,� and he leaned back and yawned.
+
+‘“And thou wilt surrender Pevensey without word or blow?� said Hugh. “We
+Saxons will fight your King then. I will go warn my nephew at Dallington.
+Give me a horse!�
+
+‘“Give thee a toy and a rattle.� said De Aquila. “Put back the parchment,
+and rake over the ashes. If Fulke is given my Pevensey which is England’s
+gate, what will he do with it? He is Norman at heart, and his heart is in
+Normandy, where he can kill peasants at his pleasure. He will open
+England’s gate to our sleepy Robert, as Odo and Mortain tried to do, and
+then there will be another landing and another Santlache. Therefore I
+cannot give up Pevensey.�
+
+‘“Good,� said we two.
+
+‘“Ah, but wait! If my King be made, on Gilbert’s evidence, to mistrust me,
+he will send his men against me here, and, while we fight, England’s gate
+is left unguarded. Who will be the first to come through thereby? Even
+Robert of Normandy. Therefore I cannot fight my King.� He nursed his
+sword—thus.
+
+‘“This is saying and unsaying like a Norman,� said Hugh. “What of our
+Manors?�
+
+‘“I do not think for myself,� said De Aquila, “nor for our King, nor for
+your lands. I think for England, for whom neither King nor Baron thinks. I
+am not Norman, Sir Richard, nor Saxon, Sir Hugh. English am I.�
+
+‘“Saxon, Norman, or English,� said Hugh, “our lives are thine, however the
+game goes. When do we hang Gilbert?�
+
+‘“Never,� said De Aquila. “Who knows he may yet be Sacristan of Battle,
+for, to do him justice, he is a good writer. Dead men make dumb witnesses.
+Wait.�
+
+‘“But the King may give Pevensey to Fulke. And our Manors go with it,�
+said I. “Shall we tell our sons?�
+
+‘“No. The King will not wake up a hornet’s nest in the South till he has
+smoked out the bees in the North. He may hold me a traitor; but at least
+he sees I am not fighting against him, and every day that I lie still is
+so much gain to him while he fights the barons. If he were wise he would
+wait till that war were over before he made new enemies. But I think Fulke
+will play upon him to send for me, and if I do not obey the summons that
+will, to Henry’s mind, be proof of my treason. But mere talk, such as
+Gilbert sends, is no proof nowadays. We Barons follow the Church, and,
+like Anselm, we speak what we please. Let us go about our day’s dealings,
+and say naught to Gilbert.�
+
+‘“Then we do nothing?� said Hugh.
+
+‘“We wait,� said De Aquila. “I am old, but still I find that the most
+grievous work I know.�
+
+‘And so we found it, but in the end De Aquila was right.
+
+‘A little later in the year, armed men rode over the hill, the Golden
+Horseshoes flying behind the King’s banner. Said De Aquila, at the window
+of our chamber: “How did I tell you? Here comes Fulke himself to spy out
+his new lands which our King hath promised him if he can bring proof of my
+treason.�
+
+‘“How dost thou know?� said Hugh.
+
+‘“Because that is what I would do if I were Fulke, but _I_ should have
+brought more men. My roan horse to your old shoes,� said he, “Fulke brings
+me the King’s Summons to leave Pevensey and join the war.� He sucked in
+his cheeks and drummed on the edge of the shaft, where the water sounded
+all hollow.
+
+‘“Shall we go?� said I.
+
+‘“Go! At this time of year? Stark madness,� said he. “Take _me_ from
+Pevensey to fisk and flyte through fern and forest, and in three days
+Robert’s keels would be lying on Pevensey mud with ten thousand men! Who
+would stop them—Fulke?�
+
+‘The horns blew without, and anon Fulke cried the King’s Summons at the
+great door that De Aquila with all men and horse should join the King’s
+camp at Salisbury.
+
+‘“How did I tell you?� said De Aquila. “There are twenty Barons ’twixt
+here and Salisbury could give King Henry good land-service, but he has
+been worked upon by Fulke to send south and call me—_me!_—off the Gate of
+England, when his enemies stand about to batter it in. See that Fulke’s
+men lie in the big south barn,� said he. “Give them drink, and when Fulke
+has eaten we will drink in my chamber. The Great Hall is too cold for old
+bones.�
+
+‘As soon as he was off-horse Fulke went to the chapel with Gilbert to give
+thanks for his safe coming, and when he had eaten—he was a fat man, and
+rolled his eyes greedily at our good roast Sussex wheatears—we led him to
+the little upper chamber, whither Gilbert had already gone with the
+Manor-roll. I remember when Fulke heard the tide blow and whistle in the
+shaft he leaped back, and his long down-turned stirrup-shoes caught in the
+rushes and he stumbled, so that Jehan behind him found it easy to knock
+his head against the wall.’
+
+‘Did you know it was going to happen?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Assuredly,’ said Sir Richard, with a sweet smile. ‘I put my foot on his
+sword and plucked away his dagger, but he knew not whether it was day or
+night for a while. He lay rolling his eyes and bubbling with his mouth,
+and Jehan roped him like a calf. He was cased all in that new-fangled
+armour which we call lizard-mail. Not rings like my hauberk here’—Sir
+Richard tapped his chest—‘but little pieces of dagger-proof steel
+overlapping on stout leather. We stripped it off (no need to spoil good
+harness by wetting it), and in the neck-piece De Aquila found the same
+folden piece of parchment which we had put back under the hearthstone.
+
+‘At this Gilbert would have run out. I laid my hand on his shoulder. It
+sufficed. He fell to trembling and praying on his beads.
+
+‘“Gilbert,� said De Aquila, “here be more notable sayings and doings of
+our Lord of Pevensey for thee to write down. Take penner and inkhorn,
+Gilbert. We cannot all be Sacristans of Battle.�
+
+‘Said Fulke from the floor, “Ye have bound a King’s messenger. Pevensey
+shall burn for this!�
+
+‘“Maybe. I have seen it besieged once,� said De Aquila, “but heart up,
+Fulke. I promise thee that thou shalt be hanged in the middle of the
+flames at the end of that siege, if I have to share my last loaf with
+thee; and that is more than Odo would have done when we starved out him
+and Mortain.�
+
+‘Then Fulke sat up and looked long and cunningly at De Aquila.
+
+‘“By the Saints,� said he, “why didst thou not say thou wast on the Duke’s
+side at the first?�
+
+‘“Am I?� said De Aquila.
+
+‘Fulke laughed and said, “No man who serves King Henry dare do this much
+to his messenger. When didst thou come over to the Duke? Let me up and we
+can smooth it out together.� And he smiled and becked and winked.
+
+‘“Yes, we will smooth it out,� said De Aquila. He nodded to me, and Jehan
+and I heaved up Fulke—he was a heavy man—and lowered him into the shaft by
+a rope, not so as to stand on our gold, but dangling by his shoulders a
+little above. It was turn of ebb, and the water came to his knees. He said
+nothing, but shivered somewhat.
+
+‘Then Jehan of a sudden beat down Gilbert’s wrist with his sheathed
+dagger, “Stop!� he said. “He swallows his beads.�
+
+‘“Poison, belike,� said De Aquila. “It is good for men who know too much.
+I have carried it these thirty years. Give me!�
+
+‘Then Gilbert wept and howled. De Aquila ran the beads through his
+fingers. The last one—I have said they were large nuts—opened in two
+halves on a pin, and there was a small folded parchment within. On it was
+written: “_The Old Dog goes to Salisbury to be beaten. I have his Kennel.
+Come quickly._�
+
+‘“This is worse than poison,� said De Aquila, very softly, and sucked in
+his cheeks. Then Gilbert grovelled in the rushes, and told us all he knew.
+The letter, as we guessed, was from Fulke to the Duke (and not the first
+that had passed between them); Fulke had given it to Gilbert in the
+chapel, and Gilbert thought to have taken it by morning to a certain
+fishing-boat at the wharf, which trafficked between Pevensey and the
+French shore. Gilbert was a false fellow, but he found time between his
+quakings and shakings to swear that the master of the boat knew nothing of
+the matter.
+
+‘“He hath called me shaved head,� said Gilbert, “and he hath thrown
+haddock-guts at me; but for all that, he is no traitor.�
+
+‘“I will have no clerk of mine mishandled or miscalled,� said De Aquila.
+“That seaman shall be whipped at his own mast. Write me first a letter,
+and thou shalt bear it, with the order for the whipping, to-morrow to the
+boat.�
+
+‘At this Gilbert would have kissed De Aquila’s hand—he had not hoped to
+live until the morning—and when he trembled less he wrote a letter as from
+Fulke to the Duke saying that the Kennel, which signified Pevensey, was
+shut, and that the old Dog (which was De Aquila) sat outside it, and,
+moreover, that all had been betrayed.
+
+‘“Write to any man that all is betrayed,� said De Aquila, “and even the
+Pope himself would sleep uneasily. Eh, Jehan? If one told thee all was
+betrayed, what wouldst thou do?�
+
+‘“I would run away,� said Jehan. “It might be true.�
+
+‘“Well said,� quoth De Aquila. “Write, Gilbert, that Montgomery, the great
+Earl, hath made his peace with the King, and that little D’Arcy, whom I
+hate, hath been hanged by the heels. We will give Robert full measure to
+chew upon. Write also that Fulke himself is sick to death of a dropsy.�
+
+‘“Nay?� cried Fulke, hanging in the well-shaft. “Drown me out of hand, but
+do not make a jest of me.�
+
+‘“Jest? I?� said De Aquila. “I am but fighting for life and lands with a
+pen, as thou hast shown me, Fulke.�
+
+‘Then Fulke groaned, for he was cold, and, “Let me confess,� said he.
+
+‘“Now, this is right neighbourly,� said De Aquila, leaning over the shaft.
+“Thou hast read my sayings and doings—or at least the first part of
+them—and thou art minded to repay me with thy own doings and sayings. Take
+penner and inkhorn, Gilbert. Here is work that will not irk thee.�
+
+‘“Let my men go without hurt, and I will confess my treason against the
+King,� said Fulke.
+
+‘“Now, why has he grown so tender of his men of a sudden?� said Hugh to
+me; for Fulke had no name for mercy to his men. Plunder he gave them, but
+pity, none.
+
+‘“Té! Té!� said De Aquila. “Thy treason was all confessed long ago by
+Gilbert. It would be enough to hang Montgomery himself.�
+
+‘“Nay; but spare my men,� said Fulke; and we heard him splash like a fish
+in a pond, for the tide was rising.
+
+‘“All in good time,� said De Aquila. “The night is young; the wine is old;
+and we need only the merry tale. Begin the story of thy life since when
+thou wast a lad at Tours. Tell it nimbly!�
+
+‘“Ye shame me to my soul,� said Fulke.
+
+‘“Then I have done what neither King nor Duke could do,� said De Aquila.
+“But begin, and forget nothing.�
+
+‘“Send thy man away,� said Fulke.
+
+‘“That much I can,� said De Aquila. “But, remember, I am like the Danes’
+King; I cannot turn the tide.�
+
+‘“How long will it rise?� said Fulke, and splashed anew.
+
+‘“For three hours,� said De Aquila. “Time to tell all thy good deeds.
+Begin, and Gilbert—I have heard thou art somewhat careless—do not twist
+his words from their true meaning.�
+
+‘So—fear of death in the dark being upon him—Fulke began; and Gilbert, not
+knowing what his fate might be, wrote it word by word. I have heard many
+tales, but never heard I aught to match the tale of Fulke, his black life,
+as Fulke told it hollowly, hanging in the shaft.’
+
+‘Was it bad?’ said Dan, awestruck.
+
+‘Beyond belief,’ Sir Richard answered. ‘None the less, there was that in
+it which forced even Gilbert to laugh. We three laughed till we ached. At
+one place his teeth so chattered that we could not well hear, and we
+reached him down a cup of wine. Then he warmed to it, and smoothly set out
+all his shifts, malices, and treacheries, his extreme boldnesses (he was
+desperate bold); his retreats, shufflings, and counterfeitings (he was
+also inconceivably a coward); his lack of gear and honour; his despair at
+their loss; his remedies, and well-coloured contrivances. Yes, he waved
+the filthy rags of his life before us, as though they had been some proud
+banner. When he ceased, we saw by torches that the tide stood at the
+corners of his mouth, and he breathed strongly through his nose.
+
+‘We had him out, and rubbed him; we wrapped him in a cloak, and gave him
+wine, and we leaned and looked upon him the while he drank. He was
+shivering, but shameless.
+
+‘Of a sudden we heard Jehan at the stairway wake, but a boy pushed past
+him, and stood before us, the hall rushes in his hair, all slubbered with
+sleep. “My father! My father! I dreamed of treachery,� he cried, and
+babbled thickly.
+
+‘“There is no treachery here,� said Fulke. “Go,� and the boy turned, even
+then not fully awake, and Jehan led him by the hand to the Great Hall.
+
+‘“Thy only son!� said De Aquila, “Why didst thou bring the child here?�
+
+‘“He is my heir. I dared not trust him to my brother,� said Fulke, and now
+he was ashamed. De Aquila said nothing, but sat weighing a wine cup in his
+two hands—thus. Anon, Fulke touched him on the knee.
+
+‘“Let the boy escape to Normandy,� said he, “and do with me at thy
+pleasure. Yea, hang me to-morrow, with my letter to Robert round my neck,
+but let the boy go.�
+
+‘“Be still,� said De Aquila. “I think for England.�
+
+‘So we waited what our Lord of Pevensey should devise; and the sweat ran
+down Fulke’s forehead.
+
+‘At last said De Aquila: “I am too old to judge, or to trust any man. I do
+not covet thy lands, as thou hast coveted mine; and whether thou art any
+better or any worse than any other black Angevin thief, it is for thy King
+to find out. Therefore, go back to thy King, Fulke.�
+
+‘“And thou wilt say nothing of what has passed?� said Fulke.
+
+‘“Why should I? Thy son will stay with me. If the King calls me again to
+leave Pevensey, which I must guard against England’s enemies; if the King
+sends his men against me for a traitor; or if I hear that the King in his
+bed thinks any evil of me or my two knights, thy son will be hanged from
+out this window, Fulke.�’
+
+‘But it hadn’t anything to do with his son,’ cried Una, startled.
+
+‘How could we have hanged Fulke?’ said Sir Richard. ‘We needed him to make
+our peace with the King. He would have betrayed half England for the boy’s
+sake. Of that we were sure.’
+
+‘I don’t understand,’ said Una. ‘But I think it was simply awful.’
+
+‘So did not Fulke. He was well pleased.’
+
+‘What? Because his son was going to be killed?’
+
+‘Nay. Because De Aquila had shown him how he might save the boy’s life and
+his own lands and honours. “I will do it,� he said. “I swear I will do it.
+I will tell the King thou art no traitor, but the most excellent, valiant,
+and perfect of us all. Yes, I will save thee.�
+
+‘De Aquila looked still into the bottom of the cup, rolling the wine-dregs
+to and fro.
+
+‘“Ay,� he said. “If I had a son, I would, I think, save him. But do not by
+any means tell me how thou wilt go about it.�
+
+‘“Nay, nay,� said Fulke, nodding his bald head wisely. “That is my secret.
+But rest at ease, De Aquila, no hair of thy head nor rood of thy land
+shall be forfeited,� and he smiled like one planning great good deeds.
+
+‘“And henceforward,� said De Aquila, “I counsel thee to serve one
+master—not two.�
+
+‘“What?� said Fulke. “Can I work no more honest trading between the two
+sides these troublous times?�
+
+‘“Serve Robert or the King—England or Normandy,� said De Aquila. “I care
+not which it is, but make thy choice here and now.�
+
+‘“The King, then,� said Fulke, “for I see he is better served than Robert.
+Shall I swear it?�
+
+‘“No need,� said De Aquila, and he laid his hand on the parchments which
+Gilbert had written. “It shall be some part of my Gilbert’s penance to
+copy out the savoury tale of thy life, till we have made ten, twenty, an
+hundred, maybe, copies. How many cattle, think you, would the Bishop of
+Tours give for that tale? Or thy brother? Or the Monks of Blois? Minstrels
+will turn it into songs which thy own Saxon serfs shall sing behind their
+plough-stilts, and men-at-arms riding through thy Norman towns. From here
+to Rome, Fulke, men will make very merry over that tale, and how Fulke
+told it, hanging in a well, like a drowned puppy. This shall be thy
+punishment, if ever I find thee double-dealing with thy King any more.
+Meantime, the parchments stay here with thy son. Him I will return to thee
+when thou hast made my peace with the King. The parchments never.�
+
+‘Fulke hid his face and groaned.
+
+‘“Bones of the Saints!� said De Aquila, laughing. “The pen cuts deep. I
+could never have fetched that grunt out of thee with any sword.�
+
+‘“But so long as I do not anger thee, my tale will be secret?� said Fulke.
+
+‘“Just so long. Does that comfort thee, Fulke?� said De Aquila.
+
+‘“What other comfort have ye left me?� he said, and of a sudden he wept
+hopelessly like a child, dropping his face on his knees.’
+
+‘Poor Fulke,’ said Una.
+
+‘I pitied him also,’ said Sir Richard.
+
+‘“After the spur, corn,� said De Aquila, and he threw Fulke three wedges
+of gold that he had taken from our little chest by the bed-place.
+
+‘“If I had known this,� said Fulke, catching his breath, “I would never
+have lifted hand against Pevensey. Only lack of this yellow stuff has made
+me so unlucky in my dealings.�
+
+‘It was dawn then, and they stirred in the Great Hall below. We sent down
+Fulke’s mail to be scoured, and when he rode away at noon under his own
+and the King’s banner very splendid and stately did he show. He smoothed
+his long beard, and called his son to his stirrup and kissed him. De
+Aquila rode with him as far as the New Mill landward. We thought the night
+had been all a dream.’
+
+‘But did he make it right with the King?’ Dan asked. ‘About your not being
+traitors, I mean?’
+
+Sir Richard smiled. ‘The King sent no second summons to Pevensey, nor did
+he ask why De Aquila had not obeyed the first. Yes, that was Fulke’s work.
+I know not how he did it, but it was well and swiftly done.’
+
+‘Then you didn’t do anything to his son?’ said Una.
+
+‘The boy? Oh, he was an imp. He turned the keep doors out of dortoirs
+while we had him. He sang foul songs, learned in the Barons’ camps—poor
+fool; he set the hounds fighting in hall; he lit the rushes to drive out,
+as he said, the fleas; he drew his dagger on Jehan, who threw him down the
+stairway for it; and he rode his horse through crops and among sheep. But
+when we had beaten him, and showed him wolf and deer, he followed us old
+men like a young, eager hound, and called us “uncle.� His father came the
+summer’s end to take him away, but the boy had no lust to go, because of
+the otter-hunting, and he stayed on till the fox-hunting. I gave him a
+bittern’s claw to bring him good luck at shooting. An imp, if ever there
+was!’
+
+‘And what happened to Gilbert?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Not even a whipping. De Aquila said he would sooner a clerk, however
+false, that knew the Manor-roll than a fool, however true, that must be
+taught his work afresh. Moreover, after that night I think Gilbert loved
+as much as he feared De Aquila. At least he would not leave us—not even
+when Vivian, the King’s Clerk, would have made him Sacristan of Battle
+Abbey. A false fellow, but, in his fashion, bold.’
+
+‘Did Robert ever land in Pevensey after all?’ Dan went on.
+
+‘We guarded the coast too well while Henry was fighting his Barons; and
+three or four years later, when England had peace, Henry crossed to
+Normandy and showed his brother some work at Tenchebrai that cured Robert
+of fighting. Many of Henry’s men sailed from Pevensey to that war. Fulke
+came, I remember, and we all four lay in the little chamber once again,
+and drank together. De Aquila was right. One should not judge men. Fulke
+was merry. Yes, always merry—with a catch in his breath.’
+
+‘And what did you do afterwards?’ said Una.
+
+‘We talked together of times past. That is all men can do when they grow
+old, little maid.’
+
+The bell for tea rang faintly across the meadows. Dan lay in the bows of
+the _Golden Hind_; Una in the stern, the book of verses open in her lap,
+was reading from ‘The Slave’s Dream’:—
+
+  ‘Again in the mist and shadow of sleep
+  He saw his native land.’
+
+‘I don’t know when you began that,’ said Dan, sleepily.
+
+On the middle thwart of the boat, beside Una’s sun-bonnet, lay an Oak
+leaf, an Ash leaf, and a Thorn leaf, that must have dropped down from the
+trees above; and the brook giggled as though it had just seen some joke.
+
+
+
+
+THE RUNES ON WELAND’S SWORD
+
+
+  _A Smith makes me_
+  _To betray my Man_
+  _In my first fight._
+
+  _To gather Gold_
+  _At the world’s end_
+  _I am sent._
+
+  _The Gold I gather_
+  _Comes into England_
+  _Out of deep Water._
+
+  _Like a shining Fish_
+  _Then it descends_
+  _Into deep Water._
+
+  _It is not given_
+  _For goods or gear._
+  _But for The Thing_
+
+  _The Gold I gather_
+  _A King covets_
+  _For an ill use._
+
+  _The Gold I gather_
+  _Is drawn up_
+  _Out of deep Water._
+
+  _Like a shining Fish_
+  _Then it descends_
+  _Into deep Water._
+
+  _It is not given_
+  _For goods or gear_
+  _But for The Thing._
+
+
+
+
+
+A CENTURION OF THE THIRTIETH
+
+
+
+
+  _Cities and Thrones and Powers,_
+    _Stand in Time’s eye,_
+  _Almost as long as flowers,_
+    _Which daily die:_
+  _But, as new buds put forth,_
+    _To glad new men,_
+  _Out of the spent and unconsidered Earth,_
+    _The Cities rise again._
+
+  _This season’s Daffodil,_
+    _She never hears,_
+  _What change, what chance, what chill,_
+    _Cut down last year’s;_
+  _But with bold countenance,_
+    _And knowledge small,_
+  _Esteems her seven days’ continuance_
+    _To be perpetual._
+
+  _So Time that is o’er-kind,_
+    _To all that be,_
+  _Ordains us e’en as blind,_
+    _As bold as she:_
+  _That in our very death,_
+    _And burial sure,_
+  _Shadow to shadow, well-persuaded, saith,_
+    _‘See how our works endure!’_
+
+
+
+
+A CENTURION OF THE THIRTIETH
+
+
+Dan had come to grief over his Latin, and was kept in; so Una went alone
+to Far Wood. Dan’s big catapult and the lead bullets that Hobden had made
+for him were hidden in an old hollow beech-stub on the west of the wood.
+They had named the place out of the verse in _Lays of Ancient Rome_.
+
+  From lordly Volaterrae,
+    Where scowls the far-famed hold,
+  Piled by the hands of giants
+    For Godlike Kings of old.
+
+They were the ‘Godlike Kings,’ and when old Hobden piled some comfortable
+brushwood between the big wooden knees of Volaterrae, they called him
+‘Hands of Giants.’
+
+Una slipped through their private gap in the fence, and sat still a while,
+scowling as scowlily and lordlily as she knew how; for ‘Volaterrae’ is an
+important watch-tower that juts out of Far Wood just as Far Wood juts out
+of the hillside. Pook’s Hill lay below her, and all the turns of the brook
+as it wanders from out of the Willingford Woods, between hop-gardens, to
+old Hobden’s cottage at the Forge. The Sou’-West wind (there is always a
+wind by ‘Volaterrae’) blew from the bare ridge where Cherry Clack Windmill
+stands.
+
+Now wind prowling through woods sounds like exciting things going to
+happen, and that is why on ‘blowy days’ you stand up in Volaterrae and
+shout bits of the _Lays_ to suit its noises.
+
+Una took Dan’s catapult from its secret place, and made ready to meet Lars
+Porsena’s army stealing through the wind-whitened aspens by the brook. A
+gust boomed up the valley, and Una chanted sorrowfully:
+
+  ‘Verbenna down to Ostia
+    Hath wasted all the plain;
+  Astur hath stormed Janiculum
+    And the stout guards are slain.’
+
+But the wind, not charging fair to the wood, started aside and shook a
+single oak in Gleason’s pasture. Here it made itself all small and
+crouched among the grasses, waving the tips of them as a cat waves the tip
+of her tail before she springs.
+
+‘Now welcome—welcome Sextus,’ sang Una, loading the catapult—
+
+    ‘Now welcome to thy home,
+  Why dost thou turn and run away?
+    Here lies the rod of Rome.’
+
+She fired into the face of the lull, to wake up the cowardly wind, and
+heard a grunt from behind a thorn in the pasture.
+
+‘Oh, my Winkie!’ she said aloud, and that was something she had picked up
+from Dan. ‘I believe I’ve tickled up a Gleason cow.’
+
+‘You little painted beast!’ a voice cried. ‘I’ll teach you to sling your
+masters!’
+
+She looked down most cautiously, and saw a young man covered with hoopy
+bronze armour all glowing among the late broom. But what Una admired
+beyond all was his great bronze helmet with its red horse-tail that
+flicked in the wind. She could hear the long hairs rasp on his shimmery
+shoulder-plates.
+
+‘What does the Faun mean,’ he said, half aloud to himself, ‘by telling me
+the Painted People have changed?’ He caught sight of Una’s yellow head.
+‘Have you seen a painted lead-slinger?’ he called.
+
+‘No-o,’ said Una. ‘But if you’ve seen a bullet——’
+
+‘Seen?’ cried the man. ‘It passed within a hair’s breadth of my ear.’
+
+‘Well, that was me. I’m most awfully sorry.’
+
+‘Didn’t the Faun tell you I was coming?’ He smiled.
+
+‘Not if you mean Puck. I thought you were a Gleason cow. I—I didn’t know
+you were a—a——What are you?’
+
+He laughed outright, showing a set of splendid teeth. His face and eyes
+were dark, and his eyebrows met above his big nose in one bushy black bar.
+
+‘They call me Parnesius. I have been an officer of the Seventh Cohort of
+the Thirtieth Legion—the Ulpia Victrix. Did you sling that bullet?’
+
+‘I did. I was using Dan’s catapult,’ said Una.
+
+‘Catapults!’ said he. ‘I ought to know something about them. Show me!’
+
+He leaped the rough fence with a rattle of spear, shield, and armour, and
+hoisted himself into ‘Volaterrae’ as quickly as a shadow.
+
+‘A sling on a forked stick. _I_ understand!’ he cried, and pulled at the
+elastic. ‘But what wonderful beast yields this stretching leather?’
+
+‘It’s laccy—elastic. You put the bullet into that loop, and then you pull
+hard.’
+
+The man pulled, and hit himself square on his thumb-nail.
+
+‘Each to his own weapon,’ he said, gravely, handing it back. ‘I am better
+with the bigger machine, little maiden. But it’s a pretty toy. A wolf
+would laugh at it. Aren’t you afraid of wolves?’
+
+‘There aren’t any,’ said Una.
+
+‘Never believe it! A wolf is like a Winged Hat. He comes when he isn’t
+expected. Don’t they hunt wolves here?’
+
+‘We don’t hunt,’ said Una, remembering what she had heard from grown-ups.
+‘We preserve—pheasants. Do you know them?’
+
+‘I ought to,’ said the young man, smiling again, and he imitated the cry
+of the cock-pheasant so perfectly that a bird answered out of the wood.
+
+‘What a big painted clucking fool is a pheasant,’ he said. ‘Just like some
+Romans!’
+
+‘But you’re a Roman yourself, aren’t you?’ said Una.
+
+‘Ye-es and no. I’m one of a good few thousands who have never seen Rome
+except in a picture. My people have lived at Vectis for generations.
+Vectis! That island West yonder that you can see from so far in clear
+weather.’
+
+‘Do you mean the Isle of Wight? It lifts up just before rain, and we see
+it from the Downs.’
+
+‘Very likely. Our Villa’s on the South edge of the Island, by the Broken
+Cliffs. Most of it is three hundred years old, but the cow-stables, where
+our first ancestor lived, must be a hundred years older. Oh, quite that,
+because the founder of our family had his land given him by Agricola at
+the Settlement. It’s not a bad little place for its size. In spring-time
+violets grow down to the very beach. I’ve gathered sea-weeds for myself
+and violets for my Mother many a time with our old nurse.’
+
+‘Was your nurse a—a Romaness too?’
+
+‘No, a Numidian. Gods be good to her! A dear, fat, brown thing with a
+tongue like a cowbell. She was a free woman. By the way, are you free,
+maiden?’
+
+‘Oh, quite,’ said Una. ‘At least, till tea-time; and in summer our
+governess doesn’t say much if we’re late.’
+
+The young man laughed again—a proper understanding laugh.
+
+‘I see,’ said he. ‘That accounts for your being in the wood. _We_ hid
+among the cliffs.’
+
+‘Did _you_ have a governess, then?’
+
+‘Did we not? A Greek, too. She had a way of clutching her dress when she
+hunted us among the gorze-bushes that made us laugh. Then she’d say she’d
+get us whipped. She never did, though, bless her! Aglaia was a thorough
+sportswoman, for all her learning.’
+
+‘But what lessons did you do—when—when you were little!’
+
+‘Ancient history, the Classics, arithmetic, and so on,’ he answered. ‘My
+sister and I were thickheads, but my two brothers (I’m the middle one)
+liked those things, and, of course, Mother was clever enough for any six.
+She was nearly as tall as I am, and she looked like the new statue on the
+Western Road—the Demeter of the Baskets, you know. And funny! Roma Dea!
+How Mother could make us laugh!’
+
+‘What at?’
+
+‘Little jokes and sayings that every family has. Don’t you know?’
+
+‘I know _we_ have, but I didn’t know other people had them too,’ said Una.
+‘Tell me about all your family, please.’
+
+‘Good families are very much alike. Mother would sit spinning of evenings
+while Aglaia read in her corner, and Father did accounts, and we four
+romped about the passages. When our noise grew too loud the Pater would
+say, “Less tumult! Less tumult! Have you never heard of a Father’s right
+over his children? He can slay them, my loves—slay them dead, and the Gods
+highly approve of the action!� Then Mother would prim up her dear mouth
+over the wheel and answer: “H’m! I’m afraid there can’t be much of the
+Roman Father about you!� Then the Pater would roll up his accounts, and
+say, “I’ll show you!� and then—then, he’d be worse than any of us!’
+
+‘Fathers can—if they like,’ said Una, her eyes dancing.
+
+‘Didn’t I say all good families are very much the same?’
+
+‘What did you do in summer?’ said Una. ‘Play about, like us?’
+
+‘Yes, and we visited our friends. There are no wolves in Vectis. We had
+many friends, and as many ponies as we wished.’
+
+‘It must have been lovely,’ said Una. ‘I hope it lasted for ever.’
+
+‘Not quite, little maid. When I was about sixteen or seventeen, the Father
+felt gouty, and we all went to the Waters.’
+
+‘What waters?’
+
+‘At Aquae Solis. Every one goes there. You ought to get your Father to
+take you some day.’
+
+‘But where? I don’t know,’ said Una.
+
+The young man looked astonished for a moment. ‘Aquae Solis,’ he repeated.
+‘The best baths in Britain. Just as good, I’m told, as Rome. All the old
+gluttons sit in its hot water, and talk scandal and politics. And the
+Generals come through the streets with their guards behind them; and the
+magistrates come in their chairs with their stiff guards behind them; and
+you meet fortune-tellers, and goldsmiths, and merchants, and philosophers,
+and feather-sellers, and ultra-Roman Britons, and ultra-British Romans,
+and tame tribesmen pretending to be civilised, and Jew lecturers, and—oh,
+everybody interesting. We young people, of course, took no interest in
+politics. We had not the gout: there were many of our age like us. We did
+not find life sad.
+
+‘But while we were enjoying ourselves without thinking, my sister met the
+son of a magistrate in the West—and a year afterwards she was married to
+him. My young brother, who was always interested in plants and roots, met
+the First Doctor of a Legion from the City of the Legions, and he decided
+that he would be an Army doctor. I do not think it is a profession for a
+well-born man, but then—I’m not my brother. He went to Rome to study
+medicine, and now he’s First Doctor of a Legion in Egypt—at Antinoe, I
+think, but I have not heard from him for some time.
+
+‘My eldest brother came across a Greek philosopher, and told my Father
+that he intended to settle down on the estate as a farmer and a
+philosopher. You see’—the young man’s eyes twinkled—‘his philosopher was a
+long-haired one!’
+
+‘I thought philosophers were bald,’ said Una.
+
+‘Not all. She was very pretty. I don’t blame him. Nothing could have
+suited me better than my eldest brother’s doing this, for I was only too
+keen to join the Army. I had always feared I should have to stay at home
+and look after the estate while my brother took _this_.’
+
+He rapped on his great glistening shield that never seemed to be in his
+way.
+
+‘So we were well contented—we young people—and we rode back to Clausentum
+along the Wood Road very quietly. But when we reached home, Aglaia, our
+governess, saw what had come to us. I remember her at the door, the torch
+over her head, watching us climb the cliff-path from the boat. “Aie! Aie!�
+she said. “Children you went away. Men and a woman you return!� Then she
+kissed Mother, and Mother wept. Thus our visit to the Waters settled our
+fates for each of us, Maiden.’
+
+He rose to his feet and listened, leaning on the shield-rim.
+
+‘I think that’s Dan—my brother,’ said Una.
+
+‘Yes; and the Faun is with him,’ he replied, as Dan with Puck stumbled
+through the copse.
+
+‘We should have come sooner,’ Puck called, ‘but the beauties of your
+native tongue, O Parnesius, have enthralled this young citizen.’
+
+Parnesius looked bewildered, even when Una explained.
+
+‘Dan said the plural of “dominus� was “dominoes,� and when Miss Blake said
+it wasn’t he said he supposed it was “backgammon,� and so he had to write
+it out twice—for cheek, you know.’
+
+Dan had climbed into Volaterrae, hot and panting.
+
+‘I’ve run nearly all the way,’ he gasped, ‘and then Puck met me. How do
+you do, Sir?’
+
+‘I am in good health,’ Parnesius answered. ‘See! I have tried to bend the
+bow of Ulysses, but——’ He held up his thumb.
+
+‘I’m sorry. You must have pulled off too soon,’ said Dan. ‘Puck said you
+were telling Una a story.’
+
+‘Continue, O Parnesius,’ said Puck, who had perched himself on a dead
+branch above them. ‘I will be chorus. Has he puzzled you much, Una?’
+
+‘Not a bit, except—I didn’t know where Ak—Ak something was,’ she answered.
+
+‘Oh, Aquae Solis. That’s Bath, where the buns come from. Let the hero tell
+his own tale.’
+
+Parnesius pretended to thrust his spear at Puck’s legs, but Puck reached
+down, caught at the horse-tail plume, and pulled off the tall helmet.
+
+‘Thanks, jester,’ said Parnesius, shaking his curly dark head. ‘That is
+cooler. Now hang it up for me....
+
+‘I was telling your sister how I joined the Army,’ he said to Dan.
+
+‘Did you have to pass an Exam?’ Dan asked, eagerly.
+
+‘No. I went to my Father, and said I should like to enter the Dacian Horse
+(I had seen some at Aquae Solis); but he said I had better begin service
+in a regular Legion from Rome. Now, like many of our youngsters, I was not
+too fond of anything Roman. The Roman-born officers and magistrates looked
+down on us British-born as though we were barbarians. I told my Father so.
+
+‘“I know they do,� he said; “but remember, after all, we are the people of
+the Old Stock, and our duty is to the Empire.�
+
+‘“To which Empire?’� I asked. “We split the Eagle before I was born.�
+
+‘“What thieves’ talk is that?� said my Father. He hated slang.
+
+‘“Well, Sir,� I said, “we’ve one Emperor in Rome, and I don’t know how
+many Emperors the outlying Provinces have set up from time to time. Which
+am I to follow?�
+
+‘“Gratian,� said he. “At least he’s a sportsman.�
+
+‘“He’s all that,� I said. “Hasn’t he turned himself into a raw-beef-eating
+Scythian?�
+
+‘“Where did you hear of it?� said the Pater.
+
+‘“At Aquae Solis,� I said. It was perfectly true. This precious Emperor
+Gratian of ours had a bodyguard of fur-cloaked Scythians, and he was so
+crazy about them that he dressed like them. In Rome of all places in the
+world! It was as bad as if my own Father had painted himself blue!
+
+‘“No matter for the clothes,� said the Pater. “They are only the fringe of
+the trouble. It began before your time or mine. Rome has forsaken her
+Gods, and must be punished. The great war with the Painted People broke
+out in the very year the temples of our Gods were destroyed. We beat the
+Painted People in the very year our temples were rebuilt. Go back further
+still.�... He went back to the time of Diocletian; and to listen to him
+you would have thought Eternal Rome herself was on the edge of
+destruction, just because a few people had become a little large-minded.
+
+‘_I_ knew nothing about it. Aglaia never taught us the history of our own
+country. She was so full of her ancient Greeks.
+
+‘“There is no hope for Rome,� said the Pater, at last. “She has forsaken
+her Gods, but if the Gods forgive _us_ here, we may save Britain. To do
+that, we must keep the Painted People back. Therefore, I tell you,
+Parnesius, as a Father, that if your heart is set on service, your place
+is among men on the Wall—and not with women among the cities.�’
+
+‘What Wall?’ asked Dan and Una at once.
+
+‘Father meant the one we call Hadrian’s Wall. I’ll tell you about it
+later. It was built long ago, across North Britain, to keep out the
+Painted People—Picts you call them. Father had fought in the great Pict
+War that lasted more than twenty years, and he knew what fighting meant.
+Theodosius, one of our great Generals, had chased the little beasts back
+far into the North before I was born: down at Vectis, of course, we never
+troubled our heads about them. But when my Father spoke as he did, I
+kissed his hand, and waited for orders. We British-born Romans know what
+is due to our parents.’
+
+‘If I kissed my Father’s hand, he’d laugh,’ said Dan.
+
+‘Customs change; but if you do not obey your father, the Gods remember it.
+You may be quite sure of _that_.
+
+‘After our talk, seeing I was in earnest, the Pater sent me over to
+Clausentum to learn my foot-drill in a barrack full of foreign
+Auxiliaries—as unwashed and unshaved a mob of mixed barbarians as ever
+scrubbed a breast-plate. It was your stick in their stomachs and your
+shield in their faces to push them into any sort of formation. When I had
+learned my work the Instructor gave me a handful—and they were a
+handful!—of Gauls and Iberians to polish up till they were sent to their
+stations up-country. I did my best, and one night a villa in the suburbs
+caught fire, and I had my handful out and at work before any of the other
+troops. I noticed a quiet-looking man on the lawn, leaning on a stick. He
+watched us passing buckets from the pond, and at last he said to me: “Who
+are you?�
+
+‘“A probationer, waiting for a cohort,� I answered. _I_ didn’t know who he
+was from Deucalion!
+
+‘“Born in Britain?� he said.
+
+‘“Yes, if you were born in Spain,� I said, for he neighed his words like
+an Iberian mule.
+
+‘“And what might you call yourself when you are at home?� he said
+laughing.
+
+‘“That depends,� I answered; “sometimes one thing and sometimes another.
+But now I’m busy.�
+
+‘He said no more till we had saved the family gods (they were respectable
+householders), and then he grunted across the laurels: “Listen, young
+sometimes-one-thing-and-sometimes-another. In future call yourself
+Centurion of the Seventh Cohort of the Thirtieth, the Ulpia Victrix. That
+will help me to remember you. Your Father and a few other people call me
+Maximus.�
+
+‘He tossed me the polished stick he was leaning on, and went away. You
+might have knocked me down with it!’
+
+‘Who was he?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Maximus himself, our great General! _The_ General of Britain who had been
+Theodosius’s right hand in the Pict War! Not only had he given me my
+Centurion’s stick direct, but three steps in a good Legion as well! A new
+man generally begins in the Tenth Cohort of his Legion, and works up.’
+
+‘And were you pleased?’ said Una.
+
+‘Very. I thought Maximus had chosen me for my good looks and fine style in
+marching, but, when I went home, the Pater told me he had served under
+Maximus in the great Pict War, and had asked him to promote me.’
+
+‘A child you were!’ said Puck, from above.
+
+‘I was,’ said Parnesius. ‘Don’t begrudge it me, Faun. Afterwards—the Gods
+know I put aside the games!’ And Puck nodded, brown chin on brown hand,
+his big eyes still.
+
+‘The night before I left we sacrificed to our ancestors—the usual little
+Home Sacrifice—but I never prayed so earnestly to all the Good Shades, and
+then I went with my Father by boat to Regnum, and across the chalk
+eastwards to Anderida yonder.’
+
+‘Regnum? Anderida?’ The children turned their faces to Puck.
+
+‘Regnum’s Chichester,’ he said, pointing towards Cherry Clack, and—he
+threw his arm South behind him—‘Anderida’s Pevensey.’
+
+‘Pevensey again!’ said Dan. ‘Where Weland landed?’
+
+‘Weland and a few others,’ said Puck. ‘Pevensey isn’t young—even compared
+to me!’
+
+‘The head-quarters of the Thirtieth lay at Anderida in summer, but my own
+Cohort, the Seventh, was on the Wall up North. Maximus was inspecting
+Auxiliaries—the Abulci, I think—at Anderida, and we stayed with him, for
+he and my Father were very old friends. I was only there ten days when I
+was ordered to go up with thirty men to my Cohort.’ He laughed merrily. ‘A
+man never forgets his first march. I was happier than any Emperor when I
+led my handful through the North Gate of the Camp, and we saluted the
+guard and the Altar of Victory there.’
+
+‘How? How?’ said Dan and Una.
+
+Parnesius smiled, and stood up, flashing in his armour.
+
+‘So!’ said he; and he moved slowly through the beautiful movements of the
+Roman Salute, that ends with a hollow clang of the shield coming into its
+place between the shoulders.
+
+‘Hai!’ said Puck. ‘That sets one thinking!’
+
+‘We went out fully armed,’ said Parnesius, sitting down; ‘but as soon as
+the road entered the Great Forest, my men expected the pack-horses to hang
+their shields on. “No!� I said; “you can dress like women in Anderida, but
+while you’re with me you will carry your own weapons and armour.�
+
+‘“But it’s hot,� said one of them, “and we haven’t a doctor. Suppose we
+get sunstroke, or a fever?�
+
+‘“Then die,� I said, “and a good riddance to Rome! Up shield—up spears,
+and tighten your foot-wear!�
+
+‘“Don’t think yourself Emperor of Britain already,� a fellow shouted. I
+knocked him over with the butt of my spear, and explained to these
+Roman-born Romans that, if there were any further trouble, we should go on
+with one man short. And, by the Light of the Sun, I meant it too! My raw
+Gauls at Clausentum had never treated me so.
+
+‘Then, quietly as a cloud, Maximus rode out of the fern (my Father behind
+him), and reined up across the road. He wore the Purple, as though he were
+already Emperor; his leggings were of white buckskin laced with gold.
+
+‘My men dropped like—like partridges.
+
+‘He said nothing for some time, only looked, with his eyes puckered. Then
+he crooked his forefinger, and my men walked—crawled, I mean—to one side.
+
+‘“Stand in the sun, children,� he said, and they formed up on the hard
+road.
+
+‘“What would you have done?� he said to me, “If I had not been here?�
+
+‘“I should have killed that man,� I answered.
+
+‘“Kill him now,� he said. “He will not move a limb.�
+
+‘“No,� I said. “You’ve taken my men out of my command. I should only be
+your butcher if I killed him now.� Do you see what I meant?’ Parnesius
+turned to Dan.
+
+‘Yes,’ said Dan. ‘It wouldn’t have been fair, somehow.’
+
+‘That was what I thought,’ said Parnesius. ‘But Maximus frowned. “You’ll
+never be an Emperor,� he said. “Not even a General will you be.�
+
+‘I was silent, but my Father seemed pleased.
+
+‘“I came here to see the last of you,� he said.
+
+‘“You have seen it,� said Maximus. “I shall never need your son any more.
+He will live and he will die an officer of a Legion—and he might have been
+Prefect of one of my Provinces. Now eat and drink with us,� he said. “Your
+men will wait till you have finished.�
+
+‘My miserable thirty stood like wine-skins glistening in the hot sun, and
+Maximus led us to where his people had set a meal. Himself he mixed the
+wine.
+
+‘“A year from now,� he said, “you will remember that you have sat with the
+Emperor of Britain—and Gaul.�
+
+‘“Yes,� said the Pater, “you can drive two mules—Gaul and Britain.�
+
+‘“Five years hence you will remember that you have drunk�—he passed me the
+cup and there was blue borage in it—“with the Emperor of Rome!�
+
+‘“No; you can’t drive three mules; they will tear you in pieces,� said my
+Father.
+
+‘“And you on the Wall, among the heather, will weep because your notion of
+justice was more to you than the favour of the Emperor of Rome.�
+
+‘I sat quite still. One does not answer a General who wears the Purple.
+
+‘“I am not angry with you,� he went on; “I owe too much to your Father——�
+
+‘“You owe me nothing but advice that you never took,� said the Pater.
+
+‘“——to be unjust to any of your family. Indeed, I say you will make a good
+officer, but, so far as I am concerned, on the Wall you will live, and on
+the Wall you will die,� said Maximus.
+
+‘“Very like,� said my Father. “But we shall have the Picts _and_ their
+friends breaking through before long. You cannot move all troops out of
+Britain to make you Emperor, and expect the North to sit quiet.�
+
+‘“I follow my destiny,� said Maximus.
+
+‘“Follow it, then,� said my Father pulling up a fern root; “and die as
+Theodosius died.�
+
+‘“Ah!� said Maximus. “My old General was killed because he served the
+Empire too well. _I_ may be killed, but not for that reason,� and he
+smiled a little pale grey smile that made my blood run cold.
+
+‘“Then I had better follow my destiny,� I said, “and take my men to the
+Wall.�
+
+‘He looked at me a long time, and bowed his head slanting like a Spaniard.
+“Follow it, boy,� he said. That was all. I was only too glad to get away,
+though I had many messages for home. I found my men standing as they had
+been put—they had not even shifted their feet in the dust,—and off I
+marched, still feeling that terrific smile like an east wind up my back. I
+never halted them till sunset, and’—he turned about and looked at Pook’s
+Hill below him—‘then I halted yonder.’ He pointed to the broken,
+bracken-covered shoulder of the Forge Hill behind old Hobden’s cottage.
+
+‘There? Why, that’s only the old Forge—where they made iron once,’ said
+Dan.
+
+‘Very good stuff it was too,’ said Parnesius, calmly. ‘We mended three
+shoulder-straps here and had a spear-head riveted. The forge was rented
+from the Government by a one-eyed smith from Carthage. I remember we
+called him Cyclops. He sold me a beaver-skin rug for my sister’s room.’
+
+‘But it couldn’t have been here,’ Dan insisted.
+
+‘But it was! From the Altar of Victory at Anderida to the First Forge in
+the Forest here is twelve miles seven hundred paces. It is all in the Road
+Book. A man doesn’t forget his first march. I think I could tell you every
+station between this and——’ He leaned forward, but his eye was caught by
+the setting sun.
+
+It had come down to the top of Cherry Clack Hill, and the light poured in
+between the tree trunks so that you could see red and gold and black deep
+into the heart of Far Wood; and Parnesius in his armour shone as though he
+had been afire.
+
+‘Wait,’ he said, lifting a hand, and the sunlight jinked on his glass
+bracelet. ‘Wait! I pray to Mithras!’
+
+He rose and stretched his arms westward, with deep, splendid-sounding
+words.
+
+Then Puck began to sing too, in a voice like bells tolling, and as he sang
+he slipped from ‘Volaterrae’ to the ground, and beckoned the children to
+follow. They obeyed; it seemed as though the voices were pushing them
+along; and through the goldy-brown light on the beech leaves they walked,
+while Puck between them chanted something like this:—
+
+  Cur mundus militat sub vana gloria
+  Cujus prosperitas est transitoria?
+  Tam cito labitur ejus potentia
+  Quam vasa figuli quæ sunt fragilia.
+
+They found themselves at the little locked gates of the wood.
+
+  Quo Cæsar abiit celsus imperio?
+  Vel Dives splendidus totus in prandio?
+  Dic ubi Tullius——
+
+Still singing, he took Dan’s hand and wheeled him round to face Una as she
+came out of the gate. It shut behind her, at the same time as Puck threw
+the memory-magicking Oak, Ash, and Thorn leaves over their heads.
+
+‘Well, you _are_ jolly late,’ said Una. ‘Couldn’t you get away before?’
+
+‘I did,’ said Dan. ‘I got away in lots of time, but—but I didn’t know it
+was so late. Where’ve you been?’
+
+‘In Volaterrae—waiting for you.’
+
+‘Sorry,’ said Dan. ‘It was all that beastly Latin.’
+
+
+
+
+A BRITISH-ROMAN SONG
+
+
+        (A. D. 406)
+
+  _My father’s father saw it not,_
+    _And I, belike, shall never come,_
+  _To look on that so-holy spot—_
+            _The very Rome—_
+
+  _Crowned by all Time, all Art, all Might,_
+    _The equal work of Gods and Man—_
+  _City beneath whose oldest height_
+            _The Race began,—_
+
+  _Soon to send forth again a brood_
+    _Unshakeable, we pray, that clings,_
+  _To Rome’s thrice-hammered hardihood—_
+            _In arduous things._
+
+  _Strong heart with triple armour bound,_
+    _Beat strongly, for thy life-blood runs,_
+  _Age after Age, the Empire round—_
+            _In us thy Sons,_
+
+  _Who, distant from the Seven Hills,_
+    _Loving and serving much, require_
+  _Thee, Thee to guard ’gainst home-born ills,_
+            _The Imperial Fire!_
+
+
+
+
+
+ON THE GREAT WALL
+
+
+
+
+ON THE GREAT WALL
+
+
+  When I left Rome for Lalage’s sake
+    By the Legions’ Road to Rimini,
+  She vowed her heart was mine to take
+    With me and my shield to Rimini—
+    (Till the Eagles flew from Rimini!)
+      And I’ve tramped Britain and I’ve tramped Gaul
+      And the Pontic shore where the snow-flakes fall
+    As white as the neck of Lalage—
+    As cold as the heart of Lalage!
+      And I’ve lost Britain and I’ve lost Gaul
+
+(the voice seemed very cheerful about it),
+
+      And I’ve lost Rome, and worst of all,
+        I’ve lost Lalage!
+
+They were standing by the gate to Far Wood when they heard this song.
+Without a word they hurried to their private gap and wriggled through the
+hedge almost atop of a jay that was feeding from Puck’s hand.
+
+‘Gently!’ said Puck. ‘What are you looking for?’
+
+‘Parnesius, of course,’ Dan answered. ‘We’ve only just remembered
+yesterday. It isn’t fair.’
+
+Puck chuckled as he rose. ‘I’m sorry, but children who spend the afternoon
+with me and a Roman Centurion need a little settling dose of Magic before
+they go to tea with their governess. Ohé, Parnesius!’ he called.
+
+‘Here, Faun!’ came the answer from ‘Volaterrae.’ They could see the
+shimmer of bronze armour in the beech crotch, and the friendly flash of
+the great shield uplifted.
+
+‘I have driven out the Britons.’ Parnesius laughed like a boy. ‘I occupy
+their high forts. But Rome is merciful! You may come up.’ And up they
+three all scrambled.
+
+‘What was the song you were singing just now?’ said Una, as soon as she
+had settled herself.
+
+‘That? Oh, _Rimini_. It’s one of the tunes that are always being born
+somewhere in the Empire. They run like a pestilence for six months or a
+year, till another one pleases the Legions, and then they march to
+_that_.’
+
+‘Tell them about the marching, Parnesius. Few people nowadays walk from
+end to end of this country,’ said Puck.
+
+‘The greater their loss. I know nothing better than the Long March when
+your feet are hardened. You begin after the mists have risen, and you end,
+perhaps, an hour after sundown.’
+
+‘And what do you have to eat?’ Dan asked, promptly.
+
+‘Fat bacon, beans, and bread, and whatever wine happens to be in the
+rest-houses. But soldiers are born grumblers. Their very first day out, my
+men complained of our water-ground British corn. They said it wasn’t so
+filling as the rough stuff that is ground in the Roman ox-mills. However,
+they had to fetch and eat it.’
+
+‘Fetch it? Where from?’ said Una.
+
+‘From that newly-invented water-mill below the Forge.’
+
+‘That’s Forge Mill—_our_ Mill!’ Una looked at Puck.
+
+‘Yes; yours,’ Puck put in. ‘How old did you think it was?’
+
+‘I don’t know. Didn’t Sir Richard Dalyngridge talk about it?’
+
+‘He did, and it was old in his day,’ Puck answered. ‘Hundreds of years
+old.’
+
+‘It was new in mine,’ said Parnesius. ‘My men looked at the flour in their
+helmets as though it had been a nest of adders. They did it to try my
+patience. But I—addressed them, and we became friends. To tell the truth,
+they taught me the Roman Step. You see, I’d only served with
+quick-marching Auxiliaries. A Legion’s pace is altogether different. It is
+a long, slow stride, that never varies from sunrise to sunset. “Rome’s
+Race—Rome’s Pace,� as the proverb says. Twenty-four miles in eight hours,
+neither more nor less. Head and spear up, shield on your back,
+cuirass-collar open one hand’s breadth—and that’s how you take the Eagles
+through Britain.’
+
+‘And did you meet any adventures?’ said Dan.
+
+‘There are no adventures South the Wall,’ said Parnesius. ‘The worst thing
+that happened me was having to appear before a magistrate up North, where
+a wandering philosopher had jeered at the Eagles. I was able to show that
+the old man had deliberately blocked our road, and the magistrate told
+him, out of his own Book, I believe, that, whatever his God might be, he
+should pay proper respect to Cæsar.’
+
+‘What did you do?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Went on. Why should _I_ care for such things, my business being to reach
+my station? It took me twenty days.
+
+‘Of course, the farther North you go the emptier are the roads. At last
+you fetch clear of the forests and climb bare hills, where wolves howl in
+the ruins of our cities that have been. No more pretty girls; no more
+jolly magistrates who knew your Father when he was young, and invite you
+to stay with them; no news at the temples and way-stations except bad news
+of wild beasts. There’s where you meet hunters, and trappers for the
+Circuses, prodding along chained bears and muzzled wolves. Your pony shies
+at them, and your men laugh.
+
+‘The houses change from gardened villas to shut forts with watch-towers of
+grey stone, and great stone-walled sheepfolds, guarded by armed Britons of
+the North Shore. In the naked hills beyond the naked houses, where the
+shadows of the clouds play like cavalry charging, you see puffs of black
+smoke from the mines. The hard road goes on and on—and the wind sings
+through your helmet-plume—past altars to Legions and Generals forgotten,
+and broken statues of Gods and Heroes, and thousands of graves where the
+mountain foxes and hares peep at you. Red-hot in summer, freezing in
+winter, is that big, purple heather country of broken stone.
+
+  [Illustration: ‘There’s where you meet hunters, and trappers for the
+  Circuses, prodding along chained bears and muzzled wolves.’]
+
+‘Just when you think you are at the world’s end, you see a smoke from East
+to West as far as the eye can turn, and then, under it, also as far as the
+eye can stretch, houses and temples, shops and theatres, barracks, and
+granaries, trickling along like dice behind—always behind—one long, low,
+rising and falling, and hiding and showing line of towers. And that is the
+Wall!’
+
+‘Ah!’ said the children, taking breath.
+
+‘You may well,’ said Parnesius. ‘Old men who have followed the Eagles
+since boyhood say nothing in the Empire is more wonderful than first sight
+of the Wall!’
+
+‘Is it just a Wall? Like the one round the kitchen-garden?’ said Dan.
+
+‘No, no! It is _the_ Wall. Along the top are towers with guard-houses,
+small towers, between. Even on the narrowest part of it three men with
+shields can walk abreast from guard-house to guard-house. A little curtain
+wall, no higher than a man’s neck, runs along the top of the thick wall,
+so that from a distance you see the helmets of the sentries sliding back
+and forth like beads. Thirty feet high is the Wall, and on the Picts’
+side, the North, is a ditch, strewn with blades of old swords and
+spear-heads set in wood, and tyres of wheels joined by chains. The Little
+People come there to steal iron for their arrow-heads.
+
+‘But the Wall itself is not more wonderful than the town behind it. Long
+ago there were great ramparts and ditches on the South side, and no one
+was allowed to build there. Now the ramparts are partly pulled down and
+built over, from end to end of the Wall; making a thin town eighty miles
+long. Think of it! One roaring, rioting, cockfighting, wolf-baiting,
+horse-racing town, from Ituna on the West to Segedunum on the cold eastern
+beach! On one side heather, woods and ruins where Picts hide, and on the
+other, a vast town—long like a snake, and wicked like a snake. Yes, a
+snake basking beside a warm wall!
+
+‘My Cohort, I was told, lay at Hunno, where the Great North Road runs
+through the Wall into the Province of Valentia.’ Parnesius laughed
+scornfully. ‘The Province of Valentia! We followed the road, therefore,
+into Hunno town, and stood astonished. The place was a fair—a fair of
+peoples from every corner of the Empire. Some were racing horses: some sat
+in wine-shops: some watched dogs baiting bears, and many gathered in a
+ditch to see cocks fight. A boy not much older than myself, but I could
+see he was an Officer, reined up before me and asked what I wanted.
+
+‘“My station,� I said, and showed him my shield.’ Parnesius held up his
+broad shield with its three X’s like letters on a beer-cask.
+
+‘“Lucky omen!� said he. “Your Cohort’s the next tower to us, but they’re
+all at the cock-fight. This is a happy place. Come and wet the Eagles.� He
+meant to offer me a drink.
+
+‘“When I’ve handed over my men,� I said. I felt angry and ashamed.
+
+‘“Oh, you’ll soon outgrow that sort of nonsense,� he answered. “But don’t
+let me interfere with your hopes. Go on to the Statue of Roma Dea. You
+can’t miss it. The main road into Valentia!� and he laughed and rode off.
+I could see the Statue not a quarter of a mile away, and there I went. At
+some time or other the Great North Road ran under it into Valentia; but
+the far end had been blocked up because of the Picts, and on the plaster a
+man had scratched, “Finish!� It was like marching into a cave. We grounded
+spears together, my little thirty, and it echoed in the barrel of the
+arch, but none came. There was a door at one side painted with our number.
+We prowled in, and I found a cook asleep, and ordered him to give us food.
+Then I climbed to the top of the Wall, and looked out over the Pict
+country, and I—thought,’ said Parnesius. ‘The bricked-up arch with
+“Finish!� on the plaster was what shook me, for I was not much more than a
+boy.’
+
+‘What a shame!’ said Una. ‘But did you feel happy after you’d had a
+good——’ Dan stopped her with a nudge.
+
+‘Happy?’ said Parnesius. ‘When the men of the Cohort I was to command came
+back unhelmeted from the cock-fight, their birds under their arms, and
+asked me who I was? No, I was not happy; but I made my new Cohort unhappy
+too.... I wrote my Mother I was happy, but, oh, my friends’—he stretched
+arms over bare knees—‘I would not wish my worst enemy to suffer as I
+suffered through my first months on the Wall. Remember this: among the
+officers was scarcely one, except myself (and I thought I had lost the
+favour of Maximus, my General), scarcely one who had not done something of
+wrong or folly. Either he had killed a man, or taken money, or insulted
+the magistrates, or blasphemed the Gods, and so had been sent to the Wall
+as a hiding-place from shame or fear. And the men were as the officers.
+Remember, also, that the Wall was manned by every breed and race in the
+Empire. No two towers spoke the same tongue, or worshipped the same Gods.
+In one thing only we were all equal. No matter what arms we had used
+before we came to the Wall, _on_ the Wall we were all archers, like the
+Scythians. The Pict cannot run away from the arrow, or crawl under it. He
+is a bowman himself. _He_ knows!’
+
+‘I suppose you were fighting Picts all the time,’ said Dan.
+
+‘Picts seldom fight. I never saw a fighting Pict for half a year. The tame
+Picts told us they had all gone North.’
+
+‘What is a tame Pict?’ said Dan.
+
+‘A Pict—there were many such—who speaks a few words of our tongue, and
+slips across the Wall to sell ponies and wolf-hounds. Without a horse and
+a dog, _and_ a friend, man would perish. The Gods gave me all three, and
+there is no gift like friendship. Remember this’—Parnesius turned to
+Dan—‘when you become a young man. For your fate will turn on the first
+true friend you make.’
+
+‘He means,’ said Puck, grinning, ‘that if you try to make yourself a
+decent chap when you’re young, you’ll make rather decent friends when you
+grow up. If you’re a beast, you’ll have beastly friends. Listen to the
+Pious Parnesius on Friendship!’
+
+‘I am not pious,’ Parnesius answered, ‘but I know what goodness means; and
+my friend, though he was without hope, was ten thousand times better than
+I. Stop laughing, Faun!’
+
+‘Oh Youth Eternal and All-believing,’ cried Puck, as he rocked on the
+branch above. ‘Tell them about your Pertinax.’
+
+‘He was that friend the Gods sent me—the boy who spoke to me when I first
+came. Little older than myself, commanding the Augusta Victoria Cohort on
+the tower next to us and the Numidians. In virtue he was far my superior.’
+
+‘Then why was he on the Wall?’ Una asked, quickly. ‘They’d all done
+something bad. You said so yourself.’
+
+‘He was the nephew, his Father had died, of a great rich man in Gaul who
+was not always kind to his Mother. When Pertinax grew up, he discovered
+this, and so his uncle shipped him off, by trickery and force, to the
+Wall. We came to know each other at a ceremony in our Temple—in the dark.
+It was the Bull Killing,’ Parnesius explained to Puck.
+
+‘_I_ see,’ said Puck, and turned to the children. ‘That’s something you
+wouldn’t quite understand. Parnesius means he met Pertinax in church.’
+
+‘Yes—in the Cave we first met, and we were both raised to the Degree of
+Gryphons together.’ Parnesius lifted his hand towards his neck for an
+instant. ‘He had been on the Wall two years, and knew the Picts well. He
+taught me first how to take Heather.’
+
+‘What’s that?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Going out hunting in the Pict country with a tame Pict. You are quite
+safe so long as you are his guest, and wear a sprig of heather where it
+can be seen. If you went alone you would surely be killed, if you were not
+smothered first in the bogs. Only the Picts know their way about those
+black and hidden bogs. Old Allo, the one-eyed, withered little Pict from
+whom we bought our ponies, was our special friend. At first we went only
+to escape from the terrible town, and to talk together about our homes.
+Then he showed us how to hunt wolves and those great red deer with horns
+like Jewish candlesticks. The Roman-born officers rather looked down on us
+for doing this, but we preferred the heather to their amusements. Believe
+me,’ Parnesius turned again to Dan, ‘a boy is safe from all things that
+really harm when he is astride a pony or after a deer. Do you remember, O
+Faun,’ he turned to Puck, ‘the little altar I built to the Sylvan Pan by
+the pine-forest beyond the brook?’
+
+‘Which? The stone one with the line from Xenophon?’ said Puck, in quite a
+new voice.
+
+‘No. What do _I_ know of Xenophon? That was Pertinax—after he had shot his
+first mountain-hare with an arrow—by chance! Mine I made of round pebbles
+in memory of my first bear. It took me one happy day to build.’ Parnesius
+faced the children quickly.
+
+‘And that was how we lived on the Wall for two years—a little scuffling
+with the Picts, and a great deal of hunting with old Allo in the Pict
+country. He called us his children sometimes, and we were fond of him and
+his barbarians, though we never let them paint us Pict fashion. The marks
+endure till you die.’
+
+‘How’s it done?’ said Dan. ‘Anything like tattooing?’
+
+‘They prick the skin till the blood runs, and rub in coloured juices. Allo
+was painted blue, green, and red from his forehead to his ankles. He said
+it was part of his religion. He told us about his religion (Pertinax was
+always interested in such things), and as we came to know him well, he
+told us what was happening in Britain behind the Wall. Many things took
+place behind us in those days. And, by the Light of the Sun,’ said
+Parnesius, earnestly, ‘there was not much that those little people did not
+know! He told me when Maximus crossed over to Gaul, after he had made
+himself Emperor of Britain, and what troops and emigrants he had taken
+with him. _We_ did not get the news on the Wall till fifteen days later.
+He told me what troops Maximus was taking out of Britain every month to
+help him to conquer Gaul; and I always found the numbers as he said.
+Wonderful! And I tell another strange thing!’
+
+He jointed his hands across his knees, and leaned his head on the curve of
+the shield behind him.
+
+‘Late in the summer, when the first frosts begin and the Picts kill their
+bees, we three rode out after wolf with some new hounds. Rutilianus, our
+General, had given us ten days’ leave, and we had pushed beyond the Second
+Wall—beyond the Province of Valentia—into the higher hills, where there
+are not even any of Rome’s old ruins. We killed a she-wolf before noon,
+and while Allo was skinning her he looked up and said to me, “When you are
+Captain of the Wall, my child, you won’t be able to do this any more!�
+
+‘I might as well have been made Prefect of Lower Gaul, so I laughed and
+said, “Wait till I am Captain.� “No, don’t wait,� said Allo. “Take my
+advice and go home—both of you.� “We have no homes,� said Pertinax. “You
+know that as well as we do. We’re finished men—thumbs down against both of
+us. Only men without hope would risk their necks on your ponies.� The old
+man laughed one of those short Pict laughs—like a fox barking on a frosty
+night. “I’m fond of you two,� he said. “Besides, I’ve taught you what
+little you know about hunting. Take my advice and go home.�
+
+‘“We can’t,� I said. “I’m out of favour with my General, for one thing;
+and for another, Pertinax has an uncle.�
+
+‘“I don’t know about his uncle,� said Allo, “but the trouble with you,
+Parnesius, is that your General thinks well of you.�
+
+‘“Roma Dea!� said Pertinax, sitting up. “What can you guess what Maximus
+thinks, you old horse-coper?�
+
+‘Just then (you know how near the brutes creep when one is eating?) a
+great dog-wolf jumped out behind us, and away our rested hounds tore after
+him, with us at their tails. He ran us far out of any country we’d ever
+heard of, straight as an arrow till sunset, towards the sunset. We came at
+last to long capes stretching into winding waters, and on a grey beach
+below us we saw ships drawn up. Forty-seven we counted—not Roman galleys
+but the raven-winged ships from the North where Rome does not rule. Men
+moved in the ships, and the sun flashed on their helmets—winged helmets of
+the red-haired men from the North where Rome does not rule. We watched,
+and we counted, and we wondered; for though we had heard rumours
+concerning these Winged Hats, as the Picts called them, never before had
+we looked upon them.
+
+‘“Come away! Come away!� said Allo. “My Heather won’t protect you here. We
+shall all be killed!� His legs trembled like his voice. Back we went—back
+across the heather under the moon, till it was nearly morning, and our
+poor beasts stumbled on some ruins.
+
+‘When we woke, very stiff and cold, Allo was mixing the meal and water.
+One does not light fires in the Pict country except near a village. The
+little men are always signalling to each other with smokes, and a strange
+smoke brings them out buzzing like bees. They can sting, too!
+
+‘“What we saw last night was a trading-station,� said Allo. “Nothing but a
+trading-station.�
+
+‘“I do not like lies on an empty stomach,� said Pertinax. “I suppose� (he
+had eyes like an eagle’s), “I suppose _that_ is a trading-station also?�
+He pointed to a smoke far off on a hill-top, ascending in what we call the
+Pict’s Call:—Puff—double-puff: double-puff—puff! They make it by raising
+and dropping a wet hide on a fire.
+
+‘“No,� said Allo, pushing the platter back into the bag. “That is for you
+and me. Your fate is fixed. Come.�
+
+‘We came. When one takes Heather, one must obey one’s Pict—but that
+wretched smoke was twenty miles distant, well over on the east coast, and
+the day was as hot as a bath.
+
+‘“Whatever happens,� said Allo, while our ponies grunted along, “I want
+you to remember me.�
+
+‘“I shall not forget,� said Pertinax. “You have cheated me out of my
+breakfast.�
+
+‘“What is a handful of crushed oats to a Roman?� he said. Then he laughed
+his laugh that was not a laugh. “What would you do if you were a handful
+of oats being crushed between the upper and lower stones of a mill?�
+
+‘“I’m Pertinax, not a riddle-guesser,� said Pertinax.
+
+‘“You’re a fool,� said Allo. “Your Gods and my Gods are threatened by
+strange Gods, and all you can do is to laugh.�
+
+‘“Threatened men live long,� I said.
+
+‘“I pray the Gods that may be true,� he said. “But I ask you again not to
+forget me.�
+
+‘We climbed the last hot hill and looked out on the eastern sea, three or
+four miles off. There was a small sailing-galley of the North Gaul pattern
+at anchor, her landing-plank down and her sail half up; and below us,
+alone in a hollow, holding his pony, sat Maximus, Emperor of Britain! He
+was dressed like a hunter, and he leaned on his little stick; but I knew
+that back as far as I could see it, and I told Pertinax.
+
+‘“You’re madder than Allo!� he said. “It must be the sun!�
+
+‘Maximus never stirred till we stood before him. Then he looked me up and
+down, and said: “Hungry again? It seems to be my destiny to feed you
+whenever we meet. I have food here. Allo shall cook it.�
+
+‘“No,� said Allo. “A Prince in his own land does not wait on wandering
+Emperors. I feed my two children without asking your leave.� He began to
+blow up the ashes.
+
+‘“I was wrong,� said Pertinax. “We are all mad. Speak up, O Madman called
+Emperor!�
+
+‘Maximus smiled his terrible tight-lipped smile, but two years on the Wall
+do not make a man afraid of mere looks. So I was not afraid.
+
+‘“I meant you, Parnesius, to live and die an Officer of the Wall,� said
+Maximus. “But it seems from these,� he fumbled in his breast, “you can
+think as well as draw.� He pulled out a roll of letters I had written to
+my people, full of drawings of Picts, and bears, and men I had met on the
+Wall. Mother and my sister always liked my pictures.
+
+‘He handed me one that I had called “Maximus’s Soldiers.� It showed a row
+of fat wine-skins, and our old Doctor of the Hunno hospital snuffing at
+them. Each time that Maximus had taken troops out of Britain to help him
+to conquer Gaul, he used to send the garrisons more wine—to keep them
+quiet, I suppose. On the Wall, we always called a wine-skin a “Maximus.�
+Oh, yes; and I had drawn them in Imperial helmets!
+
+‘“Not long since,� he went on, “men’s names were sent up to Cæsar for
+smaller jokes than this.�
+
+‘“True, Cæsar,� said Pertinax; “but you forget that was before I, your
+friend’s friend, became such a good spear-thrower.�
+
+‘He did not actually point his hunting spear at Maximus, but balanced it
+on his palm—so!
+
+‘“I was speaking of time past,� said Maximus, never fluttering an eyelid.
+“Nowadays one is only too pleased to find boys who can think for
+themselves, _and_ their friends.� He nodded at Pertinax. “Your Father lent
+me the letters, Parnesius, so you run no risk from me.�
+
+‘“None whatever,� said Pertinax, and rubbed the spear-point on his sleeve.
+
+‘“I have been forced to reduce the garrisons in Britain, because I need
+troops in Gaul. Now I come to take troops from the Wall itself,� said he.
+
+‘“I wish you joy of us,� said Pertinax. “We’re the last sweepings of the
+Empire—the men without hope. Myself, I’d sooner trust condemned
+criminals.�
+
+‘“You think so?� he said, quite seriously. “But it will only be till I win
+Gaul. One must always risk one’s life, or one’s soul, or one’s peace—or
+some little thing.�
+
+‘Allo passed round the fire with the sizzling deer’s meat. He served us
+two first.
+
+‘“Ah!� said Maximus, waiting his turn. “I perceive you are in your own
+country. Well, you deserve it. They tell me you have quite a following
+among the Picts, Parnesius.�
+
+‘“I have hunted with them,� I said. “Maybe I have a few friends among the
+Heather.�
+
+‘“He is the only armoured man of you all who understands us,� said Allo,
+and he began a long speech about our virtues, and how we had saved one of
+his grandchildren from a wolf the year before.’
+
+‘Had you?’ said Una.
+
+‘Yes; but that was neither here nor there. The little green man orated
+like a—like Cicero. He made us out to be magnificent fellows. Maximus
+never took his eyes off our faces.
+
+‘“Enough,� he said. “I have heard Allo on you. I wish to hear you on the
+Picts.�
+
+‘I told him as much as I knew, and Pertinax helped me out. There is never
+harm in a Pict if you but take the trouble to find out what he wants.
+Their real grievance against us came from our burning their heather. The
+whole garrison of the Wall moved out twice a year, and solemnly burned the
+heather for ten miles North. Rutilianus, our General, called it clearing
+the country. The Picts, of course, scampered away, and all we did was to
+destroy their bee-bloom in the summer, and ruin their sheep-food in the
+spring.
+
+‘“True, quite true,� said Allo. “How can we make our holy heather-wine, if
+you burn our bee-pasture?�
+
+‘We talked long, Maximus asking keen questions that showed he knew much
+and had thought more about the Picts. He said presently to me: “If I gave
+you the old Province of Valentia to govern, could you keep the Picts
+contented till I won Gaul? Stand away, so that you do not see Allo’s face;
+and speak your own thoughts.�
+
+‘“No,� I said. “You cannot re-make that Province. The Picts have been free
+too long.�
+
+‘“Leave them their village councils, and let them furnish their own
+soldiers,� he said. “You, I am sure, would hold the reins very lightly.�
+
+‘“Even then, no,� I said. “At least not now. They have been too oppressed
+by us to trust anything with a Roman name for years and years.�
+
+‘I heard old Allo behind me mutter: “Good child!�
+
+‘“Then what do you recommend,� said Maximus, “to keep the North quiet till
+I win Gaul?�
+
+‘“Leave the Picts alone,� I said. “Stop the heather-burning at once,
+and—they are improvident little animals—send them a shipload or two of
+corn now and then.�
+
+‘“Their own men must distribute it—not some cheating Greek accountant,�
+said Pertinax.
+
+‘“Yes, and allow them to come to our hospitals when they are sick,� I
+said.
+
+‘“Surely they would die first,� said Maximus.
+
+‘“Not if Parnesius brought them in,� said Allo. “I could show you twenty
+wolf-bitten, bear-clawed Picts within twenty miles of here. But Parnesius
+must stay with them in Hospital, else they would go mad with fear.�
+
+‘“_I_ see,� said Maximus. “Like everything else in the world, it is one
+man’s work. You, I think, are that one man.�
+
+‘“Pertinax and I are one,� I said.
+
+‘“As you please, so long as you work. Now, Allo, you know that I mean your
+people no harm. Leave us to talk together,� said Maximus.
+
+‘“No need!� said Allo. “I am the corn between the upper and lower
+millstones. I must know what the lower millstone means to do. These boys
+have spoken the truth as far as they know it. I, a Prince, will tell you
+the rest. I am troubled about the Men of the North.� He squatted like a
+hare in the heather, and looked over his shoulder.
+
+‘“I also,� said Maximus, “or I should not be here.�
+
+‘“Listen,� said Allo. “Long and long ago the Winged Hats�—he meant the
+Northmen—“came to our beaches and said, ‘Rome falls! Push her down!’ We
+fought you. You sent men. We were beaten. After that we said to the Winged
+Hats, ‘You are liars! Make our men alive that Rome killed, and we will
+believe you.’ They went away ashamed. Now they come back bold, and they
+tell the old tale, which we begin to believe—that Rome falls!�
+
+‘“Give me three years’ peace on the Wall,� cried Maximus, “and I will show
+you and all the ravens how they lie!�
+
+‘“Ah, I wish it too! I wish to save what is left of the corn from the
+millstones. But you shoot us Picts when we come to borrow a little iron
+from the Iron Ditch; you burn our heather, which is all our crop; you
+trouble us with your great catapults. Then you hide behind the Wall, and
+scorch us with Greek fire. How can I keep my young men from listening to
+the Winged Hats—in winter especially, when we are hungry? My young men
+will say, ‘Rome can neither fight nor rule. She is taking her men out of
+Britain. The Winged Hats will help us to push down the Wall. Let us show
+them the secret roads across the bogs.’ Do _I_ want that? No!� He spat
+like an adder. “_I_ would keep the secrets of my people though I were
+burned alive. My two children here have spoken truth. Leave us Picts
+alone. Comfort us, and cherish us, and feed us from far off—with the hand
+behind your back. Parnesius understands us. Let _him_ have rule on the
+Wall, and I will hold my young men quiet for�—he ticked it off on his
+fingers—“one year easily: the next year not so easily: the third year,
+perhaps! See, I give you three years. If then you do not show us that Rome
+is strong in men and terrible in arms, the Winged Hats, I tell you, will
+sweep down the Wall from either sea till they meet in the middle, and you
+will go. _I_ shall not grieve over that, but well I know tribe never helps
+tribe except for one price. We Picts will go too. The Winged Hats will
+grind us to this!� He tossed a handful of dust in the air.
+
+‘“Oh, Roma Dea!� said Maximus, half aloud. “It is always one man’s
+work—always and everywhere!�
+
+‘“And one man’s life,� said Allo. “You are Emperor, but not a God. You may
+die.�
+
+‘“I have thought of that, too,� said he. “Very good. If this wind holds, I
+shall be at the East end of the Wall by morning. To-morrow, then, I shall
+see you two when I inspect; and I will make you Captains of the Wall for
+this work.�
+
+‘“One instant, Cæsar,� said Pertinax. “All men have their price. I am not
+bought yet.�
+
+‘“Do _you_ also begin to bargain so early?� said Maximus. “Well?�
+
+‘“Give me justice against my uncle Icenus, the Duumvir of Divio in Gaul,�
+he said.
+
+‘“Only a life? I thought it would be money or an office. Certainly you
+shall have him. Write his name on these tablets—on the red side; the other
+is for the living!� And Maximus held out his tablets.
+
+‘“He is of no use to me dead,� said Pertinax. “My mother is a widow. I am
+far off. I am not sure he pays her all her dowry.�
+
+‘“No matter. My arm is reasonably long. We will look through your uncle’s
+accounts in due time. Now, farewell till to-morrow, O Captains of the
+Wall!�
+
+‘We saw him grow small across the heather as he walked to the galley.
+There were Picts, scores, each side of him, hidden behind stones. He never
+looked left or right. He sailed away Southerly, full spread before the
+evening breeze, and when we had watched him out to sea, we were silent. We
+understood Earth bred few men like to this man.
+
+‘Presently Allo brought the ponies and held them for us to mount—a thing
+he had never done before.
+
+‘“Wait awhile,� said Pertinax, and he made a little altar of cut turf, and
+strewed heather-bloom atop, and laid upon it a letter from a girl in Gaul.
+
+‘“What do you do, O my friend?� I said.
+
+‘“I sacrifice to my dead youth,� he answered, and, when the flames had
+consumed the letter, he ground them out with his heel. Then we rode back
+to that Wall of which we were to be Captains.’
+
+Parnesius stopped. The children sat still, not even asking if that were
+all the tale. Puck beckoned, and pointed the way out of the wood. ‘Sorry,’
+he whispered, ‘but you must go now.’
+
+‘We haven’t made him angry, have we?’ said Una. ‘He looks so far off,
+and—and—thinky.’
+
+‘Bless your heart, no. Wait till to-morrow. It won’t be long. Remember,
+you’ve been playing “_Lays of Ancient Rome_.�’
+
+And as soon as they had scrambled through their gap, where Oak, Ash and
+Thorn grow, that was all they remembered.
+
+
+
+
+A SONG TO MITHRAS
+
+
+  _Mithras, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall!_
+  _‘Rome is above the Nations, but Thou art over all!’_
+  _Now as the names are answered and the guards are marched away,_
+  _Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day!_
+
+  _Mithras, God of the Noontide, the heather swims in the heat,_
+  _Our helmets scorch our foreheads; our sandals burn our feet!_
+  _Now in the ungirt hour; now ere we blink and drowse,_
+  _Mithras, also a soldier, keep us true to our vows!_
+
+  _Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main,_
+  _Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again!_
+  _Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn,_
+  _Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn!_
+
+  _Mithras, God of the Midnight, here where the great bull lies,_
+  _Look on thy children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice!_
+  _Many roads Thou hast fashioned: all of them lead to the Light,_
+  _Mithras, also a soldier, teach us to die aright!_
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WINGED HATS
+
+
+
+
+THE WINGED HATS
+
+
+The next day happened to be what they called a Wild Afternoon. Father and
+Mother went out to pay calls; Miss Blake went for a ride on her bicycle,
+and they were left all alone till eight o’clock.
+
+When they had seen their dear parents and their dear preceptress politely
+off the premises they got a cabbage-leaf full of raspberries from the
+gardener, and a Wild Tea from Ellen. They ate the raspberries to prevent
+their squashing, and they meant to divide the cabbage-leaf with Three Cows
+down at the Theatre, but they came across a dead hedgehog which they
+simply _had_ to bury, and the leaf was too useful to waste.
+
+Then they went on to the Forge and found old Hobden the hedger at home
+with his son the Bee Boy who is not quite right in his head, but who can
+pick up swarms of bees in his naked hands; and the Bee Boy told them the
+rhyme about the slow-worm:—
+
+  ‘If I had eyes _as_ I could see,
+  No mortal man would trouble me.’
+
+They all had tea together by the hives, and Hobden said the loaf-cake
+which Ellen had given them was almost as good as what his wife used to
+make, and he showed them how to set a wire at the right height for hares.
+They knew about rabbits already.
+
+Then they climbed up Long Ditch into the lower end of Far Wood. This is
+sadder and darker than the ‘Volaterrae’ end because of an old marlpit full
+of black water, where weepy, hairy moss hangs round the stumps of the
+willows and alders. But the birds come to perch on the dead branches, and
+Hobden says that the bitter willow-water is a sort of medicine for sick
+animals.
+
+They sat down on a felled oak-trunk in the shadows of the beech
+undergrowth, and were looping the wires Hobden had given them, when they
+saw Parnesius.
+
+‘How quietly you came!’ said Una, moving up to make room. ‘Where’s Puck?’
+
+‘The Faun and I have disputed whether it is better that I should tell you
+all my tale, or leave it untold,’ he replied.
+
+‘I only said that if he told it as it happened you wouldn’t understand
+it,’ said Puck, jumping up like a squirrel from behind the log.
+
+‘I don’t understand all of it,’ said Una, ‘but I like hearing about the
+little Picts.’
+
+‘What _I_ can’t understand,’ said Dan, ‘is how Maximus knew all about the
+Picts when he was over in Gaul.’
+
+‘He who makes himself Emperor anywhere must know everything, everywhere,’
+said Parnesius. ‘We had this much from Maximus’ mouth after the Games.’
+
+‘Games? What games?’ said Dan.
+
+Parnesius stretched his arm out stiffly, thumb pointed to the ground.
+‘Gladiators! _That_ sort of game,’ he said. ‘There were two days’ Games in
+his honour when he landed all unexpected at Segedunum on the East end of
+the Wall. Yes, the day after we had met him we held two days’ games; but I
+think the greatest risk was run, not by the poor wretches on the sand, but
+by Maximus. In the old days the Legions kept silence before their Emperor.
+So did not we! You could hear the solid roar run West along the Wall as
+his chair was carried rocking through the crowds. The garrison beat round
+him—clamouring, clowning, asking for pay, for change of quarters, for
+anything that came into their wild heads. That chair was like a little
+boat among waves, dipping and falling, but always rising again after one
+had shut the eyes.’ Parnesius shivered.
+
+‘Were they angry with him?’ said Dan.
+
+‘No more angry than wolves in a cage when their trainer walks among them.
+If he had turned his back an instant, or for an instant had ceased to hold
+their eyes, there would have been another Emperor made on the Wall that
+hour. Was it not so, Faun?’
+
+‘So it was. So it always will be,’ said Puck.
+
+‘Late in the evening his messenger came for us, and we followed to the
+Temple of Victory, where he lodged with Rutilianus, the General of the
+Wall. I had hardly seen the General before, but he always gave me leave
+when I wished to take Heather. He was a great glutton, and kept five Asian
+cooks, and he came of a family that believed in oracles. We could smell
+his good dinner when we entered, but the tables were empty. He lay
+snorting on a couch. Maximus sat apart among long rolls of accounts. Then
+the doors were shut.
+
+‘“These are your men,� said Maximus to the General, who propped his
+eye-corners open with his gouty fingers, and stared at us like a fish.
+
+‘“I shall know them again, Cæsar,� said Rutilianus.
+
+‘“Very good,� said Maximus. “Now hear! You are not to move man or shield
+on the Wall except as these boys shall tell you. You will do nothing,
+except eat, without their permission. They are the head and arms. You are
+the belly!�
+
+‘“As Cæsar pleases,� the old man grunted. “If my pay and profits are not
+cut, you may make my Ancestors’ Oracle my master. Rome has been! Rome has
+been!� Then he turned on his side to sleep.
+
+‘“He has it,� said Maximus. “We will get to what _I_ need.�
+
+‘He unrolled full copies of the number of men and supplies on the
+Wall—down to the sick that very day in Hunno Hospital. Oh, but I groaned
+when his pen marked off detachment after detachment of our best—of our
+least worthless men! He took two towers of our Scythians, two of our North
+British auxiliaries, two Numidian cohorts, the Dacians all, and half the
+Belgians. It was like an eagle pecking a carcass.
+
+‘“And now, how many catapults have you?� He turned up a new list, but
+Pertinax laid his open hand there.
+
+‘“No, Cæsar,� said he. “Do not tempt the Gods too far. Take men, or
+engines, but not both; else we refuse.�’
+
+‘Engines?’ said Una.
+
+‘The catapults of the Wall—huge things forty feet high to the head—firing
+nets of raw stone or forged bolts. Nothing can stand against them. He left
+us our catapults at last, but he took a Cæsar’s half of our men without
+pity. We were a shell when he rolled up the lists!
+
+‘“Hail, Cæsar! We, about to die, salute you!� said Pertinax, laughing. “If
+any enemy even leans against the Wall now, it will tumble.�
+
+‘“Give me the three years Allo spoke of,� he answered, “and you shall have
+twenty thousand men of your own choosing up here. But now it is a gamble—a
+game played against the Gods, and the stakes are Britain, Gaul, and
+perhaps, Rome. You play on my side?�
+
+‘“We will play, Cæsar,� I said for I had never met a man like this man.
+
+‘“Good. To-morrow,� said he, “I proclaim you Captains of the Wall before
+the troops.�
+
+‘So we went into the moonlight, where they were cleaning the ground after
+the Games. We saw great Roma Dea atop of the Wall, the frost on her
+helmet, and her spear pointed towards the North Star. We saw the twinkle
+of night-fires all along the guard-towers, and the line of the black
+catapults growing smaller and smaller in the distance. All these things we
+knew till we were weary; but that night they seemed very strange to us,
+because the next day we knew we were to be their masters.
+
+‘The men took the news well; but when Maximus went away with half our
+strength, and we had to spread ourselves into the emptied towers, and the
+townspeople complained that trade would be ruined, and the Autumn gales
+blew—it was dark days for us two. Here Pertinax was more than my right
+hand. Being born and bred among the great country-houses in Gaul, he knew
+the proper words to address to all—from Roman-born Centurions to those
+dogs of the Third—the Libyans. And he spoke to each as though that man
+were as high-minded as himself. Now _I_ saw so strongly what things were
+needed to be done, that I forgot things are only accomplished by means of
+men. That was a mistake.
+
+‘I feared nothing from the Picts, at least for that year, but Allo warned
+me that the Winged Hats would soon come in from the sea at each end of the
+Wall to prove to the Picts how weak we were. So I made ready in haste, and
+none too soon. I shifted our best men to the ends of the Wall, and set up
+screened catapults by the beach. The Winged Hats would drive in before the
+snow-squalls—ten or twenty boats at a time—on Segedunum or Ituna,
+according as the wind blew.
+
+‘Now a ship coming in to land men must furl her sail. If you wait till you
+see her men gather up the sail’s foot, your catapults can jerk a net of
+loose stones (bolts only cut through the cloth) into the bag of it. Then
+she turns over, and the sea makes everything clean again. A few men may
+come ashore, but very few.... It was not hard work, except the waiting on
+the beach in blowing sand and snow. And that was how we dealt with the
+Winged Hats that winter.
+
+‘Early in the Spring, when the East winds blow like skinning-knives, they
+gathered again off the East end with many ships. Allo told me they would
+never rest till they had taken a tower in open fight. Certainly they
+fought in the open. We dealt with them thoroughly through a long day: and
+when all was finished, one man dived clear of the wreckage of his ship,
+and swam towards shore. I waited, and a wave tumbled him at my feet.
+
+‘As I stooped, I saw he wore such a medal as I wear.’ Parnesius raised his
+hand to his neck. ‘Therefore, when he could speak, I addressed him a
+certain Question which can only be answered in a certain manner. He
+answered with the necessary Word—the Word that belongs to the Degree of
+Gryphons in the science of Mithras my God. I put my shield over him till
+he could stand up. You see I am not short, but he was a head taller than
+I. He said: “What now?� I said: “At your pleasure, my brother, to stay or
+go.�
+
+‘He looked out across the surf. There remained one ship unhurt, beyond
+range of our catapults. I checked the catapults and he waved her in. She
+came as a hound comes to a master. When she was yet a hundred paces from
+the beach, he flung back his hair, and swam out. They hauled him in, and
+went away. I knew that those who worship Mithras are many and of all
+races, so I did not think much more upon the matter.
+
+‘A month later I saw Allo with his horses—by the Temple of Pan, O
+Faun!—and he gave me a great necklace of gold studded with coral.
+
+‘At first I thought it was a bribe from some tradesman in the town—meant
+for old Rutilianus. “Nay,� said Allo. “This is a gift from Amal, that
+Winged Hat whom you saved on the beach. He says you are a Man.�
+
+‘“He is a Man, too. Tell him I can wear his gift,� I answered.
+
+‘“Oh, Amal is a young fool; but, speaking as sensible men, your Emperor is
+doing such great things in Gaul that the Winged Hats are anxious to be his
+friends, or, better still, the friends of his servants. They think you and
+Pertinax could lead them to victories.� Allo looked at me like a one-eyed
+raven.
+
+‘“Allo,� I said, “you are the corn between the two millstones. Be content
+if they grind evenly, and don’t thrust your hand between them.�
+
+‘“I?� said Allo. “I hate Rome and the Winged Hats equally; but if the
+Winged Hats thought that some day you and Pertinax might join them against
+Maximus, they would leave you in peace while you considered. Time is what
+we need—you and I and Maximus. Let me carry a pleasant message back to the
+Winged Hats—something for them to make a council over. We barbarians are
+all alike. We sit up half the night to discuss anything a Roman says. Eh?�
+
+‘“We have no men. We must fight with words,� said Pertinax. “Leave it to
+Allo and me.�
+
+‘So Allo carried word back to the Winged Hats that we would not fight them
+if they did not fight us; and they (I think they were a little tired of
+losing men in the sea) agreed to a sort of truce. I believe Allo, who
+being a horse-dealer loved lies, also told them we might some day rise
+against Maximus as Maximus had risen against Rome.
+
+‘Indeed, they permitted the corn-ships which I sent to the Picts to pass
+North that season without harm. Therefore the Picts were well fed that
+winter, and since they were in some sort my children, I was glad of it. We
+had only two thousand men on the Wall, and I wrote many times to Maximus
+and begged—prayed—him to send me only one cohort of my old North British
+troops. He could not spare them. He needed them to win more victories in
+Gaul.
+
+‘Then came news that he had defeated and slain the Emperor Gratian, and
+thinking he must now be secure, I wrote again for men. He answered: “You
+will learn that I have at last settled accounts with the pup Gratian.
+There was no need that he should have died, but he became confused and
+lost his head, which is a bad thing to befall any Emperor. Tell your
+Father I am content to drive two mules only; for unless my old General’s
+son thinks himself destined to destroy me, I shall rest Emperor of Gaul
+and Britain, and then you, my two children, will presently get all the men
+you need. Just now I can spare none.�’
+
+‘What did he mean by his General’s son?’ said Dan.
+
+‘He meant Theodosius Emperor of Rome, who was the son of Theodosius the
+General under whom Maximus had fought in the old Pict War. The two men
+never loved each other, and when Gratian made the younger Theodosius
+Emperor of the East (at least, so I’ve heard), Maximus carried on the war
+to the second generation. It was his fate, and it was his fall. But
+Theodosius the Emperor is a good man. As I know.’ Parnesius was silent for
+a moment and then continued.
+
+‘I wrote back to Maximus that, though we had peace on the Wall, I should
+be happier with a few more men and some new catapults. He answered: “You
+must live a little longer under the shadow of my victories, till I can see
+what young Theodosius intends. He may welcome me as a brother-Emperor, or
+he may be preparing an army. In either case I cannot spare men just now.�’
+
+‘But he was always saying that,’ cried Una.
+
+‘It was true. He did not make excuses; but thanks, as he said, to the news
+of his victories, we had no trouble on the Wall for a long, long time. The
+Picts grew fat as their own sheep among the heather, and as many of my men
+as lived were well exercised in their weapons. Yes, the Wall looked
+strong. For myself, I knew how weak we were. I knew that if even a false
+rumour of any defeat to Maximus broke loose among the Winged Hats, they
+might come down in earnest, and then—the Wall must go! For the Picts I
+never cared, but in those years I learned something of the strength of the
+Winged Hats. They increased their strength every day, but I could not
+increase my men. Maximus had emptied Britain behind us, and I felt myself
+to be a man with a rotten stick standing before a broken fence to turn
+bulls.
+
+‘Thus, my friends, we lived on the Wall, waiting—waiting—waiting for the
+men that Maximus never sent!
+
+‘Presently he wrote that he was preparing an army against Theodosius. He
+wrote—and Pertinax read it over my shoulder in our quarters: “_Tell your
+Father that my destiny orders me to drive three mules or be torn in pieces
+by them. I hope within a year to finish with Theodosius, son of
+Theodosius, once and for all. Then you shall have Britain to rule, and
+Pertinax, if he chooses, Gaul. To-day I wish strongly you were with me to
+beat my Auxiliaries into shape. Do not, I pray you, believe any rumour of
+my sickness. I have a little evil in my old body which I shall cure by
+riding swiftly into Rome._�
+
+‘Said Pertinax: “It is finished with Maximus! He writes as a man without
+hope. I, a man without hope, can see this. What does he add at the bottom
+of the roll? ‘_Tell __Pertinax I have met his late Uncle, the Duumvir of
+Divio, and that he accounted to me quite truthfully for all his Mother’s
+monies. I have sent her with a fitting escort, for she is the mother of a
+hero, to Nicæa, where the climate is warm._’
+
+‘“That is proof!� said Pertinax. “Nicæa is not far by sea from Rome. A
+woman there could take ship and fly to Rome in time of war. Yes, Maximus
+foresees his death, and is fulfilling his promises one by one. But I am
+glad my Uncle met him.�
+
+‘“You think blackly to-day?� I asked.
+
+‘“I think truth. The Gods weary of the play we have played against them.
+Theodosius will destroy Maximus. It is finished!�
+
+‘“Will you write him that?� I said.
+
+‘“See what I shall write,� he answered, and he took pen and wrote a letter
+cheerful as the light of day, tender as a woman’s and full of jests. Even
+I, reading over his shoulder, took comfort from it till—I saw his face!
+
+‘“And now,� he said, sealing it, “we be two dead men, my brother. Let us
+go to the Temple.�
+
+‘We prayed awhile to Mithras, where we had many times prayed before. After
+that we lived day by day among evil rumours till winter came again.
+
+‘It happened one morning that we rode to the East Shore, and found on the
+beach a fair-haired man, half frozen, bound to some broken planks. Turning
+him over, we saw by his belt-buckle that he was a Goth of an Eastern
+Legion. Suddenly he opened his eyes and cried loudly: “He is dead! The
+letters were with me, but the Winged Hats sunk the ship.� So saying, he
+died between our hands.
+
+‘We asked not who was dead. We knew! We raced before the driving snow to
+Hunno, thinking perhaps Allo might be there. We found him already at our
+stables, and he saw by our faces what we had heard.
+
+‘“It was in a tent by the Sea,� he stammered. “He was beheaded by
+Theodosius. He sent a letter to you, written while he waited to be slain.
+The Winged Hats met the ship and took it. The news is running through the
+heather like fire. Blame me not! I cannot hold back my young men any
+more.�
+
+‘“I would we could say as much for our men,� said Pertinax, laughing.
+“But, Gods be praised, they cannot run away.�
+
+‘“What do you do?� said Allo. “I bring an order—a message—from the Winged
+Hats that you join them with your men, and march South to plunder
+Britain.�
+
+‘“It grieves me,� said Pertinax, “but we are stationed here to stop that
+thing.�
+
+‘“If I carry back such an answer they will kill me,� said Allo. “I always
+promised the Winged Hats that you would rise when Maximus fell. I—I did
+not think he could fall.�
+
+‘“Alas! my poor barbarian,� said Pertinax, still laughing. “Well, you have
+sold us too many good ponies to be thrown back to your friends. We will
+make you a prisoner, although you are an ambassador.�
+
+‘“Yes, that will be best,� said Allo, holding out a halter. We bound him
+lightly, for he was an old man.
+
+‘“Presently the Winged Hats may come to look for you, and that will give
+us more time. See how the habit of playing for time sticks to a man!� said
+Pertinax, as he tied the rope.
+
+‘“No,� I said. “Time may help. If Maximus wrote us letters while he was a
+prisoner, Theodosius must have sent the ship that brought it. If he can
+send ships, he can send men.�
+
+‘“How will that profit us?� said Pertinax. “We serve Maximus, not
+Theodosius. Even if by some miracle of the Gods Theodosius down South sent
+and saved the Wall, we could not expect more than the death Maximus died.�
+
+‘“It concerns us to defend the Wall, no matter what Emperor dies, or makes
+die,� I said.
+
+‘“That is worthy of your brother the philosopher,� said Pertinax. “Myself
+I am without hope, so I do not say solemn and stupid things! Rouse the
+Wall!�
+
+‘We armed the Wall from end to end; we told the officers that there was a
+rumour of Maximus’s death which might bring down the Winged Hats, but we
+were sure, even if it were true, that Theodosius, for the sake of Britain,
+would send us help. Therefore, we must stand fast.... My friends, it is
+above all things strange to see how men bear ill news! Often the strongest
+till then become the weakest, while the weakest, as it were, reach up and
+steal strength from the Gods. So it was with us. Yet my Pertinax by his
+jests and his courtesy and his labours had put heart and training into our
+poor numbers during the past years—more than I should have thought
+possible. Even our Libyan Cohort—the Thirds—stood up in their padded
+cuirasses and did not whimper.
+
+‘In three days came seven chiefs and elders of the Winged Hats. Among them
+was that tall young man, Amal, whom I had met on the beach, and he smiled
+when he saw my necklace. We made them welcome, for they were ambassadors.
+We showed them Allo, alive but bound. They thought we had killed him, and
+I saw it would not have vexed them if we had. Allo saw it too, and it
+vexed him. Then in our quarters at Hunno we came to Council.
+
+‘They said that Rome was falling, and that we must join them. They offered
+me all South Britain to govern after they had taken a tribute out of it.
+
+‘I answered, “Patience. This Wall is not weighed off like plunder. Give me
+proof that my General is dead.�
+
+‘“Nay,� said one elder, “prove to us that he lives�; and another said,
+cunningly, “What will you give us if we read you his last words?�
+
+‘“We are not merchants to bargain,� cried Amal. “Moreover, I owe this man
+my life. He shall have his proof.� He threw across to me a letter (well I
+knew the seal) from Maximus.
+
+‘“We took this out of the ship we sunk,� he cried. “I cannot read, but I
+know one sign, at least, which makes me believe.� He showed me a dark
+stain on the outer roll that my heavy heart perceived was the valiant
+blood of Maximus.
+
+‘“Read!� said Amal. “Read, and then let us hear whose servants you are!�
+
+‘Said Pertinax, very softly, after he had looked through it: “I will read
+it all. Listen, barbarians!� He read from that which I have carried next
+my heart ever since.’
+
+Parnesius drew from his neck a folded and spotted piece of parchment, and
+began in a hushed voice:—
+
+‘“_To Parnesius and Pertinax, the not unworthy Captains of the Wall, from
+Maximus, once Emperor of Gaul and Britain, now prisoner waiting death by
+the sea in the camp of Theodosius—Greeting and Good-bye!_�
+
+‘“Enough,� said young Amal; “there is your proof! You must join us now!�
+
+‘Pertinax looked long and silently at him, till that fair man blushed like
+a girl. Then read Pertinax:—
+
+‘“_I have joyfully done much evil in my life to those who have wished me
+evil, but if ever I did any evil to you two I repent, and I ask your
+forgiveness. The three mules which I strove to drive have torn me in
+pieces as your Father prophesied. The naked swords wait at the tent door
+to give me the death I gave to Gratian. Therefore I, your General and your
+Emperor, send you free and honourable dismissal from my service, which you
+entered, not for money __or office, but, as it makes me warm to believe,
+because you loved me!_�
+
+‘“By the Light of the Sun,� Amal broke in. “This was in some sort a Man!
+We may have been mistaken in his servants!�
+
+‘And Pertinax read on: “_You gave me the time for which I asked. If I have
+failed to use it, do not lament. We have gambled very splendidly against
+the Gods, but they hold weighted dice, and I must pay the forfeit.
+Remember, I have been; but Rome is; and Rome will be! Tell Pertinax his
+Mother is in safety at Nicæa, and her monies are in charge of the Prefect
+at Antipolis. Make my remembrances to your Father and to your Mother,
+whose friendship was great gain to me. Give also to my little Picts and to
+the Winged Hats such messages as their thick heads can understand. I would
+have sent you three Legions this very day if all had gone aright. Do not
+forget me. We have worked together. Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!_�
+
+‘Now, that was my Emperor’s last letter.’ (The children heard the
+parchment crackle as Parnesius returned it to its place.)
+
+‘“I was mistaken,� said Amal. “The servants of such a man will sell
+nothing except over the sword. I am glad of it.� He held out his hand to
+me.
+
+‘“But Maximus has given you your dismissal,� said an elder. “You are
+certainly free to serve—or to rule—whom you please. Join—do not
+follow—join us!�
+
+‘“We thank you,� said Pertinax. “But Maximus tells us to give you such
+messages as—pardon me, but I use his words—your thick heads can
+understand.� He pointed through the door to the foot of a catapult wound
+up.
+
+‘“We understand,� said an elder. “The Wall must be won at a price?�
+
+‘“It grieves me,� said Pertinax, laughing, “but so it must be won,� and he
+gave them of our best Southern wine.
+
+‘They drank, and wiped their yellow beards in silence till they rose to
+go.
+
+‘Said Amal, stretching himself (for they were barbarians), “We be a goodly
+company; I wonder what the ravens and the dogfish will make of some of us
+before this snow melts.�
+
+‘“Think rather what Theodosius may send,� I answered; and though they
+laughed, I saw that my chance shot troubled them.
+
+‘Only old Allo lingered behind a little.
+
+‘“You see,� he said, winking and blinking, “I am no more than their dog.
+When I have shown their men the secret short ways across our bogs, they
+will kick me like one.�
+
+‘“Then I should not be in haste to show them those ways,� said Pertinax,
+“till I were sure that Rome could not save the Wall.�
+
+‘“You think so? Woe is me!� said the old man. “I only wanted peace for my
+people,� and he went out stumbling through the snow behind the tall Winged
+Hats.
+
+‘In this fashion then, slowly, a day at a time, which is very bad for
+doubting troops, the War came upon us. At first the Winged Hats swept in
+from the sea as they had done before, and there we met them as before—with
+the catapults; and they sickened of it. Yet for a long time they would not
+trust their duck-legs on land, and I think when it came to revealing the
+secrets of the tribe, the little Picts were afraid or ashamed to show them
+all the roads across the heather. I had this from a Pict prisoner. They
+were as much our spies as our enemies, for the Winged Hats oppressed them,
+and took their winter stores. Ah, foolish Little People!
+
+‘Then the Winged Hats began to roll us up from each end of the Wall. I
+sent runners Southward to see what the news might be in Britain; but the
+wolves were very bold that winter among the deserted stations where the
+troops had once been, and none came back. We had trouble too with the
+forage for the ponies along the Wall. I kept ten, and so did Pertinax. We
+lived and slept in the saddle riding east or west, and we ate our worn-out
+ponies. The people of the town also made us some trouble till I gathered
+them all in one quarter behind Hunno. We broke down the Wall on either
+side of it to make as it were a citadel. Our men fought better in close
+order.
+
+‘By the end of the second month we were deep in the War as a man is deep
+in a snow-drift or in a dream. I think we fought in our sleep. At least I
+know I have gone on the Wall and come off again, remembering nothing
+between, though my throat was harsh with giving orders, and my sword, I
+could see, had been used.
+
+‘The Winged Hats fought like wolves—all in a pack. Where they had suffered
+most, there they charged in most hotly. This was hard for the defender,
+but it held them from sweeping on into Britain.
+
+‘In those days Pertinax and I wrote on the plaster of the bricked archway
+into Valentia the names of the towers, and the days on which they fell one
+by one. We wished for some record.
+
+‘And the fighting? The fight was always hottest to left and right of the
+great Statue of Roma Dea, near to Rutilianus’ house. By the light of the
+Sun, that old fat man, whom we had not considered at all, grew young again
+among the trumpets! I remember he said his sword was an oracle! “Let us
+consult the Oracle,� he would say, and put the handle against his ear, and
+shake his head wisely. “And _this_ day is allowed Rutilianus to live,� he
+would say, and, tucking up his cloak, he would puff and pant and fight
+well. Oh, there were jests in plenty on the Wall to take the place of
+food!
+
+‘We endured for two months and seventeen days—always being pressed from
+three sides into a smaller space. Several times Allo sent in word that
+help was at hand. We did not believe it, but it cheered our men.
+
+‘The end came not with shoutings of joy, but, like the rest, as in a
+dream. The Winged Hats suddenly left us in peace for one night, and the
+next day; which is too long for spent men. We slept at first lightly,
+expecting to be roused, and then like logs, each where he lay. May you
+never need such sleep! When I waked our towers were full of strange, armed
+men, who watched us snoring. I roused Pertinax, and we leaped up together.
+
+‘“What?� said a young man in clean armour. “Do you fight against
+Theodosius? Look!�
+
+‘North we looked over the red snow. No Winged Hats were there. South we
+looked over the white snow, and behold there were the Eagles of two strong
+Legions encamped. East and west we saw flame and fighting, but by Hunno
+all was still.
+
+‘“Trouble no more,� said the young man. “Rome’s arm is long. Where are the
+Captains of the Wall?�
+
+‘We said we were those men.
+
+‘“But you are old and grey-haired,� he cried. “Maximus said that they were
+boys.�
+
+‘“Yes that was true some years ago,� said Pertinax. “What is our fate to
+be, you fine and well-fed child?�
+
+‘“I am called Ambrosius, a secretary of the Emperor,� he answered. “Show
+me a certain letter which Maximus wrote from a tent at Aquileia, and
+perhaps I will believe.�
+
+‘I took it from my breast, and when he had read it he saluted us, saying:
+“Your fate is in your own hands. If you choose to serve Theodosius, he
+will give you a Legion. If it suits you to go to your homes, we will give
+you a Triumph.�
+
+‘“I would like better a bath, wine, food, razors, soaps, oils, and
+scents,� said Pertinax, laughing.
+
+‘“Oh, I see you are a boy,� said Ambrosius. “And you?� turning to me.
+
+‘“We bear no ill-will against Theodosius, but in War——� I began.
+
+‘“In War it is as it is in Love,� said Pertinax. “Whether she be good or
+bad, one gives one’s best once, to one only. That given, there remains no
+second worth giving or taking.�
+
+‘“That is true,� said Ambrosius. “I was with Maximus before he died. He
+warned Theodosius that you would never serve him, and frankly I say I am
+sorry for my Emperor.�
+
+‘“He has Rome to console him,� said Pertinax. “I ask you of your kindness
+to let us go to our homes and get this smell out of our nostrils.�
+
+‘None the less they gave us a Triumph!’
+
+
+
+‘It was well earned,’ said Puck, throwing some leaves into the still water
+of the marlpit. The black, oily circles spread dizzily as the children
+watched them.
+
+‘I want to know, oh, ever so many things,’ said Dan, ‘What happened to old
+Allo? Did the Winged Hats ever come back? And what did Amal do?’
+
+‘And what happened to the fat old General with the five cooks?’ said Una.
+‘And what did your Mother say when you came home?’...
+
+‘She’d say you’re settin’ too long over this old pit, so late as ’tis
+already,’ said old Hobden’s voice behind them. ‘Hst!’ he whispered.
+
+He stood still, for not twenty paces away a magnificent dog-fox sat on his
+haunches and looked at the children as though he were an old friend of
+theirs.
+
+‘Oh, Mus’ Reynolds, Mus’ Reynolds!’ said Hobden, under his breath. ‘If I
+knowed all was inside your head, I’d know something wuth knowin’. Mus’ Dan
+an’ Miss Una, come along o’ me while I lock up my liddle hen-house.’
+
+
+
+
+A PICT SONG
+
+
+  _Rome never looks where she treads,_
+    _Always her heavy hooves fall,_
+  _On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads;_
+    _And Rome never heeds when we bawl._
+  _Her sentries pass on—that is all,_
+    _And we gather behind them in hordes,_
+  _And plot to reconquer the Wall,_
+    _With only our tongues for our swords._
+
+  _We are the Little Folk—we!_
+    _Too little to love or to hate._
+  _Leave us alone and you’ll see_
+    _How we can drag down the Great!_
+  _We are the worm in the wood!_
+    _We are the rot at the root!_
+  _We are the germ in the blood!_
+    _We are the thorn in the foot!_
+
+  _Mistletoe killing an oak—_
+    _Rats gnawing cables in two—_
+  _Moths making holes in a cloak—_
+    _How they must love what they do!_
+  _Yes,—and we Little Folk too,_
+    _We are as busy as they—_
+  _Working our works out of view—_
+    _Watch, and you’ll see it some day!_
+
+  _No indeed! We are not strong,_
+    _But we know Peoples that are._
+  _Yes, and we’ll guide them along,_
+    _To smash and destroy you in War!_
+  _We shall be slaves just the same?_
+    _Yes, we have always been slaves;_
+  _But you—you will die of the shame,_
+    _And then we shall dance on your graves!_
+
+    _We are the Little Folk, we! etc._
+
+
+
+
+
+HAL O’ THE DRAFT
+
+
+
+
+  _Prophets have honour all over the Earth,_
+    _Except in the village where they were born;_
+  _Where such as knew them boys from birth,_
+    _Nature-ally hold ’em in scorn._
+
+  _When Prophets are naughty and young and vain,_
+    _They make a won’erful grievance of it;_
+  _(You can see by their writings how they __complain),_
+    _But O, ’tis won’erful good for the Prophet!_
+
+  _There’s nothing Nineveh Town can give,_
+    _(Nor being swallowed by whales between),_
+  _Makes up for the place where a man’s folk live,_
+    _That don’t care nothing what he has been._
+  _He might ha’ been that, or he might ha’ been this,_
+  _But they love and they hate him for what he is!_
+
+
+
+
+HAL O’ THE DRAFT
+
+
+A rainy afternoon drove Dan and Una over to play pirates in the Little
+Mill. If you don’t mind rats on the rafters and oats in your shoes, the
+mill-attic, with its trap-doors and inscriptions on beams about floods and
+sweethearts, is a splendid place. It is lighted by a foot-square window,
+called Duck Window, that looks across to Little Lindens Farm, and the spot
+where Jack Cade was killed.
+
+When they had climbed the attic ladder (they called it the ‘mainmast tree’
+out of the ballad of Sir Andrew Barton, and Dan ‘swarved it with might and
+main,’ as the ballad says) they saw a man sitting on Duck window-sill. He
+was dressed in a plum-coloured doublet and tight plum-coloured hose, and
+he drew busily in a red-edged book.
+
+‘Sit ye! Sit ye!’ Puck cried from a rafter overhead. ‘See what it is to be
+beautiful! Sir Harry Dawe—pardon, Hal—says I am the very image of a head
+for a gargoyle.’
+
+The man laughed and raised his dark velvet cap to the children, and his
+grizzled hair bristled out in a stormy fringe. He was old—forty at
+least—but his eyes were young, with funny little wrinkles all round them.
+A satchel of embroidered leather hung from his broad belt, which looked
+interesting.
+
+‘May we see?’ said Una, coming forward.
+
+‘Surely—sure-ly!’ he said, moving up on the window-seat, and returned to
+his work with a silver-pointed pencil. Puck sat as though the grin were
+fixed for ever on his broad face, while they watched the quick, certain
+fingers that copied it. Presently the man took a reed pen from his
+satchel, and trimmed it with a little ivory knife, carved in the semblance
+of a fish.
+
+‘Oh, what a beauty!’ cried Dan.
+
+‘’Ware fingers! That blade is perilous sharp. I made it myself of the best
+Low Country cross-bow steel. And so, too, this fish. When his back-fin
+travels to his tail—so—he swallows up the blade, even as the whale
+swallowed Gaffer Jonah.... Yes, and that’s my ink-horn. I made the four
+silver saints round it. Press Barnabas’s head. It opens, and then——’ He
+dipped the trimmed pen, and with careful boldness began to put in the
+essential lines of Puck’s rugged face, that had been but faintly revealed
+by the silver-point.
+
+The children gasped, for it fairly leaped from the page.
+
+As he worked, and the rain fell on the tiles, he talked—now clearly, now
+muttering, now breaking off to frown or smile at his work. He told them he
+was born at Little Lindens Farms, and his father used to beat him for
+drawing things instead of doing things, till an old priest called Father
+Roger, who drew illuminated letters in rich people’s books, coaxed the
+parents to let him take the boy as a sort of painter’s apprentice. Then he
+went with Father Roger to Oxford, where he cleaned plates and carried
+cloaks and shoes for the scholars of a College called Merton.
+
+‘Didn’t you hate that?’ said Dan after a great many other questions.
+
+‘I never thought on’t. Half Oxford was building new colleges or
+beautifying the old, and she had called to her aid the master-craftsmen of
+all Christendie—kings in their trade and honoured of Kings. I knew them. I
+worked for them: that was enough. No wonder——’ He stopped and laughed.
+
+‘You became a great man,’ said Puck.
+
+‘They said so, Robin. Even Bramante said so.’
+
+‘Why? What did you do?’ Dan asked.
+
+The artist looked at him queerly. ‘Things in stone and such, up and down
+England. You would not have heard of ’em. To come nearer home, I
+re-builded this little St. Bartholomew’s church of ours. It cost me more
+trouble and sorrow than aught I’ve touched in my life. But ’twas a sound
+lesson.’
+
+‘Um,’ said Dan. ‘We had lessons this morning.’
+
+‘I’ll not afflict ye, lad,’ said Hal, while Puck roared. ‘Only ’tis
+strange to think how that little church was re-built, re-roofed, and made
+glorious, thanks to some few godly Sussex iron-masters, a Bristol sailor
+lad, a proud ass called Hal o’ the Draft because, d’you see, he was always
+drawing and drafting; and’—he dragged the words slowly—‘_and_ a Scotch
+pirate.’
+
+‘Pirate?’ said Dan. He wriggled like a hooked fish.
+
+‘Even that Andrew Barton you were singing of on the stair just now.’ He
+dipped again in the ink-well, and held his breath over a sweeping line, as
+though he had forgotten everything else.
+
+‘Pirates don’t build churches, do they?’ said Dan. ‘Or _do_ they?’
+
+‘They help mightily,’ Hal laughed. ‘But you were at your lessons this
+morn, Jack Scholar?’
+
+‘Oh, pirates aren’t lessons. It was only Bruce and his silly old spider,’
+said Una. ‘Why did Sir Andrew Barton help you?’
+
+‘I question if he ever knew it,’ said Hal, twinkling. ‘Robin, how
+a-mischief’s name am I to tell these innocents what comes of sinful
+pride?’
+
+‘Oh, we know all about _that_,’ said Una pertly. ‘If you get too
+beany—that’s cheeky—you get sat upon, of course.’
+
+Hal considered a moment, pen in air, and Puck said some long words.
+
+‘Aha! That was my case too,’ he cried. ‘Beany—you say—but certainly I did
+not conduct myself well. I was proud of—of such things as porches—a
+Galilee porch at Lincoln for choice—proud of one Torrigiano’s arm on my
+shoulder, proud of my knighthood when I made the gilt scroll-work for _The
+Sovereign_—our King’s ship. But Father Roger sitting in Merton Library, he
+did not forget me. At the top of my pride, when I and no other should have
+builded the porch at Lincoln, he laid it on me with a terrible forefinger
+to go back to my Sussex clays and re-build, at my own charges, my own
+church, where we Dawes have been buried for six generations. “Out! Son of
+my Art!� said he. “Fight the Devil at home ere you call yourself a man and
+a craftsman.� And I quaked, and I went.... How’s yon, Robin?’ He
+flourished the finished sketch before Puck.
+
+‘Me! Me past peradventure,’ said Puck, smirking like a man at a mirror.
+‘Ah, see! The rain has took off! I hate housen in daylight.’
+
+‘Whoop! Holiday!’ cried Hal, leaping up. ‘Who’s for my Little Lindens? We
+can talk there.’
+
+They tumbled downstairs, and turned past the dripping willows by the sunny
+mill dam.
+
+‘Body o’ me,’ said Hal, staring at the hop-garden, where the hops were
+just ready to blossom. ‘What are these vines? No, not vines, and they
+twine the wrong way to beans.’ He began to draw in his ready book.
+
+‘Hops. New since your day,’ said Puck. ‘They’re an herb of Mars, and their
+flowers dried flavour ale. We say:—
+
+  ‘“Turkeys, Heresy, Hops, and Beer
+  Came into England all in one year.�’
+
+‘Heresy I know. I’ve seen Hops—God be praised for their beauty! What is
+your Turkis?’
+
+The children laughed. They knew the Lindens turkeys, and as soon as they
+reached Lindens’ orchard on the hill the flock charged at them.
+
+Out came Hal’s book at once. ‘Hoity-toity!’ he cried. ‘Here’s Pride in
+purple feathers! Here’s wrathy contempt and the Pomps of the Flesh! How
+d’you call _them_?’
+
+‘Turkeys! Turkeys!’ the children shouted, as the old gobbler raved and
+flamed against Hal’s plum-coloured hose.
+
+‘Save Your Magnificence!’ he said. ‘I’ve drafted two good new things
+to-day.’ And he doffed his cap to the bubbling bird.
+
+Then they walked through the grass to the knoll where Little Lindens
+stands. The old farm-house, weather-tiled to the ground, took almost the
+colour of a blood-ruby in the afternoon light. The pigeons pecked at the
+mortar in the chimney-stacks; the bees that had lived under the tiles
+since it was built filled the hot August air with their booming; and the
+smell of the box-tree by the dairy-window mixed with the smell of earth
+after rain, bread after baking, and a tickle of wood-smoke.
+
+The farmer’s wife came to the door, baby on arm, shaded her brows against
+the sun, stooped to pluck a sprig of rosemary, and turned down the
+orchard. The old spaniel in his barrel barked once or twice to show he was
+in charge of the empty house. Puck clicked back the garden-gate.
+
+‘D’you marvel that I love it?’ said Hal, in a whisper. ‘What can town folk
+know of the nature of housen—or land?’
+
+  [Illustration: ‘Hoity-toity,’ he cried. ‘Here’s Pride in purple
+  feathers! Here’s wrathy contempt and the Pomps of the Flesh!’... And
+  he doffed his cap to the bubbling bird.]
+
+They perched themselves arow on the old hacked oak bench in Lindens’
+garden, looking across the valley of the brook at the fern-covered dimples
+and hollows of the Forge behind Hobden’s cottage. The old man was cutting
+a faggot in his garden by the hives. It was quite a second after his
+chopper fell that the chump of the blow reached their lazy ears.
+
+‘Eh—yeh!’ said Hal. ‘I mind when where that old gaffer stands was Nether
+Forge—Master John Collins’s foundry. Many a night has his big trip-hammer
+shook me in my bed here. _Boom-bitty! Boom-bitty!_ If the wind was east, I
+could hear Master Tom Collins’s forge at Stockens answering his brother,
+_Boom-oop! Boom-oop!_ and midway between, Sir John Pelham’s sledge-hammers
+at Brightling would strike in like a pack o’scholars, and “_Hic-haec-hoc_�
+they’d say, “_Hic-haec-hoc_,� till I fell asleep. Yes. The valley was as
+full o’ forges and fineries as a May shaw o’ cuckoos. All gone to grass
+now!’
+
+‘What did they make?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Guns for the King’s ships—and for others. Serpentines and cannon mostly.
+When the guns were cast, down would come the King’s Officers, and take our
+plough-oxen to haul them to the coast. Look! Here’s one of the first and
+finest craftsmen of the Sea!’
+
+He fluttered back a page of his book, and showed them a young man’s head.
+Underneath was written: ‘Sebastianus.’
+
+‘He came down with a King’s Order on Master John Collins for twenty
+serpentines (wicked little cannon they be!) to furnish a venture of ships.
+I drafted him thus sitting by our fire telling Mother of the new lands
+he’d find the far side the world. And he found them, too! There’s a nose
+to cleave through unknown seas! Cabot was his name—a Bristol lad—half a
+foreigner. I set a heap by him. He helped me to my church-building.’
+
+‘I thought that was Sir Andrew Barton,’ said Dan.
+
+‘Ay, but foundations before roofs,’ Hal answered. ‘Sebastian first put me
+in the way of it. I had come down here, not to serve God as a craftsman
+should, but to show my people how great a craftsman I was. They cared not,
+and it served me right, one split straw for my craft or my greatness. What
+a murrain call had I, they said, to mell with old St. Barnabas’s? Ruinous
+the church had been since the Black Death, and ruinous she should remain;
+and I could hang myself in my new scaffold-ropes! Gentle and simple, high
+and low—the Hayes, the Fowles, the Fanners, the Collinses—they were all in
+a tale against me. Only Sir John Pelham up yonder to Brightling bade me
+heart-up and go on. Yet how could I? Did I ask Master Collins for his
+timber-tug to haul beams? The oxen had gone to Lewes after lime. Did he
+promise me a set of iron cramps or ties for the roof? They never came to
+hand, or else they were spaulty or cracked. So with everything. Nothing
+said, but naught done except I stood by them, and then done amiss. I
+thought the countryside was fair bewitched.’
+
+‘It was, sure-ly,’ said Puck, knees under chin. ‘Did you never suspect any
+one?’
+
+‘Not till Sebastian came for his guns, and John Collins played him the
+same dog’s tricks as he’d played me with my ironwork. Week in, week out,
+two of three serpentines would be flawed in the casting, and only fit,
+they said, to be remelted. Then John Collins would shake his head, and vow
+he could pass no cannon for the King’s service that were not perfect.
+Saints! How Sebastian stormed! _I_ know, for we sat on this bench sharing
+our sorrows inter-common.
+
+‘When Sebastian had fumed away six weeks at Lindens and gotten just six
+serpentines, Dirk Brenzett, Master of the _Cygnet_ hoy, sends me word that
+the block of stone he was fetching me from France for our new font he’d
+hove overboard to lighten his ship, chased by Andrew Barton up to Rye
+Port.’
+
+‘Ah! The pirate!’ said Dan.
+
+‘Yes. And while I am tearing my hair over this, Ticehurst Will, my best
+mason, comes to me shaking, and vowing that the Devil, horned, tailed, and
+chained, has run out on him from the church-tower, and the men would work
+there no more. So I took ’em off the foundations, which we were
+strengthening, and went into the Bell Tavern for a cup of ale. Says Master
+John Collins: “Have it your own way, lad; but if I was you, I’d take the
+sinnification o’ the sign, and leave old Barnabas’s Church alone!� And
+they all wagged their sinful heads, and agreed. Less afraid of the Devil
+than of me—as I saw later.
+
+‘When I brought my sweet news to Lindens, Sebastian was limewashing the
+kitchen-beams for Mother. He loved her like a son.
+
+‘“Cheer up, lad,� he says. “God’s where He was. Only you and I chance to
+be pure pute asses! We’ve been tricked, Hal, and more shame to me, a
+sailor, that I did not guess it before! You must leave your belfry alone,
+forsooth, because the Devil is adrift there; and I cannot get my
+serpentines because John Collins cannot cast them aright. Meantime Andrew
+Barton hawks off the Port of Rye. And why? To take those very serpentines
+which poor Cabot must whistle for; the said serpentines, I’ll wager my
+share of new Continents, being now hid away in St. Barnabas church tower.
+Clear as the Irish coast at noonday!�
+
+‘“They’d sure never dare to do it,� I said; “and for another thing,
+selling cannon to the King’s enemies is black treason—hanging and fine.�
+
+‘“It is sure large profit. Men’ll dare any gallows for that. I have been a
+trader myself,� says he. “We must be upsides with ’em for the honour of
+Bristol.�
+
+‘Then he hatched a plot, sitting on the lime-wash bucket. We gave out to
+ride o’ Tuesday to London and made a show of making farewells of our
+friends—especially of Master John Collins. But at Wadhurst Woods we
+turned; rode by night to the watermeadows; hid our horses in a willow-tot
+at the foot of the glebe, and stole a-tiptoe up hill to Barnabas’s church
+again. A thick mist, and a moon coming through.
+
+‘I had no sooner locked the tower-door behind us than over goes Sebastian
+full length in the dark.
+
+‘“Pest!� he says. “Step high and feel low, Hal. I’ve stumbled over guns
+before.�
+
+‘I groped, and one by one—the tower was pitchy dark—I counted the lither
+barrels of twenty serpentines laid out on pease-straw. No conceal at all!
+
+‘“There’s two demi-cannon my end,� says Sebastian, slapping metal.
+“They’ll be for Andrew Barton’s lower deck. Honest—honest John Collins! So
+this is his warehouse, his arsenal, his armoury! Now, see you why your
+pokings and pryings have raised the Devil in Sussex? You’ve hindered
+John’s lawful trade for months,� and he laughed where he lay.
+
+‘A clay-cold tower is no fireside at midnight, so we climbed the belfry
+stairs, and there Sebastian trips over a cow-hide with its horns and tail.
+
+‘“Aha! Your Devil has left his doublet! Does it become me, Hal?� He draws
+it on and capers in the slits of window-moonlight—won’erful devilish-like.
+Then he sits on the stair, rapping with his tail on a board, and his
+back-aspect was dreader than his front; and a howlet lit in, and screeched
+at the horns of him.
+
+‘“If you’d keep out the Devil, shut the door,� he whispered. “And that’s
+another false proverb, Hal, for I can hear your tower-door opening.�
+
+‘“I locked it. Who a-plague has another key, then?� I said.
+
+‘“All the congregation, to judge by their feet,� he says, and peers into
+the blackness. “Still! Still, Hal! Hear ’em grunt! That’s more o’ my
+serpentines, I’ll be bound. One—two—three—four they bear in! Faith, Andrew
+equips himself like an admiral! Twenty-four serpentines in all!�
+
+‘As if it had been an echo, we heard John Collins’s voice come up all
+hollow: “Twenty-four serpentines and two demi-cannon. That’s the full
+tally for Sir Andrew Barton.�
+
+‘“Courtesy costs naught,� whispers Sebastian. “Shall I drop my dagger on
+his head?�
+
+‘“They go over to Rye o’ Thursday in the wool-wains, hid under the wool
+packs. Dirk Brenzett meets them at Udimore, as before,� says John.
+
+‘“Lord! What a worn, handsmooth trade it is!� says Sebastian. “I lay we
+are the sole two babes in the village that have not our lawful share in
+the venture.�
+
+‘There was a full score folk below, talking like all Robertsbridge Market.
+We counted them by voice.
+
+‘Master John Collins pipes: “The guns for the French carrack must lie here
+next month. Will, when does your young fool (me, so please you!) come back
+from Lunnon?�
+
+‘“No odds,� I heard Ticehurst Will answer. “Lay ’em just where you’ve a
+mind, Mus’ Collins. We’re all too afraid o’ the Devil to mell with the
+tower now.� And the long knave laughed.
+
+‘“Ah! ’tis easy enow for you to raise the Devil, Will,� says another—Ralph
+Hobden from the Forge.
+
+‘“Aaa-men!� roars Sebastian, and ere I could hold him, he leaps down the
+stairs—won’erful devilish-like—howling no bounds. He had scarce time to
+lay out for the nearest than they ran. Saints, how they ran! We heard them
+pound on the door of the Bell Tavern, and then we ran too.
+
+‘“What’s next?� says Sebastian, looping up his cow-tail as he leaped the
+briars. “I’ve broke honest John’s face.�
+
+‘“Ride to Sir John Pelham’s,� I said. “He is the only one that ever stood
+by me.�
+
+‘We rode to Brightling, and past Sir John’s lodges, where the keepers
+would have shot at us for deer-stealers, and we had Sir John down into his
+Justice’s chair, and when we had told him our tale and showed him the
+cow-hide which Sebastian wore still girt about him, he laughed till the
+tears ran.
+
+‘“Wel-a-well!� he says. “I’ll see justice done before daylight. What’s
+your complaint? Master Collins is my old friend.�
+
+‘“He’s none of mine,� I cried. “When I think how he and his likes have
+baulked and dozened and cozened me at every turn over the church�——and I
+choked at the thought.
+
+‘“Ah, but ye see now they needed it for another use,� says he, smoothly.
+
+‘“So they did my serpentines,� Sebastian cries. “I should be half across
+the Western Ocean by this if my guns had been ready. But they’re sold to a
+Scotch pirate by your old friend.�
+
+‘“Where’s your proof?� says Sir John, stroking his beard.
+
+‘“I broke my shins over them not an hour since, and I heard John give
+order where they were to be taken,� says Sebastian.
+
+‘“Words! Words only,� says Sir John. “Master Collins is somewhat of a liar
+at best.�
+
+‘He carried it so gravely, that for the moment, I thought he was dipped in
+this secret traffick too, and that there was not an honest ironmaster in
+Sussex.
+
+‘“Name o’ Reason!� says Sebastian, and raps with his cow-tail on the
+table, “Whose guns are they, then?�
+
+‘“Yours, manifestly,� says Sir John. “You come with the King’s Order for
+’em, and Master Collins casts them in his foundry. If he chooses to bring
+them up from Nether Forge and lay ’em out in the church tower, why they
+are e’en so much the nearer to the main road and you are saved a day’s
+hauling. What a coil to make of a mere act of neighbourly kindness, lad!�
+
+‘“I fear I have requited him very scurvily,� says Sebastian, looking at
+his knuckles. “But what of the demi-cannon? I could do with ’em well, but
+_they_ are not in the King’s Order.�
+
+‘“Kindness—loving-kindness,� says Sir John. “Questionless, in his zeal for
+the King and his love for you, John adds those two cannon as a gift. ’Tis
+plain as this coming daylight, ye stockfish!�
+
+‘“So it is,� says Sebastian. “Oh, Sir John, Sir John, why did you never
+use the sea? You are lost ashore.� And he looked on him with great love.
+
+‘“I do my best in my station.� Sir John strokes his beard again and rolls
+forth his deep drumming Justice’s voice thus:—“But—suffer me!—you two
+lads, on some midnight frolic into which I probe not, roystering around
+the taverns, surprise Master Collins at his�—he thinks a moment—“at his
+good deeds done by stealth. Ye surprise him, I say, cruelly.�
+
+‘“Truth, Sir John. If you had seen him run!� says Sebastian.
+
+‘“On this you ride breakneck to me with a tale of pirates, and wool-wains,
+and cow-hides, which, though it hath moved my mirth as a man, offendeth my
+reason as a magistrate. So I will e’en accompany you back to the tower
+with, perhaps, some few of my own people, and three to four wagons, and
+I’ll be your warrant that Master John Collins will freely give you your
+guns and your demi-cannon, Master Sebastian.� He breaks into his proper
+voice—“I warned the old tod and his neighbours long ago that they’d come
+to trouble with their side-sellings and bye-dealings; but we cannot have
+half Sussex hanged for a little gun-running. Are ye content, lads?�
+
+‘“I’d commit any treason for two demi-cannon,� said Sebastian, and rubs
+his hands.
+
+‘“Ye have just compounded with rank treason-felony for the same bribe,�
+says Sir John. “Wherefore to horse, and get the guns.�’
+
+‘But Master Collins meant the guns for Sir Andrew Barton all along, didn’t
+he?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Questionless, that he did,’ said Hal. ‘But he lost them. We poured into
+the village on the red edge of dawn, Sir John horsed, in half-armour, his
+pennon flying; behind him thirty stout Brightling knaves, five abreast;
+behind them four wool-wains, and behind them four trumpets to triumph over
+the jest, blowing: _Our King went forth to Normandie_. When we halted and
+rolled the ringing guns out of the tower, ’twas for all the world like
+Friar Roger’s picture of the French siege in the Queen’s Missal-book.’
+
+‘And what did we—I mean, what did our village do?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Oh! Bore it nobly—nobly,’ cried Hal. ‘Though they had tricked me, I was
+proud of us. They came out of their housen, looked at that little army as
+though it had been a post, and went their shut-mouthed way. Never a sign!
+Never a word! They’d ha’ perished sooner than let Brightling overcrow us.
+Even that villain, Ticehurst Will, coming out of the Bell for his morning
+ale, he all but ran under Sir John’s horse.
+
+‘“Ware, Sirrah Devil!� cries Sir John, reining back.
+
+‘“Oh!� says Will. “Market day, is it? And all the bullocks from Brightling
+here?�
+
+‘I spared him his belting for that—the brazen knave!
+
+‘But John Collins was our masterpiece! He happened along-street (his jaw
+tied up where Sebastian had clouted him) when we were trundling the first
+demi-cannon through the lych-gate.
+
+‘“I reckon you’ll find her middlin’ heavy,� he says. “If you’ve a mind to
+pay, I’ll loan ye my timber-tug. She won’t lie easy on ary wool-wain.�
+
+‘That was the one time I ever saw Sebastian taken flat aback. He opened
+and shut his mouth, fishy-like.
+
+‘“No offence,� says Master John. “You’ve got her reasonable good cheap. I
+thought ye might not grudge me a groat if I help move her.� Ah, he was a
+masterpiece! They say that morning’s work cost our John two hundred
+pounds, and he never winked an eyelid, not even when he saw the guns all
+carted off to Lewes.’
+
+‘Neither then nor later?’ said Puck.
+
+‘Once. ’Twas after he gave St. Barnabas the new chime of bells. (Oh, there
+was nothing the Collinses, or the Hayes, or the Fowles, or the Fanners
+would not do for the church then! “Ask and have� was their song.) We had
+rung ’em in, and he was in the tower with Black Nick Fowle, that gave us
+our rood-screen. The old man pinches the bell-rope one hand and scratches
+his neck with t’other. “Sooner she was pulling yon clapper than my neck,�
+he says. That was all! That was Sussex—seely Sussex for everlastin’!’
+
+‘And what happened after?’ said Una.
+
+‘I went back into England,’ said Hal, slowly. ‘I’d had my lesson against
+pride. But they tell me I left St. Barnabas’s a jewel—just about a jewel!
+Wel-a-well! ’Twas done for and among my own people, and—Father Roger was
+right—I never knew such trouble or such triumph since. That’s the nature
+o’ things. A dear—dear land.’ He dropped his chin on his chest.
+
+‘There’s your Father at the Forge. What’s he talking to old Hobden about?’
+said Puck, opening his hand with three leaves in it.
+
+Dan looked towards the cottage.
+
+‘Oh, I know. It’s that old oak lying across the brook. Pater always wants
+it grubbed.’
+
+In the still valley they could hear old Hobden’s deep tones.
+
+‘Have it _as_ you’ve a mind to,’ he was saying. ‘But the vivers of her
+roots they hold the bank together. If you grub her out, the bank she’ll
+all come tearin’ down, an’ next floods the brook’ll swarve up. But have it
+_as_ you’ve a mind. The mistuss she sets a heap by the ferns on her
+trunk.’
+
+‘Oh! I’ll think it over,’ said the Pater.
+
+Una laughed a little bubbling chuckle.
+
+‘What Devil’s in _that_ belfry?’ said Hal, with a lazy laugh. ‘That should
+be Hobden by his voice.’
+
+‘Why, the oak is the regular bridge for all the rabbits between the Three
+Acre and our meadow. The best place for wires on the farm, Hobden says.
+He’s got two there now,’ Una answered. ‘_He_ won’t ever let it be
+grubbed!’
+
+‘Ah, Sussex! Silly Sussex for everlastin’,’ murmured Hal; and the next
+moment their Father’s voice calling across to Little Lindens broke the
+spell as St. Barnabas’s clock struck five.
+
+
+
+
+SMUGGLERS’ SONG
+
+
+  _If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse’s feet,_
+  _Don’t go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,_
+  _Them that asks no questions isn’t told a lie._
+  _Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!_
+
+      _Five and twenty ponies_
+      _Trotting through the dark;_
+      _Brandy for the Parson,_
+      _’Baccy for the Clerk_
+      _Laces for a lady, letters for a spy,_
+
+  _And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!_
+
+  _Running round the woodlump if you chance to find_
+  _Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandywined;_
+  _Don’t you shout to come and look, nor take ’em for your play;_
+  _Put the brishwood back again,—and they’ll be gone next day!_
+
+  _If you see the stableyard setting open wide;_
+  _If you see a tied horse lying down inside;_
+  _If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore;_
+  _If the lining’s wet and warm—don’t you ask no more!_
+
+  _If you meet King George’s men, dressed in blue and red,_
+  _You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said._
+  _If they call you ’pretty maid,’ and chuck you ’neath the chin,_
+  _Don’t you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one’s been!_
+
+  _Knocks and footsteps round the house—whistles after dark—_
+  _You’ve no call for running out till the house-dogs bark._
+  Trusty’s _here, and_ Pincher’s _here, and see how dumb they lie—_
+  _They don’t fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by!_
+
+  _If you do as you’ve been told, likely there’s a chance,_
+  _You’ll be give a dainty doll, all the way from France,_
+  _With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood—_
+  _A present from the Gentlemen, along o’ being good!_
+
+      _Five and twenty ponies,_
+      _Trotting through the Park—_
+      _Brandy for the Parson,_
+      _’Baccy for the Clerk._
+
+  _Them that asks no questions isn’t told a lie._
+  _Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!_
+
+
+
+
+
+‘DYMCHURCH FLIT’
+
+
+
+
+THE BEE BOY’S SONG
+
+
+  Bees! Bees! Hark to the Bees!
+  ‘Hide from your neighbours as much as you please,
+  But all that has happened to _us_ you must tell!
+  Or else we will give you no honey to sell.’
+
+    _A maiden in her glory,_
+      _Upon her wedding-day,_
+    _Must tell her Bees the story,_
+      _Or else they’ll fly away._
+        _Fly away—die away—_
+          _Dwindle down and leave you!_
+        _But if you don’t deceive your Bees,_
+          _Your Bees will not deceive you!—_
+
+    _Marriage, birth or buryin’,_
+      _News across the seas,_
+    _All you’re sad or merry in,_
+      _You must tell the Bees._
+        _Tell ’em coming in an’ out,_
+          _Where the Fanners fan,_
+        _’Cause the Bees are justabout_
+          _As curious as a man!_
+
+    _Don’t you wait where trees are,_
+      _When the lightnings play;_
+    _Nor don’t you hate where Bees are,_
+      _Or else they’ll pine away._
+        _Pine away—dwine away—_
+          _Anything to leave you!_
+        _But if you never grieve your Bees,_
+          _Your Bees’ll never grieve you._
+
+
+
+
+‘DYMCHURCH FLIT’
+
+
+Just at dusk, a soft September rain began to fall on the hop-pickers. The
+mothers wheeled the bouncing perambulators out of the gardens; bins were
+put away, and tally-books made up. The young couples strolled home, two to
+each umbrella, and the single men walked behind them laughing. Dan and
+Una, who had been picking after their lessons, marched off to roast
+potatoes at the oast-house, where old Hobden, with Blue-eyed Bess, his
+lurcher-dog, lived all the month through, drying the hops.
+
+They settled themselves, as usual, on the sack-strewn cot in front of the
+fires, and, when Hobden drew up the shutter, stared, as usual, at the
+flameless bed of coals spouting its heat up the dark well of the
+old-fashioned roundel. Slowly he cracked off a few fresh pieces of coal,
+packed them, with fingers that never flinched, exactly where they would do
+most good; slowly he reached behind him till Dan tilted the potatoes into
+his iron scoop of a hand; carefully he arranged them round the fire, and
+then stood for a moment, black against the glare. As he closed the
+shutter, the oast-house seemed dark before the day’s end, and he lit the
+candle in the lanthorn. The children liked all these things because they
+knew them so well.
+
+The Bee Boy, Hobden’s son, who is not quite right in his head, though he
+can do anything with bees, slipped in like a shadow. They only guessed it
+when Bess’s stump-tail wagged against them.
+
+A big voice began singing outside in the drizzle:—
+
+  ‘Old Mother Laidinwool had nigh twelve months been dead,
+  She heard the hops were doing well, and then popped up her head.’
+
+‘There can’t be two people made to holler like that!’ cried old Hobden,
+wheeling round.
+
+  ‘For, says she, “The boys I’ve picked with when I was young and fair,
+  They’re bound to be at hoppin’, and I’m——�’
+
+A man showed at the doorway.
+
+‘Well, well! They do say hoppin’ll draw the very deadest; and now I
+belieft ’em. You, Tom? Tom Shoesmith!’ Hobden lowered his lanthorn.
+
+‘You’re a hem of a time makin’ your mind to it, Ralph!’ The stranger
+strode in—three full inches taller than Hobden, a grey-whiskered,
+brown-faced giant with clear blue eyes. They shook hands, and the children
+could hear the hard palms rasp together.
+
+‘You ain’t lost none o’ your grip,’ said Hobden. ‘Was it thirty or forty
+year back you broke my head at Peasmarsh Fair?’
+
+‘Only thirty, an’ no odds ’tween us regardin’ heads, neither. You had it
+back at me with a hop-pole. How did we get home that night? Swimmin’?’
+
+‘Same way the pheasant come into Gubbs’s pocket—by a little luck an’ a
+deal o’ conjurin’.’ Old Hobden laughed in his deep chest.
+
+‘I see you’ve not forgot your way about the woods. D’ye do any o’ _this_
+still?’ The stranger pretended to look along a gun.
+
+Hobden answered with a quick movement of the hand as though he were
+pegging down a rabbit-wire.
+
+‘No. _That’s_ all that’s left me now. Age she must as Age she can. An’
+what’s your news since all these years?’
+
+  ‘Oh, I’ve bin to Plymouth, I’ve bin to Dover—
+  I’ve bin ramblin’, boys, the wide world over,’
+
+the man answered cheerily. ‘I reckon I know as much of Old England as
+most.’ He turned towards the children and winked boldly.
+
+‘I lay they told you a sight o’ lies, then. I’ve been into England fur as
+Wiltsheer once. I was cheated proper over a pair of hedging-gloves,’ said
+Hobden.
+
+‘There’s fancy-talkin’ everywhere. _You’ve_ cleaved to your own parts
+pretty middlin’ close, Ralph.’
+
+‘Can’t shift an old tree ’thout it dyin’,’ Hobden chuckled. ‘An’ I be no
+more anxious to die than you look to be to help me with my hops to-night.’
+
+The great man leaned against the brickwork of the roundel, and swung his
+arms abroad. ‘Hire me!’ was all he said, and they stumped upstairs
+laughing.
+
+The children heard their shovels rasp on the cloth where the yellow hops
+lie drying above the fires, and all the oast-house filled with the sweet,
+sleepy smell as they were turned.
+
+‘Who is it?’ Una whispered to the Bee Boy.
+
+‘Dunno, no more’n you—if _you_ dunno,’ said he, and smiled.
+
+The voices on the drying-floor talked and chuckled together, and the heavy
+footsteps went back and forth. Presently a hop-pocket dropped through the
+press-hole overhead, and stiffened and fattened as they shovelled it full.
+‘Clank!’ went the press, and rammed the loose stuff into tight cake.
+
+‘Gently!’ they heard Hobden cry. ‘You’ll bust her crop if you lay on so.
+You be as careless as Gleason’s bull, Tom. Come an’ sit by the fires.
+She’ll do now.’
+
+They came down, and as Hobden opened the shutter to see if the potatoes
+were done Tom Shoesmith said to the children, ‘Put a plenty salt on ’em.
+That’ll show you the sort o’ man _I_ be.’ Again he winked, and again the
+Bee Boy laughed and Una stared at Dan.
+
+‘_I_ know what sort o’ man you be,’ old Hobden grunted, groping for the
+potatoes round the fire.
+
+‘Do ye?’ Tom went on behind his back. ‘Some of us can’t abide Horseshoes,
+or Church Bells, or Running Water; an’, talkin’ o’ runnin’ water’—he
+turned to Hobden, who was backing out of the roundel—‘d’you mind the great
+floods at Robertsbridge, when the miller’s man was drowned in the street?’
+
+‘Middlin’ well.’ Old Hobden let himself down on the coals by the fire
+door. ‘I was courtin’ my woman on the Marsh that year. Carter to Mus’ Plum
+I was—gettin’ ten shillin’s week. Mine was a Marsh woman.’
+
+‘Won’erful odd-gates place—Romney Marsh,’ said Tom Shoesmith. ‘I’ve heard
+say the world’s divided like into Europe, Ashy, Afriky, Ameriky, Australy,
+an’ Romney Marsh.’
+
+‘The Marsh folk think so,’ said Hobden. ‘I had a hem o’ trouble to get my
+woman to leave it.’
+
+‘Where did she come out of? I’ve forgot, Ralph.’
+
+‘Dymchurch under the Wall,’ Hobden answered, a potato in his hand.
+
+‘Then she’d be a Pett—or a Whitgift, would she?’
+
+‘Whitgift.’ Hobden broke open the potato and ate it with the curious
+neatness of men who make most of their meals in the blowy open. ‘She
+growed to be quite reasonable-like after livin’ in the Weald awhile, but
+our first twenty year or two she was odd-fashioned, no bounds. And she was
+a won’erful hand with bees.’ He cut away a little piece of potato and
+threw it out to the door.
+
+‘Ah! I’ve heard say the Whitgifts could see further through a millstone
+than most,’ said Shoesmith. ‘Did she, now?’
+
+‘She was honest-innocent, of any nigromancin’,’ said Hobden. ‘Only she’d
+read signs and sinnifications out o’ birds flyin’, stars fallin’, bees
+hivin’, and such. An’ she’d lie awake—listenin’ for calls, she said.’
+
+‘That don’t prove naught,’ said Tom. ‘All Marsh folk has been smugglers
+since time everlastin’. ’Twould be in her blood to listen out o’ nights.’
+
+‘Nature-ally,’ old Hobden replied, smiling. ‘I mind when there was
+smugglin’ a sight nearer us than the Marsh be. But that wasn’t my woman’s
+trouble. ’Twas a passel o’ no-sense talk,’ he dropped his voice, ‘about
+Pharisees.’
+
+‘Yes. I’ve heard Marsh men beleft in ’em.’ Tom looked straight at the
+wide-eyed children beside Bess.
+
+‘Pharisees,’ cried Una. ‘Fairies? Oh, I see!’
+
+‘People o’ the Hills,’ said the Bee Boy, throwing half of his potato
+towards the door.
+
+‘There you be!’ said Hobden, pointing at him. ‘My boy, he has her eyes and
+her out-gate senses. That’s what _she_ called ’em!’
+
+‘And what did you think of it all?’
+
+‘Um—um,’ Hobden rumbled. ‘A man that uses fields an’ shaws after dark as
+much as I’ve done, he don’t go out of his road excep’ for keepers.’
+
+‘But settin’ that aside?’ said Tom, coaxingly. ‘I saw ye throw the Good
+Piece out-at doors just now. Do ye believe or—_do_ ye?’
+
+‘There was a great black eye to that tater,’ said Hobden, indignantly.
+
+‘My liddle eye didn’t see un, then. It looked as if you meant it for—for
+Any One that might need it. But settin’ that aside. D’ye believe or—_do_
+ye?’
+
+‘I ain’t sayin’ nothin’, because I’ve heard naught, an’ I’ve seen naught.
+But if you was to say there was more things after dark in the shaws than
+men, or fur, or feather, or fin, I dunno as I’d go farabout to call you a
+liar. Now turn again, Tom. What’s your say?’
+
+‘I’m like you. I say nothin’. But I’ll tell you a tale, an’ you can fit it
+_as_ how you please.’
+
+‘Passel o’ no-sense stuff,’ growled Hobden, but he filled his pipe.
+
+‘The Marsh men they call it Dymchurch Flit,’ Tom went on slowly. ‘Hap
+you’ve heard it?’
+
+‘My woman she’ve told it me scores o’ times. Dunno as I didn’t end by
+belieft in’ it—sometimes.’
+
+Hobden crossed over as he spoke, and sucked with his pipe at the yellow
+lanthorn-flame. Tom rested one great elbow on one great knee, where he sat
+among the coal.
+
+‘Have you ever bin in the Marsh?’ he said to Dan.
+
+‘Only as far as Rye, once,’ Dan answered.
+
+‘Ah, that’s but the edge. Back behind of her there’s steeples settin’
+beside churches, an’ wise women settin’ beside their doors, an’ the sea
+settin’ above the land, an’ ducks herdin’ wild in the diks’ (he meant
+ditches). ‘The Marsh is justabout riddled with diks an’ sluices, an’
+tide-gates an’ water-lets. You can hear em’ bubblin’ an’ grummelin’ when
+the tide works in em’, an’ then you hear the sea rangin’ left and
+right-handed all up along the Wall. You’ve seen how flat she is—the Marsh?
+You’d think nothin’ easier than to walk eend-on acrost her? Ah, but the
+diks an’ the water-lets, they twists the roads about as ravelly as
+witch-yarn on the spindles. So ye get all turned round in broad daylight.’
+
+‘That’s because they’ve dreened the waters into the diks,’ said Hobden.
+‘When I courted my woman the rushes was green—Eh me! the rushes was
+green—an’ the Bailiff o’ the Marshes, he rode up and down as free as the
+fog.’
+
+‘Who was he?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Why, the Marsh fever an’ ague. He’ve clapped me on the shoulder once or
+twice till I shook proper. But now the dreenin’ off of the waters have
+done away with the fevers; so they make a joke, like, that the Bailiff o’
+the Marshes broke his neck in a dik. A won’erful place for bees an’ ducks
+’tis too.’
+
+‘An’ old!’ Tom went on. ‘Flesh an’ Blood have been there since Time
+Everlastin’ Beyond. Well, now, speakin’ among themselves, the Marshmen say
+that from Time Everlastin’ Beyond the Pharisees favoured the Marsh above
+the rest of Old England. I lay the Marshmen ought to know. They’ve been
+out after dark, father an’ son, smugglin’ some one thing or t’other, since
+ever wool grew to sheep’s backs. They say there was always a middlin’ few
+Pharisees to be seen on the Marsh. Impident as rabbits, they was. They’d
+dance on the nakid roads in the nakid daytime; they’d flash their liddle
+green lights along the diks, comin’ an’ goin’, like honest smugglers. Yes,
+an’ times they’d lock the church doors against parson an’ clerk of
+Sundays!’
+
+‘That ’ud be smugglers layin’ in the lace or the brandy till they could
+run it out o’ the Marsh. I’ve told my woman so,’ said Hobden.
+
+‘I’ll lay she didn’t beleft it, then—not if she was a Whitgift. A
+won’erful choice place for Pharisees, the Marsh, by all accounts, till
+Queen Bess’s father he come in with his Reformatories.’
+
+‘Would that be a Act o’ Parliament like?’ Hobden asked.
+
+‘Sure-ly! ’Can’t do nothing in Old England without Act, Warrant, an’
+Summons. He got his Act allowed him, an’, they say, Queen Bess’s father he
+used the parish churches something shameful. Justabout tore the gizzards
+out of I dunnamany. Some folk in England they held with ’en; but some they
+saw it different, an’ it eended in ’em takin’ sides an’ burnin’ each other
+no bounds, accordin’ which side was top, time bein’. That tarrified the
+Pharisees: for Goodwill among Flesh an’ Blood is meat an’ drink to ’em,
+an’ ill-will is poison.’
+
+‘Same as bees,’ said the Bee Boy. ‘Bees won’t stay by a house where
+there’s hating.’
+
+‘True,’ said Tom. ‘This Reformations tarrified the Pharisees same as the
+reaper goin’ round a last stand o’ wheat tarrifies rabbits. They packed
+into the Marsh from all parts, and they says, “Fair or foul, we must flit
+out o’ this, for Merry England’s done with, an’ we’re reckoned among the
+Images.�’
+
+‘Did they _all_ see it that way?’ said Hobden.
+
+‘All but one that was called Robin—if you’ve heard of him. What are you
+laughing at?’ Tom turned to Dan. ‘The Pharisees’s trouble didn’t tech
+Robin, because he’d cleaved middlin’ close to people like. No more he
+never meant to go out of Old England—not he; so he was sent messagin’ for
+help among Flesh an’ Blood. But Flesh an’ Blood must always think of their
+own concerns, an’ Robin couldn’t get _through_ at ’em, ye see. They
+thought it was tide-echoes off the Marsh.’
+
+‘What did you—what did the fai—Pharisees want?’ Una asked.
+
+‘A boat to be sure. Their liddle wings could no more cross Channel than so
+many tired butterflies. A boat an’ a crew they desired to sail ’em over to
+France, where yet awhile folks hadn’t tore down the Images. They couldn’t
+abide cruel Canterbury Bells ringin’ to Bulverhithe for more pore men an’
+women to be burnded, nor the King’s proud messenger ridin’ through the
+land givin’ orders to tear down the Images. They couldn’t abide it no
+shape. Nor yet they couldn’t get their boat an’ crew to flit by without
+Leave an’ Good-will from Flesh an’ Blood; an’ Flesh an’ Blood came an’
+went about its own business the while the Marsh was swarvin’ up, an’
+swarvin’ up with Pharisees from all England over, striving all means to
+get _through_ at Flesh an’ Blood to tell ’en their sore need.... I don’t
+know as you’ve ever heard say Pharisees are like chickens?’
+
+‘My woman used to say that too,’ said Hobden, folding his brown arms.
+
+‘They be. You run too many chickens together, an’ the ground sickens like,
+an’ you get a squat, an’ your chickens die. ’Same way, you crowd Pharisees
+all in one place—_they_ don’t die, but Flesh an’ Blood walkin’ among ’em
+is apt to sick up an’ pine off. _They_ don’t mean it, an’ Flesh an’ Blood
+don’t know it, but that’s the truth—as I’ve heard. The Pharisees through
+bein’ all stenched up an’ frighted, an’ tryin’ to come _through_ with
+their supplications, they nature-ally changed the thin airs and humours in
+Flesh an’ Blood. It lay on the Marsh like thunder. Men saw their churches
+ablaze with the wildfire in the windows after dark; they saw their cattle
+scatterin’ and no man scarin’; their sheep flockin’ and no man drivin’;
+their horses latherin’ an’ no man leadin’; they saw the liddle low green
+lights more than ever in the dik-sides; they heard the liddle feet
+patterin’ more than ever round the houses; an’ night an’ day, day an’
+night, ’twas all as though they were bein’ creeped up on, and hinted at by
+some One or Other that couldn’t rightly shape their trouble. Oh, I lay
+they sweated! Man an’ maid, woman an’ child, their Nature done ’em no
+service all the weeks while the Marsh was swarvin’ up with Pharisees. But
+they was Flesh an’ Blood, an’ Marsh men before all. They reckoned the
+signs sinnified trouble for the Marsh. Or that the sea ’ud rear up against
+Dymchurch Wall an’ they’d be drownded like Old Winchelsea; or that the
+Plague was comin’. So they looked for the meanin’ in the sea or in the
+clouds—far an’ high up. They never thought to look near an’ knee-high,
+where they could see naught.
+
+‘Now there was a poor widow at Dymchurch under the Wall, which, lacking
+man or property, she had the more time for feeling; and she come to feel
+there was a Trouble outside her doorstep bigger an’ heavier than aught
+she’d ever carried over it. She had two sons—one born blind, and t’other
+struck dumb through fallin’ off the Wall when he was liddle. They was men
+grown, but not wage-earnin’, an’ she worked for ’em, keepin’ bees and
+answerin’ Questions.’
+
+‘What sort of questions?’ said Dan.
+
+‘Like where lost things might be found, an’ what to put about a crooked
+baby’s neck, an’ how to join parted sweethearts. She felt the Trouble on
+the Marsh same as eels feel thunder. She was a wise woman.’
+
+‘My woman was won’erful weather-tender, too,’ said Hobden. ‘I’ve seen her
+brish sparks like off an anvil out of her hair in thunderstorms. But she
+never laid out to answer Questions.’
+
+‘This woman was a Seeker like, an’ Seekers they sometimes find. One night,
+while she lay abed, hot an’ aching, there come a Dream an’ tapped at her
+window, and “Widow Whitgift,� it said, “Widow Whitgift!�
+
+‘First, by the wings an’ the whistling, she thought it was peewits, but
+last she arose an’ dressed herself, an’ opened her door to the Marsh, an’
+she felt the Trouble an’ the Groaning all about her, strong as fever an’
+ague, an’ she calls: “What is it? Oh, what is it?�
+
+‘Then ’twas all like the frogs in the diks peeping: then ’twas all like
+the reeds in the diks clipclapping; an’ then the great Tide-wave rummelled
+along the Wall, an’ she couldn’t hear proper.
+
+‘Three times she called, an’ three times the Tide-wave did her down. But
+she catched the quiet between, an’ she cries out, “What is the Trouble on
+the Marsh that’s been lying down with my heart an’ arising with my body
+this month gone?� She felt a liddle hand lay hold on her gown-hem, an’ she
+stooped to the pull o’ that liddle hand.’
+
+Tom Shoesmith spread his huge fist before the fire and smiled at it.
+
+‘“Will the sea drown the Marsh?� she says. She was a Marsh-woman first an’
+foremost.
+
+‘“No,� says the liddle voice. “Sleep sound for all o’ that.�
+
+‘“Is the Plague comin’ to the Marsh?� she says. Them was all the ills she
+knowed.
+
+‘“No. Sleep sound for all o’ that,� says Robin.
+
+‘She turned about, half mindful to go in, but the liddle voices grieved
+that shrill an’ sorrowful she turns back, an’ she cries: “If it is not a
+Trouble of Flesh an’ Blood, what can I do?�
+
+‘The Pharisees cried out upon her from all round to fetch them a boat to
+sail to France, an’ come back no more.
+
+‘“There’s a boat on the Wall,� she says, “but I can’t push it down to the
+sea, nor sail it when ’tis there.�
+
+‘“Lend us your sons,� says all the Pharisees. “Give ’em Leave an’
+Good-will to sail it for us, Mother—O Mother!�
+
+‘“One’s dumb, an’ t’other’s blind,� she says. “But all the dearer me for
+that; and you’ll lose them in the big sea.� The voices justabout pierced
+through her. An’ there was children’s voices too. She stood out all she
+could, but she couldn’t rightly stand against _that_. So she says: “If you
+can draw my sons for your job, I’ll not hinder ’em. You can’t ask no more
+of a Mother.�
+
+‘She saw them liddle green lights dance an’ cross till she was dizzy; she
+heard them liddle feet patterin’ by the thousand; she heard cruel
+Canterbury Bells ringing to Bulverhithe, an’ she heard the great Tide-wave
+ranging along the Wall. That was while the Pharisees was workin’ a Dream
+to wake her two sons asleep: an’ while she bit on her fingers she saw them
+two she’d bore come out an’ pass her with never a word. She followed ’em,
+cryin’ pitiful, to the old boat on the Wall, an’ that they took an’ runned
+down to the Sea.
+
+‘When they’d stepped mast an’ sail the blind son speaks up: “Mother, we’re
+waitin’ your Leave an’ Good-will to take Them over.�’
+
+Tom Shoesmith threw back his head and half shut his eyes.
+
+‘Eh, me!’ he said. ‘She was a fine, valiant woman, the Widow Whitgift. She
+stood twistin’ the ends of her long hair over her fingers, an’ she shook
+like a poplar, makin’ up her mind. The Pharisees all about they hushed
+their children from cryin’ an’ they waited dumb-still. She was all their
+dependence. ’Thout her Leave an’ Goodwill they could not pass; for she was
+the Mother. So she shook like a asp-tree makin’ up her mind. ’Last she
+drives the word past her teeth, an’ “Go!� she says. “Go with my Leave an’
+Goodwill.�
+
+‘Then I saw—then, they say, she had to brace back same as if she was
+wadin’ in tide-water; for the Pharisees justabout flowed past her—down the
+beach to the boat, _I_ dunnamany of ’em—with their wives an’ children an’
+valooables, all escapin’ out of cruel Old England. Silver you could hear
+clinkin’, an’ liddle bundles hove down dunt on the bottom-boards, an’
+passels o’ liddle swords an’ shield’s raklin’, an’ liddle fingers an’ toes
+scratchin’ on the boatside to board her when the two sons pushed her off.
+That boat she sunk lower an’ lower, but all the Widow could see in it was
+her boys movin’ hampered-like to get at the tackle. Up sail they did, an’
+away they went, deep as a Rye barge, away into the off-shore mistes, an’
+the Widow Whitgift she sat down and eased her grief till mornin’ light.’
+
+‘I never heard she was _all_ alone,’ said Hobden.
+
+‘I remember now. The one called Robin he stayed with her, they tell. She
+was all too grievious to listen to his promises.’
+
+‘Ah! She should ha’ made her bargain beforehand. I allus told my woman
+so!’ Hobden cried.
+
+‘No. She loaned her sons for a pure love-loan, bein’ as she sensed the
+Trouble on the Marshes, an’ was simple good-willing to ease it.’ Tom
+laughed softly. ‘She done that. Yes, she done that! From Hithe to
+Bulverthithe, fretty man an’ petty maid, ailin’ woman an’ wailin’ child,
+they took the advantage of the change in the thin airs just about _as_
+soon as the Pharisees flitted. Folks come out fresh an’ shining all over
+the Marsh like snails after wet. An’ that while the Widow Whitgift sat
+grievin’ on the Wall. She might have beleft us—she might have trusted her
+sons would be sent back! She fussed, no bounds, when their boat come in
+after three days.’
+
+‘And, of course, the sons were both quite cured?’ said Una.
+
+‘No-o. That would have been out o’ Nature. She got ’em back _as_ she sent
+’em. The blind man he hadn’t seen naught of anything, an’ the dumb man
+nature-ally, he couldn’t say aught of what he’d seen. I reckon that was
+why the Pharisees pitched on ’em for the ferrying job.’
+
+‘But what did you—what did Robin promise the Widow?’ said Dan.
+
+‘What _did_ he promise, now?’ Tom pretended to think. ‘Wasn’t your woman a
+Whitgift, Ralph? Didn’t she say?’
+
+‘She told me a passel o’ no-sense stuff when he was born.’ Hobden pointed
+at his son. ‘There was always to be one of ’em that could see further into
+a millstone than most.’
+
+‘Me! That’s me!’ said the Bee Boy so suddenly that they all laughed.
+
+‘I’ve got it now!’ cried Tom, slapping his knee. ‘So long as Whitgift
+blood lasted, Robin promised there would allers be one o’ her stock
+that—that no Trouble ’ud lie on, no Maid ’ud sigh on, no Night could
+frighten, no Fright could harm, no Harm could make sin, an’ no Woman could
+make a fool.’
+
+‘Well, ain’t that just me?’ said the Bee Boy, where he sat in the silver
+square of the great September moon that was staring into the oast-house
+door.
+
+‘They was the exact words she told me when we first found he wasn’t like
+others. But it beats me how you known ’em,’ said Hobden.
+
+‘Aha! There’s more under my hat besides hair!’ Tom laughed and stretched
+himself. ‘When I’ve seen these two young folk home, we’ll make a night of
+old days, Ralph, with passin’ old tales—eh? An’ where might you live?’ he
+said, gravely, to Dan. ‘An’ do you think your Pa ’ud give me a drink for
+takin’ you there, Missy?’
+
+They giggled so at this that they had to run out. Tom picked them both up,
+set one on each broad shoulder, and tramped across the ferny pasture where
+the cows puffed milky puffs at them in the moonlight.
+
+‘Oh, Puck! Puck! I guessed you right from when you talked about the salt.
+How could you ever do it?’ Una cried, swinging along delighted.
+
+‘Do what?’ he said, and climbed the stile by the pollard oak.
+
+‘Pretend to be Tom Shoesmith,’ said Dan, and they ducked to avoid the two
+little ashes that grow by the bridge over the brook. Tom was almost
+running.
+
+‘Yes. That’s my name, Mus’ Dan,’ he said, hurrying over the silent shining
+lawn, where a rabbit sat by the big white-thorn near the croquet ground.
+‘Here you be.’ He strode into the old kitchen yard, and slid them down as
+Ellen came to ask questions.
+
+‘I’m helping in Mus’ Spray’s oast-house,’ he said to her. ‘No, I’m no
+foreigner. I knowed this country ’fore your Mother was born; an’—yes it’s
+dry work oasting, Miss. Thank you.’
+
+Ellen went to get a jug, and the children went in—magicked once more by
+Oak, Ash, and Thorn!
+
+
+
+
+A THREE-PART SONG
+
+
+  _I’m just in love with all these three,_
+  _The Weald and the Marsh and the Down countrie;_
+  _Nor I don’t know which I love the most,_
+  _The Weald or the Marsh or the white chalk coast!_
+
+  _I’ve buried my heart in a ferny hill,_
+  _Twix’ a liddle low Shaw an’ a great high Gill._
+  _Oh hop-vine yaller and woodsmoke blue,_
+  _I reckon you’ll keep her middling true!_
+
+  _I’ve loosed my mind for to out and run,_
+  _On a Marsh that was old when Kings begun;_
+  _Oh Romney Level and Brenzett reeds,_
+  _I reckon you know what my mind needs!_
+
+  _I’ve given my soul to the Southdown grass,_
+  _And sheep-bells tinkled where you pass._
+  _Oh Firle an’ Ditchling an’ sails at sea,_
+  _I reckon you’ll keep my soul or me!_
+
+
+
+
+
+THE TREASURE AND THE LAW
+
+
+
+
+SONG OF THE FIFTH RIVER
+
+
+  _When first by Eden Tree,_
+  _The Four Great Rivers ran,_
+  _To each was appointed a Man_
+  _Her Prince and Ruler to be._
+
+  _But after this was ordained,_
+  _(The ancient legends tell),_
+  _There came dark Israel,_
+  _For whom no River remained._
+
+  _Then He That is Wholly Just,_
+  _Said to him: ‘Fling on the ground_
+  _A handful of yellow dust,_
+  _And a Fifth Great River shall run,_
+  _Mightier than these Four,_
+  _In secret the Earth around;_
+  _And Her secret evermore,_
+  _Shall be shown to thee and thy Race.’_
+
+  _So it was said and done._
+  _And, deep in the veins of Earth,_
+  _And, fed by a thousand springs_
+  _That comfort the market-place,_
+  _Or sap the power of Kings,_
+  _The Fifth Great River had birth,_
+  _Even as it was foretold—_
+  _The Secret River of Gold!_
+
+  _And Israel laid down_
+  _His sceptre and his crown,_
+  _To brood on that River bank,_
+  _Where the waters flashed and sank,_
+  _And burrowed in earth and fell,_
+  _And bided a season below;_
+  _For reason that none might know,_
+  _Save only Israel._
+
+  _He is Lord of the Last—_
+  _The Fifth, most wonderful, Flood._
+  _He hears her thunder past_
+  _And Her Song is in his blood._
+  _He can foresay: ‘She will fall,’_
+  _For he knows which fountain dries,_
+  _Behind which desert belt_
+  _A thousand leagues to the South._
+  _He can foresay: ‘She will rise.’_
+  _He knows what far snows melt;_
+  _Along what mountain wall_
+  _A thousand leagues to the North._
+  _He snuffs the coming drouth_
+  _As he snuffs the coming rain,_
+  _He knows what each will bring forth_
+  _And turns it to his gain._
+
+  _A Prince without a Sword,_
+  _A Ruler without a Throne;_
+  _Israel follows his quest:—_
+  _In every land a guest._
+  _Of many lands the lord._
+  _In no land King is he._
+  _But the Fifth Great River keeps_
+  _The secret of her deeps_
+  _For Israel alone,_
+  _As it was ordered to be._
+
+
+
+
+THE TREASURE AND THE LAW
+
+
+Now it was the third week in November, and the woods rang with the noise
+of pheasant-shooting. No one hunted that steep, cramped country except the
+village beagles, who, as often as not, escaped from their kennels and made
+a day of their own. Dan and Una found a couple of them towling round the
+kitchen-garden after the laundry cat. The little brutes were only too
+pleased to go rabbiting, so the children ran them all along the brook
+pastures and into Little Lindens farm-yard, where the old sow vanquished
+them—and up to the quarry-hole, where they started a fox. He headed for
+Far Wood, and there they frightened out all the pheasants who were
+sheltering from a big beat across the valley. Then the cruel guns began
+again, and they grabbed the beagles lest they should stray and get hurt.
+
+‘I wouldn’t be a pheasant—in November—for a lot,’ Dan panted, as he caught
+_Folly_ by the neck. ‘Why did you laugh that horrid way?’
+
+‘I didn’t,’ said Una, sitting on _Flora_, the fat lady-dog. ‘Oh, look! The
+silly birds are going back to their own woods instead of ours, where they
+would be safe.’
+
+‘Safe till it pleased you to kill them.’ An old man, so tall he was almost
+a giant, stepped from behind the clump of hollies by ‘Volaterrae.’ The
+children jumped, and the dogs dropped like setters. He wore a sweeping
+gown of dark thick stuff, lined and edged with yellowish fur, and he bowed
+a bent-down bow that made them feel both proud and ashamed. Then he looked
+at them steadily, and they stared back without doubt or fear.
+
+‘You are not afraid?’ he said, running his hands through his splendid grey
+beard. ‘Not afraid that those men yonder’—he jerked his head towards the
+incessant pop-pop of the guns from the lower woods—‘will do you hurt?’
+
+‘We-ell’—Dan liked to be accurate, especially when he was shy—‘old Hobd—a
+friend of mine told me that one of the beaters got peppered last week—hit
+in the leg, I mean. You see, Mr. Meyer _will_ fire at rabbits. But he gave
+Waxy Garnett a quid—sovereign, I mean—and Waxy told Hobden he’d have stood
+both barrels for half the money.’
+
+‘He doesn’t understand,’ Una cried, watching the pale, troubled face. ‘Oh,
+I wish——’
+
+She had scarcely said it when Puck rustled out of the hollies and spoke to
+the man quickly in foreign words. Puck wore a long cloak too—the afternoon
+was just frosting down—and it changed his appearance altogether.
+
+‘Nay, nay!’ he said at last. ‘You did not understand the boy. A freeman
+was a little hurt, by pure mischance, at the hunting.’
+
+‘I know that mischance! What did his Lord do? Laugh and ride over him?’
+the old man sneered.
+
+‘It was one of your own people did the hurt, Kadmiel.’ Puck’s eyes
+twinkled maliciously. ‘So he gave the freeman a piece of gold, and no more
+was said.’
+
+‘A Jew drew blood from a Christian and no more was said?’ Kadmiel cried.
+‘Never! When did they torture him?’
+
+‘No man may be bound, or fined, or slain till he has been judged by his
+peers,’ Puck insisted. ‘There is but one Law in Old England for Jew or
+Christian—the Law that was signed at Runnymede.’
+
+‘Why, that’s Magna Charta!’ Dan whispered. It was one of the few history
+dates that he could remember. Kadmiel turned on him with a sweep and a
+whirr of his spicy-scented gown.
+
+‘Dost _thou_ know of that, babe?’ he cried, and lifted his hands in
+wonder.
+
+‘Yes,’ said Dan, firmly.
+
+  ‘Magna Charta was signed by John,
+  That Henry the Third put his heel upon.
+
+And old Hobden says that if it hadn’t been for her (he calls everything
+“her,� you know), the keepers would have him clapped in Lewes Gaol all the
+year round.’
+
+Again Puck translated to Kadmiel in the strange, solemn-sounding language,
+and at last Kadmiel laughed.
+
+‘Out of the mouths of babes do we learn,’ said he. ‘But tell me now, and I
+will not call you a babe but a Rabbi, _why_ did the King sign the roll of
+the New Law at Runnymede? For he was a King.’
+
+Dan looked sideways at his sister. It was her turn.
+
+‘Because he jolly well had to,’ said Una, softly. ‘The Barons made him.’
+
+‘Nay,’ Kadmiel answered, shaking his head. ‘You Christians always forget
+that gold does more than the sword. Our good King signed because he could
+not borrow more money from us bad Jews.’ He curved his shoulders as he
+spoke. ‘A King without gold is a snake with a broken back, and’—his nose
+sneered up and his eyebrows frowned down—‘it is a good deed to break a
+snake’s back. That was _my_ work,’ he cried, triumphantly, to Puck.
+‘Spirit of Earth, bear witness that that was my work!’ He shot up to his
+full towering height, and his words rang like a trumpet. He had a voice
+that changed its tone almost as an opal changes colour—sometimes deep and
+thundery, sometimes thin and waily, but always it made you listen.
+
+‘Many people can bear witness to that,’ Puck answered. ‘Tell these babes
+how it was done. Remember, Master, they do not know Doubt or Fear.’
+
+‘So I saw in their faces when we met,’ said Kadmiel. ‘Yet surely, surely
+they are taught to spit upon Jews?’
+
+‘Are they?’ said Dan, much interested. ‘Where at?’
+
+Puck fell back a pace, laughing. ‘Kadmiel is thinking of King John’s
+reign,’ he explained. ‘His people were badly treated then.’
+
+‘Oh, we know _that_,’ they answered, and (it was very rude of them, but
+they could not help it) they stared straight at Kadmiel’s mouth to see if
+his teeth were all there. It stuck in their lesson-memory that King John
+used to pull out Jews’ teeth to make them lend him money.
+
+Kadmiel understood the look and smiled bitterly.
+
+‘No. Your King never drew my teeth: I think, perhaps, I drew his. Listen!
+I was not born among Christians, but among Moors—in Spain—in a little
+white town under the mountains. Yes, the Moors are cruel, but at least
+their learned men dare to think. It was prophesied of me at my birth that
+I should be a Lawgiver to a People of a strange speech and a hard
+language. We Jews are always looking for the Prince and the Lawgiver to
+come. Why not? My people in the town (we were very few) set me apart as a
+child of the prophecy—the Chosen of the Chosen. We Jews dream so many
+dreams. You would never guess it to see us slink about the rubbish-heaps
+in our quarter; but at the day’s end—doors shut, candles lit—aha! _then_
+we become the Chosen again.’
+
+He paced back and forth through the wood as he talked. The rattle of the
+shot-guns never ceased, and the dogs whimpered a little and lay flat on
+the leaves.
+
+‘I was a Prince. Yes! Think of a little Prince who had never known rough
+words in his own house handed over to shouting, bearded Rabbis, who pulled
+his ears and filliped his nose, all that he might learn—learn—learn to be
+King when his time came. Hé! Such a little Prince it was! One eye he kept
+on the stone-throwing Moorish boys, and the other it roved about the
+streets looking for his Kingdom. Yes, and he learned to cry softly when he
+was hunted up and down those streets. He learned to do all things without
+noise. He played beneath his father’s table when the Great Candle was lit,
+and he listened as children listen to the talk of his father’s friends
+above the table. They came across the mountains, from out of all the
+world; for my Prince’s father was their councillor. They came from behind
+the armies of Sala-ud-Din: from Rome: from Venice: from England. They
+stole down our alley, they tapped secretly at our door, they took off
+their rags, they arrayed themselves, and they talked to my father at the
+wine. All over the world the heathen fought each other. They brought news
+of these wars, and while he played beneath the table, my Prince heard
+these meanly-dressed ones decide between themselves how, and when, and for
+how long King should draw sword against King, and People rise up against
+People. Why not? There can be no war without gold, and we Jews know how
+the earth’s gold moves with the seasons, and the crops, and the winds;
+circling and looping and rising and sinking away like a river—a wonderful
+underground river. How should the foolish Kings know _that_ while they
+fight and steal and kill?’
+
+The children’s faces showed that they knew nothing at all as, with open
+eyes, they trotted and turned beside the long-striding old man. He
+twitched his gown over his shoulders, and a square plate of gold, studded
+with jewels, gleamed for an instant through the fur, like a star through
+flying snow.
+
+‘No matter,’ he said. ‘But, credit me, my Prince saw peace or war decided
+not once, but many times, by the fall of a coin spun between a Jew from
+Bury and a Jewess from Alexandria, in his father’s house, when the Great
+Candle was lit. Such power had we Jews among the Gentiles. Ah, my little
+Prince! Do you wonder that he learned quickly? Why not?’ He muttered to
+himself and went on:—
+
+‘My trade was that of a physician. When I had learned it in Spain I went
+to the East to find my Kingdom. Why not? A Jew is as free as a sparrow—or
+a dog. He goes where he is hunted. In the East I found libraries where men
+dared to think—schools of medicine where they dared to learn. I was
+diligent in my business. Therefore I stood before Kings. I have been a
+brother to Princes and a companion to beggars, and I have walked between
+the living and the dead. There was no profit in it. I did not find my
+Kingdom. So, in the tenth year of my travels, when I had reached the
+Uttermost Eastern Sea, I returned to my father’s house. God had
+wonderfully preserved my people. None had been slain, none even wounded,
+and only a few scourged. I became once more a son in my father’s house.
+Again the Great Candle was lit; again the meanly-apparelled ones tapped on
+our door after dusk; and again I heard them weigh out peace and war, as
+they weighed out the gold on the table. But I was not rich—not very rich.
+Therefore, when those that had power and knowledge and wealth talked
+together, I sat in the shadow. Why not?
+
+‘Yet all my wanderings had shown me one sure thing, which is, that a King
+without money is like a spear without a head. He cannot do much harm. I
+said, therefore, to Elias of Bury, a great one among our people: “Why do
+our people lend any more to the Kings that oppress us?� “Because,� said
+Elias, “if we refuse they stir up their people against us, and the People
+are tenfold more cruel than Kings. If thou doubtest, come with me to Bury
+in England and live as I live.�
+
+‘I saw my mother’s face across the candle-flame, and I said, “I will come
+with thee to Bury. Maybe my Kingdom shall be there.�
+
+‘So I sailed with Elias to the darkness and the cruelty of Bury in
+England, where there are no learned men. How can a man be wise if he hate?
+At Bury I kept his accounts for Elias, and I saw men kill Jews there by
+the tower. No—none laid hands on Elias. He lent money to the King, and the
+King’s favour was about him. A King will not take the life so long as
+there is any gold. This King—yes, John—oppressed his people bitterly
+because they would not give him money. Yet his land was a good land. If he
+had only given it rest he might have cropped it as a Christian crops his
+beard. But even _that_ little he did not know; for God had deprived him of
+all understanding, and had multiplied pestilence, and famine, and despair
+upon the people. Therefore his people turned against us Jews, who are all
+people’s dogs. Why not? Lastly the Barons and the people rose together
+against the King because of his cruelties. Nay—nay—the Barons did not love
+the people, but they saw that if the King eat up and destroyed the common
+people, he would presently destroy the Barons. They joined then, as cats
+and pigs will join to slay a snake. I kept the accounts, and I watched all
+these things, for I remembered the Prophecy.
+
+‘A great gathering of Barons (to most of whom we had lent money) came to
+Bury, and there, after much talk and a thousand runnings-about, they made
+a roll of the New Laws that they would force on the King. If he swore to
+keep those Laws, they would allow him a little money. That was the King’s
+God—Money—to waste. They showed us the roll of the New Laws. Why not? We
+had lent them money. We knew all their counsels—we Jews shivering behind
+our doors in Bury.’ He threw out his hands suddenly. ‘We did not seek to
+be paid _all_ in money. We sought Power—Power—Power! That is _our_ God in
+our captivity. Power to use!
+
+‘I said to Elias: “These New Laws are good. Lend no more money to the
+King: so long as he has money he will lie and slay the people.�
+
+‘“Nay,� said Elias. “I know this people. They are madly cruel. Better one
+King than a thousand butchers. I have lent a little money to the Barons,
+or they would torture us, but my most I will lend to the King. He hath
+promised me a place near him at Court, where my wife and I shall be safe.�
+
+‘“But if the King be made to keep these New Laws,� I said, “the land will
+have peace, and our trade will grow. If we lend he will fight again.�
+
+‘“Who made thee a Lawgiver in England?� said Elias. “I know this people.
+Let the dogs tear one another! I will lend the King ten thousand pieces of
+gold, and he can fight the Barons at his pleasure.�
+
+‘“There are not two thousand pieces of gold in all England this summer,� I
+said, for I kept the accounts, and I knew how the earth’s gold moved—that
+wonderful underground river! Elias barred home the windows, and, his hands
+about his mouth, he told me how, when he was trading with small wares in a
+French ship, he had come to the Castle of Pevensey.’
+
+‘Oh!’ said Dan. ‘Pevensey again!’ and looked at Una, who nodded and
+skipped.
+
+‘There, after they had scattered his pack up and down the Great Hall, some
+young knights carried him to an upper room, and dropped him into a well in
+a wall, that rose and fell with the tide. They called him Joseph, and
+threw torches at his wet head. Why not?’
+
+‘Why, of course,’ cried Dan. ‘Didn’t you know it was——’ Puck held up his
+hand to stop him, and Kadmiel, who never noticed, went on.
+
+‘When the tide dropped he thought he stood on old armour, but feeling with
+his toes, he raked up bar on bar of soft gold. Some wicked treasure of the
+old days put away, and the secret cut off by the sword. I have heard the
+like before.’
+
+‘So have we,’ Una whispered. ‘But it wasn’t wicked a bit.’
+
+‘Elias took a morsel of the stuff with him, and thrice yearly he would
+return to Pevensey as a chapman, selling at no price or profit, till they
+suffered him to sleep in the empty room, where he would plumb and grope,
+and steal away a few bars. The great store of it still remained, and by
+long brooding he had come to look on it as his own. Yet when we thought
+how we should lift and convey it, we saw no way. This was before the Word
+of the Lord had come to me. A walled fortress possessed by Normans; in the
+midst a forty-foot tide-well out of which to remove secretly many
+horse-loads of gold! Hopeless! So Elias wept. Adah, his wife, wept too.
+She had hoped to stand beside the Queen’s Christian tiring-maids at Court,
+when the King should give them that place at Court which he had promised.
+Why not? She was born in England—an odious woman.
+
+‘The present evil to us was that Elias, out of his strong folly, had, as
+it were, promised the King that he would arm him with more gold. Wherefore
+the King in his camp stopped his ears against the Barons and the people.
+Wherefore men died daily. Adah so desired her place at Court, she besought
+Elias to tell the King where the treasure lay, that the King might take it
+by force, and—they would trust in his gratitude. Why not? This Elias
+refused to do, for he looked on the gold as his own. They quarrelled, and
+they wept at the evening meal, and late in the night came one Langton—a
+priest, almost learned—to borrow more money for the Barons. Elias and Adah
+went to their chamber.’
+
+Kadmiel laughed scornfully in his beard. The shots across the valley
+stopped as the shooting-party changed their ground for the last beat.
+
+‘So it was I, not Elias,’ he went on, quietly, ‘that made terms with
+Langton touching the fortieth of the New Laws.’
+
+‘What terms?’ said Puck, quickly. ‘The Fortieth of the Great Charter say:
+“To none will we sell, refuse, or deny right or justice.�’
+
+‘True, but the Barons had written first: _To no free man._ It cost me two
+hundred broad pieces of gold to change those narrow words. Langton, the
+priest, understood. “Jew though thou art,� said he, “the change is just,
+and if ever Christian and Jew come to be equal in England thy people may
+thank thee.� Then he went out stealthily, as men do who deal with Israel
+by night. I think he spent my gift upon his altar. Why not? I have spoken
+with Langton. He was such a man as I might have been if—if we Jews had
+been a people. But yet, in many things, a child.
+
+‘I heard Elias and Adah abovestairs quarrel, and, knowing the woman was
+the stronger, I saw that Elias would tell the King of the gold and that
+the King would continue in his stubbornness. Therefore I saw that the gold
+must be put away from the reach of any man. Of a sudden, the Word of the
+Lord came to me saying, “The Morning is come, O thou that dwellest in the
+land.�’
+
+Kadmiel halted, all black against the pale green sky beyond the wood—a
+huge robed figure, like the Moses in the picture-Bible.
+
+‘I rose. I went out, and as I shut the door on that House of Foolishness,
+the woman looked from the window and whispered, “I have prevailed on my
+husband to tell the King!� I answered, “There is no need. The Lord is with
+me.�
+
+‘In that hour the Lord gave me full understanding of all that I must do;
+and His Hand covered me in my ways. First I went to London, to a physician
+of our people, who sold me certain drugs that I needed. You shall see why.
+Thence I went swiftly to Pevensey. Men fought all around me, for there
+were neither rulers nor judges in the abominable land. Yet when I walked
+by them they cried out that I was one Ahasuerus, a Jew, condemned, as they
+believe, to live for ever, and they fled from me everyways. Thus the Lord
+saved me for my work, and at Pevensey I bought me a little boat and moored
+it on the mud beneath the Marsh-gate of the Castle. That also God showed
+me.’
+
+He was as calm as though he were speaking of some stranger, and his voice
+filled the little bare wood with rolling music.
+
+‘I cast’—his hand went to his breast, and again the strange jewel
+gleamed—‘I cast the drugs which I had prepared into the common well of the
+Castle. Nay, I did no harm. The more we physicians know, the less do we
+do. Only the fool says: “I dare.� I caused a blotched and itching rash to
+break out upon their skins, but I knew it would fade in fifteen days. I
+did not stretch out my hand against their life. They in the Castle thought
+it was the Plague, and they ran forth, taking with them their very dogs.
+
+‘A Christian physician, seeing that I was a Jew and a stranger, vowed that
+I had brought the sickness from London. This is the one time I have ever
+heard a Christian leech speak truth of any disease. Thereupon the people
+beat me, but a merciful woman said: “Do not kill him now. Push him into
+our Castle with his plague, and if, as he says, it will abate on the
+fifteenth day, we can kill him then.� Why not? They drove me across the
+drawbridge of the Castle, and fled back to their booths. Thus I came to be
+alone with the treasure.’
+
+‘But did you know this was all going to happen just right?’ said Una.
+
+‘My Prophecy was that I should be a Lawgiver to a People of a strange land
+and a hard speech. I knew I should not die. I washed my cuts. I found the
+tide-well in the wall, and from Sabbath to Sabbath I dove and dug there in
+that empty, Christian-smelling fortress. Hé! I spoiled the Egyptians! Hé!
+If they had only known! I drew up many good loads of gold, which I loaded
+by night into my boat. There had been gold-dust too, but that had been
+washed away by the tides.’
+
+‘Didn’t you ever wonder who had put it there?’ said Dan, stealing a glance
+at Puck’s calm, dark face under the hood of his gown. Puck shook his head
+and pursed his lips.
+
+‘Often; for the gold was new to me,’ Kadmiel replied. ‘I know the Golds. I
+can judge them in the dark; but this was heavier and redder than any we
+deal in. Perhaps it was the very gold of Parvaim. Eh, why not? It went to
+my heart to heave it on to the mud, but I saw well that if the evil thing
+remained, or if even the hope of finding it remained, the King would not
+sign the New Laws, and the land would perish.’
+
+‘Oh, Marvel!’ said Puck, beneath his breath, rustling in the dead leaves.
+
+‘When the boat was loaded I washed my hands seven times, and pared beneath
+my nails, for I would not keep one grain. I went out by the little gate
+where the Castle’s refuse is thrown. I dared not hoist sail lest men
+should see me; but the Lord commanded the tide to bear me carefully, and I
+was far from land before the morning.’
+
+‘Weren’t you afraid?’ said Una.
+
+‘Why? There were no Christians in the boat. At sunrise I made my prayer,
+and cast the gold—all—all that gold into the deep sea! A King’s ransom—no,
+the ransom of a People! When I had loosed hold of the last bars, the Lord
+commanded the tide to return me to a haven at the mouth of a river, and
+thence I walked across a wilderness to Lewes, where I have brethren. They
+opened the door to me, and they say—I had not eaten for two days—they say
+that I fell across the threshold, crying, “I have sunk an army with
+horsemen in the sea!�’
+
+‘But you hadn’t,’ said Una. ‘Oh, yes! I see! You meant that King John
+might have spent it on that?’
+
+‘Even so,’ said Kadmiel.
+
+The firing broke out again close behind them. The pheasants poured over
+the top of a belt of tall firs. They could see young Mr. Meyer, in his new
+yellow gaiters, very busy and excited at the end of the line, and they
+could hear the thud of the falling birds.
+
+‘But what did Elias of Bury do?’ Puck demanded. ‘He had promised money to
+the King.’
+
+Kadmiel smiled grimly. ‘I sent him word from London that the Lord was on
+my side. When he heard that the Plague had broken out in Pevensey, and
+that a Jew had been thrust into the Castle to cure it, he understood my
+word was true. He and Adah hurried to Lewes and asked me for an
+accounting. He still looked on the gold as his own. I told them where I
+had laid it, and I gave them full leave to pick it up.... Eh, well! The
+curses of a fool and the dust of a journey are two things no wise man can
+escape.... But I pitied Elias! The King was wroth at him because he could
+not lend; the Barons were wroth at him because they heard that he would
+have lent to the King; and Adah was wroth at him because she was an odious
+woman. They took ship from Lewes to Spain. That was wise!’
+
+‘And you? Did you see the signing of the Law at Runnymede?’ said Puck, as
+Kadmiel laughed noiselessly.
+
+‘Nay. Who am I to meddle with things too high for me? I returned to Bury,
+and lent money on the autumn crops. Why not?’
+
+There was a crackle overhead. A cock-pheasant that had sheered aside after
+being hit spattered down almost on top of them, driving up the dry leaves
+like a shell. _Flora_ and _Folly_ threw themselves at it; the children
+rushed forward, and when they had beaten them off and smoothed down the
+plumage Kadmiel had disappeared.
+
+‘Well,’ said Puck, calmly, ‘what did you think of it? Weland gave the
+Sword. The Sword gave the Treasure, and the Treasure gave the Law. It’s as
+natural as an oak growing.’
+
+‘I don’t understand. Didn’t he know it was Sir Richard’s old treasure?’
+said Dan. ‘And why did Sir Richard and Brother Hugh leave it lying about?
+And—and——’
+
+‘Never mind,’ said Una, politely. ‘He’ll let us come and go, and look, and
+know another time. Won’t you, Puck?’
+
+‘Another time maybe,’ Puck answered. ‘Brr! It’s cold—and late. I’ll race
+you towards home!’
+
+They hurried down into the sheltered valley. The sun had almost sunk
+behind Cherry Clack, the trodden ground by the cattle-gates was freezing
+at the edges, and the new-waked north wind blew the night on them from
+over the hills. They picked up their feet and flew across the browned
+pastures, and when they halted, panting in the steam of their own breath,
+the dead leaves whirled up behind them. There was Oak and Ash and Thorn
+enough in that year-end shower to magic away a thousand memories.
+
+So they trotted to the brook at the bottom of the lawn, wondering why
+_Flora_ and _Folly_ had missed the quarry-hole fox.
+
+Old Hobden was just finishing some hedge-work. They saw his white smock
+glimmer in the twilight where he faggoted the rubbish.
+
+‘Winter, he’s come, I rackon, Mus’ Dan,’ he called. ‘Hard times now till
+Heffle Cuckoo Fair. Yes, we’ll all be glad to see the Old Woman let the
+Cuckoo out o’ the basket for to start lawful Spring in England.’ They
+heard a crash, and a stamp and a splash of water as though a heavy old cow
+were crossing almost under their noses.
+
+Hobden ran forward angrily to the ford.
+
+‘Gleason’s bull again, playin’ Robin all over the Farm! Oh, look, Mus’
+Dan—his great footmark as big as a trencher. No bounds to his impidence!
+He might count himself to be a man—or Somebody.’
+
+A voice the other side of the brook boomed:
+
+  ‘I marvel who his cloak would turn
+  When Puck had led him round
+  Or where those walking fires would burn——’
+
+Then the children went in singing “Farewell Rewards and Fairies� at the
+tops of their voices. They had forgotten that they had not even said
+good-night to Puck.
+
+
+
+
+THE CHILDREN’S SONG
+
+
+  _Land of our Birth, we pledge to thee_
+  _Our love and toil in the years to be,_
+  _When we are grown and take our place,_
+  _As men and women with our race._
+
+  Father in Heaven who lovest all,
+  Oh help Thy children when they call;
+  That they may build from age to age,
+  An undefiled heritage!
+
+  Teach us to bear the yoke in youth,
+  With steadfastness and careful truth;
+  That, in our time, Thy Grace may give
+  The Truth whereby the Nations live.
+
+  Teach us to rule ourselves alway,
+  Controlled and cleanly night and day;
+  That we may bring, if need arise,
+  No maimed or worthless sacrifice.
+
+  Teach us to look in all our ends,
+  On Thee for judge, and not our friends;
+  That we, with Thee, may walk uncowed
+  By fear or favour of the crowd.
+
+  Teach us the Strength that cannot seek,
+  By deed or thought, to hurt the weak;
+  That, under Thee, we may possess
+  Man’s strength to comfort man’s distress.
+
+  Teach us Delight in simple things,
+  And Mirth that has no bitter springs;
+  Forgiveness free of evil done,
+  And Love to all men ’neath the sun!
+
+  _Land of our Birth, our Faith our Pride,_
+  _For whose dear sake our fathers died;_
+  _O Motherland, we pledge to thee,_
+  _Head, heart, and hand through the years to be!_
+
+
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTE
+
+
+    1 Copyright, 1905, by Rudyard Kipling.
+
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
+
+
+The following typographical errors were corrected:
+
+      page 7, “Pyramis� changed to “Pyramus�
+      page 9, quotes added before “couldn’t� and “I�
+      page 13, “draggons� changed to “dragons�
+      page 27, quote added before “Late�
+      page 43, “summons� changed to “summon�
+      page 51, “we� added before “do�
+      page 62, double quote changed to single quote after “pirate-folk?�
+      page 64, semicolon added after “Yes�
+      page 68, double “said� removed, single quote changed to double quote
+      after “kill!�
+      page 69, comma added after “Kitai�
+      page 76, double “where� removed
+      page 85, quote added after “gold!�
+      page 97, quote removed after “Aquila.�
+      page 99, “shouder� changed to “shoulder�, single quote changed to
+      double quote after “Look!�
+      page 102, “learned� changed to “leaned�
+      page 103, “a� added between “is� and “good�
+      page 108, quote removed before “At�
+      page 110, single quote changed to double quote before “But�
+      page 127, quote added after “catapult,�, quote removed after “Una.�,
+      “quicky� changed to “quickly�
+      page 128, comma removed after “bigger�
+      page 135, “hmself� changed to “himself�
+      page 137, “did’nt� changed to “didn’t�
+      page 141, quote added before “But�
+      page 142, single quote changed to double quote after “reason,�
+      page 143, “Cylops� changed to “Cyclops�
+      page 152, “Caesar� changed to “Cæsar�
+      page 153, comma added after “children,�
+      page 156, quote added after “make.�
+      page 160, comma added after “No�, period added after “up�
+      page 166, quote added after “thoughts.�
+      page 170, double quote changed to single quote before “Sorry�
+      page 184, single quote changed to double quote after “Man.�
+      page 188, single quote changed to double quote after “him,�,
+      “to-day?� and “finished!�
+      page 193, quote added after “letter.�
+      page 205, parenthesis added after “complain�
+      page 214, period added after “lime.�
+      page 218, “sepentines� changed to “serpentines�
+      page 224, quote added after “voice.�
+      page 235, apostroph moved after “conjurin’.�
+      page 237, quote added before “Dymchurch�
+      page 239, apostroph and comma changed after “nothin’,“
+      page 240, “shouder� changed to “shoulder�
+      page 241, apostroph and periodchanged after “bein’.�
+      page 244, apostroph added after “an�
+      page 248, comma removed after “Robin�
+      page 260, “asid� changed to “said�
+      page 269, “stubborness� changed to “stubbornness�
+      page 275, quote added before “I�, “burne� changed to “burn�
+
+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUCK OF POOK’S HILL***
+
+
+
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+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling
+
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no
+restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under
+the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or
+online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+
+Title: Puck of Pook's Hill
+
+Author: Rudyard Kipling
+
+Release Date: July 11, 2008 [Ebook #26027]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO 8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUCK OF POOK'S HILL***
+
+
+
+
+
+                           PUCK OF POOK'S HILL
+
+
+                         BOOKS BY RUDYARD KIPLING
+
+          PUCK OF POOK'S HILL
+          THEY
+          TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES
+          THE FIVE NATIONS
+          THE JUST SO SONG BOOK
+          JUST SO STORIES
+          KIM
+          STALKY & CO.
+          THE DAY'S WORK
+          THE BRUSHWOOD BOY
+          FROM SEA TO SEA
+          DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES AND BALLADS AND BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
+          PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS
+          THE LIGHT THAT FAILED
+          LIFE'S HANDICAP: BEING STORIES OF MINE OWN PEOPLE
+          UNDER THE DEODARS, THE PHANTOM 'RICKSHAW, AND WEE WILLIE WINKIE
+          SOLDIERS THREE, THE STORY OF THE GADSBYS, AND IN BLACK AND WHITE
+          SOLDIER STORIES
+          THE KIPLING BIRTHDAY BOOK
+          (WITH WOLCOTT BALESTIER) THE NAULAHKA
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: '"Go!" she says. "Go with my Leave an' Goodwill."'
+  _See page 247_]
+
+
+
+
+
+                          Puck of Pook's Hill
+
+                            By Rudyard Kipling
+
+
+_Illustrated by_
+Arthur Rackham, A.R.W.S.
+
+
+
+NEW YORK
+DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
+1906
+
+
+
+
+
+                        Copyright, 1905, 1906, by
+                             RUDYARD KIPLING
+                         Published, October, 1906
+
+                         _All rights reserved,_
+         _including that of translation into foreign languages,_
+                       _including the Scandinavian_
+
+
+
+
+
+          ROBIN GOODFELLOW--HIS FRIENDS
+
+          By RUDYARD KIPLING
+
+             I. A Centurion of the Thirtieth.
+            II. On the Great Wall.
+           III. The Winged Hats.
+            IV. Hal o' the Draft.
+             V. Dymchurch Flit.
+            VI. The Treasure and the Law.
+
+          Copyright, 1906, by RUDYARD KIPLING.
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                           PAGE
+_Puck's Song_                                 1
+Weland's Sword                                5
+_A Tree Song_                                29
+Young Men at the Manor                       33
+_Sir Richard's Song_                         55
+_Harp Song of the Dane Women_                59
+The Knights of the Joyous Venture            61
+_Thorkild's Song_                            87
+Old Men at Pevensey                          91
+_The Runes on Weland's Sword_               119
+A Centurion of the Thirtieth                125
+_A British-Roman Song_                      145
+On the Great Wall                           149
+_A Song to Mithras_                         173
+The Winged Hats                             177
+_A Pict Song_                               201
+Hal o' the Draft                            207
+_A Smugglers' Song_                         227
+_The Bee Boy's Song_                        231
+'Dymchurch Flit'                            233
+_A Three-Part Song_                         251
+_Song of the Fifth River_                   255
+The Treasure and the Law                    257
+_The Children's Song_                       276
+
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+'"Go!" she says, "Go with my Leave an' Goodwill."'        _Frontispiece_
+                                                             FACING PAGE
+In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they saw a                6
+small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person
+with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes, and a grin that
+ran right across his freckled face.
+'There's where you meet hunters, and trappers for the                152
+Circuses, prodding along chained bears and muzzled
+wolves.'
+'Hoity-toity!' he cried. 'Here's Pride in purple                     212
+feathers! Here's wrathy contempt and the Pomps of the
+Flesh!'... And he doffed his cap to the bubbling bird.
+
+
+
+
+
+                           PUCK OF POOK'S HILL
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PUCK'S SONG
+
+
+  _See you the dimpled track that runs,_
+    _All hollow through the wheat?_
+  _O that was where they hauled the guns_
+    _That smote King Philip's fleet._
+
+  _See you our little mill that clacks,_
+    _So busy by the brook?_
+  _She has ground her corn and paid her tax_
+    _Ever since Domesday Book._
+
+  _See you our stilly woods of oak,_
+    _And the dread ditch beside?_
+  _O that was where the Saxons broke,_
+    _On the day that Harold died._
+
+  _See you the windy levels spread_
+    _About the gates of Rye?_
+  _O that was where the Northmen fled,_
+    _When Alfred's ships came by._
+
+  _See you our pastures wide and lone,_
+    _Where the red oxen browse?_
+  _O there was a City thronged and known,_
+    _Ere London boasted a house._
+
+  _And see you, after rain, the trace_
+    _Of mound and ditch and wall?_
+  _O that was a Legion's camping-place,_
+    _When Cæsar sailed from Gaul._
+
+  _And see you marks that show and fade,_
+    _Like shadows on the Downs?_
+  _O they are the lines the Flint Men made,_
+    _To guard their wondrous towns._
+
+  _Trackway and Camp and City lost,_
+    _Salt Marsh where now is corn;_
+  _Old Wars, old Peace, old Arts that cease,_
+    _And so was England born!_
+
+  _She is not any common Earth,_
+    _Water or wood or air,_
+  _But Merlin's Isle of Gramarye,_
+    _Where you and I will fare._
+
+
+
+
+
+WELAND'S SWORD
+
+
+
+
+WELAND'S SWORD(1)
+
+
+The children were at the Theatre, acting to Three Cows as much as they
+could remember of _Midsummer Night's Dream_. Their father had made them a
+small play out of the big Shakespeare one, and they had rehearsed it with
+him and with their mother till they could say it by heart. They began
+where Nick Bottom the weaver comes out of the bushes with a donkey's head
+on his shoulder, and finds Titania, Queen of the Fairies, asleep. Then
+they skipped to the part where Bottom asks three little fairies to scratch
+his head and bring him honey, and they ended where he falls asleep in
+Titania's arms. Dan was Puck and Nick Bottom, as well as all three
+Fairies. He wore a pointy-eared cloth cap for Puck, and a paper donkey's
+head out of a Christmas cracker--but it tore if you were not careful--for
+Bottom. Una was Titania, with a wreath of columbines and a foxglove wand.
+
+The Theatre lay in a meadow called the Long Slip. A little mill-stream,
+carrying water to a mill two or three fields away, bent round one corner
+of it, and in the middle of the bend lay a large old fairy Ring of
+darkened grass, which was their stage. The mill-stream banks, overgrown
+with willow, hazel, and guelder rose made convenient places to wait in
+till your turn came; and a grown-up who had seen it said that Shakespeare
+himself could not have imagined a more suitable setting for his play. They
+were not, of course, allowed to act on Midsummer Night itself, but they
+went down after tea on Midsummer Eve, when the shadows were growing, and
+they took their supper--hard-boiled eggs, Bath Oliver biscuits, and salt in
+an envelope--with them. Three Cows had been milked and were grazing
+steadily with a tearing noise that one could hear all down the meadow; and
+the noise of the mill at work sounded like bare feet running on hard
+ground. A cuckoo sat on a gatepost singing his broken June tune,
+'cuckoo-cuk,' while a busy kingfisher crossed from the mill-stream to the
+brook which ran on the other side of the meadow. Everything else was a
+sort of thick, sleepy stillness smelling of meadow-sweet and dry grass.
+
+Their play went beautifully. Dan remembered all his parts--Puck, Bottom,
+and the three Fairies--and Una never forgot a word of Titania--not even the
+difficult piece where she tells the Fairies how to feed Bottom with
+'apricocks, ripe figs, and dewberries,' and all the lines end in 'ies.'
+They were both so pleased that they acted it three times over from
+beginning to end before they sat down in the unthistly centre of the Ring
+to eat eggs and Bath Olivers. This was when they heard a whistle among the
+alders on the bank, and they jumped.
+
+  [Illustration: In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they now
+  saw a small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub
+  nose, slanting blue eyes, and a grin that ran right across his
+  freckled face.]
+
+The bushes parted. In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they saw a
+small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub nose,
+slanting blue eyes, and a grin that ran right across his freckled face. He
+shaded his forehead as though he were watching Quince, Snout, Bottom, and
+the others rehearsing _Pyramus__ and Thisbe_, and, in a voice as deep as
+Three Cows asking to be milked, he began:
+
+  'What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here,
+  So near the cradle of our fairy Queen?'
+
+He stopped, hollowed one hand round his ear, and, with a wicked twinkle in
+his eye, went on:
+
+  'What a play toward? I'll be auditor,
+  An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.'
+
+The children looked and gasped. The small thing--he was no taller than
+Dan's shoulder--stepped quietly into the Ring.
+
+'I'm rather out of practice,' said he; 'but that's the way my part ought
+to be played.'
+
+Still the children stared at him--from his dark blue cap, like a big
+columbine flower, to his bare, hairy feet. At last he laughed.
+
+'Please don't look like that. It isn't _my_ fault. What else could you
+expect?' he said.
+
+'We didn't expect any one,' Dan answered, slowly. 'This is our field.'
+
+'Is it?' said their visitor, sitting down. 'Then what on Human Earth made
+you act _Midsummer Night's Dream_ three times over, _on_ Midsummer Eve,
+_in_ the middle of a Ring, and under--right _under_ one of my oldest hills
+in Old England? Pook's Hill--Puck's Hill--Puck's Hill--Pook's Hill! It's as
+plain as the nose on my face.'
+
+He pointed to the bare, fern-covered slope of Pook's Hill that runs up
+from the far side of the mill-stream to a dark wood. Beyond that wood the
+ground rises and rises for five hundred feet, till at last you climb out
+on the bare top of Beacon Hill, to look over the Pevensey Levels and the
+Channel and half the naked South Downs.
+
+'By Oak, Ash, and Thorn!' he cried, still laughing. 'If this had happened
+a few hundred years ago you'd have had all the People of the Hills out
+like bees in June!'
+
+'We didn't know it was wrong,' said Dan.
+
+'Wrong!' The little fellow shook with laughter. 'Indeed, it isn't wrong.
+You've done something that Kings and Knights and Scholars in old days
+would have given their crowns and spurs and books to find out. If Merlin
+himself had helped you, you couldn't have managed better! You've broken
+the Hills--you've broken the Hills! It hasn't happened in a thousand
+years.'
+
+'We--we didn't mean to,' said Una.
+
+'Of course you didn't! That's just why you did it. Unluckily the Hills are
+empty now, and all the People of the Hills are gone. I'm the only one
+left. I'm Puck, the oldest Old Thing in England, very much at your service
+if--if you care to have anything to do with me. If you don't, of course
+you've only to say so, and I'll go.'
+
+He looked at the children and the children looked at him for quite half a
+minute. His eyes did not twinkle any more. They were very kind, and there
+was the beginning of a good smile on his lips.
+
+Una put out her hand. 'Don't go,' she said. 'We like you.'
+
+'Have a Bath Oliver,' said Dan, and he passed over the squashy envelope
+with the eggs.
+
+'By Oak, Ash, and Thorn!' cried Puck, taking off his blue cap, 'I like you
+too. Sprinkle a little salt on the biscuit, Dan, and I'll eat it with you.
+That'll show you the sort of person I am. Some of us'--he went on, with his
+mouth full--'couldn't abide Salt, or Horseshoes over a door, or
+Mountain-ash berries, or Running Water, or Cold Iron, or the sound of
+Church Bells. But I'm Puck!'
+
+He brushed the crumbs carefully from his doublet and shook hands.
+
+'We always said, Dan and I,' Una stammered, 'that if it ever happened we'd
+know ex-actly what to do; but--but now it seems all different somehow.'
+
+'She means meeting a fairy,' said Dan. '_I_ never believed in 'em--not
+after I was six, anyhow.'
+
+'I did,' said Una. 'At least, I sort of half believed till we learned
+"Farewell Rewards." Do you know "Farewell Rewards and Fairies"?'
+
+'Do you mean this?' said Puck. He threw his big head back and began at the
+second line:--
+
+    'Good housewives now may say,
+  For now foul sluts in dairies
+    Do fare as well as they;
+  For though they sweep their hearths no less
+
+('Join in, Una!')
+
+    Than maids were wont to do,
+  Yet who of late for cleanliness
+    Finds sixpence in her shoe?'
+
+The echoes flapped all along the flat meadow.
+
+'Of course I know it,' he said.
+
+'And then there's the verse about the Rings,' said Dan. 'When I was little
+it always made me feel unhappy in my inside.'
+
+'"Witness those rings and roundelays," do you mean?' boomed Puck, with a
+voice like a great church organ.
+
+    'Of theirs which yet remain,
+  Were footed in Queen Mary's days
+    On many a grassy plain.
+  But since of late Elizabeth,
+    And later James came in,
+  Are never seen on any heath
+    As when the time hath been.
+
+'It's some time since I heard that sung, but there's no good beating about
+the bush: it's true. The People of the Hills have all left. I saw them
+come into Old England and I saw them go. Giants, trolls, kelpies,
+brownies, goblins, imps; wood, tree, mound, and water spirits;
+heath-people, hill-watchers, treasure-guards, good people, little people,
+pishogues, leprechauns, night-riders, pixies, nixies, gnomes and the
+rest--gone, all gone! I came into England with Oak, Ash, and Thorn, and
+when Oak, Ash, and Thorn are gone I shall go too.'
+
+Dan looked round the meadow--at Una's oak by the lower gate, at the line of
+ash trees that overhang Otter Pool where the mill-stream spills over when
+the mill does not need it, and at the gnarled old white-thorn where Three
+Cows scratched their necks.
+
+'It's all right,' he said; and added, 'I'm planting a lot of acorns this
+autumn too.'
+
+'Then aren't you most awfully old?' said Una.
+
+'Not old--fairly long-lived, as folk say hereabouts. Let me see--my friends
+used to set my dish of cream for me o' nights when Stonehenge was new.
+Yes, before the Flint Men made the Dewpond under Chanctonbury Ring.'
+
+Una clasped her hands, cried 'Oh!' and nodded her head.
+
+'She's thought a plan,' Dan explained. 'She always does like that when she
+thinks a plan.'
+
+'I was thinking--suppose we saved some of our porridge and put it in the
+attic for you. They'd notice if we left it in the nursery.'
+
+'Schoolroom,' said Dan, quickly, and Una flushed, because they had made a
+solemn treaty that summer not to call the schoolroom the nursery any more.
+
+'Bless your heart o' gold!' said Puck. 'You'll make a fine considering
+wench some market-day. I really don't want you to put out a bowl for me;
+but if ever I need a bite, be sure I'll tell you.'
+
+He stretched himself at length on the dry grass, and the children
+stretched out beside him, their bare legs waving happily in the air. They
+felt they could not be afraid of him any more than of their particular
+friend old Hobden, the hedger. He did not bother them with grown-up
+questions, or laugh at the donkey's head, but lay and smiled to himself in
+the most sensible way.
+
+'Have you a knife on you?' he said at last.
+
+Dan handed over his big one-bladed outdoor knife, and Puck began to carve
+out a piece of turf from the centre of the Ring.
+
+'What's that for--Magic?' said Una, as he pressed up the square of
+chocolate loam that cut like so much cheese.
+
+'One of my little Magics,' he answered, and cut another. 'You see, I can't
+let you into the Hills because the People of the Hills have gone; but if
+you care to take seizin from me, I may be able to show you something out
+of the common here on Human Earth. You certainly deserve it.'
+
+'What's taking seizin?' said Dan, cautiously.
+
+'It's an old custom the people had when they bought and sold land. They
+used to cut out a clod and hand it over to the buyer, and you weren't
+lawfully seized of your land--it didn't really belong to you--till the other
+fellow had actually given you a piece of it--like this.' He held out the
+turves.
+
+'But it's our own meadow,' said Dan, drawing back. 'Are you going to magic
+it away?'
+
+Puck laughed. 'I know it's your meadow, but there's a great deal more in
+it than you or your father ever guessed. Try!'
+
+He turned his eyes on Una.
+
+'I'll do it,' she said. Dan followed her example at once.
+
+'Now are you two lawfully seized and possessed of all Old England,' began
+Puck, in a sing-song voice. 'By Right of Oak, Ash, and Thorn are you free
+to come and go and look and know where I shall show or best you please.
+You shall see What you shall see and you shall hear What you shall hear,
+though It shall have happened three thousand year; and you shall know
+neither Doubt nor Fear. Fast! Hold fast all I give you.'
+
+The children shut their eyes, but nothing happened.
+
+'Well?' said Una, disappointedly opening them. 'I thought there would be
+dragons.'
+
+'Though It shall have happened three thousand year,' said Puck, and
+counted on his fingers. 'No; I'm afraid there were no dragons three
+thousand years ago.'
+
+'But there hasn't happened anything at all,' said Dan.
+
+'Wait awhile,' said Puck. 'You don't grow an oak in a year--and Old
+England's older than twenty oaks. Let's sit down again and think. _I_ can
+do that for a century at a time.'
+
+'Ah, but you are a fairy,' said Dan.
+
+'Have you ever heard me use that word yet?' said Puck, quickly.
+
+'No. You talk about "the People of the Hills," but you never say
+"fairies,"' said Una. 'I was wondering at that. Don't you like it?'
+
+'How would you like to be called "mortal" or "human being" all the time?'
+said Puck; 'or "son of Adam" or "daughter of Eve"?'
+
+'I shouldn't like it at all,' said Dan. 'That's how the Djinns and Afrits
+talk in the _Arabian Nights_.'
+
+'And that's how _I_ feel about saying--that word that I don't say. Besides,
+what you call _them_ are made-up things the People of the Hills have never
+heard of--little buzzflies with butterfly wings and gauze petticoats, and
+shiny stars in their hair, and a wand like a schoolteacher's cane for
+punishing bad boys and rewarding good ones. _I_ know 'em!'
+
+'We don't mean that sort,' said Dan. 'We hate 'em too.'
+
+'Exactly,' said Puck. 'Can you wonder that the People of the Hills don't
+care to be confused with that painty-winged, wand-waving,
+sugar-and-shake-your-head set of impostors? Butterfly wings, indeed! I've
+seen Sir Huon and a troop of his people setting off from Tintagel Castle
+for Hy-Brasil in the teeth of a sou'-westerly gale, with the spray flying
+all over the castle, and the Horses of the Hill wild with fright. Out
+they'd go in a lull, screaming like gulls, and back they'd be driven five
+good miles inland before they could come head to wind again.
+Butterfly-wings! It was Magic--Magic as black as Merlin could make it, and
+the whole sea was green fire and white foam with singing mermaids in it.
+And the Horses of the Hill picked their way from one wave to another by
+the lightning flashes! _That_ was how it was in the old days!'
+
+'Splendid,' said Dan, but Una shuddered.
+
+'I'm glad they're gone, then; but what made the People of the Hills go
+away?' Una asked.
+
+'Different things. I'll tell you one of them some day--the thing that made
+the biggest flit of any,' said Puck. 'But they didn't all flit at once.
+They dropped off, one by one, through the centuries. Most of them were
+foreigners who couldn't stand our climate. _They_ flitted early.'
+
+'How early?' said Dan.
+
+'A couple of thousand years or more. The fact is they began as Gods. The
+Phoenicians brought some over when they came to buy tin; and the Gauls, and
+the Jutes, and the Danes, and the Frisians, and the Angles brought more
+when they landed. They were always landing in those days, or being driven
+back to their ships, and they always brought their Gods with them. England
+is a bad country for Gods. Now, _I_ began as I mean to go on. A bowl of
+porridge, a dish of milk, and a little quiet fun with the country folk in
+the lanes was enough for me then, as it is now. I belong here, you see,
+and I have been mixed up with people all my days. But most of the others
+insisted on being Gods, and having temples, and altars, and priests, and
+sacrifices of their own.'
+
+'People burned in wicker baskets?' said Dan. 'Like Miss Blake tells us
+about?'
+
+'All sorts of sacrifices,' said Puck. 'If it wasn't men, it was horses, or
+cattle, or pigs, or metheglin--that's a sticky, sweet sort of beer. _I_
+never liked it. They were a stiff-necked, extravagant set of idols, the
+Old Things. But what was the result? Men don't like being sacrificed at
+the best of times; they don't even like sacrificing their farm-horses.
+After a while men simply left the Old Things alone, and the roofs of their
+temples fell in, and the Old Things had to scuttle out and pick up a
+living as they could. Some of them took to hanging about trees, and hiding
+in graves and groaning o' nights. If they groaned loud enough and long
+enough they might frighten a poor countryman into sacrificing a hen, or
+leaving a pound of butter for them. I remember one Goddess called
+Belisama. She became a common wet water-spirit somewhere in Lancashire.
+And there were hundreds of other friends of mine. First they were Gods.
+Then they were People of the Hills, and then they flitted to other places
+because they couldn't get on with the English for one reason or another.
+There was only one Old Thing, I remember, who honestly worked for his
+living after he came down in the world. He was called Weland, and he was a
+smith to some Gods. I've forgotten their names, but he used to make them
+swords and spears. I think he claimed kin with Thor of the Scandinavians.'
+
+'_Heroes of Asgard_ Thor?' said Una. She had been reading the book.
+
+'Perhaps,' answered Puck. 'None the less, when bad times came, he didn't
+beg or steal. He worked; and I was lucky enough to be able to do him a
+good turn.'
+
+'Tell us about it,' said Dan. 'I think I like hearing of Old Things.'
+
+They rearranged themselves comfortably, each chewing a grass stem. Puck
+propped himself on one strong arm and went on:
+
+'Let's think! I met Weland first on a November afternoon in a sleet storm,
+on Pevensey Level----'
+
+'Pevensey? Over the hill, you mean?' Dan pointed south.
+
+'Yes; but it was all marsh in those days, right up to Horsebridge and
+Hydeneye. I was on Beacon Hill--they called it Brunanburgh then--when I saw
+the pale flame that burning thatch makes, and I went down to look. Some
+pirates--I think they must have been Peofn's men--were burning a village on
+the Levels, and Weland's image--a big, black wooden thing with amber beads
+round its neck--lay in the bows of a black thirty-two-oar galley that they
+had just beached. Bitter cold it was! There were icicles hanging from her
+deck, and the oars were glazed over with ice, and there was ice on
+Weland's lips. When he saw me he began a long chant in his own tongue,
+telling me how he was going to rule England, and how I should smell the
+smoke of his altars from Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight. _I_ didn't
+care! I'd seen too many Gods charging into Old England to be upset about
+it. I let him sing himself out while his men were burning the village, and
+then I said (I don't know what put it into my head), "Smith of the Gods,"
+I said, "the time comes when I shall meet you plying your trade for hire
+by the wayside."'
+
+'What did Weland say?' said Una. 'Was he angry?'
+
+'He called me names and rolled his eyes, and I went away to wake up the
+people inland. But the pirates conquered the country, and for centuries
+Weland was a most important God. He had temples everywhere--from
+Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight, as he said--and his sacrifices were
+simply scandalous. To do him justice, he preferred horses to men; but men
+_or_ horses, I knew that presently he'd have to come down in the
+world--like the other Old Things. I gave him lots of time--I gave him about
+a thousand years--and at the end of 'em I went into one of his temples near
+Andover to see how he prospered. There was his altar, and there was his
+image, and there were his priests, and there were the congregation, and
+everybody seemed quite happy, except Weland and the priests. In the old
+days the congregation were unhappy until the priests had chosen their
+sacrifices; and so would _you_ have been. When the service began a priest
+rushed out, dragged a man up to the altar, pretended to hit him on the
+head with a little gilt axe, and the man fell down and pretended to die.
+Then everybody shouted: "A sacrifice to Weland! A sacrifice to Weland!"'
+
+'And the man wasn't really dead?' said Una.
+
+'Not a bit. All as much pretence as a dolls' tea-party. Then they brought
+out a splendid white horse, and the priest cut some hair from its mane and
+tail and burned it on the altar, shouting, "A sacrifice!" That counted the
+same as if a man and a horse had been killed. I saw poor Weland's face
+through the smoke, and I couldn't help laughing. He looked so disgusted
+and so hungry, and all he had to satisfy himself was a horrid smell of
+burning hair. Just a dolls' tea-party!
+
+'I judged it better not to say anything then ('twouldn't have been fair),
+and the next time I came to Andover, a few hundred years later, Weland and
+his temple were gone, and there was a Christian bishop in a Church there.
+None of the People of the Hills could tell me anything about him, and I
+supposed that he had left England.' Puck turned; lay on the other elbow,
+and thought for a long time.
+
+'Let's see,' he said at last. 'It must have been some few years later--a
+year or two before the Conquest, I think--that I came back to Pook's Hill
+here, and one evening I heard old Hobden talking about Weland's Ford.'
+
+'If you mean old Hobden the hedger, he's only seventy-two. He told me so
+himself,' said Dan. 'He's a intimate friend of ours.'
+
+'You're quite right,' Puck replied. 'I meant old Hobden's ninth
+great-grandfather. He was a free man and burned charcoal hereabouts. I've
+known the family, father and son, so long that I get confused sometimes.
+Hob of the Dene was my Hobden's name, and he lived at the Forge cottage.
+Of course, I pricked up my ears when I heard Weland mentioned, and I
+scuttled through the woods to the Ford just beyond Bog Wood yonder.' He
+jerked his head westward, where the valley narrows between wooded hills
+and steep hop-fields.
+
+'Why, that's Willingford Bridge,' said Una. 'We go there for walks often.
+There's a kingfisher there.'
+
+'It was Weland's Ford then, dear. A road led down to it from the Beacon on
+the top of the hill--a shocking bad road it was--and all the hillside was
+thick, thick oak-forest, with deer in it. There was no trace of Weland,
+but presently I saw a fat old farmer riding down from the Beacon under the
+greenwood tree. His horse had cast a shoe in the clay, and when he came to
+the Ford he dismounted, took a penny out of his purse, laid it on a stone,
+tied the old horse to an oak, and called out: "Smith, Smith, here is work
+for you!" Then he sat down and went to sleep. You can imagine how _I_ felt
+when I saw a white-bearded, bent old blacksmith in a leather apron creep
+out from behind the oak and begin to shoe the horse. It was Weland
+himself. I was so astonished that I jumped out and said: "What on Human
+Earth are you doing here, Weland?"'
+
+'Poor Weland!' sighed Una.
+
+'He pushed the long hair back from his forehead (he didn't recognise me at
+first). Then he said: "_You_ ought to know. You foretold it, Old Thing.
+I'm shoeing horses for hire. I'm not even Weland now," he said. "They call
+me Wayland-Smith."'
+
+'Poor chap!' said Dan. 'What did you say?'
+
+'What could I say? He looked up, with the horse's foot on his lap, and he
+said, smiling, "I remember the time when I wouldn't have accepted this old
+bag of bones as a sacrifice, and now I'm glad enough to shoe him for a
+penny."
+
+'"Isn't there any way for you to get back to Valhalla, or wherever you
+come from?" I said.
+
+'"I'm afraid not," he said, rasping away at the hoof. He had a wonderful
+touch with horses. The old beast was whinnying on his shoulder. "You may
+remember that I was not a gentle God in my Day and my Time and my Power. I
+shall never be released till some human being truly wishes me well."
+
+'"Surely," said I, "the farmer can't do less than that. You're shoeing the
+horse all round for him."
+
+'"Yes," said he, "and my nails will hold a shoe from one full moon to the
+next. But farmers and Weald Clay," said he, "are both uncommon cold and
+sour."
+
+'Would you believe it, that when that farmer woke and found his horse shod
+he rode away without one word of thanks? I was so angry that I wheeled his
+horse right round and walked him back three miles to the Beacon just to
+teach the old sinner politeness.'
+
+'Were you invisible?' said Una. Puck nodded, gravely.
+
+'The Beacon was always laid in those days ready to light, in case the
+French landed at Pevensey; and I walked the horse about and about it that
+lee-long summer night. The farmer thought he was bewitched--well, he _was_,
+of course--and began to pray and shout. _I_ didn't care! I was as good a
+Christian as he any fair-day in the County, and about four o'clock in the
+morning a young novice came along from the monastery that used to stand on
+the top of Beacon hill.'
+
+'What's a novice?' said Dan.
+
+'It really means a man who is beginning to be a monk, but in those days
+people sent their sons to a monastery just the same as a school. This
+young fellow had been to a monastery in France for a few months every
+year, and he was finishing his studies in the monastery close to his home
+here. Hugh was his name, and he had got up to go fishing hereabouts. His
+people owned all this valley. Hugh heard the farmer shouting, and asked
+him what in the world he meant. The old man spun him a wonderful tale
+about fairies and goblins and witches; and I _know_ he hadn't seen a thing
+except rabbits and red deer all that night. (The People of the Hills are
+like otters--they don't show except when they choose.) But the novice
+wasn't a fool. He looked down at the horse's feet, and saw the new shoes
+fastened as only Weland knew how to fasten 'em. (Weland had a way of
+turning down the nails that folks called the Smith's Clinch.)
+
+'"H'm!" said the novice. "Where did you get your horse shod?"
+
+'The farmer wouldn't tell him at first, because the priests never liked
+their people to have any dealings with the Old Things. At last he
+confessed that the Smith had done it. "What did you pay him?" said the
+novice. "Penny," said the farmer, very sulkily. "That's less than a
+Christian would have charged," said the novice. "I hope you threw a 'Thank
+you' into the bargain." "No," said the farmer; "Wayland-Smith's a
+heathen." "Heathen or no heathen," said the novice, "you took his help,
+and where you get help there you must give thanks." "What?" said the
+farmer--he was in a furious temper because I was walking the old horse in
+circles all this time--"What, you young jackanapes?" said he. "Then by your
+reasoning I ought to say 'Thank you' to Satan if he helped me?" "Don't
+roll about up there splitting reasons with me," said the novice. "Come
+back to the Ford and thank the Smith, or you'll be sorry."
+
+'Back the farmer had to go! I led the horse, though no one saw me, and the
+novice walked beside us, his gown swishing through the shiny dew and his
+fishing-rod across his shoulders spearwise. When we reached the Ford
+again--it was five o'clock and misty still under the oaks--the farmer simply
+wouldn't say "Thank you." He said he'd tell the Abbot that the novice
+wanted him to worship heathen gods. Then Hugh the novice lost his temper.
+He just cried, "Out!" put his arm under the farmer's fat leg, and heaved
+him from his saddle on to the turf, and before he could rise he caught him
+by the back of the neck and shook him like a rat till the farmer growled,
+"Thank you, Wayland-Smith."'
+
+'Did Weland see all this?' said Dan.
+
+'Oh, yes, and he shouted his old war-cry when the farmer thudded on to the
+ground. He was delighted. Then the novice turned to the oak and said, "Ho!
+Smith of the Gods, I am ashamed of this rude farmer; but for all you have
+done in kindness and charity to him and to others of our people, I thank
+you and wish you well." Then he picked up his fishing-rod--it looked more
+like a tall spear than ever--and tramped off down your valley.'
+
+'And what did poor Weland do?' said Una.
+
+'He laughed and cried with joy, because he had been released at last, and
+could go away. But he was an honest Old Thing. He had worked for his
+living and he paid his debts before he left. "I shall give that novice a
+gift," said Weland. "A gift that shall do him good the wide world over,
+and Old England after him. Blow up my fire, Old Thing, while I get the
+iron for my last task." Then he made a sword--a dark grey, wavy-lined
+sword--and I blew the fire while he hammered. By Oak, Ash, and Thorn, I
+tell you, Weland was a Smith of the Gods! He cooled that sword in running
+water twice, and the third time he cooled it in the evening dew, and he
+laid it out in the moonlight and said Runes (that's charms) over it, and
+he carved Runes of Prophecy on the blade. "Old Thing," he said to me,
+wiping his forehead, "this is the best blade that Weland ever made. Even
+the user will never know how good it is. Come to the monastery."
+
+'We went to the dormitory where the monks slept. We saw the novice fast
+asleep in his cot, and Weland put the sword into his hand, and I remember
+the young fellow gripped it in his sleep. Then Weland strode as far as he
+dared into the Chapel and threw down all his shoeing-tools--his hammer, and
+pincers, and rasps--to show that he had done with them for ever. It sounded
+like suits of armour falling, and the sleepy monks ran in, for they
+thought the monastery had been attacked by the French. The novice came
+first of all, waving his new sword and shouting Saxon battle-cries. When
+they saw the shoeing-tools they were very bewildered, till the novice
+asked leave to speak, and told what he had done to the farmer, and what he
+had said to Wayland-Smith, and how, though the dormitory light was
+burning, he had found the wonderful rune-carved sword in his cot.
+
+'The Abbot shook his head at first, and then he laughed and said to the
+novice: "Son Hugh, it needed no sign from a heathen God to show me that
+you will never be a monk. Take your sword, and keep your sword, and go
+with your sword, and be as gentle as you are strong and courteous. We will
+hang up the Smith's tools before the Altar," he said, "because, whatever
+the Smith of the Gods may have been in the old days, we know that he
+worked honestly for his living and made gifts to Mother Church." Then they
+went to bed again, all except the novice, and he sat up in the garth
+playing with his sword. Then Weland said to me by the stables: "Farewell,
+Old Thing; you had the right of it. You saw me come to England, and you
+see me go. Farewell!"
+
+'With that he strode down the hill to the corner of the Great Woods--Woods
+Corner, you call it now--to the very place where he had first landed--and I
+heard him moving through the thickets towards Horsebridge for a little,
+and then he was gone. That was how it happened. I saw it.'
+
+Both children drew a long breath.
+
+'But what happened to Hugh the novice?' said Una.
+
+'And the sword?' said Dan.
+
+Puck looked down the meadow that lay all quiet and cool in the shadow of
+Pook's Hill. A corncrake jarred in a hay-field near by, and the small
+trouts of the brook began to jump. A big white moth flew unsteadily from
+the alders and flapped round the children's heads, and the least little
+haze of water-mist rose from the brook.
+
+'Do you really want to know?' Puck said.
+
+'We do,' cried the children. 'Awfully!'
+
+'Very good. I promised you that you shall see What you shall see, and you
+shall hear What you shall hear, though It shall have happened three
+thousand year; but just now it seems to me that, unless you go back to the
+house, people will be looking for you. I'll walk with you as far as the
+gate.'
+
+'Will you be here when we come again?' they asked.
+
+'Surely, sure-ly,' said Puck. 'I've been here some time already. One
+minute first, please.'
+
+He gave them each three leaves--one of Oak, one of Ash, and one of Thorn.
+
+'Bite these,' said he. 'Otherwise you might be talking at home of what
+you've seen and heard, and--if I know human beings--they'd send for the
+doctor. Bite!'
+
+They bit hard, and found themselves walking side by side to the lower
+gate. Their father was leaning over it.
+
+'And how did your play go?' he asked.
+
+'Oh, splendidly,' said Dan. 'Only afterwards, I think, we went to sleep.
+It was very hot and quiet. Don't you remember, Una?'
+
+Una shook her head and said nothing.
+
+'I see,' said her father.
+
+  'Late--late in the evening Kilmeny came home,
+  For Kilmeny had been she could not tell where,
+  And Kilmeny had seen what she could not declare.
+
+But why are you chewing leaves at your time of life, daughter? For fun?'
+
+'No. It was for something, but I can't azactly remember,' said Una.
+
+And neither of them could till--
+
+
+
+
+A TREE SONG
+
+
+  _Of all the trees that grow so fair,_
+    _Old England to adorn,_
+  _Greater are none beneath the Sun,_
+    _Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn._
+  _Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good Sirs_
+    _(All of a Midsummer morn)!_
+  _Surely we sing no little thing,_
+    _In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Oak of the Clay lived many a day,_
+    _Or ever Æneas began;_
+  _Ash of the Loam was a lady at home,_
+    _When Brut was an outlaw man;_
+  _Thorn of the Down saw New Troy Town_
+    _(From which was London born);_
+  _Witness hereby the ancientry_
+    _Of Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Yew that is old in churchyard mould,_
+    _He breedeth a mighty bow;_
+  _Alder for shoes do wise men choose,_
+    _And beech for cups also._
+  _But when ye have killed, and your bowl is spilled,_
+    _And your shoes are clean outworn,_
+  _Back ye must speed for all that ye need,_
+    _To Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Ellum she hateth mankind, and waiteth_
+    _Till every gust be laid,_
+  _To drop a limb on the head of him,_
+    _That anyway trusts her shade_
+  _But whether a lad be sober or sad,_
+    _Or mellow with ale from the horn,_
+  _He will take no wrong when he lieth along_
+    _'Neath Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight,_
+    _Or he would call it a sin;_
+  _But--we have been out in the woods all night_
+    _A-conjuring Summer in!_
+  _And we bring you news by word of mouth--_
+    _Good news for cattle and corn--_
+  _Now is the Sun come up from the South,_
+    _With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good Sirs_
+    _(All of a Midsummer morn)!_
+  _England shall bide till Judgment Tide,_
+    _By Oak, and Ash and Thorn!_
+
+
+
+
+
+YOUNG MEN AT THE MANOR
+
+
+
+
+YOUNG MEN AT THE MANOR
+
+
+They were fishing, a few days later, in the bed of the brook that for
+centuries had cut deep into the soft valley soil. The trees closing
+overhead made long tunnels through which the sunshine worked in blobs and
+patches. Down in the tunnels were bars of sand and gravel, old roots and
+trunks covered with moss or painted red by the irony water; foxgloves
+growing lean and pale towards the light; clumps of fern and thirsty shy
+flowers who could not live away from moisture and shade. In the pools you
+could see the wave thrown up by the trouts as they charged hither and yon,
+and the pools were joined to each other--except in flood time, when all was
+one brown rush--by sheets of thin broken water that poured themselves
+chuckling round the darkness of the next bend.
+
+This was one of the children's most secret hunting-grounds, and their
+particular friend, old Hobden the hedger, had shown them how to use it.
+Except for the click of a rod hitting a low willow, or a switch and tussle
+among the young ash-leaves as a line hung up for the minute, nobody in the
+hot pasture could have guessed what game was going on among the trouts
+below the banks.
+
+'We's got half-a-dozen,' said Dan, after a warm, wet hour. 'I vote we go
+up to Stone Bay and try Long Pool.'
+
+Una nodded--most of her talk was by nods--and they crept from the gloom of
+the tunnels towards the tiny weir that turns the brook into the
+mill-stream. Here the banks are low and bare, and the glare of the
+afternoon sun on the Long Pool below the weir makes your eyes ache.
+
+When they were in the open they nearly fell down with astonishment. A huge
+grey horse, whose tail-hairs crinkled the glassy water, was drinking in
+the pool, and the ripples about his muzzle flashed like melted gold. On
+his back sat an old, white-haired man dressed in a loose glimmery gown of
+chain-mail. He was bareheaded, and a nut-shaped iron helmet hung at his
+saddle-bow. His reins were of red leather five or six inches deep,
+scalloped at the edges, and his high padded saddle with its red girths was
+held fore and aft by a red leather breastband and crupper.
+
+'Look!' said Una, as though Dan were not staring his very eyes out. 'It's
+like the picture in your room--"Sir Isumbras at the Ford."'
+
+The rider turned towards them, and his thin, long face was just as sweet
+and gentle as that of the knight who carries the children in that picture.
+
+'They should be here now, Sir Richard,' said Puck's deep voice among the
+willow-herb.
+
+'They are here,' the knight said, and he smiled at Dan with the string of
+trouts in his hand. 'There seems no great change in boys since mine fished
+this water.'
+
+'If your horse has drunk, we shall be more at ease in the Ring,' said
+Puck; and he nodded to the children as though he had never magicked away
+their memories the week before.
+
+The great horse turned and hoisted himself into the pasture with a kick
+and a scramble that tore the clods down rattling.
+
+'Your pardon!' said Sir Richard to Dan. 'When these lands were mine, I
+never loved that mounted men should cross the brook except by the paved
+ford. But my Swallow here was thirsty, and I wished to meet you.'
+
+'We're very glad you've come, sir,' said Dan. 'It doesn't matter in the
+least about the banks.'
+
+He trotted across the pasture on the sword-side of the mighty horse, and
+it was a mighty iron-handled sword that swung from Sir Richard's belt. Una
+walked behind with Puck. She remembered everything now.
+
+'I'm sorry about the Leaves,' he said, 'but it would never have done if
+you had gone home and told, would it?'
+
+'I s'pose not,' Una answered. 'But you said that all the fair--People of
+the Hills had left England.'
+
+'So they have; but I told you that you should come and go and look and
+know, didn't I? The knight isn't a fairy. He's Sir Richard Dalyngridge, a
+very old friend of mine. He came over with William the Conqueror, and he
+wants to see you particularly.'
+
+'What for?' said Una.
+
+'On account of your great wisdom and learning,' Puck replied, without a
+twinkle.
+
+'Us?' said Una. 'Why, I don't know my Nine Times--not to say it dodging;
+and Dan makes the most _awful_ mess of fractions. He can't mean _us_!'
+
+'Una!' Dan called back. 'Sir Richard says he is going to tell what
+happened to Weland's sword. He's got it. Isn't it splendid?'
+
+'Nay--nay,' said Sir Richard, dismounting as they reached the Ring, in the
+bend of the mill-stream bank. 'It is you that must tell me, for I hear the
+youngest child in our England to-day is as wise as our wisest clerk.' He
+slipped the bit out of Swallow's mouth, dropped the ruby-red reins over
+his head, and the wise horse moved off to graze.
+
+Sir Richard (they noticed he limped a little) unslung his great sword.
+
+'That's it,' Dan whispered to Una.
+
+'This is the sword that Brother Hugh had from Wayland-Smith,' Sir Richard
+said. 'Once he gave it to me, but I would not take it; but at the last it
+became mine after such a fight as never christened man fought. See!' He
+half drew it from its sheath and turned it before them. On either side
+just below the handle, where the Runic letters shivered as though they
+were alive, were two deep gouges in the dull, deadly steel. 'Now, what
+Thing made those?' said he. 'I know not, but you, perhaps, can say.'
+
+'Tell them all the tale, Sir Richard,' said Puck. 'It concerns their land
+somewhat.'
+
+'Yes, from the very beginning,' Una pleaded, for the knight's good face
+and the smile on it more than ever reminded her of 'Sir Isumbras at the
+Ford.'
+
+They settled down to listen, Sir Richard bare-headed to the sunshine,
+dandling the sword in both hands, while the grey horse cropped outside the
+Ring, and the helmet on the saddle-bow clinged softly each time he jerked
+his head.
+
+'From the beginning, then,' Sir Richard said, 'since it concerns your
+land, I will tell the tale. When our Duke came out of Normandy to take his
+England, great knights (have ye heard?) came and strove hard to serve the
+Duke, because he promised them lands here, and small knights followed the
+great ones. My folk in Normandy were poor; but a great knight, Engerrard
+of the Eagle--Engenulf De Aquila--who was kin to my father, followed the
+Earl of Mortain, who followed William the Duke, and I followed De Aquila.
+Yes, with thirty men-at-arms out of my father's house and a new sword, I
+set out to conquer England three days after I was made knight. I did not
+then know that England would conquer me. We went up to Santlache with the
+rest--a very great host of us.'
+
+'Does that mean the Battle of Hastings--Ten Sixty-Six?' Una whispered, and
+Puck nodded, so as not to interrupt.
+
+'At Santlache, over the hill yonder'--he pointed south-eastward towards
+Fairlight--'we found Harold's men. We fought. At the day's end they ran. My
+men went with De Aquila's to chase and plunder, and in that chase
+Engerrard of the Eagle was slain, and his son Gilbert took his banner and
+his men forward. This I did not know till after, for Swallow here was cut
+in the flank, so I stayed to wash the wound at a brook by a thorn. There a
+single Saxon cried out to me in French, and we fought together. I should
+have known his voice, but we fought together. For a long time neither had
+any advantage, till by pure ill-fortune his foot slipped and his sword
+flew from his hand. Now I had but newly been made knight, and wished,
+above all, to be courteous and fameworthy, so I forebore to strike and
+bade him get his sword again. "A plague on my sword," said he. "It has
+lost me my first fight. You have spared my life. Take my sword." He held
+it out to me, but as I stretched my hand the sword groaned like a stricken
+man, and I leaped back crying, "Sorcery!"
+
+[The children looked at the sword as though it might speak again.]
+
+'Suddenly a clump of Saxons ran out upon me and, seeing a Norman alone,
+would have killed me, but my Saxon cried out that I was his prisoner, and
+beat them off. Thus, see you, he saved my life. He put me on my horse and
+led me through the woods ten long miles to this valley.'
+
+'To here, d'you mean?' said Una.
+
+'To this very valley. We came in by the Lower Ford under the King's Hill
+yonder'--he pointed eastward where the valley widens.
+
+'And was that Saxon Hugh the novice?' Dan asked.
+
+'Yes, and more than that. He had been for three years at the monastery at
+Bec by Rouen, where'--Sir Richard chuckled--'the Abbot Herluin would not
+suffer me to remain.'
+
+'Why wouldn't he?' said Dan.
+
+'Because I rode my horse into the refectory, when the scholars were at
+meat, to show the Saxon boys we Normans were not afraid of an abbot. It
+was that very Saxon Hugh tempted me to do it, and we had not met since
+that day. I thought I knew his voice even inside my helmet, and, for all
+that our Lords fought, we each rejoiced we had not slain the other. He
+walked by my side, and he told me how a Heathen God, as he believed, had
+given him his sword, but he said he had never heard it sing before. I
+remember I warned him to beware of sorcery and quick enchantments.' Sir
+Richard smiled to himself. 'I was very young--very young!
+
+'When we came to his house here we had almost forgotten that we had been
+at blows. It was near midnight, and the Great Hall was full of men and
+women waiting news. There I first saw his sister, the Lady Ælueva, of whom
+he had spoken to us in France. She cried out fiercely at me, and would
+have had me hanged in that hour, but her brother said that I had spared
+his life--he said not how he saved mine from his Saxons--and that our Duke
+had won the day; and even while they wrangled over my poor body, of a
+sudden he fell down in a swoon from his wounds.
+
+'"This is _thy fault_," said the Lady Ælueva to me, and she kneeled above
+him and called for wine and cloths.
+
+'"If I had known," I answered, "he should have ridden and I walked. But he
+set me on my horse; he made no complaint; he walked beside me and spoke
+merrily throughout. I pray I have done him no harm."
+
+'"Thou hast need to pray," she said, catching up her underlip. "If he
+dies, thou shalt hang!"
+
+'They bore off Hugh to his chamber; but three tall men of the house bound
+me and set me under the beam of the Great Hall with a rope round my neck.
+The end of the rope they flung over the beam, and they sat them down by
+the fire to wait word whether Hugh lived or died. They cracked nuts with
+their knife-hilts the while.'
+
+'And how did you feel?' said Dan.
+
+'Very weary; but I did heartily pray for my schoolmate Hugh his health.
+About noon I heard horses in the valley, and the three men loosed my ropes
+and fled out, and De Aquila's men rode up. Gilbert de Aquila came with
+them, for it was his boast that, like his father, he forgot no man that
+served him. He was little, like his father, but terrible, with a nose like
+an eagle's nose and yellow eyes like an eagle. He rode tall
+war-horses--roans, which he bred himself--and he could never abide to be
+helped into the saddle. He saw the rope hanging from the beam and laughed,
+and his men laughed, for I was too stiff to rise.
+
+'"This is poor entertainment for a Norman knight," he said, "but, such as
+it is, let us be grateful. Show me, boy, to whom thou owest most, and we
+will pay them out of hand."'
+
+'What did he mean? To kill 'em?' said Dan.
+
+'Assuredly. But I looked at the Lady Ælueva where she stood among her
+maids, and her brother beside her. De Aquila's men had driven them all
+into the Great Hall.'
+
+'Was she pretty?' said Una.
+
+'In all my life I had never seen woman fit to strew rushes before my Lady
+Ælueva,' the knight replied, quite simply and quietly. 'As I looked at her
+I thought I might save her and her house by a jest.
+
+'"Seeing that I came somewhat hastily and without warning," said I to De
+Aquila, "I have no fault to find with the courtesy that these Saxons have
+shown me." But my voice shook. It is--it was not good to jest with that
+little man.
+
+'All were silent awhile, till De Aquila laughed. "Look, men--a miracle!"
+said he. "The fight is scarce sped, my father is not yet buried, and here
+we find our youngest knight already set down in his Manor, while his
+Saxons--ye can see it in their fat faces--have paid him homage and service!
+By the Saints," he said, rubbing his nose, "I never thought England would
+be so easy won! Surely I can do no less than give the lad what he has
+taken. This Manor shall be thine, boy," he said, "till I come again, or
+till thou art slain. Now, mount, men, and ride. We follow our Duke into
+Kent to make him King of England."
+
+'He drew me with him to the door while they brought his horse--a lean roan,
+taller than my Swallow here, but not so well girthed.
+
+'"Hark to me," he said, fretting with his great war-gloves. "I have given
+thee this Manor, which is a Saxon hornets' nest, and I think thou wilt be
+slain in a month--as my father was slain. Yet if thou canst keep the roof
+on the hall, the thatch on the barn, and the plough in the furrow till I
+come back, thou shalt hold the Manor from me; for the Duke has promised
+our Earl Mortain all the lands by Pevensey, and Mortain will give me of
+them what he would have given my father. God knows if thou or I shall live
+till England is won; but remember, boy, that here and now fighting is
+foolishness and"--he reached for the reins--"craft and cunning is all."
+
+'"Alas, I have no cunning," said I.
+
+'"Not yet," said he, hopping abroad, foot in stirrup, and poking his horse
+in the belly with his toe. "Not yet, but I think thou hast a good teacher.
+Farewell! Hold the Manor and live. Lose the Manor and hang," he said, and
+spurred out, his shield-straps squeaking behind him.
+
+'So, children, here was I, little more than a boy, and Santlache fight not
+two days old, left alone with my thirty men-at-arms, in a land I knew not,
+among a people whose tongue I could not speak, to hold down the land which
+I had taken from them.'
+
+'And that was here at home?' said Una.
+
+'Yes, here. See! From the Upper Ford, Weland's Ford, to the Lower Ford, by
+the Belle Allée, west and east it ran half a league. From the Beacon of
+Brunanburgh behind us here, south and north it ran a full league--and all
+the woods were full of broken men from Santlache, Saxon thieves, Norman
+plunderers, robbers, and deerstealers. A hornets' nest indeed!
+
+'When De Aquila had gone, Hugh would have thanked me for saving their
+lives; but Lady Ælueva said that I had done it only for the sake of
+receiving the Manor.
+
+'"How could I know that De Aquila would give it me?" I said. "If I had
+told him I had spent my night in your halter he would have burned the
+place twice over by now."
+
+'"If any man had put _my_ neck in a rope," she said, "I would have seen
+his house burned thrice over before _I_ would have made terms."
+
+'"But it was a woman," I said; and I laughed and she wept and said that I
+mocked her in her captivity.
+
+'"Lady," said I, "there is no captive in this valley except one, and he is
+not a Saxon."
+
+'At this she cried that I was a Norman thief, who came with false, sweet
+words, having intended from the first to turn her out in the fields to beg
+her bread. Into the fields! She had never seen the face of war!
+
+'I was angry, and answered, "This much at least I can disprove, for I
+swear"--and on my sword-hilt I swore it in that place--"I swear I will never
+set foot in the Great Hall till the Lady Ælueva herself shall summon me
+there."
+
+'She went away, saying nothing, and I walked out, and Hugh limped after
+me, whistling dolorously (that is a custom of the English), and we came
+upon the three Saxons that had bound me. They were now bound by my
+men-at-arms, and behind them stood some fifty stark and sullen churls of
+the House and the Manor, waiting to see what should fall. We heard De
+Aquila's trumpets blow thin through the woods Kentward.
+
+'"Shall we hang these?" said my men.
+
+'"Then my churls will fight," said Hugh, beneath his breath; but I bade
+him ask the three what mercy they hoped for.
+
+'"None," said they all. "She bade us hang thee if our master died. And we
+would have hanged thee. There is no more to it."
+
+'As I stood doubting a woman ran down from the oak wood above the King's
+Hill yonder, and cried out that some Normans were driving off the swine
+there.
+
+'"Norman or Saxon," said I, "we must beat them back, or they will rob us
+every day. Out at them with any arms ye have!" So I loosed those three
+carles and we ran together, my men-at-arms and the Saxons with bills and
+bows which they had hidden in the thatch of their huts, and Hugh led them.
+Half-way up the King's Hill we found a false fellow from Picardy--a sutler
+that sold wine in the Duke's camp--with a dead knight's shield on his arm,
+a stolen horse under him, and some ten or twelve wastrels at his tail, all
+cutting and slashing at the pigs. We beat them off, and saved our pork.
+One hundred and seventy pigs we saved in that great battle.' Sir Richard
+laughed.
+
+'That, then, was our first work together, and I bade Hugh tell his folk
+that so would I deal with any man, knight or churl, Norman or Saxon, who
+stole as much as one egg from our valley. Said he to me, riding home:
+"Thou hast gone far to conquer England this evening." I answered: "England
+must be thine and mine, then. Help me, Hugh, to deal aright with this
+people. Make them to know that if they slay me De Aquila will surely send
+to slay them, and he will put a worse man in my place." "That may well be
+true," said he, and gave me his hand. "Better the devil we know than the
+devil we know not, till we can pack you Normans home." And so, too, said
+his Saxons; and they laughed as we drove the pigs downhill. But I think
+some of them, even then, began not to hate me.'
+
+'I like Brother Hugh,' said Una, softly.
+
+'Beyond question he was the most perfect, courteous, valiant, tender, and
+wise knight that ever drew breath,' said Richard, caressing the sword. 'He
+hung up his sword--this sword--on the wall of the Great Hall, because he
+said it was fairly mine, and never he took it down till De Aquila
+returned, as I shall presently show. For three months his men and mine
+guarded the valley, till all robbers and nightwalkers learned there was
+nothing to get from us save hard tack and a hanging. Side by side we
+fought against all who came--thrice a week sometimes we fought--against
+thieves and landless knights looking for good manors. Then we were in some
+peace, and I made shift by Hugh's help to govern the valley--for all this
+valley of yours was my Manor--as a knight should. I kept the roof on the
+hall and the thatch on the barn, but.... The English are a bold people.
+His Saxons would laugh and jest with Hugh, and Hugh with them, and--this
+was marvellous to me--if even the meanest of them said that such and such a
+thing was the Custom of the Manor, then straightway would Hugh and such
+old men of the Manor as might be near forsake everything else to debate
+the matter--I have seen them stop the mill with the corn half ground--and if
+the custom or usage were proven to be as it was said, why, that was the
+end of it, even though it were flat against Hugh, his wish and command.
+Wonderful!'
+
+'Aye,' said Puck, breaking in for the first time. 'The Custom of Old
+England was here before your Norman knights came, and it outlasted them,
+though they fought against it cruel.'
+
+'Not I,' said Richard. 'I let the Saxons go their stubborn way, but when
+my own men-at-arms, Normans not six months in England, stood up and told
+me what was the custom of the country, _then_ I was angry. Ah, good days!
+Ah, wonderful people! And I loved them all.'
+
+The knight lifted his arms as though he would hug the whole dear valley,
+and Swallow, hearing the chink of his chain-mail, looked up and whinnied
+softly.
+
+'At last,' he went on, 'after a year of striving and contriving and some
+little driving, De Aquila came to the valley, alone and without warning. I
+saw him first at the Lower Ford, with a swine-herd's brat on his
+saddle-bow.
+
+'"There is no need for thee to give any account of thy stewardship," said
+he. "I have it all from the child here." And he told me how the young
+thing had stopped his tall horse at the Ford, by waving of a branch, and
+crying that the way was barred. "And if one bold, bare babe be enough to
+guard the Ford in these days, thou hast done well," said he, and puffed
+and wiped his head.
+
+He pinched the child's cheek, and looked at our cattle in the flat by the
+brook.
+
+'"Both fat," said he, rubbing his nose. "This is craft and cunning such as
+I love. What did I tell thee when I rode away, boy?"
+
+'"Hold the Manor or hang," said I. I had never forgotten it.
+
+'"True. And thou hast held." He clambered from his saddle and with sword's
+point cut out a turf from the bank and gave it me where I kneeled.'
+
+Dan looked at Una, and Una looked at Dan.
+
+'That's seizin,' said Puck, in a whisper.
+
+'"Now thou art lawfully seized of the Manor, Sir Richard," said he--'twas
+the first time he ever called me that--"thou and thy heirs for ever. This
+must serve till the King's clerks write out thy title on a parchment.
+England is all ours--if we can hold it."
+
+'"What service shall I pay?" I asked, and I remember I was proud beyond
+words.
+
+'"Knight's fee, boy, knight's fee!" said he, hopping round his horse on
+one foot. (Have I said he was little, and could not endure to be helped to
+his saddle?) "Six mounted men or twelve archers thou shalt send me
+whenever I call for them, and--where got you that corn?" said he, for it
+was near harvest, and our corn stood well. "I have never seen such bright
+straw. Send me three bags of the same seed yearly, and furthermore, in
+memory of our last meeting--with the rope round thy neck--entertain me and
+my men for two days of each year in the Great Hall of thy Manor."
+
+'"Alas!" said I, "then my Manor is already forfeit. I am under vow not to
+enter the Great Hall." And I told him what I had sworn to the Lady
+Ælueva.'
+
+'And hadn't you ever been into the house since?' said Una.
+
+'Never,' Sir Richard answered smiling. 'I had made me a little hut of wood
+up the hill, and there I did justice and slept.... De Aquila wheeled
+aside, and his shield shook on his back. "No matter, boy," said he. "I
+will remit the homage for a year."'
+
+'He meant Sir Richard needn't give him dinner there the first year,' Puck
+explained.
+
+'De Aquila stayed with me in the hut and Hugh, who could read and write
+and cast accounts, showed him the roll of the Manor, in which were written
+all the names of our fields and men, and he asked a thousand questions
+touching the land, the timber, the grazing, the mill, and the fish-ponds,
+and the worth of every man in the valley. But never he named the Lady
+Ælueva's name, nor went he near the Great Hall. By night he drank with us
+in the hut. Yes, he sat on the straw like an eagle ruffled in her
+feathers, his yellow eyes rolling above the cup, and he pounced in his
+talk like an eagle, swooping from one thing to another, but always binding
+fast. Yes; he would lie still awhile, and then rustle in the straw, and
+speak sometimes as though he were King William himself, and anon he would
+speak in parables and tales, and if at once we saw not his meaning he
+would yerk us in the ribs with his scabbarded sword.
+
+'"Look you, boys," said he, "I am born out of my due time. Five hundred
+years ago I would have made all England such an England as neither Dane,
+Saxon, nor Norman should have conquered. Five hundred years hence I should
+have been such a councillor to Kings as the world hath never dreamed of.
+'Tis all here," said he, tapping his big head, "but it hath no play in
+this black age. Now Hugh here is a better man than thou art, Richard." He
+had made his voice harsh and croaking, like a raven's.
+
+'"Truth," said I. "But for Hugh, his help and patience and long-suffering,
+I could never have kept the Manor."
+
+'"Nor thy life either," said De Aquila. "Hugh has saved thee not once, but
+a hundred times. Be still, Hugh!" he said. "Dost thou know, Richard, why
+Hugh slept, and why he still sleeps, among thy Norman men-at-arms?"
+
+'"To be near me," said I, for I thought this was truth.
+
+'"Fool!" said De Aquila. "It is because his Saxons have begged him to rise
+against thee, and to sweep every Norman out of the valley. No matter how I
+know. It is truth. Therefore Hugh hath made himself an hostage for thy
+life, well knowing that if any harm befell thee from his Saxons thy
+Normans would slay him without remedy. And this his Saxons know. It is
+true, Hugh?"
+
+'"In some sort," said Hugh, shamefacedly; "at least, it was true half a
+year ago. My Saxons would not harm Richard now. I think they know him; but
+I judged it best to make sure."
+
+'Look, children, what that man had done--and I had never guessed it! Night
+after night had he lain down among my men-at-arms, knowing that if one
+Saxon had lifted knife against me his life would have answered for mine.
+
+'"Yes," said De Aquila. "And he is a swordless man." He pointed to Hugh's
+belt, for Hugh had put away his sword--did I tell you?--the day after it
+flew from his hand at Santlache. He carried only the short knife and the
+long-bow. "Swordless and landless art thou, Hugh; and they call thee kin
+to Earl Godwin." (Hugh was indeed of Godwin's blood.) "The Manor that was
+thine was given to this boy and to his children for ever. Sit up and beg,
+for he can turn thee out like a dog, Hugh!"
+
+'Hugh said nothing, but I heard his teeth grind, and I bade De Aquila, my
+own overlord, hold his peace, or I would stuff his words down his throat.
+Then De Aquila laughed till the tears ran down his face.
+
+'"I warned the King," said he, "what would come of giving England to us
+Norman thieves. Here art thou, Richard, less than two days confirmed in
+thy Manor, and already thou hast risen against thy overlord. What shall we
+do to him, _Sir_ Hugh?"
+
+'"I am a swordless man," said Hugh. "Do not jest with me," and he laid his
+head on his knees and groaned.
+
+'"The greater fool thou," said De Aquila, and all his voice changed; "for
+I have given thee the Manor of Dallington up the hill this half-hour
+since," and he yerked at Hugh with his scabbard across the straw.
+
+'"To me?" said Hugh. "I am a Saxon, and, except that I love Richard here,
+I have not sworn fealty to any Norman."
+
+'"In God's good time, which because of my sins I shall not live to see,
+there will be neither Saxon nor Norman in England," said De Aquila. "If I
+know men, thou art more faithful unsworn than a score of Normans I could
+name. Take Dallington, and join Sir Richard to fight me to-morrow, if it
+please thee!"
+
+'"Nay," said Hugh. "I am no child. Where I take a gift, there I render
+service"; and he put his hands between De Aquila's, and swore to be
+faithful, and, as I remember, I kissed him, and De Aquila kissed us both.
+
+'We sat afterwards outside the hut while the sun rose, and De Aquila
+marked our churls going to their work in the fields, and talked of holy
+things, and how we should govern our Manors in time to come, and of
+hunting and of horse-breeding, and of the King's wisdom and unwisdom; for
+he spoke to us as though we were in all sorts now his brothers. Anon a
+churl stole up to me--he was one of the three I had not hanged a year
+ago--and he bellowed--which is the Saxon for whispering--that the Lady Ælueva
+would speak to me at the Great House. She walked abroad daily in the
+Manor, and it was her custom to send me word whither she went, that I
+might set an archer or two behind and in front to guard her. Very often I
+myself lay up in the woods and watched on her also.
+
+'I went swiftly, and as I passed the great door it opened from within, and
+there stood my Lady Ælueva, and she said to me: "Sir Richard, will it
+please you enter your Great Hall?" Then she wept, but we were alone.'
+
+The knight was silent for a long time, his face turned across the valley,
+smiling.
+
+'Oh, well done!' said Una, and clapped her hands very softly. 'She was
+sorry, and she said so.'
+
+'Aye, she was sorry, and she said so,' said Sir Richard, coming back with
+a little start. 'Very soon--but _he_ said it was two full hours later--De
+Aquila rode to the door, with his shield new scoured (Hugh had cleansed
+it), and demanded entertainment, and called me a false knight, that would
+starve his overlord to death. Then Hugh cried out that no man should work
+in the valley that day, and our Saxons blew horns, and set about feasting
+and drinking, and running of races, and dancing and singing; and De Aquila
+climbed upon a horse-block and spoke to them in what he swore was good
+Saxon, but no man understood it. At night we feasted in the Great Hall,
+and when the harpers and the singers were gone we four sat late at the
+high table. As I remember, it was a warm night with a full moon, and De
+Aquila bade Hugh take down his sword from the wall again, for the honour
+of the Manor of Dallington, and Hugh took it gladly enough. Dust lay on
+the hilt, for I saw him blow it off.
+
+'She and I sat talking a little apart, and at first we thought the harpers
+had come back, for the Great Hall was filled with a rushing noise of
+music. De Aquila leaped up; but there was only the moonlight fretty on the
+floor.
+
+'"Hearken!" said Hugh. "It is my sword," and as he belted it on the music
+ceased.
+
+'"Over Gods, forbid that I should ever belt blade like that," said De
+Aquila. "What does it foretell?"
+
+'"The Gods that made it may know. Last time it spoke was at Hastings, when
+I lost all my lands. Belike it sings now that I have new lands and am a
+man again," said Hugh.
+
+'He loosed the blade a little and drove it back happily into the sheath,
+and the sword answered him low and crooningly, as--as a woman would speak
+to a man, her head on his shoulder.
+
+'Now that was the second time in all my life I heard this Sword sing.'...
+
+
+
+'Look!' said Una. 'There's mother coming down the Long Slip. What will she
+say to Sir Richard? She can't help seeing him.'
+
+'And Puck can't magic us this time,' said Dan.
+
+'Are you sure?' said Puck; and he leaned forward and whispered to Sir
+Richard, who, smiling, bowed his head.
+
+'But what befell the sword and my brother Hugh I will tell on another
+time,' said he, rising. 'Ohé, Swallow!'
+
+The great horse cantered up from the far end of the meadow, close to
+mother.
+
+They heard mother say: 'Children, Gleason's old horse has broken into the
+meadow again. Where did he get through?'
+
+'Just below Stone Bay,' said Dan. 'He tore down simple flobs of the bank!
+We noticed it just now. And we've caught no end of fish. We've been at it
+all the afternoon.'
+
+And they honestly believed that they had. They never noticed the Oak, Ash,
+and Thorn leaves that Puck had slyly thrown into their laps.
+
+
+
+
+SIR RICHARD'S SONG
+
+
+  _I followed my Duke ere I was a lover,_
+    _To take from England fief and fee;_
+  _But now this game is the other way over--_
+    _But now England hath taken me!_
+
+  _I had my horse, my shield and banner,_
+    _And a boy's heart, so whole and free;_
+  _But now I sing in another manner--_
+    _But now England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my Father in his tower,_
+    _Asking news of my ship at sea;_
+  _He will remember his own hour--_
+    _Tell him England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my Mother in her bower,_
+    _That rules my Father so cunningly;_
+  _She will remember a maiden's power--_
+    _Tell her England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my Brother in Rouen city,_
+    _A nimble and naughty page is he;_
+  _But he will come to suffer and pity--_
+    _Tell him England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my little Sister waiting_
+    _In the pleasant orchards of Normandie;_
+  _Tell her youth is the time for mating--_
+    _Tell her England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my Comrades in camp and highway,_
+    _That lift their eyebrows scornfully;_
+  _Tell them their way is not my way--_
+    _Tell them England hath taken me!_
+
+  _Kings and Princes and Barons famed,_
+    _Knights and Captains in your degree;_
+  _Hear me a little before I am blamed--_
+    _Seeing England hath taken me!_
+
+  _Howso great man's strength be reckoned,_
+    _There are two things he cannot flee;_
+  _Love is the first, and Death is the second--_
+    _And Love, in England, hath taken me!_
+
+
+
+
+
+THE KNIGHTS OF THE JOYOUS VENTURE
+
+
+
+
+HARP SONG OF THE DANE WOMEN
+
+
+  _What is a woman that you forsake her,_
+  _And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,_
+  _To go with the old grey Widow-maker_?
+
+  _She has no house to lay a guest in--_
+  _But one chill bed for all to rest in,_
+  _That the pale suns and the stray bergs nest in._
+
+  _She has no strong white arms to fold you,_
+  _But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you_
+  _Bound on the rocks where the tide has rolled you._
+
+  _Yet, when the signs of summer thicken,_
+  _And the ice breaks, and the birch-buds quicken,_
+  _Yearly you turn from our side, and sicken--_
+
+  _Sicken again for the shouts and the slaughters,_
+  _You steal away to the lapping waters,_
+  _And look at your ship in her winter quarters._
+
+  _You forget our mirth, and talk at the tables,_
+  _The kine in the shed and the horse in the stables--_
+  _To pitch her sides and go over her cables!_
+
+  _Then you drive out where the storm-clouds swallow:_
+  _And the sound of your oar-blades falling hollow,_
+  _Is all we have left through the months to follow!_
+
+  _Ah, what is Woman that you forsake her,_
+  _And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,_
+  _To go with the old grey Widow-maker?_
+
+
+
+
+THE KNIGHTS OF THE JOYOUS VENTURE
+
+
+It was too hot to run about in the open, so Dan asked their friend, old
+Hobden, to take their own dinghy from the pond and put her on the brook at
+the bottom of the garden. Her painted name was the _Daisy_, but for
+exploring expeditions she was the _Golden Hind_ or the _Long Serpent_, or
+some such suitable name. Dan hiked and howked with a boat-hook (the brook
+was too narrow for sculls), and Una punted with a piece of hop-pole. When
+they came to a very shallow place (the _Golden Hind_ drew quite three
+inches of water) they disembarked and scuffled her over the gravel by her
+tow-rope, and when they reached the overgrown banks beyond the garden they
+pulled themselves up stream by the low branches.
+
+That day they intended to discover the North Cape like 'Othere, the old
+sea-captain,' in the book of verses which Una had brought with her; but on
+account of the heat they changed it to a voyage up the Amazon and the
+sources of the Nile. Even on the shaded water the air was hot and heavy
+with drowsy scents, while outside, through breaks in the trees, the
+sunshine burned the pasture like fire. The kingfisher was asleep on his
+watching-branch, and the blackbirds scarcely took the trouble to dive into
+the next bush. Dragon-flies wheeling and clashing were the only things at
+work, except the moor-hens and a big Red Admiral who flapped down out of
+the sunshine for a drink.
+
+When they reached Otter Pool the _Golden Hind_ grounded comfortably on a
+shallow, and they lay beneath a roof of close green, watching the water
+trickle over the floodgates down the mossy brick chute from the
+mill-stream to the brook. A big trout--the children knew him well--rolled
+head and shoulders at some fly that sailed round the bend, while once in
+just so often the brook rose a fraction of an inch against all the wet
+pebbles, and they watched the slow draw and shiver of a breath of air
+through the tree-tops. Then the little voices of the slipping water began
+again.
+
+'It's like the shadows talking, isn't it?' said Una. She had given up
+trying to read. Dan lay over the bows, trailing his hands in the current.
+They heard feet on the gravel-bar that runs half across the pool and saw
+Sir Richard Dalyngridge standing over them.
+
+'Was yours a dangerous voyage?' he asked, smiling.
+
+'She bumped a lot, sir,' said Dan. 'There's hardly any water this summer.'
+
+'Ah, the brook was deeper and wider when my children played at Danish
+pirates. Are you pirate-folk?'
+
+'Oh, no. We gave up being pirates years ago,' explained Una. 'We're nearly
+always explorers now. Sailing round the world, you know.'
+
+'Round?' said Sir Richard. He sat him in the comfortable crotch of the old
+ash-root on the bank. 'How can it be round?'
+
+'Wasn't it in your books?' Dan suggested. He had been doing geography at
+his last lesson.
+
+'I can neither write nor read,' he replied. 'Canst _thou_ read, child?'
+
+'Yes,' said Dan, 'barring the very long words.'
+
+'Wonderful! Read to me, that I may hear for myself.'
+
+Dan flushed, but opened the book and began--gabbling a little--at 'The
+Discoverer of the North Cape.'
+
+  'Othere, the old sea captain,
+  Who dwelt in Helgoland,
+  To Alfred, lover of truth,
+  Brought a snow-white walrus tooth,
+  That he held in his right hand.'
+
+'But--but--this I know! This is an old song! This I have heard sung! This is
+a miracle,' Sir Richard interrupted. 'Nay, do not stop!' He leaned
+forward, and the shadows of the leaves slipped and slid upon his
+chain-mail.
+
+  'I ploughed the land with horses,
+  But my heart was ill at ease,
+  For the old sea-faring men
+  Came to me now and then
+  With their Sagas of the Seas.'
+
+His hand fell on the hilt of the great sword. 'This is truth,' he cried,
+'for so did it happen to me,' and he beat time delightedly to the tramp of
+verse after verse.
+
+  '"And now the land," said Othere,
+  "Bent southward suddenly,
+  And I followed the curving shore,
+  And ever southward bore
+  Into a nameless sea."'
+
+'A nameless sea!' he repeated. 'So did I--so did Hugh and I.'
+
+'Where did you go? Tell us,' said Una.
+
+'Wait. Let me hear all first.' So Dan read to the poem's very end.
+
+'Good,' said the knight. 'That is Othere's tale--even as I have heard the
+men in the Dane ships sing it. Not in those same valiant words, but
+something like to them.'
+
+'Have you ever explored North?' Dan shut the book.
+
+'Nay. My venture was South. Farther South than any man has fared, Hugh and
+I went down with Witta and his heathen.' He jerked the tall sword forward,
+and leaned on it with both hands; but his eyes looked long past them.
+
+'I thought you always lived here,' said Una, timidly.
+
+'Yes; while my Lady Ælueva lived. But she died. She died. Then, my eldest
+son being a man, I asked De Aquila's leave that he should hold the Manor
+while I went on some journey or pilgrimage--to forget. De Aquila, whom the
+Second William had made Warden of Pevensey in Earl Mortain's place, was
+very old then, but still he rode his tall, roan horses, and in the saddle
+he looked like a little white falcon. When Hugh, at Dallington over
+yonder, heard what I did, he sent for my second son, whom being unmarried
+he had ever looked upon as his own child, and, by De Aquila's leave, gave
+him the Manor of Dallington to hold till he should return. Then Hugh came
+with me.'
+
+'When did this happen?' said Dan.
+
+'That I can answer to the very day, for as we rode with De Aquila by
+Pevensey--have I said that he was Lord of Pevensey and of the Honour of the
+Eagle?--to the Bordeaux ship that fetched him his wines yearly out of
+France, a Marsh man ran to us crying that he had seen a great black goat
+which bore on his back the body of the King, and that the goat had spoken
+to him. On that same day Red William our King, the Conqueror's son, died
+of a secret arrow while he hunted in a forest. "This is a cross matter,"
+said De Aquila, "to meet on the threshold of a journey. If Red William be
+dead I may have to fight for my lands. Wait a little."
+
+'My Lady being dead, I cared nothing for signs and omens, nor Hugh either.
+We took that wine-ship to go to Bordeaux; but the wind failed while we
+were yet in sight of Pevensey; a thick mist hid us, and we drifted with
+the tide along the cliffs to the west. Our company was, for the most part,
+merchants returning to France, and we were laden with wool and there were
+three couple of tall hunting-dogs chained to the rail. Their master was a
+knight of Artois. His name I never learned, but his shield bore gold
+pieces on a red ground, and he limped much as I do, from a wound which he
+had got in his youth at Mantes siege. He served the Duke of Burgundy
+against the Moors in Spain, and was returning to that war with his dogs.
+He sang us strange Moorish songs that first night, and half persuaded us
+to go with him. I was on pilgrimage to forget--which is what no pilgrimage
+brings. I think I would have gone, but....
+
+'Look you how the life and fortune of man changes! Towards morning a Dane
+ship, rowing silently, struck against us in the mist, and while we rolled
+hither and yon Hugh, leaning over the rail, fell outboard. I leaped after
+him, and we two tumbled aboard the Dane, and were caught and bound ere we
+could rise. Our own ship was swallowed up in the mist. I judge the Knight
+of the Gold Pieces muzzled his dogs with his cloak, lest they should give
+tongue and betray the merchants, for I heard their baying suddenly stop.
+
+'We lay bound among the benches till morning, when the Danes dragged us to
+the high deck by the steering-place, and their captain--Witta, he was
+called--turned us over with his foot. Bracelets of gold from elbow to
+armpit he wore, and his red hair was long as a woman's, and came down in
+plaited locks on his shoulder. He was stout, with bowed legs and long
+arms. He spoiled us of all we had, but when he laid hand on Hugh's sword
+and saw the runes on the blade hastily he thrust it back. Yet his
+covetousness overcame him and he tried again and again, and the third time
+the Sword sang loud and angrily, so that the rowers leaned on their oars
+to listen. Here they all spoke together, screaming like gulls, and a
+Yellow Man, such as I have never seen, came to the high deck and cut our
+bonds. He was yellow--not from sickness, but by nature. Yellow as honey,
+and his eyes stood endwise in his head.'
+
+'How do you mean?' said Una, her chin on her hand.
+
+'Thus,' said Sir Richard. He put a finger to the corner of each eye, and
+pushed it up till his eyes narrowed to slits.
+
+'Why, you look just like a Chinaman!' cried Dan. 'Was the man a Chinaman?'
+
+'I know not what that may be. Witta had found him half dead among ice on
+the shores of Muscovy. _We_ thought he was a devil. He crawled before us
+and brought food in a silver dish which these sea-wolves had robbed from
+some rich abbey, and Witta with his own hands gave us wine. He spoke a
+little in French, a little in South Saxon, and much in the Northman's
+tongue. We asked him to set us ashore, promising to pay him better ransom
+than he would get price if he sold us to the Moors--as once befell a knight
+of my acquaintance sailing from Flushing.
+
+'"Not by my father Guthrum's head," said he. "The Gods sent ye into my
+ship for a luck-offering."
+
+'At this I quaked, for I knew it was still the Dane's custom to sacrifice
+captives to their gods for fair weather.
+
+'"A plague on thy four long bones!" said Hugh. "What profit canst thou
+make of poor old pilgrims that can neither work nor fight?"
+
+'"Gods forbid I should fight against thee, poor Pilgrim with the Singing
+Sword," said he. "Come with us and be poor no more. Thy teeth are far
+apart, which is a sure sign thou wilt travel and grow rich."
+
+'"What if we will not come?" said Hugh.
+
+'"Swim to England or France," said Witta. "We are midway between the two.
+Unless ye choose to drown yourselves no hair of your head will be harmed
+here aboard. We think ye bring us luck, and I myself know the runes on
+that Sword are good." He turned and bade them hoist sail.
+
+'Hereafter all made way for us as we walked about the ship, and the ship
+was full of wonders.'
+
+'What was she like?' said Dan.
+
+'Long, low, and narrow, bearing one mast with a red sail, and rowed by
+fifteen oars a side,' the knight answered. 'At her bows was a deck under
+which men might lie, and at her stern another shut off by a painted door
+from the rowers' benches. Here Hugh and I slept, with Witta and the Yellow
+Man, upon tapestries as soft as wool. I remember'--he laughed to
+himself--'when first we entered there a loud voice cried, "Out swords! Out
+swords! Kill, kill!" Seeing us start Witta laughed, and showed us it was
+but a great-beaked grey bird with a red tail. He sat her on his shoulder,
+and she called for bread and wine hoarsely, and prayed him to kiss her.
+Yet she was no more than a silly bird. But--ye knew this?' He looked at
+their smiling faces.
+
+'We weren't laughing at you,' said Una. 'That must have been a parrot.
+It's just what Pollies do.'
+
+'So we learned later. But here is another marvel. The Yellow Man, whose
+name was Kitai, had with him a brown box. In the box was a blue bowl with
+red marks upon the rim, and within the bowl, hanging from a fine thread,
+was a piece of iron no thicker than that grass stem, and as long, maybe,
+as my spur, but straight. In this iron, said Witta, abode an Evil Spirit
+which Kitai, the Yellow Man, had brought by Art Magic out of his own
+country that lay three years' journey southward. The Evil Spirit strove
+day and night to return to his country, and therefore, look you, the iron
+needle pointed continually to the South.'
+
+'South?' said Dan, suddenly, and put his hand into his pocket.
+
+'With my own eyes I saw it. Every day and all day long, though the ship
+rolled, though the sun and the moon and the stars were hid, this blind
+Spirit in the iron knew whither it would go, and strained to the South.
+Witta called it the Wise Iron, because it showed him his way across the
+unknowable seas.' Again Sir Richard looked keenly at the children. 'How
+think ye? Was it sorcery?'
+
+'Was it anything like this?' Dan fished out his old brass pocket-compass,
+that generally lived with his knife and key-ring. 'The glass has got
+cracked, but the needle waggles all right, sir.'
+
+The knight drew a long breath of wonder. 'Yes, yes. The Wise Iron shook
+and swung in just this fashion. Now it is still. Now it points to the
+South.'
+
+'North,' said Dan.
+
+'Nay, South! There is the South,' said Sir Richard. Then they both
+laughed, for naturally when one end of a straight compass-needle points to
+the North, the other must point to the South.
+
+'Té,' said Sir Richard, clicking his tongue. 'There can be no sorcery if a
+child carries it. Wherefore does it point South--or North?'
+
+'Father says that nobody knows,' said Una.
+
+Sir Richard looked relieved. 'Then it may still be magic. It was magic to
+_us_. And so we voyaged. When the wind served we hoisted sail, and lay all
+up along the windward rail, our shields on our backs to break the spray.
+When it failed, they rowed with long oars; the Yellow Man sat by the Wise
+Iron, and Witta steered. At first I feared the great white-flowering
+waves, but as I saw how wisely Witta led his ship among them I grew
+bolder. Hugh liked it well from the first. My skill is not upon the water;
+and rocks, and whirlpools such as we saw by the West Isles of France,
+where an oar caught on a rock and broke, are much against my stomach. We
+sailed South across a stormy sea, where by moonlight, between clouds, we
+saw a Flanders ship roll clean over and sink. Again, though Hugh laboured
+with Witta all night, I lay under the deck with the Talking Bird, and
+cared not whether I lived or died. There is a sickness of the sea which,
+for three days, is pure death! When we next saw land Witta said it was
+Spain, and we stood out to sea. That coast was full of ships busy in the
+Duke's war against the Moors, and we feared to be hanged by the Duke's men
+or sold into slavery by the Moors. So we put into a small harbour which
+Witta knew. At night men came down with loaded mules, and Witta exchanged
+amber out of the North against little wedges of iron and packets of beads
+in earthen pots. The pots he put under the decks, and the wedges of iron
+he laid on the bottom of the ship after he had cast out the stones and
+shingle which till then had been our ballast. Wine, too, he bought for
+lumps of sweet-smelling grey amber--a little morsel no bigger than a
+thumbnail purchased a cask of wine. But I speak like a merchant.'
+
+'No, no! Tell us what you had to eat,' cried Dan.
+
+'Meat dried in the sun, and dried fish and ground beans, Witta took in;
+and corded frails of a certain sweet, soft fruit, which the Moors use,
+which is like paste of figs, but with thin, long stones. Aha! Dates is the
+name.
+
+'"Now," said Witta, when the ship was loaded, "I counsel you strangers, to
+pray to your gods, for from here on our road is No Man's road." He and his
+men killed a black goat for sacrifice on the bows; and the Yellow Man
+brought out a small, smiling image of dull-green glass and burned incense
+before it. Hugh and I commended ourselves to God, and Saint Bartholomew,
+and Our Lady of the Assumption, who was specially dear to my Lady. We were
+not young, but I think no shame to say, when as we drove out of that
+secret harbour at sunrise over a still sea, we two rejoiced and sang as
+did the knights of old when they followed our great Duke to England. Yet
+was our leader an heathen pirate; all our proud fleet but one galley
+perilously overloaded; for guidance we leaned on a pagan sorcerer; and our
+port was beyond the world's end. Witta told us that his father Guthrum had
+once in his life rowed along the shores of Africa to a land where naked
+men sold gold for iron and beads. There had he bought much gold, and no
+few elephants' teeth, and thither by help of the Wise Iron would Witta go.
+Witta feared nothing--except to be poor.
+
+'"My father told me," said Witta, "that a great Shoal runs three days'
+sail out from that land, and south of the shoal lies a Forest which grows
+in the sea. South and east of the Forest my father came to a place where
+the men hid gold in their hair; but all that country, he said, was full of
+Devils who lived in trees, and tore folk limb from limb. How think ye?"
+
+'"Gold or no gold," said Hugh, fingering his sword, "it is a joyous
+venture. Have at these devils of thine, Witta!"
+
+'"Venture!" said Witta, sourly. "I am only a poor sea-thief. I do not set
+my life adrift on a plank for joy, or the venture. Once I beach ship again
+at Stavanger, and feel the wife's arms round my neck, I'll seek no more
+ventures. A ship is heavier care than a wife or cattle."
+
+'He leaped down among the rowers, chiding them for their little strength
+and their great stomachs. Yet Witta was a wolf in fight, and a very fox in
+cunning.
+
+'We were driven South by a storm, and for three days and three nights he
+took the stern-oar and threddled the longship through the sea. When it
+rose beyond measure he brake a pot of whale's oil upon the water, which
+wonderfully smoothed it, and in that anointed patch he turned her head to
+the wind and threw out oars at the end of a rope, to make, he said, an
+anchor at which we lay rolling sorely, but dry. This craft his father
+Guthrum had shown him. He knew, too, all the Leech-Book of Bald, who was a
+wise doctor, and he knew the Ship-Book of Hlaf the Woman, who robbed
+Egypt. He knew all the care of a ship.
+
+'After the storm we saw a mountain whose top was covered with snow and
+pierced the clouds. The grasses under this mountain, boiled and eaten, are
+a good cure for soreness of the gums and swelled ankles. We lay there
+eight days, till men in skins threw stones at us. When the heat increased
+Witta spread a cloth on bent sticks above the rowers, for the wind failed
+between the Island of the Mountain and the shore of Africa, which is east
+of it. That shore is sandy, and we rowed along it within three bowshots.
+Here we saw whales, and fish in the shape of shields, but longer than our
+ship. Some slept, some opened their mouths at us, and some danced on the
+hot waters. The water was hot to the hand, and the sky was hidden by hot,
+grey mists, out of which blew a fine dust that whitened our hair and
+beards of a morning. Here, too, were fish that flew in the air like birds.
+They would fall on the laps of the rowers, and when we went ashore we
+would roast and eat them.'
+
+The knight paused to see if the children doubted him, but they only nodded
+and said, 'Go on.'
+
+'The yellow land lay on our left, the grey sea on our right. Knight though
+I was, I pulled my oar amongst the rowers. I caught seaweed and dried it,
+and stuffed it between the pots of beads lest they should break.
+Knighthood is for the land. At sea, look you, a man is but a spurless
+rider on a bridleless horse. I learned to make strong knots in ropes--yes,
+and to join two ropes end to end, so that even Witta could scarcely see
+where they had been married. But Hugh had tenfold more sea-cunning than I.
+Witta gave him charge of the rowers of the left side. Thorkild of Borkum,
+a man with a broken nose, that wore a Norman steel cap, had the rowers of
+the right, and each side rowed and sang against the other. They saw that
+no man was idle. Truly, as Hugh said, and Witta would laugh at him, a ship
+is all more care than a Manor.
+
+'How? Thus. There was water to fetch from the shore when we could find it,
+as well as wild fruit and grasses, and sand for scrubbing of the decks and
+benches to keep them sweet. Also we hauled the ship out on low islands and
+emptied all her gear, even to the iron wedges, and burned off the weed,
+that had grown on her, with torches of rush, and smoked below the decks
+with rushes dampened in salt water, as Hlaf the Woman orders in her
+Ship-Book. Once when we were thus stripped, and the ship lay propped on
+her keel, the bird cried, "Out swords!" as though she saw an enemy. Witta
+vowed he would wring her neck.'
+
+'Poor Polly! Did he?' said Una.
+
+'Nay. She was the ship's bird. She could call all the rowers by name....
+Those were good days--for a wifeless man--with Witta and his heathen--beyond
+the world's end.... After many weeks we came on the Great Shoal which
+stretched, as Witta's father had said, far out to sea. We skirted it till
+we were giddy with the sight and dizzy with the sound of bars and
+breakers; and when we reached land again we found a naked black people
+dwelling among woods, who for one wedge of iron loaded us with fruits and
+grasses and eggs. Witta scratched his head at them in sign he would buy
+gold. They had no gold, but they understood the sign (all the gold-traders
+hide their gold in their thick hair), for they pointed along the coast.
+They beat, too, on their chests with their clenched hands, and that, if we
+had known it, was an evil sign.'
+
+'What did it mean?' said Dan.
+
+'Patience. Ye shall hear. We followed the coast eastward sixteen days
+(counting time by sword-cuts on the helm-rail) till we came to the Forest
+in the Sea. Trees grew out of mud, arched upon lean and high roots, and
+many muddy water-ways ran allwhither into darkness under the trees. Here
+we lost the sun. We followed the winding channels between the trees, and
+where we could not row we laid hold of the crusted roots and hauled
+ourselves along. The water was foul, and great glittering flies tormented
+us. Morning and evening a blue mist covered the mud, which bred fevers.
+Four of our rowers sickened, and were bound to their benches, lest they
+should leap overboard and be eaten by the monsters of the mud. The Yellow
+Man lay sick beside the Wise Iron, rolling his head and talking in his own
+tongue. Only the Bird throve. She sat on Witta's shoulder and screamed in
+that noisome, silent darkness. Yes; I think it was the silence we feared.'
+
+He paused to listen to the comfortable home noises of the brook.
+
+'When we had lost count of time among those black gullies and swashes, we
+heard, as it were, a drum beat far off, and following it we broke into a
+broad, brown river by a hut in a clearing among fields of pumkins. We
+thanked God to see the sun again. The people of the village gave the good
+welcome, and Witta scratched his head at them (for gold), and showed them
+our iron and beads. They ran to the bank--we were still in the ship--and
+pointed to our swords and bows, for always when near shore we lay armed.
+Soon they fetched store of gold in bars and in dust from their huts, and
+some great blackened elephant teeth. These they piled on the bank, as
+though to tempt us, and made signs of dealing blows in battle, and pointed
+up to the tree tops, and to the forest behind. Their captain or chief
+sorcerer then beat on his chest with his fists, and gnashed his teeth.
+
+'Said Thorkild of Borkum: "Do they mean we must fight for all this gear?"
+and he half drew his sword.
+
+'"Nay," said Hugh. "I think they ask us to league against some enemy."
+
+'"I like this not," said Witta, of a sudden. "Back into midstream."
+
+'So we did, and sat still all, watching the black folk and the gold they
+piled on the bank. Again we heard drums beat in the forest, and the people
+fled to their huts, leaving the gold unguarded.
+
+'Then Hugh, at the bows, pointed without speech, and we saw a great Devil
+come out of the forest. He shaded his brows with his hand, and moistened
+his pink tongue between his lips--thus.'
+
+'A Devil!' said Dan, delightfully horrified.
+
+'Yea. Taller than a man; covered with reddish hair. When he had well
+regarded our ship, he beat on his chest with his fists till it sounded
+like rolling drums, and came to the bank swinging all his body between his
+long arms, and gnashed his teeth at us. Hugh loosed arrow, and pierced him
+through the throat. He fell roaring, and three other Devils ran out of the
+forest and hauled him into a tall tree out of sight. Anon they cast down
+the blood-stained arrow, and lamented together among the leaves. Witta saw
+the gold on the bank; he was loath to leave it. "Sirs," said he (no man
+had spoken till then), "yonder is that we have come so far and so
+painfully to find, laid out to our very hand. Let us row in while these
+Devils bewail themselves, and at least bear off what we may."
+
+'Bold as a wolf, cunning as a fox was Witta! He set four archers on the
+foredeck to shoot the Devils if they should leap from the tree, which was
+close to the bank. He manned ten oars a side, and bade them watch his hand
+to row in or back out, and so coaxed he them toward the bank. But none
+would set foot ashore, though the gold was within ten paces. No man is
+hasty to his hanging. They whimpered at their oars like beaten hounds, and
+Witta bit his fingers for rage.
+
+'Said Hugh of a sudden, "Hark!" At first we thought it was the buzzing of
+the glittering flies on the water, but it grew loud and fierce, so that
+all men heard.'
+
+'What?' said Dan and Una.
+
+'It was the sword.' Sir Richard patted the smooth hilt. 'It sang as a Dane
+sings before battle. "I go," said Hugh, and he leaped from the bows and
+fell among the gold. I was afraid to my four bones' marrow, but for
+shame's sake I followed, and Thorkild of Borkum leaped after me. None
+other came. "Blame me not," cried Witta behind us, "I must abide by my
+ship." We three had no time to blame or praise. We stooped to the gold and
+threw it back over our shoulders, one hand on our swords and one eye on
+the tree, which nigh overhung us.
+
+'I know not how the Devils leaped down, or how the fight began. I heard
+Hugh cry: "Out! out!" as though he were at Santlache again; I saw
+Thorkild's steel cap smitten off his head by a great hairy hand, and I
+felt an arrow from the ship whistle past my ear. They say that till Witta
+took his sword to the rowers he could not bring his ship in shore; and
+each one of the four archers said afterwards that he alone had pierced the
+Devil that fought me. I do not know. I went to it in my mail-shirt, which
+saved my skin. With long-sword and belt-dagger I fought for the life
+against a Devil whose very feet were hands, and who whirled me back and
+forth like a dead branch. He had me by the waist, my arms to my side, when
+an arrow from the ship pierced him between the shoulders, and he loosened
+grip. I passed my sword twice through him, and he crutched himself away
+between his long arms, coughing and moaning. Next, as I remember, I saw
+Thorkild of Borkum bareheaded and smiling, leaping up and down before a
+Devil that leaped and gnashed his teeth. Then Hugh passed, his sword
+shifted to his left hand, and I wondered why I had not known that Hugh was
+a left-handed man; and thereafter I remembered nothing till I felt spray
+on my face, and we were in sunshine on the open sea. That was twenty days
+after.'
+
+'What had happened? Did Hugh die?' the children asked.
+
+'Never was such a fight fought by christened man,' said Sir Richard. 'An
+arrow from the ship had saved me from my Devil, and Thorkild of Borkum had
+given back before his Devil, till the bowmen on the ship could shoot it
+all full of arrows from near by; but Hugh's Devil was cunning, and had
+kept behind trees, where no arrow could reach. Body to body there, by
+stark strength of sword and hand, had Hugh slain him, and, dying, the
+Thing had clenched his teeth on the sword. Judge what teeth they were!'
+
+Sir Richard turned the sword again that the children might see the two
+great chiselled gouges on either side of the blade.
+
+'Those same teeth met in Hugh's right arm and side,' Sir Richard went on.
+'I? Oh, I had no more than a broken foot and a fever. Thorkild's ear was
+bitten, but Hugh's arm and side clean withered away. I saw him where he
+lay along, sucking a fruit in his left hand. His flesh was wasted off his
+bones, his hair was patched with white, and his hand was blue-veined like
+a woman's. He put his left hand round my neck and whispered, "Take my
+sword. It has been thine since Hastings, O, my brother, but I can never
+hold hilt again." We lay there on the high deck talking of Santlache and,
+I think, of every day since Santlache, and it came so that we both wept. I
+was weak, and he little more than a shadow.
+
+'"Nay--nay," said Witta, at the helm-rail. "Gold is a good right arm to any
+man. Look--look at the gold!" He bade Thorkild show us the gold and the
+elephants' teeth, as though we had been children. He had brought away all
+the gold on the bank, and twice as much more, that the people of the
+village gave him for slaying the Devils. They worshipped us as gods,
+Thorkild told me: it was one of their old women healed up Hugh's poor
+arm.'
+
+'How much gold did you get?' asked Dan.
+
+'How can I say? Where we came out with wedges of iron under the rowers'
+feet we returned with wedges of gold hidden beneath planks. There was dust
+of gold in packages where we slept; and along the side and crosswise under
+the benches we lashed the blackened elephants' teeth.
+
+'"I had sooner have my right arm," said Hugh, when he had seen all.
+
+'"Ahai! That was my fault," said Witta. "I should have taken ransom and
+landed you in France when first you came aboard, ten months ago."
+
+'"It is over-late now," said Hugh, laughing.
+
+'Witta plucked at his long shoulder-lock. "But think!" said he. "If I had
+let ye go--which I swear I would never have done, for I love ye more than
+brothers--if I had let ye go, by now ye might have been horribly slain by
+some mere Moor in the Duke of Burgundy's war, or ye might have been
+murdered by land-thieves, or ye might have died of the plague at an inn.
+Think of this and do not blame me overmuch, Hugh. See! I will only take a
+half of the gold."
+
+'"I blame thee not at all, Witta," said Hugh. "It was a joyous venture,
+and we thirty-five here have done what never men have done. If I live till
+England, I will build me a stout keep over Dallington out of my share."
+
+'"I will buy cattle and amber and warm red cloth for the wife," said
+Witta, "and I will hold all the land at the head of Stavanger Fiord. Many
+will fight for me now. But first we must turn North, and with this honest
+treasure aboard I pray we meet no pirate ships."
+
+'We did not laugh. We were careful. We were afraid lest we should lose one
+grain of our gold for which we had fought Devils.
+
+'"Where is the Sorcerer?" said I, for Witta was looking at the Wise Iron
+in the box, and I could not see the Yellow Man.
+
+'"He has gone to his own country," said he. "He rose up in the night while
+we were beating out of that forest in the mud, and said that he could see
+it behind the trees. He leaped out on to the mud, and did not answer when
+we called; so we called no more. He left the Wise Iron, which is all that
+I care for--and see, the Spirit still points to the South!"
+
+'We were troubled for fear that the Wise Iron should fail us now that its
+Yellow Man had gone, and when we saw the Spirit still served us we grew
+afraid of too strong winds, and of shoals, and of careless leaping fish,
+and of all the people on all the shores where we landed.'
+
+'Why?' said Dan.
+
+'Because of the gold--because of our gold. Gold changes men altogether.
+Thorkild of Borkum did not change. He laughed at Witta for his fears, and
+at us for our counselling Witta to furl sail when the ship pitched at all.
+
+'"Better be drowned out of hand," said Thorkild of Borkum, "than go tied
+to a deck-load of yellow dust."
+
+'He was a landless man, and had been slave to some King in the East. He
+would have beaten out the gold into deep bands to put round the oars, and
+round the prow.
+
+'Yet, though he vexed himself for the gold, Witta waited upon Hugh like a
+woman, lending him his shoulder when the ship rolled, and tying of ropes
+from side to side that Hugh might hold by them. But for Hugh, he said--and
+so did all his men--they would never have won the gold. I remember Witta
+made a little, thin gold ring for our Bird to swing in. Three months we
+rowed and sailed and went ashore for fruits or to clean the ship. When we
+saw wild horsemen, riding among sand-dunes, flourishing spears we knew we
+were on the Moors' coast, and stood over north to Spain; and a strong
+south-west wind bore us in ten days to a coast of high red rocks, where we
+heard a hunting-horn blow among the yellow gorse and knew it was England.
+
+'"Now find ye Pevensey yourselves," said Witta. "I love not these narrow
+ship-filled seas."
+
+'He set the dried, salted head of the Devil, which Hugh had killed, high
+on our prow, and all boats fled from us. Yet, for our gold's sake, we were
+more afraid than they. We crept along the coast by night till we came to
+the chalk cliffs, and so east to Pevensey. Witta would not come ashore
+with us, though Hugh promised him wine at Dallington enough to swim in. He
+was on fire to see his wife, and ran into the Marsh after sunset, and
+there he left us and our share of gold, and backed out on the same tide.
+He made no promise; he swore no oath; he looked for no thanks; but to
+Hugh, an armless man, and to me, an old cripple whom he could have flung
+into the sea, he passed over wedge upon wedge, packet upon packet of gold
+and dust of gold, and only ceased when we would take no more. As he
+stooped from the rail to bid us farewell he stripped off his right-arm
+bracelets and put them all on Hugh's left, and he kissed Hugh on the
+cheek. I think when Thorkild of Borkum bade the rowers give way we were
+near weeping. It is true that Witta was an heathen and a pirate; true it
+is he held us by force many months in his ship, but I loved that
+bow-legged, blue-eyed man for his great boldness, his cunning, his skill,
+and, beyond all, for his simplicity.'
+
+'Did he get home all right?' said Dan.
+
+'I never knew. We saw him hoist sail under the moon-track and stand away.
+I have prayed that he found his wife and the children.'
+
+'And what did you do?'
+
+'We waited on the Marsh till the day. Then I sat by the gold, all tied in
+an old sail, while Hugh went to Pevensey, and De Aquila sent us horses.'
+
+Sir Richard crossed hands on his sword-hilt, and stared down stream
+through the soft warm shadows.
+
+'A whole shipload of gold!' said Una, looking at the little _Golden Hind_.
+'But I'm glad I didn't see the Devils.'
+
+'I don't believe they were Devils,' Dan whispered back.
+
+'Eh?' said Sir Richard. 'Witta's father warned him they were
+unquestionable Devils. One must believe one's father, and not one's
+children. What were my Devils, then?'
+
+Dan flushed all over. 'I--I only thought,' he stammered; 'I've got a book
+called _The Gorilla Hunters_--it's a continuation of _Coral Island_,
+sir--and it says there that the gorillas (they're big monkeys, you know)
+were always chewing iron up.'
+
+'Not always,' said Una. 'Only twice.' They had been reading _The Gorilla
+Hunters_ in the orchard.
+
+'Well, anyhow, they always drummed on their chests, like Sir Richard's
+did, before they went for people. And they built houses in trees, too.'
+
+'Ha!' Sir Richard opened his eyes. 'Houses like flat nests did our Devils
+make, where their imps lay and looked at us. I did not see them (I was
+sick after the fight), but Witta told me and, lo, ye know it also?
+Wonderful! Were our Devils only nest-building apes? Is there no sorcery
+left in the world?'
+
+'I don't know,' answered Dan, uncomfortably. 'I've seen a man take rabbits
+out of a hat, and he told us we could see how he did it, if we watched
+hard. And we did.'
+
+'But we didn't,' said Una sighing. 'Oh! there's Puck!'
+
+The little fellow, brown and smiling, peered between two stems of an ash,
+nodded, and slid down the bank into the cool beside them.
+
+'No sorcery, Sir Richard?' he laughed, and blew on a full dandelion head
+he had picked.
+
+'They tell me that Witta's Wise Iron was a toy. The boy carries such an
+Iron with him. They tell me our Devils were apes, called gorillas!' said
+Sir Richard, indignantly.
+
+'That is the sorcery of books,' said Puck. 'I warned thee they were wise
+children. All people can be wise by reading of books.'
+
+'But are the books true?' Sir Richard frowned. 'I like not all this
+reading and writing.'
+
+'Ye-es,' said Puck, holding the naked dandelion head at arm's length. 'But
+if we hang all fellows who write falsely, why did De Aquila not begin with
+Gilbert, the Clerk? _He_ was false enough.'
+
+'Poor false Gilbert. Yet in his fashion, he was bold,' said Sir Richard.
+
+'What did he do?' said Dan.
+
+'He wrote,' said Sir Richard. 'Is the tale meet for children, think you?'
+He looked at Puck; but, 'Tell us! Tell us!' cried Dan and Una together.
+
+
+
+
+THORKILD'S SONG
+
+
+  _There is no wind along these seas,_
+    Out oars for Stavanger!
+    Forward all for Stavanger!
+  _So we must wake the white-ash breeze,_
+    Let fall for Stavanger!
+    A long pull for Stavanger!
+
+  _Oh, hear the benches creak and strain!_
+    (A long pull for Stavanger!)
+  _She thinks she smells the Northland rain!_
+    (A long pull for Stavanger!)
+
+  _She thinks she smells the Northland snow,_
+  _And she's as glad as we to go!_
+
+  _She thinks she smells the Northland rime,_
+  _And the dear dark nights of winter-time._
+
+  _Her very bolts are sick for shore,_
+  _And we--we want it ten times more!_
+
+  _Hoe--all you Gods that love brave men,_
+  _Send us a three-reef gale again!_
+
+  _Send us a gale, and watch us come,_
+  _With close-cropped canvas slashing home!_
+
+  But--_there's no wind in all these seas,_
+    A long pull for Stavanger!
+  _So we must wake the white-ash breeze,_
+    A long pull for Stavanger!
+
+
+
+
+
+OLD MEN AT PEVENSEY
+
+
+
+
+OLD MEN AT PEVENSEY
+
+
+'It has nought to do with apes or devils,' Sir Richard went on, in an
+undertone. 'It concerns De Aquila, than whom there was never bolder nor
+craftier, nor more hardy knight born. And, remember, he was an old, old
+man at that time.'
+
+'When?' said Dan.
+
+'When we came back from sailing with Witta.'
+
+'What did you do with your gold?' said Dan.
+
+'Have patience. Link by link is chain-mail made. I will tell all in its
+place. We bore the gold to Pevensey on horseback--three loads of it--and
+then up to the north chamber, above the Great Hall of Pevensey Castle,
+where De Aquila lay in winter. He sat on his bed like a little white
+falcon, turning his head swiftly from one to the other as we told our
+tale. Jehan the Crab, an old sour man-at-arms, guarded the stairway, but
+De Aquila bade him wait at the stair-foot, and let down both leather
+curtains over the door. It was Jehan whom De Aquila had sent to us with
+the horses, and only Jehan had loaded the gold. When our story was told,
+De Aquila gave us the news of England, for we were as men waked from a
+year-long sleep. The Red King was dead--slain (ye remember?) the day we set
+sail--and Henry, his younger brother, had made himself King of England over
+the head of Robert of Normandy. This was the very thing that the Red King
+had done to Robert when our Great William died. Then Robert of Normandy,
+mad, as De Aquila said, at twice missing of this kingdom, had sent an army
+against England, which army had been well beaten back to their ships at
+Portsmouth. A little earlier, and Witta's ship would have rowed through
+them.
+
+'"And now," said De Aquila, "half the great Barons of the north and west
+are out against the King between Salisbury and Shrewsbury; and half the
+other half wait to see which way the game shall go. They say Henry is
+overly English for their stomachs, because he hath married an English wife
+and she hath coaxed him to give back their old laws to our Saxons. (Better
+ride a horse on the bit he knows, _I_ say.) But that is only a cloak to
+their falsehood." He cracked his finger on the table where the wine was
+spilt, and thus he spoke:--
+
+'"William crammed us Norman barons full of good English acres after
+Santlache. _I_ had my share too," he said, and clapped Hugh on the
+shoulder; "but I warned him--I warned him before Odo rebelled--that he
+should have bidden the Barons give up their lands and lordships in
+Normandy if they would be English lords. Now they are all but princes both
+in England and Normandy--trencher-fed hounds, with a foot in one trough and
+both eyes on the other! Robert of Normandy has sent them word that if they
+do not fight for him in England he will sack and harry out their lands in
+Normandy. Therefore Clare has risen, Fitz Osborn has risen, Montgomery has
+risen--whom our First William made an English earl. Even D'Arcy is out with
+his men, whose father I remember a little hedge-sparrow knight nearby
+Caen. If Henry wins, the Barons can still flee to Normandy, where Robert
+will welcome them. If Henry loses, Robert, he says, will give them more
+lands in England. Oh, a pest--a pest on Normandy, for she will be our
+England's curse this many a long year!"
+
+'"Amen," said Hugh. "But will the war come our ways, think you?"
+
+'"Not from the North," said De Aquila. "But the sea is always open. If the
+Barons gain the upper hand Robert will send another army into England for
+sure; and this time I think he will land here--where his father, the
+Conqueror, landed. Ye have brought your pigs to a pretty market! Half
+England alight, and gold enough on the ground"--he stamped on the bars
+beneath the table--"to set every sword in Christendom fighting."
+
+'"What is to do?" said Hugh. "I have no keep at Dallington; and if we
+buried it, whom could we trust?"
+
+'"Me," said De Aquila. "Pevensey walls are strong. No man but Jehan, who
+is my dog, knows what is between them." He drew a curtain by the
+shot-window and showed us the shaft of a well in the thickness of the
+wall.
+
+'"I made it for a drinking-well," he said, "but we found salt water, and
+it rises and falls with the tide. Hark!" We heard the water whistle and
+blow at the bottom. "Will it serve?" said he.
+
+'"Needs must," said Hugh. "Our lives are in thy hands." So we lowered all
+the gold down except one small chest of it by De Aquila's bed, which we
+kept as much for his delight in its weight and colour as for any our
+needs.
+
+'In the morning, ere we rode to our Manors, he said: "I do not say
+farewell; because ye will return and bide here. Not for love nor for
+sorrow, but to be with the gold. Have a care," he said, laughing, "lest I
+use it to make myself Pope. Trust me not, but return!"'
+
+Sir Richard paused and smiled sadly.
+
+'In seven days, then, we returned from our Manors--from the Manors which
+had been ours.'
+
+'And were the children quite well?' said Una.
+
+'My sons were young. Land and governance belong by right to young men.'
+Sir Richard was talking to himself. 'It would have broken their hearts if
+we had taken back our Manors. They made us great welcome, but we could
+see--Hugh and I could see--that our day was done. I was a cripple and he a
+one-armed man. No!' He shook his head. 'And therefore'--he raised his
+voice--'we rode back to Pevensey.'
+
+'I'm sorry,' said Una, for the knight seemed very sorrowful.
+
+'Little maid, it all passed long ago. They were young; we were old. We let
+them rule the Manors. "Aha!" cried De Aquila from his shot-window, when we
+dismounted. "Back again to earth, old foxes?" but when we were in his
+chamber above the hall he puts his arms about us and says, "Welcome,
+ghosts! Welcome, poor ghosts!"... Thus it fell out that we were rich
+beyond belief, and lonely. And lonely!'
+
+'What did you do?' said Dan.
+
+'We watched for Robert of Normandy,' said the knight. 'De Aquila was like
+Witta. He suffered no idleness. In fair weather we would ride along
+between Bexlei on the one side, to Cuckmere on the other--sometimes with
+hawk, sometimes with hound (there are stout hares both on the Marsh and
+the Downland), but always with an eye to the sea, for fear of fleets from
+Normandy. In foul weather he would walk on the top of his tower, frowning
+against the rain--peering here and pointing there. It always vexed him to
+think how Witta's ship had come and gone without his knowledge. When the
+wind ceased and ships anchored, to the wharf's edge he would go and,
+leaning on his sword among the stinking fish, would call to the mariners
+for their news from France. His other eye he kept landward for word of
+Henry's war against the Barons.
+
+'Many brought him news--jongleurs, harpers, pedlars, sutlers, priests, and
+the like; and, though he was secret enough in small things, yet, if their
+news misliked him, then, regarding neither time nor place nor people,
+would he curse our King Henry for a fool or a babe. I have heard him cry
+aloud by the fishing-boats: "If I were King of England I would do thus and
+thus"; and when I rode out to see that the warning-beacons were laid and
+dry, he hath often called to me from the shot-window: "Look to it,
+Richard! Do not copy our blind King, but see with thine own eyes and feel
+with thine own hands." I do not think he knew any sort of fear. And so we
+lived at Pevensey, in the little chamber above the Hall.
+
+'One foul night came word that a messenger of the King waited below. We
+were chilled after a long riding in the fog towards Bexlei, which is an
+easy place for ships to land. De Aquila sent word the man might either eat
+with us or wait till we had fed. Anon Jehan, at the stair-head, cried that
+he had called for horse, and was gone. "Pest on him!" said De Aquila. "I
+have more to do than to shiver in the Great Hall for every gadling the
+King sends. Left he no word?"
+
+'"None," said Jehan, "except"--he had been with De Aquila at
+Santlache--"except he said that if an old dog could not learn new tricks it
+was time to sweep out the kennel."
+
+'"Oho!" said De Aquila, rubbing his nose, "to whom did he say that?"
+
+'"To his beard, chiefly, but some to his horse's flank as he was girthing
+up. I followed him out," said Jehan the Crab.
+
+'"What was his shield-mark?"
+
+'"Gold horseshoes on black," said the Crab.
+
+'"That is one of Fulke's men," said De Aquila.'
+
+Puck broke in very gently, 'Gold horseshoes on black is _not_ the Fulkes'
+shield. The Fulkes' arms are----'
+
+The knight waved one hand statelily.
+
+'Thou knowest that evil man's true name,' he replied, 'but I have chosen
+to call him Fulke because I promised him I would not tell the story of his
+wickedness so that any man might guess it. I have changed _all_ the names
+in my tale. His children's children may be still alive.'
+
+'True--true,' said Puck, smiling softly. 'It is knightly to keep faith--even
+after a thousand years.'
+
+Sir Richard bowed a little and went on:--
+
+'"Gold horseshoes on black?" said De Aquila. "I had heard Fulke had joined
+the Barons, but if this is true our King must be of the upper hand. No
+matter, all Fulkes are faithful. Still, I would not have sent the man away
+empty."
+
+'"He fed," said Jehan. "Gilbert the Clerk fetched him meat and wine from
+the kitchens. He ate at Gilbert's table."
+
+'This Gilbert was a clerk from Battle Abbey, who kept the accounts of the
+Manor of Pevensey. He was tall and pale-coloured, and carried those
+new-fashioned beads for counting of prayers. They were large brown nuts or
+seeds, and hanging from his girdle with his penner and inkhorn they
+clashed when he walked. His place was in the great fireplace. There was
+his table of accounts, and there he lay o' nights. He feared the hounds in
+the Hall that came nosing after bones or to sleep on the warm ashes, and
+would slash at them with his beads--like a woman. When De Aquila sat in
+Hall to do justice, take fines, or grant lands, Gilbert would so write it
+in the Manor-roll. But it was none of his work to feed our guests, or to
+let them depart without his lord's knowledge.
+
+'Said De Aquila, after Jehan was gone down the stair: "Hugh, hast thou
+ever told my Gilbert thou canst read Latin hand-of-write?"
+
+'"No," said Hugh. "He is no friend to me, or to Odo my hound either." "No
+matter," said De Aquila. "Let him never know thou canst tell one letter
+from its fellow, and"--here he jerked us in the ribs with his
+scabbard--"watch him both of ye. There be devils in Africa, as I have
+heard, but by the Saints there be greater devils in Pevensey!" And that
+was all he would say.
+
+'It chanced, some small while afterwards, a Norman man-at-arms would wed a
+Saxon wench of the Manor, and Gilbert (we had watched him well since De
+Aquila spoke) doubted whether her folk were free or slave. Since De Aquila
+would give them a field of good land, if she were free, the matter came up
+at the justice in Great Hall before De Aquila. First the wench's father
+spoke; then her mother; then all together, till the hall rang and the
+hounds bayed. De Aquila held up his hands. "Write her free," he called to
+Gilbert by the fireplace. "A' God's Name write her free, before she
+deafens me! Yes, yes," he said to the wench that was on her knees at him;
+"thou art Cerdic's sister, and own cousin to the Lady of Mercia, if thou
+wilt be silent. In fifty years there will be neither Norman nor Saxon, but
+all English," said he, "and _these_ are the men that do our work!" He
+clapped the man-at-arms, that was Jehan's nephew, on the shoulder, and
+kissed the wench, and fretted with his feet among the rushes to show it
+was finished. (The Great Hall is always bitter cold.) I stood at his side;
+Hugh was behind Gilbert in the fireplace making to play with wise rough
+Odo. He signed to De Aquila, who bade Gilbert measure the new field for
+the new couple. Out then runs our Gilbert between man and maid, his beads
+clashing at his waist, and the Hall being empty, we three sit by the fire.
+
+'Said Hugh, leaning down to the hearthstones, "I saw this stone move under
+Gilbert's foot when Odo snuffed at it. Look!" De Aquila digged in the
+ashes with his sword; the stone tilted; beneath it lay a parchment folden,
+and the writing atop was: "Words spoken against the King by our Lord of
+Pevensey--the second part."
+
+'Here was set out (Hugh read it us whispering) every jest De Aquila had
+made to us touching the King; every time he had called out to me from the
+shot-window, and every time he had said what he would do if he were King
+of England. Yes, day by day had his daily speech, which he never stinted,
+been set down by Gilbert, tricked out and twisted from its true meaning,
+yet withal so cunningly that none could deny who knew him that De Aquila
+had in some sort spoken those words. Ye see?'
+
+Dan and Una nodded.
+
+'Yes,' said Una, gravely. 'It isn't what you say so much. It's what you
+mean when you say it. Like calling Dan a beast in fun. Only grown-ups
+don't always understand.'
+
+'"He hath done this day by day before our very face?" said De Aquila.
+
+"Nay, hour by hour," said Hugh. "When De Aquila spoke even now, in the
+hall, of Saxons and Normans, I saw Gilbert write on a parchment, which he
+kept beside the Manor-roll, that De Aquila said soon there would be no
+Normans left in England if his men-at-arms did their work aright."
+
+'"Bones of the Saints!" said De Aquila. "What avail is honour or a sword
+against a pen? Where did Gilbert hide that writing? He shall eat it."
+
+'"In his breast when he ran out," said Hugh. "Which made me look to see
+where he kept his finished stuff. When Odo scratched at this stone here, I
+saw his face change. So I was sure."
+
+'"He is bold," said De Aquila. "Do him justice. In his own fashion, my
+Gilbert is bold."
+
+'"Overbold," said Hugh. "Hearken here," and he read: "Upon the feast of
+St. Agatha, our Lord of Pevensey, lying in his upper chamber, being
+clothed in his second fur gown reversed with rabbit----"
+
+'"Pest on him! He is not my tire-woman!" said De Aquila, and Hugh and I
+laughed.
+
+'"Reversed with rabbit, seeing a fog over the marshes, did wake Sir
+Richard Dalyngridge, his drunken cup-mate" (here they laughed at me) "and
+said, 'Peer out, old fox, for God is on the Duke of Normandy's side.'"
+
+'"So did I. It was a black fog. Robert could have landed ten thousand men,
+and we none the wiser. Does he tell how we were out all day riding the
+marsh, and how I near perished in a quicksand, and coughed like a sick ewe
+for ten days after?" cried De Aquila.
+
+'"No," said Hugh. "But here is the prayer of Gilbert himself to his master
+Fulke."
+
+'"Ah," said De Aquila. "Well I knew it was Fulke. What is the price of my
+blood?"
+
+'"Gilbert prayeth that when our Lord of Pevensey is stripped of his lands
+on this evidence which Gilbert hath, with fear and pains, collected----"
+
+'"Fear and pains is a true word," said De Aquila, and sucked in his
+cheeks. "But how excellent a weapon is a pen! I must learn it."
+
+'"He prays that Fulke will advance him from his present service to that
+honour in the Church which Fulke promised him. And lest Fulke should
+forget, he has written below, 'To be Sacristan of Battle.'"
+
+'At this De Aquila whistled. "A man who can plot against one lord can plot
+against another. When I am stripped of my lands Fulke will whip off my
+Gilbert's foolish head. None the less Battle needs a new Sacristan. They
+tell me the Abbot Henry keeps no sort of rule there."
+
+'"Let the Abbot wait," said Hugh. "It is our heads and our lands that are
+in danger. This parchment is the second part of the tale. The first has
+gone to Fulke, and so to the King, who will hold us traitors."
+
+'"Assuredly," said De Aquila. "Fulke's man took the first part that
+evening when Gilbert fed him, and our King is so beset by his brother and
+his Barons (small blame, too!) that he is mad with mistrust. Fulke has his
+ear, and pours poison into it. Presently the King gives him my land and
+yours. This is old," and he leaned back and yawned.
+
+'"And thou wilt surrender Pevensey without word or blow?" said Hugh. "We
+Saxons will fight your King then. I will go warn my nephew at Dallington.
+Give me a horse!"
+
+'"Give thee a toy and a rattle." said De Aquila. "Put back the parchment,
+and rake over the ashes. If Fulke is given my Pevensey which is England's
+gate, what will he do with it? He is Norman at heart, and his heart is in
+Normandy, where he can kill peasants at his pleasure. He will open
+England's gate to our sleepy Robert, as Odo and Mortain tried to do, and
+then there will be another landing and another Santlache. Therefore I
+cannot give up Pevensey."
+
+'"Good," said we two.
+
+'"Ah, but wait! If my King be made, on Gilbert's evidence, to mistrust me,
+he will send his men against me here, and, while we fight, England's gate
+is left unguarded. Who will be the first to come through thereby? Even
+Robert of Normandy. Therefore I cannot fight my King." He nursed his
+sword--thus.
+
+'"This is saying and unsaying like a Norman," said Hugh. "What of our
+Manors?"
+
+'"I do not think for myself," said De Aquila, "nor for our King, nor for
+your lands. I think for England, for whom neither King nor Baron thinks. I
+am not Norman, Sir Richard, nor Saxon, Sir Hugh. English am I."
+
+'"Saxon, Norman, or English," said Hugh, "our lives are thine, however the
+game goes. When do we hang Gilbert?"
+
+'"Never," said De Aquila. "Who knows he may yet be Sacristan of Battle,
+for, to do him justice, he is a good writer. Dead men make dumb witnesses.
+Wait."
+
+'"But the King may give Pevensey to Fulke. And our Manors go with it,"
+said I. "Shall we tell our sons?"
+
+'"No. The King will not wake up a hornet's nest in the South till he has
+smoked out the bees in the North. He may hold me a traitor; but at least
+he sees I am not fighting against him, and every day that I lie still is
+so much gain to him while he fights the barons. If he were wise he would
+wait till that war were over before he made new enemies. But I think Fulke
+will play upon him to send for me, and if I do not obey the summons that
+will, to Henry's mind, be proof of my treason. But mere talk, such as
+Gilbert sends, is no proof nowadays. We Barons follow the Church, and,
+like Anselm, we speak what we please. Let us go about our day's dealings,
+and say naught to Gilbert."
+
+'"Then we do nothing?" said Hugh.
+
+'"We wait," said De Aquila. "I am old, but still I find that the most
+grievous work I know."
+
+'And so we found it, but in the end De Aquila was right.
+
+'A little later in the year, armed men rode over the hill, the Golden
+Horseshoes flying behind the King's banner. Said De Aquila, at the window
+of our chamber: "How did I tell you? Here comes Fulke himself to spy out
+his new lands which our King hath promised him if he can bring proof of my
+treason."
+
+'"How dost thou know?" said Hugh.
+
+'"Because that is what I would do if I were Fulke, but _I_ should have
+brought more men. My roan horse to your old shoes," said he, "Fulke brings
+me the King's Summons to leave Pevensey and join the war." He sucked in
+his cheeks and drummed on the edge of the shaft, where the water sounded
+all hollow.
+
+'"Shall we go?" said I.
+
+'"Go! At this time of year? Stark madness," said he. "Take _me_ from
+Pevensey to fisk and flyte through fern and forest, and in three days
+Robert's keels would be lying on Pevensey mud with ten thousand men! Who
+would stop them--Fulke?"
+
+'The horns blew without, and anon Fulke cried the King's Summons at the
+great door that De Aquila with all men and horse should join the King's
+camp at Salisbury.
+
+'"How did I tell you?" said De Aquila. "There are twenty Barons 'twixt
+here and Salisbury could give King Henry good land-service, but he has
+been worked upon by Fulke to send south and call me--_me!_--off the Gate of
+England, when his enemies stand about to batter it in. See that Fulke's
+men lie in the big south barn," said he. "Give them drink, and when Fulke
+has eaten we will drink in my chamber. The Great Hall is too cold for old
+bones."
+
+'As soon as he was off-horse Fulke went to the chapel with Gilbert to give
+thanks for his safe coming, and when he had eaten--he was a fat man, and
+rolled his eyes greedily at our good roast Sussex wheatears--we led him to
+the little upper chamber, whither Gilbert had already gone with the
+Manor-roll. I remember when Fulke heard the tide blow and whistle in the
+shaft he leaped back, and his long down-turned stirrup-shoes caught in the
+rushes and he stumbled, so that Jehan behind him found it easy to knock
+his head against the wall.'
+
+'Did you know it was going to happen?' said Dan.
+
+'Assuredly,' said Sir Richard, with a sweet smile. 'I put my foot on his
+sword and plucked away his dagger, but he knew not whether it was day or
+night for a while. He lay rolling his eyes and bubbling with his mouth,
+and Jehan roped him like a calf. He was cased all in that new-fangled
+armour which we call lizard-mail. Not rings like my hauberk here'--Sir
+Richard tapped his chest--'but little pieces of dagger-proof steel
+overlapping on stout leather. We stripped it off (no need to spoil good
+harness by wetting it), and in the neck-piece De Aquila found the same
+folden piece of parchment which we had put back under the hearthstone.
+
+'At this Gilbert would have run out. I laid my hand on his shoulder. It
+sufficed. He fell to trembling and praying on his beads.
+
+'"Gilbert," said De Aquila, "here be more notable sayings and doings of
+our Lord of Pevensey for thee to write down. Take penner and inkhorn,
+Gilbert. We cannot all be Sacristans of Battle."
+
+'Said Fulke from the floor, "Ye have bound a King's messenger. Pevensey
+shall burn for this!"
+
+'"Maybe. I have seen it besieged once," said De Aquila, "but heart up,
+Fulke. I promise thee that thou shalt be hanged in the middle of the
+flames at the end of that siege, if I have to share my last loaf with
+thee; and that is more than Odo would have done when we starved out him
+and Mortain."
+
+'Then Fulke sat up and looked long and cunningly at De Aquila.
+
+'"By the Saints," said he, "why didst thou not say thou wast on the Duke's
+side at the first?"
+
+'"Am I?" said De Aquila.
+
+'Fulke laughed and said, "No man who serves King Henry dare do this much
+to his messenger. When didst thou come over to the Duke? Let me up and we
+can smooth it out together." And he smiled and becked and winked.
+
+'"Yes, we will smooth it out," said De Aquila. He nodded to me, and Jehan
+and I heaved up Fulke--he was a heavy man--and lowered him into the shaft by
+a rope, not so as to stand on our gold, but dangling by his shoulders a
+little above. It was turn of ebb, and the water came to his knees. He said
+nothing, but shivered somewhat.
+
+'Then Jehan of a sudden beat down Gilbert's wrist with his sheathed
+dagger, "Stop!" he said. "He swallows his beads."
+
+'"Poison, belike," said De Aquila. "It is good for men who know too much.
+I have carried it these thirty years. Give me!"
+
+'Then Gilbert wept and howled. De Aquila ran the beads through his
+fingers. The last one--I have said they were large nuts--opened in two
+halves on a pin, and there was a small folded parchment within. On it was
+written: "_The Old Dog goes to Salisbury to be beaten. I have his Kennel.
+Come quickly._"
+
+'"This is worse than poison," said De Aquila, very softly, and sucked in
+his cheeks. Then Gilbert grovelled in the rushes, and told us all he knew.
+The letter, as we guessed, was from Fulke to the Duke (and not the first
+that had passed between them); Fulke had given it to Gilbert in the
+chapel, and Gilbert thought to have taken it by morning to a certain
+fishing-boat at the wharf, which trafficked between Pevensey and the
+French shore. Gilbert was a false fellow, but he found time between his
+quakings and shakings to swear that the master of the boat knew nothing of
+the matter.
+
+'"He hath called me shaved head," said Gilbert, "and he hath thrown
+haddock-guts at me; but for all that, he is no traitor."
+
+'"I will have no clerk of mine mishandled or miscalled," said De Aquila.
+"That seaman shall be whipped at his own mast. Write me first a letter,
+and thou shalt bear it, with the order for the whipping, to-morrow to the
+boat."
+
+'At this Gilbert would have kissed De Aquila's hand--he had not hoped to
+live until the morning--and when he trembled less he wrote a letter as from
+Fulke to the Duke saying that the Kennel, which signified Pevensey, was
+shut, and that the old Dog (which was De Aquila) sat outside it, and,
+moreover, that all had been betrayed.
+
+'"Write to any man that all is betrayed," said De Aquila, "and even the
+Pope himself would sleep uneasily. Eh, Jehan? If one told thee all was
+betrayed, what wouldst thou do?"
+
+'"I would run away," said Jehan. "It might be true."
+
+'"Well said," quoth De Aquila. "Write, Gilbert, that Montgomery, the great
+Earl, hath made his peace with the King, and that little D'Arcy, whom I
+hate, hath been hanged by the heels. We will give Robert full measure to
+chew upon. Write also that Fulke himself is sick to death of a dropsy."
+
+'"Nay?" cried Fulke, hanging in the well-shaft. "Drown me out of hand, but
+do not make a jest of me."
+
+'"Jest? I?" said De Aquila. "I am but fighting for life and lands with a
+pen, as thou hast shown me, Fulke."
+
+'Then Fulke groaned, for he was cold, and, "Let me confess," said he.
+
+'"Now, this is right neighbourly," said De Aquila, leaning over the shaft.
+"Thou hast read my sayings and doings--or at least the first part of
+them--and thou art minded to repay me with thy own doings and sayings. Take
+penner and inkhorn, Gilbert. Here is work that will not irk thee."
+
+'"Let my men go without hurt, and I will confess my treason against the
+King," said Fulke.
+
+'"Now, why has he grown so tender of his men of a sudden?" said Hugh to
+me; for Fulke had no name for mercy to his men. Plunder he gave them, but
+pity, none.
+
+'"Té! Té!" said De Aquila. "Thy treason was all confessed long ago by
+Gilbert. It would be enough to hang Montgomery himself."
+
+'"Nay; but spare my men," said Fulke; and we heard him splash like a fish
+in a pond, for the tide was rising.
+
+'"All in good time," said De Aquila. "The night is young; the wine is old;
+and we need only the merry tale. Begin the story of thy life since when
+thou wast a lad at Tours. Tell it nimbly!"
+
+'"Ye shame me to my soul," said Fulke.
+
+'"Then I have done what neither King nor Duke could do," said De Aquila.
+"But begin, and forget nothing."
+
+'"Send thy man away," said Fulke.
+
+'"That much I can," said De Aquila. "But, remember, I am like the Danes'
+King; I cannot turn the tide."
+
+'"How long will it rise?" said Fulke, and splashed anew.
+
+'"For three hours," said De Aquila. "Time to tell all thy good deeds.
+Begin, and Gilbert--I have heard thou art somewhat careless--do not twist
+his words from their true meaning."
+
+'So--fear of death in the dark being upon him--Fulke began; and Gilbert, not
+knowing what his fate might be, wrote it word by word. I have heard many
+tales, but never heard I aught to match the tale of Fulke, his black life,
+as Fulke told it hollowly, hanging in the shaft.'
+
+'Was it bad?' said Dan, awestruck.
+
+'Beyond belief,' Sir Richard answered. 'None the less, there was that in
+it which forced even Gilbert to laugh. We three laughed till we ached. At
+one place his teeth so chattered that we could not well hear, and we
+reached him down a cup of wine. Then he warmed to it, and smoothly set out
+all his shifts, malices, and treacheries, his extreme boldnesses (he was
+desperate bold); his retreats, shufflings, and counterfeitings (he was
+also inconceivably a coward); his lack of gear and honour; his despair at
+their loss; his remedies, and well-coloured contrivances. Yes, he waved
+the filthy rags of his life before us, as though they had been some proud
+banner. When he ceased, we saw by torches that the tide stood at the
+corners of his mouth, and he breathed strongly through his nose.
+
+'We had him out, and rubbed him; we wrapped him in a cloak, and gave him
+wine, and we leaned and looked upon him the while he drank. He was
+shivering, but shameless.
+
+'Of a sudden we heard Jehan at the stairway wake, but a boy pushed past
+him, and stood before us, the hall rushes in his hair, all slubbered with
+sleep. "My father! My father! I dreamed of treachery," he cried, and
+babbled thickly.
+
+'"There is no treachery here," said Fulke. "Go," and the boy turned, even
+then not fully awake, and Jehan led him by the hand to the Great Hall.
+
+'"Thy only son!" said De Aquila, "Why didst thou bring the child here?"
+
+'"He is my heir. I dared not trust him to my brother," said Fulke, and now
+he was ashamed. De Aquila said nothing, but sat weighing a wine cup in his
+two hands--thus. Anon, Fulke touched him on the knee.
+
+'"Let the boy escape to Normandy," said he, "and do with me at thy
+pleasure. Yea, hang me to-morrow, with my letter to Robert round my neck,
+but let the boy go."
+
+'"Be still," said De Aquila. "I think for England."
+
+'So we waited what our Lord of Pevensey should devise; and the sweat ran
+down Fulke's forehead.
+
+'At last said De Aquila: "I am too old to judge, or to trust any man. I do
+not covet thy lands, as thou hast coveted mine; and whether thou art any
+better or any worse than any other black Angevin thief, it is for thy King
+to find out. Therefore, go back to thy King, Fulke."
+
+'"And thou wilt say nothing of what has passed?" said Fulke.
+
+'"Why should I? Thy son will stay with me. If the King calls me again to
+leave Pevensey, which I must guard against England's enemies; if the King
+sends his men against me for a traitor; or if I hear that the King in his
+bed thinks any evil of me or my two knights, thy son will be hanged from
+out this window, Fulke."'
+
+'But it hadn't anything to do with his son,' cried Una, startled.
+
+'How could we have hanged Fulke?' said Sir Richard. 'We needed him to make
+our peace with the King. He would have betrayed half England for the boy's
+sake. Of that we were sure.'
+
+'I don't understand,' said Una. 'But I think it was simply awful.'
+
+'So did not Fulke. He was well pleased.'
+
+'What? Because his son was going to be killed?'
+
+'Nay. Because De Aquila had shown him how he might save the boy's life and
+his own lands and honours. "I will do it," he said. "I swear I will do it.
+I will tell the King thou art no traitor, but the most excellent, valiant,
+and perfect of us all. Yes, I will save thee."
+
+'De Aquila looked still into the bottom of the cup, rolling the wine-dregs
+to and fro.
+
+'"Ay," he said. "If I had a son, I would, I think, save him. But do not by
+any means tell me how thou wilt go about it."
+
+'"Nay, nay," said Fulke, nodding his bald head wisely. "That is my secret.
+But rest at ease, De Aquila, no hair of thy head nor rood of thy land
+shall be forfeited," and he smiled like one planning great good deeds.
+
+'"And henceforward," said De Aquila, "I counsel thee to serve one
+master--not two."
+
+'"What?" said Fulke. "Can I work no more honest trading between the two
+sides these troublous times?"
+
+'"Serve Robert or the King--England or Normandy," said De Aquila. "I care
+not which it is, but make thy choice here and now."
+
+'"The King, then," said Fulke, "for I see he is better served than Robert.
+Shall I swear it?"
+
+'"No need," said De Aquila, and he laid his hand on the parchments which
+Gilbert had written. "It shall be some part of my Gilbert's penance to
+copy out the savoury tale of thy life, till we have made ten, twenty, an
+hundred, maybe, copies. How many cattle, think you, would the Bishop of
+Tours give for that tale? Or thy brother? Or the Monks of Blois? Minstrels
+will turn it into songs which thy own Saxon serfs shall sing behind their
+plough-stilts, and men-at-arms riding through thy Norman towns. From here
+to Rome, Fulke, men will make very merry over that tale, and how Fulke
+told it, hanging in a well, like a drowned puppy. This shall be thy
+punishment, if ever I find thee double-dealing with thy King any more.
+Meantime, the parchments stay here with thy son. Him I will return to thee
+when thou hast made my peace with the King. The parchments never."
+
+'Fulke hid his face and groaned.
+
+'"Bones of the Saints!" said De Aquila, laughing. "The pen cuts deep. I
+could never have fetched that grunt out of thee with any sword."
+
+'"But so long as I do not anger thee, my tale will be secret?" said Fulke.
+
+'"Just so long. Does that comfort thee, Fulke?" said De Aquila.
+
+'"What other comfort have ye left me?" he said, and of a sudden he wept
+hopelessly like a child, dropping his face on his knees.'
+
+'Poor Fulke,' said Una.
+
+'I pitied him also,' said Sir Richard.
+
+'"After the spur, corn," said De Aquila, and he threw Fulke three wedges
+of gold that he had taken from our little chest by the bed-place.
+
+'"If I had known this," said Fulke, catching his breath, "I would never
+have lifted hand against Pevensey. Only lack of this yellow stuff has made
+me so unlucky in my dealings."
+
+'It was dawn then, and they stirred in the Great Hall below. We sent down
+Fulke's mail to be scoured, and when he rode away at noon under his own
+and the King's banner very splendid and stately did he show. He smoothed
+his long beard, and called his son to his stirrup and kissed him. De
+Aquila rode with him as far as the New Mill landward. We thought the night
+had been all a dream.'
+
+'But did he make it right with the King?' Dan asked. 'About your not being
+traitors, I mean?'
+
+Sir Richard smiled. 'The King sent no second summons to Pevensey, nor did
+he ask why De Aquila had not obeyed the first. Yes, that was Fulke's work.
+I know not how he did it, but it was well and swiftly done.'
+
+'Then you didn't do anything to his son?' said Una.
+
+'The boy? Oh, he was an imp. He turned the keep doors out of dortoirs
+while we had him. He sang foul songs, learned in the Barons' camps--poor
+fool; he set the hounds fighting in hall; he lit the rushes to drive out,
+as he said, the fleas; he drew his dagger on Jehan, who threw him down the
+stairway for it; and he rode his horse through crops and among sheep. But
+when we had beaten him, and showed him wolf and deer, he followed us old
+men like a young, eager hound, and called us "uncle." His father came the
+summer's end to take him away, but the boy had no lust to go, because of
+the otter-hunting, and he stayed on till the fox-hunting. I gave him a
+bittern's claw to bring him good luck at shooting. An imp, if ever there
+was!'
+
+'And what happened to Gilbert?' said Dan.
+
+'Not even a whipping. De Aquila said he would sooner a clerk, however
+false, that knew the Manor-roll than a fool, however true, that must be
+taught his work afresh. Moreover, after that night I think Gilbert loved
+as much as he feared De Aquila. At least he would not leave us--not even
+when Vivian, the King's Clerk, would have made him Sacristan of Battle
+Abbey. A false fellow, but, in his fashion, bold.'
+
+'Did Robert ever land in Pevensey after all?' Dan went on.
+
+'We guarded the coast too well while Henry was fighting his Barons; and
+three or four years later, when England had peace, Henry crossed to
+Normandy and showed his brother some work at Tenchebrai that cured Robert
+of fighting. Many of Henry's men sailed from Pevensey to that war. Fulke
+came, I remember, and we all four lay in the little chamber once again,
+and drank together. De Aquila was right. One should not judge men. Fulke
+was merry. Yes, always merry--with a catch in his breath.'
+
+'And what did you do afterwards?' said Una.
+
+'We talked together of times past. That is all men can do when they grow
+old, little maid.'
+
+The bell for tea rang faintly across the meadows. Dan lay in the bows of
+the _Golden Hind_; Una in the stern, the book of verses open in her lap,
+was reading from 'The Slave's Dream':--
+
+  'Again in the mist and shadow of sleep
+  He saw his native land.'
+
+'I don't know when you began that,' said Dan, sleepily.
+
+On the middle thwart of the boat, beside Una's sun-bonnet, lay an Oak
+leaf, an Ash leaf, and a Thorn leaf, that must have dropped down from the
+trees above; and the brook giggled as though it had just seen some joke.
+
+
+
+
+THE RUNES ON WELAND'S SWORD
+
+
+  _A Smith makes me_
+  _To betray my Man_
+  _In my first fight._
+
+  _To gather Gold_
+  _At the world's end_
+  _I am sent._
+
+  _The Gold I gather_
+  _Comes into England_
+  _Out of deep Water._
+
+  _Like a shining Fish_
+  _Then it descends_
+  _Into deep Water._
+
+  _It is not given_
+  _For goods or gear._
+  _But for The Thing_
+
+  _The Gold I gather_
+  _A King covets_
+  _For an ill use._
+
+  _The Gold I gather_
+  _Is drawn up_
+  _Out of deep Water._
+
+  _Like a shining Fish_
+  _Then it descends_
+  _Into deep Water._
+
+  _It is not given_
+  _For goods or gear_
+  _But for The Thing._
+
+
+
+
+
+A CENTURION OF THE THIRTIETH
+
+
+
+
+  _Cities and Thrones and Powers,_
+    _Stand in Time's eye,_
+  _Almost as long as flowers,_
+    _Which daily die:_
+  _But, as new buds put forth,_
+    _To glad new men,_
+  _Out of the spent and unconsidered Earth,_
+    _The Cities rise again._
+
+  _This season's Daffodil,_
+    _She never hears,_
+  _What change, what chance, what chill,_
+    _Cut down last year's;_
+  _But with bold countenance,_
+    _And knowledge small,_
+  _Esteems her seven days' continuance_
+    _To be perpetual._
+
+  _So Time that is o'er-kind,_
+    _To all that be,_
+  _Ordains us e'en as blind,_
+    _As bold as she:_
+  _That in our very death,_
+    _And burial sure,_
+  _Shadow to shadow, well-persuaded, saith,_
+    _'See how our works endure!'_
+
+
+
+
+A CENTURION OF THE THIRTIETH
+
+
+Dan had come to grief over his Latin, and was kept in; so Una went alone
+to Far Wood. Dan's big catapult and the lead bullets that Hobden had made
+for him were hidden in an old hollow beech-stub on the west of the wood.
+They had named the place out of the verse in _Lays of Ancient Rome_.
+
+  From lordly Volaterrae,
+    Where scowls the far-famed hold,
+  Piled by the hands of giants
+    For Godlike Kings of old.
+
+They were the 'Godlike Kings,' and when old Hobden piled some comfortable
+brushwood between the big wooden knees of Volaterrae, they called him
+'Hands of Giants.'
+
+Una slipped through their private gap in the fence, and sat still a while,
+scowling as scowlily and lordlily as she knew how; for 'Volaterrae' is an
+important watch-tower that juts out of Far Wood just as Far Wood juts out
+of the hillside. Pook's Hill lay below her, and all the turns of the brook
+as it wanders from out of the Willingford Woods, between hop-gardens, to
+old Hobden's cottage at the Forge. The Sou'-West wind (there is always a
+wind by 'Volaterrae') blew from the bare ridge where Cherry Clack Windmill
+stands.
+
+Now wind prowling through woods sounds like exciting things going to
+happen, and that is why on 'blowy days' you stand up in Volaterrae and
+shout bits of the _Lays_ to suit its noises.
+
+Una took Dan's catapult from its secret place, and made ready to meet Lars
+Porsena's army stealing through the wind-whitened aspens by the brook. A
+gust boomed up the valley, and Una chanted sorrowfully:
+
+  'Verbenna down to Ostia
+    Hath wasted all the plain;
+  Astur hath stormed Janiculum
+    And the stout guards are slain.'
+
+But the wind, not charging fair to the wood, started aside and shook a
+single oak in Gleason's pasture. Here it made itself all small and
+crouched among the grasses, waving the tips of them as a cat waves the tip
+of her tail before she springs.
+
+'Now welcome--welcome Sextus,' sang Una, loading the catapult--
+
+    'Now welcome to thy home,
+  Why dost thou turn and run away?
+    Here lies the rod of Rome.'
+
+She fired into the face of the lull, to wake up the cowardly wind, and
+heard a grunt from behind a thorn in the pasture.
+
+'Oh, my Winkie!' she said aloud, and that was something she had picked up
+from Dan. 'I believe I've tickled up a Gleason cow.'
+
+'You little painted beast!' a voice cried. 'I'll teach you to sling your
+masters!'
+
+She looked down most cautiously, and saw a young man covered with hoopy
+bronze armour all glowing among the late broom. But what Una admired
+beyond all was his great bronze helmet with its red horse-tail that
+flicked in the wind. She could hear the long hairs rasp on his shimmery
+shoulder-plates.
+
+'What does the Faun mean,' he said, half aloud to himself, 'by telling me
+the Painted People have changed?' He caught sight of Una's yellow head.
+'Have you seen a painted lead-slinger?' he called.
+
+'No-o,' said Una. 'But if you've seen a bullet----'
+
+'Seen?' cried the man. 'It passed within a hair's breadth of my ear.'
+
+'Well, that was me. I'm most awfully sorry.'
+
+'Didn't the Faun tell you I was coming?' He smiled.
+
+'Not if you mean Puck. I thought you were a Gleason cow. I--I didn't know
+you were a--a----What are you?'
+
+He laughed outright, showing a set of splendid teeth. His face and eyes
+were dark, and his eyebrows met above his big nose in one bushy black bar.
+
+'They call me Parnesius. I have been an officer of the Seventh Cohort of
+the Thirtieth Legion--the Ulpia Victrix. Did you sling that bullet?'
+
+'I did. I was using Dan's catapult,' said Una.
+
+'Catapults!' said he. 'I ought to know something about them. Show me!'
+
+He leaped the rough fence with a rattle of spear, shield, and armour, and
+hoisted himself into 'Volaterrae' as quickly as a shadow.
+
+'A sling on a forked stick. _I_ understand!' he cried, and pulled at the
+elastic. 'But what wonderful beast yields this stretching leather?'
+
+'It's laccy--elastic. You put the bullet into that loop, and then you pull
+hard.'
+
+The man pulled, and hit himself square on his thumb-nail.
+
+'Each to his own weapon,' he said, gravely, handing it back. 'I am better
+with the bigger machine, little maiden. But it's a pretty toy. A wolf
+would laugh at it. Aren't you afraid of wolves?'
+
+'There aren't any,' said Una.
+
+'Never believe it! A wolf is like a Winged Hat. He comes when he isn't
+expected. Don't they hunt wolves here?'
+
+'We don't hunt,' said Una, remembering what she had heard from grown-ups.
+'We preserve--pheasants. Do you know them?'
+
+'I ought to,' said the young man, smiling again, and he imitated the cry
+of the cock-pheasant so perfectly that a bird answered out of the wood.
+
+'What a big painted clucking fool is a pheasant,' he said. 'Just like some
+Romans!'
+
+'But you're a Roman yourself, aren't you?' said Una.
+
+'Ye-es and no. I'm one of a good few thousands who have never seen Rome
+except in a picture. My people have lived at Vectis for generations.
+Vectis! That island West yonder that you can see from so far in clear
+weather.'
+
+'Do you mean the Isle of Wight? It lifts up just before rain, and we see
+it from the Downs.'
+
+'Very likely. Our Villa's on the South edge of the Island, by the Broken
+Cliffs. Most of it is three hundred years old, but the cow-stables, where
+our first ancestor lived, must be a hundred years older. Oh, quite that,
+because the founder of our family had his land given him by Agricola at
+the Settlement. It's not a bad little place for its size. In spring-time
+violets grow down to the very beach. I've gathered sea-weeds for myself
+and violets for my Mother many a time with our old nurse.'
+
+'Was your nurse a--a Romaness too?'
+
+'No, a Numidian. Gods be good to her! A dear, fat, brown thing with a
+tongue like a cowbell. She was a free woman. By the way, are you free,
+maiden?'
+
+'Oh, quite,' said Una. 'At least, till tea-time; and in summer our
+governess doesn't say much if we're late.'
+
+The young man laughed again--a proper understanding laugh.
+
+'I see,' said he. 'That accounts for your being in the wood. _We_ hid
+among the cliffs.'
+
+'Did _you_ have a governess, then?'
+
+'Did we not? A Greek, too. She had a way of clutching her dress when she
+hunted us among the gorze-bushes that made us laugh. Then she'd say she'd
+get us whipped. She never did, though, bless her! Aglaia was a thorough
+sportswoman, for all her learning.'
+
+'But what lessons did you do--when--when you were little!'
+
+'Ancient history, the Classics, arithmetic, and so on,' he answered. 'My
+sister and I were thickheads, but my two brothers (I'm the middle one)
+liked those things, and, of course, Mother was clever enough for any six.
+She was nearly as tall as I am, and she looked like the new statue on the
+Western Road--the Demeter of the Baskets, you know. And funny! Roma Dea!
+How Mother could make us laugh!'
+
+'What at?'
+
+'Little jokes and sayings that every family has. Don't you know?'
+
+'I know _we_ have, but I didn't know other people had them too,' said Una.
+'Tell me about all your family, please.'
+
+'Good families are very much alike. Mother would sit spinning of evenings
+while Aglaia read in her corner, and Father did accounts, and we four
+romped about the passages. When our noise grew too loud the Pater would
+say, "Less tumult! Less tumult! Have you never heard of a Father's right
+over his children? He can slay them, my loves--slay them dead, and the Gods
+highly approve of the action!" Then Mother would prim up her dear mouth
+over the wheel and answer: "H'm! I'm afraid there can't be much of the
+Roman Father about you!" Then the Pater would roll up his accounts, and
+say, "I'll show you!" and then--then, he'd be worse than any of us!'
+
+'Fathers can--if they like,' said Una, her eyes dancing.
+
+'Didn't I say all good families are very much the same?'
+
+'What did you do in summer?' said Una. 'Play about, like us?'
+
+'Yes, and we visited our friends. There are no wolves in Vectis. We had
+many friends, and as many ponies as we wished.'
+
+'It must have been lovely,' said Una. 'I hope it lasted for ever.'
+
+'Not quite, little maid. When I was about sixteen or seventeen, the Father
+felt gouty, and we all went to the Waters.'
+
+'What waters?'
+
+'At Aquae Solis. Every one goes there. You ought to get your Father to
+take you some day.'
+
+'But where? I don't know,' said Una.
+
+The young man looked astonished for a moment. 'Aquae Solis,' he repeated.
+'The best baths in Britain. Just as good, I'm told, as Rome. All the old
+gluttons sit in its hot water, and talk scandal and politics. And the
+Generals come through the streets with their guards behind them; and the
+magistrates come in their chairs with their stiff guards behind them; and
+you meet fortune-tellers, and goldsmiths, and merchants, and philosophers,
+and feather-sellers, and ultra-Roman Britons, and ultra-British Romans,
+and tame tribesmen pretending to be civilised, and Jew lecturers, and--oh,
+everybody interesting. We young people, of course, took no interest in
+politics. We had not the gout: there were many of our age like us. We did
+not find life sad.
+
+'But while we were enjoying ourselves without thinking, my sister met the
+son of a magistrate in the West--and a year afterwards she was married to
+him. My young brother, who was always interested in plants and roots, met
+the First Doctor of a Legion from the City of the Legions, and he decided
+that he would be an Army doctor. I do not think it is a profession for a
+well-born man, but then--I'm not my brother. He went to Rome to study
+medicine, and now he's First Doctor of a Legion in Egypt--at Antinoe, I
+think, but I have not heard from him for some time.
+
+'My eldest brother came across a Greek philosopher, and told my Father
+that he intended to settle down on the estate as a farmer and a
+philosopher. You see'--the young man's eyes twinkled--'his philosopher was a
+long-haired one!'
+
+'I thought philosophers were bald,' said Una.
+
+'Not all. She was very pretty. I don't blame him. Nothing could have
+suited me better than my eldest brother's doing this, for I was only too
+keen to join the Army. I had always feared I should have to stay at home
+and look after the estate while my brother took _this_.'
+
+He rapped on his great glistening shield that never seemed to be in his
+way.
+
+'So we were well contented--we young people--and we rode back to Clausentum
+along the Wood Road very quietly. But when we reached home, Aglaia, our
+governess, saw what had come to us. I remember her at the door, the torch
+over her head, watching us climb the cliff-path from the boat. "Aie! Aie!"
+she said. "Children you went away. Men and a woman you return!" Then she
+kissed Mother, and Mother wept. Thus our visit to the Waters settled our
+fates for each of us, Maiden.'
+
+He rose to his feet and listened, leaning on the shield-rim.
+
+'I think that's Dan--my brother,' said Una.
+
+'Yes; and the Faun is with him,' he replied, as Dan with Puck stumbled
+through the copse.
+
+'We should have come sooner,' Puck called, 'but the beauties of your
+native tongue, O Parnesius, have enthralled this young citizen.'
+
+Parnesius looked bewildered, even when Una explained.
+
+'Dan said the plural of "dominus" was "dominoes," and when Miss Blake said
+it wasn't he said he supposed it was "backgammon," and so he had to write
+it out twice--for cheek, you know.'
+
+Dan had climbed into Volaterrae, hot and panting.
+
+'I've run nearly all the way,' he gasped, 'and then Puck met me. How do
+you do, Sir?'
+
+'I am in good health,' Parnesius answered. 'See! I have tried to bend the
+bow of Ulysses, but----' He held up his thumb.
+
+'I'm sorry. You must have pulled off too soon,' said Dan. 'Puck said you
+were telling Una a story.'
+
+'Continue, O Parnesius,' said Puck, who had perched himself on a dead
+branch above them. 'I will be chorus. Has he puzzled you much, Una?'
+
+'Not a bit, except--I didn't know where Ak--Ak something was,' she answered.
+
+'Oh, Aquae Solis. That's Bath, where the buns come from. Let the hero tell
+his own tale.'
+
+Parnesius pretended to thrust his spear at Puck's legs, but Puck reached
+down, caught at the horse-tail plume, and pulled off the tall helmet.
+
+'Thanks, jester,' said Parnesius, shaking his curly dark head. 'That is
+cooler. Now hang it up for me....
+
+'I was telling your sister how I joined the Army,' he said to Dan.
+
+'Did you have to pass an Exam?' Dan asked, eagerly.
+
+'No. I went to my Father, and said I should like to enter the Dacian Horse
+(I had seen some at Aquae Solis); but he said I had better begin service
+in a regular Legion from Rome. Now, like many of our youngsters, I was not
+too fond of anything Roman. The Roman-born officers and magistrates looked
+down on us British-born as though we were barbarians. I told my Father so.
+
+'"I know they do," he said; "but remember, after all, we are the people of
+the Old Stock, and our duty is to the Empire."
+
+'"To which Empire?'" I asked. "We split the Eagle before I was born."
+
+'"What thieves' talk is that?" said my Father. He hated slang.
+
+'"Well, Sir," I said, "we've one Emperor in Rome, and I don't know how
+many Emperors the outlying Provinces have set up from time to time. Which
+am I to follow?"
+
+'"Gratian," said he. "At least he's a sportsman."
+
+'"He's all that," I said. "Hasn't he turned himself into a raw-beef-eating
+Scythian?"
+
+'"Where did you hear of it?" said the Pater.
+
+'"At Aquae Solis," I said. It was perfectly true. This precious Emperor
+Gratian of ours had a bodyguard of fur-cloaked Scythians, and he was so
+crazy about them that he dressed like them. In Rome of all places in the
+world! It was as bad as if my own Father had painted himself blue!
+
+'"No matter for the clothes," said the Pater. "They are only the fringe of
+the trouble. It began before your time or mine. Rome has forsaken her
+Gods, and must be punished. The great war with the Painted People broke
+out in the very year the temples of our Gods were destroyed. We beat the
+Painted People in the very year our temples were rebuilt. Go back further
+still."... He went back to the time of Diocletian; and to listen to him
+you would have thought Eternal Rome herself was on the edge of
+destruction, just because a few people had become a little large-minded.
+
+'_I_ knew nothing about it. Aglaia never taught us the history of our own
+country. She was so full of her ancient Greeks.
+
+'"There is no hope for Rome," said the Pater, at last. "She has forsaken
+her Gods, but if the Gods forgive _us_ here, we may save Britain. To do
+that, we must keep the Painted People back. Therefore, I tell you,
+Parnesius, as a Father, that if your heart is set on service, your place
+is among men on the Wall--and not with women among the cities."'
+
+'What Wall?' asked Dan and Una at once.
+
+'Father meant the one we call Hadrian's Wall. I'll tell you about it
+later. It was built long ago, across North Britain, to keep out the
+Painted People--Picts you call them. Father had fought in the great Pict
+War that lasted more than twenty years, and he knew what fighting meant.
+Theodosius, one of our great Generals, had chased the little beasts back
+far into the North before I was born: down at Vectis, of course, we never
+troubled our heads about them. But when my Father spoke as he did, I
+kissed his hand, and waited for orders. We British-born Romans know what
+is due to our parents.'
+
+'If I kissed my Father's hand, he'd laugh,' said Dan.
+
+'Customs change; but if you do not obey your father, the Gods remember it.
+You may be quite sure of _that_.
+
+'After our talk, seeing I was in earnest, the Pater sent me over to
+Clausentum to learn my foot-drill in a barrack full of foreign
+Auxiliaries--as unwashed and unshaved a mob of mixed barbarians as ever
+scrubbed a breast-plate. It was your stick in their stomachs and your
+shield in their faces to push them into any sort of formation. When I had
+learned my work the Instructor gave me a handful--and they were a
+handful!--of Gauls and Iberians to polish up till they were sent to their
+stations up-country. I did my best, and one night a villa in the suburbs
+caught fire, and I had my handful out and at work before any of the other
+troops. I noticed a quiet-looking man on the lawn, leaning on a stick. He
+watched us passing buckets from the pond, and at last he said to me: "Who
+are you?"
+
+'"A probationer, waiting for a cohort," I answered. _I_ didn't know who he
+was from Deucalion!
+
+'"Born in Britain?" he said.
+
+'"Yes, if you were born in Spain," I said, for he neighed his words like
+an Iberian mule.
+
+'"And what might you call yourself when you are at home?" he said
+laughing.
+
+'"That depends," I answered; "sometimes one thing and sometimes another.
+But now I'm busy."
+
+'He said no more till we had saved the family gods (they were respectable
+householders), and then he grunted across the laurels: "Listen, young
+sometimes-one-thing-and-sometimes-another. In future call yourself
+Centurion of the Seventh Cohort of the Thirtieth, the Ulpia Victrix. That
+will help me to remember you. Your Father and a few other people call me
+Maximus."
+
+'He tossed me the polished stick he was leaning on, and went away. You
+might have knocked me down with it!'
+
+'Who was he?' said Dan.
+
+'Maximus himself, our great General! _The_ General of Britain who had been
+Theodosius's right hand in the Pict War! Not only had he given me my
+Centurion's stick direct, but three steps in a good Legion as well! A new
+man generally begins in the Tenth Cohort of his Legion, and works up.'
+
+'And were you pleased?' said Una.
+
+'Very. I thought Maximus had chosen me for my good looks and fine style in
+marching, but, when I went home, the Pater told me he had served under
+Maximus in the great Pict War, and had asked him to promote me.'
+
+'A child you were!' said Puck, from above.
+
+'I was,' said Parnesius. 'Don't begrudge it me, Faun. Afterwards--the Gods
+know I put aside the games!' And Puck nodded, brown chin on brown hand,
+his big eyes still.
+
+'The night before I left we sacrificed to our ancestors--the usual little
+Home Sacrifice--but I never prayed so earnestly to all the Good Shades, and
+then I went with my Father by boat to Regnum, and across the chalk
+eastwards to Anderida yonder.'
+
+'Regnum? Anderida?' The children turned their faces to Puck.
+
+'Regnum's Chichester,' he said, pointing towards Cherry Clack, and--he
+threw his arm South behind him--'Anderida's Pevensey.'
+
+'Pevensey again!' said Dan. 'Where Weland landed?'
+
+'Weland and a few others,' said Puck. 'Pevensey isn't young--even compared
+to me!'
+
+'The head-quarters of the Thirtieth lay at Anderida in summer, but my own
+Cohort, the Seventh, was on the Wall up North. Maximus was inspecting
+Auxiliaries--the Abulci, I think--at Anderida, and we stayed with him, for
+he and my Father were very old friends. I was only there ten days when I
+was ordered to go up with thirty men to my Cohort.' He laughed merrily. 'A
+man never forgets his first march. I was happier than any Emperor when I
+led my handful through the North Gate of the Camp, and we saluted the
+guard and the Altar of Victory there.'
+
+'How? How?' said Dan and Una.
+
+Parnesius smiled, and stood up, flashing in his armour.
+
+'So!' said he; and he moved slowly through the beautiful movements of the
+Roman Salute, that ends with a hollow clang of the shield coming into its
+place between the shoulders.
+
+'Hai!' said Puck. 'That sets one thinking!'
+
+'We went out fully armed,' said Parnesius, sitting down; 'but as soon as
+the road entered the Great Forest, my men expected the pack-horses to hang
+their shields on. "No!" I said; "you can dress like women in Anderida, but
+while you're with me you will carry your own weapons and armour."
+
+'"But it's hot," said one of them, "and we haven't a doctor. Suppose we
+get sunstroke, or a fever?"
+
+'"Then die," I said, "and a good riddance to Rome! Up shield--up spears,
+and tighten your foot-wear!"
+
+'"Don't think yourself Emperor of Britain already," a fellow shouted. I
+knocked him over with the butt of my spear, and explained to these
+Roman-born Romans that, if there were any further trouble, we should go on
+with one man short. And, by the Light of the Sun, I meant it too! My raw
+Gauls at Clausentum had never treated me so.
+
+'Then, quietly as a cloud, Maximus rode out of the fern (my Father behind
+him), and reined up across the road. He wore the Purple, as though he were
+already Emperor; his leggings were of white buckskin laced with gold.
+
+'My men dropped like--like partridges.
+
+'He said nothing for some time, only looked, with his eyes puckered. Then
+he crooked his forefinger, and my men walked--crawled, I mean--to one side.
+
+'"Stand in the sun, children," he said, and they formed up on the hard
+road.
+
+'"What would you have done?" he said to me, "If I had not been here?"
+
+'"I should have killed that man," I answered.
+
+'"Kill him now," he said. "He will not move a limb."
+
+'"No," I said. "You've taken my men out of my command. I should only be
+your butcher if I killed him now." Do you see what I meant?' Parnesius
+turned to Dan.
+
+'Yes,' said Dan. 'It wouldn't have been fair, somehow.'
+
+'That was what I thought,' said Parnesius. 'But Maximus frowned. "You'll
+never be an Emperor," he said. "Not even a General will you be."
+
+'I was silent, but my Father seemed pleased.
+
+'"I came here to see the last of you," he said.
+
+'"You have seen it," said Maximus. "I shall never need your son any more.
+He will live and he will die an officer of a Legion--and he might have been
+Prefect of one of my Provinces. Now eat and drink with us," he said. "Your
+men will wait till you have finished."
+
+'My miserable thirty stood like wine-skins glistening in the hot sun, and
+Maximus led us to where his people had set a meal. Himself he mixed the
+wine.
+
+'"A year from now," he said, "you will remember that you have sat with the
+Emperor of Britain--and Gaul."
+
+'"Yes," said the Pater, "you can drive two mules--Gaul and Britain."
+
+'"Five years hence you will remember that you have drunk"--he passed me the
+cup and there was blue borage in it--"with the Emperor of Rome!"
+
+'"No; you can't drive three mules; they will tear you in pieces," said my
+Father.
+
+'"And you on the Wall, among the heather, will weep because your notion of
+justice was more to you than the favour of the Emperor of Rome."
+
+'I sat quite still. One does not answer a General who wears the Purple.
+
+'"I am not angry with you," he went on; "I owe too much to your Father----"
+
+'"You owe me nothing but advice that you never took," said the Pater.
+
+'"----to be unjust to any of your family. Indeed, I say you will make a good
+officer, but, so far as I am concerned, on the Wall you will live, and on
+the Wall you will die," said Maximus.
+
+'"Very like," said my Father. "But we shall have the Picts _and_ their
+friends breaking through before long. You cannot move all troops out of
+Britain to make you Emperor, and expect the North to sit quiet."
+
+'"I follow my destiny," said Maximus.
+
+'"Follow it, then," said my Father pulling up a fern root; "and die as
+Theodosius died."
+
+'"Ah!" said Maximus. "My old General was killed because he served the
+Empire too well. _I_ may be killed, but not for that reason," and he
+smiled a little pale grey smile that made my blood run cold.
+
+'"Then I had better follow my destiny," I said, "and take my men to the
+Wall."
+
+'He looked at me a long time, and bowed his head slanting like a Spaniard.
+"Follow it, boy," he said. That was all. I was only too glad to get away,
+though I had many messages for home. I found my men standing as they had
+been put--they had not even shifted their feet in the dust,--and off I
+marched, still feeling that terrific smile like an east wind up my back. I
+never halted them till sunset, and'--he turned about and looked at Pook's
+Hill below him--'then I halted yonder.' He pointed to the broken,
+bracken-covered shoulder of the Forge Hill behind old Hobden's cottage.
+
+'There? Why, that's only the old Forge--where they made iron once,' said
+Dan.
+
+'Very good stuff it was too,' said Parnesius, calmly. 'We mended three
+shoulder-straps here and had a spear-head riveted. The forge was rented
+from the Government by a one-eyed smith from Carthage. I remember we
+called him Cyclops. He sold me a beaver-skin rug for my sister's room.'
+
+'But it couldn't have been here,' Dan insisted.
+
+'But it was! From the Altar of Victory at Anderida to the First Forge in
+the Forest here is twelve miles seven hundred paces. It is all in the Road
+Book. A man doesn't forget his first march. I think I could tell you every
+station between this and----' He leaned forward, but his eye was caught by
+the setting sun.
+
+It had come down to the top of Cherry Clack Hill, and the light poured in
+between the tree trunks so that you could see red and gold and black deep
+into the heart of Far Wood; and Parnesius in his armour shone as though he
+had been afire.
+
+'Wait,' he said, lifting a hand, and the sunlight jinked on his glass
+bracelet. 'Wait! I pray to Mithras!'
+
+He rose and stretched his arms westward, with deep, splendid-sounding
+words.
+
+Then Puck began to sing too, in a voice like bells tolling, and as he sang
+he slipped from 'Volaterrae' to the ground, and beckoned the children to
+follow. They obeyed; it seemed as though the voices were pushing them
+along; and through the goldy-brown light on the beech leaves they walked,
+while Puck between them chanted something like this:--
+
+  Cur mundus militat sub vana gloria
+  Cujus prosperitas est transitoria?
+  Tam cito labitur ejus potentia
+  Quam vasa figuli quæ sunt fragilia.
+
+They found themselves at the little locked gates of the wood.
+
+  Quo Cæsar abiit celsus imperio?
+  Vel Dives splendidus totus in prandio?
+  Dic ubi Tullius----
+
+Still singing, he took Dan's hand and wheeled him round to face Una as she
+came out of the gate. It shut behind her, at the same time as Puck threw
+the memory-magicking Oak, Ash, and Thorn leaves over their heads.
+
+'Well, you _are_ jolly late,' said Una. 'Couldn't you get away before?'
+
+'I did,' said Dan. 'I got away in lots of time, but--but I didn't know it
+was so late. Where've you been?'
+
+'In Volaterrae--waiting for you.'
+
+'Sorry,' said Dan. 'It was all that beastly Latin.'
+
+
+
+
+A BRITISH-ROMAN SONG
+
+
+        (A. D. 406)
+
+  _My father's father saw it not,_
+    _And I, belike, shall never come,_
+  _To look on that so-holy spot--_
+            _The very Rome--_
+
+  _Crowned by all Time, all Art, all Might,_
+    _The equal work of Gods and Man--_
+  _City beneath whose oldest height_
+            _The Race began,--_
+
+  _Soon to send forth again a brood_
+    _Unshakeable, we pray, that clings,_
+  _To Rome's thrice-hammered hardihood--_
+            _In arduous things._
+
+  _Strong heart with triple armour bound,_
+    _Beat strongly, for thy life-blood runs,_
+  _Age after Age, the Empire round--_
+            _In us thy Sons,_
+
+  _Who, distant from the Seven Hills,_
+    _Loving and serving much, require_
+  _Thee, Thee to guard 'gainst home-born ills,_
+            _The Imperial Fire!_
+
+
+
+
+
+ON THE GREAT WALL
+
+
+
+
+ON THE GREAT WALL
+
+
+  When I left Rome for Lalage's sake
+    By the Legions' Road to Rimini,
+  She vowed her heart was mine to take
+    With me and my shield to Rimini--
+    (Till the Eagles flew from Rimini!)
+      And I've tramped Britain and I've tramped Gaul
+      And the Pontic shore where the snow-flakes fall
+    As white as the neck of Lalage--
+    As cold as the heart of Lalage!
+      And I've lost Britain and I've lost Gaul
+
+(the voice seemed very cheerful about it),
+
+      And I've lost Rome, and worst of all,
+        I've lost Lalage!
+
+They were standing by the gate to Far Wood when they heard this song.
+Without a word they hurried to their private gap and wriggled through the
+hedge almost atop of a jay that was feeding from Puck's hand.
+
+'Gently!' said Puck. 'What are you looking for?'
+
+'Parnesius, of course,' Dan answered. 'We've only just remembered
+yesterday. It isn't fair.'
+
+Puck chuckled as he rose. 'I'm sorry, but children who spend the afternoon
+with me and a Roman Centurion need a little settling dose of Magic before
+they go to tea with their governess. Ohé, Parnesius!' he called.
+
+'Here, Faun!' came the answer from 'Volaterrae.' They could see the
+shimmer of bronze armour in the beech crotch, and the friendly flash of
+the great shield uplifted.
+
+'I have driven out the Britons.' Parnesius laughed like a boy. 'I occupy
+their high forts. But Rome is merciful! You may come up.' And up they
+three all scrambled.
+
+'What was the song you were singing just now?' said Una, as soon as she
+had settled herself.
+
+'That? Oh, _Rimini_. It's one of the tunes that are always being born
+somewhere in the Empire. They run like a pestilence for six months or a
+year, till another one pleases the Legions, and then they march to
+_that_.'
+
+'Tell them about the marching, Parnesius. Few people nowadays walk from
+end to end of this country,' said Puck.
+
+'The greater their loss. I know nothing better than the Long March when
+your feet are hardened. You begin after the mists have risen, and you end,
+perhaps, an hour after sundown.'
+
+'And what do you have to eat?' Dan asked, promptly.
+
+'Fat bacon, beans, and bread, and whatever wine happens to be in the
+rest-houses. But soldiers are born grumblers. Their very first day out, my
+men complained of our water-ground British corn. They said it wasn't so
+filling as the rough stuff that is ground in the Roman ox-mills. However,
+they had to fetch and eat it.'
+
+'Fetch it? Where from?' said Una.
+
+'From that newly-invented water-mill below the Forge.'
+
+'That's Forge Mill--_our_ Mill!' Una looked at Puck.
+
+'Yes; yours,' Puck put in. 'How old did you think it was?'
+
+'I don't know. Didn't Sir Richard Dalyngridge talk about it?'
+
+'He did, and it was old in his day,' Puck answered. 'Hundreds of years
+old.'
+
+'It was new in mine,' said Parnesius. 'My men looked at the flour in their
+helmets as though it had been a nest of adders. They did it to try my
+patience. But I--addressed them, and we became friends. To tell the truth,
+they taught me the Roman Step. You see, I'd only served with
+quick-marching Auxiliaries. A Legion's pace is altogether different. It is
+a long, slow stride, that never varies from sunrise to sunset. "Rome's
+Race--Rome's Pace," as the proverb says. Twenty-four miles in eight hours,
+neither more nor less. Head and spear up, shield on your back,
+cuirass-collar open one hand's breadth--and that's how you take the Eagles
+through Britain.'
+
+'And did you meet any adventures?' said Dan.
+
+'There are no adventures South the Wall,' said Parnesius. 'The worst thing
+that happened me was having to appear before a magistrate up North, where
+a wandering philosopher had jeered at the Eagles. I was able to show that
+the old man had deliberately blocked our road, and the magistrate told
+him, out of his own Book, I believe, that, whatever his God might be, he
+should pay proper respect to Cæsar.'
+
+'What did you do?' said Dan.
+
+'Went on. Why should _I_ care for such things, my business being to reach
+my station? It took me twenty days.
+
+'Of course, the farther North you go the emptier are the roads. At last
+you fetch clear of the forests and climb bare hills, where wolves howl in
+the ruins of our cities that have been. No more pretty girls; no more
+jolly magistrates who knew your Father when he was young, and invite you
+to stay with them; no news at the temples and way-stations except bad news
+of wild beasts. There's where you meet hunters, and trappers for the
+Circuses, prodding along chained bears and muzzled wolves. Your pony shies
+at them, and your men laugh.
+
+'The houses change from gardened villas to shut forts with watch-towers of
+grey stone, and great stone-walled sheepfolds, guarded by armed Britons of
+the North Shore. In the naked hills beyond the naked houses, where the
+shadows of the clouds play like cavalry charging, you see puffs of black
+smoke from the mines. The hard road goes on and on--and the wind sings
+through your helmet-plume--past altars to Legions and Generals forgotten,
+and broken statues of Gods and Heroes, and thousands of graves where the
+mountain foxes and hares peep at you. Red-hot in summer, freezing in
+winter, is that big, purple heather country of broken stone.
+
+  [Illustration: 'There's where you meet hunters, and trappers for the
+  Circuses, prodding along chained bears and muzzled wolves.']
+
+'Just when you think you are at the world's end, you see a smoke from East
+to West as far as the eye can turn, and then, under it, also as far as the
+eye can stretch, houses and temples, shops and theatres, barracks, and
+granaries, trickling along like dice behind--always behind--one long, low,
+rising and falling, and hiding and showing line of towers. And that is the
+Wall!'
+
+'Ah!' said the children, taking breath.
+
+'You may well,' said Parnesius. 'Old men who have followed the Eagles
+since boyhood say nothing in the Empire is more wonderful than first sight
+of the Wall!'
+
+'Is it just a Wall? Like the one round the kitchen-garden?' said Dan.
+
+'No, no! It is _the_ Wall. Along the top are towers with guard-houses,
+small towers, between. Even on the narrowest part of it three men with
+shields can walk abreast from guard-house to guard-house. A little curtain
+wall, no higher than a man's neck, runs along the top of the thick wall,
+so that from a distance you see the helmets of the sentries sliding back
+and forth like beads. Thirty feet high is the Wall, and on the Picts'
+side, the North, is a ditch, strewn with blades of old swords and
+spear-heads set in wood, and tyres of wheels joined by chains. The Little
+People come there to steal iron for their arrow-heads.
+
+'But the Wall itself is not more wonderful than the town behind it. Long
+ago there were great ramparts and ditches on the South side, and no one
+was allowed to build there. Now the ramparts are partly pulled down and
+built over, from end to end of the Wall; making a thin town eighty miles
+long. Think of it! One roaring, rioting, cockfighting, wolf-baiting,
+horse-racing town, from Ituna on the West to Segedunum on the cold eastern
+beach! On one side heather, woods and ruins where Picts hide, and on the
+other, a vast town--long like a snake, and wicked like a snake. Yes, a
+snake basking beside a warm wall!
+
+'My Cohort, I was told, lay at Hunno, where the Great North Road runs
+through the Wall into the Province of Valentia.' Parnesius laughed
+scornfully. 'The Province of Valentia! We followed the road, therefore,
+into Hunno town, and stood astonished. The place was a fair--a fair of
+peoples from every corner of the Empire. Some were racing horses: some sat
+in wine-shops: some watched dogs baiting bears, and many gathered in a
+ditch to see cocks fight. A boy not much older than myself, but I could
+see he was an Officer, reined up before me and asked what I wanted.
+
+'"My station," I said, and showed him my shield.' Parnesius held up his
+broad shield with its three X's like letters on a beer-cask.
+
+'"Lucky omen!" said he. "Your Cohort's the next tower to us, but they're
+all at the cock-fight. This is a happy place. Come and wet the Eagles." He
+meant to offer me a drink.
+
+'"When I've handed over my men," I said. I felt angry and ashamed.
+
+'"Oh, you'll soon outgrow that sort of nonsense," he answered. "But don't
+let me interfere with your hopes. Go on to the Statue of Roma Dea. You
+can't miss it. The main road into Valentia!" and he laughed and rode off.
+I could see the Statue not a quarter of a mile away, and there I went. At
+some time or other the Great North Road ran under it into Valentia; but
+the far end had been blocked up because of the Picts, and on the plaster a
+man had scratched, "Finish!" It was like marching into a cave. We grounded
+spears together, my little thirty, and it echoed in the barrel of the
+arch, but none came. There was a door at one side painted with our number.
+We prowled in, and I found a cook asleep, and ordered him to give us food.
+Then I climbed to the top of the Wall, and looked out over the Pict
+country, and I--thought,' said Parnesius. 'The bricked-up arch with
+"Finish!" on the plaster was what shook me, for I was not much more than a
+boy.'
+
+'What a shame!' said Una. 'But did you feel happy after you'd had a
+good----' Dan stopped her with a nudge.
+
+'Happy?' said Parnesius. 'When the men of the Cohort I was to command came
+back unhelmeted from the cock-fight, their birds under their arms, and
+asked me who I was? No, I was not happy; but I made my new Cohort unhappy
+too.... I wrote my Mother I was happy, but, oh, my friends'--he stretched
+arms over bare knees--'I would not wish my worst enemy to suffer as I
+suffered through my first months on the Wall. Remember this: among the
+officers was scarcely one, except myself (and I thought I had lost the
+favour of Maximus, my General), scarcely one who had not done something of
+wrong or folly. Either he had killed a man, or taken money, or insulted
+the magistrates, or blasphemed the Gods, and so had been sent to the Wall
+as a hiding-place from shame or fear. And the men were as the officers.
+Remember, also, that the Wall was manned by every breed and race in the
+Empire. No two towers spoke the same tongue, or worshipped the same Gods.
+In one thing only we were all equal. No matter what arms we had used
+before we came to the Wall, _on_ the Wall we were all archers, like the
+Scythians. The Pict cannot run away from the arrow, or crawl under it. He
+is a bowman himself. _He_ knows!'
+
+'I suppose you were fighting Picts all the time,' said Dan.
+
+'Picts seldom fight. I never saw a fighting Pict for half a year. The tame
+Picts told us they had all gone North.'
+
+'What is a tame Pict?' said Dan.
+
+'A Pict--there were many such--who speaks a few words of our tongue, and
+slips across the Wall to sell ponies and wolf-hounds. Without a horse and
+a dog, _and_ a friend, man would perish. The Gods gave me all three, and
+there is no gift like friendship. Remember this'--Parnesius turned to
+Dan--'when you become a young man. For your fate will turn on the first
+true friend you make.'
+
+'He means,' said Puck, grinning, 'that if you try to make yourself a
+decent chap when you're young, you'll make rather decent friends when you
+grow up. If you're a beast, you'll have beastly friends. Listen to the
+Pious Parnesius on Friendship!'
+
+'I am not pious,' Parnesius answered, 'but I know what goodness means; and
+my friend, though he was without hope, was ten thousand times better than
+I. Stop laughing, Faun!'
+
+'Oh Youth Eternal and All-believing,' cried Puck, as he rocked on the
+branch above. 'Tell them about your Pertinax.'
+
+'He was that friend the Gods sent me--the boy who spoke to me when I first
+came. Little older than myself, commanding the Augusta Victoria Cohort on
+the tower next to us and the Numidians. In virtue he was far my superior.'
+
+'Then why was he on the Wall?' Una asked, quickly. 'They'd all done
+something bad. You said so yourself.'
+
+'He was the nephew, his Father had died, of a great rich man in Gaul who
+was not always kind to his Mother. When Pertinax grew up, he discovered
+this, and so his uncle shipped him off, by trickery and force, to the
+Wall. We came to know each other at a ceremony in our Temple--in the dark.
+It was the Bull Killing,' Parnesius explained to Puck.
+
+'_I_ see,' said Puck, and turned to the children. 'That's something you
+wouldn't quite understand. Parnesius means he met Pertinax in church.'
+
+'Yes--in the Cave we first met, and we were both raised to the Degree of
+Gryphons together.' Parnesius lifted his hand towards his neck for an
+instant. 'He had been on the Wall two years, and knew the Picts well. He
+taught me first how to take Heather.'
+
+'What's that?' said Dan.
+
+'Going out hunting in the Pict country with a tame Pict. You are quite
+safe so long as you are his guest, and wear a sprig of heather where it
+can be seen. If you went alone you would surely be killed, if you were not
+smothered first in the bogs. Only the Picts know their way about those
+black and hidden bogs. Old Allo, the one-eyed, withered little Pict from
+whom we bought our ponies, was our special friend. At first we went only
+to escape from the terrible town, and to talk together about our homes.
+Then he showed us how to hunt wolves and those great red deer with horns
+like Jewish candlesticks. The Roman-born officers rather looked down on us
+for doing this, but we preferred the heather to their amusements. Believe
+me,' Parnesius turned again to Dan, 'a boy is safe from all things that
+really harm when he is astride a pony or after a deer. Do you remember, O
+Faun,' he turned to Puck, 'the little altar I built to the Sylvan Pan by
+the pine-forest beyond the brook?'
+
+'Which? The stone one with the line from Xenophon?' said Puck, in quite a
+new voice.
+
+'No. What do _I_ know of Xenophon? That was Pertinax--after he had shot his
+first mountain-hare with an arrow--by chance! Mine I made of round pebbles
+in memory of my first bear. It took me one happy day to build.' Parnesius
+faced the children quickly.
+
+'And that was how we lived on the Wall for two years--a little scuffling
+with the Picts, and a great deal of hunting with old Allo in the Pict
+country. He called us his children sometimes, and we were fond of him and
+his barbarians, though we never let them paint us Pict fashion. The marks
+endure till you die.'
+
+'How's it done?' said Dan. 'Anything like tattooing?'
+
+'They prick the skin till the blood runs, and rub in coloured juices. Allo
+was painted blue, green, and red from his forehead to his ankles. He said
+it was part of his religion. He told us about his religion (Pertinax was
+always interested in such things), and as we came to know him well, he
+told us what was happening in Britain behind the Wall. Many things took
+place behind us in those days. And, by the Light of the Sun,' said
+Parnesius, earnestly, 'there was not much that those little people did not
+know! He told me when Maximus crossed over to Gaul, after he had made
+himself Emperor of Britain, and what troops and emigrants he had taken
+with him. _We_ did not get the news on the Wall till fifteen days later.
+He told me what troops Maximus was taking out of Britain every month to
+help him to conquer Gaul; and I always found the numbers as he said.
+Wonderful! And I tell another strange thing!'
+
+He jointed his hands across his knees, and leaned his head on the curve of
+the shield behind him.
+
+'Late in the summer, when the first frosts begin and the Picts kill their
+bees, we three rode out after wolf with some new hounds. Rutilianus, our
+General, had given us ten days' leave, and we had pushed beyond the Second
+Wall--beyond the Province of Valentia--into the higher hills, where there
+are not even any of Rome's old ruins. We killed a she-wolf before noon,
+and while Allo was skinning her he looked up and said to me, "When you are
+Captain of the Wall, my child, you won't be able to do this any more!"
+
+'I might as well have been made Prefect of Lower Gaul, so I laughed and
+said, "Wait till I am Captain." "No, don't wait," said Allo. "Take my
+advice and go home--both of you." "We have no homes," said Pertinax. "You
+know that as well as we do. We're finished men--thumbs down against both of
+us. Only men without hope would risk their necks on your ponies." The old
+man laughed one of those short Pict laughs--like a fox barking on a frosty
+night. "I'm fond of you two," he said. "Besides, I've taught you what
+little you know about hunting. Take my advice and go home."
+
+'"We can't," I said. "I'm out of favour with my General, for one thing;
+and for another, Pertinax has an uncle."
+
+'"I don't know about his uncle," said Allo, "but the trouble with you,
+Parnesius, is that your General thinks well of you."
+
+'"Roma Dea!" said Pertinax, sitting up. "What can you guess what Maximus
+thinks, you old horse-coper?"
+
+'Just then (you know how near the brutes creep when one is eating?) a
+great dog-wolf jumped out behind us, and away our rested hounds tore after
+him, with us at their tails. He ran us far out of any country we'd ever
+heard of, straight as an arrow till sunset, towards the sunset. We came at
+last to long capes stretching into winding waters, and on a grey beach
+below us we saw ships drawn up. Forty-seven we counted--not Roman galleys
+but the raven-winged ships from the North where Rome does not rule. Men
+moved in the ships, and the sun flashed on their helmets--winged helmets of
+the red-haired men from the North where Rome does not rule. We watched,
+and we counted, and we wondered; for though we had heard rumours
+concerning these Winged Hats, as the Picts called them, never before had
+we looked upon them.
+
+'"Come away! Come away!" said Allo. "My Heather won't protect you here. We
+shall all be killed!" His legs trembled like his voice. Back we went--back
+across the heather under the moon, till it was nearly morning, and our
+poor beasts stumbled on some ruins.
+
+'When we woke, very stiff and cold, Allo was mixing the meal and water.
+One does not light fires in the Pict country except near a village. The
+little men are always signalling to each other with smokes, and a strange
+smoke brings them out buzzing like bees. They can sting, too!
+
+'"What we saw last night was a trading-station," said Allo. "Nothing but a
+trading-station."
+
+'"I do not like lies on an empty stomach," said Pertinax. "I suppose" (he
+had eyes like an eagle's), "I suppose _that_ is a trading-station also?"
+He pointed to a smoke far off on a hill-top, ascending in what we call the
+Pict's Call:--Puff--double-puff: double-puff--puff! They make it by raising
+and dropping a wet hide on a fire.
+
+'"No," said Allo, pushing the platter back into the bag. "That is for you
+and me. Your fate is fixed. Come."
+
+'We came. When one takes Heather, one must obey one's Pict--but that
+wretched smoke was twenty miles distant, well over on the east coast, and
+the day was as hot as a bath.
+
+'"Whatever happens," said Allo, while our ponies grunted along, "I want
+you to remember me."
+
+'"I shall not forget," said Pertinax. "You have cheated me out of my
+breakfast."
+
+'"What is a handful of crushed oats to a Roman?" he said. Then he laughed
+his laugh that was not a laugh. "What would you do if you were a handful
+of oats being crushed between the upper and lower stones of a mill?"
+
+'"I'm Pertinax, not a riddle-guesser," said Pertinax.
+
+'"You're a fool," said Allo. "Your Gods and my Gods are threatened by
+strange Gods, and all you can do is to laugh."
+
+'"Threatened men live long," I said.
+
+'"I pray the Gods that may be true," he said. "But I ask you again not to
+forget me."
+
+'We climbed the last hot hill and looked out on the eastern sea, three or
+four miles off. There was a small sailing-galley of the North Gaul pattern
+at anchor, her landing-plank down and her sail half up; and below us,
+alone in a hollow, holding his pony, sat Maximus, Emperor of Britain! He
+was dressed like a hunter, and he leaned on his little stick; but I knew
+that back as far as I could see it, and I told Pertinax.
+
+'"You're madder than Allo!" he said. "It must be the sun!"
+
+'Maximus never stirred till we stood before him. Then he looked me up and
+down, and said: "Hungry again? It seems to be my destiny to feed you
+whenever we meet. I have food here. Allo shall cook it."
+
+'"No," said Allo. "A Prince in his own land does not wait on wandering
+Emperors. I feed my two children without asking your leave." He began to
+blow up the ashes.
+
+'"I was wrong," said Pertinax. "We are all mad. Speak up, O Madman called
+Emperor!"
+
+'Maximus smiled his terrible tight-lipped smile, but two years on the Wall
+do not make a man afraid of mere looks. So I was not afraid.
+
+'"I meant you, Parnesius, to live and die an Officer of the Wall," said
+Maximus. "But it seems from these," he fumbled in his breast, "you can
+think as well as draw." He pulled out a roll of letters I had written to
+my people, full of drawings of Picts, and bears, and men I had met on the
+Wall. Mother and my sister always liked my pictures.
+
+'He handed me one that I had called "Maximus's Soldiers." It showed a row
+of fat wine-skins, and our old Doctor of the Hunno hospital snuffing at
+them. Each time that Maximus had taken troops out of Britain to help him
+to conquer Gaul, he used to send the garrisons more wine--to keep them
+quiet, I suppose. On the Wall, we always called a wine-skin a "Maximus."
+Oh, yes; and I had drawn them in Imperial helmets!
+
+'"Not long since," he went on, "men's names were sent up to Cæsar for
+smaller jokes than this."
+
+'"True, Cæsar," said Pertinax; "but you forget that was before I, your
+friend's friend, became such a good spear-thrower."
+
+'He did not actually point his hunting spear at Maximus, but balanced it
+on his palm--so!
+
+'"I was speaking of time past," said Maximus, never fluttering an eyelid.
+"Nowadays one is only too pleased to find boys who can think for
+themselves, _and_ their friends." He nodded at Pertinax. "Your Father lent
+me the letters, Parnesius, so you run no risk from me."
+
+'"None whatever," said Pertinax, and rubbed the spear-point on his sleeve.
+
+'"I have been forced to reduce the garrisons in Britain, because I need
+troops in Gaul. Now I come to take troops from the Wall itself," said he.
+
+'"I wish you joy of us," said Pertinax. "We're the last sweepings of the
+Empire--the men without hope. Myself, I'd sooner trust condemned
+criminals."
+
+'"You think so?" he said, quite seriously. "But it will only be till I win
+Gaul. One must always risk one's life, or one's soul, or one's peace--or
+some little thing."
+
+'Allo passed round the fire with the sizzling deer's meat. He served us
+two first.
+
+'"Ah!" said Maximus, waiting his turn. "I perceive you are in your own
+country. Well, you deserve it. They tell me you have quite a following
+among the Picts, Parnesius."
+
+'"I have hunted with them," I said. "Maybe I have a few friends among the
+Heather."
+
+'"He is the only armoured man of you all who understands us," said Allo,
+and he began a long speech about our virtues, and how we had saved one of
+his grandchildren from a wolf the year before.'
+
+'Had you?' said Una.
+
+'Yes; but that was neither here nor there. The little green man orated
+like a--like Cicero. He made us out to be magnificent fellows. Maximus
+never took his eyes off our faces.
+
+'"Enough," he said. "I have heard Allo on you. I wish to hear you on the
+Picts."
+
+'I told him as much as I knew, and Pertinax helped me out. There is never
+harm in a Pict if you but take the trouble to find out what he wants.
+Their real grievance against us came from our burning their heather. The
+whole garrison of the Wall moved out twice a year, and solemnly burned the
+heather for ten miles North. Rutilianus, our General, called it clearing
+the country. The Picts, of course, scampered away, and all we did was to
+destroy their bee-bloom in the summer, and ruin their sheep-food in the
+spring.
+
+'"True, quite true," said Allo. "How can we make our holy heather-wine, if
+you burn our bee-pasture?"
+
+'We talked long, Maximus asking keen questions that showed he knew much
+and had thought more about the Picts. He said presently to me: "If I gave
+you the old Province of Valentia to govern, could you keep the Picts
+contented till I won Gaul? Stand away, so that you do not see Allo's face;
+and speak your own thoughts."
+
+'"No," I said. "You cannot re-make that Province. The Picts have been free
+too long."
+
+'"Leave them their village councils, and let them furnish their own
+soldiers," he said. "You, I am sure, would hold the reins very lightly."
+
+'"Even then, no," I said. "At least not now. They have been too oppressed
+by us to trust anything with a Roman name for years and years."
+
+'I heard old Allo behind me mutter: "Good child!"
+
+'"Then what do you recommend," said Maximus, "to keep the North quiet till
+I win Gaul?"
+
+'"Leave the Picts alone," I said. "Stop the heather-burning at once,
+and--they are improvident little animals--send them a shipload or two of
+corn now and then."
+
+'"Their own men must distribute it--not some cheating Greek accountant,"
+said Pertinax.
+
+'"Yes, and allow them to come to our hospitals when they are sick," I
+said.
+
+'"Surely they would die first," said Maximus.
+
+'"Not if Parnesius brought them in," said Allo. "I could show you twenty
+wolf-bitten, bear-clawed Picts within twenty miles of here. But Parnesius
+must stay with them in Hospital, else they would go mad with fear."
+
+'"_I_ see," said Maximus. "Like everything else in the world, it is one
+man's work. You, I think, are that one man."
+
+'"Pertinax and I are one," I said.
+
+'"As you please, so long as you work. Now, Allo, you know that I mean your
+people no harm. Leave us to talk together," said Maximus.
+
+'"No need!" said Allo. "I am the corn between the upper and lower
+millstones. I must know what the lower millstone means to do. These boys
+have spoken the truth as far as they know it. I, a Prince, will tell you
+the rest. I am troubled about the Men of the North." He squatted like a
+hare in the heather, and looked over his shoulder.
+
+'"I also," said Maximus, "or I should not be here."
+
+'"Listen," said Allo. "Long and long ago the Winged Hats"--he meant the
+Northmen--"came to our beaches and said, 'Rome falls! Push her down!' We
+fought you. You sent men. We were beaten. After that we said to the Winged
+Hats, 'You are liars! Make our men alive that Rome killed, and we will
+believe you.' They went away ashamed. Now they come back bold, and they
+tell the old tale, which we begin to believe--that Rome falls!"
+
+'"Give me three years' peace on the Wall," cried Maximus, "and I will show
+you and all the ravens how they lie!"
+
+'"Ah, I wish it too! I wish to save what is left of the corn from the
+millstones. But you shoot us Picts when we come to borrow a little iron
+from the Iron Ditch; you burn our heather, which is all our crop; you
+trouble us with your great catapults. Then you hide behind the Wall, and
+scorch us with Greek fire. How can I keep my young men from listening to
+the Winged Hats--in winter especially, when we are hungry? My young men
+will say, 'Rome can neither fight nor rule. She is taking her men out of
+Britain. The Winged Hats will help us to push down the Wall. Let us show
+them the secret roads across the bogs.' Do _I_ want that? No!" He spat
+like an adder. "_I_ would keep the secrets of my people though I were
+burned alive. My two children here have spoken truth. Leave us Picts
+alone. Comfort us, and cherish us, and feed us from far off--with the hand
+behind your back. Parnesius understands us. Let _him_ have rule on the
+Wall, and I will hold my young men quiet for"--he ticked it off on his
+fingers--"one year easily: the next year not so easily: the third year,
+perhaps! See, I give you three years. If then you do not show us that Rome
+is strong in men and terrible in arms, the Winged Hats, I tell you, will
+sweep down the Wall from either sea till they meet in the middle, and you
+will go. _I_ shall not grieve over that, but well I know tribe never helps
+tribe except for one price. We Picts will go too. The Winged Hats will
+grind us to this!" He tossed a handful of dust in the air.
+
+'"Oh, Roma Dea!" said Maximus, half aloud. "It is always one man's
+work--always and everywhere!"
+
+'"And one man's life," said Allo. "You are Emperor, but not a God. You may
+die."
+
+'"I have thought of that, too," said he. "Very good. If this wind holds, I
+shall be at the East end of the Wall by morning. To-morrow, then, I shall
+see you two when I inspect; and I will make you Captains of the Wall for
+this work."
+
+'"One instant, Cæsar," said Pertinax. "All men have their price. I am not
+bought yet."
+
+'"Do _you_ also begin to bargain so early?" said Maximus. "Well?"
+
+'"Give me justice against my uncle Icenus, the Duumvir of Divio in Gaul,"
+he said.
+
+'"Only a life? I thought it would be money or an office. Certainly you
+shall have him. Write his name on these tablets--on the red side; the other
+is for the living!" And Maximus held out his tablets.
+
+'"He is of no use to me dead," said Pertinax. "My mother is a widow. I am
+far off. I am not sure he pays her all her dowry."
+
+'"No matter. My arm is reasonably long. We will look through your uncle's
+accounts in due time. Now, farewell till to-morrow, O Captains of the
+Wall!"
+
+'We saw him grow small across the heather as he walked to the galley.
+There were Picts, scores, each side of him, hidden behind stones. He never
+looked left or right. He sailed away Southerly, full spread before the
+evening breeze, and when we had watched him out to sea, we were silent. We
+understood Earth bred few men like to this man.
+
+'Presently Allo brought the ponies and held them for us to mount--a thing
+he had never done before.
+
+'"Wait awhile," said Pertinax, and he made a little altar of cut turf, and
+strewed heather-bloom atop, and laid upon it a letter from a girl in Gaul.
+
+'"What do you do, O my friend?" I said.
+
+'"I sacrifice to my dead youth," he answered, and, when the flames had
+consumed the letter, he ground them out with his heel. Then we rode back
+to that Wall of which we were to be Captains.'
+
+Parnesius stopped. The children sat still, not even asking if that were
+all the tale. Puck beckoned, and pointed the way out of the wood. 'Sorry,'
+he whispered, 'but you must go now.'
+
+'We haven't made him angry, have we?' said Una. 'He looks so far off,
+and--and--thinky.'
+
+'Bless your heart, no. Wait till to-morrow. It won't be long. Remember,
+you've been playing "_Lays of Ancient Rome_."'
+
+And as soon as they had scrambled through their gap, where Oak, Ash and
+Thorn grow, that was all they remembered.
+
+
+
+
+A SONG TO MITHRAS
+
+
+  _Mithras, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall!_
+  _'Rome is above the Nations, but Thou art over all!'_
+  _Now as the names are answered and the guards are marched away,_
+  _Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day!_
+
+  _Mithras, God of the Noontide, the heather swims in the heat,_
+  _Our helmets scorch our foreheads; our sandals burn our feet!_
+  _Now in the ungirt hour; now ere we blink and drowse,_
+  _Mithras, also a soldier, keep us true to our vows!_
+
+  _Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main,_
+  _Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again!_
+  _Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn,_
+  _Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn!_
+
+  _Mithras, God of the Midnight, here where the great bull lies,_
+  _Look on thy children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice!_
+  _Many roads Thou hast fashioned: all of them lead to the Light,_
+  _Mithras, also a soldier, teach us to die aright!_
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WINGED HATS
+
+
+
+
+THE WINGED HATS
+
+
+The next day happened to be what they called a Wild Afternoon. Father and
+Mother went out to pay calls; Miss Blake went for a ride on her bicycle,
+and they were left all alone till eight o'clock.
+
+When they had seen their dear parents and their dear preceptress politely
+off the premises they got a cabbage-leaf full of raspberries from the
+gardener, and a Wild Tea from Ellen. They ate the raspberries to prevent
+their squashing, and they meant to divide the cabbage-leaf with Three Cows
+down at the Theatre, but they came across a dead hedgehog which they
+simply _had_ to bury, and the leaf was too useful to waste.
+
+Then they went on to the Forge and found old Hobden the hedger at home
+with his son the Bee Boy who is not quite right in his head, but who can
+pick up swarms of bees in his naked hands; and the Bee Boy told them the
+rhyme about the slow-worm:--
+
+  'If I had eyes _as_ I could see,
+  No mortal man would trouble me.'
+
+They all had tea together by the hives, and Hobden said the loaf-cake
+which Ellen had given them was almost as good as what his wife used to
+make, and he showed them how to set a wire at the right height for hares.
+They knew about rabbits already.
+
+Then they climbed up Long Ditch into the lower end of Far Wood. This is
+sadder and darker than the 'Volaterrae' end because of an old marlpit full
+of black water, where weepy, hairy moss hangs round the stumps of the
+willows and alders. But the birds come to perch on the dead branches, and
+Hobden says that the bitter willow-water is a sort of medicine for sick
+animals.
+
+They sat down on a felled oak-trunk in the shadows of the beech
+undergrowth, and were looping the wires Hobden had given them, when they
+saw Parnesius.
+
+'How quietly you came!' said Una, moving up to make room. 'Where's Puck?'
+
+'The Faun and I have disputed whether it is better that I should tell you
+all my tale, or leave it untold,' he replied.
+
+'I only said that if he told it as it happened you wouldn't understand
+it,' said Puck, jumping up like a squirrel from behind the log.
+
+'I don't understand all of it,' said Una, 'but I like hearing about the
+little Picts.'
+
+'What _I_ can't understand,' said Dan, 'is how Maximus knew all about the
+Picts when he was over in Gaul.'
+
+'He who makes himself Emperor anywhere must know everything, everywhere,'
+said Parnesius. 'We had this much from Maximus' mouth after the Games.'
+
+'Games? What games?' said Dan.
+
+Parnesius stretched his arm out stiffly, thumb pointed to the ground.
+'Gladiators! _That_ sort of game,' he said. 'There were two days' Games in
+his honour when he landed all unexpected at Segedunum on the East end of
+the Wall. Yes, the day after we had met him we held two days' games; but I
+think the greatest risk was run, not by the poor wretches on the sand, but
+by Maximus. In the old days the Legions kept silence before their Emperor.
+So did not we! You could hear the solid roar run West along the Wall as
+his chair was carried rocking through the crowds. The garrison beat round
+him--clamouring, clowning, asking for pay, for change of quarters, for
+anything that came into their wild heads. That chair was like a little
+boat among waves, dipping and falling, but always rising again after one
+had shut the eyes.' Parnesius shivered.
+
+'Were they angry with him?' said Dan.
+
+'No more angry than wolves in a cage when their trainer walks among them.
+If he had turned his back an instant, or for an instant had ceased to hold
+their eyes, there would have been another Emperor made on the Wall that
+hour. Was it not so, Faun?'
+
+'So it was. So it always will be,' said Puck.
+
+'Late in the evening his messenger came for us, and we followed to the
+Temple of Victory, where he lodged with Rutilianus, the General of the
+Wall. I had hardly seen the General before, but he always gave me leave
+when I wished to take Heather. He was a great glutton, and kept five Asian
+cooks, and he came of a family that believed in oracles. We could smell
+his good dinner when we entered, but the tables were empty. He lay
+snorting on a couch. Maximus sat apart among long rolls of accounts. Then
+the doors were shut.
+
+'"These are your men," said Maximus to the General, who propped his
+eye-corners open with his gouty fingers, and stared at us like a fish.
+
+'"I shall know them again, Cæsar," said Rutilianus.
+
+'"Very good," said Maximus. "Now hear! You are not to move man or shield
+on the Wall except as these boys shall tell you. You will do nothing,
+except eat, without their permission. They are the head and arms. You are
+the belly!"
+
+'"As Cæsar pleases," the old man grunted. "If my pay and profits are not
+cut, you may make my Ancestors' Oracle my master. Rome has been! Rome has
+been!" Then he turned on his side to sleep.
+
+'"He has it," said Maximus. "We will get to what _I_ need."
+
+'He unrolled full copies of the number of men and supplies on the
+Wall--down to the sick that very day in Hunno Hospital. Oh, but I groaned
+when his pen marked off detachment after detachment of our best--of our
+least worthless men! He took two towers of our Scythians, two of our North
+British auxiliaries, two Numidian cohorts, the Dacians all, and half the
+Belgians. It was like an eagle pecking a carcass.
+
+'"And now, how many catapults have you?" He turned up a new list, but
+Pertinax laid his open hand there.
+
+'"No, Cæsar," said he. "Do not tempt the Gods too far. Take men, or
+engines, but not both; else we refuse."'
+
+'Engines?' said Una.
+
+'The catapults of the Wall--huge things forty feet high to the head--firing
+nets of raw stone or forged bolts. Nothing can stand against them. He left
+us our catapults at last, but he took a Cæsar's half of our men without
+pity. We were a shell when he rolled up the lists!
+
+'"Hail, Cæsar! We, about to die, salute you!" said Pertinax, laughing. "If
+any enemy even leans against the Wall now, it will tumble."
+
+'"Give me the three years Allo spoke of," he answered, "and you shall have
+twenty thousand men of your own choosing up here. But now it is a gamble--a
+game played against the Gods, and the stakes are Britain, Gaul, and
+perhaps, Rome. You play on my side?"
+
+'"We will play, Cæsar," I said for I had never met a man like this man.
+
+'"Good. To-morrow," said he, "I proclaim you Captains of the Wall before
+the troops."
+
+'So we went into the moonlight, where they were cleaning the ground after
+the Games. We saw great Roma Dea atop of the Wall, the frost on her
+helmet, and her spear pointed towards the North Star. We saw the twinkle
+of night-fires all along the guard-towers, and the line of the black
+catapults growing smaller and smaller in the distance. All these things we
+knew till we were weary; but that night they seemed very strange to us,
+because the next day we knew we were to be their masters.
+
+'The men took the news well; but when Maximus went away with half our
+strength, and we had to spread ourselves into the emptied towers, and the
+townspeople complained that trade would be ruined, and the Autumn gales
+blew--it was dark days for us two. Here Pertinax was more than my right
+hand. Being born and bred among the great country-houses in Gaul, he knew
+the proper words to address to all--from Roman-born Centurions to those
+dogs of the Third--the Libyans. And he spoke to each as though that man
+were as high-minded as himself. Now _I_ saw so strongly what things were
+needed to be done, that I forgot things are only accomplished by means of
+men. That was a mistake.
+
+'I feared nothing from the Picts, at least for that year, but Allo warned
+me that the Winged Hats would soon come in from the sea at each end of the
+Wall to prove to the Picts how weak we were. So I made ready in haste, and
+none too soon. I shifted our best men to the ends of the Wall, and set up
+screened catapults by the beach. The Winged Hats would drive in before the
+snow-squalls--ten or twenty boats at a time--on Segedunum or Ituna,
+according as the wind blew.
+
+'Now a ship coming in to land men must furl her sail. If you wait till you
+see her men gather up the sail's foot, your catapults can jerk a net of
+loose stones (bolts only cut through the cloth) into the bag of it. Then
+she turns over, and the sea makes everything clean again. A few men may
+come ashore, but very few.... It was not hard work, except the waiting on
+the beach in blowing sand and snow. And that was how we dealt with the
+Winged Hats that winter.
+
+'Early in the Spring, when the East winds blow like skinning-knives, they
+gathered again off the East end with many ships. Allo told me they would
+never rest till they had taken a tower in open fight. Certainly they
+fought in the open. We dealt with them thoroughly through a long day: and
+when all was finished, one man dived clear of the wreckage of his ship,
+and swam towards shore. I waited, and a wave tumbled him at my feet.
+
+'As I stooped, I saw he wore such a medal as I wear.' Parnesius raised his
+hand to his neck. 'Therefore, when he could speak, I addressed him a
+certain Question which can only be answered in a certain manner. He
+answered with the necessary Word--the Word that belongs to the Degree of
+Gryphons in the science of Mithras my God. I put my shield over him till
+he could stand up. You see I am not short, but he was a head taller than
+I. He said: "What now?" I said: "At your pleasure, my brother, to stay or
+go."
+
+'He looked out across the surf. There remained one ship unhurt, beyond
+range of our catapults. I checked the catapults and he waved her in. She
+came as a hound comes to a master. When she was yet a hundred paces from
+the beach, he flung back his hair, and swam out. They hauled him in, and
+went away. I knew that those who worship Mithras are many and of all
+races, so I did not think much more upon the matter.
+
+'A month later I saw Allo with his horses--by the Temple of Pan, O
+Faun!--and he gave me a great necklace of gold studded with coral.
+
+'At first I thought it was a bribe from some tradesman in the town--meant
+for old Rutilianus. "Nay," said Allo. "This is a gift from Amal, that
+Winged Hat whom you saved on the beach. He says you are a Man."
+
+'"He is a Man, too. Tell him I can wear his gift," I answered.
+
+'"Oh, Amal is a young fool; but, speaking as sensible men, your Emperor is
+doing such great things in Gaul that the Winged Hats are anxious to be his
+friends, or, better still, the friends of his servants. They think you and
+Pertinax could lead them to victories." Allo looked at me like a one-eyed
+raven.
+
+'"Allo," I said, "you are the corn between the two millstones. Be content
+if they grind evenly, and don't thrust your hand between them."
+
+'"I?" said Allo. "I hate Rome and the Winged Hats equally; but if the
+Winged Hats thought that some day you and Pertinax might join them against
+Maximus, they would leave you in peace while you considered. Time is what
+we need--you and I and Maximus. Let me carry a pleasant message back to the
+Winged Hats--something for them to make a council over. We barbarians are
+all alike. We sit up half the night to discuss anything a Roman says. Eh?"
+
+'"We have no men. We must fight with words," said Pertinax. "Leave it to
+Allo and me."
+
+'So Allo carried word back to the Winged Hats that we would not fight them
+if they did not fight us; and they (I think they were a little tired of
+losing men in the sea) agreed to a sort of truce. I believe Allo, who
+being a horse-dealer loved lies, also told them we might some day rise
+against Maximus as Maximus had risen against Rome.
+
+'Indeed, they permitted the corn-ships which I sent to the Picts to pass
+North that season without harm. Therefore the Picts were well fed that
+winter, and since they were in some sort my children, I was glad of it. We
+had only two thousand men on the Wall, and I wrote many times to Maximus
+and begged--prayed--him to send me only one cohort of my old North British
+troops. He could not spare them. He needed them to win more victories in
+Gaul.
+
+'Then came news that he had defeated and slain the Emperor Gratian, and
+thinking he must now be secure, I wrote again for men. He answered: "You
+will learn that I have at last settled accounts with the pup Gratian.
+There was no need that he should have died, but he became confused and
+lost his head, which is a bad thing to befall any Emperor. Tell your
+Father I am content to drive two mules only; for unless my old General's
+son thinks himself destined to destroy me, I shall rest Emperor of Gaul
+and Britain, and then you, my two children, will presently get all the men
+you need. Just now I can spare none."'
+
+'What did he mean by his General's son?' said Dan.
+
+'He meant Theodosius Emperor of Rome, who was the son of Theodosius the
+General under whom Maximus had fought in the old Pict War. The two men
+never loved each other, and when Gratian made the younger Theodosius
+Emperor of the East (at least, so I've heard), Maximus carried on the war
+to the second generation. It was his fate, and it was his fall. But
+Theodosius the Emperor is a good man. As I know.' Parnesius was silent for
+a moment and then continued.
+
+'I wrote back to Maximus that, though we had peace on the Wall, I should
+be happier with a few more men and some new catapults. He answered: "You
+must live a little longer under the shadow of my victories, till I can see
+what young Theodosius intends. He may welcome me as a brother-Emperor, or
+he may be preparing an army. In either case I cannot spare men just now."'
+
+'But he was always saying that,' cried Una.
+
+'It was true. He did not make excuses; but thanks, as he said, to the news
+of his victories, we had no trouble on the Wall for a long, long time. The
+Picts grew fat as their own sheep among the heather, and as many of my men
+as lived were well exercised in their weapons. Yes, the Wall looked
+strong. For myself, I knew how weak we were. I knew that if even a false
+rumour of any defeat to Maximus broke loose among the Winged Hats, they
+might come down in earnest, and then--the Wall must go! For the Picts I
+never cared, but in those years I learned something of the strength of the
+Winged Hats. They increased their strength every day, but I could not
+increase my men. Maximus had emptied Britain behind us, and I felt myself
+to be a man with a rotten stick standing before a broken fence to turn
+bulls.
+
+'Thus, my friends, we lived on the Wall, waiting--waiting--waiting for the
+men that Maximus never sent!
+
+'Presently he wrote that he was preparing an army against Theodosius. He
+wrote--and Pertinax read it over my shoulder in our quarters: "_Tell your
+Father that my destiny orders me to drive three mules or be torn in pieces
+by them. I hope within a year to finish with Theodosius, son of
+Theodosius, once and for all. Then you shall have Britain to rule, and
+Pertinax, if he chooses, Gaul. To-day I wish strongly you were with me to
+beat my Auxiliaries into shape. Do not, I pray you, believe any rumour of
+my sickness. I have a little evil in my old body which I shall cure by
+riding swiftly into Rome._"
+
+'Said Pertinax: "It is finished with Maximus! He writes as a man without
+hope. I, a man without hope, can see this. What does he add at the bottom
+of the roll? '_Tell __Pertinax I have met his late Uncle, the Duumvir of
+Divio, and that he accounted to me quite truthfully for all his Mother's
+monies. I have sent her with a fitting escort, for she is the mother of a
+hero, to Nicæa, where the climate is warm._'
+
+'"That is proof!" said Pertinax. "Nicæa is not far by sea from Rome. A
+woman there could take ship and fly to Rome in time of war. Yes, Maximus
+foresees his death, and is fulfilling his promises one by one. But I am
+glad my Uncle met him."
+
+'"You think blackly to-day?" I asked.
+
+'"I think truth. The Gods weary of the play we have played against them.
+Theodosius will destroy Maximus. It is finished!"
+
+'"Will you write him that?" I said.
+
+'"See what I shall write," he answered, and he took pen and wrote a letter
+cheerful as the light of day, tender as a woman's and full of jests. Even
+I, reading over his shoulder, took comfort from it till--I saw his face!
+
+'"And now," he said, sealing it, "we be two dead men, my brother. Let us
+go to the Temple."
+
+'We prayed awhile to Mithras, where we had many times prayed before. After
+that we lived day by day among evil rumours till winter came again.
+
+'It happened one morning that we rode to the East Shore, and found on the
+beach a fair-haired man, half frozen, bound to some broken planks. Turning
+him over, we saw by his belt-buckle that he was a Goth of an Eastern
+Legion. Suddenly he opened his eyes and cried loudly: "He is dead! The
+letters were with me, but the Winged Hats sunk the ship." So saying, he
+died between our hands.
+
+'We asked not who was dead. We knew! We raced before the driving snow to
+Hunno, thinking perhaps Allo might be there. We found him already at our
+stables, and he saw by our faces what we had heard.
+
+'"It was in a tent by the Sea," he stammered. "He was beheaded by
+Theodosius. He sent a letter to you, written while he waited to be slain.
+The Winged Hats met the ship and took it. The news is running through the
+heather like fire. Blame me not! I cannot hold back my young men any
+more."
+
+'"I would we could say as much for our men," said Pertinax, laughing.
+"But, Gods be praised, they cannot run away."
+
+'"What do you do?" said Allo. "I bring an order--a message--from the Winged
+Hats that you join them with your men, and march South to plunder
+Britain."
+
+'"It grieves me," said Pertinax, "but we are stationed here to stop that
+thing."
+
+'"If I carry back such an answer they will kill me," said Allo. "I always
+promised the Winged Hats that you would rise when Maximus fell. I--I did
+not think he could fall."
+
+'"Alas! my poor barbarian," said Pertinax, still laughing. "Well, you have
+sold us too many good ponies to be thrown back to your friends. We will
+make you a prisoner, although you are an ambassador."
+
+'"Yes, that will be best," said Allo, holding out a halter. We bound him
+lightly, for he was an old man.
+
+'"Presently the Winged Hats may come to look for you, and that will give
+us more time. See how the habit of playing for time sticks to a man!" said
+Pertinax, as he tied the rope.
+
+'"No," I said. "Time may help. If Maximus wrote us letters while he was a
+prisoner, Theodosius must have sent the ship that brought it. If he can
+send ships, he can send men."
+
+'"How will that profit us?" said Pertinax. "We serve Maximus, not
+Theodosius. Even if by some miracle of the Gods Theodosius down South sent
+and saved the Wall, we could not expect more than the death Maximus died."
+
+'"It concerns us to defend the Wall, no matter what Emperor dies, or makes
+die," I said.
+
+'"That is worthy of your brother the philosopher," said Pertinax. "Myself
+I am without hope, so I do not say solemn and stupid things! Rouse the
+Wall!"
+
+'We armed the Wall from end to end; we told the officers that there was a
+rumour of Maximus's death which might bring down the Winged Hats, but we
+were sure, even if it were true, that Theodosius, for the sake of Britain,
+would send us help. Therefore, we must stand fast.... My friends, it is
+above all things strange to see how men bear ill news! Often the strongest
+till then become the weakest, while the weakest, as it were, reach up and
+steal strength from the Gods. So it was with us. Yet my Pertinax by his
+jests and his courtesy and his labours had put heart and training into our
+poor numbers during the past years--more than I should have thought
+possible. Even our Libyan Cohort--the Thirds--stood up in their padded
+cuirasses and did not whimper.
+
+'In three days came seven chiefs and elders of the Winged Hats. Among them
+was that tall young man, Amal, whom I had met on the beach, and he smiled
+when he saw my necklace. We made them welcome, for they were ambassadors.
+We showed them Allo, alive but bound. They thought we had killed him, and
+I saw it would not have vexed them if we had. Allo saw it too, and it
+vexed him. Then in our quarters at Hunno we came to Council.
+
+'They said that Rome was falling, and that we must join them. They offered
+me all South Britain to govern after they had taken a tribute out of it.
+
+'I answered, "Patience. This Wall is not weighed off like plunder. Give me
+proof that my General is dead."
+
+'"Nay," said one elder, "prove to us that he lives"; and another said,
+cunningly, "What will you give us if we read you his last words?"
+
+'"We are not merchants to bargain," cried Amal. "Moreover, I owe this man
+my life. He shall have his proof." He threw across to me a letter (well I
+knew the seal) from Maximus.
+
+'"We took this out of the ship we sunk," he cried. "I cannot read, but I
+know one sign, at least, which makes me believe." He showed me a dark
+stain on the outer roll that my heavy heart perceived was the valiant
+blood of Maximus.
+
+'"Read!" said Amal. "Read, and then let us hear whose servants you are!"
+
+'Said Pertinax, very softly, after he had looked through it: "I will read
+it all. Listen, barbarians!" He read from that which I have carried next
+my heart ever since.'
+
+Parnesius drew from his neck a folded and spotted piece of parchment, and
+began in a hushed voice:--
+
+'"_To Parnesius and Pertinax, the not unworthy Captains of the Wall, from
+Maximus, once Emperor of Gaul and Britain, now prisoner waiting death by
+the sea in the camp of Theodosius--Greeting and Good-bye!_"
+
+'"Enough," said young Amal; "there is your proof! You must join us now!"
+
+'Pertinax looked long and silently at him, till that fair man blushed like
+a girl. Then read Pertinax:--
+
+'"_I have joyfully done much evil in my life to those who have wished me
+evil, but if ever I did any evil to you two I repent, and I ask your
+forgiveness. The three mules which I strove to drive have torn me in
+pieces as your Father prophesied. The naked swords wait at the tent door
+to give me the death I gave to Gratian. Therefore I, your General and your
+Emperor, send you free and honourable dismissal from my service, which you
+entered, not for money __or office, but, as it makes me warm to believe,
+because you loved me!_"
+
+'"By the Light of the Sun," Amal broke in. "This was in some sort a Man!
+We may have been mistaken in his servants!"
+
+'And Pertinax read on: "_You gave me the time for which I asked. If I have
+failed to use it, do not lament. We have gambled very splendidly against
+the Gods, but they hold weighted dice, and I must pay the forfeit.
+Remember, I have been; but Rome is; and Rome will be! Tell Pertinax his
+Mother is in safety at Nicæa, and her monies are in charge of the Prefect
+at Antipolis. Make my remembrances to your Father and to your Mother,
+whose friendship was great gain to me. Give also to my little Picts and to
+the Winged Hats such messages as their thick heads can understand. I would
+have sent you three Legions this very day if all had gone aright. Do not
+forget me. We have worked together. Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!_"
+
+'Now, that was my Emperor's last letter.' (The children heard the
+parchment crackle as Parnesius returned it to its place.)
+
+'"I was mistaken," said Amal. "The servants of such a man will sell
+nothing except over the sword. I am glad of it." He held out his hand to
+me.
+
+'"But Maximus has given you your dismissal," said an elder. "You are
+certainly free to serve--or to rule--whom you please. Join--do not
+follow--join us!"
+
+'"We thank you," said Pertinax. "But Maximus tells us to give you such
+messages as--pardon me, but I use his words--your thick heads can
+understand." He pointed through the door to the foot of a catapult wound
+up.
+
+'"We understand," said an elder. "The Wall must be won at a price?"
+
+'"It grieves me," said Pertinax, laughing, "but so it must be won," and he
+gave them of our best Southern wine.
+
+'They drank, and wiped their yellow beards in silence till they rose to
+go.
+
+'Said Amal, stretching himself (for they were barbarians), "We be a goodly
+company; I wonder what the ravens and the dogfish will make of some of us
+before this snow melts."
+
+'"Think rather what Theodosius may send," I answered; and though they
+laughed, I saw that my chance shot troubled them.
+
+'Only old Allo lingered behind a little.
+
+'"You see," he said, winking and blinking, "I am no more than their dog.
+When I have shown their men the secret short ways across our bogs, they
+will kick me like one."
+
+'"Then I should not be in haste to show them those ways," said Pertinax,
+"till I were sure that Rome could not save the Wall."
+
+'"You think so? Woe is me!" said the old man. "I only wanted peace for my
+people," and he went out stumbling through the snow behind the tall Winged
+Hats.
+
+'In this fashion then, slowly, a day at a time, which is very bad for
+doubting troops, the War came upon us. At first the Winged Hats swept in
+from the sea as they had done before, and there we met them as before--with
+the catapults; and they sickened of it. Yet for a long time they would not
+trust their duck-legs on land, and I think when it came to revealing the
+secrets of the tribe, the little Picts were afraid or ashamed to show them
+all the roads across the heather. I had this from a Pict prisoner. They
+were as much our spies as our enemies, for the Winged Hats oppressed them,
+and took their winter stores. Ah, foolish Little People!
+
+'Then the Winged Hats began to roll us up from each end of the Wall. I
+sent runners Southward to see what the news might be in Britain; but the
+wolves were very bold that winter among the deserted stations where the
+troops had once been, and none came back. We had trouble too with the
+forage for the ponies along the Wall. I kept ten, and so did Pertinax. We
+lived and slept in the saddle riding east or west, and we ate our worn-out
+ponies. The people of the town also made us some trouble till I gathered
+them all in one quarter behind Hunno. We broke down the Wall on either
+side of it to make as it were a citadel. Our men fought better in close
+order.
+
+'By the end of the second month we were deep in the War as a man is deep
+in a snow-drift or in a dream. I think we fought in our sleep. At least I
+know I have gone on the Wall and come off again, remembering nothing
+between, though my throat was harsh with giving orders, and my sword, I
+could see, had been used.
+
+'The Winged Hats fought like wolves--all in a pack. Where they had suffered
+most, there they charged in most hotly. This was hard for the defender,
+but it held them from sweeping on into Britain.
+
+'In those days Pertinax and I wrote on the plaster of the bricked archway
+into Valentia the names of the towers, and the days on which they fell one
+by one. We wished for some record.
+
+'And the fighting? The fight was always hottest to left and right of the
+great Statue of Roma Dea, near to Rutilianus' house. By the light of the
+Sun, that old fat man, whom we had not considered at all, grew young again
+among the trumpets! I remember he said his sword was an oracle! "Let us
+consult the Oracle," he would say, and put the handle against his ear, and
+shake his head wisely. "And _this_ day is allowed Rutilianus to live," he
+would say, and, tucking up his cloak, he would puff and pant and fight
+well. Oh, there were jests in plenty on the Wall to take the place of
+food!
+
+'We endured for two months and seventeen days--always being pressed from
+three sides into a smaller space. Several times Allo sent in word that
+help was at hand. We did not believe it, but it cheered our men.
+
+'The end came not with shoutings of joy, but, like the rest, as in a
+dream. The Winged Hats suddenly left us in peace for one night, and the
+next day; which is too long for spent men. We slept at first lightly,
+expecting to be roused, and then like logs, each where he lay. May you
+never need such sleep! When I waked our towers were full of strange, armed
+men, who watched us snoring. I roused Pertinax, and we leaped up together.
+
+'"What?" said a young man in clean armour. "Do you fight against
+Theodosius? Look!"
+
+'North we looked over the red snow. No Winged Hats were there. South we
+looked over the white snow, and behold there were the Eagles of two strong
+Legions encamped. East and west we saw flame and fighting, but by Hunno
+all was still.
+
+'"Trouble no more," said the young man. "Rome's arm is long. Where are the
+Captains of the Wall?"
+
+'We said we were those men.
+
+'"But you are old and grey-haired," he cried. "Maximus said that they were
+boys."
+
+'"Yes that was true some years ago," said Pertinax. "What is our fate to
+be, you fine and well-fed child?"
+
+'"I am called Ambrosius, a secretary of the Emperor," he answered. "Show
+me a certain letter which Maximus wrote from a tent at Aquileia, and
+perhaps I will believe."
+
+'I took it from my breast, and when he had read it he saluted us, saying:
+"Your fate is in your own hands. If you choose to serve Theodosius, he
+will give you a Legion. If it suits you to go to your homes, we will give
+you a Triumph."
+
+'"I would like better a bath, wine, food, razors, soaps, oils, and
+scents," said Pertinax, laughing.
+
+'"Oh, I see you are a boy," said Ambrosius. "And you?" turning to me.
+
+'"We bear no ill-will against Theodosius, but in War----" I began.
+
+'"In War it is as it is in Love," said Pertinax. "Whether she be good or
+bad, one gives one's best once, to one only. That given, there remains no
+second worth giving or taking."
+
+'"That is true," said Ambrosius. "I was with Maximus before he died. He
+warned Theodosius that you would never serve him, and frankly I say I am
+sorry for my Emperor."
+
+'"He has Rome to console him," said Pertinax. "I ask you of your kindness
+to let us go to our homes and get this smell out of our nostrils."
+
+'None the less they gave us a Triumph!'
+
+
+
+'It was well earned,' said Puck, throwing some leaves into the still water
+of the marlpit. The black, oily circles spread dizzily as the children
+watched them.
+
+'I want to know, oh, ever so many things,' said Dan, 'What happened to old
+Allo? Did the Winged Hats ever come back? And what did Amal do?'
+
+'And what happened to the fat old General with the five cooks?' said Una.
+'And what did your Mother say when you came home?'...
+
+'She'd say you're settin' too long over this old pit, so late as 'tis
+already,' said old Hobden's voice behind them. 'Hst!' he whispered.
+
+He stood still, for not twenty paces away a magnificent dog-fox sat on his
+haunches and looked at the children as though he were an old friend of
+theirs.
+
+'Oh, Mus' Reynolds, Mus' Reynolds!' said Hobden, under his breath. 'If I
+knowed all was inside your head, I'd know something wuth knowin'. Mus' Dan
+an' Miss Una, come along o' me while I lock up my liddle hen-house.'
+
+
+
+
+A PICT SONG
+
+
+  _Rome never looks where she treads,_
+    _Always her heavy hooves fall,_
+  _On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads;_
+    _And Rome never heeds when we bawl._
+  _Her sentries pass on--that is all,_
+    _And we gather behind them in hordes,_
+  _And plot to reconquer the Wall,_
+    _With only our tongues for our swords._
+
+  _We are the Little Folk--we!_
+    _Too little to love or to hate._
+  _Leave us alone and you'll see_
+    _How we can drag down the Great!_
+  _We are the worm in the wood!_
+    _We are the rot at the root!_
+  _We are the germ in the blood!_
+    _We are the thorn in the foot!_
+
+  _Mistletoe killing an oak--_
+    _Rats gnawing cables in two--_
+  _Moths making holes in a cloak--_
+    _How they must love what they do!_
+  _Yes,--and we Little Folk too,_
+    _We are as busy as they--_
+  _Working our works out of view--_
+    _Watch, and you'll see it some day!_
+
+  _No indeed! We are not strong,_
+    _But we know Peoples that are._
+  _Yes, and we'll guide them along,_
+    _To smash and destroy you in War!_
+  _We shall be slaves just the same?_
+    _Yes, we have always been slaves;_
+  _But you--you will die of the shame,_
+    _And then we shall dance on your graves!_
+
+    _We are the Little Folk, we! etc._
+
+
+
+
+
+HAL O' THE DRAFT
+
+
+
+
+  _Prophets have honour all over the Earth,_
+    _Except in the village where they were born;_
+  _Where such as knew them boys from birth,_
+    _Nature-ally hold 'em in scorn._
+
+  _When Prophets are naughty and young and vain,_
+    _They make a won'erful grievance of it;_
+  _(You can see by their writings how they __complain),_
+    _But O, 'tis won'erful good for the Prophet!_
+
+  _There's nothing Nineveh Town can give,_
+    _(Nor being swallowed by whales between),_
+  _Makes up for the place where a man's folk live,_
+    _That don't care nothing what he has been._
+  _He might ha' been that, or he might ha' been this,_
+  _But they love and they hate him for what he is!_
+
+
+
+
+HAL O' THE DRAFT
+
+
+A rainy afternoon drove Dan and Una over to play pirates in the Little
+Mill. If you don't mind rats on the rafters and oats in your shoes, the
+mill-attic, with its trap-doors and inscriptions on beams about floods and
+sweethearts, is a splendid place. It is lighted by a foot-square window,
+called Duck Window, that looks across to Little Lindens Farm, and the spot
+where Jack Cade was killed.
+
+When they had climbed the attic ladder (they called it the 'mainmast tree'
+out of the ballad of Sir Andrew Barton, and Dan 'swarved it with might and
+main,' as the ballad says) they saw a man sitting on Duck window-sill. He
+was dressed in a plum-coloured doublet and tight plum-coloured hose, and
+he drew busily in a red-edged book.
+
+'Sit ye! Sit ye!' Puck cried from a rafter overhead. 'See what it is to be
+beautiful! Sir Harry Dawe--pardon, Hal--says I am the very image of a head
+for a gargoyle.'
+
+The man laughed and raised his dark velvet cap to the children, and his
+grizzled hair bristled out in a stormy fringe. He was old--forty at
+least--but his eyes were young, with funny little wrinkles all round them.
+A satchel of embroidered leather hung from his broad belt, which looked
+interesting.
+
+'May we see?' said Una, coming forward.
+
+'Surely--sure-ly!' he said, moving up on the window-seat, and returned to
+his work with a silver-pointed pencil. Puck sat as though the grin were
+fixed for ever on his broad face, while they watched the quick, certain
+fingers that copied it. Presently the man took a reed pen from his
+satchel, and trimmed it with a little ivory knife, carved in the semblance
+of a fish.
+
+'Oh, what a beauty!' cried Dan.
+
+''Ware fingers! That blade is perilous sharp. I made it myself of the best
+Low Country cross-bow steel. And so, too, this fish. When his back-fin
+travels to his tail--so--he swallows up the blade, even as the whale
+swallowed Gaffer Jonah.... Yes, and that's my ink-horn. I made the four
+silver saints round it. Press Barnabas's head. It opens, and then----' He
+dipped the trimmed pen, and with careful boldness began to put in the
+essential lines of Puck's rugged face, that had been but faintly revealed
+by the silver-point.
+
+The children gasped, for it fairly leaped from the page.
+
+As he worked, and the rain fell on the tiles, he talked--now clearly, now
+muttering, now breaking off to frown or smile at his work. He told them he
+was born at Little Lindens Farms, and his father used to beat him for
+drawing things instead of doing things, till an old priest called Father
+Roger, who drew illuminated letters in rich people's books, coaxed the
+parents to let him take the boy as a sort of painter's apprentice. Then he
+went with Father Roger to Oxford, where he cleaned plates and carried
+cloaks and shoes for the scholars of a College called Merton.
+
+'Didn't you hate that?' said Dan after a great many other questions.
+
+'I never thought on't. Half Oxford was building new colleges or
+beautifying the old, and she had called to her aid the master-craftsmen of
+all Christendie--kings in their trade and honoured of Kings. I knew them. I
+worked for them: that was enough. No wonder----' He stopped and laughed.
+
+'You became a great man,' said Puck.
+
+'They said so, Robin. Even Bramante said so.'
+
+'Why? What did you do?' Dan asked.
+
+The artist looked at him queerly. 'Things in stone and such, up and down
+England. You would not have heard of 'em. To come nearer home, I
+re-builded this little St. Bartholomew's church of ours. It cost me more
+trouble and sorrow than aught I've touched in my life. But 'twas a sound
+lesson.'
+
+'Um,' said Dan. 'We had lessons this morning.'
+
+'I'll not afflict ye, lad,' said Hal, while Puck roared. 'Only 'tis
+strange to think how that little church was re-built, re-roofed, and made
+glorious, thanks to some few godly Sussex iron-masters, a Bristol sailor
+lad, a proud ass called Hal o' the Draft because, d'you see, he was always
+drawing and drafting; and'--he dragged the words slowly--'_and_ a Scotch
+pirate.'
+
+'Pirate?' said Dan. He wriggled like a hooked fish.
+
+'Even that Andrew Barton you were singing of on the stair just now.' He
+dipped again in the ink-well, and held his breath over a sweeping line, as
+though he had forgotten everything else.
+
+'Pirates don't build churches, do they?' said Dan. 'Or _do_ they?'
+
+'They help mightily,' Hal laughed. 'But you were at your lessons this
+morn, Jack Scholar?'
+
+'Oh, pirates aren't lessons. It was only Bruce and his silly old spider,'
+said Una. 'Why did Sir Andrew Barton help you?'
+
+'I question if he ever knew it,' said Hal, twinkling. 'Robin, how
+a-mischief's name am I to tell these innocents what comes of sinful
+pride?'
+
+'Oh, we know all about _that_,' said Una pertly. 'If you get too
+beany--that's cheeky--you get sat upon, of course.'
+
+Hal considered a moment, pen in air, and Puck said some long words.
+
+'Aha! That was my case too,' he cried. 'Beany--you say--but certainly I did
+not conduct myself well. I was proud of--of such things as porches--a
+Galilee porch at Lincoln for choice--proud of one Torrigiano's arm on my
+shoulder, proud of my knighthood when I made the gilt scroll-work for _The
+Sovereign_--our King's ship. But Father Roger sitting in Merton Library, he
+did not forget me. At the top of my pride, when I and no other should have
+builded the porch at Lincoln, he laid it on me with a terrible forefinger
+to go back to my Sussex clays and re-build, at my own charges, my own
+church, where we Dawes have been buried for six generations. "Out! Son of
+my Art!" said he. "Fight the Devil at home ere you call yourself a man and
+a craftsman." And I quaked, and I went.... How's yon, Robin?' He
+flourished the finished sketch before Puck.
+
+'Me! Me past peradventure,' said Puck, smirking like a man at a mirror.
+'Ah, see! The rain has took off! I hate housen in daylight.'
+
+'Whoop! Holiday!' cried Hal, leaping up. 'Who's for my Little Lindens? We
+can talk there.'
+
+They tumbled downstairs, and turned past the dripping willows by the sunny
+mill dam.
+
+'Body o' me,' said Hal, staring at the hop-garden, where the hops were
+just ready to blossom. 'What are these vines? No, not vines, and they
+twine the wrong way to beans.' He began to draw in his ready book.
+
+'Hops. New since your day,' said Puck. 'They're an herb of Mars, and their
+flowers dried flavour ale. We say:--
+
+  '"Turkeys, Heresy, Hops, and Beer
+  Came into England all in one year."'
+
+'Heresy I know. I've seen Hops--God be praised for their beauty! What is
+your Turkis?'
+
+The children laughed. They knew the Lindens turkeys, and as soon as they
+reached Lindens' orchard on the hill the flock charged at them.
+
+Out came Hal's book at once. 'Hoity-toity!' he cried. 'Here's Pride in
+purple feathers! Here's wrathy contempt and the Pomps of the Flesh! How
+d'you call _them_?'
+
+'Turkeys! Turkeys!' the children shouted, as the old gobbler raved and
+flamed against Hal's plum-coloured hose.
+
+'Save Your Magnificence!' he said. 'I've drafted two good new things
+to-day.' And he doffed his cap to the bubbling bird.
+
+Then they walked through the grass to the knoll where Little Lindens
+stands. The old farm-house, weather-tiled to the ground, took almost the
+colour of a blood-ruby in the afternoon light. The pigeons pecked at the
+mortar in the chimney-stacks; the bees that had lived under the tiles
+since it was built filled the hot August air with their booming; and the
+smell of the box-tree by the dairy-window mixed with the smell of earth
+after rain, bread after baking, and a tickle of wood-smoke.
+
+The farmer's wife came to the door, baby on arm, shaded her brows against
+the sun, stooped to pluck a sprig of rosemary, and turned down the
+orchard. The old spaniel in his barrel barked once or twice to show he was
+in charge of the empty house. Puck clicked back the garden-gate.
+
+'D'you marvel that I love it?' said Hal, in a whisper. 'What can town folk
+know of the nature of housen--or land?'
+
+  [Illustration: 'Hoity-toity,' he cried. 'Here's Pride in purple
+  feathers! Here's wrathy contempt and the Pomps of the Flesh!'... And
+  he doffed his cap to the bubbling bird.]
+
+They perched themselves arow on the old hacked oak bench in Lindens'
+garden, looking across the valley of the brook at the fern-covered dimples
+and hollows of the Forge behind Hobden's cottage. The old man was cutting
+a faggot in his garden by the hives. It was quite a second after his
+chopper fell that the chump of the blow reached their lazy ears.
+
+'Eh--yeh!' said Hal. 'I mind when where that old gaffer stands was Nether
+Forge--Master John Collins's foundry. Many a night has his big trip-hammer
+shook me in my bed here. _Boom-bitty! Boom-bitty!_ If the wind was east, I
+could hear Master Tom Collins's forge at Stockens answering his brother,
+_Boom-oop! Boom-oop!_ and midway between, Sir John Pelham's sledge-hammers
+at Brightling would strike in like a pack o'scholars, and "_Hic-haec-hoc_"
+they'd say, "_Hic-haec-hoc_," till I fell asleep. Yes. The valley was as
+full o' forges and fineries as a May shaw o' cuckoos. All gone to grass
+now!'
+
+'What did they make?' said Dan.
+
+'Guns for the King's ships--and for others. Serpentines and cannon mostly.
+When the guns were cast, down would come the King's Officers, and take our
+plough-oxen to haul them to the coast. Look! Here's one of the first and
+finest craftsmen of the Sea!'
+
+He fluttered back a page of his book, and showed them a young man's head.
+Underneath was written: 'Sebastianus.'
+
+'He came down with a King's Order on Master John Collins for twenty
+serpentines (wicked little cannon they be!) to furnish a venture of ships.
+I drafted him thus sitting by our fire telling Mother of the new lands
+he'd find the far side the world. And he found them, too! There's a nose
+to cleave through unknown seas! Cabot was his name--a Bristol lad--half a
+foreigner. I set a heap by him. He helped me to my church-building.'
+
+'I thought that was Sir Andrew Barton,' said Dan.
+
+'Ay, but foundations before roofs,' Hal answered. 'Sebastian first put me
+in the way of it. I had come down here, not to serve God as a craftsman
+should, but to show my people how great a craftsman I was. They cared not,
+and it served me right, one split straw for my craft or my greatness. What
+a murrain call had I, they said, to mell with old St. Barnabas's? Ruinous
+the church had been since the Black Death, and ruinous she should remain;
+and I could hang myself in my new scaffold-ropes! Gentle and simple, high
+and low--the Hayes, the Fowles, the Fanners, the Collinses--they were all in
+a tale against me. Only Sir John Pelham up yonder to Brightling bade me
+heart-up and go on. Yet how could I? Did I ask Master Collins for his
+timber-tug to haul beams? The oxen had gone to Lewes after lime. Did he
+promise me a set of iron cramps or ties for the roof? They never came to
+hand, or else they were spaulty or cracked. So with everything. Nothing
+said, but naught done except I stood by them, and then done amiss. I
+thought the countryside was fair bewitched.'
+
+'It was, sure-ly,' said Puck, knees under chin. 'Did you never suspect any
+one?'
+
+'Not till Sebastian came for his guns, and John Collins played him the
+same dog's tricks as he'd played me with my ironwork. Week in, week out,
+two of three serpentines would be flawed in the casting, and only fit,
+they said, to be remelted. Then John Collins would shake his head, and vow
+he could pass no cannon for the King's service that were not perfect.
+Saints! How Sebastian stormed! _I_ know, for we sat on this bench sharing
+our sorrows inter-common.
+
+'When Sebastian had fumed away six weeks at Lindens and gotten just six
+serpentines, Dirk Brenzett, Master of the _Cygnet_ hoy, sends me word that
+the block of stone he was fetching me from France for our new font he'd
+hove overboard to lighten his ship, chased by Andrew Barton up to Rye
+Port.'
+
+'Ah! The pirate!' said Dan.
+
+'Yes. And while I am tearing my hair over this, Ticehurst Will, my best
+mason, comes to me shaking, and vowing that the Devil, horned, tailed, and
+chained, has run out on him from the church-tower, and the men would work
+there no more. So I took 'em off the foundations, which we were
+strengthening, and went into the Bell Tavern for a cup of ale. Says Master
+John Collins: "Have it your own way, lad; but if I was you, I'd take the
+sinnification o' the sign, and leave old Barnabas's Church alone!" And
+they all wagged their sinful heads, and agreed. Less afraid of the Devil
+than of me--as I saw later.
+
+'When I brought my sweet news to Lindens, Sebastian was limewashing the
+kitchen-beams for Mother. He loved her like a son.
+
+'"Cheer up, lad," he says. "God's where He was. Only you and I chance to
+be pure pute asses! We've been tricked, Hal, and more shame to me, a
+sailor, that I did not guess it before! You must leave your belfry alone,
+forsooth, because the Devil is adrift there; and I cannot get my
+serpentines because John Collins cannot cast them aright. Meantime Andrew
+Barton hawks off the Port of Rye. And why? To take those very serpentines
+which poor Cabot must whistle for; the said serpentines, I'll wager my
+share of new Continents, being now hid away in St. Barnabas church tower.
+Clear as the Irish coast at noonday!"
+
+'"They'd sure never dare to do it," I said; "and for another thing,
+selling cannon to the King's enemies is black treason--hanging and fine."
+
+'"It is sure large profit. Men'll dare any gallows for that. I have been a
+trader myself," says he. "We must be upsides with 'em for the honour of
+Bristol."
+
+'Then he hatched a plot, sitting on the lime-wash bucket. We gave out to
+ride o' Tuesday to London and made a show of making farewells of our
+friends--especially of Master John Collins. But at Wadhurst Woods we
+turned; rode by night to the watermeadows; hid our horses in a willow-tot
+at the foot of the glebe, and stole a-tiptoe up hill to Barnabas's church
+again. A thick mist, and a moon coming through.
+
+'I had no sooner locked the tower-door behind us than over goes Sebastian
+full length in the dark.
+
+'"Pest!" he says. "Step high and feel low, Hal. I've stumbled over guns
+before."
+
+'I groped, and one by one--the tower was pitchy dark--I counted the lither
+barrels of twenty serpentines laid out on pease-straw. No conceal at all!
+
+'"There's two demi-cannon my end," says Sebastian, slapping metal.
+"They'll be for Andrew Barton's lower deck. Honest--honest John Collins! So
+this is his warehouse, his arsenal, his armoury! Now, see you why your
+pokings and pryings have raised the Devil in Sussex? You've hindered
+John's lawful trade for months," and he laughed where he lay.
+
+'A clay-cold tower is no fireside at midnight, so we climbed the belfry
+stairs, and there Sebastian trips over a cow-hide with its horns and tail.
+
+'"Aha! Your Devil has left his doublet! Does it become me, Hal?" He draws
+it on and capers in the slits of window-moonlight--won'erful devilish-like.
+Then he sits on the stair, rapping with his tail on a board, and his
+back-aspect was dreader than his front; and a howlet lit in, and screeched
+at the horns of him.
+
+'"If you'd keep out the Devil, shut the door," he whispered. "And that's
+another false proverb, Hal, for I can hear your tower-door opening."
+
+'"I locked it. Who a-plague has another key, then?" I said.
+
+'"All the congregation, to judge by their feet," he says, and peers into
+the blackness. "Still! Still, Hal! Hear 'em grunt! That's more o' my
+serpentines, I'll be bound. One--two--three--four they bear in! Faith, Andrew
+equips himself like an admiral! Twenty-four serpentines in all!"
+
+'As if it had been an echo, we heard John Collins's voice come up all
+hollow: "Twenty-four serpentines and two demi-cannon. That's the full
+tally for Sir Andrew Barton."
+
+'"Courtesy costs naught," whispers Sebastian. "Shall I drop my dagger on
+his head?"
+
+'"They go over to Rye o' Thursday in the wool-wains, hid under the wool
+packs. Dirk Brenzett meets them at Udimore, as before," says John.
+
+'"Lord! What a worn, handsmooth trade it is!" says Sebastian. "I lay we
+are the sole two babes in the village that have not our lawful share in
+the venture."
+
+'There was a full score folk below, talking like all Robertsbridge Market.
+We counted them by voice.
+
+'Master John Collins pipes: "The guns for the French carrack must lie here
+next month. Will, when does your young fool (me, so please you!) come back
+from Lunnon?"
+
+'"No odds," I heard Ticehurst Will answer. "Lay 'em just where you've a
+mind, Mus' Collins. We're all too afraid o' the Devil to mell with the
+tower now." And the long knave laughed.
+
+'"Ah! 'tis easy enow for you to raise the Devil, Will," says another--Ralph
+Hobden from the Forge.
+
+'"Aaa-men!" roars Sebastian, and ere I could hold him, he leaps down the
+stairs--won'erful devilish-like--howling no bounds. He had scarce time to
+lay out for the nearest than they ran. Saints, how they ran! We heard them
+pound on the door of the Bell Tavern, and then we ran too.
+
+'"What's next?" says Sebastian, looping up his cow-tail as he leaped the
+briars. "I've broke honest John's face."
+
+'"Ride to Sir John Pelham's," I said. "He is the only one that ever stood
+by me."
+
+'We rode to Brightling, and past Sir John's lodges, where the keepers
+would have shot at us for deer-stealers, and we had Sir John down into his
+Justice's chair, and when we had told him our tale and showed him the
+cow-hide which Sebastian wore still girt about him, he laughed till the
+tears ran.
+
+'"Wel-a-well!" he says. "I'll see justice done before daylight. What's
+your complaint? Master Collins is my old friend."
+
+'"He's none of mine," I cried. "When I think how he and his likes have
+baulked and dozened and cozened me at every turn over the church"----and I
+choked at the thought.
+
+'"Ah, but ye see now they needed it for another use," says he, smoothly.
+
+'"So they did my serpentines," Sebastian cries. "I should be half across
+the Western Ocean by this if my guns had been ready. But they're sold to a
+Scotch pirate by your old friend."
+
+'"Where's your proof?" says Sir John, stroking his beard.
+
+'"I broke my shins over them not an hour since, and I heard John give
+order where they were to be taken," says Sebastian.
+
+'"Words! Words only," says Sir John. "Master Collins is somewhat of a liar
+at best."
+
+'He carried it so gravely, that for the moment, I thought he was dipped in
+this secret traffick too, and that there was not an honest ironmaster in
+Sussex.
+
+'"Name o' Reason!" says Sebastian, and raps with his cow-tail on the
+table, "Whose guns are they, then?"
+
+'"Yours, manifestly," says Sir John. "You come with the King's Order for
+'em, and Master Collins casts them in his foundry. If he chooses to bring
+them up from Nether Forge and lay 'em out in the church tower, why they
+are e'en so much the nearer to the main road and you are saved a day's
+hauling. What a coil to make of a mere act of neighbourly kindness, lad!"
+
+'"I fear I have requited him very scurvily," says Sebastian, looking at
+his knuckles. "But what of the demi-cannon? I could do with 'em well, but
+_they_ are not in the King's Order."
+
+'"Kindness--loving-kindness," says Sir John. "Questionless, in his zeal for
+the King and his love for you, John adds those two cannon as a gift. 'Tis
+plain as this coming daylight, ye stockfish!"
+
+'"So it is," says Sebastian. "Oh, Sir John, Sir John, why did you never
+use the sea? You are lost ashore." And he looked on him with great love.
+
+'"I do my best in my station." Sir John strokes his beard again and rolls
+forth his deep drumming Justice's voice thus:--"But--suffer me!--you two
+lads, on some midnight frolic into which I probe not, roystering around
+the taverns, surprise Master Collins at his"--he thinks a moment--"at his
+good deeds done by stealth. Ye surprise him, I say, cruelly."
+
+'"Truth, Sir John. If you had seen him run!" says Sebastian.
+
+'"On this you ride breakneck to me with a tale of pirates, and wool-wains,
+and cow-hides, which, though it hath moved my mirth as a man, offendeth my
+reason as a magistrate. So I will e'en accompany you back to the tower
+with, perhaps, some few of my own people, and three to four wagons, and
+I'll be your warrant that Master John Collins will freely give you your
+guns and your demi-cannon, Master Sebastian." He breaks into his proper
+voice--"I warned the old tod and his neighbours long ago that they'd come
+to trouble with their side-sellings and bye-dealings; but we cannot have
+half Sussex hanged for a little gun-running. Are ye content, lads?"
+
+'"I'd commit any treason for two demi-cannon," said Sebastian, and rubs
+his hands.
+
+'"Ye have just compounded with rank treason-felony for the same bribe,"
+says Sir John. "Wherefore to horse, and get the guns."'
+
+'But Master Collins meant the guns for Sir Andrew Barton all along, didn't
+he?' said Dan.
+
+'Questionless, that he did,' said Hal. 'But he lost them. We poured into
+the village on the red edge of dawn, Sir John horsed, in half-armour, his
+pennon flying; behind him thirty stout Brightling knaves, five abreast;
+behind them four wool-wains, and behind them four trumpets to triumph over
+the jest, blowing: _Our King went forth to Normandie_. When we halted and
+rolled the ringing guns out of the tower, 'twas for all the world like
+Friar Roger's picture of the French siege in the Queen's Missal-book.'
+
+'And what did we--I mean, what did our village do?' said Dan.
+
+'Oh! Bore it nobly--nobly,' cried Hal. 'Though they had tricked me, I was
+proud of us. They came out of their housen, looked at that little army as
+though it had been a post, and went their shut-mouthed way. Never a sign!
+Never a word! They'd ha' perished sooner than let Brightling overcrow us.
+Even that villain, Ticehurst Will, coming out of the Bell for his morning
+ale, he all but ran under Sir John's horse.
+
+'"Ware, Sirrah Devil!" cries Sir John, reining back.
+
+'"Oh!" says Will. "Market day, is it? And all the bullocks from Brightling
+here?"
+
+'I spared him his belting for that--the brazen knave!
+
+'But John Collins was our masterpiece! He happened along-street (his jaw
+tied up where Sebastian had clouted him) when we were trundling the first
+demi-cannon through the lych-gate.
+
+'"I reckon you'll find her middlin' heavy," he says. "If you've a mind to
+pay, I'll loan ye my timber-tug. She won't lie easy on ary wool-wain."
+
+'That was the one time I ever saw Sebastian taken flat aback. He opened
+and shut his mouth, fishy-like.
+
+'"No offence," says Master John. "You've got her reasonable good cheap. I
+thought ye might not grudge me a groat if I help move her." Ah, he was a
+masterpiece! They say that morning's work cost our John two hundred
+pounds, and he never winked an eyelid, not even when he saw the guns all
+carted off to Lewes.'
+
+'Neither then nor later?' said Puck.
+
+'Once. 'Twas after he gave St. Barnabas the new chime of bells. (Oh, there
+was nothing the Collinses, or the Hayes, or the Fowles, or the Fanners
+would not do for the church then! "Ask and have" was their song.) We had
+rung 'em in, and he was in the tower with Black Nick Fowle, that gave us
+our rood-screen. The old man pinches the bell-rope one hand and scratches
+his neck with t'other. "Sooner she was pulling yon clapper than my neck,"
+he says. That was all! That was Sussex--seely Sussex for everlastin'!'
+
+'And what happened after?' said Una.
+
+'I went back into England,' said Hal, slowly. 'I'd had my lesson against
+pride. But they tell me I left St. Barnabas's a jewel--just about a jewel!
+Wel-a-well! 'Twas done for and among my own people, and--Father Roger was
+right--I never knew such trouble or such triumph since. That's the nature
+o' things. A dear--dear land.' He dropped his chin on his chest.
+
+'There's your Father at the Forge. What's he talking to old Hobden about?'
+said Puck, opening his hand with three leaves in it.
+
+Dan looked towards the cottage.
+
+'Oh, I know. It's that old oak lying across the brook. Pater always wants
+it grubbed.'
+
+In the still valley they could hear old Hobden's deep tones.
+
+'Have it _as_ you've a mind to,' he was saying. 'But the vivers of her
+roots they hold the bank together. If you grub her out, the bank she'll
+all come tearin' down, an' next floods the brook'll swarve up. But have it
+_as_ you've a mind. The mistuss she sets a heap by the ferns on her
+trunk.'
+
+'Oh! I'll think it over,' said the Pater.
+
+Una laughed a little bubbling chuckle.
+
+'What Devil's in _that_ belfry?' said Hal, with a lazy laugh. 'That should
+be Hobden by his voice.'
+
+'Why, the oak is the regular bridge for all the rabbits between the Three
+Acre and our meadow. The best place for wires on the farm, Hobden says.
+He's got two there now,' Una answered. '_He_ won't ever let it be
+grubbed!'
+
+'Ah, Sussex! Silly Sussex for everlastin',' murmured Hal; and the next
+moment their Father's voice calling across to Little Lindens broke the
+spell as St. Barnabas's clock struck five.
+
+
+
+
+SMUGGLERS' SONG
+
+
+  _If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,_
+  _Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,_
+  _Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie._
+  _Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!_
+
+      _Five and twenty ponies_
+      _Trotting through the dark;_
+      _Brandy for the Parson,_
+      _'Baccy for the Clerk_
+      _Laces for a lady, letters for a spy,_
+
+  _And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!_
+
+  _Running round the woodlump if you chance to find_
+  _Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandywined;_
+  _Don't you shout to come and look, nor take 'em for your play;_
+  _Put the brishwood back again,--and they'll be gone next day!_
+
+  _If you see the stableyard setting open wide;_
+  _If you see a tied horse lying down inside;_
+  _If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore;_
+  _If the lining's wet and warm--don't you ask no more!_
+
+  _If you meet King George's men, dressed in blue and red,_
+  _You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said._
+  _If they call you 'pretty maid,' and chuck you 'neath the chin,_
+  _Don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been!_
+
+  _Knocks and footsteps round the house--whistles after dark--_
+  _You've no call for running out till the house-dogs bark._
+  Trusty's _here, and_ Pincher's _here, and see how dumb they lie--_
+  _They don't fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by!_
+
+  _If you do as you've been told, likely there's a chance,_
+  _You'll be give a dainty doll, all the way from France,_
+  _With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood--_
+  _A present from the Gentlemen, along o' being good!_
+
+      _Five and twenty ponies,_
+      _Trotting through the Park--_
+      _Brandy for the Parson,_
+      _'Baccy for the Clerk._
+
+  _Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie._
+  _Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!_
+
+
+
+
+
+'DYMCHURCH FLIT'
+
+
+
+
+THE BEE BOY'S SONG
+
+
+  Bees! Bees! Hark to the Bees!
+  'Hide from your neighbours as much as you please,
+  But all that has happened to _us_ you must tell!
+  Or else we will give you no honey to sell.'
+
+    _A maiden in her glory,_
+      _Upon her wedding-day,_
+    _Must tell her Bees the story,_
+      _Or else they'll fly away._
+        _Fly away--die away--_
+          _Dwindle down and leave you!_
+        _But if you don't deceive your Bees,_
+          _Your Bees will not deceive you!--_
+
+    _Marriage, birth or buryin',_
+      _News across the seas,_
+    _All you're sad or merry in,_
+      _You must tell the Bees._
+        _Tell 'em coming in an' out,_
+          _Where the Fanners fan,_
+        _'Cause the Bees are justabout_
+          _As curious as a man!_
+
+    _Don't you wait where trees are,_
+      _When the lightnings play;_
+    _Nor don't you hate where Bees are,_
+      _Or else they'll pine away._
+        _Pine away--dwine away--_
+          _Anything to leave you!_
+        _But if you never grieve your Bees,_
+          _Your Bees'll never grieve you._
+
+
+
+
+'DYMCHURCH FLIT'
+
+
+Just at dusk, a soft September rain began to fall on the hop-pickers. The
+mothers wheeled the bouncing perambulators out of the gardens; bins were
+put away, and tally-books made up. The young couples strolled home, two to
+each umbrella, and the single men walked behind them laughing. Dan and
+Una, who had been picking after their lessons, marched off to roast
+potatoes at the oast-house, where old Hobden, with Blue-eyed Bess, his
+lurcher-dog, lived all the month through, drying the hops.
+
+They settled themselves, as usual, on the sack-strewn cot in front of the
+fires, and, when Hobden drew up the shutter, stared, as usual, at the
+flameless bed of coals spouting its heat up the dark well of the
+old-fashioned roundel. Slowly he cracked off a few fresh pieces of coal,
+packed them, with fingers that never flinched, exactly where they would do
+most good; slowly he reached behind him till Dan tilted the potatoes into
+his iron scoop of a hand; carefully he arranged them round the fire, and
+then stood for a moment, black against the glare. As he closed the
+shutter, the oast-house seemed dark before the day's end, and he lit the
+candle in the lanthorn. The children liked all these things because they
+knew them so well.
+
+The Bee Boy, Hobden's son, who is not quite right in his head, though he
+can do anything with bees, slipped in like a shadow. They only guessed it
+when Bess's stump-tail wagged against them.
+
+A big voice began singing outside in the drizzle:--
+
+  'Old Mother Laidinwool had nigh twelve months been dead,
+  She heard the hops were doing well, and then popped up her head.'
+
+'There can't be two people made to holler like that!' cried old Hobden,
+wheeling round.
+
+  'For, says she, "The boys I've picked with when I was young and fair,
+  They're bound to be at hoppin', and I'm----"'
+
+A man showed at the doorway.
+
+'Well, well! They do say hoppin'll draw the very deadest; and now I
+belieft 'em. You, Tom? Tom Shoesmith!' Hobden lowered his lanthorn.
+
+'You're a hem of a time makin' your mind to it, Ralph!' The stranger
+strode in--three full inches taller than Hobden, a grey-whiskered,
+brown-faced giant with clear blue eyes. They shook hands, and the children
+could hear the hard palms rasp together.
+
+'You ain't lost none o' your grip,' said Hobden. 'Was it thirty or forty
+year back you broke my head at Peasmarsh Fair?'
+
+'Only thirty, an' no odds 'tween us regardin' heads, neither. You had it
+back at me with a hop-pole. How did we get home that night? Swimmin'?'
+
+'Same way the pheasant come into Gubbs's pocket--by a little luck an' a
+deal o' conjurin'.' Old Hobden laughed in his deep chest.
+
+'I see you've not forgot your way about the woods. D'ye do any o' _this_
+still?' The stranger pretended to look along a gun.
+
+Hobden answered with a quick movement of the hand as though he were
+pegging down a rabbit-wire.
+
+'No. _That's_ all that's left me now. Age she must as Age she can. An'
+what's your news since all these years?'
+
+  'Oh, I've bin to Plymouth, I've bin to Dover--
+  I've bin ramblin', boys, the wide world over,'
+
+the man answered cheerily. 'I reckon I know as much of Old England as
+most.' He turned towards the children and winked boldly.
+
+'I lay they told you a sight o' lies, then. I've been into England fur as
+Wiltsheer once. I was cheated proper over a pair of hedging-gloves,' said
+Hobden.
+
+'There's fancy-talkin' everywhere. _You've_ cleaved to your own parts
+pretty middlin' close, Ralph.'
+
+'Can't shift an old tree 'thout it dyin',' Hobden chuckled. 'An' I be no
+more anxious to die than you look to be to help me with my hops to-night.'
+
+The great man leaned against the brickwork of the roundel, and swung his
+arms abroad. 'Hire me!' was all he said, and they stumped upstairs
+laughing.
+
+The children heard their shovels rasp on the cloth where the yellow hops
+lie drying above the fires, and all the oast-house filled with the sweet,
+sleepy smell as they were turned.
+
+'Who is it?' Una whispered to the Bee Boy.
+
+'Dunno, no more'n you--if _you_ dunno,' said he, and smiled.
+
+The voices on the drying-floor talked and chuckled together, and the heavy
+footsteps went back and forth. Presently a hop-pocket dropped through the
+press-hole overhead, and stiffened and fattened as they shovelled it full.
+'Clank!' went the press, and rammed the loose stuff into tight cake.
+
+'Gently!' they heard Hobden cry. 'You'll bust her crop if you lay on so.
+You be as careless as Gleason's bull, Tom. Come an' sit by the fires.
+She'll do now.'
+
+They came down, and as Hobden opened the shutter to see if the potatoes
+were done Tom Shoesmith said to the children, 'Put a plenty salt on 'em.
+That'll show you the sort o' man _I_ be.' Again he winked, and again the
+Bee Boy laughed and Una stared at Dan.
+
+'_I_ know what sort o' man you be,' old Hobden grunted, groping for the
+potatoes round the fire.
+
+'Do ye?' Tom went on behind his back. 'Some of us can't abide Horseshoes,
+or Church Bells, or Running Water; an', talkin' o' runnin' water'--he
+turned to Hobden, who was backing out of the roundel--'d'you mind the great
+floods at Robertsbridge, when the miller's man was drowned in the street?'
+
+'Middlin' well.' Old Hobden let himself down on the coals by the fire
+door. 'I was courtin' my woman on the Marsh that year. Carter to Mus' Plum
+I was--gettin' ten shillin's week. Mine was a Marsh woman.'
+
+'Won'erful odd-gates place--Romney Marsh,' said Tom Shoesmith. 'I've heard
+say the world's divided like into Europe, Ashy, Afriky, Ameriky, Australy,
+an' Romney Marsh.'
+
+'The Marsh folk think so,' said Hobden. 'I had a hem o' trouble to get my
+woman to leave it.'
+
+'Where did she come out of? I've forgot, Ralph.'
+
+'Dymchurch under the Wall,' Hobden answered, a potato in his hand.
+
+'Then she'd be a Pett--or a Whitgift, would she?'
+
+'Whitgift.' Hobden broke open the potato and ate it with the curious
+neatness of men who make most of their meals in the blowy open. 'She
+growed to be quite reasonable-like after livin' in the Weald awhile, but
+our first twenty year or two she was odd-fashioned, no bounds. And she was
+a won'erful hand with bees.' He cut away a little piece of potato and
+threw it out to the door.
+
+'Ah! I've heard say the Whitgifts could see further through a millstone
+than most,' said Shoesmith. 'Did she, now?'
+
+'She was honest-innocent, of any nigromancin',' said Hobden. 'Only she'd
+read signs and sinnifications out o' birds flyin', stars fallin', bees
+hivin', and such. An' she'd lie awake--listenin' for calls, she said.'
+
+'That don't prove naught,' said Tom. 'All Marsh folk has been smugglers
+since time everlastin'. 'Twould be in her blood to listen out o' nights.'
+
+'Nature-ally,' old Hobden replied, smiling. 'I mind when there was
+smugglin' a sight nearer us than the Marsh be. But that wasn't my woman's
+trouble. 'Twas a passel o' no-sense talk,' he dropped his voice, 'about
+Pharisees.'
+
+'Yes. I've heard Marsh men beleft in 'em.' Tom looked straight at the
+wide-eyed children beside Bess.
+
+'Pharisees,' cried Una. 'Fairies? Oh, I see!'
+
+'People o' the Hills,' said the Bee Boy, throwing half of his potato
+towards the door.
+
+'There you be!' said Hobden, pointing at him. 'My boy, he has her eyes and
+her out-gate senses. That's what _she_ called 'em!'
+
+'And what did you think of it all?'
+
+'Um--um,' Hobden rumbled. 'A man that uses fields an' shaws after dark as
+much as I've done, he don't go out of his road excep' for keepers.'
+
+'But settin' that aside?' said Tom, coaxingly. 'I saw ye throw the Good
+Piece out-at doors just now. Do ye believe or--_do_ ye?'
+
+'There was a great black eye to that tater,' said Hobden, indignantly.
+
+'My liddle eye didn't see un, then. It looked as if you meant it for--for
+Any One that might need it. But settin' that aside. D'ye believe or--_do_
+ye?'
+
+'I ain't sayin' nothin', because I've heard naught, an' I've seen naught.
+But if you was to say there was more things after dark in the shaws than
+men, or fur, or feather, or fin, I dunno as I'd go farabout to call you a
+liar. Now turn again, Tom. What's your say?'
+
+'I'm like you. I say nothin'. But I'll tell you a tale, an' you can fit it
+_as_ how you please.'
+
+'Passel o' no-sense stuff,' growled Hobden, but he filled his pipe.
+
+'The Marsh men they call it Dymchurch Flit,' Tom went on slowly. 'Hap
+you've heard it?'
+
+'My woman she've told it me scores o' times. Dunno as I didn't end by
+belieft in' it--sometimes.'
+
+Hobden crossed over as he spoke, and sucked with his pipe at the yellow
+lanthorn-flame. Tom rested one great elbow on one great knee, where he sat
+among the coal.
+
+'Have you ever bin in the Marsh?' he said to Dan.
+
+'Only as far as Rye, once,' Dan answered.
+
+'Ah, that's but the edge. Back behind of her there's steeples settin'
+beside churches, an' wise women settin' beside their doors, an' the sea
+settin' above the land, an' ducks herdin' wild in the diks' (he meant
+ditches). 'The Marsh is justabout riddled with diks an' sluices, an'
+tide-gates an' water-lets. You can hear em' bubblin' an' grummelin' when
+the tide works in em', an' then you hear the sea rangin' left and
+right-handed all up along the Wall. You've seen how flat she is--the Marsh?
+You'd think nothin' easier than to walk eend-on acrost her? Ah, but the
+diks an' the water-lets, they twists the roads about as ravelly as
+witch-yarn on the spindles. So ye get all turned round in broad daylight.'
+
+'That's because they've dreened the waters into the diks,' said Hobden.
+'When I courted my woman the rushes was green--Eh me! the rushes was
+green--an' the Bailiff o' the Marshes, he rode up and down as free as the
+fog.'
+
+'Who was he?' said Dan.
+
+'Why, the Marsh fever an' ague. He've clapped me on the shoulder once or
+twice till I shook proper. But now the dreenin' off of the waters have
+done away with the fevers; so they make a joke, like, that the Bailiff o'
+the Marshes broke his neck in a dik. A won'erful place for bees an' ducks
+'tis too.'
+
+'An' old!' Tom went on. 'Flesh an' Blood have been there since Time
+Everlastin' Beyond. Well, now, speakin' among themselves, the Marshmen say
+that from Time Everlastin' Beyond the Pharisees favoured the Marsh above
+the rest of Old England. I lay the Marshmen ought to know. They've been
+out after dark, father an' son, smugglin' some one thing or t'other, since
+ever wool grew to sheep's backs. They say there was always a middlin' few
+Pharisees to be seen on the Marsh. Impident as rabbits, they was. They'd
+dance on the nakid roads in the nakid daytime; they'd flash their liddle
+green lights along the diks, comin' an' goin', like honest smugglers. Yes,
+an' times they'd lock the church doors against parson an' clerk of
+Sundays!'
+
+'That 'ud be smugglers layin' in the lace or the brandy till they could
+run it out o' the Marsh. I've told my woman so,' said Hobden.
+
+'I'll lay she didn't beleft it, then--not if she was a Whitgift. A
+won'erful choice place for Pharisees, the Marsh, by all accounts, till
+Queen Bess's father he come in with his Reformatories.'
+
+'Would that be a Act o' Parliament like?' Hobden asked.
+
+'Sure-ly! 'Can't do nothing in Old England without Act, Warrant, an'
+Summons. He got his Act allowed him, an', they say, Queen Bess's father he
+used the parish churches something shameful. Justabout tore the gizzards
+out of I dunnamany. Some folk in England they held with 'en; but some they
+saw it different, an' it eended in 'em takin' sides an' burnin' each other
+no bounds, accordin' which side was top, time bein'. That tarrified the
+Pharisees: for Goodwill among Flesh an' Blood is meat an' drink to 'em,
+an' ill-will is poison.'
+
+'Same as bees,' said the Bee Boy. 'Bees won't stay by a house where
+there's hating.'
+
+'True,' said Tom. 'This Reformations tarrified the Pharisees same as the
+reaper goin' round a last stand o' wheat tarrifies rabbits. They packed
+into the Marsh from all parts, and they says, "Fair or foul, we must flit
+out o' this, for Merry England's done with, an' we're reckoned among the
+Images."'
+
+'Did they _all_ see it that way?' said Hobden.
+
+'All but one that was called Robin--if you've heard of him. What are you
+laughing at?' Tom turned to Dan. 'The Pharisees's trouble didn't tech
+Robin, because he'd cleaved middlin' close to people like. No more he
+never meant to go out of Old England--not he; so he was sent messagin' for
+help among Flesh an' Blood. But Flesh an' Blood must always think of their
+own concerns, an' Robin couldn't get _through_ at 'em, ye see. They
+thought it was tide-echoes off the Marsh.'
+
+'What did you--what did the fai--Pharisees want?' Una asked.
+
+'A boat to be sure. Their liddle wings could no more cross Channel than so
+many tired butterflies. A boat an' a crew they desired to sail 'em over to
+France, where yet awhile folks hadn't tore down the Images. They couldn't
+abide cruel Canterbury Bells ringin' to Bulverhithe for more pore men an'
+women to be burnded, nor the King's proud messenger ridin' through the
+land givin' orders to tear down the Images. They couldn't abide it no
+shape. Nor yet they couldn't get their boat an' crew to flit by without
+Leave an' Good-will from Flesh an' Blood; an' Flesh an' Blood came an'
+went about its own business the while the Marsh was swarvin' up, an'
+swarvin' up with Pharisees from all England over, striving all means to
+get _through_ at Flesh an' Blood to tell 'en their sore need.... I don't
+know as you've ever heard say Pharisees are like chickens?'
+
+'My woman used to say that too,' said Hobden, folding his brown arms.
+
+'They be. You run too many chickens together, an' the ground sickens like,
+an' you get a squat, an' your chickens die. 'Same way, you crowd Pharisees
+all in one place--_they_ don't die, but Flesh an' Blood walkin' among 'em
+is apt to sick up an' pine off. _They_ don't mean it, an' Flesh an' Blood
+don't know it, but that's the truth--as I've heard. The Pharisees through
+bein' all stenched up an' frighted, an' tryin' to come _through_ with
+their supplications, they nature-ally changed the thin airs and humours in
+Flesh an' Blood. It lay on the Marsh like thunder. Men saw their churches
+ablaze with the wildfire in the windows after dark; they saw their cattle
+scatterin' and no man scarin'; their sheep flockin' and no man drivin';
+their horses latherin' an' no man leadin'; they saw the liddle low green
+lights more than ever in the dik-sides; they heard the liddle feet
+patterin' more than ever round the houses; an' night an' day, day an'
+night, 'twas all as though they were bein' creeped up on, and hinted at by
+some One or Other that couldn't rightly shape their trouble. Oh, I lay
+they sweated! Man an' maid, woman an' child, their Nature done 'em no
+service all the weeks while the Marsh was swarvin' up with Pharisees. But
+they was Flesh an' Blood, an' Marsh men before all. They reckoned the
+signs sinnified trouble for the Marsh. Or that the sea 'ud rear up against
+Dymchurch Wall an' they'd be drownded like Old Winchelsea; or that the
+Plague was comin'. So they looked for the meanin' in the sea or in the
+clouds--far an' high up. They never thought to look near an' knee-high,
+where they could see naught.
+
+'Now there was a poor widow at Dymchurch under the Wall, which, lacking
+man or property, she had the more time for feeling; and she come to feel
+there was a Trouble outside her doorstep bigger an' heavier than aught
+she'd ever carried over it. She had two sons--one born blind, and t'other
+struck dumb through fallin' off the Wall when he was liddle. They was men
+grown, but not wage-earnin', an' she worked for 'em, keepin' bees and
+answerin' Questions.'
+
+'What sort of questions?' said Dan.
+
+'Like where lost things might be found, an' what to put about a crooked
+baby's neck, an' how to join parted sweethearts. She felt the Trouble on
+the Marsh same as eels feel thunder. She was a wise woman.'
+
+'My woman was won'erful weather-tender, too,' said Hobden. 'I've seen her
+brish sparks like off an anvil out of her hair in thunderstorms. But she
+never laid out to answer Questions.'
+
+'This woman was a Seeker like, an' Seekers they sometimes find. One night,
+while she lay abed, hot an' aching, there come a Dream an' tapped at her
+window, and "Widow Whitgift," it said, "Widow Whitgift!"
+
+'First, by the wings an' the whistling, she thought it was peewits, but
+last she arose an' dressed herself, an' opened her door to the Marsh, an'
+she felt the Trouble an' the Groaning all about her, strong as fever an'
+ague, an' she calls: "What is it? Oh, what is it?"
+
+'Then 'twas all like the frogs in the diks peeping: then 'twas all like
+the reeds in the diks clipclapping; an' then the great Tide-wave rummelled
+along the Wall, an' she couldn't hear proper.
+
+'Three times she called, an' three times the Tide-wave did her down. But
+she catched the quiet between, an' she cries out, "What is the Trouble on
+the Marsh that's been lying down with my heart an' arising with my body
+this month gone?" She felt a liddle hand lay hold on her gown-hem, an' she
+stooped to the pull o' that liddle hand.'
+
+Tom Shoesmith spread his huge fist before the fire and smiled at it.
+
+'"Will the sea drown the Marsh?" she says. She was a Marsh-woman first an'
+foremost.
+
+'"No," says the liddle voice. "Sleep sound for all o' that."
+
+'"Is the Plague comin' to the Marsh?" she says. Them was all the ills she
+knowed.
+
+'"No. Sleep sound for all o' that," says Robin.
+
+'She turned about, half mindful to go in, but the liddle voices grieved
+that shrill an' sorrowful she turns back, an' she cries: "If it is not a
+Trouble of Flesh an' Blood, what can I do?"
+
+'The Pharisees cried out upon her from all round to fetch them a boat to
+sail to France, an' come back no more.
+
+'"There's a boat on the Wall," she says, "but I can't push it down to the
+sea, nor sail it when 'tis there."
+
+'"Lend us your sons," says all the Pharisees. "Give 'em Leave an'
+Good-will to sail it for us, Mother--O Mother!"
+
+'"One's dumb, an' t'other's blind," she says. "But all the dearer me for
+that; and you'll lose them in the big sea." The voices justabout pierced
+through her. An' there was children's voices too. She stood out all she
+could, but she couldn't rightly stand against _that_. So she says: "If you
+can draw my sons for your job, I'll not hinder 'em. You can't ask no more
+of a Mother."
+
+'She saw them liddle green lights dance an' cross till she was dizzy; she
+heard them liddle feet patterin' by the thousand; she heard cruel
+Canterbury Bells ringing to Bulverhithe, an' she heard the great Tide-wave
+ranging along the Wall. That was while the Pharisees was workin' a Dream
+to wake her two sons asleep: an' while she bit on her fingers she saw them
+two she'd bore come out an' pass her with never a word. She followed 'em,
+cryin' pitiful, to the old boat on the Wall, an' that they took an' runned
+down to the Sea.
+
+'When they'd stepped mast an' sail the blind son speaks up: "Mother, we're
+waitin' your Leave an' Good-will to take Them over."'
+
+Tom Shoesmith threw back his head and half shut his eyes.
+
+'Eh, me!' he said. 'She was a fine, valiant woman, the Widow Whitgift. She
+stood twistin' the ends of her long hair over her fingers, an' she shook
+like a poplar, makin' up her mind. The Pharisees all about they hushed
+their children from cryin' an' they waited dumb-still. She was all their
+dependence. 'Thout her Leave an' Goodwill they could not pass; for she was
+the Mother. So she shook like a asp-tree makin' up her mind. 'Last she
+drives the word past her teeth, an' "Go!" she says. "Go with my Leave an'
+Goodwill."
+
+'Then I saw--then, they say, she had to brace back same as if she was
+wadin' in tide-water; for the Pharisees justabout flowed past her--down the
+beach to the boat, _I_ dunnamany of 'em--with their wives an' children an'
+valooables, all escapin' out of cruel Old England. Silver you could hear
+clinkin', an' liddle bundles hove down dunt on the bottom-boards, an'
+passels o' liddle swords an' shield's raklin', an' liddle fingers an' toes
+scratchin' on the boatside to board her when the two sons pushed her off.
+That boat she sunk lower an' lower, but all the Widow could see in it was
+her boys movin' hampered-like to get at the tackle. Up sail they did, an'
+away they went, deep as a Rye barge, away into the off-shore mistes, an'
+the Widow Whitgift she sat down and eased her grief till mornin' light.'
+
+'I never heard she was _all_ alone,' said Hobden.
+
+'I remember now. The one called Robin he stayed with her, they tell. She
+was all too grievious to listen to his promises.'
+
+'Ah! She should ha' made her bargain beforehand. I allus told my woman
+so!' Hobden cried.
+
+'No. She loaned her sons for a pure love-loan, bein' as she sensed the
+Trouble on the Marshes, an' was simple good-willing to ease it.' Tom
+laughed softly. 'She done that. Yes, she done that! From Hithe to
+Bulverthithe, fretty man an' petty maid, ailin' woman an' wailin' child,
+they took the advantage of the change in the thin airs just about _as_
+soon as the Pharisees flitted. Folks come out fresh an' shining all over
+the Marsh like snails after wet. An' that while the Widow Whitgift sat
+grievin' on the Wall. She might have beleft us--she might have trusted her
+sons would be sent back! She fussed, no bounds, when their boat come in
+after three days.'
+
+'And, of course, the sons were both quite cured?' said Una.
+
+'No-o. That would have been out o' Nature. She got 'em back _as_ she sent
+'em. The blind man he hadn't seen naught of anything, an' the dumb man
+nature-ally, he couldn't say aught of what he'd seen. I reckon that was
+why the Pharisees pitched on 'em for the ferrying job.'
+
+'But what did you--what did Robin promise the Widow?' said Dan.
+
+'What _did_ he promise, now?' Tom pretended to think. 'Wasn't your woman a
+Whitgift, Ralph? Didn't she say?'
+
+'She told me a passel o' no-sense stuff when he was born.' Hobden pointed
+at his son. 'There was always to be one of 'em that could see further into
+a millstone than most.'
+
+'Me! That's me!' said the Bee Boy so suddenly that they all laughed.
+
+'I've got it now!' cried Tom, slapping his knee. 'So long as Whitgift
+blood lasted, Robin promised there would allers be one o' her stock
+that--that no Trouble 'ud lie on, no Maid 'ud sigh on, no Night could
+frighten, no Fright could harm, no Harm could make sin, an' no Woman could
+make a fool.'
+
+'Well, ain't that just me?' said the Bee Boy, where he sat in the silver
+square of the great September moon that was staring into the oast-house
+door.
+
+'They was the exact words she told me when we first found he wasn't like
+others. But it beats me how you known 'em,' said Hobden.
+
+'Aha! There's more under my hat besides hair!' Tom laughed and stretched
+himself. 'When I've seen these two young folk home, we'll make a night of
+old days, Ralph, with passin' old tales--eh? An' where might you live?' he
+said, gravely, to Dan. 'An' do you think your Pa 'ud give me a drink for
+takin' you there, Missy?'
+
+They giggled so at this that they had to run out. Tom picked them both up,
+set one on each broad shoulder, and tramped across the ferny pasture where
+the cows puffed milky puffs at them in the moonlight.
+
+'Oh, Puck! Puck! I guessed you right from when you talked about the salt.
+How could you ever do it?' Una cried, swinging along delighted.
+
+'Do what?' he said, and climbed the stile by the pollard oak.
+
+'Pretend to be Tom Shoesmith,' said Dan, and they ducked to avoid the two
+little ashes that grow by the bridge over the brook. Tom was almost
+running.
+
+'Yes. That's my name, Mus' Dan,' he said, hurrying over the silent shining
+lawn, where a rabbit sat by the big white-thorn near the croquet ground.
+'Here you be.' He strode into the old kitchen yard, and slid them down as
+Ellen came to ask questions.
+
+'I'm helping in Mus' Spray's oast-house,' he said to her. 'No, I'm no
+foreigner. I knowed this country 'fore your Mother was born; an'--yes it's
+dry work oasting, Miss. Thank you.'
+
+Ellen went to get a jug, and the children went in--magicked once more by
+Oak, Ash, and Thorn!
+
+
+
+
+A THREE-PART SONG
+
+
+  _I'm just in love with all these three,_
+  _The Weald and the Marsh and the Down countrie;_
+  _Nor I don't know which I love the most,_
+  _The Weald or the Marsh or the white chalk coast!_
+
+  _I've buried my heart in a ferny hill,_
+  _Twix' a liddle low Shaw an' a great high Gill._
+  _Oh hop-vine yaller and woodsmoke blue,_
+  _I reckon you'll keep her middling true!_
+
+  _I've loosed my mind for to out and run,_
+  _On a Marsh that was old when Kings begun;_
+  _Oh Romney Level and Brenzett reeds,_
+  _I reckon you know what my mind needs!_
+
+  _I've given my soul to the Southdown grass,_
+  _And sheep-bells tinkled where you pass._
+  _Oh Firle an' Ditchling an' sails at sea,_
+  _I reckon you'll keep my soul or me!_
+
+
+
+
+
+THE TREASURE AND THE LAW
+
+
+
+
+SONG OF THE FIFTH RIVER
+
+
+  _When first by Eden Tree,_
+  _The Four Great Rivers ran,_
+  _To each was appointed a Man_
+  _Her Prince and Ruler to be._
+
+  _But after this was ordained,_
+  _(The ancient legends tell),_
+  _There came dark Israel,_
+  _For whom no River remained._
+
+  _Then He That is Wholly Just,_
+  _Said to him: 'Fling on the ground_
+  _A handful of yellow dust,_
+  _And a Fifth Great River shall run,_
+  _Mightier than these Four,_
+  _In secret the Earth around;_
+  _And Her secret evermore,_
+  _Shall be shown to thee and thy Race.'_
+
+  _So it was said and done._
+  _And, deep in the veins of Earth,_
+  _And, fed by a thousand springs_
+  _That comfort the market-place,_
+  _Or sap the power of Kings,_
+  _The Fifth Great River had birth,_
+  _Even as it was foretold--_
+  _The Secret River of Gold!_
+
+  _And Israel laid down_
+  _His sceptre and his crown,_
+  _To brood on that River bank,_
+  _Where the waters flashed and sank,_
+  _And burrowed in earth and fell,_
+  _And bided a season below;_
+  _For reason that none might know,_
+  _Save only Israel._
+
+  _He is Lord of the Last--_
+  _The Fifth, most wonderful, Flood._
+  _He hears her thunder past_
+  _And Her Song is in his blood._
+  _He can foresay: 'She will fall,'_
+  _For he knows which fountain dries,_
+  _Behind which desert belt_
+  _A thousand leagues to the South._
+  _He can foresay: 'She will rise.'_
+  _He knows what far snows melt;_
+  _Along what mountain wall_
+  _A thousand leagues to the North._
+  _He snuffs the coming drouth_
+  _As he snuffs the coming rain,_
+  _He knows what each will bring forth_
+  _And turns it to his gain._
+
+  _A Prince without a Sword,_
+  _A Ruler without a Throne;_
+  _Israel follows his quest:--_
+  _In every land a guest._
+  _Of many lands the lord._
+  _In no land King is he._
+  _But the Fifth Great River keeps_
+  _The secret of her deeps_
+  _For Israel alone,_
+  _As it was ordered to be._
+
+
+
+
+THE TREASURE AND THE LAW
+
+
+Now it was the third week in November, and the woods rang with the noise
+of pheasant-shooting. No one hunted that steep, cramped country except the
+village beagles, who, as often as not, escaped from their kennels and made
+a day of their own. Dan and Una found a couple of them towling round the
+kitchen-garden after the laundry cat. The little brutes were only too
+pleased to go rabbiting, so the children ran them all along the brook
+pastures and into Little Lindens farm-yard, where the old sow vanquished
+them--and up to the quarry-hole, where they started a fox. He headed for
+Far Wood, and there they frightened out all the pheasants who were
+sheltering from a big beat across the valley. Then the cruel guns began
+again, and they grabbed the beagles lest they should stray and get hurt.
+
+'I wouldn't be a pheasant--in November--for a lot,' Dan panted, as he caught
+_Folly_ by the neck. 'Why did you laugh that horrid way?'
+
+'I didn't,' said Una, sitting on _Flora_, the fat lady-dog. 'Oh, look! The
+silly birds are going back to their own woods instead of ours, where they
+would be safe.'
+
+'Safe till it pleased you to kill them.' An old man, so tall he was almost
+a giant, stepped from behind the clump of hollies by 'Volaterrae.' The
+children jumped, and the dogs dropped like setters. He wore a sweeping
+gown of dark thick stuff, lined and edged with yellowish fur, and he bowed
+a bent-down bow that made them feel both proud and ashamed. Then he looked
+at them steadily, and they stared back without doubt or fear.
+
+'You are not afraid?' he said, running his hands through his splendid grey
+beard. 'Not afraid that those men yonder'--he jerked his head towards the
+incessant pop-pop of the guns from the lower woods--'will do you hurt?'
+
+'We-ell'--Dan liked to be accurate, especially when he was shy--'old Hobd--a
+friend of mine told me that one of the beaters got peppered last week--hit
+in the leg, I mean. You see, Mr. Meyer _will_ fire at rabbits. But he gave
+Waxy Garnett a quid--sovereign, I mean--and Waxy told Hobden he'd have stood
+both barrels for half the money.'
+
+'He doesn't understand,' Una cried, watching the pale, troubled face. 'Oh,
+I wish----'
+
+She had scarcely said it when Puck rustled out of the hollies and spoke to
+the man quickly in foreign words. Puck wore a long cloak too--the afternoon
+was just frosting down--and it changed his appearance altogether.
+
+'Nay, nay!' he said at last. 'You did not understand the boy. A freeman
+was a little hurt, by pure mischance, at the hunting.'
+
+'I know that mischance! What did his Lord do? Laugh and ride over him?'
+the old man sneered.
+
+'It was one of your own people did the hurt, Kadmiel.' Puck's eyes
+twinkled maliciously. 'So he gave the freeman a piece of gold, and no more
+was said.'
+
+'A Jew drew blood from a Christian and no more was said?' Kadmiel cried.
+'Never! When did they torture him?'
+
+'No man may be bound, or fined, or slain till he has been judged by his
+peers,' Puck insisted. 'There is but one Law in Old England for Jew or
+Christian--the Law that was signed at Runnymede.'
+
+'Why, that's Magna Charta!' Dan whispered. It was one of the few history
+dates that he could remember. Kadmiel turned on him with a sweep and a
+whirr of his spicy-scented gown.
+
+'Dost _thou_ know of that, babe?' he cried, and lifted his hands in
+wonder.
+
+'Yes,' said Dan, firmly.
+
+  'Magna Charta was signed by John,
+  That Henry the Third put his heel upon.
+
+And old Hobden says that if it hadn't been for her (he calls everything
+"her," you know), the keepers would have him clapped in Lewes Gaol all the
+year round.'
+
+Again Puck translated to Kadmiel in the strange, solemn-sounding language,
+and at last Kadmiel laughed.
+
+'Out of the mouths of babes do we learn,' said he. 'But tell me now, and I
+will not call you a babe but a Rabbi, _why_ did the King sign the roll of
+the New Law at Runnymede? For he was a King.'
+
+Dan looked sideways at his sister. It was her turn.
+
+'Because he jolly well had to,' said Una, softly. 'The Barons made him.'
+
+'Nay,' Kadmiel answered, shaking his head. 'You Christians always forget
+that gold does more than the sword. Our good King signed because he could
+not borrow more money from us bad Jews.' He curved his shoulders as he
+spoke. 'A King without gold is a snake with a broken back, and'--his nose
+sneered up and his eyebrows frowned down--'it is a good deed to break a
+snake's back. That was _my_ work,' he cried, triumphantly, to Puck.
+'Spirit of Earth, bear witness that that was my work!' He shot up to his
+full towering height, and his words rang like a trumpet. He had a voice
+that changed its tone almost as an opal changes colour--sometimes deep and
+thundery, sometimes thin and waily, but always it made you listen.
+
+'Many people can bear witness to that,' Puck answered. 'Tell these babes
+how it was done. Remember, Master, they do not know Doubt or Fear.'
+
+'So I saw in their faces when we met,' said Kadmiel. 'Yet surely, surely
+they are taught to spit upon Jews?'
+
+'Are they?' said Dan, much interested. 'Where at?'
+
+Puck fell back a pace, laughing. 'Kadmiel is thinking of King John's
+reign,' he explained. 'His people were badly treated then.'
+
+'Oh, we know _that_,' they answered, and (it was very rude of them, but
+they could not help it) they stared straight at Kadmiel's mouth to see if
+his teeth were all there. It stuck in their lesson-memory that King John
+used to pull out Jews' teeth to make them lend him money.
+
+Kadmiel understood the look and smiled bitterly.
+
+'No. Your King never drew my teeth: I think, perhaps, I drew his. Listen!
+I was not born among Christians, but among Moors--in Spain--in a little
+white town under the mountains. Yes, the Moors are cruel, but at least
+their learned men dare to think. It was prophesied of me at my birth that
+I should be a Lawgiver to a People of a strange speech and a hard
+language. We Jews are always looking for the Prince and the Lawgiver to
+come. Why not? My people in the town (we were very few) set me apart as a
+child of the prophecy--the Chosen of the Chosen. We Jews dream so many
+dreams. You would never guess it to see us slink about the rubbish-heaps
+in our quarter; but at the day's end--doors shut, candles lit--aha! _then_
+we become the Chosen again.'
+
+He paced back and forth through the wood as he talked. The rattle of the
+shot-guns never ceased, and the dogs whimpered a little and lay flat on
+the leaves.
+
+'I was a Prince. Yes! Think of a little Prince who had never known rough
+words in his own house handed over to shouting, bearded Rabbis, who pulled
+his ears and filliped his nose, all that he might learn--learn--learn to be
+King when his time came. Hé! Such a little Prince it was! One eye he kept
+on the stone-throwing Moorish boys, and the other it roved about the
+streets looking for his Kingdom. Yes, and he learned to cry softly when he
+was hunted up and down those streets. He learned to do all things without
+noise. He played beneath his father's table when the Great Candle was lit,
+and he listened as children listen to the talk of his father's friends
+above the table. They came across the mountains, from out of all the
+world; for my Prince's father was their councillor. They came from behind
+the armies of Sala-ud-Din: from Rome: from Venice: from England. They
+stole down our alley, they tapped secretly at our door, they took off
+their rags, they arrayed themselves, and they talked to my father at the
+wine. All over the world the heathen fought each other. They brought news
+of these wars, and while he played beneath the table, my Prince heard
+these meanly-dressed ones decide between themselves how, and when, and for
+how long King should draw sword against King, and People rise up against
+People. Why not? There can be no war without gold, and we Jews know how
+the earth's gold moves with the seasons, and the crops, and the winds;
+circling and looping and rising and sinking away like a river--a wonderful
+underground river. How should the foolish Kings know _that_ while they
+fight and steal and kill?'
+
+The children's faces showed that they knew nothing at all as, with open
+eyes, they trotted and turned beside the long-striding old man. He
+twitched his gown over his shoulders, and a square plate of gold, studded
+with jewels, gleamed for an instant through the fur, like a star through
+flying snow.
+
+'No matter,' he said. 'But, credit me, my Prince saw peace or war decided
+not once, but many times, by the fall of a coin spun between a Jew from
+Bury and a Jewess from Alexandria, in his father's house, when the Great
+Candle was lit. Such power had we Jews among the Gentiles. Ah, my little
+Prince! Do you wonder that he learned quickly? Why not?' He muttered to
+himself and went on:--
+
+'My trade was that of a physician. When I had learned it in Spain I went
+to the East to find my Kingdom. Why not? A Jew is as free as a sparrow--or
+a dog. He goes where he is hunted. In the East I found libraries where men
+dared to think--schools of medicine where they dared to learn. I was
+diligent in my business. Therefore I stood before Kings. I have been a
+brother to Princes and a companion to beggars, and I have walked between
+the living and the dead. There was no profit in it. I did not find my
+Kingdom. So, in the tenth year of my travels, when I had reached the
+Uttermost Eastern Sea, I returned to my father's house. God had
+wonderfully preserved my people. None had been slain, none even wounded,
+and only a few scourged. I became once more a son in my father's house.
+Again the Great Candle was lit; again the meanly-apparelled ones tapped on
+our door after dusk; and again I heard them weigh out peace and war, as
+they weighed out the gold on the table. But I was not rich--not very rich.
+Therefore, when those that had power and knowledge and wealth talked
+together, I sat in the shadow. Why not?
+
+'Yet all my wanderings had shown me one sure thing, which is, that a King
+without money is like a spear without a head. He cannot do much harm. I
+said, therefore, to Elias of Bury, a great one among our people: "Why do
+our people lend any more to the Kings that oppress us?" "Because," said
+Elias, "if we refuse they stir up their people against us, and the People
+are tenfold more cruel than Kings. If thou doubtest, come with me to Bury
+in England and live as I live."
+
+'I saw my mother's face across the candle-flame, and I said, "I will come
+with thee to Bury. Maybe my Kingdom shall be there."
+
+'So I sailed with Elias to the darkness and the cruelty of Bury in
+England, where there are no learned men. How can a man be wise if he hate?
+At Bury I kept his accounts for Elias, and I saw men kill Jews there by
+the tower. No--none laid hands on Elias. He lent money to the King, and the
+King's favour was about him. A King will not take the life so long as
+there is any gold. This King--yes, John--oppressed his people bitterly
+because they would not give him money. Yet his land was a good land. If he
+had only given it rest he might have cropped it as a Christian crops his
+beard. But even _that_ little he did not know; for God had deprived him of
+all understanding, and had multiplied pestilence, and famine, and despair
+upon the people. Therefore his people turned against us Jews, who are all
+people's dogs. Why not? Lastly the Barons and the people rose together
+against the King because of his cruelties. Nay--nay--the Barons did not love
+the people, but they saw that if the King eat up and destroyed the common
+people, he would presently destroy the Barons. They joined then, as cats
+and pigs will join to slay a snake. I kept the accounts, and I watched all
+these things, for I remembered the Prophecy.
+
+'A great gathering of Barons (to most of whom we had lent money) came to
+Bury, and there, after much talk and a thousand runnings-about, they made
+a roll of the New Laws that they would force on the King. If he swore to
+keep those Laws, they would allow him a little money. That was the King's
+God--Money--to waste. They showed us the roll of the New Laws. Why not? We
+had lent them money. We knew all their counsels--we Jews shivering behind
+our doors in Bury.' He threw out his hands suddenly. 'We did not seek to
+be paid _all_ in money. We sought Power--Power--Power! That is _our_ God in
+our captivity. Power to use!
+
+'I said to Elias: "These New Laws are good. Lend no more money to the
+King: so long as he has money he will lie and slay the people."
+
+'"Nay," said Elias. "I know this people. They are madly cruel. Better one
+King than a thousand butchers. I have lent a little money to the Barons,
+or they would torture us, but my most I will lend to the King. He hath
+promised me a place near him at Court, where my wife and I shall be safe."
+
+'"But if the King be made to keep these New Laws," I said, "the land will
+have peace, and our trade will grow. If we lend he will fight again."
+
+'"Who made thee a Lawgiver in England?" said Elias. "I know this people.
+Let the dogs tear one another! I will lend the King ten thousand pieces of
+gold, and he can fight the Barons at his pleasure."
+
+'"There are not two thousand pieces of gold in all England this summer," I
+said, for I kept the accounts, and I knew how the earth's gold moved--that
+wonderful underground river! Elias barred home the windows, and, his hands
+about his mouth, he told me how, when he was trading with small wares in a
+French ship, he had come to the Castle of Pevensey.'
+
+'Oh!' said Dan. 'Pevensey again!' and looked at Una, who nodded and
+skipped.
+
+'There, after they had scattered his pack up and down the Great Hall, some
+young knights carried him to an upper room, and dropped him into a well in
+a wall, that rose and fell with the tide. They called him Joseph, and
+threw torches at his wet head. Why not?'
+
+'Why, of course,' cried Dan. 'Didn't you know it was----' Puck held up his
+hand to stop him, and Kadmiel, who never noticed, went on.
+
+'When the tide dropped he thought he stood on old armour, but feeling with
+his toes, he raked up bar on bar of soft gold. Some wicked treasure of the
+old days put away, and the secret cut off by the sword. I have heard the
+like before.'
+
+'So have we,' Una whispered. 'But it wasn't wicked a bit.'
+
+'Elias took a morsel of the stuff with him, and thrice yearly he would
+return to Pevensey as a chapman, selling at no price or profit, till they
+suffered him to sleep in the empty room, where he would plumb and grope,
+and steal away a few bars. The great store of it still remained, and by
+long brooding he had come to look on it as his own. Yet when we thought
+how we should lift and convey it, we saw no way. This was before the Word
+of the Lord had come to me. A walled fortress possessed by Normans; in the
+midst a forty-foot tide-well out of which to remove secretly many
+horse-loads of gold! Hopeless! So Elias wept. Adah, his wife, wept too.
+She had hoped to stand beside the Queen's Christian tiring-maids at Court,
+when the King should give them that place at Court which he had promised.
+Why not? She was born in England--an odious woman.
+
+'The present evil to us was that Elias, out of his strong folly, had, as
+it were, promised the King that he would arm him with more gold. Wherefore
+the King in his camp stopped his ears against the Barons and the people.
+Wherefore men died daily. Adah so desired her place at Court, she besought
+Elias to tell the King where the treasure lay, that the King might take it
+by force, and--they would trust in his gratitude. Why not? This Elias
+refused to do, for he looked on the gold as his own. They quarrelled, and
+they wept at the evening meal, and late in the night came one Langton--a
+priest, almost learned--to borrow more money for the Barons. Elias and Adah
+went to their chamber.'
+
+Kadmiel laughed scornfully in his beard. The shots across the valley
+stopped as the shooting-party changed their ground for the last beat.
+
+'So it was I, not Elias,' he went on, quietly, 'that made terms with
+Langton touching the fortieth of the New Laws.'
+
+'What terms?' said Puck, quickly. 'The Fortieth of the Great Charter say:
+"To none will we sell, refuse, or deny right or justice."'
+
+'True, but the Barons had written first: _To no free man._ It cost me two
+hundred broad pieces of gold to change those narrow words. Langton, the
+priest, understood. "Jew though thou art," said he, "the change is just,
+and if ever Christian and Jew come to be equal in England thy people may
+thank thee." Then he went out stealthily, as men do who deal with Israel
+by night. I think he spent my gift upon his altar. Why not? I have spoken
+with Langton. He was such a man as I might have been if--if we Jews had
+been a people. But yet, in many things, a child.
+
+'I heard Elias and Adah abovestairs quarrel, and, knowing the woman was
+the stronger, I saw that Elias would tell the King of the gold and that
+the King would continue in his stubbornness. Therefore I saw that the gold
+must be put away from the reach of any man. Of a sudden, the Word of the
+Lord came to me saying, "The Morning is come, O thou that dwellest in the
+land."'
+
+Kadmiel halted, all black against the pale green sky beyond the wood--a
+huge robed figure, like the Moses in the picture-Bible.
+
+'I rose. I went out, and as I shut the door on that House of Foolishness,
+the woman looked from the window and whispered, "I have prevailed on my
+husband to tell the King!" I answered, "There is no need. The Lord is with
+me."
+
+'In that hour the Lord gave me full understanding of all that I must do;
+and His Hand covered me in my ways. First I went to London, to a physician
+of our people, who sold me certain drugs that I needed. You shall see why.
+Thence I went swiftly to Pevensey. Men fought all around me, for there
+were neither rulers nor judges in the abominable land. Yet when I walked
+by them they cried out that I was one Ahasuerus, a Jew, condemned, as they
+believe, to live for ever, and they fled from me everyways. Thus the Lord
+saved me for my work, and at Pevensey I bought me a little boat and moored
+it on the mud beneath the Marsh-gate of the Castle. That also God showed
+me.'
+
+He was as calm as though he were speaking of some stranger, and his voice
+filled the little bare wood with rolling music.
+
+'I cast'--his hand went to his breast, and again the strange jewel
+gleamed--'I cast the drugs which I had prepared into the common well of the
+Castle. Nay, I did no harm. The more we physicians know, the less do we
+do. Only the fool says: "I dare." I caused a blotched and itching rash to
+break out upon their skins, but I knew it would fade in fifteen days. I
+did not stretch out my hand against their life. They in the Castle thought
+it was the Plague, and they ran forth, taking with them their very dogs.
+
+'A Christian physician, seeing that I was a Jew and a stranger, vowed that
+I had brought the sickness from London. This is the one time I have ever
+heard a Christian leech speak truth of any disease. Thereupon the people
+beat me, but a merciful woman said: "Do not kill him now. Push him into
+our Castle with his plague, and if, as he says, it will abate on the
+fifteenth day, we can kill him then." Why not? They drove me across the
+drawbridge of the Castle, and fled back to their booths. Thus I came to be
+alone with the treasure.'
+
+'But did you know this was all going to happen just right?' said Una.
+
+'My Prophecy was that I should be a Lawgiver to a People of a strange land
+and a hard speech. I knew I should not die. I washed my cuts. I found the
+tide-well in the wall, and from Sabbath to Sabbath I dove and dug there in
+that empty, Christian-smelling fortress. Hé! I spoiled the Egyptians! Hé!
+If they had only known! I drew up many good loads of gold, which I loaded
+by night into my boat. There had been gold-dust too, but that had been
+washed away by the tides.'
+
+'Didn't you ever wonder who had put it there?' said Dan, stealing a glance
+at Puck's calm, dark face under the hood of his gown. Puck shook his head
+and pursed his lips.
+
+'Often; for the gold was new to me,' Kadmiel replied. 'I know the Golds. I
+can judge them in the dark; but this was heavier and redder than any we
+deal in. Perhaps it was the very gold of Parvaim. Eh, why not? It went to
+my heart to heave it on to the mud, but I saw well that if the evil thing
+remained, or if even the hope of finding it remained, the King would not
+sign the New Laws, and the land would perish.'
+
+'Oh, Marvel!' said Puck, beneath his breath, rustling in the dead leaves.
+
+'When the boat was loaded I washed my hands seven times, and pared beneath
+my nails, for I would not keep one grain. I went out by the little gate
+where the Castle's refuse is thrown. I dared not hoist sail lest men
+should see me; but the Lord commanded the tide to bear me carefully, and I
+was far from land before the morning.'
+
+'Weren't you afraid?' said Una.
+
+'Why? There were no Christians in the boat. At sunrise I made my prayer,
+and cast the gold--all--all that gold into the deep sea! A King's ransom--no,
+the ransom of a People! When I had loosed hold of the last bars, the Lord
+commanded the tide to return me to a haven at the mouth of a river, and
+thence I walked across a wilderness to Lewes, where I have brethren. They
+opened the door to me, and they say--I had not eaten for two days--they say
+that I fell across the threshold, crying, "I have sunk an army with
+horsemen in the sea!"'
+
+'But you hadn't,' said Una. 'Oh, yes! I see! You meant that King John
+might have spent it on that?'
+
+'Even so,' said Kadmiel.
+
+The firing broke out again close behind them. The pheasants poured over
+the top of a belt of tall firs. They could see young Mr. Meyer, in his new
+yellow gaiters, very busy and excited at the end of the line, and they
+could hear the thud of the falling birds.
+
+'But what did Elias of Bury do?' Puck demanded. 'He had promised money to
+the King.'
+
+Kadmiel smiled grimly. 'I sent him word from London that the Lord was on
+my side. When he heard that the Plague had broken out in Pevensey, and
+that a Jew had been thrust into the Castle to cure it, he understood my
+word was true. He and Adah hurried to Lewes and asked me for an
+accounting. He still looked on the gold as his own. I told them where I
+had laid it, and I gave them full leave to pick it up.... Eh, well! The
+curses of a fool and the dust of a journey are two things no wise man can
+escape.... But I pitied Elias! The King was wroth at him because he could
+not lend; the Barons were wroth at him because they heard that he would
+have lent to the King; and Adah was wroth at him because she was an odious
+woman. They took ship from Lewes to Spain. That was wise!'
+
+'And you? Did you see the signing of the Law at Runnymede?' said Puck, as
+Kadmiel laughed noiselessly.
+
+'Nay. Who am I to meddle with things too high for me? I returned to Bury,
+and lent money on the autumn crops. Why not?'
+
+There was a crackle overhead. A cock-pheasant that had sheered aside after
+being hit spattered down almost on top of them, driving up the dry leaves
+like a shell. _Flora_ and _Folly_ threw themselves at it; the children
+rushed forward, and when they had beaten them off and smoothed down the
+plumage Kadmiel had disappeared.
+
+'Well,' said Puck, calmly, 'what did you think of it? Weland gave the
+Sword. The Sword gave the Treasure, and the Treasure gave the Law. It's as
+natural as an oak growing.'
+
+'I don't understand. Didn't he know it was Sir Richard's old treasure?'
+said Dan. 'And why did Sir Richard and Brother Hugh leave it lying about?
+And--and----'
+
+'Never mind,' said Una, politely. 'He'll let us come and go, and look, and
+know another time. Won't you, Puck?'
+
+'Another time maybe,' Puck answered. 'Brr! It's cold--and late. I'll race
+you towards home!'
+
+They hurried down into the sheltered valley. The sun had almost sunk
+behind Cherry Clack, the trodden ground by the cattle-gates was freezing
+at the edges, and the new-waked north wind blew the night on them from
+over the hills. They picked up their feet and flew across the browned
+pastures, and when they halted, panting in the steam of their own breath,
+the dead leaves whirled up behind them. There was Oak and Ash and Thorn
+enough in that year-end shower to magic away a thousand memories.
+
+So they trotted to the brook at the bottom of the lawn, wondering why
+_Flora_ and _Folly_ had missed the quarry-hole fox.
+
+Old Hobden was just finishing some hedge-work. They saw his white smock
+glimmer in the twilight where he faggoted the rubbish.
+
+'Winter, he's come, I rackon, Mus' Dan,' he called. 'Hard times now till
+Heffle Cuckoo Fair. Yes, we'll all be glad to see the Old Woman let the
+Cuckoo out o' the basket for to start lawful Spring in England.' They
+heard a crash, and a stamp and a splash of water as though a heavy old cow
+were crossing almost under their noses.
+
+Hobden ran forward angrily to the ford.
+
+'Gleason's bull again, playin' Robin all over the Farm! Oh, look, Mus'
+Dan--his great footmark as big as a trencher. No bounds to his impidence!
+He might count himself to be a man--or Somebody.'
+
+A voice the other side of the brook boomed:
+
+  'I marvel who his cloak would turn
+  When Puck had led him round
+  Or where those walking fires would burn----'
+
+Then the children went in singing "Farewell Rewards and Fairies" at the
+tops of their voices. They had forgotten that they had not even said
+good-night to Puck.
+
+
+
+
+THE CHILDREN'S SONG
+
+
+  _Land of our Birth, we pledge to thee_
+  _Our love and toil in the years to be,_
+  _When we are grown and take our place,_
+  _As men and women with our race._
+
+  Father in Heaven who lovest all,
+  Oh help Thy children when they call;
+  That they may build from age to age,
+  An undefiled heritage!
+
+  Teach us to bear the yoke in youth,
+  With steadfastness and careful truth;
+  That, in our time, Thy Grace may give
+  The Truth whereby the Nations live.
+
+  Teach us to rule ourselves alway,
+  Controlled and cleanly night and day;
+  That we may bring, if need arise,
+  No maimed or worthless sacrifice.
+
+  Teach us to look in all our ends,
+  On Thee for judge, and not our friends;
+  That we, with Thee, may walk uncowed
+  By fear or favour of the crowd.
+
+  Teach us the Strength that cannot seek,
+  By deed or thought, to hurt the weak;
+  That, under Thee, we may possess
+  Man's strength to comfort man's distress.
+
+  Teach us Delight in simple things,
+  And Mirth that has no bitter springs;
+  Forgiveness free of evil done,
+  And Love to all men 'neath the sun!
+
+  _Land of our Birth, our Faith our Pride,_
+  _For whose dear sake our fathers died;_
+  _O Motherland, we pledge to thee,_
+  _Head, heart, and hand through the years to be!_
+
+
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTE
+
+
+    1 Copyright, 1905, by Rudyard Kipling.
+
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
+
+
+The following typographical errors were corrected:
+
+      page 7, "Pyramis" changed to "Pyramus"
+      page 9, quotes added before "couldn't" and "I"
+      page 13, "draggons" changed to "dragons"
+      page 27, quote added before "Late"
+      page 43, "summons" changed to "summon"
+      page 51, "we" added before "do"
+      page 62, double quote changed to single quote after "pirate-folk?"
+      page 64, semicolon added after "Yes"
+      page 68, double "said" removed, single quote changed to double quote
+      after "kill!"
+      page 69, comma added after "Kitai"
+      page 76, double "where" removed
+      page 85, quote added after "gold!"
+      page 97, quote removed after "Aquila."
+      page 99, "shouder" changed to "shoulder", single quote changed to
+      double quote after "Look!"
+      page 102, "learned" changed to "leaned"
+      page 103, "a" added between "is" and "good"
+      page 108, quote removed before "At"
+      page 110, single quote changed to double quote before "But"
+      page 127, quote added after "catapult,", quote removed after "Una.",
+      "quicky" changed to "quickly"
+      page 128, comma removed after "bigger"
+      page 135, "hmself" changed to "himself"
+      page 137, "did'nt" changed to "didn't"
+      page 141, quote added before "But"
+      page 142, single quote changed to double quote after "reason,"
+      page 143, "Cylops" changed to "Cyclops"
+      page 152, "Caesar" changed to "Cæsar"
+      page 153, comma added after "children,"
+      page 156, quote added after "make."
+      page 160, comma added after "No", period added after "up"
+      page 166, quote added after "thoughts."
+      page 170, double quote changed to single quote before "Sorry"
+      page 184, single quote changed to double quote after "Man."
+      page 188, single quote changed to double quote after "him,",
+      "to-day?" and "finished!"
+      page 193, quote added after "letter."
+      page 205, parenthesis added after "complain"
+      page 214, period added after "lime."
+      page 218, "sepentines" changed to "serpentines"
+      page 224, quote added after "voice."
+      page 235, apostroph moved after "conjurin'."
+      page 237, quote added before "Dymchurch"
+      page 239, apostroph and comma changed after "nothin',"
+      page 240, "shouder" changed to "shoulder"
+      page 241, apostroph and periodchanged after "bein'."
+      page 244, apostroph added after "an"
+      page 248, comma removed after "Robin"
+      page 260, "asid" changed to "said"
+      page 269, "stubborness" changed to "stubbornness"
+      page 275, quote added before "I", "burne" changed to "burn"
+
+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUCK OF POOK'S HILL***
+
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+      <div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+                <div id="pgheader" class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"><p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 2.00em">The Project Gutenberg EBook of Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling</p></div><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"><p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost
+          and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,
+          give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
+          Gutenberg License <a href="#pglicense" class="tei tei-ref">included with this
+          eBook</a> or online at <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/license" class="tei tei-xref">http://www.gutenberg.org/license</a></p></div><pre class="pre tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em">Title: Puck of Pook's Hill
+
+Author: Rudyard Kipling
+
+Release Date: July 11, 2008 [Ebook #26027]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUCK OF POOK'S HILL***
+</pre>
+
+<h4>There are several editions of this ebook in the Project Gutenberg collection. Various characteristics of each ebook are listed to aid in selecting the preferred file.<br />Click on any of the filenumbers below to quickly view each ebook.
+</h4>
+
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+
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+ <b><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15976/15976-h/15976-h.htm">
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+
+            </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+
+
+
+           <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+             </p><div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/cover.jpg" width="454" height="700" alt="Cover illustration" /></div>
+
+
+        <div class="tei tei-pb"></div>
+
+        <hr class="page" /><p class="tei tei-p" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 144%">PUCK OF POOK’S HILL</span></span></p>
+        <div class="tei tei-pb"></div>
+
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.20em; margin-top: 2.40em"><span style="font-size: 120%"> BOOKS BY RUDYARD KIPLING </span></p>
+        <table summary="This is a list." class="tei tei-list" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 4.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"><tbody><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Puck of Pook’s Hill</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">They</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Traffics and Discoveries</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Five Nations</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Just So Song Book</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Just So Stories</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Kim</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Stalky &amp; Co.</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Day’s Work</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Brushwood Boy</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">From Sea to Sea</span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item">
+            <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Departmental Ditties and Ballads And Barrack-room Ballads</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Plain Tales From the Hills</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Light That Failed</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item">
+            <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Life’s Handicap: Being Stories of Mine Own People</span></span>
+          </td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Under the Deodars, the Phantom ’Rickshaw, and Wee Willie
+            Winkie</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item">
+            <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Soldiers Three, the Story of the Gadsbys, and in Black and
+            White</span></span>
+          </td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Soldier Stories</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The Kipling Birthday Book</span></span></td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"> (<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">With Wolcott Balestier</span></span>) <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">The
+              Naulahka</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table>
+        <div class="tei tei-pb"></div>
+
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> 
+        </p></div><hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <div class="tei tei-pb"></div>
+        <a name="image01" id="image01" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+
+
+
+
+
+              <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+                </p><div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/col01s.jpg" width="400" height="510" alt="Illustration to page 247" title="‘“Go!� she says. “Go with my Leave an’ Goodwill.�’ See page 247" /><div class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+                    <br />
+                    <a href="#Pg247" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: center"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-style: italic">See page
+                    247</span></span></a></div></div>
+
+
+
+
+      </div>
+      <hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+
+
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+            </p><div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/tp.jpg" width="437" height="700" alt="title page" /></div>
+
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-titlePage" style="text-align: center">
+        <div class="tei tei-pb" style="text-align: center"></div>
+
+        <span class="tei tei-docTitle" style="text-align: center">
+          <span class="tei tei-titlePart" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 173%">Puck of Pook’s Hill</span></span>
+        </span>
+        <br /><br />
+        <div class="tei tei-byline" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 144%">By </span><span class="tei tei-docAuthor" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 144%">Rudyard Kipling</span></span></div>
+        <br /><br />
+        <span class="tei tei-titlePart" style="text-align: center"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-style: italic">Illustrated by</span></span><br />Arthur Rackham, A.R.W.S.</span>
+        <br /><br /><br /><br />
+        <span class="tei tei-docImprint" style="text-align: center">NEW YORK<br />DOUBLEDAY, PAGE &amp; COMPANY</span>
+        <br />
+        <span class="tei tei-docDate" style="text-align: center">1906</span>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <div class="tei tei-pb"></div>
+
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em">Copyright, 1905, 1906, by<br />RUDYARD KIPLING<br />Published, October, 1906</p>
+
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">All rights reserved,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">including that of translation into foreign
+            languages,</span><br /><span style="font-size: 90%; font-style: italic">including the Scandinavian</span></span>
+        </p>
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 10.00em; margin-top: 5.00em"> ROBIN GOODFELLOW—HIS FRIENDS </p>
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 10.00em"> By <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Rudyard Kipling</span></span>
+        </p>
+        <table summary="This is a list." class="tei tei-list" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 10.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"><tbody><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label">I.  </th><td class="tei tei-item">A Centurion of the Thirtieth.</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label">II.  </th><td class="tei tei-item">On the Great Wall.</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label">III.  </th><td class="tei tei-item">The Winged Hats.</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label">IV.  </th><td class="tei tei-item">Hal o’ the Draft.</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label">V.  </th><td class="tei tei-item">Dymchurch Flit.</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label">VI.  </th><td class="tei tei-item">The Treasure and the Law.</td></tr></tbody></table>
+
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 10.00em"> Copyright, 1906, by <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-variant: small-caps">Rudyard Kipling</span></span>. </p>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <div class="tei tei-pb"></div>
+
+        <a name="pdf1" id="pdf1"></a>
+        <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%">CONTENTS</span></h1>
+        <table summary="This is a table" cellspacing="0" class="tei tei-table" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><colgroup span="2"></colgroup><tbody><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: right"><span style="font-size: 81%">PAGE</span></span></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Puck’s Song</span></span></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg001" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">1</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell">Weland’s Sword</td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg005" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">5</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">A Tree Song</span></span></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg029" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">29</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell">Young Men at the Manor</td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg033" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">33</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sir Richard’s Song</span></span></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg055" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">55</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Harp Song of the Dane Women</span></span></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg059" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">59</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell">The Knights of the Joyous Venture</td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg061" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">61</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Thorkild’s Song</span></span></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg087" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">87</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell">Old Men at Pevensey</td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg091" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">91</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The Runes on Weland’s Sword</span></span></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg119" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">119</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell">A Centurion of the Thirtieth</td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg125" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">125</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">A British-Roman Song</span></span></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg145" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">145</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell">On the Great Wall</td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg149" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">149</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">A Song to Mithras</span></span></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg173" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">173</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell">The Winged Hats</td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg177" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">177</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">A Pict Song</span></span></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg201" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">201</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell">Hal o’ the Draft</td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg207" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">207</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">A Smugglers’ Song</span></span></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg227" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">227</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The Bee Boy’s Song</span></span></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg231" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">231</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell">‘Dymchurch Flit’</td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg233" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">233</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">A Three-Part Song</span></span></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg251" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">251</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Song of the Fifth River</span></span></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg255" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">255</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell">The Treasure and the Law</td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg257" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">257</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"><span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The Children’s Song</span></span></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#Pg276" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">276</a></td>
+          </tr></tbody></table>
+        <div class="tei tei-pb"></div>
+
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+        </p>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <div class="tei tei-pb"></div>
+
+        <a name="pdf2" id="pdf2"></a>
+        <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</span></h1>
+        <table summary="This is a table" cellspacing="0" class="tei tei-table" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"><colgroup span="2"></colgroup><tbody><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell">‘“Go!� she says, “Go with my Leave an’ Goodwill.�’ </td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#image01" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: right"><span style="font-style: italic">Frontispiece</span></span></a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell"></td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: right"><span style="font-size: 81%">FACING PAGE</span></span></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell">
+              In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they
+              saw a small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared
+              person with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes,
+              and a grin that ran right across his freckled
+              face.
+            </td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#image02" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">6</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell">
+              ‘There’s where you meet hunters, and trappers for the
+              Circuses, prodding along chained bears and muzzled
+              wolves.’
+            </td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#image03" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">152</a></td>
+          </tr><tr class="tei tei-row">
+            <td class="tei tei-cell">
+              ‘Hoity-toity!’ he cried. ‘Here’s Pride in purple feathers!
+              Here’s wrathy contempt and the Pomps of
+              the Flesh!’... And he doffed his cap
+              to the bubbling bird.
+            </td>
+            <td class="tei tei-cell" style="text-align: right"><a href="#image04" class="tei tei-ref" style="text-align: right">212</a></td>
+          </tr></tbody></table>
+
+        <div class="tei tei-pb"></div>
+
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+        </p>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <div class="tei tei-pb"></div>
+
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 144%">PUCK OF POOK’S HILL</span></span></p>
+        <div class="tei tei-pb"></div>
+
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+        </p>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="tei tei-body" style="margin-bottom: 6.00em; margin-top: 6.00em">
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page1">[pg 1]</span>
+        <a name="Pg001" id="Pg001" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <a name="pdf3" id="pdf3"></a>
+        <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%">PUCK’S SONG</span></h1>
+        <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">See you the dimpled track that runs,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">All hollow through the wheat?</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">O that was where they hauled the guns</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">That smote King Philip’s fleet.</span></span></div>
+        </div>
+        <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">See you our little mill that clacks,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">So busy by the brook?</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">She has ground her corn and paid her tax</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Ever since Domesday Book.</span></span></div>
+        </div>
+        <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">See you our stilly woods of oak,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And the dread ditch beside?</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">O that was where the Saxons broke,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">On the day that Harold died.</span></span></div>
+        </div>
+        <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">See you the windy levels spread</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">About the gates of Rye?</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">O that was where the Northmen fled,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">When Alfred’s ships came by.</span></span></div>
+        </div>
+        <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">See you our pastures wide and lone,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Where the red oxen browse?</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">O there was a City thronged and known,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Ere London boasted a house.</span></span></div>
+        </div>
+        <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And see you, after rain, the trace</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Of mound and ditch and wall?</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">O that was a Legion’s camping-place,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">When Cæsar sailed from Gaul.</span></span></div>
+        </div>
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page2">[pg 2]</span>
+        <a name="Pg002" id="Pg002" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And see you marks that show and fade,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Like shadows on the Downs?</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">O they are the lines the Flint Men made,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To guard their wondrous towns.</span></span></div>
+        </div>
+        <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Trackway and Camp and City lost,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Salt Marsh where now is corn;</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Old Wars, old Peace, old Arts that cease,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And so was England born!</span></span></div>
+        </div>
+        <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">She is not any common Earth,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Water or wood or air,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But Merlin’s Isle of Gramarye,</span></span></div>
+          <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Where you and I will fare.</span></span></div>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page3">[pg 3]</span>
+        <a name="Pg003" id="Pg003" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%"> WELAND’S SWORD </span></h1>
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page4">[pg 4]</span>
+        <a name="Pg004" id="Pg004" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page5">[pg 5]</span>
+          <a name="Pg005" id="Pg005" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf4" id="pdf4"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">WELAND’S SWORD</span><a id="noteref_1" name="noteref_1" href="#note_1"><span class="tei tei-noteref" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-size: 60%; vertical-align: super">1</span></span></a></h2>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The children were at the Theatre, acting to Three Cows as much as they could remember
+            of <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Midsummer Night’s Dream</span></span>. Their father had made them a small
+            play out of the big Shakespeare one, and they had rehearsed it with him and with their
+            mother till they could say it by heart. They began where Nick Bottom the weaver comes
+            out of the bushes with a donkey’s head on his shoulder, and finds Titania, Queen of the
+            Fairies, asleep. Then they skipped to the part where Bottom asks three little fairies to
+            scratch his head and bring him honey, and they ended where he falls asleep in Titania’s
+            arms. Dan was Puck and Nick Bottom, as well as all three Fairies. He wore a pointy-eared
+            cloth cap for Puck, and a paper donkey’s head out of a Christmas cracker—but it tore if
+            you were not careful—for Bottom. Una was Titania, with a wreath of columbines and a
+            foxglove wand. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The Theatre lay in a meadow called the Long Slip. A little mill-stream, carrying water
+            to a mill two or three fields away, bent round one corner of it, and in the middle of
+            the bend lay a large old fairy Ring of darkened grass, which was their stage. The
+            mill-stream banks, overgrown with willow, hazel, and guelder rose made convenient places
+            to wait in till your <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page6">[pg 6]</span><a name="Pg006" id="Pg006" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>turn came; and a grown-up who had
+            seen it said that Shakespeare himself could not have imagined a more suitable setting
+            for his play. They were not, of course, allowed to act on Midsummer Night itself, but
+            they went down after tea on Midsummer Eve, when the shadows were growing, and they took
+            their supper—hard-boiled eggs, Bath Oliver biscuits, and salt in an envelope—with
+            them. Three Cows had been milked and were grazing steadily with a tearing noise that one
+            could hear all down the meadow; and the noise of the mill at work sounded like bare feet
+            running on hard ground. A cuckoo sat on a gatepost singing his broken June tune,
+            ‘cuckoo-cuk,’ while a busy kingfisher crossed from the mill-stream to the brook which
+            ran on the other side of the meadow. Everything else was a sort of thick, sleepy
+            stillness smelling of meadow-sweet and dry grass. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Their play went beautifully. Dan remembered all his parts—Puck, Bottom, and the three
+            Fairies—and Una never forgot a word of Titania—not even the difficult piece where she
+            tells the Fairies how to feed Bottom with ‘apricocks, ripe figs, and dewberries,’ and
+            all the lines end in ‘ies.’ They were both so pleased that they acted it three times
+            over from beginning to end before they sat down in the unthistly centre of the Ring to
+            eat eggs and Bath Olivers. This was when they heard a whistle among the alders on the
+            bank, and they jumped. </p>
+          <a name="image02" id="image02" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                  <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+                    </p><div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/col02s.jpg" width="400" height="506" alt="Illustration to page 6" title="In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puckthey now saw a small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes, and a grin that ran right across his freckled face." /><div class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck<br />they now saw a small, brown,
+                        broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person<br /> with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes,<br /> and
+                        a grin that ran right across his freckled face.</a></div></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The bushes parted. In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they saw a small,
+            <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page7">[pg 7]</span><a name="Pg007" id="Pg007" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes, and
+            a grin that ran right across his freckled face. He shaded his forehead as though he were
+            watching Quince, Snout, Bottom, and the others rehearsing <span class="tei tei-hi"><span class="tei tei-corr"><span style="font-style: italic">Pyramus</span></span><span style="font-style: italic"> and Thisbe</span></span>, and, in a voice as deep as Three Cows
+            asking to be milked, he began: </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">‘What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">So near the cradle of our fairy Queen?’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He stopped, hollowed one hand round his ear, and, with a wicked twinkle in his eye,
+            went on: </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">‘What a play toward? I’ll be auditor,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The children looked and gasped. The small thing—he was no taller than Dan’s
+            shoulder—stepped quietly into the Ring. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I’m rather out of practice,’ said he; ‘but that’s the way my part ought to be
+            played.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Still the children stared at him—from his dark blue cap, like a big columbine flower,
+            to his bare, hairy feet. At last he laughed. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Please don’t look like that. It isn’t <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">my</span></span> fault. What else
+            could you expect?’ he said. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We didn’t expect any one,’ Dan answered, slowly. ‘This is our field.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Is it?’ said their visitor, sitting down. ‘Then what on Human Earth made you act <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Midsummer Night’s Dream</span></span> three times over, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">on</span></span>
+            Midsummer Eve, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">in</span></span> the middle of a Ring, and under—right <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">under</span></span> one of my oldest hills in Old England? Pook’s Hill—Puck’s
+              Hill—<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page8">[pg 8]</span><a name="Pg008" id="Pg008" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Puck’s Hill—Pook’s Hill! It’s as plain as the
+            nose on my face.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He pointed to the bare, fern-covered slope of Pook’s Hill that runs up from the far
+            side of the mill-stream to a dark wood. Beyond that wood the ground rises and rises for
+            five hundred feet, till at last you climb out on the bare top of Beacon Hill, to look
+            over the Pevensey Levels and the Channel and half the naked South Downs. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘By Oak, Ash, and Thorn!’ he cried, still laughing. ‘If this had happened a few
+            hundred years ago you’d have had all the People of the Hills out like bees in June!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We didn’t know it was wrong,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Wrong!’ The little fellow shook with laughter. ‘Indeed, it isn’t wrong. You’ve done
+            something that Kings and Knights and Scholars in old days would have given their crowns
+            and spurs and books to find out. If Merlin himself had helped you, you couldn’t have
+            managed better! You’ve broken the Hills—you’ve broken the Hills! It hasn’t happened in
+            a thousand years.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We—we didn’t mean to,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Of course you didn’t! That’s just why you did it. Unluckily the Hills are empty now,
+            and all the People of the Hills are gone. I’m the only one left. I’m Puck, the oldest
+            Old Thing in England, very much at your service if—if you care to have anything to do
+            with me. If you don’t, of course you’ve only to say so, and I’ll go.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He looked at the children and the children looked at him for quite half a minute. His
+              <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page9">[pg 9]</span><a name="Pg009" id="Pg009" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>eyes did not twinkle any more. They were very kind,
+            and there was the beginning of a good smile on his lips. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Una put out her hand. ‘Don’t go,’ she said. ‘We like you.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Have a Bath Oliver,’ said Dan, and he passed over the squashy envelope with the eggs. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘By Oak, Ash, and Thorn!’ cried Puck, taking off his blue cap, ‘I like you too.
+            Sprinkle a little salt on the biscuit, Dan, and I’ll eat it with you. That’ll show you
+            the sort of person I am. Some of us’—he went on, with his mouth full—<span class="tei tei-corr">‘couldn’t</span> abide Salt, or Horseshoes over a door, or Mountain-ash
+            berries, or Running Water, or Cold Iron, or the sound of Church Bells. But I’m Puck!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He brushed the crumbs carefully from his doublet and shook hands. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We always said, Dan and I,’ Una stammered, ‘that if it ever happened we’d know
+            ex-actly what to do; but—but now it seems all different somehow.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘She means meeting a fairy,’ said Dan. <span class="tei tei-corr">‘<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span></span>
+            never believed in ’em—not after I was six, anyhow.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I did,’ said Una. ‘At least, I sort of half believed till we learned “Farewell
+            Rewards.� Do you know “Farewell Rewards and Fairies�?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Do you mean this?’ said Puck. He threw his big head back and began at the second
+            line:— </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">‘Good housewives now may say,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">For now foul sluts in dairies</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Do fare as well as they;</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">For though they sweep their hearths no less</div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page10">[pg 10]</span>
+          <a name="Pg010" id="Pg010" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> (‘Join in, Una!’) </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Than maids were wont to do,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Yet who of late for cleanliness</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Finds sixpence in her shoe?’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The echoes flapped all along the flat meadow. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Of course I know it,’ he said. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And then there’s the verse about the Rings,’ said Dan. ‘When I was little it always
+            made me feel unhappy in my inside.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Witness those rings and roundelays,� do you mean?’ boomed Puck, with a voice like a
+            great church organ. </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">‘Of theirs which yet remain,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Were footed in Queen Mary’s days</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">On many a grassy plain.</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">But since of late Elizabeth,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">And later James came in,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Are never seen on any heath</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">As when the time hath been.</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It’s some time since I heard that sung, but there’s no good beating about the bush:
+            it’s true. The People of the Hills have all left. I saw them come into Old England and I
+            saw them go. Giants, trolls, kelpies, brownies, goblins, imps; wood, tree, mound, and
+            water spirits; heath-people, hill-watchers, treasure-guards, good people, little people,
+            pishogues, leprechauns, night-riders, pixies, nixies, gnomes and the rest—gone, all
+            gone! I came into England with Oak, Ash, and Thorn, and when Oak, Ash, and Thorn are
+            gone I shall go too.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Dan looked round the meadow—at Una’s oak by the lower gate, at the line of ash trees
+              <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page11">[pg 11]</span><a name="Pg011" id="Pg011" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>that overhang Otter Pool where the mill-stream spills
+            over when the mill does not need it, and at the gnarled old white-thorn where Three Cows
+            scratched their necks. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It’s all right,’ he said; and added, ‘I’m planting a lot of acorns this autumn too.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then aren’t you most awfully old?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Not old—fairly long-lived, as folk say hereabouts. Let me see—my friends used to
+            set my dish of cream for me o’ nights when Stonehenge was new. Yes, before the Flint Men
+            made the Dewpond under Chanctonbury Ring.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Una clasped her hands, cried ‘Oh!’ and nodded her head. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘She’s thought a plan,’ Dan explained. ‘She always does like that when she thinks a
+            plan.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I was thinking—suppose we saved some of our porridge and put it in the attic for
+            you. They’d notice if we left it in the nursery.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Schoolroom,’ said Dan, quickly, and Una flushed, because they had made a solemn
+            treaty that summer not to call the schoolroom the nursery any more. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Bless your heart o’ gold!’ said Puck. ‘You’ll make a fine considering wench some
+            market-day. I really don’t want you to put out a bowl for me; but if ever I need a bite,
+            be sure I’ll tell you.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He stretched himself at length on the dry grass, and the children stretched out beside
+            him, their bare legs waving happily in the air. They felt they could not be afraid of
+            him any <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page12">[pg 12]</span><a name="Pg012" id="Pg012" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>more than of their particular friend old
+            Hobden, the hedger. He did not bother them with grown-up questions, or laugh at the
+            donkey’s head, but lay and smiled to himself in the most sensible way. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Have you a knife on you?’ he said at last. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Dan handed over his big one-bladed outdoor knife, and Puck began to carve out a piece
+            of turf from the centre of the Ring. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What’s that for—Magic?’ said Una, as he pressed up the square of chocolate loam that
+            cut like so much cheese. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘One of my little Magics,’ he answered, and cut another. ‘You see, I can’t let you
+            into the Hills because the People of the Hills have gone; but if you care to take seizin
+            from me, I may be able to show you something out of the common here on Human Earth. You
+            certainly deserve it.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What’s taking seizin?’ said Dan, cautiously. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It’s an old custom the people had when they bought and sold land. They used to cut
+            out a clod and hand it over to the buyer, and you weren’t lawfully seized of your
+            land—it didn’t really belong to you—till the other fellow had actually given you a
+            piece of it—like this.’ He held out the turves. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But it’s our own meadow,’ said Dan, drawing back. ‘Are you going to magic it away?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Puck laughed. ‘I know it’s your meadow, but there’s a great deal more in it than you
+            or your father ever guessed. Try!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He turned his eyes on Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I’ll do it,’ she said. Dan followed her example at once. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page13">[pg 13]</span>
+          <a name="Pg013" id="Pg013" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Now are you two lawfully seized and possessed of all Old England,’ began Puck, in a
+            sing-song voice. ‘By Right of Oak, Ash, and Thorn are you free to come and go and look
+            and know where I shall show or best you please. You shall see What you shall see and you
+            shall hear What you shall hear, though It shall have happened three thousand year; and
+            you shall know neither Doubt nor Fear. Fast! Hold fast all I give you.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The children shut their eyes, but nothing happened. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Well?’ said Una, disappointedly opening them. ‘I thought there would be dragons.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Though It shall have happened three thousand year,’ said Puck, and counted on his
+            fingers. ‘No; I’m afraid there were no <span class="tei tei-corr">dragons</span> three
+            thousand years ago.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But there hasn’t happened anything at all,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Wait awhile,’ said Puck. ‘You don’t grow an oak in a year—and Old England’s older
+            than twenty oaks. Let’s sit down again and think. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> can do that
+            for a century at a time.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Ah, but you are a fairy,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Have you ever heard me use that word yet?’ said Puck, quickly. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No. You talk about “the People of the Hills,� but you never say “fairies,�’ said Una.
+            ‘I was wondering at that. Don’t you like it?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘How would you like to be called “mortal� or “human being� all the time?’ said Puck;
+            ‘or “son of Adam� or “daughter of Eve�?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I shouldn’t like it at all,’ said Dan. ‘That’s <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page14">[pg 14]</span><a name="Pg014" id="Pg014" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>how
+            the Djinns and Afrits talk in the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Arabian Nights</span></span>.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And that’s how <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> feel about saying—that word that I don’t
+            say. Besides, what you call <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">them</span></span> are made-up things the People of
+            the Hills have never heard of—little buzzflies with butterfly wings and gauze
+            petticoats, and shiny stars in their hair, and a wand like a schoolteacher’s cane for
+            punishing bad boys and rewarding good ones. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> know ’em!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We don’t mean that sort,’ said Dan. ‘We hate ’em too.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Exactly,’ said Puck. ‘Can you wonder that the People of the Hills don’t care to be
+            confused with that painty-winged, wand-waving, sugar-and-shake-your-head set of
+            impostors? Butterfly wings, indeed! I’ve seen Sir Huon and a troop of his people setting
+            off from Tintagel Castle for Hy-Brasil in the teeth of a sou’-westerly gale, with the
+            spray flying all over the castle, and the Horses of the Hill wild with fright. Out
+            they’d go in a lull, screaming like gulls, and back they’d be driven five good miles
+            inland before they could come head to wind again. Butterfly-wings! It was Magic—Magic
+            as black as Merlin could make it, and the whole sea was green fire and white foam with
+            singing mermaids in it. And the Horses of the Hill picked their way from one wave to
+            another by the lightning flashes! <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">That</span></span> was how it was in the old
+            days!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Splendid,’ said Dan, but Una shuddered. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I’m glad they’re gone, then; but what made the People of the Hills go away?’ Una
+            asked. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Different things. I’ll tell you one of them <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page15">[pg 15]</span><a name="Pg015" id="Pg015" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>some
+            day—the thing that made the biggest flit of any,’ said Puck. ‘But they didn’t all flit
+            at once. They dropped off, one by one, through the centuries. Most of them were
+            foreigners who couldn’t stand our climate. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">They</span></span> flitted early.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘How early?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘A couple of thousand years or more. The fact is they began as Gods. The Phœnicians
+            brought some over when they came to buy tin; and the Gauls, and the Jutes, and the
+            Danes, and the Frisians, and the Angles brought more when they landed. They were always
+            landing in those days, or being driven back to their ships, and they always brought
+            their Gods with them. England is a bad country for Gods. Now, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span>
+            began as I mean to go on. A bowl of porridge, a dish of milk, and a little quiet fun
+            with the country folk in the lanes was enough for me then, as it is now. I belong here,
+            you see, and I have been mixed up with people all my days. But most of the others
+            insisted on being Gods, and having temples, and altars, and priests, and sacrifices of
+            their own.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘People burned in wicker baskets?’ said Dan. ‘Like Miss Blake tells us about?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘All sorts of sacrifices,’ said Puck. ‘If it wasn’t men, it was horses, or cattle, or
+            pigs, or metheglin—that’s a sticky, sweet sort of beer. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> never
+            liked it. They were a stiff-necked, extravagant set of idols, the Old Things. But what
+            was the result? Men don’t like being sacrificed at the best of times; they don’t even
+            like sacrificing their farm-horses. After a <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page16">[pg 16]</span><a name="Pg016" id="Pg016" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>while men
+            simply left the Old Things alone, and the roofs of their temples fell in, and the Old
+            Things had to scuttle out and pick up a living as they could. Some of them took to
+            hanging about trees, and hiding in graves and groaning o’ nights. If they groaned loud
+            enough and long enough they might frighten a poor countryman into sacrificing a hen, or
+            leaving a pound of butter for them. I remember one Goddess called Belisama. She became a
+            common wet water-spirit somewhere in Lancashire. And there were hundreds of other
+            friends of mine. First they were Gods. Then they were People of the Hills, and then they
+            flitted to other places because they couldn’t get on with the English for one reason or
+            another. There was only one Old Thing, I remember, who honestly worked for his living
+            after he came down in the world. He was called Weland, and he was a smith to some Gods.
+            I’ve forgotten their names, but he used to make them swords and spears. I think he
+            claimed kin with Thor of the Scandinavians.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Heroes of Asgard</span></span> Thor?’ said Una. She had been reading the
+            book. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Perhaps,’ answered Puck. ‘None the less, when bad times came, he didn’t beg or steal.
+            He worked; and I was lucky enough to be able to do him a good turn.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Tell us about it,’ said Dan. ‘I think I like hearing of Old Things.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They rearranged themselves comfortably, each chewing a grass stem. Puck propped
+            himself on one strong arm and went on: </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Let’s think! I met Weland first on a No<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page17">[pg 17]</span><a name="Pg017" id="Pg017" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>vember
+            afternoon in a sleet storm, on Pevensey Level——’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Pevensey? Over the hill, you mean?’ Dan pointed south. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes; but it was all marsh in those days, right up to Horsebridge and Hydeneye. I was
+            on Beacon Hill—they called it Brunanburgh then—when I saw the pale flame that burning
+            thatch makes, and I went down to look. Some pirates—I think they must have been Peofn’s
+            men—were burning a village on the Levels, and Weland’s image—a big, black wooden thing
+            with amber beads round its neck—lay in the bows of a black thirty-two-oar galley that
+            they had just beached. Bitter cold it was! There were icicles hanging from her deck, and
+            the oars were glazed over with ice, and there was ice on Weland’s lips. When he saw me
+            he began a long chant in his own tongue, telling me how he was going to rule England,
+            and how I should smell the smoke of his altars from Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight.
+              <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> didn’t care! I’d seen too many Gods charging into Old England
+            to be upset about it. I let him sing himself out while his men were burning the village,
+            and then I said (I don’t know what put it into my head), “Smith of the Gods,� I said,
+            “the time comes when I shall meet you plying your trade for hire by the wayside.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What did Weland say?’ said Una. ‘Was he angry?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He called me names and rolled his eyes, and I went away to wake up the people inland.
+            But the pirates conquered the country, and for <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page18">[pg 18]</span><a name="Pg018" id="Pg018" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>centuries Weland was a most important God. He had temples everywhere—from
+            Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight, as he said—and his sacrifices were simply
+            scandalous. To do him justice, he preferred horses to men; but men <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">or</span></span> horses, I knew that presently he’d have to come down in the world—like the
+            other Old Things. I gave him lots of time—I gave him about a thousand years—and at the
+            end of ’em I went into one of his temples near Andover to see how he prospered. There
+            was his altar, and there was his image, and there were his priests, and there were the
+            congregation, and everybody seemed quite happy, except Weland and the priests. In the
+            old days the congregation were unhappy until the priests had chosen their sacrifices;
+            and so would <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">you</span></span> have been. When the service began a priest
+            rushed out, dragged a man up to the altar, pretended to hit him on the head with a
+            little gilt axe, and the man fell down and pretended to die. Then everybody shouted: “A
+            sacrifice to Weland! A sacrifice to Weland!�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And the man wasn’t really dead?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Not a bit. All as much pretence as a dolls’ tea-party. Then they brought out a
+            splendid white horse, and the priest cut some hair from its mane and tail and burned it
+            on the altar, shouting, “A sacrifice!� That counted the same as if a man and a horse had
+            been killed. I saw poor Weland’s face through the smoke, and I couldn’t help laughing.
+            He looked so disgusted and so hungry, and all he had to satisfy himself was a horrid
+            smell of burning hair. Just a dolls’ tea-party! </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page19">[pg 19]</span>
+          <a name="Pg019" id="Pg019" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I judged it better not to say anything then (’twouldn’t have been fair), and the next
+            time I came to Andover, a few hundred years later, Weland and his temple were gone, and
+            there was a Christian bishop in a Church there. None of the People of the Hills could
+            tell me anything about him, and I supposed that he had left England.’ Puck turned; lay
+            on the other elbow, and thought for a long time. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Let’s see,’ he said at last. ‘It must have been some few years later—a year or two
+            before the Conquest, I think—that I came back to Pook’s Hill here, and one evening I
+            heard old Hobden talking about Weland’s Ford.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘If you mean old Hobden the hedger, he’s only seventy-two. He told me so himself,’
+            said Dan. ‘He’s a intimate friend of ours.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘You’re quite right,’ Puck replied. ‘I meant old Hobden’s ninth great-grandfather. He
+            was a free man and burned charcoal hereabouts. I’ve known the family, father and son, so
+            long that I get confused sometimes. Hob of the Dene was my Hobden’s name, and he lived
+            at the Forge cottage. Of course, I pricked up my ears when I heard Weland mentioned, and
+            I scuttled through the woods to the Ford just beyond Bog Wood yonder.’ He jerked his
+            head westward, where the valley narrows between wooded hills and steep hop-fields. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Why, that’s Willingford Bridge,’ said Una. ‘We go there for walks often. There’s a
+            kingfisher there.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It was Weland’s Ford then, dear. A road led down to it from the Beacon on the top of
+              <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page20">[pg 20]</span><a name="Pg020" id="Pg020" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>the hill—a shocking bad road it was—and all the
+            hillside was thick, thick oak-forest, with deer in it. There was no trace of Weland, but
+            presently I saw a fat old farmer riding down from the Beacon under the greenwood tree.
+            His horse had cast a shoe in the clay, and when he came to the Ford he dismounted, took
+            a penny out of his purse, laid it on a stone, tied the old horse to an oak, and called
+            out: “Smith, Smith, here is work for you!� Then he sat down and went to sleep. You can
+            imagine how <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> felt when I saw a white-bearded, bent old
+            blacksmith in a leather apron creep out from behind the oak and begin to shoe the horse.
+            It was Weland himself. I was so astonished that I jumped out and said: “What on Human
+            Earth are you doing here, Weland?�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Poor Weland!’ sighed Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He pushed the long hair back from his forehead (he didn’t recognise me at first).
+            Then he said: “<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">You</span></span> ought to know. You foretold it, Old Thing. I’m
+            shoeing horses for hire. I’m not even Weland now,� he said. “They call me
+            Wayland-Smith.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Poor chap!’ said Dan. ‘What did you say?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What could I say? He looked up, with the horse’s foot on his lap, and he said,
+            smiling, “I remember the time when I wouldn’t have accepted this old bag of bones as a
+            sacrifice, and now I’m glad enough to shoe him for a penny.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Isn’t there any way for you to get back to Valhalla, or wherever you come from?� I
+            said. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page21">[pg 21]</span>
+          <a name="Pg021" id="Pg021" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I’m afraid not,� he said, rasping away at the hoof. He had a wonderful touch with
+            horses. The old beast was whinnying on his shoulder. “You may remember that I was not a
+            gentle God in my Day and my Time and my Power. I shall never be released till some human
+            being truly wishes me well.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Surely,� said I, “the farmer can’t do less than that. You’re shoeing the horse all
+            round for him.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Yes,� said he, “and my nails will hold a shoe from one full moon to the next. But
+            farmers and Weald Clay,� said he, “are both uncommon cold and sour.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Would you believe it, that when that farmer woke and found his horse shod he rode
+            away without one word of thanks? I was so angry that I wheeled his horse right round and
+            walked him back three miles to the Beacon just to teach the old sinner politeness.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Were you invisible?’ said Una. Puck nodded, gravely. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The Beacon was always laid in those days ready to light, in case the French landed at
+            Pevensey; and I walked the horse about and about it that lee-long summer night. The
+            farmer thought he was bewitched—well, he <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">was</span></span>, of course—and
+            began to pray and shout. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> didn’t care! I was as good a Christian
+            as he any fair-day in the County, and about four o’clock in the morning a young novice
+            came along from the monastery that used to stand on the top of Beacon hill.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What’s a novice?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It really means a man who is beginning to <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page22">[pg 22]</span><a name="Pg022" id="Pg022" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>be a monk,
+            but in those days people sent their sons to a monastery just the same as a school. This
+            young fellow had been to a monastery in France for a few months every year, and he was
+            finishing his studies in the monastery close to his home here. Hugh was his name, and he
+            had got up to go fishing hereabouts. His people owned all this valley. Hugh heard the
+            farmer shouting, and asked him what in the world he meant. The old man spun him a
+            wonderful tale about fairies and goblins and witches; and I <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">know</span></span>
+            he hadn’t seen a thing except rabbits and red deer all that night. (The People of the
+            Hills are like otters—they don’t show except when they choose.) But the novice wasn’t a
+            fool. He looked down at the horse’s feet, and saw the new shoes fastened as only Weland
+            knew how to fasten ’em. (Weland had a way of turning down the nails that folks called
+            the Smith’s Clinch.) </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“H’m!� said the novice. “Where did you get your horse shod?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The farmer wouldn’t tell him at first, because the priests never liked their people
+            to have any dealings with the Old Things. At last he confessed that the Smith had done
+            it. “What did you pay him?� said the novice. “Penny,� said the farmer, very sulkily.
+            “That’s less than a Christian would have charged,� said the novice. “I hope you threw a
+            ‘Thank you’ into the bargain.� “No,� said the farmer; “Wayland-Smith’s a heathen.�
+            “Heathen or no heathen,� said the novice, “you took his help, and where you get <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page23">[pg 23]</span><a name="Pg023" id="Pg023" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>help there you must give thanks.� “What?� said the
+            farmer—he was in a furious temper because I was walking the old horse in circles all
+            this time—“What, you young jackanapes?� said he. “Then by your reasoning I ought to say
+            ‘Thank you’ to Satan if he helped me?� “Don’t roll about up there splitting reasons with
+            me,� said the novice. “Come back to the Ford and thank the Smith, or you’ll be sorry.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Back the farmer had to go! I led the horse, though no one saw me, and the novice
+            walked beside us, his gown swishing through the shiny dew and his fishing-rod across his
+            shoulders spearwise. When we reached the Ford again—it was five o’clock and misty still
+            under the oaks—the farmer simply wouldn’t say “Thank you.� He said he’d tell the Abbot
+            that the novice wanted him to worship heathen gods. Then Hugh the novice lost his
+            temper. He just cried, “Out!� put his arm under the farmer’s fat leg, and heaved him
+            from his saddle on to the turf, and before he could rise he caught him by the back of
+            the neck and shook him like a rat till the farmer growled, “Thank you, Wayland-Smith.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Did Weland see all this?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, yes, and he shouted his old war-cry when the farmer thudded on to the ground. He
+            was delighted. Then the novice turned to the oak and said, “Ho! Smith of the Gods, I am
+            ashamed of this rude farmer; but for all you have done in kindness and charity to him
+            and to others of our people, I thank you and wish you well.� Then he picked up his <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page24">[pg 24]</span><a name="Pg024" id="Pg024" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>fishing-rod—it looked more like a tall spear than
+            ever—and tramped off down your valley.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And what did poor Weland do?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He laughed and cried with joy, because he had been released at last, and could go
+            away. But he was an honest Old Thing. He had worked for his living and he paid his debts
+            before he left. “I shall give that novice a gift,� said Weland. “A gift that shall do
+            him good the wide world over, and Old England after him. Blow up my fire, Old Thing,
+            while I get the iron for my last task.� Then he made a sword—a dark grey, wavy-lined
+            sword—and I blew the fire while he hammered. By Oak, Ash, and Thorn, I tell you, Weland
+            was a Smith of the Gods! He cooled that sword in running water twice, and the third time
+            he cooled it in the evening dew, and he laid it out in the moonlight and said Runes
+            (that’s charms) over it, and he carved Runes of Prophecy on the blade. “Old Thing,� he
+            said to me, wiping his forehead, “this is the best blade that Weland ever made. Even the
+            user will never know how good it is. Come to the monastery.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We went to the dormitory where the monks slept. We saw the novice fast asleep in his
+            cot, and Weland put the sword into his hand, and I remember the young fellow gripped it
+            in his sleep. Then Weland strode as far as he dared into the Chapel and threw down all
+            his shoeing-tools—his hammer, and pincers, and rasps—to show that he had done with
+            them for ever. It sounded like suits of armour falling, and the sleepy monks ran in, for
+            they thought the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page25">[pg 25]</span><a name="Pg025" id="Pg025" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>monastery had been attacked by the
+            French. The novice came first of all, waving his new sword and shouting Saxon
+            battle-cries. When they saw the shoeing-tools they were very bewildered, till the novice
+            asked leave to speak, and told what he had done to the farmer, and what he had said to
+            Wayland-Smith, and how, though the dormitory light was burning, he had found the
+            wonderful rune-carved sword in his cot. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The Abbot shook his head at first, and then he laughed and said to the novice: “Son
+            Hugh, it needed no sign from a heathen God to show me that you will never be a monk.
+            Take your sword, and keep your sword, and go with your sword, and be as gentle as you
+            are strong and courteous. We will hang up the Smith’s tools before the Altar,� he said,
+            “because, whatever the Smith of the Gods may have been in the old days, we know that he
+            worked honestly for his living and made gifts to Mother Church.� Then they went to bed
+            again, all except the novice, and he sat up in the garth playing with his sword. Then
+            Weland said to me by the stables: “Farewell, Old Thing; you had the right of it. You saw
+            me come to England, and you see me go. Farewell!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘With that he strode down the hill to the corner of the Great Woods—Woods Corner, you
+            call it now—to the very place where he had first landed—and I heard him moving through
+            the thickets towards Horsebridge for a little, and then he was gone. That was how it
+            happened. I saw it.’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page26">[pg 26]</span>
+          <a name="Pg026" id="Pg026" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Both children drew a long breath. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But what happened to Hugh the novice?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And the sword?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Puck looked down the meadow that lay all quiet and cool in the shadow of Pook’s Hill.
+            A corncrake jarred in a hay-field near by, and the small trouts of the brook began to
+            jump. A big white moth flew unsteadily from the alders and flapped round the children’s
+            heads, and the least little haze of water-mist rose from the brook. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Do you really want to know?’ Puck said. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We do,’ cried the children. ‘Awfully!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Very good. I promised you that you shall see What you shall see, and you shall hear
+            What you shall hear, though It shall have happened three thousand year; but just now it
+            seems to me that, unless you go back to the house, people will be looking for you. I’ll
+            walk with you as far as the gate.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Will you be here when we come again?’ they asked. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Surely, sure-ly,’ said Puck. ‘I’ve been here some time already. One minute first,
+            please.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He gave them each three leaves—one of Oak, one of Ash, and one of Thorn. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Bite these,’ said he. ‘Otherwise you might be talking at home of what you’ve seen and
+            heard, and—if I know human beings—they’d send for the doctor. Bite!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They bit hard, and found themselves walking side by side to the lower gate. Their
+            father was leaning over it. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page27">[pg 27]</span>
+          <a name="Pg027" id="Pg027" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And how did your play go?’ he asked. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, splendidly,’ said Dan. ‘Only afterwards, I think, we went to sleep. It was very
+            hot and quiet. Don’t you remember, Una?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Una shook her head and said nothing. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I see,’ said her father. </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-corr" style="text-align: left">‘Late</span>—late in the evening Kilmeny came home,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">For Kilmeny had been she could not tell where,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And Kilmeny had seen what she could not declare.</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> But why are you chewing leaves at your time of life, daughter? For fun?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No. It was for something, but I can’t azactly remember,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> And neither of them could till— </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page28">[pg 28]</span>
+          <a name="Pg028" id="Pg028" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page29">[pg 29]</span>
+          <a name="Pg029" id="Pg029" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf5" id="pdf5"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">A TREE SONG</span></h2>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Of all the trees that grow so fair,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Old England to adorn,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Greater are none beneath the Sun,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good Sirs</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">(All of a Midsummer morn)!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Surely we sing no little thing,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Oak of the Clay lived many a day,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Or ever Æneas began;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Ash of the Loam was a lady at home,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">When Brut was an outlaw man;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Thorn of the Down saw New Troy Town</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">(From which was London born);</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Witness hereby the ancientry</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Of Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Yew that is old in churchyard mould,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">He breedeth a mighty bow;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Alder for shoes do wise men choose,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And beech for cups also.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But when ye have killed, and your bowl is spilled,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And your shoes are clean outworn,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Back ye must speed for all that ye need,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page30">[pg 30]</span>
+          <a name="Pg030" id="Pg030" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Ellum she hateth mankind, and waiteth</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Till every gust be laid,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To drop a limb on the head of him,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">That anyway trusts her shade</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But whether a lad be sober or sad,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Or mellow with ale from the horn,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">He will take no wrong when he lieth along</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">’Neath Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Or he would call it a sin;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But—we have been out in the woods all night</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">A-conjuring Summer in!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And we bring you news by word of mouth—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Good news for cattle and corn—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Now is the Sun come up from the South,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good Sirs</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">(All of a Midsummer morn)!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">England shall bide till Judgment Tide,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">By Oak, and Ash and Thorn!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page31">[pg 31]</span>
+        <a name="Pg031" id="Pg031" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%"> YOUNG MEN AT THE MANOR </span></h1>
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page32">[pg 32]</span>
+        <a name="Pg032" id="Pg032" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page33">[pg 33]</span>
+          <a name="Pg033" id="Pg033" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf6" id="pdf6"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">YOUNG MEN AT THE MANOR</span></h2>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They were fishing, a few days later, in the bed of the brook that for centuries had
+            cut deep into the soft valley soil. The trees closing overhead made long tunnels through
+            which the sunshine worked in blobs and patches. Down in the tunnels were bars of sand
+            and gravel, old roots and trunks covered with moss or painted red by the irony water;
+            foxgloves growing lean and pale towards the light; clumps of fern and thirsty shy
+            flowers who could not live away from moisture and shade. In the pools you could see the
+            wave thrown up by the trouts as they charged hither and yon, and the pools were joined
+            to each other—except in flood time, when all was one brown rush—by sheets of thin
+            broken water that poured themselves chuckling round the darkness of the next bend. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> This was one of the children’s most secret hunting-grounds, and their particular
+            friend, old Hobden the hedger, had shown them how to use it. Except for the click of a
+            rod hitting a low willow, or a switch and tussle among the young ash-leaves as a line
+            hung up for the minute, nobody in the hot pasture could have guessed what game was going
+            on among the trouts below the banks. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We’s got half-a-dozen,’ said Dan, after a <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page34">[pg 34]</span><a name="Pg034" id="Pg034" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>warm, wet
+            hour. ‘I vote we go up to Stone Bay and try Long Pool.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Una nodded—most of her talk was by nods—and they crept from the gloom of the tunnels
+            towards the tiny weir that turns the brook into the mill-stream. Here the banks are low
+            and bare, and the glare of the afternoon sun on the Long Pool below the weir makes your
+            eyes ache. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> When they were in the open they nearly fell down with astonishment. A huge grey horse,
+            whose tail-hairs crinkled the glassy water, was drinking in the pool, and the ripples
+            about his muzzle flashed like melted gold. On his back sat an old, white-haired man
+            dressed in a loose glimmery gown of chain-mail. He was bareheaded, and a nut-shaped iron
+            helmet hung at his saddle-bow. His reins were of red leather five or six inches deep,
+            scalloped at the edges, and his high padded saddle with its red girths was held fore and
+            aft by a red leather breastband and crupper. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Look!’ said Una, as though Dan were not staring his very eyes out. ‘It’s like the
+            picture in your room—“Sir Isumbras at the Ford.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The rider turned towards them, and his thin, long face was just as sweet and gentle as
+            that of the knight who carries the children in that picture. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘They should be here now, Sir Richard,’ said Puck’s deep voice among the willow-herb. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘They are here,’ the knight said, and he smiled at Dan with the string of trouts in
+            his hand. ‘There seems no great change in boys since mine fished this water.’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page35">[pg 35]</span>
+          <a name="Pg035" id="Pg035" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘If your horse has drunk, we shall be more at ease in the Ring,’ said Puck; and he
+            nodded to the children as though he had never magicked away their memories the week
+            before. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The great horse turned and hoisted himself into the pasture with a kick and a scramble
+            that tore the clods down rattling. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Your pardon!’ said Sir Richard to Dan. ‘When these lands were mine, I never loved
+            that mounted men should cross the brook except by the paved ford. But my Swallow here
+            was thirsty, and I wished to meet you.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We’re very glad you’ve come, sir,’ said Dan. ‘It doesn’t matter in the least about
+            the banks.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He trotted across the pasture on the sword-side of the mighty horse, and it was a
+            mighty iron-handled sword that swung from Sir Richard’s belt. Una walked behind with
+            Puck. She remembered everything now. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I’m sorry about the Leaves,’ he said, ‘but it would never have done if you had gone
+            home and told, would it?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I s’pose not,’ Una answered. ‘But you said that all the fair—People of the Hills had
+            left England.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So they have; but I told you that you should come and go and look and know, didn’t I?
+            The knight isn’t a fairy. He’s Sir Richard Dalyngridge, a very old friend of mine. He
+            came over with William the Conqueror, and he wants to see you particularly.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What for?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘On account of your great wisdom and learning,’ Puck replied, without a twinkle. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page36">[pg 36]</span>
+          <a name="Pg036" id="Pg036" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Us?’ said Una. ‘Why, I don’t know my Nine Times—not to say it dodging; and Dan makes
+            the most <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">awful</span></span> mess of fractions. He can’t mean <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">us</span></span>!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Una!’ Dan called back. ‘Sir Richard says he is going to tell what happened to
+            Weland’s sword. He’s got it. Isn’t it splendid?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Nay—nay,’ said Sir Richard, dismounting as they reached the Ring, in the bend of the
+            mill-stream bank. ‘It is you that must tell me, for I hear the youngest child in our
+            England to-day is as wise as our wisest clerk.’ He slipped the bit out of Swallow’s
+            mouth, dropped the ruby-red reins over his head, and the wise horse moved off to graze. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Sir Richard (they noticed he limped a little) unslung his great sword. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘That’s it,’ Dan whispered to Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘This is the sword that Brother Hugh had from Wayland-Smith,’ Sir Richard said. ‘Once
+            he gave it to me, but I would not take it; but at the last it became mine after such a
+            fight as never christened man fought. See!’ He half drew it from its sheath and turned
+            it before them. On either side just below the handle, where the Runic letters shivered
+            as though they were alive, were two deep gouges in the dull, deadly steel. ‘Now, what
+            Thing made those?’ said he. ‘I know not, but you, perhaps, can say.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Tell them all the tale, Sir Richard,’ said Puck. ‘It concerns their land somewhat.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes, from the very beginning,’ Una pleaded, for the knight’s good face and the smile
+            on it <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page37">[pg 37]</span><a name="Pg037" id="Pg037" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>more than ever reminded her of ‘Sir Isumbras at
+            the Ford.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They settled down to listen, Sir Richard bare-headed to the sunshine, dandling the
+            sword in both hands, while the grey horse cropped outside the Ring, and the helmet on
+            the saddle-bow clinged softly each time he jerked his head. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘From the beginning, then,’ Sir Richard said, ‘since it concerns your land, I will
+            tell the tale. When our Duke came out of Normandy to take his England, great knights
+            (have ye heard?) came and strove hard to serve the Duke, because he promised them lands
+            here, and small knights followed the great ones. My folk in Normandy were poor; but a
+            great knight, Engerrard of the Eagle—Engenulf De Aquila—who was kin to my father,
+            followed the Earl of Mortain, who followed William the Duke, and I followed De Aquila.
+            Yes, with thirty men-at-arms out of my father’s house and a new sword, I set out to
+            conquer England three days after I was made knight. I did not then know that England
+            would conquer me. We went up to Santlache with the rest—a very great host of us.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Does that mean the Battle of Hastings—Ten Sixty-Six?’ Una whispered, and Puck
+            nodded, so as not to interrupt. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘At Santlache, over the hill yonder’—he pointed south-eastward towards Fairlight—‘we
+            found Harold’s men. We fought. At the day’s end they ran. My men went with De Aquila’s
+            to chase and plunder, and in that chase Engerrard of the Eagle was slain, and <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page38">[pg 38]</span><a name="Pg038" id="Pg038" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>his son Gilbert took his banner and his men forward. This
+            I did not know till after, for Swallow here was cut in the flank, so I stayed to wash
+            the wound at a brook by a thorn. There a single Saxon cried out to me in French, and we
+            fought together. I should have known his voice, but we fought together. For a long time
+            neither had any advantage, till by pure ill-fortune his foot slipped and his sword flew
+            from his hand. Now I had but newly been made knight, and wished, above all, to be
+            courteous and fameworthy, so I forebore to strike and bade him get his sword again. “A
+            plague on my sword,� said he. “It has lost me my first fight. You have spared my life.
+            Take my sword.� He held it out to me, but as I stretched my hand the sword groaned like
+            a stricken man, and I leaped back crying, “Sorcery!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> [The children looked at the sword as though it might speak again.] </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Suddenly a clump of Saxons ran out upon me and, seeing a Norman alone, would have
+            killed me, but my Saxon cried out that I was his prisoner, and beat them off. Thus, see
+            you, he saved my life. He put me on my horse and led me through the woods ten long miles
+            to this valley.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘To here, d’you mean?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘To this very valley. We came in by the Lower Ford under the King’s Hill yonder’—he
+            pointed eastward where the valley widens. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And was that Saxon Hugh the novice?’ Dan asked. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes, and more than that. He had been <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page39">[pg 39]</span><a name="Pg039" id="Pg039" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>for three years
+            at the monastery at Bec by Rouen, where’—Sir Richard chuckled—‘the Abbot Herluin would
+            not suffer me to remain.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Why wouldn’t he?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Because I rode my horse into the refectory, when the scholars were at meat, to show
+            the Saxon boys we Normans were not afraid of an abbot. It was that very Saxon Hugh
+            tempted me to do it, and we had not met since that day. I thought I knew his voice even
+            inside my helmet, and, for all that our Lords fought, we each rejoiced we had not slain
+            the other. He walked by my side, and he told me how a Heathen God, as he believed, had
+            given him his sword, but he said he had never heard it sing before. I remember I warned
+            him to beware of sorcery and quick enchantments.’ Sir Richard smiled to himself. ‘I was
+            very young—very young! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘When we came to his house here we had almost forgotten that we had been at blows. It
+            was near midnight, and the Great Hall was full of men and women waiting news. There I
+            first saw his sister, the Lady Ælueva, of whom he had spoken to us in France. She cried
+            out fiercely at me, and would have had me hanged in that hour, but her brother said that
+            I had spared his life—he said not how he saved mine from his Saxons—and that our Duke
+            had won the day; and even while they wrangled over my poor body, of a sudden he fell
+            down in a swoon from his wounds. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“This is <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">thy fault</span></span>,� said the Lady Ælueva to me, and she
+            kneeled above him and called for wine and cloths. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page40">[pg 40]</span>
+          <a name="Pg040" id="Pg040" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“If I had known,� I answered, “he should have ridden and I walked. But he set me on
+            my horse; he made no complaint; he walked beside me and spoke merrily throughout. I pray
+            I have done him no harm.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Thou hast need to pray,� she said, catching up her underlip. “If he dies, thou shalt
+            hang!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘They bore off Hugh to his chamber; but three tall men of the house bound me and set
+            me under the beam of the Great Hall with a rope round my neck. The end of the rope they
+            flung over the beam, and they sat them down by the fire to wait word whether Hugh lived
+            or died. They cracked nuts with their knife-hilts the while.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And how did you feel?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Very weary; but I did heartily pray for my schoolmate Hugh his health. About noon I
+            heard horses in the valley, and the three men loosed my ropes and fled out, and De
+            Aquila’s men rode up. Gilbert de Aquila came with them, for it was his boast that, like
+            his father, he forgot no man that served him. He was little, like his father, but
+            terrible, with a nose like an eagle’s nose and yellow eyes like an eagle. He rode tall
+            war-horses—roans, which he bred himself—and he could never abide to be helped into the
+            saddle. He saw the rope hanging from the beam and laughed, and his men laughed, for I
+            was too stiff to rise. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“This is poor entertainment for a Norman knight,� he said, “but, such as it is, let
+            us be grateful. Show me, boy, to whom thou <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page41">[pg 41]</span><a name="Pg041" id="Pg041" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>owest most,
+            and we will pay them out of hand.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What did he mean? To kill ’em?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Assuredly. But I looked at the Lady Ælueva where she stood among her maids, and her
+            brother beside her. De Aquila’s men had driven them all into the Great Hall.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Was she pretty?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘In all my life I had never seen woman fit to strew rushes before my Lady Ælueva,’ the
+            knight replied, quite simply and quietly. ‘As I looked at her I thought I might save her
+            and her house by a jest. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Seeing that I came somewhat hastily and without warning,� said I to De Aquila, “I
+            have no fault to find with the courtesy that these Saxons have shown me.� But my voice
+            shook. It is—it was not good to jest with that little man. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘All were silent awhile, till De Aquila laughed. “Look, men—a miracle!� said he. “The
+            fight is scarce sped, my father is not yet buried, and here we find our youngest knight
+            already set down in his Manor, while his Saxons—ye can see it in their fat faces—have
+            paid him homage and service! By the Saints,� he said, rubbing his nose, “I never thought
+            England would be so easy won! Surely I can do no less than give the lad what he has
+            taken. This Manor shall be thine, boy,� he said, “till I come again, or till thou art
+            slain. Now, mount, men, and ride. We follow our Duke into Kent to make him King of
+            England.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He drew me with him to the door while <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page42">[pg 42]</span><a name="Pg042" id="Pg042" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>they brought
+            his horse—a lean roan, taller than my Swallow here, but not so well girthed. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Hark to me,� he said, fretting with his great war-gloves. “I have given thee this
+            Manor, which is a Saxon hornets’ nest, and I think thou wilt be slain in a month—as my
+            father was slain. Yet if thou canst keep the roof on the hall, the thatch on the barn,
+            and the plough in the furrow till I come back, thou shalt hold the Manor from me; for
+            the Duke has promised our Earl Mortain all the lands by Pevensey, and Mortain will give
+            me of them what he would have given my father. God knows if thou or I shall live till
+            England is won; but remember, boy, that here and now fighting is foolishness and�—he
+            reached for the reins—“craft and cunning is all.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Alas, I have no cunning,� said I. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Not yet,� said he, hopping abroad, foot in stirrup, and poking his horse in the
+            belly with his toe. “Not yet, but I think thou hast a good teacher. Farewell! Hold the
+            Manor and live. Lose the Manor and hang,� he said, and spurred out, his shield-straps
+            squeaking behind him. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So, children, here was I, little more than a boy, and Santlache fight not two days
+            old, left alone with my thirty men-at-arms, in a land I knew not, among a people whose
+            tongue I could not speak, to hold down the land which I had taken from them.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And that was here at home?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes, here. See! From the Upper Ford, Weland’s Ford, to the Lower Ford, by the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page43">[pg 43]</span><a name="Pg043" id="Pg043" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Belle Allée, west and east it ran half a league. From the
+            Beacon of Brunanburgh behind us here, south and north it ran a full league—and all the
+            woods were full of broken men from Santlache, Saxon thieves, Norman plunderers, robbers,
+            and deerstealers. A hornets’ nest indeed! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘When De Aquila had gone, Hugh would have thanked me for saving their lives; but Lady
+            Ælueva said that I had done it only for the sake of receiving the Manor. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“How could I know that De Aquila would give it me?� I said. “If I had told him I had
+            spent my night in your halter he would have burned the place twice over by now.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“If any man had put <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">my</span></span> neck in a rope,� she said, “I would
+            have seen his house burned thrice over before <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> would have made
+            terms.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“But it was a woman,� I said; and I laughed and she wept and said that I mocked her
+            in her captivity. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Lady,� said I, “there is no captive in this valley except one, and he is not a
+            Saxon.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘At this she cried that I was a Norman thief, who came with false, sweet words, having
+            intended from the first to turn her out in the fields to beg her bread. Into the fields!
+            She had never seen the face of war! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I was angry, and answered, “This much at least I can disprove, for I swear�—and on
+            my sword-hilt I swore it in that place—“I swear I will never set foot in the Great Hall
+            till the Lady Ælueva herself shall <span class="tei tei-corr">summon</span> me there.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘She went away, saying nothing, and I <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page44">[pg 44]</span><a name="Pg044" id="Pg044" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>walked out, and
+            Hugh limped after me, whistling dolorously (that is a custom of the English), and we
+            came upon the three Saxons that had bound me. They were now bound by my men-at-arms, and
+            behind them stood some fifty stark and sullen churls of the House and the Manor, waiting
+            to see what should fall. We heard De Aquila’s trumpets blow thin through the woods
+            Kentward. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Shall we hang these?� said my men. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Then my churls will fight,� said Hugh, beneath his breath; but I bade him ask the
+            three what mercy they hoped for. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“None,� said they all. “She bade us hang thee if our master died. And we would have
+            hanged thee. There is no more to it.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘As I stood doubting a woman ran down from the oak wood above the King’s Hill yonder,
+            and cried out that some Normans were driving off the swine there. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Norman or Saxon,� said I, “we must beat them back, or they will rob us every day.
+            Out at them with any arms ye have!� So I loosed those three carles and we ran together,
+            my men-at-arms and the Saxons with bills and bows which they had hidden in the thatch of
+            their huts, and Hugh led them. Half-way up the King’s Hill we found a false fellow from
+            Picardy—a sutler that sold wine in the Duke’s camp—with a dead knight’s shield on his
+            arm, a stolen horse under him, and some ten or twelve wastrels at his tail, all cutting
+            and slashing at the pigs. We beat them off, and saved our pork. One hundred and sev<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page45">[pg 45]</span><a name="Pg045" id="Pg045" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>enty pigs we saved in that great battle.’ Sir Richard
+            laughed. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘That, then, was our first work together, and I bade Hugh tell his folk that so would
+            I deal with any man, knight or churl, Norman or Saxon, who stole as much as one egg from
+            our valley. Said he to me, riding home: “Thou hast gone far to conquer England this
+            evening.� I answered: “England must be thine and mine, then. Help me, Hugh, to deal
+            aright with this people. Make them to know that if they slay me De Aquila will surely
+            send to slay them, and he will put a worse man in my place.� “That may well be true,�
+            said he, and gave me his hand. “Better the devil we know than the devil we know not,
+            till we can pack you Normans home.� And so, too, said his Saxons; and they laughed as we
+            drove the pigs downhill. But I think some of them, even then, began not to hate me.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I like Brother Hugh,’ said Una, softly. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Beyond question he was the most perfect, courteous, valiant, tender, and wise knight
+            that ever drew breath,’ said Richard, caressing the sword. ‘He hung up his sword—this
+            sword—on the wall of the Great Hall, because he said it was fairly mine, and never he
+            took it down till De Aquila returned, as I shall presently show. For three months his
+            men and mine guarded the valley, till all robbers and nightwalkers learned there was
+            nothing to get from us save hard tack and a hanging. Side by side we fought against all
+            who came—thrice a week sometimes we fought—against thieves <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page46">[pg 46]</span><a name="Pg046" id="Pg046" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>and landless knights looking for good manors. Then we were in some peace,
+            and I made shift by Hugh’s help to govern the valley—for all this valley of yours was
+            my Manor—as a knight should. I kept the roof on the hall and the thatch on the barn,
+            but.... The English are a bold people. His Saxons would laugh and jest with Hugh, and
+            Hugh with them, and—this was marvellous to me—if even the meanest of them said that
+            such and such a thing was the Custom of the Manor, then straightway would Hugh and such
+            old men of the Manor as might be near forsake everything else to debate the matter—I
+            have seen them stop the mill with the corn half ground—and if the custom or usage were
+            proven to be as it was said, why, that was the end of it, even though it were flat
+            against Hugh, his wish and command. Wonderful!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Aye,’ said Puck, breaking in for the first time. ‘The Custom of Old England was here
+            before your Norman knights came, and it outlasted them, though they fought against it
+            cruel.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Not I,’ said Richard. ‘I let the Saxons go their stubborn way, but when my own
+            men-at-arms, Normans not six months in England, stood up and told me what was the custom
+            of the country, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">then</span></span> I was angry. Ah, good days! Ah, wonderful
+            people! And I loved them all.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The knight lifted his arms as though he would hug the whole dear valley, and Swallow,
+            hearing the chink of his chain-mail, looked up and whinnied softly. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page47">[pg 47]</span>
+          <a name="Pg047" id="Pg047" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘At last,’ he went on, ‘after a year of striving and contriving and some little
+            driving, De Aquila came to the valley, alone and without warning. I saw him first at the
+            Lower Ford, with a swine-herd’s brat on his saddle-bow. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“There is no need for thee to give any account of thy stewardship,� said he. “I have
+            it all from the child here.� And he told me how the young thing had stopped his tall
+            horse at the Ford, by waving of a branch, and crying that the way was barred. “And if
+            one bold, bare babe be enough to guard the Ford in these days, thou hast done well,�
+            said he, and puffed and wiped his head. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He pinched the child’s cheek, and looked at our cattle in the flat by the brook. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Both fat,� said he, rubbing his nose. “This is craft and cunning such as I love.
+            What did I tell thee when I rode away, boy?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Hold the Manor or hang,� said I. I had never forgotten it. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“True. And thou hast held.� He clambered from his saddle and with sword’s point cut
+            out a turf from the bank and gave it me where I kneeled.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Dan looked at Una, and Una looked at Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘That’s seizin,’ said Puck, in a whisper. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Now thou art lawfully seized of the Manor, Sir Richard,� said he—’twas the first
+            time he ever called me that—“thou and thy heirs for ever. This must serve till the
+            King’s clerks write out thy title on a parchment. England is all ours—if we can hold
+            it.� </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page48">[pg 48]</span>
+          <a name="Pg048" id="Pg048" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“What service shall I pay?� I asked, and I remember I was proud beyond words. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Knight’s fee, boy, knight’s fee!� said he, hopping round his horse on one foot.
+            (Have I said he was little, and could not endure to be helped to his saddle?) “Six
+            mounted men or twelve archers thou shalt send me whenever I call for them, and—where
+            got you that corn?� said he, for it was near harvest, and our corn stood well. “I have
+            never seen such bright straw. Send me three bags of the same seed yearly, and
+            furthermore, in memory of our last meeting—with the rope round thy neck—entertain me
+            and my men for two days of each year in the Great Hall of thy Manor.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Alas!� said I, “then my Manor is already forfeit. I am under vow not to enter the
+            Great Hall.� And I told him what I had sworn to the Lady Ælueva.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And hadn’t you ever been into the house since?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Never,’ Sir Richard answered smiling. ‘I had made me a little hut of wood up the
+            hill, and there I did justice and slept.... De Aquila wheeled aside, and his shield
+            shook on his back. “No matter, boy,� said he. “I will remit the homage for a year.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He meant Sir Richard needn’t give him dinner there the first year,’ Puck explained. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘De Aquila stayed with me in the hut and Hugh, who could read and write and cast
+            accounts, showed him the roll of the Manor, in which were written all the names of our
+            fields and men, and he asked a thousand questions touching the land, the timber, the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page49">[pg 49]</span><a name="Pg049" id="Pg049" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>grazing, the mill, and the fish-ponds, and the worth of
+            every man in the valley. But never he named the Lady Ælueva’s name, nor went he near the
+            Great Hall. By night he drank with us in the hut. Yes, he sat on the straw like an eagle
+            ruffled in her feathers, his yellow eyes rolling above the cup, and he pounced in his
+            talk like an eagle, swooping from one thing to another, but always binding fast. Yes; he
+            would lie still awhile, and then rustle in the straw, and speak sometimes as though he
+            were King William himself, and anon he would speak in parables and tales, and if at once
+            we saw not his meaning he would yerk us in the ribs with his scabbarded sword. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Look you, boys,� said he, “I am born out of my due time. Five hundred years ago I
+            would have made all England such an England as neither Dane, Saxon, nor Norman should
+            have conquered. Five hundred years hence I should have been such a councillor to Kings
+            as the world hath never dreamed of. ’Tis all here,� said he, tapping his big head, “but
+            it hath no play in this black age. Now Hugh here is a better man than thou art,
+            Richard.� He had made his voice harsh and croaking, like a raven’s. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Truth,� said I. “But for Hugh, his help and patience and long-suffering, I could
+            never have kept the Manor.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Nor thy life either,� said De Aquila. “Hugh has saved thee not once, but a hundred
+            times. Be still, Hugh!� he said. “Dost thou know, Richard, why Hugh slept, and <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page50">[pg 50]</span><a name="Pg050" id="Pg050" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>why he still sleeps, among thy Norman men-at-arms?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“To be near me,� said I, for I thought this was truth. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Fool!� said De Aquila. “It is because his Saxons have begged him to rise against
+            thee, and to sweep every Norman out of the valley. No matter how I know. It is truth.
+            Therefore Hugh hath made himself an hostage for thy life, well knowing that if any harm
+            befell thee from his Saxons thy Normans would slay him without remedy. And this his
+            Saxons know. It is true, Hugh?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“In some sort,� said Hugh, shamefacedly; “at least, it was true half a year ago. My
+            Saxons would not harm Richard now. I think they know him; but I judged it best to make
+            sure.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Look, children, what that man had done—and I had never guessed it! Night after night
+            had he lain down among my men-at-arms, knowing that if one Saxon had lifted knife
+            against me his life would have answered for mine. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Yes,� said De Aquila. “And he is a swordless man.� He pointed to Hugh’s belt, for
+            Hugh had put away his sword—did I tell you?—the day after it flew from his hand at
+            Santlache. He carried only the short knife and the long-bow. “Swordless and landless art
+            thou, Hugh; and they call thee kin to Earl Godwin.� (Hugh was indeed of Godwin’s blood.)
+            “The Manor that was thine was given to this boy and to his <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page51">[pg 51]</span><a name="Pg051" id="Pg051" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>children for ever. Sit up and beg, for he can turn thee out like a dog,
+            Hugh!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Hugh said nothing, but I heard his teeth grind, and I bade De Aquila, my own
+            overlord, hold his peace, or I would stuff his words down his throat. Then De Aquila
+            laughed till the tears ran down his face. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I warned the King,� said he, “what would come of giving England to us Norman
+            thieves. Here art thou, Richard, less than two days confirmed in thy Manor, and already
+            thou hast risen against thy overlord. What shall <span class="tei tei-corr">we do</span> to him, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Sir</span></span>
+            Hugh?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I am a swordless man,� said Hugh. “Do not jest with me,� and he laid his head on his
+            knees and groaned. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“The greater fool thou,� said De Aquila, and all his voice changed; “for I have given
+            thee the Manor of Dallington up the hill this half-hour since,� and he yerked at Hugh
+            with his scabbard across the straw. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“To me?� said Hugh. “I am a Saxon, and, except that I love Richard here, I have not
+            sworn fealty to any Norman.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“In God’s good time, which because of my sins I shall not live to see, there will be
+            neither Saxon nor Norman in England,� said De Aquila. “If I know men, thou art more
+            faithful unsworn than a score of Normans I could name. Take Dallington, and join Sir
+            Richard to fight me to-morrow, if it please thee!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Nay,� said Hugh. “I am no child. Where I take a gift, there I render service�; and
+            he put his hands between De Aquila’s, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page52">[pg 52]</span><a name="Pg052" id="Pg052" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>and swore to be
+            faithful, and, as I remember, I kissed him, and De Aquila kissed us both. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We sat afterwards outside the hut while the sun rose, and De Aquila marked our churls
+            going to their work in the fields, and talked of holy things, and how we should govern
+            our Manors in time to come, and of hunting and of horse-breeding, and of the King’s
+            wisdom and unwisdom; for he spoke to us as though we were in all sorts now his brothers.
+            Anon a churl stole up to me—he was one of the three I had not hanged a year ago—and he
+            bellowed—which is the Saxon for whispering—that the Lady Ælueva would speak to me at
+            the Great House. She walked abroad daily in the Manor, and it was her custom to send me
+            word whither she went, that I might set an archer or two behind and in front to guard
+            her. Very often I myself lay up in the woods and watched on her also. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I went swiftly, and as I passed the great door it opened from within, and there stood
+            my Lady Ælueva, and she said to me: “Sir Richard, will it please you enter your Great
+            Hall?� Then she wept, but we were alone.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The knight was silent for a long time, his face turned across the valley, smiling. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, well done!’ said Una, and clapped her hands very softly. ‘She was sorry, and she
+            said so.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Aye, she was sorry, and she said so,’ said Sir Richard, coming back with a little
+            start. ‘Very soon—but <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">he</span></span> said it was two full hours later—De
+            Aquila rode to the door, with his shield new scoured (Hugh had cleansed it), <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page53">[pg 53]</span><a name="Pg053" id="Pg053" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>and demanded entertainment, and called me a false knight, that
+            would starve his overlord to death. Then Hugh cried out that no man should work in the
+            valley that day, and our Saxons blew horns, and set about feasting and drinking, and
+            running of races, and dancing and singing; and De Aquila climbed upon a horse-block and
+            spoke to them in what he swore was good Saxon, but no man understood it. At night we
+            feasted in the Great Hall, and when the harpers and the singers were gone we four sat
+            late at the high table. As I remember, it was a warm night with a full moon, and De
+            Aquila bade Hugh take down his sword from the wall again, for the honour of the Manor of
+            Dallington, and Hugh took it gladly enough. Dust lay on the hilt, for I saw him blow it
+            off. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘She and I sat talking a little apart, and at first we thought the harpers had come
+            back, for the Great Hall was filled with a rushing noise of music. De Aquila leaped up;
+            but there was only the moonlight fretty on the floor. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Hearken!� said Hugh. “It is my sword,� and as he belted it on the music ceased. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Over Gods, forbid that I should ever belt blade like that,� said De Aquila. “What
+            does it foretell?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“The Gods that made it may know. Last time it spoke was at Hastings, when I lost all
+            my lands. Belike it sings now that I have new lands and am a man again,� said Hugh. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He loosed the blade a little and drove it back happily into the sheath, and the sword
+              <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page54">[pg 54]</span><a name="Pg054" id="Pg054" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>answered him low and crooningly, as—as a woman would
+            speak to a man, her head on his shoulder. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Now that was the second time in all my life I heard this Sword sing.’... </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-tb"> </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Look!’ said Una. ‘There’s mother coming down the Long Slip. What will she say to Sir
+            Richard? She can’t help seeing him.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And Puck can’t magic us this time,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Are you sure?’ said Puck; and he leaned forward and whispered to Sir Richard, who,
+            smiling, bowed his head. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But what befell the sword and my brother Hugh I will tell on another time,’ said he,
+            rising. ‘Ohé, Swallow!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The great horse cantered up from the far end of the meadow, close to mother. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They heard mother say: ‘Children, Gleason’s old horse has broken into the meadow
+            again. Where did he get through?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Just below Stone Bay,’ said Dan. ‘He tore down simple flobs of the bank! We noticed
+            it just now. And we’ve caught no end of fish. We’ve been at it all the afternoon.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> And they honestly believed that they had. They never noticed the Oak, Ash, and Thorn
+            leaves that Puck had slyly thrown into their laps. </p>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page55">[pg 55]</span>
+          <a name="Pg055" id="Pg055" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf7" id="pdf7"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">SIR RICHARD’S SONG</span></h2>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">I followed my Duke ere I was a lover,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To take from England fief and fee;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But now this game is the other way over—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But now England hath taken me!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">I had my horse, my shield and banner,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And a boy’s heart, so whole and free;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But now I sing in another manner—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But now England hath taken me!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">As for my Father in his tower,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Asking news of my ship at sea;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">He will remember his own hour—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Tell him England hath taken me!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">As for my Mother in her bower,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">That rules my Father so cunningly;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">She will remember a maiden’s power—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Tell her England hath taken me!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">As for my Brother in Rouen city,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">A nimble and naughty page is he;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But he will come to suffer and pity—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Tell him England hath taken me!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">As for my little Sister waiting</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">In the pleasant orchards of Normandie;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Tell her youth is the time for mating—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Tell her England hath taken me!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page56">[pg 56]</span>
+          <a name="Pg056" id="Pg056" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">As for my Comrades in camp and highway,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">That lift their eyebrows scornfully;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Tell them their way is not my way—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Tell them England hath taken me!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Kings and Princes and Barons famed,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Knights and Captains in your degree;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Hear me a little before I am blamed—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Seeing England hath taken me!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Howso great man’s strength be reckoned,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">There are two things he cannot flee;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Love is the first, and Death is the second—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And Love, in England, hath taken me!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page57">[pg 57]</span>
+        <a name="Pg057" id="Pg057" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%"> THE KNIGHTS OF THE JOYOUS VENTURE </span></h1>
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page58">[pg 58]</span>
+        <a name="Pg058" id="Pg058" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page59">[pg 59]</span>
+          <a name="Pg059" id="Pg059" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf8" id="pdf8"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">HARP SONG OF THE DANE WOMEN</span></h2>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">What is a woman that you forsake her,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To go with the old grey Widow-maker</span></span>?</div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">She has no house to lay a guest in—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But one chill bed for all to rest in,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">That the pale suns and the stray bergs nest in.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">She has no strong white arms to fold you,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Bound on the rocks where the tide has rolled you.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Yet, when the signs of summer thicken,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And the ice breaks, and the birch-buds quicken,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Yearly you turn from our side, and sicken—</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Sicken again for the shouts and the slaughters,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">You steal away to the lapping waters,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And look at your ship in her winter quarters.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">You forget our mirth, and talk at the tables,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The kine in the shed and the horse in the stables—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To pitch her sides and go over her cables!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page60">[pg 60]</span>
+          <a name="Pg060" id="Pg060" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Then you drive out where the storm-clouds swallow:</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And the sound of your oar-blades falling hollow,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Is all we have left through the months to follow!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Ah, what is Woman that you forsake her,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To go with the old grey Widow-maker?</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page61">[pg 61]</span>
+          <a name="Pg061" id="Pg061" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf9" id="pdf9"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE KNIGHTS OF THE JOYOUS VENTURE</span></h2>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> It was too hot to run about in the open, so Dan asked their friend, old Hobden, to
+            take their own dinghy from the pond and put her on the brook at the bottom of the
+            garden. Her painted name was the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Daisy</span></span>, but for exploring
+            expeditions she was the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Golden Hind</span></span> or the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Long
+              Serpent</span></span>, or some such suitable name. Dan hiked and howked with a boat-hook (the
+            brook was too narrow for sculls), and Una punted with a piece of hop-pole. When they
+            came to a very shallow place (the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Golden Hind</span></span> drew quite three
+            inches of water) they disembarked and scuffled her over the gravel by her tow-rope, and
+            when they reached the overgrown banks beyond the garden they pulled themselves up stream
+            by the low branches. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> That day they intended to discover the North Cape like ‘Othere, the old sea-captain,’
+            in the book of verses which Una had brought with her; but on account of the heat they
+            changed it to a voyage up the Amazon and the sources of the Nile. Even on the shaded
+            water the air was hot and heavy with drowsy scents, while outside, through breaks in the
+            trees, the sunshine burned the pasture like fire. The kingfisher was asleep on his
+            watching-branch, and the blackbirds scarcely took the trouble to dive into the next
+            bush. <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page62">[pg 62]</span><a name="Pg062" id="Pg062" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Dragon-flies wheeling and clashing were the only
+            things at work, except the moor-hens and a big Red Admiral who flapped down out of the
+            sunshine for a drink. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> When they reached Otter Pool the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Golden Hind</span></span> grounded
+            comfortably on a shallow, and they lay beneath a roof of close green, watching the water
+            trickle over the floodgates down the mossy brick chute from the mill-stream to the
+            brook. A big trout—the children knew him well—rolled head and shoulders at some fly
+            that sailed round the bend, while once in just so often the brook rose a fraction of an
+            inch against all the wet pebbles, and they watched the slow draw and shiver of a breath
+            of air through the tree-tops. Then the little voices of the slipping water began again. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It’s like the shadows talking, isn’t it?’ said Una. She had given up trying to read.
+            Dan lay over the bows, trailing his hands in the current. They heard feet on the
+            gravel-bar that runs half across the pool and saw Sir Richard Dalyngridge standing over
+            them. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Was yours a dangerous voyage?’ he asked, smiling. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘She bumped a lot, sir,’ said Dan. ‘There’s hardly any water this summer.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Ah, the brook was deeper and wider when my children played at Danish pirates. Are you
+            <span class="tei tei-corr">pirate-folk?’</span> </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, no. We gave up being pirates years ago,’ explained Una. ‘We’re nearly always
+            explorers now. Sailing round the world, you know.’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page63">[pg 63]</span>
+          <a name="Pg063" id="Pg063" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Round?’ said Sir Richard. He sat him in the comfortable crotch of the old ash-root on
+            the bank. ‘How can it be round?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Wasn’t it in your books?’ Dan suggested. He had been doing geography at his last
+            lesson. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I can neither write nor read,’ he replied. ‘Canst <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">thou</span></span> read,
+            child?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes,’ said Dan, ‘barring the very long words.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Wonderful! Read to me, that I may hear for myself.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Dan flushed, but opened the book and began—gabbling a little—at ‘The Discoverer of
+            the North Cape.’ </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">‘Othere, the old sea captain,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Who dwelt in Helgoland,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">To Alfred, lover of truth,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Brought a snow-white walrus tooth,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">That he held in his right hand.’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But—but—this I know! This is an old song! This I have heard sung! This is a
+            miracle,’ Sir Richard interrupted. ‘Nay, do not stop!’ He leaned forward, and the
+            shadows of the leaves slipped and slid upon his chain-mail. </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">‘I ploughed the land with horses,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">But my heart was ill at ease,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">For the old sea-faring men</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Came to me now and then</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With their Sagas of the Seas.’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> His hand fell on the hilt of the great sword. ‘This is truth,’ he cried, ‘for so did
+            it happen to <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page64">[pg 64]</span><a name="Pg064" id="Pg064" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>me,’ and he beat time delightedly to the
+            tramp of verse after verse. </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">‘“And now the land,� said Othere,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">“Bent southward suddenly,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And I followed the curving shore,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And ever southward bore</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Into a nameless sea.�’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘A nameless sea!’ he repeated. ‘So did I—so did Hugh and I.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Where did you go? Tell us,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Wait. Let me hear all first.’ So Dan read to the poem’s very end. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Good,’ said the knight. ‘That is Othere’s tale—even as I have heard the men in the
+            Dane ships sing it. Not in those same valiant words, but something like to them.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Have you ever explored North?’ Dan shut the book. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Nay. My venture was South. Farther South than any man has fared, Hugh and I went down
+            with Witta and his heathen.’ He jerked the tall sword forward, and leaned on it with
+            both hands; but his eyes looked long past them. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I thought you always lived here,’ said Una, timidly. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> <span class="tei tei-corr">‘Yes;</span> while my Lady Ælueva lived. But she died. She died. Then, my eldest son being a
+            man, I asked De Aquila’s leave that he should hold the Manor while I went on some
+            journey or pilgrimage—to forget. De Aquila, whom the Second William had made Warden of
+            Pevensey in Earl Mortain’s place, was very old then, but still he rode his tall, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page65">[pg 65]</span><a name="Pg065" id="Pg065" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>roan horses, and in the saddle he looked like a little
+            white falcon. When Hugh, at Dallington over yonder, heard what I did, he sent for my
+            second son, whom being unmarried he had ever looked upon as his own child, and, by De
+            Aquila’s leave, gave him the Manor of Dallington to hold till he should return. Then
+            Hugh came with me.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘When did this happen?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘That I can answer to the very day, for as we rode with De Aquila by Pevensey—have I
+            said that he was Lord of Pevensey and of the Honour of the Eagle?—to the Bordeaux ship
+            that fetched him his wines yearly out of France, a Marsh man ran to us crying that he
+            had seen a great black goat which bore on his back the body of the King, and that the
+            goat had spoken to him. On that same day Red William our King, the Conqueror’s son, died
+            of a secret arrow while he hunted in a forest. “This is a cross matter,� said De Aquila,
+            “to meet on the threshold of a journey. If Red William be dead I may have to fight for
+            my lands. Wait a little.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘My Lady being dead, I cared nothing for signs and omens, nor Hugh either. We took
+            that wine-ship to go to Bordeaux; but the wind failed while we were yet in sight of
+            Pevensey; a thick mist hid us, and we drifted with the tide along the cliffs to the
+            west. Our company was, for the most part, merchants returning to France, and we were
+            laden with wool and there were three couple of tall hunting-dogs chained to the rail.
+            Their master was a knight of Artois. His name I never <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page66">[pg 66]</span><a name="Pg066" id="Pg066" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>learned, but his shield bore gold pieces on a red ground, and he limped much as I do,
+            from a wound which he had got in his youth at Mantes siege. He served the Duke of
+            Burgundy against the Moors in Spain, and was returning to that war with his dogs. He
+            sang us strange Moorish songs that first night, and half persuaded us to go with him. I
+            was on pilgrimage to forget—which is what no pilgrimage brings. I think I would have
+            gone, but.... </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Look you how the life and fortune of man changes! Towards morning a Dane ship, rowing
+            silently, struck against us in the mist, and while we rolled hither and yon Hugh,
+            leaning over the rail, fell outboard. I leaped after him, and we two tumbled aboard the
+            Dane, and were caught and bound ere we could rise. Our own ship was swallowed up in the
+            mist. I judge the Knight of the Gold Pieces muzzled his dogs with his cloak, lest they
+            should give tongue and betray the merchants, for I heard their baying suddenly stop. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We lay bound among the benches till morning, when the Danes dragged us to the high
+            deck by the steering-place, and their captain—Witta, he was called—turned us over with
+            his foot. Bracelets of gold from elbow to armpit he wore, and his red hair was long as a
+            woman’s, and came down in plaited locks on his shoulder. He was stout, with bowed legs
+            and long arms. He spoiled us of all we had, but when he laid hand on Hugh’s sword and
+            saw the runes on the blade hastily he thrust it back. Yet his covetousness over<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page67">[pg 67]</span><a name="Pg067" id="Pg067" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>came him and he tried again and again, and the third time
+            the Sword sang loud and angrily, so that the rowers leaned on their oars to listen. Here
+            they all spoke together, screaming like gulls, and a Yellow Man, such as I have never
+            seen, came to the high deck and cut our bonds. He was yellow—not from sickness, but by
+            nature. Yellow as honey, and his eyes stood endwise in his head.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘How do you mean?’ said Una, her chin on her hand. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Thus,’ said Sir Richard. He put a finger to the corner of each eye, and pushed it up
+            till his eyes narrowed to slits. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Why, you look just like a Chinaman!’ cried Dan. ‘Was the man a Chinaman?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I know not what that may be. Witta had found him half dead among ice on the shores of
+            Muscovy. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">We</span></span> thought he was a devil. He crawled before us and
+            brought food in a silver dish which these sea-wolves had robbed from some rich abbey,
+            and Witta with his own hands gave us wine. He spoke a little in French, a little in
+            South Saxon, and much in the Northman’s tongue. We asked him to set us ashore, promising
+            to pay him better ransom than he would get price if he sold us to the Moors—as once
+            befell a knight of my acquaintance sailing from Flushing. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Not by my father Guthrum’s head,� said he. “The Gods sent ye into my ship for a
+            luck-offering.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘At this I quaked, for I knew it was still the Dane’s custom to sacrifice captives to
+            their gods for fair weather. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page68">[pg 68]</span>
+          <a name="Pg068" id="Pg068" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“A plague on thy four long bones!� said Hugh. “What profit canst thou make of poor
+            old pilgrims that can neither work nor fight?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Gods forbid I should fight against thee, poor Pilgrim with the Singing Sword,� <span class="tei tei-corr">said</span> he. “Come with us and be poor no more. Thy teeth are far
+            apart, which is a sure sign thou wilt travel and grow rich.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“What if we will not come?� said Hugh. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Swim to England or France,� said Witta. “We are midway between the two. Unless ye
+            choose to drown yourselves no hair of your head will be harmed here aboard. We think ye
+            bring us luck, and I myself know the runes on that Sword are good.� He turned and bade
+            them hoist sail. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Hereafter all made way for us as we walked about the ship, and the ship was full of
+            wonders.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What was she like?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Long, low, and narrow, bearing one mast with a red sail, and rowed by fifteen oars a
+            side,’ the knight answered. ‘At her bows was a deck under which men might lie, and at
+            her stern another shut off by a painted door from the rowers’ benches. Here Hugh and I
+            slept, with Witta and the Yellow Man, upon tapestries as soft as wool. I remember’—he
+            laughed to himself—‘when first we entered there a loud voice cried, “Out swords! Out
+            swords! Kill, <span class="tei tei-corr">kill!�</span> Seeing us start Witta laughed, and showed us it was but a
+            great-beaked grey bird with a red tail. He sat her on his shoulder, and she called for
+              <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page69">[pg 69]</span><a name="Pg069" id="Pg069" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>bread and wine hoarsely, and prayed him to kiss her.
+            Yet she was no more than a silly bird. But—ye knew this?’ He looked at their smiling
+            faces. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We weren’t laughing at you,’ said Una. ‘That must have been a parrot. It’s just what
+            Pollies do.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So we learned later. But here is another marvel. The Yellow Man, whose name was
+            Kitai, had with him a brown box. In the box was a blue bowl with red marks upon the rim,
+            and within the bowl, hanging from a fine thread, was a piece of iron no thicker than
+            that grass stem, and as long, maybe, as my spur, but straight. In this iron, said Witta,
+            abode an Evil Spirit which <span class="tei tei-corr">Kitai,</span> the Yellow Man, had brought by Art Magic out of his own
+            country that lay three years’ journey southward. The Evil Spirit strove day and night to
+            return to his country, and therefore, look you, the iron needle pointed continually to
+            the South.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘South?’ said Dan, suddenly, and put his hand into his pocket. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘With my own eyes I saw it. Every day and all day long, though the ship rolled, though
+            the sun and the moon and the stars were hid, this blind Spirit in the iron knew whither
+            it would go, and strained to the South. Witta called it the Wise Iron, because it showed
+            him his way across the unknowable seas.’ Again Sir Richard looked keenly at the
+            children. ‘How think ye? Was it sorcery?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Was it anything like this?’ Dan fished <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page70">[pg 70]</span><a name="Pg070" id="Pg070" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>out his old
+            brass pocket-compass, that generally lived with his knife and key-ring. ‘The glass has
+            got cracked, but the needle waggles all right, sir.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The knight drew a long breath of wonder. ‘Yes, yes. The Wise Iron shook and swung in
+            just this fashion. Now it is still. Now it points to the South.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘North,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Nay, South! There is the South,’ said Sir Richard. Then they both laughed, for
+            naturally when one end of a straight compass-needle points to the North, the other must
+            point to the South. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Té,’ said Sir Richard, clicking his tongue. ‘There can be no sorcery if a child
+            carries it. Wherefore does it point South—or North?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Father says that nobody knows,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Sir Richard looked relieved. ‘Then it may still be magic. It was magic to <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">us</span></span>. And so we voyaged. When the wind served we hoisted sail, and
+            lay all up along the windward rail, our shields on our backs to break the spray. When it
+            failed, they rowed with long oars; the Yellow Man sat by the Wise Iron, and Witta
+            steered. At first I feared the great white-flowering waves, but as I saw how wisely
+            Witta led his ship among them I grew bolder. Hugh liked it well from the first. My skill
+            is not upon the water; and rocks, and whirlpools such as we saw by the West Isles of
+            France, where an oar caught on a rock and broke, are much against my stomach. We sailed
+            South across a stormy sea, where by moonlight, between clouds, we saw a Flanders <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page71">[pg 71]</span><a name="Pg071" id="Pg071" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>ship roll clean over and sink. Again, though Hugh
+            laboured with Witta all night, I lay under the deck with the Talking Bird, and cared not
+            whether I lived or died. There is a sickness of the sea which, for three days, is pure
+            death! When we next saw land Witta said it was Spain, and we stood out to sea. That
+            coast was full of ships busy in the Duke’s war against the Moors, and we feared to be
+            hanged by the Duke’s men or sold into slavery by the Moors. So we put into a small
+            harbour which Witta knew. At night men came down with loaded mules, and Witta exchanged
+            amber out of the North against little wedges of iron and packets of beads in earthen
+            pots. The pots he put under the decks, and the wedges of iron he laid on the bottom of
+            the ship after he had cast out the stones and shingle which till then had been our
+            ballast. Wine, too, he bought for lumps of sweet-smelling grey amber—a little morsel no
+            bigger than a thumbnail purchased a cask of wine. But I speak like a merchant.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No, no! Tell us what you had to eat,’ cried Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Meat dried in the sun, and dried fish and ground beans, Witta took in; and corded
+            frails of a certain sweet, soft fruit, which the Moors use, which is like paste of figs,
+            but with thin, long stones. Aha! Dates is the name. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Now,� said Witta, when the ship was loaded, “I counsel you <span class="tei tei-sic">strangers,</span> to pray to
+            your gods, for from here on our road is No Man’s road.� He and his men killed a black
+            goat for sacrifice on the bows; and the Yellow <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page72">[pg 72]</span><a name="Pg072" id="Pg072" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Man
+            brought out a small, smiling image of dull-green glass and burned incense before it.
+            Hugh and I commended ourselves to God, and Saint Bartholomew, and Our Lady of the
+            Assumption, who was specially dear to my Lady. We were not young, but I think no shame
+            to say, when as we drove out of that secret harbour at sunrise over a still sea, we two
+            rejoiced and sang as did the knights of old when they followed our great Duke to
+            England. Yet was our leader an heathen pirate; all our proud fleet but one galley
+            perilously overloaded; for guidance we leaned on a pagan sorcerer; and our port was
+            beyond the world’s end. Witta told us that his father Guthrum had once in his life rowed
+            along the shores of Africa to a land where naked men sold gold for iron and beads. There
+            had he bought much gold, and no few elephants’ teeth, and thither by help of the Wise
+            Iron would Witta go. Witta feared nothing—except to be poor. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“My father told me,� said Witta, “that a great Shoal runs three days’ sail out from
+            that land, and south of the shoal lies a Forest which grows in the sea. South and east
+            of the Forest my father came to a place where the men hid gold in their hair; but all
+            that country, he said, was full of Devils who lived in trees, and tore folk limb from
+            limb. How think ye?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Gold or no gold,� said Hugh, fingering his sword, “it is a joyous venture. Have at
+            these devils of thine, Witta!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Venture!� said Witta, sourly. “I am <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page73">[pg 73]</span><a name="Pg073" id="Pg073" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>only a poor
+            sea-thief. I do not set my life adrift on a plank for joy, or the venture. Once I beach
+            ship again at Stavanger, and feel the wife’s arms round my neck, I’ll seek no more
+            ventures. A ship is heavier care than a wife or cattle.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He leaped down among the rowers, chiding them for their little strength and their
+            great stomachs. Yet Witta was a wolf in fight, and a very fox in cunning. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We were driven South by a storm, and for three days and three nights he took the
+            stern-oar and threddled the longship through the sea. When it rose beyond measure he
+            brake a pot of whale’s oil upon the water, which wonderfully smoothed it, and in that
+            anointed patch he turned her head to the wind and threw out oars at the end of a rope,
+            to make, he said, an anchor at which we lay rolling sorely, but dry. This craft his
+            father Guthrum had shown him. He knew, too, all the Leech-Book of Bald, who was a wise
+            doctor, and he knew the Ship-Book of Hlaf the Woman, who robbed Egypt. He knew all the
+            care of a ship. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘After the storm we saw a mountain whose top was covered with snow and pierced the
+            clouds. The grasses under this mountain, boiled and eaten, are a good cure for soreness
+            of the gums and swelled ankles. We lay there eight days, till men in skins threw stones
+            at us. When the heat increased Witta spread a cloth on bent sticks above the rowers, for
+            the wind failed between the Island of the Mountain and the shore of Africa, which is <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page74">[pg 74]</span><a name="Pg074" id="Pg074" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>east of it. That shore is sandy, and we rowed along it
+            within three bowshots. Here we saw whales, and fish in the shape of shields, but longer
+            than our ship. Some slept, some opened their mouths at us, and some danced on the hot
+            waters. The water was hot to the hand, and the sky was hidden by hot, grey mists, out of
+            which blew a fine dust that whitened our hair and beards of a morning. Here, too, were
+            fish that flew in the air like birds. They would fall on the laps of the rowers, and
+            when we went ashore we would roast and eat them.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The knight paused to see if the children doubted him, but they only nodded and said,
+            ‘Go on.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The yellow land lay on our left, the grey sea on our right. Knight though I was, I
+            pulled my oar amongst the rowers. I caught seaweed and dried it, and stuffed it between
+            the pots of beads lest they should break. Knighthood is for the land. At sea, look you,
+            a man is but a spurless rider on a bridleless horse. I learned to make strong knots in
+            ropes—yes, and to join two ropes end to end, so that even Witta could scarcely see
+            where they had been married. But Hugh had tenfold more sea-cunning than I. Witta gave
+            him charge of the rowers of the left side. Thorkild of Borkum, a man with a broken nose,
+            that wore a Norman steel cap, had the rowers of the right, and each side rowed and sang
+            against the other. They saw that no man was idle. Truly, as Hugh said, and Witta would
+            laugh at him, a ship is all more care than a Manor. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page75">[pg 75]</span>
+          <a name="Pg075" id="Pg075" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘How? Thus. There was water to fetch from the shore when we could find it, as well as
+            wild fruit and grasses, and sand for scrubbing of the decks and benches to keep them
+            sweet. Also we hauled the ship out on low islands and emptied all her gear, even to the
+            iron wedges, and burned off the weed, that had grown on her, with torches of rush, and
+            smoked below the decks with rushes dampened in salt water, as Hlaf the Woman orders in
+            her Ship-Book. Once when we were thus stripped, and the ship lay propped on her keel,
+            the bird cried, “Out swords!� as though she saw an enemy. Witta vowed he would wring her
+            neck.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Poor Polly! Did he?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Nay. She was the ship’s bird. She could call all the rowers by name.... Those were
+            good days—for a wifeless man—with Witta and his heathen—beyond the world’s end....
+            After many weeks we came on the Great Shoal which stretched, as Witta’s father had said,
+            far out to sea. We skirted it till we were giddy with the sight and dizzy with the sound
+            of bars and breakers; and when we reached land again we found a naked black people
+            dwelling among woods, who for one wedge of iron loaded us with fruits and grasses and
+            eggs. Witta scratched his head at them in sign he would buy gold. They had no gold, but
+            they understood the sign (all the gold-traders hide their gold in their thick hair), for
+            they pointed along the coast. They beat, too, on their chests with their clenched hands,
+              <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page76">[pg 76]</span><a name="Pg076" id="Pg076" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>and that, if we had known it, was an evil sign.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What did it mean?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Patience. Ye shall hear. We followed the coast eastward sixteen days (counting time
+            by sword-cuts on the helm-rail) till we came to the Forest in the Sea. Trees grew out of
+            mud, arched upon lean and high roots, and many muddy water-ways ran allwhither into
+            darkness under the trees. Here we lost the sun. We followed the winding channels between
+            the trees, and <span class="tei tei-corr">where</span> we could not row we laid hold of the
+            crusted roots and hauled ourselves along. The water was foul, and great glittering flies
+            tormented us. Morning and evening a blue mist covered the mud, which bred fevers. Four
+            of our rowers sickened, and were bound to their benches, lest they should leap overboard
+            and be eaten by the monsters of the mud. The Yellow Man lay sick beside the Wise Iron,
+            rolling his head and talking in his own tongue. Only the Bird throve. She sat on Witta’s
+            shoulder and screamed in that noisome, silent darkness. Yes; I think it was the silence
+            we feared.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He paused to listen to the comfortable home noises of the brook. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘When we had lost count of time among those black gullies and swashes, we heard, as it
+            were, a drum beat far off, and following it we broke into a broad, brown river by a hut
+            in a clearing among fields of pumkins. We thanked God to see the sun again. The people
+            of the village gave the good welcome, and Witta scratched his head at them (for gold),
+              <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page77">[pg 77]</span><a name="Pg077" id="Pg077" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>and showed them our iron and beads. They ran to the
+            bank—we were still in the ship—and pointed to our swords and bows, for always when
+            near shore we lay armed. Soon they fetched store of gold in bars and in dust from their
+            huts, and some great blackened elephant teeth. These they piled on the bank, as though
+            to tempt us, and made signs of dealing blows in battle, and pointed up to the tree tops,
+            and to the forest behind. Their captain or chief sorcerer then beat on his chest with
+            his fists, and gnashed his teeth. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Said Thorkild of Borkum: “Do they mean we must fight for all this gear?� and he half
+            drew his sword. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Nay,� said Hugh. “I think they ask us to league against some enemy.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I like this not,� said Witta, of a sudden. “Back into midstream.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So we did, and sat still all, watching the black folk and the gold they piled on the
+            bank. Again we heard drums beat in the forest, and the people fled to their huts,
+            leaving the gold unguarded. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then Hugh, at the bows, pointed without speech, and we saw a great Devil come out of
+            the forest. He shaded his brows with his hand, and moistened his pink tongue between his
+            lips—thus.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘A Devil!’ said Dan, delightfully horrified. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yea. Taller than a man; covered with reddish hair. When he had well regarded our
+            ship, he beat on his chest with his fists till it sounded like rolling drums, and came
+            to the bank swinging all his body between his long <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page78">[pg 78]</span><a name="Pg078" id="Pg078" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>arms, and gnashed his teeth at us. Hugh loosed arrow, and pierced him through the
+            throat. He fell roaring, and three other Devils ran out of the forest and hauled him
+            into a tall tree out of sight. Anon they cast down the blood-stained arrow, and lamented
+            together among the leaves. Witta saw the gold on the bank; he was loath to leave it.
+            “Sirs,� said he (no man had spoken till then), “yonder is that we have come so far and
+            so painfully to find, laid out to our very hand. Let us row in while these Devils bewail
+            themselves, and at least bear off what we may.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Bold as a wolf, cunning as a fox was Witta! He set four archers on the foredeck to
+            shoot the Devils if they should leap from the tree, which was close to the bank. He
+            manned ten oars a side, and bade them watch his hand to row in or back out, and so
+            coaxed he them toward the bank. But none would set foot ashore, though the gold was
+            within ten paces. No man is hasty to his hanging. They whimpered at their oars like
+            beaten hounds, and Witta bit his fingers for rage. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Said Hugh of a sudden, “Hark!� At first we thought it was the buzzing of the
+            glittering flies on the water, but it grew loud and fierce, so that all men heard.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What?’ said Dan and Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It was the sword.’ Sir Richard patted the smooth hilt. ‘It sang as a Dane sings
+            before battle. “I go,� said Hugh, and he leaped from the bows and fell among the gold. I
+            was afraid to my four bones’ marrow, but for shame’s sake I followed, and Thorkild of
+              <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page79">[pg 79]</span><a name="Pg079" id="Pg079" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Borkum leaped after me. None other came. “Blame me
+            not,� cried Witta behind us, “I must abide by my ship.� We three had no time to blame or
+            praise. We stooped to the gold and threw it back over our shoulders, one hand on our
+            swords and one eye on the tree, which nigh overhung us. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I know not how the Devils leaped down, or how the fight began. I heard Hugh cry:
+            “Out! out!� as though he were at Santlache again; I saw Thorkild’s steel cap smitten off
+            his head by a great hairy hand, and I felt an arrow from the ship whistle past my ear.
+            They say that till Witta took his sword to the rowers he could not bring his ship in
+            shore; and each one of the four archers said afterwards that he alone had pierced the
+            Devil that fought me. I do not know. I went to it in my mail-shirt, which saved my skin.
+            With long-sword and belt-dagger I fought for the life against a Devil whose very feet
+            were hands, and who whirled me back and forth like a dead branch. He had me by the
+            waist, my arms to my side, when an arrow from the ship pierced him between the
+            shoulders, and he loosened grip. I passed my sword twice through him, and he crutched
+            himself away between his long arms, coughing and moaning. Next, as I remember, I saw
+            Thorkild of Borkum bareheaded and smiling, leaping up and down before a Devil that
+            leaped and gnashed his teeth. Then Hugh passed, his sword shifted to his left hand, and
+            I wondered why I had not known that Hugh was a left-handed man; and thereafter I
+            remembered nothing till I <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page80">[pg 80]</span><a name="Pg080" id="Pg080" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>felt spray on my face, and we
+            were in sunshine on the open sea. That was twenty days after.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What had happened? Did Hugh die?’ the children asked. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Never was such a fight fought by christened man,’ said Sir Richard. ‘An arrow from
+            the ship had saved me from my Devil, and Thorkild of Borkum had given back before his
+            Devil, till the bowmen on the ship could shoot it all full of arrows from near by; but
+            Hugh’s Devil was cunning, and had kept behind trees, where no arrow could reach. Body to
+            body there, by stark strength of sword and hand, had Hugh slain him, and, dying, the
+            Thing had clenched his teeth on the sword. Judge what teeth they were!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Sir Richard turned the sword again that the children might see the two great chiselled
+            gouges on either side of the blade. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Those same teeth met in Hugh’s right arm and side,’ Sir Richard went on. ‘I? Oh, I
+            had no more than a broken foot and a fever. Thorkild’s ear was bitten, but Hugh’s arm
+            and side clean withered away. I saw him where he lay along, sucking a fruit in his left
+            hand. His flesh was wasted off his bones, his hair was patched with white, and his hand
+            was blue-veined like a woman’s. He put his left hand round my neck and whispered, “Take
+            my sword. It has been thine since Hastings, O, my brother, but I can never hold hilt
+            again.� We lay there on the high deck talking of Santlache and, I think, of every day
+            since Santlache, and it came so that we <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page81">[pg 81]</span><a name="Pg081" id="Pg081" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>both wept. I
+            was weak, and he little more than a shadow. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Nay—nay,� said Witta, at the helm-rail. “Gold is a good right arm to any man.
+            Look—look at the gold!� He bade Thorkild show us the gold and the elephants’ teeth, as
+            though we had been children. He had brought away all the gold on the bank, and twice as
+            much more, that the people of the village gave him for slaying the Devils. They
+            worshipped us as gods, Thorkild told me: it was one of their old women healed up Hugh’s
+            poor arm.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘How much gold did you get?’ asked Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘How can I say? Where we came out with wedges of iron under the rowers’ feet we
+            returned with wedges of gold hidden beneath planks. There was dust of gold in packages
+            where we slept; and along the side and crosswise under the benches we lashed the
+            blackened elephants’ teeth. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I had sooner have my right arm,� said Hugh, when he had seen all. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Ahai! That was my fault,� said Witta. “I should have taken ransom and landed you in
+            France when first you came aboard, ten months ago.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“It is over-late now,� said Hugh, laughing. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Witta plucked at his long shoulder-lock. “But think!� said he. “If I had let ye
+            go—which I swear I would never have done, for I love ye more than brothers—if I had
+            let ye go, by now ye might have been horribly slain by some mere Moor in the Duke of
+            Burgundy’s war, or ye might have been murdered by <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page82">[pg 82]</span><a name="Pg082" id="Pg082" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>land-thieves, or ye might have died of the plague at an inn. Think of this and do not
+            blame me overmuch, Hugh. See! I will only take a half of the gold.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I blame thee not at all, Witta,� said Hugh. “It was a joyous venture, and we
+            thirty-five here have done what never men have done. If I live till England, I will
+            build me a stout keep over Dallington out of my share.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I will buy cattle and amber and warm red cloth for the wife,� said Witta, “and I
+            will hold all the land at the head of Stavanger Fiord. Many will fight for me now. But
+            first we must turn North, and with this honest treasure aboard I pray we meet no pirate
+            ships.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We did not laugh. We were careful. We were afraid lest we should lose one grain of
+            our gold for which we had fought Devils. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Where is the Sorcerer?� said I, for Witta was looking at the Wise Iron in the box,
+            and I could not see the Yellow Man. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“He has gone to his own country,� said he. “He rose up in the night while we were
+            beating out of that forest in the mud, and said that he could see it behind the trees.
+            He leaped out on to the mud, and did not answer when we called; so we called no more. He
+            left the Wise Iron, which is all that I care for—and see, the Spirit still points to
+            the South!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We were troubled for fear that the Wise Iron should fail us now that its Yellow Man
+            had gone, and when we saw the Spirit still served us we grew afraid of too strong winds,
+              <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page83">[pg 83]</span><a name="Pg083" id="Pg083" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>and of shoals, and of careless leaping fish, and of
+            all the people on all the shores where we landed.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Why?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Because of the gold—because of our gold. Gold changes men altogether. Thorkild of
+            Borkum did not change. He laughed at Witta for his fears, and at us for our counselling
+            Witta to furl sail when the ship pitched at all. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Better be drowned out of hand,� said Thorkild of Borkum, “than go tied to a
+            deck-load of yellow dust.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He was a landless man, and had been slave to some King in the East. He would have
+            beaten out the gold into deep bands to put round the oars, and round the prow. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yet, though he vexed himself for the gold, Witta waited upon Hugh like a woman,
+            lending him his shoulder when the ship rolled, and tying of ropes from side to side that
+            Hugh might hold by them. But for Hugh, he said—and so did all his men—they would never
+            have won the gold. I remember Witta made a little, thin gold ring for our Bird to swing
+            in. Three months we rowed and sailed and went ashore for fruits or to clean the ship.
+            When we saw wild horsemen, riding among sand-dunes, flourishing spears we knew we were
+            on the Moors’ coast, and stood over north to Spain; and a strong south-west wind bore us
+            in ten days to a coast of high red rocks, where we heard a hunting-horn blow among the
+            yellow gorse and knew it was England. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Now find ye Pevensey yourselves,� said <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page84">[pg 84]</span><a name="Pg084" id="Pg084" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Witta. “I
+            love not these narrow ship-filled seas.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He set the dried, salted head of the Devil, which Hugh had killed, high on our prow,
+            and all boats fled from us. Yet, for our gold’s sake, we were more afraid than they. We
+            crept along the coast by night till we came to the chalk cliffs, and so east to
+            Pevensey. Witta would not come ashore with us, though Hugh promised him wine at
+            Dallington enough to swim in. He was on fire to see his wife, and ran into the Marsh
+            after sunset, and there he left us and our share of gold, and backed out on the same
+            tide. He made no promise; he swore no oath; he looked for no thanks; but to Hugh, an
+            armless man, and to me, an old cripple whom he could have flung into the sea, he passed
+            over wedge upon wedge, packet upon packet of gold and dust of gold, and only ceased when
+            we would take no more. As he stooped from the rail to bid us farewell he stripped off
+            his right-arm bracelets and put them all on Hugh’s left, and he kissed Hugh on the
+            cheek. I think when Thorkild of Borkum bade the rowers give way we were near weeping. It
+            is true that Witta was an heathen and a pirate; true it is he held us by force many
+            months in his ship, but I loved that bow-legged, blue-eyed man for his great boldness,
+            his cunning, his skill, and, beyond all, for his simplicity.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Did he get home all right?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I never knew. We saw him hoist sail under the moon-track and stand away. I have
+            prayed that he found his wife and the children.’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page85">[pg 85]</span>
+          <a name="Pg085" id="Pg085" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And what did you do?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We waited on the Marsh till the day. Then I sat by the gold, all tied in an old sail,
+            while Hugh went to Pevensey, and De Aquila sent us horses.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Sir Richard crossed hands on his sword-hilt, and stared down stream through the soft
+            warm shadows. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘A whole shipload of <span class="tei tei-corr">gold!’</span> said Una, looking at the little <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Golden
+              Hind</span></span>. ‘But I’m glad I didn’t see the Devils.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I don’t believe they were Devils,’ Dan whispered back. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Eh?’ said Sir Richard. ‘Witta’s father warned him they were unquestionable Devils.
+            One must believe one’s father, and not one’s children. What were my Devils, then?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Dan flushed all over. ‘I—I only thought,’ he stammered; ‘I’ve got a book called <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The Gorilla Hunters</span></span>—it’s a continuation of <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Coral
+              Island</span></span>, sir—and it says there that the gorillas (they’re big monkeys, you know)
+            were always chewing iron up.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Not always,’ said Una. ‘Only twice.’ They had been reading <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The
+              Gorilla Hunters</span></span> in the orchard. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Well, anyhow, they always drummed on their chests, like Sir Richard’s did, before
+            they went for people. And they built houses in trees, too.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Ha!’ Sir Richard opened his eyes. ‘Houses like flat nests did our Devils make, where
+            their imps lay and looked at us. I did not see them (I was sick after the fight), but
+            Witta told me and, lo, ye know it also? Won<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page86">[pg 86]</span><a name="Pg086" id="Pg086" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>derful! Were
+            our Devils only nest-building apes? Is there no sorcery left in the world?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I don’t know,’ answered Dan, uncomfortably. ‘I’ve seen a man take rabbits out of a
+            hat, and he told us we could see how he did it, if we watched hard. And we did.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But we didn’t,’ said Una sighing. ‘Oh! there’s Puck!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The little fellow, brown and smiling, peered between two stems of an ash, nodded, and
+            slid down the bank into the cool beside them. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No sorcery, Sir Richard?’ he laughed, and blew on a full dandelion head he had
+            picked. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘They tell me that Witta’s Wise Iron was a toy. The boy carries such an Iron with him.
+            They tell me our Devils were apes, called gorillas!’ said Sir Richard, indignantly. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘That is the sorcery of books,’ said Puck. ‘I warned thee they were wise children. All
+            people can be wise by reading of books.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But are the books true?’ Sir Richard frowned. ‘I like not all this reading and
+            writing.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Ye-es,’ said Puck, holding the naked dandelion head at arm’s length. ‘But if we hang
+            all fellows who write falsely, why did De Aquila not begin with Gilbert, the Clerk? <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">He</span></span> was false enough.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Poor false Gilbert. Yet in his fashion, he was bold,’ said Sir Richard. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What did he do?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He wrote,’ said Sir Richard. ‘Is the tale meet for children, think you?’ He looked at
+            Puck; but, ‘Tell us! Tell us!’ cried Dan and Una together. </p>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page87">[pg 87]</span>
+          <a name="Pg087" id="Pg087" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf10" id="pdf10"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THORKILD’S SONG</span></h2>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">There is no wind along these seas,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Out oars for Stavanger!</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Forward all for Stavanger!</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">So we must wake the white-ash breeze,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Let fall for Stavanger!</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">A long pull for Stavanger!</div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Oh, hear the benches creak and strain!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">(A long pull for Stavanger!)</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">She thinks she smells the Northland rain!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">(A long pull for Stavanger!)</div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">She thinks she smells the Northland snow,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And she’s as glad as we to go!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">She thinks she smells the Northland rime,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And the dear dark nights of winter-time.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Her very bolts are sick for shore,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And we—we want it ten times more!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Hoe—all you Gods that love brave men,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Send us a three-reef gale again!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Send us a gale, and watch us come,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">With close-cropped canvas slashing home!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">But—<span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">there’s no wind in all these seas,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">A long pull for Stavanger!</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">So we must wake the white-ash breeze,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">A long pull for Stavanger!</div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page88">[pg 88]</span>
+          <a name="Pg088" id="Pg088" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+          </p>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page89">[pg 89]</span>
+        <a name="Pg089" id="Pg089" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%"> OLD MEN AT PEVENSEY </span></h1>
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page90">[pg 90]</span>
+        <a name="Pg090" id="Pg090" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page91">[pg 91]</span>
+          <a name="Pg091" id="Pg091" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf11" id="pdf11"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">OLD MEN AT PEVENSEY</span></h2>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It has nought to do with apes or devils,’ Sir Richard went on, in an undertone. ‘It
+            concerns De Aquila, than whom there was never bolder nor craftier, nor more hardy knight
+            born. And, remember, he was an old, old man at that time.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘When?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘When we came back from sailing with Witta.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What did you do with your gold?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Have patience. Link by link is chain-mail made. I will tell all in its place. We bore
+            the gold to Pevensey on horseback—three loads of it—and then up to the north chamber,
+            above the Great Hall of Pevensey Castle, where De Aquila lay in winter. He sat on his
+            bed like a little white falcon, turning his head swiftly from one to the other as we
+            told our tale. Jehan the Crab, an old sour man-at-arms, guarded the stairway, but De
+            Aquila bade him wait at the stair-foot, and let down both leather curtains over the
+            door. It was Jehan whom De Aquila had sent to us with the horses, and only Jehan had
+            loaded the gold. When our story was told, De Aquila gave us the news of England, for we
+            were as men waked from a year-long sleep. The Red King was dead—slain (ye remember?)
+            the day we set sail—and Henry, his younger <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page92">[pg 92]</span><a name="P092" id="P092" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>brother,
+            had made himself King of England over the head of Robert of Normandy. This was the very
+            thing that the Red King had done to Robert when our Great William died. Then Robert of
+            Normandy, mad, as De Aquila said, at twice missing of this kingdom, had sent an army
+            against England, which army had been well beaten back to their ships at Portsmouth. A
+            little earlier, and Witta’s ship would have rowed through them. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“And now,� said De Aquila, “half the great Barons of the north and west are out
+            against the King between Salisbury and Shrewsbury; and half the other half wait to see
+            which way the game shall go. They say Henry is overly English for their stomachs,
+            because he hath married an English wife and she hath coaxed him to give back their old
+            laws to our Saxons. (Better ride a horse on the bit he knows, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span>
+            say.) But that is only a cloak to their falsehood.� He cracked his finger on the table
+            where the wine was spilt, and thus he spoke:— </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“William crammed us Norman barons full of good English acres after Santlache. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> had my share too,� he said, and clapped Hugh on the shoulder;
+            “but I warned him—I warned him before Odo rebelled—that he should have bidden the
+            Barons give up their lands and lordships in Normandy if they would be English lords. Now
+            they are all but princes both in England and Normandy—trencher-fed hounds, with a foot
+            in one trough and both eyes on the other! Robert of Normandy has sent them word that if
+            they do not <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page93">[pg 93]</span><a name="Pg093" id="Pg093" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>fight for him in England he will sack and
+            harry out their lands in Normandy. Therefore Clare has risen, Fitz Osborn has risen,
+            Montgomery has risen—whom our First William made an English earl. Even D’Arcy is out
+            with his men, whose father I remember a little hedge-sparrow knight nearby Caen. If
+            Henry wins, the Barons can still flee to Normandy, where Robert will welcome them. If
+            Henry loses, Robert, he says, will give them more lands in England. Oh, a pest—a pest
+            on Normandy, for she will be our England’s curse this many a long year!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Amen,� said Hugh. “But will the war come our ways, think you?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Not from the North,� said De Aquila. “But the sea is always open. If the Barons gain
+            the upper hand Robert will send another army into England for sure; and this time I
+            think he will land here—where his father, the Conqueror, landed. Ye have brought your
+            pigs to a pretty market! Half England alight, and gold enough on the ground�—he stamped
+            on the bars beneath the table—“to set every sword in Christendom fighting.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“What is to do?� said Hugh. “I have no keep at Dallington; and if we buried it, whom
+            could we trust?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Me,� said De Aquila. “Pevensey walls are strong. No man but Jehan, who is my dog,
+            knows what is between them.� He drew a curtain by the shot-window and showed us the
+            shaft of a well in the thickness of the wall. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I made it for a drinking-well,� he said, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page94">[pg 94]</span><a name="Pg094" id="Pg094" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>“but we
+            found salt water, and it rises and falls with the tide. Hark!� We heard the water
+            whistle and blow at the bottom. “Will it serve?� said he. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Needs must,� said Hugh. “Our lives are in thy hands.� So we lowered all the gold
+            down except one small chest of it by De Aquila’s bed, which we kept as much for his
+            delight in its weight and colour as for any our needs. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘In the morning, ere we rode to our Manors, he said: “I do not say farewell; because
+            ye will return and bide here. Not for love nor for sorrow, but to be with the gold. Have
+            a care,� he said, laughing, “lest I use it to make myself Pope. Trust me not, but
+            return!�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Sir Richard paused and smiled sadly. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘In seven days, then, we returned from our Manors—from the Manors which had been
+            ours.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And were the children quite well?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘My sons were young. Land and governance belong by right to young men.’ Sir Richard
+            was talking to himself. ‘It would have broken their hearts if we had taken back our
+            Manors. They made us great welcome, but we could see—Hugh and I could see—that our day
+            was done. I was a cripple and he a one-armed man. No!’ He shook his head. ‘And
+            therefore’—he raised his voice—‘we rode back to Pevensey.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I’m sorry,’ said Una, for the knight seemed very sorrowful. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Little maid, it all passed long ago. They <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page95">[pg 95]</span><a name="Pg095" id="Pg095" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>were
+            young; we were old. We let them rule the Manors. “Aha!� cried De Aquila from his
+            shot-window, when we dismounted. “Back again to earth, old foxes?� but when we were in
+            his chamber above the hall he puts his arms about us and says, “Welcome, ghosts!
+            Welcome, poor ghosts!�... Thus it fell out that we were rich beyond belief, and lonely.
+            And lonely!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What did you do?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We watched for Robert of Normandy,’ said the knight. ‘De Aquila was like Witta. He
+            suffered no idleness. In fair weather we would ride along between Bexlei on the one
+            side, to Cuckmere on the other—sometimes with hawk, sometimes with hound (there are
+            stout hares both on the Marsh and the Downland), but always with an eye to the sea, for
+            fear of fleets from Normandy. In foul weather he would walk on the top of his tower,
+            frowning against the rain—peering here and pointing there. It always vexed him to think
+            how Witta’s ship had come and gone without his knowledge. When the wind ceased and ships
+            anchored, to the wharf’s edge he would go and, leaning on his sword among the stinking
+            fish, would call to the mariners for their news from France. His other eye he kept
+            landward for word of Henry’s war against the Barons. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Many brought him news—jongleurs, harpers, pedlars, sutlers, priests, and the like;
+            and, though he was secret enough in small things, yet, if their news misliked him, then,
+            regarding neither time nor place nor people, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page96">[pg 96]</span><a name="Pg096" id="Pg096" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>would he
+            curse our King Henry for a fool or a babe. I have heard him cry aloud by the
+            fishing-boats: “If I were King of England I would do thus and thus�; and when I rode out
+            to see that the warning-beacons were laid and dry, he hath often called to me from the
+            shot-window: “Look to it, Richard! Do not copy our blind King, but see with thine own
+            eyes and feel with thine own hands.� I do not think he knew any sort of fear. And so we
+            lived at Pevensey, in the little chamber above the Hall. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘One foul night came word that a messenger of the King waited below. We were chilled
+            after a long riding in the fog towards Bexlei, which is an easy place for ships to land.
+            De Aquila sent word the man might either eat with us or wait till we had fed. Anon
+            Jehan, at the stair-head, cried that he had called for horse, and was gone. “Pest on
+            him!� said De Aquila. “I have more to do than to shiver in the Great Hall for every
+            gadling the King sends. Left he no word?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“None,� said Jehan, “except�—he had been with De Aquila at Santlache—“except he
+            said that if an old dog could not learn new tricks it was time to sweep out the kennel.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Oho!� said De Aquila, rubbing his nose, “to whom did he say that?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“To his beard, chiefly, but some to his horse’s flank as he was girthing up. I
+            followed him out,� said Jehan the Crab. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“What was his shield-mark?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Gold horseshoes on black,� said the Crab. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page97">[pg 97]</span>
+          <a name="Pg097" id="Pg097" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“That is one of Fulke’s men,� said De Aquila.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Puck broke in very gently, ‘Gold horseshoes on black is <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">not</span></span> the
+            Fulkes’ shield. The Fulkes’ arms are——’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The knight waved one hand statelily. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Thou knowest that evil man’s true name,’ he replied, ‘but I have chosen to call him
+            Fulke because I promised him I would not tell the story of his wickedness so that any
+            man might guess it. I have changed <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">all</span></span> the names in my tale. His
+            children’s children may be still alive.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘True—true,’ said Puck, smiling softly. ‘It is knightly to keep faith—even after a
+            thousand years.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Sir Richard bowed a little and went on:— </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Gold horseshoes on black?� said De <span class="tei tei-corr">Aquila.</span> “I had heard Fulke had joined the
+            Barons, but if this is true our King must be of the upper hand. No matter, all Fulkes
+            are faithful. Still, I would not have sent the man away empty.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“He fed,� said Jehan. “Gilbert the Clerk fetched him meat and wine from the kitchens.
+            He ate at Gilbert’s table.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘This Gilbert was a clerk from Battle Abbey, who kept the accounts of the Manor of
+            Pevensey. He was tall and pale-coloured, and carried those new-fashioned beads for
+            counting of prayers. They were large brown nuts or seeds, and hanging from his girdle
+            with his penner and inkhorn they clashed when he walked. His place was in the great
+            fireplace. There was his table of accounts, and there he <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page98">[pg 98]</span><a name="Pg098" id="Pg098" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>lay o’ nights. He feared the hounds in the Hall that came nosing after bones or to
+            sleep on the warm ashes, and would slash at them with his beads—like a woman. When De
+            Aquila sat in Hall to do justice, take fines, or grant lands, Gilbert would so write it
+            in the Manor-roll. But it was none of his work to feed our guests, or to let them depart
+            without his lord’s knowledge. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Said De Aquila, after Jehan was gone down the stair: “Hugh, hast thou ever told my
+            Gilbert thou canst read Latin hand-of-write?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No,� said Hugh. “He is no friend to me, or to Odo my hound either.� “No matter,�
+            said De Aquila. “Let him never know thou canst tell one letter from its fellow,
+            and�—here he jerked us in the ribs with his scabbard—“watch him both of ye. There be
+            devils in Africa, as I have heard, but by the Saints there be greater devils in
+            Pevensey!� And that was all he would say. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It chanced, some small while afterwards, a Norman man-at-arms would wed a Saxon wench
+            of the Manor, and Gilbert (we had watched him well since De Aquila spoke) doubted
+            whether her folk were free or slave. Since De Aquila would give them a field of good
+            land, if she were free, the matter came up at the justice in Great Hall before De
+            Aquila. First the wench’s father spoke; then her mother; then all together, till the
+            hall rang and the hounds bayed. De Aquila held up his hands. “Write her free,� he called
+            to Gilbert by the fireplace. “A’ God’s Name write her free, before she deafens me! Yes,
+              <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page99">[pg 99]</span><a name="Pg099" id="Pg099" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>yes,� he said to the wench that was on her knees at
+            him; “thou art Cerdic’s sister, and own cousin to the Lady of Mercia, if thou wilt be
+            silent. In fifty years there will be neither Norman nor Saxon, but all English,� said
+            he, “and <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">these</span></span> are the men that do our work!� He clapped the
+            man-at-arms, that was Jehan’s nephew, on the <span class="tei tei-corr">shoulder</span>, and
+            kissed the wench, and fretted with his feet among the rushes to show it was finished.
+            (The Great Hall is always bitter cold.) I stood at his side; Hugh was behind Gilbert in
+            the fireplace making to play with wise rough Odo. He signed to De Aquila, who bade
+            Gilbert measure the new field for the new couple. Out then runs our Gilbert between man
+            and maid, his beads clashing at his waist, and the Hall being empty, we three sit by the
+            fire. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Said Hugh, leaning down to the hearthstones, “I saw this stone move under Gilbert’s
+            foot when Odo snuffed at it. <span class="tei tei-corr">Look!�</span> De Aquila digged in the ashes with his sword; the
+            stone tilted; beneath it lay a parchment folden, and the writing atop was: “Words spoken
+            against the King by our Lord of Pevensey—the second part.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Here was set out (Hugh read it us whispering) every jest De Aquila had made to us
+            touching the King; every time he had called out to me from the shot-window, and every
+            time he had said what he would do if he were King of England. Yes, day by day had his
+            daily speech, which he never stinted, been set down by Gilbert, tricked out and twisted
+            from its true meaning, yet withal so cunningly <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page100">[pg 100]</span><a name="Pg100" id="Pg100" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>that
+            none could deny who knew him that De Aquila had in some sort spoken those words. Ye
+            see?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Dan and Una nodded. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes,’ said Una, gravely. ‘It isn’t what you say so much. It’s what you mean when you
+            say it. Like calling Dan a beast in fun. Only grown-ups don’t always understand.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“He hath done this day by day before our very face?� said De Aquila. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> “Nay, hour by hour,� said Hugh. “When De Aquila spoke even now, in the hall, of Saxons
+            and Normans, I saw Gilbert write on a parchment, which he kept beside the Manor-roll,
+            that De Aquila said soon there would be no Normans left in England if his men-at-arms
+            did their work aright.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Bones of the Saints!� said De Aquila. “What avail is honour or a sword against a
+            pen? Where did Gilbert hide that writing? He shall eat it.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“In his breast when he ran out,� said Hugh. “Which made me look to see where he kept
+            his finished stuff. When Odo scratched at this stone here, I saw his face change. So I
+            was sure.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“He is bold,� said De Aquila. “Do him justice. In his own fashion, my Gilbert is
+            bold.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Overbold,� said Hugh. “Hearken here,� and he read: “Upon the feast of St. Agatha,
+            our Lord of Pevensey, lying in his upper chamber, being clothed in his second fur gown
+            reversed with rabbit——� </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page101">[pg 101]</span>
+          <a name="Pg101" id="Pg101" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Pest on him! He is not my tire-woman!� said De Aquila, and Hugh and I laughed. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Reversed with rabbit, seeing a fog over the marshes, did wake Sir Richard
+            Dalyngridge, his drunken cup-mate� (here they laughed at me) “and said, ‘Peer out, old
+            fox, for God is on the Duke of Normandy’s side.’� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“So did I. It was a black fog. Robert could have landed ten thousand men, and we none
+            the wiser. Does he tell how we were out all day riding the marsh, and how I near
+            perished in a quicksand, and coughed like a sick ewe for ten days after?� cried De
+            Aquila. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No,� said Hugh. “But here is the prayer of Gilbert himself to his master Fulke.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Ah,� said De Aquila. “Well I knew it was Fulke. What is the price of my blood?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Gilbert prayeth that when our Lord of Pevensey is stripped of his lands on this
+            evidence which Gilbert hath, with fear and pains, collected——� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Fear and pains is a true word,� said De Aquila, and sucked in his cheeks. “But how
+            excellent a weapon is a pen! I must learn it.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“He prays that Fulke will advance him from his present service to that honour in the
+            Church which Fulke promised him. And lest Fulke should forget, he has written below, ‘To
+            be Sacristan of Battle.’� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘At this De Aquila whistled. “A man who can plot against one lord can plot against
+            another. When I am stripped of my lands Fulke will whip off my Gilbert’s foolish head.
+            None the less Battle needs a new Sacristan. <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page102">[pg 102]</span><a name="Pg102" id="Pg102" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>They tell
+            me the Abbot Henry keeps no sort of rule there.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Let the Abbot wait,� said Hugh. “It is our heads and our lands that are in danger.
+            This parchment is the second part of the tale. The first has gone to Fulke, and so to
+            the King, who will hold us traitors.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Assuredly,� said De Aquila. “Fulke’s man took the first part that evening when
+            Gilbert fed him, and our King is so beset by his brother and his Barons (small blame,
+            too!) that he is mad with mistrust. Fulke has his ear, and pours poison into it.
+            Presently the King gives him my land and yours. This is old,� and he <span class="tei tei-corr">leaned</span> back and yawned. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“And thou wilt surrender Pevensey without word or blow?� said Hugh. “We Saxons will
+            fight your King then. I will go warn my nephew at Dallington. Give me a horse!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Give thee a toy and a rattle.� said De Aquila. “Put back the parchment, and rake
+            over the ashes. If Fulke is given my Pevensey which is England’s gate, what will he do
+            with it? He is Norman at heart, and his heart is in Normandy, where he can kill peasants
+            at his pleasure. He will open England’s gate to our sleepy Robert, as Odo and Mortain
+            tried to do, and then there will be another landing and another Santlache. Therefore I
+            cannot give up Pevensey.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Good,� said we two. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Ah, but wait! If my King be made, on Gilbert’s evidence, to mistrust me, he will
+            send his men against me here, and, while we fight, England’s gate is left unguarded. <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page103">[pg 103]</span><a name="Pg103" id="Pg103" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Who will be the first to come through thereby? Even
+            Robert of Normandy. Therefore I cannot fight my King.� He nursed his sword—thus. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“This is saying and unsaying like a Norman,� said Hugh. “What of our Manors?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I do not think for myself,� said De Aquila, “nor for our King, nor for your lands. I
+            think for England, for whom neither King nor Baron thinks. I am not Norman, Sir Richard,
+            nor Saxon, Sir Hugh. English am I.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Saxon, Norman, or English,� said Hugh, “our lives are thine, however the game goes.
+            When do we hang Gilbert?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Never,� said De Aquila. “Who knows he may yet be Sacristan of Battle, for, to do him
+            justice, he <span class="tei tei-corr">is a good</span> writer. Dead men make dumb witnesses. Wait.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“But the King may give Pevensey to Fulke. And our Manors go with it,� said I. “Shall
+            we tell our sons?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No. The King will not wake up a hornet’s nest in the South till he has smoked out
+            the bees in the North. He may hold me a traitor; but at least he sees I am not fighting
+            against him, and every day that I lie still is so much gain to him while he fights the
+            barons. If he were wise he would wait till that war were over before he made new
+            enemies. But I think Fulke will play upon him to send for me, and if I do not obey the
+            summons that will, to Henry’s mind, be proof of my treason. But mere talk, such as
+            Gilbert sends, is no proof nowadays. We Barons follow the Church, and, like Anselm, we
+            speak what we <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page104">[pg 104]</span><a name="Pg104" id="Pg104" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>please. Let us go about our day’s
+            dealings, and say naught to Gilbert.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Then we do nothing?� said Hugh. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“We wait,� said De Aquila. “I am old, but still I find that the most grievous work I
+            know.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And so we found it, but in the end De Aquila was right. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘A little later in the year, armed men rode over the hill, the Golden Horseshoes
+            flying behind the King’s banner. Said De Aquila, at the window of our chamber: “How did
+            I tell you? Here comes Fulke himself to spy out his new lands which our King hath
+            promised him if he can bring proof of my treason.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“How dost thou know?� said Hugh. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Because that is what I would do if I were Fulke, but <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> should
+            have brought more men. My roan horse to your old shoes,� said he, “Fulke brings me the
+            King’s Summons to leave Pevensey and join the war.� He sucked in his cheeks and drummed
+            on the edge of the shaft, where the water sounded all hollow. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Shall we go?� said I. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Go! At this time of year? Stark madness,� said he. “Take <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">me</span></span>
+            from Pevensey to fisk and flyte through fern and forest, and in three days Robert’s
+            keels would be lying on Pevensey mud with ten thousand men! Who would stop them—Fulke?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The horns blew without, and anon Fulke cried the King’s Summons at the great door
+            that De Aquila with all men and horse should join the King’s camp at Salisbury. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page105">[pg 105]</span>
+          <a name="Pg105" id="Pg105" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“How did I tell you?� said De Aquila. “There are twenty Barons ’twixt here and
+            Salisbury could give King Henry good land-service, but he has been worked upon by Fulke
+            to send south and call me—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">me!</span></span>—off the Gate of England, when his
+            enemies stand about to batter it in. See that Fulke’s men lie in the big south barn,�
+            said he. “Give them drink, and when Fulke has eaten we will drink in my chamber. The
+            Great Hall is too cold for old bones.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘As soon as he was off-horse Fulke went to the chapel with Gilbert to give thanks for
+            his safe coming, and when he had eaten—he was a fat man, and rolled his eyes greedily
+            at our good roast Sussex wheatears—we led him to the little upper chamber, whither
+            Gilbert had already gone with the Manor-roll. I remember when Fulke heard the tide blow
+            and whistle in the shaft he leaped back, and his long down-turned stirrup-shoes caught
+            in the rushes and he stumbled, so that Jehan behind him found it easy to knock his head
+            against the wall.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Did you know it was going to happen?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Assuredly,’ said Sir Richard, with a sweet smile. ‘I put my foot on his sword and
+            plucked away his dagger, but he knew not whether it was day or night for a while. He lay
+            rolling his eyes and bubbling with his mouth, and Jehan roped him like a calf. He was
+            cased all in that new-fangled armour which we call lizard-mail. Not rings like my
+            hauberk here’—Sir Richard tapped his <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page106">[pg 106]</span><a name="Pg106" id="Pg106" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>chest—‘but
+            little pieces of dagger-proof steel overlapping on stout leather. We stripped it off (no
+            need to spoil good harness by wetting it), and in the neck-piece De Aquila found the
+            same folden piece of parchment which we had put back under the hearthstone. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘At this Gilbert would have run out. I laid my hand on his shoulder. It sufficed. He
+            fell to trembling and praying on his beads. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Gilbert,� said De Aquila, “here be more notable sayings and doings of our Lord of
+            Pevensey for thee to write down. Take penner and inkhorn, Gilbert. We cannot all be
+            Sacristans of Battle.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Said Fulke from the floor, “Ye have bound a King’s messenger. Pevensey shall burn for
+            this!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Maybe. I have seen it besieged once,� said De Aquila, “but heart up, Fulke. I
+            promise thee that thou shalt be hanged in the middle of the flames at the end of that
+            siege, if I have to share my last loaf with thee; and that is more than Odo would have
+            done when we starved out him and Mortain.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then Fulke sat up and looked long and cunningly at De Aquila. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“By the Saints,� said he, “why didst thou not say thou wast on the Duke’s side at the
+            first?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Am I?� said De Aquila. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Fulke laughed and said, “No man who serves King Henry dare do this much to his
+            messenger. When didst thou come over to the Duke? Let me up and we can smooth <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page107">[pg 107]</span><a name="Pg107" id="Pg107" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>it out together.� And he smiled and becked and winked. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Yes, we will smooth it out,� said De Aquila. He nodded to me, and Jehan and I heaved
+            up Fulke—he was a heavy man—and lowered him into the shaft by a rope, not so as to
+            stand on our gold, but dangling by his shoulders a little above. It was turn of ebb, and
+            the water came to his knees. He said nothing, but shivered somewhat. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then Jehan of a sudden beat down Gilbert’s wrist with his sheathed dagger, “Stop!� he
+            said. “He swallows his beads.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Poison, belike,� said De Aquila. “It is good for men who know too much. I have
+            carried it these thirty years. Give me!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then Gilbert wept and howled. De Aquila ran the beads through his fingers. The last
+            one—I have said they were large nuts—opened in two halves on a pin, and there was a
+            small folded parchment within. On it was written: “<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The Old Dog goes to
+              Salisbury to be beaten. I have his Kennel. Come quickly.</span></span>� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“This is worse than poison,� said De Aquila, very softly, and sucked in his cheeks.
+            Then Gilbert grovelled in the rushes, and told us all he knew. The letter, as we
+            guessed, was from Fulke to the Duke (and not the first that had passed between them);
+            Fulke had given it to Gilbert in the chapel, and Gilbert thought to have taken it by
+            morning to a certain fishing-boat at the wharf, which trafficked between Pevensey and
+            the French shore. Gilbert was a false fellow, but he <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page108">[pg 108]</span><a name="Pg108" id="Pg108" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>found time between his quakings and shakings to swear that the master of the boat knew
+            nothing of the matter. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“He hath called me shaved head,� said Gilbert, “and he hath thrown haddock-guts at
+            me; but for all that, he is no traitor.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I will have no clerk of mine mishandled or miscalled,� said De Aquila. “That seaman
+            shall be whipped at his own mast. Write me first a letter, and thou shalt bear it, with
+            the order for the whipping, to-morrow to the boat.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘<span class="tei tei-corr">At</span> this Gilbert would have kissed De Aquila’s hand—he had not hoped to live until
+            the morning—and when he trembled less he wrote a letter as from Fulke to the Duke
+            saying that the Kennel, which signified Pevensey, was shut, and that the old Dog (which
+            was De Aquila) sat outside it, and, moreover, that all had been betrayed. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Write to any man that all is betrayed,� said De Aquila, “and even the Pope himself
+            would sleep uneasily. Eh, Jehan? If one told thee all was betrayed, what wouldst thou
+            do?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I would run away,� said Jehan. “It might be true.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Well said,� quoth De Aquila. “Write, Gilbert, that Montgomery, the great Earl, hath
+            made his peace with the King, and that little D’Arcy, whom I hate, hath been hanged by
+            the heels. We will give Robert full measure to chew upon. Write also that Fulke himself
+            is sick to death of a dropsy.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Nay?� cried Fulke, hanging in the well-<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page109">[pg 109]</span><a name="Pg109" id="Pg109" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>shaft.
+            “Drown me out of hand, but do not make a jest of me.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Jest? I?� said De Aquila. “I am but fighting for life and lands with a pen, as thou
+            hast shown me, Fulke.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then Fulke groaned, for he was cold, and, “Let me confess,� said he. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Now, this is right neighbourly,� said De Aquila, leaning over the shaft. “Thou hast
+            read my sayings and doings—or at least the first part of them—and thou art minded to
+            repay me with thy own doings and sayings. Take penner and inkhorn, Gilbert. Here is work
+            that will not irk thee.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Let my men go without hurt, and I will confess my treason against the King,� said
+            Fulke. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Now, why has he grown so tender of his men of a sudden?� said Hugh to me; for Fulke
+            had no name for mercy to his men. Plunder he gave them, but pity, none. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Té! Té!� said De Aquila. “Thy treason was all confessed long ago by Gilbert. It
+            would be enough to hang Montgomery himself.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Nay; but spare my men,� said Fulke; and we heard him splash like a fish in a pond,
+            for the tide was rising. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“All in good time,� said De Aquila. “The night is young; the wine is old; and we need
+            only the merry tale. Begin the story of thy life since when thou wast a lad at Tours.
+            Tell it nimbly!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Ye shame me to my soul,� said Fulke. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Then I have done what neither King <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page110">[pg 110]</span><a name="Pg110" id="Pg110" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>nor Duke could
+            do,� said De Aquila. “But begin, and forget nothing.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Send thy man away,� said Fulke. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“That much I can,� said De Aquila. <span class="tei tei-corr">“But,</span> remember, I am like the Danes’ King; I
+            cannot turn the tide.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“How long will it rise?� said Fulke, and splashed anew. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“For three hours,� said De Aquila. “Time to tell all thy good deeds. Begin, and
+            Gilbert—I have heard thou art somewhat careless—do not twist his words from their true
+            meaning.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So—fear of death in the dark being upon him—Fulke began; and Gilbert, not knowing
+            what his fate might be, wrote it word by word. I have heard many tales, but never heard
+            I aught to match the tale of Fulke, his black life, as Fulke told it hollowly, hanging
+            in the shaft.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Was it bad?’ said Dan, awestruck. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Beyond belief,’ Sir Richard answered. ‘None the less, there was that in it which
+            forced even Gilbert to laugh. We three laughed till we ached. At one place his teeth so
+            chattered that we could not well hear, and we reached him down a cup of wine. Then he
+            warmed to it, and smoothly set out all his shifts, malices, and treacheries, his extreme
+            boldnesses (he was desperate bold); his retreats, shufflings, and counterfeitings (he
+            was also inconceivably a coward); his lack of gear and honour; his despair at their
+            loss; his remedies, and well-coloured contrivances. Yes, he waved the filthy rags of his
+            life before us, as <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page111">[pg 111]</span><a name="Pg111" id="Pg111" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>though they had been some proud
+            banner. When he ceased, we saw by torches that the tide stood at the corners of his
+            mouth, and he breathed strongly through his nose. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We had him out, and rubbed him; we wrapped him in a cloak, and gave him wine, and we
+            leaned and looked upon him the while he drank. He was shivering, but shameless. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Of a sudden we heard Jehan at the stairway wake, but a boy pushed past him, and stood
+            before us, the hall rushes in his hair, all slubbered with sleep. “My father! My father!
+            I dreamed of treachery,� he cried, and babbled thickly. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“There is no treachery here,� said Fulke. “Go,� and the boy turned, even then not
+            fully awake, and Jehan led him by the hand to the Great Hall. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Thy only son!� said De Aquila, “Why didst thou bring the child here?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“He is my heir. I dared not trust him to my brother,� said Fulke, and now he was
+            ashamed. De Aquila said nothing, but sat weighing a wine cup in his two hands—thus.
+            Anon, Fulke touched him on the knee. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Let the boy escape to Normandy,� said he, “and do with me at thy pleasure. Yea, hang
+            me to-morrow, with my letter to Robert round my neck, but let the boy go.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Be still,� said De Aquila. “I think for England.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So we waited what our Lord of Pevensey should devise; and the sweat ran down Fulke’s
+            forehead. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘At last said De Aquila: “I am too old to <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page112">[pg 112]</span><a name="Pg112" id="Pg112" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>judge, or
+            to trust any man. I do not covet thy lands, as thou hast coveted mine; and whether thou
+            art any better or any worse than any other black Angevin thief, it is for thy King to
+            find out. Therefore, go back to thy King, Fulke.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“And thou wilt say nothing of what has passed?� said Fulke. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Why should I? Thy son will stay with me. If the King calls me again to leave
+            Pevensey, which I must guard against England’s enemies; if the King sends his men
+            against me for a traitor; or if I hear that the King in his bed thinks any evil of me or
+            my two knights, thy son will be hanged from out this window, Fulke.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But it hadn’t anything to do with his son,’ cried Una, startled. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘How could we have hanged Fulke?’ said Sir Richard. ‘We needed him to make our peace
+            with the King. He would have betrayed half England for the boy’s sake. Of that we were
+            sure.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I don’t understand,’ said Una. ‘But I think it was simply awful.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So did not Fulke. He was well pleased.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What? Because his son was going to be killed?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Nay. Because De Aquila had shown him how he might save the boy’s life and his own
+            lands and honours. “I will do it,� he said. “I swear I will do it. I will tell the King
+            thou art no traitor, but the most excellent, valiant, and perfect of us all. Yes, I will
+            save thee.� </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page113">[pg 113]</span>
+          <a name="Pg113" id="Pg113" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘De Aquila looked still into the bottom of the cup, rolling the wine-dregs to and fro. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Ay,� he said. “If I had a son, I would, I think, save him. But do not by any means
+            tell me how thou wilt go about it.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Nay, nay,� said Fulke, nodding his bald head wisely. “That is my secret. But rest at
+            ease, De Aquila, no hair of thy head nor rood of thy land shall be forfeited,� and he
+            smiled like one planning great good deeds. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“And henceforward,� said De Aquila, “I counsel thee to serve one master—not two.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“What?� said Fulke. “Can I work no more honest trading between the two sides these
+            troublous times?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Serve Robert or the King—England or Normandy,� said De Aquila. “I care not which it
+            is, but make thy choice here and now.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“The King, then,� said Fulke, “for I see he is better served than Robert. Shall I
+            swear it?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No need,� said De Aquila, and he laid his hand on the parchments which Gilbert had
+            written. “It shall be some part of my Gilbert’s penance to copy out the savoury tale of
+            thy life, till we have made ten, twenty, an hundred, maybe, copies. How many cattle,
+            think you, would the Bishop of Tours give for that tale? Or thy brother? Or the Monks of
+            Blois? Minstrels will turn it into songs which thy own Saxon serfs shall sing behind
+            their plough-stilts, and men-at-arms riding through thy Norman towns. From here to Rome,
+            Fulke, men will make very merry over <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page114">[pg 114]</span><a name="Pg114" id="Pg114" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>that tale, and how
+            Fulke told it, hanging in a well, like a drowned puppy. This shall be thy punishment, if
+            ever I find thee double-dealing with thy King any more. Meantime, the parchments stay
+            here with thy son. Him I will return to thee when thou hast made my peace with the King.
+            The parchments never.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Fulke hid his face and groaned. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Bones of the Saints!� said De Aquila, laughing. “The pen cuts deep. I could never
+            have fetched that grunt out of thee with any sword.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“But so long as I do not anger thee, my tale will be secret?� said Fulke. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Just so long. Does that comfort thee, Fulke?� said De Aquila. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“What other comfort have ye left me?� he said, and of a sudden he wept hopelessly
+            like a child, dropping his face on his knees.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Poor Fulke,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I pitied him also,’ said Sir Richard. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“After the spur, corn,� said De Aquila, and he threw Fulke three wedges of gold that
+            he had taken from our little chest by the bed-place. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“If I had known this,� said Fulke, catching his breath, “I would never have lifted
+            hand against Pevensey. Only lack of this yellow stuff has made me so unlucky in my
+            dealings.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It was dawn then, and they stirred in the Great Hall below. We sent down Fulke’s mail
+            to be scoured, and when he rode away at noon under his own and the King’s banner very
+            splendid and stately did he show. He <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page115">[pg 115]</span><a name="Pg115" id="Pg115" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>smoothed his long
+            beard, and called his son to his stirrup and kissed him. De Aquila rode with him as far
+            as the New Mill landward. We thought the night had been all a dream.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But did he make it right with the King?’ Dan asked. ‘About your not being traitors, I
+            mean?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Sir Richard smiled. ‘The King sent no second summons to Pevensey, nor did he ask why
+            De Aquila had not obeyed the first. Yes, that was Fulke’s work. I know not how he did
+            it, but it was well and swiftly done.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then you didn’t do anything to his son?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The boy? Oh, he was an imp. He turned the keep doors out of dortoirs while we had
+            him. He sang foul songs, learned in the Barons’ camps—poor fool; he set the hounds
+            fighting in hall; he lit the rushes to drive out, as he said, the fleas; he drew his
+            dagger on Jehan, who threw him down the stairway for it; and he rode his horse through
+            crops and among sheep. But when we had beaten him, and showed him wolf and deer, he
+            followed us old men like a young, eager hound, and called us “uncle.� His father came
+            the summer’s end to take him away, but the boy had no lust to go, because of the
+            otter-hunting, and he stayed on till the fox-hunting. I gave him a bittern’s claw to
+            bring him good luck at shooting. An imp, if ever there was!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And what happened to Gilbert?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Not even a whipping. De Aquila said he would sooner a clerk, however false, that knew
+            the Manor-roll than a fool, however true, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page116">[pg 116]</span><a name="Pg116" id="Pg116" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>that must be
+            taught his work afresh. Moreover, after that night I think Gilbert loved as much as he
+            feared De Aquila. At least he would not leave us—not even when Vivian, the King’s
+            Clerk, would have made him Sacristan of Battle Abbey. A false fellow, but, in his
+            fashion, bold.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Did Robert ever land in Pevensey after all?’ Dan went on. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We guarded the coast too well while Henry was fighting his Barons; and three or four
+            years later, when England had peace, Henry crossed to Normandy and showed his brother
+            some work at Tenchebrai that cured Robert of fighting. Many of Henry’s men sailed from
+            Pevensey to that war. Fulke came, I remember, and we all four lay in the little chamber
+            once again, and drank together. De Aquila was right. One should not judge men. Fulke was
+            merry. Yes, always merry—with a catch in his breath.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And what did you do afterwards?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We talked together of times past. That is all men can do when they grow old, little
+            maid.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The bell for tea rang faintly across the meadows. Dan lay in the bows of the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Golden Hind</span></span>; Una in the stern, the book of verses open in her lap,
+            was reading from ‘The Slave’s Dream’:— </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">‘Again in the mist and shadow of sleep</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">He saw his native land.’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I don’t know when you began that,’ said Dan, sleepily. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page117">[pg 117]</span>
+          <a name="Pg117" id="Pg117" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> On the middle thwart of the boat, beside Una’s sun-bonnet, lay an Oak leaf, an Ash
+            leaf, and a Thorn leaf, that must have dropped down from the trees above; and the brook
+            giggled as though it had just seen some joke. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page118">[pg 118]</span>
+          <a name="Pg118" id="Pg118" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page119">[pg 119]</span>
+          <a name="Pg119" id="Pg119" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf12" id="pdf12"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE RUNES ON WELAND’S SWORD</span></h2>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">A Smith makes me</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To betray my Man</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">In my first fight.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To gather Gold</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">At the world’s end</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">I am sent.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The Gold I gather</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Comes into England</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Out of deep Water.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Like a shining Fish</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Then it descends</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Into deep Water.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">It is not given</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">For goods or gear.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But for The Thing</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The Gold I gather</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">A King covets</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">For an ill use.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The Gold I gather</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Is drawn up</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Out of deep Water.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page120">[pg 120]</span>
+          <a name="Pg120" id="Pg120" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Like a shining Fish</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Then it descends</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Into deep Water.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">It is not given</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">For goods or gear</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But for The Thing.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page121">[pg 121]</span>
+        <a name="Pg121" id="Pg121" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%"> A CENTURION OF THE THIRTIETH </span></h1>
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page122">[pg 122]</span>
+        <a name="Pg122" id="Pg122" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+        </p>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page123">[pg 123]</span>
+          <a name="Pg123" id="Pg123" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Cities and Thrones and Powers,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Stand in Time’s eye,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Almost as long as flowers,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Which daily die:</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But, as new buds put forth,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To glad new men,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Out of the spent and unconsidered Earth,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The Cities rise again.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">This season’s Daffodil,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">She never hears,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">What change, what chance, what chill,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Cut down last year’s;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But with bold countenance,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And knowledge small,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Esteems her seven days’ continuance</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To be perpetual.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">So Time that is o’er-kind,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To all that be,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Ordains us e’en as blind,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">As bold as she:</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">That in our very death,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And burial sure,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Shadow to shadow, well-persuaded, saith,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">‘See how our works endure!’</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page124">[pg 124]</span>
+          <a name="Pg124" id="Pg124" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page125">[pg 125]</span>
+          <a name="Pg125" id="Pg125" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf13" id="pdf13"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">A CENTURION OF THE THIRTIETH</span></h2>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Dan had come to grief over his Latin, and was kept in; so Una went alone to Far Wood.
+            Dan’s big catapult and the lead bullets that Hobden had made for him were hidden in an
+            old hollow beech-stub on the west of the wood. They had named the place out of the verse
+            in <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Lays of Ancient Rome</span></span>. </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">From lordly Volaterrae,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Where scowls the far-famed hold,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Piled by the hands of giants</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">For Godlike Kings of old.</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They were the ‘Godlike Kings,’ and when old Hobden piled some comfortable brushwood
+            between the big wooden knees of Volaterrae, they called him ‘Hands of Giants.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Una slipped through their private gap in the fence, and sat still a while, scowling as
+            scowlily and lordlily as she knew how; for ‘Volaterrae’ is an important watch-tower that
+            juts out of Far Wood just as Far Wood juts out of the hillside. Pook’s Hill lay below
+            her, and all the turns of the brook as it wanders from out of the Willingford Woods,
+            between hop-gardens, to old Hobden’s cottage at the Forge. The Sou’-West wind (there is
+            always a wind by ‘Volaterrae’) blew from the bare ridge where Cherry Clack Windmill
+            stands. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Now wind prowling through woods sounds like exciting things going to happen, and <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page126">[pg 126]</span><a name="Pg126" id="Pg126" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>that is why on ‘blowy days’ you stand up in Volaterrae
+            and shout bits of the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Lays</span></span> to suit its noises. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Una took Dan’s catapult from its secret place, and made ready to meet Lars Porsena’s
+            army stealing through the wind-whitened aspens by the brook. A gust boomed up the
+            valley, and Una chanted sorrowfully: </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">‘Verbenna down to Ostia</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Hath wasted all the plain;</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Astur hath stormed Janiculum</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">And the stout guards are slain.’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> But the wind, not charging fair to the wood, started aside and shook a single oak in
+            Gleason’s pasture. Here it made itself all small and crouched among the grasses, waving
+            the tips of them as a cat waves the tip of her tail before she springs. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Now welcome—welcome Sextus,’ sang Una, loading the catapult— </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">‘Now welcome to thy home,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Why dost thou turn and run away?</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">Here lies the rod of Rome.’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> She fired into the face of the lull, to wake up the cowardly wind, and heard a grunt
+            from behind a thorn in the pasture. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, my Winkie!’ she said aloud, and that was something she had picked up from Dan. ‘I
+            believe I’ve tickled up a Gleason cow.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘You little painted beast!’ a voice cried. ‘I’ll teach you to sling your masters!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> She looked down most cautiously, and saw a young man covered with hoopy bronze armour
+            all glowing among the late broom. <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page127">[pg 127]</span><a name="Pg127" id="Pg127" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>But what Una admired
+            beyond all was his great bronze helmet with its red horse-tail that flicked in the wind.
+            She could hear the long hairs rasp on his shimmery shoulder-plates. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What does the Faun mean,’ he said, half aloud to himself, ‘by telling me the Painted
+            People have changed?’ He caught sight of Una’s yellow head. ‘Have you seen a painted
+            lead-slinger?’ he called. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No-o,’ said Una. ‘But if you’ve seen a bullet——’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Seen?’ cried the man. ‘It passed within a hair’s breadth of my ear.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Well, that was me. I’m most awfully sorry.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Didn’t the Faun tell you I was coming?’ He smiled. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Not if you mean Puck. I thought you were a Gleason cow. I—I didn’t know you were
+            a—a——What are you?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He laughed outright, showing a set of splendid teeth. His face and eyes were dark, and
+            his eyebrows met above his big nose in one bushy black bar. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘They call me Parnesius. I have been an officer of the Seventh Cohort of the Thirtieth
+            Legion—the Ulpia Victrix. Did you sling that bullet?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I did. I was using Dan’s <span class="tei tei-corr">catapult,’</span> said <span class="tei tei-corr">Una.</span>
+          </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Catapults!’ said he. ‘I ought to know something about them. Show me!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He leaped the rough fence with a rattle of spear, shield, and armour, and hoisted
+            himself into ‘Volaterrae’ as <span class="tei tei-corr">quickly</span> as a shadow. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page128">[pg 128]</span>
+          <a name="Pg128" id="Pg128" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘A sling on a forked stick. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> understand!’ he cried, and pulled
+            at the elastic. ‘But what wonderful beast yields this stretching leather?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It’s laccy—elastic. You put the bullet into that loop, and then you pull hard.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The man pulled, and hit himself square on his thumb-nail. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Each to his own weapon,’ he said, gravely, handing it back. ‘I am better with the
+              <span class="tei tei-corr">bigger</span> machine, little maiden. But it’s a pretty toy. A
+            wolf would laugh at it. Aren’t you afraid of wolves?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘There aren’t any,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Never believe it! A wolf is like a Winged Hat. He comes when he isn’t expected. Don’t
+            they hunt wolves here?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We don’t hunt,’ said Una, remembering what she had heard from grown-ups. ‘We
+            preserve—pheasants. Do you know them?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I ought to,’ said the young man, smiling again, and he imitated the cry of the
+            cock-pheasant so perfectly that a bird answered out of the wood. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What a big painted clucking fool is a pheasant,’ he said. ‘Just like some Romans!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But you’re a Roman yourself, aren’t you?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Ye-es and no. I’m one of a good few thousands who have never seen Rome except in a
+            picture. My people have lived at Vectis for generations. Vectis! That island West yonder
+            that you can see from so far in clear weather.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Do you mean the Isle of Wight? It lifts <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page129">[pg 129]</span><a name="Pg129" id="Pg129" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>up just
+            before rain, and we see it from the Downs.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Very likely. Our Villa’s on the South edge of the Island, by the Broken Cliffs. Most
+            of it is three hundred years old, but the cow-stables, where our first ancestor lived,
+            must be a hundred years older. Oh, quite that, because the founder of our family had his
+            land given him by Agricola at the Settlement. It’s not a bad little place for its size.
+            In spring-time violets grow down to the very beach. I’ve gathered sea-weeds for myself
+            and violets for my Mother many a time with our old nurse.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Was your nurse a—a Romaness too?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No, a Numidian. Gods be good to her! A dear, fat, brown thing with a tongue like a
+            cowbell. She was a free woman. By the way, are you free, maiden?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, quite,’ said Una. ‘At least, till tea-time; and in summer our governess doesn’t
+            say much if we’re late.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The young man laughed again—a proper understanding laugh. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I see,’ said he. ‘That accounts for your being in the wood. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">We</span></span>
+            hid among the cliffs.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Did <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">you</span></span> have a governess, then?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Did we not? A Greek, too. She had a way of clutching her dress when she hunted us
+            among the gorze-bushes that made us laugh. Then she’d say she’d get us whipped. She
+            never did, though, bless her! Aglaia was a thorough sportswoman, for all her learning.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But what lessons did you do—when—when you were little!’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page130">[pg 130]</span>
+          <a name="Pg130" id="Pg130" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Ancient history, the Classics, arithmetic, and so on,’ he answered. ‘My sister and I
+            were thickheads, but my two brothers (I’m the middle one) liked those things, and, of
+            course, Mother was clever enough for any six. She was nearly as tall as I am, and she
+            looked like the new statue on the Western Road—the Demeter of the Baskets, you know.
+            And funny! Roma Dea! How Mother could make us laugh!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What at?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Little jokes and sayings that every family has. Don’t you know?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I know <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">we</span></span> have, but I didn’t know other people had them too,’
+            said Una. ‘Tell me about all your family, please.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Good families are very much alike. Mother would sit spinning of evenings while Aglaia
+            read in her corner, and Father did accounts, and we four romped about the passages. When
+            our noise grew too loud the Pater would say, “Less tumult! Less tumult! Have you never
+            heard of a Father’s right over his children? He can slay them, my loves—slay them dead,
+            and the Gods highly approve of the action!� Then Mother would prim up her dear mouth
+            over the wheel and answer: “H’m! I’m afraid there can’t be much of the Roman Father
+            about you!� Then the Pater would roll up his accounts, and say, “I’ll show you!� and
+            then—then, he’d be worse than any of us!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Fathers can—if they like,’ said Una, her eyes dancing. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page131">[pg 131]</span>
+          <a name="Pg131" id="Pg131" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Didn’t I say all good families are very much the same?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What did you do in summer?’ said Una. ‘Play about, like us?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes, and we visited our friends. There are no wolves in Vectis. We had many friends,
+            and as many ponies as we wished.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It must have been lovely,’ said Una. ‘I hope it lasted for ever.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Not quite, little maid. When I was about sixteen or seventeen, the Father felt gouty,
+            and we all went to the Waters.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What waters?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘At Aquae Solis. Every one goes there. You ought to get your Father to take you some
+            day.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But where? I don’t know,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The young man looked astonished for a moment. ‘Aquae Solis,’ he repeated. ‘The best
+            baths in Britain. Just as good, I’m told, as Rome. All the old gluttons sit in its hot
+            water, and talk scandal and politics. And the Generals come through the streets with
+            their guards behind them; and the magistrates come in their chairs with their stiff
+            guards behind them; and you meet fortune-tellers, and goldsmiths, and merchants, and
+            philosophers, and feather-sellers, and ultra-Roman Britons, and ultra-British Romans,
+            and tame tribesmen pretending to be civilised, and Jew lecturers, and—oh, everybody
+            interesting. We young people, of course, took no interest in politics. We had not the
+            gout: there were many of our age like us. We did not find life sad. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page132">[pg 132]</span>
+          <a name="Pg132" id="Pg132" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But while we were enjoying ourselves without thinking, my sister met the son of a
+            magistrate in the West—and a year afterwards she was married to him. My young brother,
+            who was always interested in plants and roots, met the First Doctor of a Legion from the
+            City of the Legions, and he decided that he would be an Army doctor. I do not think it
+            is a profession for a well-born man, but then—I’m not my brother. He went to Rome to
+            study medicine, and now he’s First Doctor of a Legion in Egypt—at Antinoe, I think, but
+            I have not heard from him for some time. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘My eldest brother came across a Greek philosopher, and told my Father that he
+            intended to settle down on the estate as a farmer and a philosopher. You see’—the young
+            man’s eyes twinkled—‘his philosopher was a long-haired one!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I thought philosophers were bald,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Not all. She was very pretty. I don’t blame him. Nothing could have suited me better
+            than my eldest brother’s doing this, for I was only too keen to join the Army. I had
+            always feared I should have to stay at home and look after the estate while my brother
+            took <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">this</span></span>.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He rapped on his great glistening shield that never seemed to be in his way. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So we were well contented—we young people—and we rode back to Clausentum along the
+            Wood Road very quietly. But when we reached home, Aglaia, our governess, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page133">[pg 133]</span><a name="Pg133" id="Pg133" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>saw what had come to us. I remember her at the door, the torch
+            over her head, watching us climb the cliff-path from the boat. “Aie! Aie!� she said.
+            “Children you went away. Men and a woman you return!� Then she kissed Mother, and Mother
+            wept. Thus our visit to the Waters settled our fates for each of us, Maiden.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He rose to his feet and listened, leaning on the shield-rim. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I think that’s Dan—my brother,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes; and the Faun is with him,’ he replied, as Dan with Puck stumbled through the
+            copse. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We should have come sooner,’ Puck called, ‘but the beauties of your native tongue, O
+            Parnesius, have enthralled this young citizen.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Parnesius looked bewildered, even when Una explained. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Dan said the plural of “dominus� was “dominoes,� and when Miss Blake said it wasn’t
+            he said he supposed it was “backgammon,� and so he had to write it out twice—for cheek,
+            you know.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Dan had climbed into Volaterrae, hot and panting. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I’ve run nearly all the way,’ he gasped, ‘and then Puck met me. How do you do, Sir?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I am in good health,’ Parnesius answered. ‘See! I have tried to bend the bow of
+            Ulysses, but——’ He held up his thumb. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I’m sorry. You must have pulled off too soon,’ said Dan. ‘Puck said you were telling
+            Una a story.’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page134">[pg 134]</span>
+          <a name="Pg134" id="Pg134" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Continue, O Parnesius,’ said Puck, who had perched himself on a dead branch above
+            them. ‘I will be chorus. Has he puzzled you much, Una?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Not a bit, except—I didn’t know where Ak—Ak something was,’ she answered. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, Aquae Solis. That’s Bath, where the buns come from. Let the hero tell his own
+            tale.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Parnesius pretended to thrust his spear at Puck’s legs, but Puck reached down, caught
+            at the horse-tail plume, and pulled off the tall helmet. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Thanks, jester,’ said Parnesius, shaking his curly dark head. ‘That is cooler. Now
+            hang it up for me.... </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I was telling your sister how I joined the Army,’ he said to Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Did you have to pass an Exam?’ Dan asked, eagerly. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No. I went to my Father, and said I should like to enter the Dacian Horse (I had seen
+            some at Aquae Solis); but he said I had better begin service in a regular Legion from
+            Rome. Now, like many of our youngsters, I was not too fond of anything Roman. The
+            Roman-born officers and magistrates looked down on us British-born as though we were
+            barbarians. I told my Father so. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I know they do,� he said; “but remember, after all, we are the people of the Old
+            Stock, and our duty is to the Empire.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“To which Empire?’� I asked. “We split the Eagle before I was born.� </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page135">[pg 135]</span>
+          <a name="Pg135" id="Pg135" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“What thieves’ talk is that?� said my Father. He hated slang. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Well, Sir,� I said, “we’ve one Emperor in Rome, and I don’t know how many Emperors
+            the outlying Provinces have set up from time to time. Which am I to follow?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Gratian,� said he. “At least he’s a sportsman.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“He’s all that,� I said. “Hasn’t he turned himself into a raw-beef-eating Scythian?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Where did you hear of it?� said the Pater. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“At Aquae Solis,� I said. It was perfectly true. This precious Emperor Gratian of
+            ours had a bodyguard of fur-cloaked Scythians, and he was so crazy about them that he
+            dressed like them. In Rome of all places in the world! It was as bad as if my own Father
+            had painted <span class="tei tei-corr">himself</span> blue! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No matter for the clothes,� said the Pater. “They are only the fringe of the
+            trouble. It began before your time or mine. Rome has forsaken her Gods, and must be
+            punished. The great war with the Painted People broke out in the very year the temples
+            of our Gods were destroyed. We beat the Painted People in the very year our temples were
+            rebuilt. Go back further still.�... He went back to the time of Diocletian; and to
+            listen to him you would have thought Eternal Rome herself was on the edge of
+            destruction, just because a few people had become a little large-minded. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> knew nothing about it. Aglaia never <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page136">[pg 136]</span><a name="Pg136" id="Pg136" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>taught us the history of our own country. She was so full of her ancient
+            Greeks. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“There is no hope for Rome,� said the Pater, at last. “She has forsaken her Gods, but
+            if the Gods forgive <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">us</span></span> here, we may save Britain. To do that, we
+            must keep the Painted People back. Therefore, I tell you, Parnesius, as a Father, that
+            if your heart is set on service, your place is among men on the Wall—and not with women
+            among the cities.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What Wall?’ asked Dan and Una at once. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Father meant the one we call Hadrian’s Wall. I’ll tell you about it later. It was
+            built long ago, across North Britain, to keep out the Painted People—Picts you call
+            them. Father had fought in the great Pict War that lasted more than twenty years, and he
+            knew what fighting meant. Theodosius, one of our great Generals, had chased the little
+            beasts back far into the North before I was born: down at Vectis, of course, we never
+            troubled our heads about them. But when my Father spoke as he did, I kissed his hand,
+            and waited for orders. We British-born Romans know what is due to our parents.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘If I kissed my Father’s hand, he’d laugh,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Customs change; but if you do not obey your father, the Gods remember it. You may be
+            quite sure of <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">that</span></span>. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘After our talk, seeing I was in earnest, the Pater sent me over to Clausentum to
+            learn my foot-drill in a barrack full of foreign Auxiliaries—as unwashed and unshaved a
+            mob <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page137">[pg 137]</span><a name="Pg137" id="Pg137" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>of mixed barbarians as ever scrubbed a
+            breast-plate. It was your stick in their stomachs and your shield in their faces to push
+            them into any sort of formation. When I had learned my work the Instructor gave me a
+            handful—and they were a handful!—of Gauls and Iberians to polish up till they were
+            sent to their stations up-country. I did my best, and one night a villa in the suburbs
+            caught fire, and I had my handful out and at work before any of the other troops. I
+            noticed a quiet-looking man on the lawn, leaning on a stick. He watched us passing
+            buckets from the pond, and at last he said to me: “Who are you?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“A probationer, waiting for a cohort,� I answered. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span>
+            <span class="tei tei-corr">didn’t</span> know who he was from Deucalion! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Born in Britain?� he said. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Yes, if you were born in Spain,� I said, for he neighed his words like an Iberian
+            mule. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“And what might you call yourself when you are at home?� he said laughing. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“That depends,� I answered; “sometimes one thing and sometimes another. But now I’m
+            busy.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He said no more till we had saved the family gods (they were respectable
+            householders), and then he grunted across the laurels: “Listen, young
+            sometimes-one-thing-and-sometimes-another. In future call yourself Centurion of the
+            Seventh Cohort of the Thirtieth, the Ulpia Victrix. That will help me to remember you.
+            Your Father and a few other people call me Maximus.� </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page138">[pg 138]</span>
+          <a name="Pg138" id="Pg138" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He tossed me the polished stick he was leaning on, and went away. You might have
+            knocked me down with it!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Who was he?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Maximus himself, our great General! <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The</span></span> General of Britain who
+            had been Theodosius’s right hand in the Pict War! Not only had he given me my
+            Centurion’s stick direct, but three steps in a good Legion as well! A new man generally
+            begins in the Tenth Cohort of his Legion, and works up.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And were you pleased?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Very. I thought Maximus had chosen me for my good looks and fine style in marching,
+            but, when I went home, the Pater told me he had served under Maximus in the great Pict
+            War, and had asked him to promote me.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘A child you were!’ said Puck, from above. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I was,’ said Parnesius. ‘Don’t begrudge it me, Faun. Afterwards—the Gods know I put
+            aside the games!’ And Puck nodded, brown chin on brown hand, his big eyes still. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The night before I left we sacrificed to our ancestors—the usual little Home
+            Sacrifice—but I never prayed so earnestly to all the Good Shades, and then I went with
+            my Father by boat to Regnum, and across the chalk eastwards to Anderida yonder.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Regnum? Anderida?’ The children turned their faces to Puck. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Regnum’s Chichester,’ he said, pointing towards Cherry Clack, and—he threw his arm
+            South behind him—‘Anderida’s Pevensey.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Pevensey again!’ said Dan. ‘Where Weland landed?’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page139">[pg 139]</span>
+          <a name="Pg139" id="Pg139" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Weland and a few others,’ said Puck. ‘Pevensey isn’t young—even compared to me!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The head-quarters of the Thirtieth lay at Anderida in summer, but my own Cohort, the
+            Seventh, was on the Wall up North. Maximus was inspecting Auxiliaries—the Abulci, I
+            think—at Anderida, and we stayed with him, for he and my Father were very old friends.
+            I was only there ten days when I was ordered to go up with thirty men to my Cohort.’ He
+            laughed merrily. ‘A man never forgets his first march. I was happier than any Emperor
+            when I led my handful through the North Gate of the Camp, and we saluted the guard and
+            the Altar of Victory there.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘How? How?’ said Dan and Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Parnesius smiled, and stood up, flashing in his armour. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So!’ said he; and he moved slowly through the beautiful movements of the Roman
+            Salute, that ends with a hollow clang of the shield coming into its place between the
+            shoulders. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Hai!’ said Puck. ‘That sets one thinking!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We went out fully armed,’ said Parnesius, sitting down; ‘but as soon as the road
+            entered the Great Forest, my men expected the pack-horses to hang their shields on.
+            “No!� I said; “you can dress like women in Anderida, but while you’re with me you will
+            carry your own weapons and armour.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“But it’s hot,� said one of them, “and we haven’t a doctor. Suppose we get sunstroke,
+            or a fever?� </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page140">[pg 140]</span>
+          <a name="Pg140" id="Pg140" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Then die,� I said, “and a good riddance to Rome! Up shield—up spears, and tighten
+            your foot-wear!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Don’t think yourself Emperor of Britain already,� a fellow shouted. I knocked him
+            over with the butt of my spear, and explained to these Roman-born Romans that, if there
+            were any further trouble, we should go on with one man short. And, by the Light of the
+            Sun, I meant it too! My raw Gauls at Clausentum had never treated me so. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then, quietly as a cloud, Maximus rode out of the fern (my Father behind him), and
+            reined up across the road. He wore the Purple, as though he were already Emperor; his
+            leggings were of white buckskin laced with gold. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘My men dropped like—like partridges. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He said nothing for some time, only looked, with his eyes puckered. Then he crooked
+            his forefinger, and my men walked—crawled, I mean—to one side. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Stand in the sun, children,� he said, and they formed up on the hard road. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“What would you have done?� he said to me, “If I had not been here?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I should have killed that man,� I answered. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Kill him now,� he said. “He will not move a limb.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No,� I said. “You’ve taken my men out of my command. I should only be your butcher
+            if I killed him now.� Do you see what I meant?’ Parnesius turned to Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes,’ said Dan. ‘It wouldn’t have been fair, somehow.’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page141">[pg 141]</span>
+          <a name="Pg141" id="Pg141" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘That was what I thought,’ said Parnesius. <span class="tei tei-corr">‘But</span> Maximus frowned. “You’ll never be an
+            Emperor,� he said. “Not even a General will you be.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I was silent, but my Father seemed pleased. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I came here to see the last of you,� he said. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“You have seen it,� said Maximus. “I shall never need your son any more. He will live
+            and he will die an officer of a Legion—and he might have been Prefect of one of my
+            Provinces. Now eat and drink with us,� he said. “Your men will wait till you have
+            finished.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘My miserable thirty stood like wine-skins glistening in the hot sun, and Maximus led
+            us to where his people had set a meal. Himself he mixed the wine. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“A year from now,� he said, “you will remember that you have sat with the Emperor of
+            Britain—and Gaul.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Yes,� said the Pater, “you can drive two mules—Gaul and Britain.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Five years hence you will remember that you have drunk�—he passed me the cup and
+            there was blue borage in it—“with the Emperor of Rome!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No; you can’t drive three mules; they will tear you in pieces,� said my Father. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“And you on the Wall, among the heather, will weep because your notion of justice was
+            more to you than the favour of the Emperor of Rome.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I sat quite still. One does not answer a General who wears the Purple. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page142">[pg 142]</span>
+          <a name="Pg142" id="Pg142" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I am not angry with you,� he went on; “I owe too much to your Father——� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“You owe me nothing but advice that you never took,� said the Pater. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“——to be unjust to any of your family. Indeed, I say you will make a good officer,
+            but, so far as I am concerned, on the Wall you will live, and on the Wall you will die,�
+            said Maximus. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Very like,� said my Father. “But we shall have the Picts <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">and</span></span>
+            their friends breaking through before long. You cannot move all troops out of Britain to
+            make you Emperor, and expect the North to sit quiet.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I follow my destiny,� said Maximus. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Follow it, then,� said my Father pulling up a fern root; “and die as Theodosius
+            died.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Ah!� said Maximus. “My old General was killed because he served the Empire too well.
+              <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> may be killed, but not for that <span class="tei tei-corr">reason,�</span> and he smiled a little pale grey smile that made my blood run cold. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Then I had better follow my destiny,� I said, “and take my men to the Wall.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He looked at me a long time, and bowed his head slanting like a Spaniard. “Follow it,
+            boy,� he said. That was all. I was only too glad to get away, though I had many messages
+            for home. I found my men standing as they had been put—they had not even shifted their
+            feet in the dust,—and off I marched, still feeling that terrific smile like an east
+            wind up my back. I never halted them till sunset, and’—he turned about and looked at
+            Pook’s Hill below him—‘then I <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page143">[pg 143]</span><a name="Pg143" id="Pg143" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>halted yonder.’ He
+            pointed to the broken, bracken-covered shoulder of the Forge Hill behind old Hobden’s
+            cottage. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘There? Why, that’s only the old Forge—where they made iron once,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Very good stuff it was too,’ said Parnesius, calmly. ‘We mended three shoulder-straps
+            here and had a spear-head riveted. The forge was rented from the Government by a
+            one-eyed smith from Carthage. I remember we called him <span class="tei tei-corr">Cyclops</span>. He sold me a beaver-skin rug for my sister’s room.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But it couldn’t have been here,’ Dan insisted. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But it was! From the Altar of Victory at Anderida to the First Forge in the Forest
+            here is twelve miles seven hundred paces. It is all in the Road Book. A man doesn’t
+            forget his first march. I think I could tell you every station between this and——’ He
+            leaned forward, but his eye was caught by the setting sun. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> It had come down to the top of Cherry Clack Hill, and the light poured in between the
+            tree trunks so that you could see red and gold and black deep into the heart of Far
+            Wood; and Parnesius in his armour shone as though he had been afire. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Wait,’ he said, lifting a hand, and the sunlight jinked on his glass bracelet. ‘Wait!
+            I pray to Mithras!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He rose and stretched his arms westward, with deep, splendid-sounding words. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Then Puck began to sing too, in a voice like bells tolling, and as he sang he slipped
+              <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page144">[pg 144]</span><a name="Pg144" id="Pg144" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>from ‘Volaterrae’ to the ground, and beckoned the
+            children to follow. They obeyed; it seemed as though the voices were pushing them along;
+            and through the goldy-brown light on the beech leaves they walked, while Puck between
+            them chanted something like this:— </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Cur mundus militat sub vana gloria</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Cujus prosperitas est transitoria?</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Tam cito labitur ejus potentia</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Quam vasa figuli quæ sunt fragilia.</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They found themselves at the little locked gates of the wood. </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Quo Cæsar abiit celsus imperio?</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Vel Dives splendidus totus in prandio?</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Dic ubi Tullius——</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Still singing, he took Dan’s hand and wheeled him round to face Una as she came out of
+            the gate. It shut behind her, at the same time as Puck threw the memory-magicking Oak,
+            Ash, and Thorn leaves over their heads. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Well, you <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">are</span></span> jolly late,’ said Una. ‘Couldn’t you get away
+            before?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I did,’ said Dan. ‘I got away in lots of time, but—but I didn’t know it was so late.
+            Where’ve you been?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘In Volaterrae—waiting for you.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Sorry,’ said Dan. ‘It was all that beastly Latin.’ </p>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page145">[pg 145]</span>
+          <a name="Pg145" id="Pg145" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf14" id="pdf14"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">A BRITISH-ROMAN SONG</span></h2>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 8.00em"> (A. D. 406) </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">My father’s father saw it not,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And I, belike, shall never come,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To look on that so-holy spot—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 10.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The very Rome—</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Crowned by all Time, all Art, all Might,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The equal work of Gods and Man—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">City beneath whose oldest height</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 10.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The Race began,—</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Soon to send forth again a brood</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Unshakeable, we pray, that clings,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To Rome’s thrice-hammered hardihood—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 10.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">In arduous things.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Strong heart with triple armour bound,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Beat strongly, for thy life-blood runs,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Age after Age, the Empire round—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 10.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">In us thy Sons,</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Who, distant from the Seven Hills,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Loving and serving much, require</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Thee, Thee to guard ’gainst home-born ills,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 10.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The Imperial Fire!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page146">[pg 146]</span>
+          <a name="Pg146" id="Pg146" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+          </p>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page147">[pg 147]</span>
+        <a name="Pg147" id="Pg147" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%"> ON THE GREAT WALL </span></h1>
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page148">[pg 148]</span>
+        <a name="Pg148" id="Pg148" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page149">[pg 149]</span>
+          <a name="Pg149" id="Pg149" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf15" id="pdf15"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">ON THE GREAT WALL</span></h2>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">When I left Rome for Lalage’s sake</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">By the Legions’ Road to Rimini,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">She vowed her heart was mine to take</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">With me and my shield to Rimini—</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">(Till the Eagles flew from Rimini!)</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">And I’ve tramped Britain and I’ve tramped Gaul</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">And the Pontic shore where the snow-flakes fall</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">As white as the neck of Lalage—</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em">As cold as the heart of Lalage!</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">And I’ve lost Britain and I’ve lost Gaul</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> (the voice seemed very cheerful about it), </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em">And I’ve lost Rome, and worst of all,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 6.00em">I’ve lost Lalage!</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They were standing by the gate to Far Wood when they heard this song. Without a word
+            they hurried to their private gap and wriggled through the hedge almost atop of a jay
+            that was feeding from Puck’s hand. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Gently!’ said Puck. ‘What are you looking for?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Parnesius, of course,’ Dan answered. ‘We’ve only just remembered yesterday. It isn’t
+            fair.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Puck chuckled as he rose. ‘I’m sorry, but children who spend the afternoon with me and
+            a Roman Centurion need a little settling dose of Magic before they go to tea with their
+            governess. Ohé, Parnesius!’ he called. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page150">[pg 150]</span>
+          <a name="Pg150" id="Pg150" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Here, Faun!’ came the answer from ‘Volaterrae.’ They could see the shimmer of bronze
+            armour in the beech crotch, and the friendly flash of the great shield uplifted. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I have driven out the Britons.’ Parnesius laughed like a boy. ‘I occupy their high
+            forts. But Rome is merciful! You may come up.’ And up they three all scrambled. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What was the song you were singing just now?’ said Una, as soon as she had settled
+            herself. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘That? Oh, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Rimini</span></span>. It’s one of the tunes that are always being
+            born somewhere in the Empire. They run like a pestilence for six months or a year, till
+            another one pleases the Legions, and then they march to <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">that</span></span>.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Tell them about the marching, Parnesius. Few people nowadays walk from end to end of
+            this country,’ said Puck. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The greater their loss. I know nothing better than the Long March when your feet are
+            hardened. You begin after the mists have risen, and you end, perhaps, an hour after
+            sundown.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And what do you have to eat?’ Dan asked, promptly. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Fat bacon, beans, and bread, and whatever wine happens to be in the rest-houses. But
+            soldiers are born grumblers. Their very first day out, my men complained of our
+            water-ground British corn. They said it wasn’t so filling as the rough stuff that is
+            ground in the Roman ox-mills. However, they had to fetch and eat it.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Fetch it? Where from?’ said Una. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page151">[pg 151]</span>
+          <a name="Pg151" id="Pg151" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘From that newly-invented water-mill below the Forge.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘That’s Forge Mill—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">our</span></span> Mill!’ Una looked at Puck. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes; yours,’ Puck put in. ‘How old did you think it was?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I don’t know. Didn’t Sir Richard Dalyngridge talk about it?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He did, and it was old in his day,’ Puck answered. ‘Hundreds of years old.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It was new in mine,’ said Parnesius. ‘My men looked at the flour in their helmets as
+            though it had been a nest of adders. They did it to try my patience. But I—addressed
+            them, and we became friends. To tell the truth, they taught me the Roman Step. You see,
+            I’d only served with quick-marching Auxiliaries. A Legion’s pace is altogether
+            different. It is a long, slow stride, that never varies from sunrise to sunset. “Rome’s
+            Race—Rome’s Pace,� as the proverb says. Twenty-four miles in eight hours, neither more
+            nor less. Head and spear up, shield on your back, cuirass-collar open one hand’s
+            breadth—and that’s how you take the Eagles through Britain.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And did you meet any adventures?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘There are no adventures South the Wall,’ said Parnesius. ‘The worst thing that
+            happened me was having to appear before a magistrate up North, where a wandering
+            philosopher had jeered at the Eagles. I was able to show that the old man had
+            deliberately blocked our road, and the magistrate told <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page152">[pg 152]</span><a name="Pg152" id="Pg152" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>him, out of his own Book, I believe, that, whatever his God might be, he should pay
+            proper respect to <span class="tei tei-corr">Cæsar</span>.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What did you do?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Went on. Why should <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> care for such things, my business being
+            to reach my station? It took me twenty days. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Of course, the farther North you go the emptier are the roads. At last you fetch
+            clear of the forests and climb bare hills, where wolves howl in the ruins of our cities
+            that have been. No more pretty girls; no more jolly magistrates who knew your Father
+            when he was young, and invite you to stay with them; no news at the temples and
+            way-stations except bad news of wild beasts. There’s where you meet hunters, and
+            trappers for the Circuses, prodding along chained bears and muzzled wolves. Your pony
+            shies at them, and your men laugh. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The houses change from gardened villas to shut forts with watch-towers of grey stone,
+            and great stone-walled sheepfolds, guarded by armed Britons of the North Shore. In the
+            naked hills beyond the naked houses, where the shadows of the clouds play like cavalry
+            charging, you see puffs of black smoke from the mines. The hard road goes on and on—and
+            the wind sings through your helmet-plume—past altars to Legions and Generals forgotten,
+            and broken statues of Gods and Heroes, and thousands of graves where the mountain foxes
+            and hares peep at you. Red-hot in summer, freezing in winter, is that big, purple
+            heather country of broken stone. </p>
+         <a name="image03" id="image03" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                  <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+                    </p><div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/col03s.jpg" width="400" height="547" alt="Illustration to page 152" title="‘There’s where you meet hunters, and trappers for the Circuses, prodding along chained bears and muzzled wolves.’" /><div class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">‘There’s where you meet hunters, and trappers for the Circuses,<br /> prodding
+                      along chained bears and muzzled wolves.’</a></div></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page153">[pg 153]</span>
+          <a name="Pg153" id="Pg153" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Just when you think you are at the world’s end, you see a smoke from East to West as
+            far as the eye can turn, and then, under it, also as far as the eye can stretch, houses
+            and temples, shops and theatres, barracks, and granaries, trickling along like dice
+            behind—always behind—one long, low, rising and falling, and hiding and showing line of
+            towers. And that is the Wall!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Ah!’ said the <span class="tei tei-corr">children,</span> taking breath. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘You may well,’ said Parnesius. ‘Old men who have followed the Eagles since boyhood
+            say nothing in the Empire is more wonderful than first sight of the Wall!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Is it just a Wall? Like the one round the kitchen-garden?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No, no! It is <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">the</span></span> Wall. Along the top are towers with
+            guard-houses, small towers, between. Even on the narrowest part of it three men with
+            shields can walk abreast from guard-house to guard-house. A little curtain wall, no
+            higher than a man’s neck, runs along the top of the thick wall, so that from a distance
+            you see the helmets of the sentries sliding back and forth like beads. Thirty feet high
+            is the Wall, and on the Picts’ side, the North, is a ditch, strewn with blades of old
+            swords and spear-heads set in wood, and tyres of wheels joined by chains. The Little
+            People come there to steal iron for their arrow-heads. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But the Wall itself is not more wonderful than the town behind it. Long ago there
+            were great ramparts and ditches on the South side, and no one was allowed to build <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page154">[pg 154]</span><a name="Pg154" id="Pg154" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>there. Now the ramparts are partly pulled down and built
+            over, from end to end of the Wall; making a thin town eighty miles long. Think of it!
+            One roaring, rioting, cockfighting, wolf-baiting, horse-racing town, from Ituna on the
+            West to Segedunum on the cold eastern beach! On one side heather, woods and ruins where
+            Picts hide, and on the other, a vast town—long like a snake, and wicked like a snake.
+            Yes, a snake basking beside a warm wall! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘My Cohort, I was told, lay at Hunno, where the Great North Road runs through the Wall
+            into the Province of Valentia.’ Parnesius laughed scornfully. ‘The Province of Valentia!
+            We followed the road, therefore, into Hunno town, and stood astonished. The place was a
+            fair—a fair of peoples from every corner of the Empire. Some were racing horses: some
+            sat in wine-shops: some watched dogs baiting bears, and many gathered in a ditch to see
+            cocks fight. A boy not much older than myself, but I could see he was an Officer, reined
+            up before me and asked what I wanted. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“My station,� I said, and showed him my shield.’ Parnesius held up his broad shield
+            with its three X’s like letters on a beer-cask. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Lucky omen!� said he. “Your Cohort’s the next tower to us, but they’re all at the
+            cock-fight. This is a happy place. Come and wet the Eagles.� He meant to offer me a
+            drink. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“When I’ve handed over my men,� I said. I felt angry and ashamed. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page155">[pg 155]</span>
+          <a name="Pg155" id="Pg155" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Oh, you’ll soon outgrow that sort of nonsense,� he answered. “But don’t let me
+            interfere with your hopes. Go on to the Statue of Roma Dea. You can’t miss it. The main
+            road into Valentia!� and he laughed and rode off. I could see the Statue not a quarter
+            of a mile away, and there I went. At some time or other the Great North Road ran under
+            it into Valentia; but the far end had been blocked up because of the Picts, and on the
+            plaster a man had scratched, “Finish!� It was like marching into a cave. We grounded
+            spears together, my little thirty, and it echoed in the barrel of the arch, but none
+            came. There was a door at one side painted with our number. We prowled in, and I found a
+            cook asleep, and ordered him to give us food. Then I climbed to the top of the Wall, and
+            looked out over the Pict country, and I—thought,’ said Parnesius. ‘The bricked-up arch
+            with “Finish!� on the plaster was what shook me, for I was not much more than a boy.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What a shame!’ said Una. ‘But did you feel happy after you’d had a good——’ Dan
+            stopped her with a nudge. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Happy?’ said Parnesius. ‘When the men of the Cohort I was to command came back
+            unhelmeted from the cock-fight, their birds under their arms, and asked me who I was?
+            No, I was not happy; but I made my new Cohort unhappy too.... I wrote my Mother I was
+            happy, but, oh, my friends’—he stretched arms over bare knees—‘I would not wish my
+            worst enemy to suffer as I suf<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page156">[pg 156]</span><a name="Pg156" id="Pg156" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>fered through my first
+            months on the Wall. Remember this: among the officers was scarcely one, except myself
+            (and I thought I had lost the favour of Maximus, my General), scarcely one who had not
+            done something of wrong or folly. Either he had killed a man, or taken money, or
+            insulted the magistrates, or blasphemed the Gods, and so had been sent to the Wall as a
+            hiding-place from shame or fear. And the men were as the officers. Remember, also, that
+            the Wall was manned by every breed and race in the Empire. No two towers spoke the same
+            tongue, or worshipped the same Gods. In one thing only we were all equal. No matter what
+            arms we had used before we came to the Wall, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">on</span></span> the Wall we were
+            all archers, like the Scythians. The Pict cannot run away from the arrow, or crawl under
+            it. He is a bowman himself. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">He</span></span> knows!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I suppose you were fighting Picts all the time,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Picts seldom fight. I never saw a fighting Pict for half a year. The tame Picts told
+            us they had all gone North.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What is a tame Pict?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘A Pict—there were many such—who speaks a few words of our tongue, and slips across
+            the Wall to sell ponies and wolf-hounds. Without a horse and a dog, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">and</span></span> a friend, man would perish. The Gods gave me all three, and there is no gift
+            like friendship. Remember this’—Parnesius turned to Dan—‘when you become a young man.
+            For your fate will turn on the first true friend you <span class="tei tei-corr">make.’</span> </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page157">[pg 157]</span>
+          <a name="Pg157" id="Pg157" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He means,’ said Puck, grinning, ‘that if you try to make yourself a decent chap when
+            you’re young, you’ll make rather decent friends when you grow up. If you’re a beast,
+            you’ll have beastly friends. Listen to the Pious Parnesius on Friendship!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I am not pious,’ Parnesius answered, ‘but I know what goodness means; and my friend,
+            though he was without hope, was ten thousand times better than I. Stop laughing, Faun!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh Youth Eternal and All-believing,’ cried Puck, as he rocked on the branch above.
+            ‘Tell them about your Pertinax.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He was that friend the Gods sent me—the boy who spoke to me when I first came.
+            Little older than myself, commanding the Augusta Victoria Cohort on the tower next to us
+            and the Numidians. In virtue he was far my superior.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then why was he on the Wall?’ Una asked, quickly. ‘They’d all done something bad. You
+            said so yourself.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He was the nephew, his Father had died, of a great rich man in Gaul who was not
+            always kind to his Mother. When Pertinax grew up, he discovered this, and so his uncle
+            shipped him off, by trickery and force, to the Wall. We came to know each other at a
+            ceremony in our Temple—in the dark. It was the Bull Killing,’ Parnesius explained to
+            Puck. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> see,’ said Puck, and turned to the children. ‘That’s
+            something you wouldn’t quite understand. Parnesius means he met Pertinax in church.’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page158">[pg 158]</span>
+          <a name="Pg158" id="Pg158" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes—in the Cave we first met, and we were both raised to the Degree of Gryphons
+            together.’ Parnesius lifted his hand towards his neck for an instant. ‘He had been on
+            the Wall two years, and knew the Picts well. He taught me first how to take Heather.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What’s that?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Going out hunting in the Pict country with a tame Pict. You are quite safe so long as
+            you are his guest, and wear a sprig of heather where it can be seen. If you went alone
+            you would surely be killed, if you were not smothered first in the bogs. Only the Picts
+            know their way about those black and hidden bogs. Old Allo, the one-eyed, withered
+            little Pict from whom we bought our ponies, was our special friend. At first we went
+            only to escape from the terrible town, and to talk together about our homes. Then he
+            showed us how to hunt wolves and those great red deer with horns like Jewish
+            candlesticks. The Roman-born officers rather looked down on us for doing this, but we
+            preferred the heather to their amusements. Believe me,’ Parnesius turned again to Dan,
+            ‘a boy is safe from all things that really harm when he is astride a pony or after a
+            deer. Do you remember, O Faun,’ he turned to Puck, ‘the little altar I built to the
+            Sylvan Pan by the pine-forest beyond the brook?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Which? The stone one with the line from Xenophon?’ said Puck, in quite a new voice. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No. What do <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> know of Xenophon? That was Pertinax—after he
+            had shot his first mountain-hare with an arrow—by chance! <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page159">[pg 159]</span><a name="Pg159" id="Pg159" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Mine I made of round pebbles in memory of my first bear. It took me one
+            happy day to build.’ Parnesius faced the children quickly. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And that was how we lived on the Wall for two years—a little scuffling with the
+            Picts, and a great deal of hunting with old Allo in the Pict country. He called us his
+            children sometimes, and we were fond of him and his barbarians, though we never let them
+            paint us Pict fashion. The marks endure till you die.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘How’s it done?’ said Dan. ‘Anything like tattooing?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘They prick the skin till the blood runs, and rub in coloured juices. Allo was painted
+            blue, green, and red from his forehead to his ankles. He said it was part of his
+            religion. He told us about his religion (Pertinax was always interested in such things),
+            and as we came to know him well, he told us what was happening in Britain behind the
+            Wall. Many things took place behind us in those days. And, by the Light of the Sun,’
+            said Parnesius, earnestly, ‘there was not much that those little people did not know! He
+            told me when Maximus crossed over to Gaul, after he had made himself Emperor of Britain,
+            and what troops and emigrants he had taken with him. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">We</span></span> did not
+            get the news on the Wall till fifteen days later. He told me what troops Maximus was
+            taking out of Britain every month to help him to conquer Gaul; and I always found the
+            numbers as he said. Wonderful! And I tell another strange thing!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He jointed his hands across his knees, and <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page160">[pg 160]</span><a name="Pg160" id="Pg160" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>leaned his
+            head on the curve of the shield behind him. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Late in the summer, when the first frosts begin and the Picts kill their bees, we
+            three rode out after wolf with some new hounds. Rutilianus, our General, had given us
+            ten days’ leave, and we had pushed beyond the Second Wall—beyond the Province of
+            Valentia—into the higher hills, where there are not even any of Rome’s old ruins. We
+            killed a she-wolf before noon, and while Allo was skinning her he looked up and said to
+            me, “When you are Captain of the Wall, my child, you won’t be able to do this any more!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I might as well have been made Prefect of Lower Gaul, so I laughed and said, “Wait
+            till I am Captain.� “<span class="tei tei-corr">No, don’t</span> wait,� said Allo. “Take my advice and go home—both of
+            you.� “We have no homes,� said Pertinax. “You know that as well as we do. We’re finished
+            men—thumbs down against both of us. Only men without hope would risk their necks on
+            your ponies.� The old man laughed one of those short Pict laughs—like a fox barking on
+            a frosty night. “I’m fond of you two,� he said. “Besides, I’ve taught you what little
+            you know about hunting. Take my advice and go home.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“We can’t,� I said. “I’m out of favour with my General, for one thing; and for
+            another, Pertinax has an uncle.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I don’t know about his uncle,� said Allo, “but the trouble with you, Parnesius, is
+            that your General thinks well of you.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Roma Dea!� said Pertinax, sitting <span class="tei tei-corr">up.</span>
+            <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page161">[pg 161]</span><a name="Pg161" id="Pg161" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>“What can you guess what Maximus thinks, you old
+            horse-coper?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Just then (you know how near the brutes creep when one is eating?) a great dog-wolf
+            jumped out behind us, and away our rested hounds tore after him, with us at their tails.
+            He ran us far out of any country we’d ever heard of, straight as an arrow till sunset,
+            towards the sunset. We came at last to long capes stretching into winding waters, and on
+            a grey beach below us we saw ships drawn up. Forty-seven we counted—not Roman galleys
+            but the raven-winged ships from the North where Rome does not rule. Men moved in the
+            ships, and the sun flashed on their helmets—winged helmets of the red-haired men from
+            the North where Rome does not rule. We watched, and we counted, and we wondered; for
+            though we had heard rumours concerning these Winged Hats, as the Picts called them,
+            never before had we looked upon them. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Come away! Come away!� said Allo. “My Heather won’t protect you here. We shall all
+            be killed!� His legs trembled like his voice. Back we went—back across the heather
+            under the moon, till it was nearly morning, and our poor beasts stumbled on some ruins. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘When we woke, very stiff and cold, Allo was mixing the meal and water. One does not
+            light fires in the Pict country except near a village. The little men are always
+            signalling to each other with smokes, and a strange smoke brings them out buzzing like
+            bees. They can sting, too! </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page162">[pg 162]</span>
+          <a name="Pg162" id="Pg162" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“What we saw last night was a trading-station,� said Allo. “Nothing but a
+            trading-station.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I do not like lies on an empty stomach,� said Pertinax. “I suppose� (he had eyes
+            like an eagle’s), “I suppose <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">that</span></span> is a trading-station also?� He
+            pointed to a smoke far off on a hill-top, ascending in what we call the Pict’s
+            Call:—Puff—double-puff: double-puff—puff! They make it by raising and dropping a wet
+            hide on a fire. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No,� said Allo, pushing the platter back into the bag. “That is for you and me. Your
+            fate is fixed. Come.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We came. When one takes Heather, one must obey one’s Pict—but that wretched smoke
+            was twenty miles distant, well over on the east coast, and the day was as hot as a bath. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Whatever happens,� said Allo, while our ponies grunted along, “I want you to
+            remember me.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I shall not forget,� said Pertinax. “You have cheated me out of my breakfast.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“What is a handful of crushed oats to a Roman?� he said. Then he laughed his laugh
+            that was not a laugh. “What would you do if you were a handful of oats being crushed
+            between the upper and lower stones of a mill?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I’m Pertinax, not a riddle-guesser,� said Pertinax. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“You’re a fool,� said Allo. “Your Gods and my Gods are threatened by strange Gods,
+            and all you can do is to laugh.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Threatened men live long,� I said. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page163">[pg 163]</span>
+          <a name="Pg163" id="Pg163" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I pray the Gods that may be true,� he said. “But I ask you again not to forget me.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We climbed the last hot hill and looked out on the eastern sea, three or four miles
+            off. There was a small sailing-galley of the North Gaul pattern at anchor, her
+            landing-plank down and her sail half up; and below us, alone in a hollow, holding his
+            pony, sat Maximus, Emperor of Britain! He was dressed like a hunter, and he leaned on
+            his little stick; but I knew that back as far as I could see it, and I told Pertinax. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“You’re madder than Allo!� he said. “It must be the sun!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Maximus never stirred till we stood before him. Then he looked me up and down, and
+            said: “Hungry again? It seems to be my destiny to feed you whenever we meet. I have food
+            here. Allo shall cook it.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No,� said Allo. “A Prince in his own land does not wait on wandering Emperors. I
+            feed my two children without asking your leave.� He began to blow up the ashes. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I was wrong,� said Pertinax. “We are all mad. Speak up, O Madman called Emperor!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Maximus smiled his terrible tight-lipped smile, but two years on the Wall do not make
+            a man afraid of mere looks. So I was not afraid. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I meant you, Parnesius, to live and die an Officer of the Wall,� said Maximus. “But
+            it seems from these,� he fumbled in his breast, “you can think as well as draw.� He
+            pulled out a roll of letters I had written to my <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page164">[pg 164]</span><a name="Pg164" id="Pg164" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>people, full of drawings of Picts, and bears, and men I had met on the Wall. Mother
+            and my sister always liked my pictures. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He handed me one that I had called “Maximus’s Soldiers.� It showed a row of fat
+            wine-skins, and our old Doctor of the Hunno hospital snuffing at them. Each time that
+            Maximus had taken troops out of Britain to help him to conquer Gaul, he used to send the
+            garrisons more wine—to keep them quiet, I suppose. On the Wall, we always called a
+            wine-skin a “Maximus.� Oh, yes; and I had drawn them in Imperial helmets! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Not long since,� he went on, “men’s names were sent up to Cæsar for smaller jokes
+            than this.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“True, Cæsar,� said Pertinax; “but you forget that was before I, your friend’s
+            friend, became such a good spear-thrower.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He did not actually point his hunting spear at Maximus, but balanced it on his
+            palm—so! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I was speaking of time past,� said Maximus, never fluttering an eyelid. “Nowadays
+            one is only too pleased to find boys who can think for themselves, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">and</span></span> their friends.� He nodded at Pertinax. “Your Father lent me the letters,
+            Parnesius, so you run no risk from me.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“None whatever,� said Pertinax, and rubbed the spear-point on his sleeve. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I have been forced to reduce the garrisons in Britain, because I need troops in
+            Gaul. Now I come to take troops from the Wall itself,� said he. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I wish you joy of us,� said Pertinax. <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page165">[pg 165]</span><a name="Pg165" id="Pg165" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>“We’re the
+            last sweepings of the Empire—the men without hope. Myself, I’d sooner trust condemned
+            criminals.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“You think so?� he said, quite seriously. “But it will only be till I win Gaul. One
+            must always risk one’s life, or one’s soul, or one’s peace—or some little thing.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Allo passed round the fire with the sizzling deer’s meat. He served us two first. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Ah!� said Maximus, waiting his turn. “I perceive you are in your own country. Well,
+            you deserve it. They tell me you have quite a following among the Picts, Parnesius.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I have hunted with them,� I said. “Maybe I have a few friends among the Heather.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“He is the only armoured man of you all who understands us,� said Allo, and he began
+            a long speech about our virtues, and how we had saved one of his grandchildren from a
+            wolf the year before.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Had you?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes; but that was neither here nor there. The little green man orated like a—like
+            Cicero. He made us out to be magnificent fellows. Maximus never took his eyes off our
+            faces. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Enough,� he said. “I have heard Allo on you. I wish to hear you on the Picts.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I told him as much as I knew, and Pertinax helped me out. There is never harm in a
+            Pict if you but take the trouble to find out what he wants. Their real grievance against
+            us came from our burning their heather. The whole garrison of the Wall moved out twice a
+            year, and solemnly burned the heather for <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page166">[pg 166]</span><a name="Pg166" id="Pg166" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>ten miles
+            North. Rutilianus, our General, called it clearing the country. The Picts, of course,
+            scampered away, and all we did was to destroy their bee-bloom in the summer, and ruin
+            their sheep-food in the spring. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“True, quite true,� said Allo. “How can we make our holy heather-wine, if you burn
+            our bee-pasture?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We talked long, Maximus asking keen questions that showed he knew much and had
+            thought more about the Picts. He said presently to me: “If I gave you the old Province
+            of Valentia to govern, could you keep the Picts contented till I won Gaul? Stand away,
+            so that you do not see Allo’s face; and speak your own <span class="tei tei-corr">thoughts.�</span>
+          </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No,� I said. “You cannot re-make that Province. The Picts have been free too long.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Leave them their village councils, and let them furnish their own soldiers,� he
+            said. “You, I am sure, would hold the reins very lightly.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Even then, no,� I said. “At least not now. They have been too oppressed by us to
+            trust anything with a Roman name for years and years.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I heard old Allo behind me mutter: “Good child!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Then what do you recommend,� said Maximus, “to keep the North quiet till I win
+            Gaul?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Leave the Picts alone,� I said. “Stop the heather-burning at once, and—they are
+            improvident little animals—send them a shipload or two of corn now and then.� </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page167">[pg 167]</span>
+          <a name="Pg167" id="Pg167" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Their own men must distribute it—not some cheating Greek accountant,� said
+            Pertinax. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Yes, and allow them to come to our hospitals when they are sick,� I said. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Surely they would die first,� said Maximus. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Not if Parnesius brought them in,� said Allo. “I could show you twenty wolf-bitten,
+            bear-clawed Picts within twenty miles of here. But Parnesius must stay with them in
+            Hospital, else they would go mad with fear.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> see,� said Maximus. “Like everything else in the world, it
+            is one man’s work. You, I think, are that one man.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Pertinax and I are one,� I said. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“As you please, so long as you work. Now, Allo, you know that I mean your people no
+            harm. Leave us to talk together,� said Maximus. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No need!� said Allo. “I am the corn between the upper and lower millstones. I must
+            know what the lower millstone means to do. These boys have spoken the truth as far as
+            they know it. I, a Prince, will tell you the rest. I am troubled about the Men of the
+            North.� He squatted like a hare in the heather, and looked over his shoulder. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I also,� said Maximus, “or I should not be here.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Listen,� said Allo. “Long and long ago the Winged Hats�—he meant the
+            Northmen—“came to our beaches and said, ‘Rome falls! Push her down!’ We fought you. You
+            sent men. We were beaten. After <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page168">[pg 168]</span><a name="Pg168" id="Pg168" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>that we said to the
+            Winged Hats, ‘You are liars! Make our men alive that Rome killed, and we will believe
+            you.’ They went away ashamed. Now they come back bold, and they tell the old tale, which
+            we begin to believe—that Rome falls!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Give me three years’ peace on the Wall,� cried Maximus, “and I will show you and all
+            the ravens how they lie!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Ah, I wish it too! I wish to save what is left of the corn from the millstones. But
+            you shoot us Picts when we come to borrow a little iron from the Iron Ditch; you burn
+            our heather, which is all our crop; you trouble us with your great catapults. Then you
+            hide behind the Wall, and scorch us with Greek fire. How can I keep my young men from
+            listening to the Winged Hats—in winter especially, when we are hungry? My young men
+            will say, ‘Rome can neither fight nor rule. She is taking her men out of Britain. The
+            Winged Hats will help us to push down the Wall. Let us show them the secret roads across
+            the bogs.’ Do <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> want that? No!� He spat like an adder. “<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> would keep the secrets of my people though I were burned alive.
+            My two children here have spoken truth. Leave us Picts alone. Comfort us, and cherish
+            us, and feed us from far off—with the hand behind your back. Parnesius understands us.
+            Let <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">him</span></span> have rule on the Wall, and I will hold my young men quiet
+            for�—he ticked it off on his fingers—“one year easily: the next year not so easily:
+            the third year, perhaps! See, I give you three <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page169">[pg 169]</span><a name="Pg169" id="Pg169" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>years.
+            If then you do not show us that Rome is strong in men and terrible in arms, the Winged
+            Hats, I tell you, will sweep down the Wall from either sea till they meet in the middle,
+            and you will go. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> shall not grieve over that, but well I know
+            tribe never helps tribe except for one price. We Picts will go too. The Winged Hats will
+            grind us to this!� He tossed a handful of dust in the air. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Oh, Roma Dea!� said Maximus, half aloud. “It is always one man’s work—always and
+            everywhere!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“And one man’s life,� said Allo. “You are Emperor, but not a God. You may die.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I have thought of that, too,� said he. “Very good. If this wind holds, I shall be at
+            the East end of the Wall by morning. To-morrow, then, I shall see you two when I
+            inspect; and I will make you Captains of the Wall for this work.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“One instant, Cæsar,� said Pertinax. “All men have their price. I am not bought yet.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Do <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">you</span></span> also begin to bargain so early?� said Maximus. “Well?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Give me justice against my uncle Icenus, the Duumvir of Divio in Gaul,� he said. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Only a life? I thought it would be money or an office. Certainly you shall have him.
+            Write his name on these tablets—on the red side; the other is for the living!� And
+            Maximus held out his tablets. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“He is of no use to me dead,� said Pertinax. “My mother is a widow. I am far off. I
+            am not sure he pays her all her dowry.� </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page170">[pg 170]</span>
+          <a name="Pg170" id="Pg170" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No matter. My arm is reasonably long. We will look through your uncle’s accounts in
+            due time. Now, farewell till to-morrow, O Captains of the Wall!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We saw him grow small across the heather as he walked to the galley. There were
+            Picts, scores, each side of him, hidden behind stones. He never looked left or right. He
+            sailed away Southerly, full spread before the evening breeze, and when we had watched
+            him out to sea, we were silent. We understood Earth bred few men like to this man. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Presently Allo brought the ponies and held them for us to mount—a thing he had never
+            done before. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Wait awhile,� said Pertinax, and he made a little altar of cut turf, and strewed
+            heather-bloom atop, and laid upon it a letter from a girl in Gaul. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“What do you do, O my friend?� I said. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I sacrifice to my dead youth,� he answered, and, when the flames had consumed the
+            letter, he ground them out with his heel. Then we rode back to that Wall of which we
+            were to be Captains.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Parnesius stopped. The children sat still, not even asking if that were all the tale.
+            Puck beckoned, and pointed the way out of the wood. <span class="tei tei-corr">‘Sorry,’</span> he whispered, ‘but you
+            must go now.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We haven’t made him angry, have we?’ said Una. ‘He looks so far off,
+            and—and—thinky.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Bless your heart, no. Wait till to-morrow. <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page171">[pg 171]</span><a name="Pg171" id="Pg171" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>It won’t
+            be long. Remember, you’ve been playing “<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Lays of Ancient Rome</span></span>.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> And as soon as they had scrambled through their gap, where Oak, Ash and Thorn grow,
+            that was all they remembered. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page172">[pg 172]</span>
+          <a name="Pg172" id="Pg172" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page173">[pg 173]</span>
+          <a name="Pg173" id="Pg173" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf16" id="pdf16"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">A SONG TO MITHRAS</span></h2>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Mithras, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">‘Rome is above the Nations, but Thou art over all!’</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Now as the names are answered and the guards are marched away,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Mithras, God of the Noontide, the heather swims in the heat,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Our helmets scorch our foreheads; our sandals burn our feet!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Now in the ungirt hour; now ere we blink and drowse,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Mithras, also a soldier, keep us true to our vows!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Mithras, God of the Midnight, here where the great bull lies,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Look on thy children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Many roads Thou hast fashioned: all of them lead to the Light,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Mithras, also a soldier, teach us to die aright!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page174">[pg 174]</span>
+          <a name="Pg174" id="Pg174" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+          </p>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page175">[pg 175]</span>
+        <a name="Pg175" id="Pg175" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%"> THE WINGED HATS </span></h1>
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page176">[pg 176]</span>
+        <a name="Pg176" id="Pg176" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page177">[pg 177]</span>
+          <a name="Pg177" id="Pg177" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf17" id="pdf17"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE WINGED HATS</span></h2>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The next day happened to be what they called a Wild Afternoon. Father and Mother went
+            out to pay calls; Miss Blake went for a ride on her bicycle, and they were left all
+            alone till eight o’clock. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> When they had seen their dear parents and their dear preceptress politely off the
+            premises they got a cabbage-leaf full of raspberries from the gardener, and a Wild Tea
+            from Ellen. They ate the raspberries to prevent their squashing, and they meant to
+            divide the cabbage-leaf with Three Cows down at the Theatre, but they came across a dead
+            hedgehog which they simply <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">had</span></span> to bury, and the leaf was too
+            useful to waste. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Then they went on to the Forge and found old Hobden the hedger at home with his son
+            the Bee Boy who is not quite right in his head, but who can pick up swarms of bees in
+            his naked hands; and the Bee Boy told them the rhyme about the slow-worm:— </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">‘If I had eyes <span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">as</span></span> I could see,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">No mortal man would trouble me.’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They all had tea together by the hives, and Hobden said the loaf-cake which Ellen had
+            given them was almost as good as what his wife used to make, and he showed them how <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page178">[pg 178]</span><a name="Pg178" id="Pg178" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>to set a wire at the right height for hares. They knew
+            about rabbits already. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Then they climbed up Long Ditch into the lower end of Far Wood. This is sadder and
+            darker than the ‘Volaterrae’ end because of an old marlpit full of black water, where
+            weepy, hairy moss hangs round the stumps of the willows and alders. But the birds come
+            to perch on the dead branches, and Hobden says that the bitter willow-water is a sort of
+            medicine for sick animals. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They sat down on a felled oak-trunk in the shadows of the beech undergrowth, and were
+            looping the wires Hobden had given them, when they saw Parnesius. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘How quietly you came!’ said Una, moving up to make room. ‘Where’s Puck?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The Faun and I have disputed whether it is better that I should tell you all my tale,
+            or leave it untold,’ he replied. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I only said that if he told it as it happened you wouldn’t understand it,’ said Puck,
+            jumping up like a squirrel from behind the log. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I don’t understand all of it,’ said Una, ‘but I like hearing about the little Picts.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> can’t understand,’ said Dan, ‘is how Maximus knew all
+            about the Picts when he was over in Gaul.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He who makes himself Emperor anywhere must know everything, everywhere,’ said
+            Parnesius. ‘We had this much from Maximus’ mouth after the Games.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Games? What games?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Parnesius stretched his arm out stiffly, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page179">[pg 179]</span><a name="Pg179" id="Pg179" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>thumb
+            pointed to the ground. ‘Gladiators! <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">That</span></span> sort of game,’ he said.
+            ‘There were two days’ Games in his honour when he landed all unexpected at Segedunum on
+            the East end of the Wall. Yes, the day after we had met him we held two days’ games; but
+            I think the greatest risk was run, not by the poor wretches on the sand, but by Maximus.
+            In the old days the Legions kept silence before their Emperor. So did not we! You could
+            hear the solid roar run West along the Wall as his chair was carried rocking through the
+            crowds. The garrison beat round him—clamouring, clowning, asking for pay, for change of
+            quarters, for anything that came into their wild heads. That chair was like a little
+            boat among waves, dipping and falling, but always rising again after one had shut the
+            eyes.’ Parnesius shivered. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Were they angry with him?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No more angry than wolves in a cage when their trainer walks among them. If he had
+            turned his back an instant, or for an instant had ceased to hold their eyes, there would
+            have been another Emperor made on the Wall that hour. Was it not so, Faun?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So it was. So it always will be,’ said Puck. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Late in the evening his messenger came for us, and we followed to the Temple of
+            Victory, where he lodged with Rutilianus, the General of the Wall. I had hardly seen the
+            General before, but he always gave me leave when I wished to take Heather. He was a
+            great glutton, and kept five Asian cooks, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page180">[pg 180]</span><a name="Pg180" id="Pg180" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>and he came
+            of a family that believed in oracles. We could smell his good dinner when we entered,
+            but the tables were empty. He lay snorting on a couch. Maximus sat apart among long
+            rolls of accounts. Then the doors were shut. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“These are your men,� said Maximus to the General, who propped his eye-corners open
+            with his gouty fingers, and stared at us like a fish. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I shall know them again, Cæsar,� said Rutilianus. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Very good,� said Maximus. “Now hear! You are not to move man or shield on the Wall
+            except as these boys shall tell you. You will do nothing, except eat, without their
+            permission. They are the head and arms. You are the belly!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“As Cæsar pleases,� the old man grunted. “If my pay and profits are not cut, you may
+            make my Ancestors’ Oracle my master. Rome has been! Rome has been!� Then he turned on
+            his side to sleep. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“He has it,� said Maximus. “We will get to what <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> need.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He unrolled full copies of the number of men and supplies on the Wall—down to the
+            sick that very day in Hunno Hospital. Oh, but I groaned when his pen marked off
+            detachment after detachment of our best—of our least worthless men! He took two towers
+            of our Scythians, two of our North British auxiliaries, two Numidian cohorts, the
+            Dacians all, and half the Belgians. It was like an eagle pecking a carcass. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page181">[pg 181]</span>
+          <a name="Pg181" id="Pg181" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“And now, how many catapults have you?� He turned up a new list, but Pertinax laid
+            his open hand there. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No, Cæsar,� said he. “Do not tempt the Gods too far. Take men, or engines, but not
+            both; else we refuse.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Engines?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The catapults of the Wall—huge things forty feet high to the head—firing nets of
+            raw stone or forged bolts. Nothing can stand against them. He left us our catapults at
+            last, but he took a Cæsar’s half of our men without pity. We were a shell when he rolled
+            up the lists! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Hail, Cæsar! We, about to die, salute you!� said Pertinax, laughing. “If any enemy
+            even leans against the Wall now, it will tumble.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Give me the three years Allo spoke of,� he answered, “and you shall have twenty
+            thousand men of your own choosing up here. But now it is a gamble—a game played against
+            the Gods, and the stakes are Britain, Gaul, and perhaps, Rome. You play on my side?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“We will play, Cæsar,� I said for I had never met a man like this man. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Good. To-morrow,� said he, “I proclaim you Captains of the Wall before the troops.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So we went into the moonlight, where they were cleaning the ground after the Games.
+            We saw great Roma Dea atop of the Wall, the frost on her helmet, and her spear pointed
+            towards the North Star. We saw the twinkle <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page182">[pg 182]</span><a name="Pg182" id="Pg182" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>of
+            night-fires all along the guard-towers, and the line of the black catapults growing
+            smaller and smaller in the distance. All these things we knew till we were weary; but
+            that night they seemed very strange to us, because the next day we knew we were to be
+            their masters. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The men took the news well; but when Maximus went away with half our strength, and we
+            had to spread ourselves into the emptied towers, and the townspeople complained that
+            trade would be ruined, and the Autumn gales blew—it was dark days for us two. Here
+            Pertinax was more than my right hand. Being born and bred among the great country-houses
+            in Gaul, he knew the proper words to address to all—from Roman-born Centurions to those
+            dogs of the Third—the Libyans. And he spoke to each as though that man were as
+            high-minded as himself. Now <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> saw so strongly what things were
+            needed to be done, that I forgot things are only accomplished by means of men. That was
+            a mistake. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I feared nothing from the Picts, at least for that year, but Allo warned me that the
+            Winged Hats would soon come in from the sea at each end of the Wall to prove to the
+            Picts how weak we were. So I made ready in haste, and none too soon. I shifted our best
+            men to the ends of the Wall, and set up screened catapults by the beach. The Winged Hats
+            would drive in before the snow-squalls—ten or twenty boats at a time—on Segedunum or
+            Ituna, according as the wind blew. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Now a ship coming in to land men must <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page183">[pg 183]</span><a name="Pg183" id="Pg183" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>furl her sail.
+            If you wait till you see her men gather up the sail’s foot, your catapults can jerk a
+            net of loose stones (bolts only cut through the cloth) into the bag of it. Then she
+            turns over, and the sea makes everything clean again. A few men may come ashore, but
+            very few.... It was not hard work, except the waiting on the beach in blowing sand and
+            snow. And that was how we dealt with the Winged Hats that winter. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Early in the Spring, when the East winds blow like skinning-knives, they gathered
+            again off the East end with many ships. Allo told me they would never rest till they had
+            taken a tower in open fight. Certainly they fought in the open. We dealt with them
+            thoroughly through a long day: and when all was finished, one man dived clear of the
+            wreckage of his ship, and swam towards shore. I waited, and a wave tumbled him at my
+            feet. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘As I stooped, I saw he wore such a medal as I wear.’ Parnesius raised his hand to his
+            neck. ‘Therefore, when he could speak, I addressed him a certain Question which can only
+            be answered in a certain manner. He answered with the necessary Word—the Word that
+            belongs to the Degree of Gryphons in the science of Mithras my God. I put my shield over
+            him till he could stand up. You see I am not short, but he was a head taller than I. He
+            said: “What now?� I said: “At your pleasure, my brother, to stay or go.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He looked out across the surf. There remained one ship unhurt, beyond range of our
+            catapults. I checked the catapults and he <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page184">[pg 184]</span><a name="Pg184" id="Pg184" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>waved her in.
+            She came as a hound comes to a master. When she was yet a hundred paces from the beach,
+            he flung back his hair, and swam out. They hauled him in, and went away. I knew that
+            those who worship Mithras are many and of all races, so I did not think much more upon
+            the matter. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘A month later I saw Allo with his horses—by the Temple of Pan, O Faun!—and he gave
+            me a great necklace of gold studded with coral. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘At first I thought it was a bribe from some tradesman in the town—meant for old
+            Rutilianus. “Nay,� said Allo. “This is a gift from Amal, that Winged Hat whom you saved
+            on the beach. He says you are a <span class="tei tei-corr">Man.�</span>
+          </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“He is a Man, too. Tell him I can wear his gift,� I answered. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Oh, Amal is a young fool; but, speaking as sensible men, your Emperor is doing such
+            great things in Gaul that the Winged Hats are anxious to be his friends, or, better
+            still, the friends of his servants. They think you and Pertinax could lead them to
+            victories.� Allo looked at me like a one-eyed raven. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Allo,� I said, “you are the corn between the two millstones. Be content if they
+            grind evenly, and don’t thrust your hand between them.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I?� said Allo. “I hate Rome and the Winged Hats equally; but if the Winged Hats
+            thought that some day you and Pertinax might join them against Maximus, they would leave
+            you in peace while you considered. Time is what we need—you and I and Maxi<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page185">[pg 185]</span><a name="Pg185" id="Pg185" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>mus. Let me carry a pleasant message back to the Winged
+            Hats—something for them to make a council over. We barbarians are all alike. We sit up
+            half the night to discuss anything a Roman says. Eh?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“We have no men. We must fight with words,� said Pertinax. “Leave it to Allo and me.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So Allo carried word back to the Winged Hats that we would not fight them if they did
+            not fight us; and they (I think they were a little tired of losing men in the sea)
+            agreed to a sort of truce. I believe Allo, who being a horse-dealer loved lies, also
+            told them we might some day rise against Maximus as Maximus had risen against Rome. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Indeed, they permitted the corn-ships which I sent to the Picts to pass North that
+            season without harm. Therefore the Picts were well fed that winter, and since they were
+            in some sort my children, I was glad of it. We had only two thousand men on the Wall,
+            and I wrote many times to Maximus and begged—prayed—him to send me only one cohort of
+            my old North British troops. He could not spare them. He needed them to win more
+            victories in Gaul. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then came news that he had defeated and slain the Emperor Gratian, and thinking he
+            must now be secure, I wrote again for men. He answered: “You will learn that I have at
+            last settled accounts with the pup Gratian. There was no need that he should have died,
+            but he became confused and lost his head, which is a bad thing to befall any Emperor.
+              <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page186">[pg 186]</span><a name="Pg186" id="Pg186" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Tell your Father I am content to drive two mules
+            only; for unless my old General’s son thinks himself destined to destroy me, I shall
+            rest Emperor of Gaul and Britain, and then you, my two children, will presently get all
+            the men you need. Just now I can spare none.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What did he mean by his General’s son?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He meant Theodosius Emperor of Rome, who was the son of Theodosius the General under
+            whom Maximus had fought in the old Pict War. The two men never loved each other, and
+            when Gratian made the younger Theodosius Emperor of the East (at least, so I’ve heard),
+            Maximus carried on the war to the second generation. It was his fate, and it was his
+            fall. But Theodosius the Emperor is a good man. As I know.’ Parnesius was silent for a
+            moment and then continued. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I wrote back to Maximus that, though we had peace on the Wall, I should be happier
+            with a few more men and some new catapults. He answered: “You must live a little longer
+            under the shadow of my victories, till I can see what young Theodosius intends. He may
+            welcome me as a brother-Emperor, or he may be preparing an army. In either case I cannot
+            spare men just now.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But he was always saying that,’ cried Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It was true. He did not make excuses; but thanks, as he said, to the news of his
+            victories, we had no trouble on the Wall for a long, long time. The Picts grew fat as
+            their own sheep among the heather, and as many <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page187">[pg 187]</span><a name="Pg187" id="Pg187" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>of my
+            men as lived were well exercised in their weapons. Yes, the Wall looked strong. For
+            myself, I knew how weak we were. I knew that if even a false rumour of any defeat to
+            Maximus broke loose among the Winged Hats, they might come down in earnest, and
+            then—the Wall must go! For the Picts I never cared, but in those years I learned
+            something of the strength of the Winged Hats. They increased their strength every day,
+            but I could not increase my men. Maximus had emptied Britain behind us, and I felt
+            myself to be a man with a rotten stick standing before a broken fence to turn bulls. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Thus, my friends, we lived on the Wall, waiting—waiting—waiting for the men that
+            Maximus never sent! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Presently he wrote that he was preparing an army against Theodosius. He wrote—and
+            Pertinax read it over my shoulder in our quarters: “<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Tell your Father
+              that my destiny orders me to drive three mules or be torn in pieces by them. I hope
+              within a year to finish with Theodosius, son of Theodosius, once and for all. Then you
+              shall have Britain to rule, and Pertinax, if he chooses, Gaul. To-day I wish strongly
+              you were with me to beat my Auxiliaries into shape. Do not, I pray you, believe any
+              rumour of my sickness. I have a little evil in my old body which I shall cure by
+              riding swiftly into Rome.</span></span>� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Said Pertinax: “It is finished with Maximus! He writes as a man without hope. I, a
+            man without hope, can see this. What does he add at the bottom of the roll? ‘<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Tell </span><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page188">[pg 188]</span><a name="Pg188" id="Pg188" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-style: italic">Pertinax I have met his late
+              Uncle, the Duumvir of Divio, and that he accounted to me quite truthfully for all his
+              Mother’s monies. I have sent her with a fitting escort, for she is the mother of a
+              hero, to Nicæa, where the climate is warm.</span></span>’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“That is proof!� said Pertinax. “Nicæa is not far by sea from Rome. A woman there
+            could take ship and fly to Rome in time of war. Yes, Maximus foresees his death, and is
+            fulfilling his promises one by one. But I am glad my Uncle met <span class="tei tei-corr">him.�</span>
+          </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“You think blackly <span class="tei tei-corr">to-day?�</span> I asked. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I think truth. The Gods weary of the play we have played against them. Theodosius
+            will destroy Maximus. It is <span class="tei tei-corr">finished!�</span>
+          </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Will you write him that?� I said. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“See what I shall write,� he answered, and he took pen and wrote a letter cheerful as
+            the light of day, tender as a woman’s and full of jests. Even I, reading over his
+            shoulder, took comfort from it till—I saw his face! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“And now,� he said, sealing it, “we be two dead men, my brother. Let us go to the
+            Temple.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We prayed awhile to Mithras, where we had many times prayed before. After that we
+            lived day by day among evil rumours till winter came again. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It happened one morning that we rode to the East Shore, and found on the beach a
+            fair-haired man, half frozen, bound to some broken planks. Turning him over, we saw by
+            his belt-buckle that he was a Goth of an Eastern Legion. Suddenly he opened his eyes and
+            cried loudly: “He is dead! The <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page189">[pg 189]</span><a name="Pg189" id="Pg189" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>letters were with me,
+            but the Winged Hats sunk the ship.� So saying, he died between our hands. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We asked not who was dead. We knew! We raced before the driving snow to Hunno,
+            thinking perhaps Allo might be there. We found him already at our stables, and he saw by
+            our faces what we had heard. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“It was in a tent by the Sea,� he stammered. “He was beheaded by Theodosius. He sent
+            a letter to you, written while he waited to be slain. The Winged Hats met the ship and
+            took it. The news is running through the heather like fire. Blame me not! I cannot hold
+            back my young men any more.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I would we could say as much for our men,� said Pertinax, laughing. “But, Gods be
+            praised, they cannot run away.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“What do you do?� said Allo. “I bring an order—a message—from the Winged Hats that
+            you join them with your men, and march South to plunder Britain.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“It grieves me,� said Pertinax, “but we are stationed here to stop that thing.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“If I carry back such an answer they will kill me,� said Allo. “I always promised the
+            Winged Hats that you would rise when Maximus fell. I—I did not think he could fall.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Alas! my poor barbarian,� said Pertinax, still laughing. “Well, you have sold us too
+            many good ponies to be thrown back to your friends. We will make you a prisoner,
+            although you are an ambassador.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Yes, that will be best,� said Allo, holding <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page190">[pg 190]</span><a name="Pg190" id="Pg190" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>out a
+            halter. We bound him lightly, for he was an old man. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Presently the Winged Hats may come to look for you, and that will give us more time.
+            See how the habit of playing for time sticks to a man!� said Pertinax, as he tied the
+            rope. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No,� I said. “Time may help. If Maximus wrote us letters while he was a prisoner,
+            Theodosius must have sent the ship that brought it. If he can send ships, he can send
+            men.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“How will that profit us?� said Pertinax. “We serve Maximus, not Theodosius. Even if
+            by some miracle of the Gods Theodosius down South sent and saved the Wall, we could not
+            expect more than the death Maximus died.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“It concerns us to defend the Wall, no matter what Emperor dies, or makes die,� I
+            said. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“That is worthy of your brother the philosopher,� said Pertinax. “Myself I am without
+            hope, so I do not say solemn and stupid things! Rouse the Wall!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We armed the Wall from end to end; we told the officers that there was a rumour of
+            Maximus’s death which might bring down the Winged Hats, but we were sure, even if it
+            were true, that Theodosius, for the sake of Britain, would send us help. Therefore, we
+            must stand fast.... My friends, it is above all things strange to see how men bear ill
+            news! Often the strongest till then become the weakest, while the weakest, as it <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page191">[pg 191]</span><a name="Pg191" id="Pg191" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>were, reach up and steal strength from the Gods. So it
+            was with us. Yet my Pertinax by his jests and his courtesy and his labours had put heart
+            and training into our poor numbers during the past years—more than I should have
+            thought possible. Even our Libyan Cohort—the Thirds—stood up in their padded cuirasses
+            and did not whimper. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘In three days came seven chiefs and elders of the Winged Hats. Among them was that
+            tall young man, Amal, whom I had met on the beach, and he smiled when he saw my
+            necklace. We made them welcome, for they were ambassadors. We showed them Allo, alive
+            but bound. They thought we had killed him, and I saw it would not have vexed them if we
+            had. Allo saw it too, and it vexed him. Then in our quarters at Hunno we came to
+            Council. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘They said that Rome was falling, and that we must join them. They offered me all
+            South Britain to govern after they had taken a tribute out of it. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I answered, “Patience. This Wall is not weighed off like plunder. Give me proof that
+            my General is dead.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Nay,� said one elder, “prove to us that he lives�; and another said, cunningly,
+            “What will you give us if we read you his last words?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“We are not merchants to bargain,� cried Amal. “Moreover, I owe this man my life. He
+            shall have his proof.� He threw across to me a letter (well I knew the seal) from
+            Maximus. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page192">[pg 192]</span>
+          <a name="Pg192" id="Pg192" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“We took this out of the ship we sunk,� he cried. “I cannot read, but I know one
+            sign, at least, which makes me believe.� He showed me a dark stain on the outer roll
+            that my heavy heart perceived was the valiant blood of Maximus. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Read!� said Amal. “Read, and then let us hear whose servants you are!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Said Pertinax, very softly, after he had looked through it: “I will read it all.
+            Listen, barbarians!� He read from that which I have carried next my heart ever since.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Parnesius drew from his neck a folded and spotted piece of parchment, and began in a
+            hushed voice:— </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">To Parnesius and Pertinax, the not unworthy Captains of the Wall,
+              from Maximus, once Emperor of Gaul and Britain, now prisoner waiting death by the sea
+              in the camp of Theodosius—Greeting and Good-bye!</span></span>� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Enough,� said young Amal; “there is your proof! You must join us now!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Pertinax looked long and silently at him, till that fair man blushed like a girl.
+            Then read Pertinax:— </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I have joyfully done much evil in my life to those who have wished
+              me evil, but if ever I did any evil to you two I repent, and I ask your forgiveness.
+              The three mules which I strove to drive have torn me in pieces as your Father
+              prophesied. The naked swords wait at the tent door to give me the death I gave to
+              Gratian. Therefore I, your General and your Emperor, send you free and honourable
+              dismissal from my service, which you entered, not for money </span><span class="tei tei-pb" id="page193">[pg 193]</span><a name="Pg193" id="Pg193" class="tei tei-anchor"></a><span style="font-style: italic">or office, but, as it makes me warm to believe, because you loved
+            me!</span></span>� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“By the Light of the Sun,� Amal broke in. “This was in some sort a Man! We may have
+            been mistaken in his servants!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And Pertinax read on: “<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">You gave me the time for which I asked. If I
+              have failed to use it, do not lament. We have gambled very splendidly against the
+              Gods, but they hold weighted dice, and I must pay the forfeit. Remember, I have been;
+              but Rome is; and Rome will be! Tell Pertinax his Mother is in safety at Nicæa, and her
+              monies are in charge of the Prefect at Antipolis. Make my remembrances to your Father
+              and to your Mother, whose friendship was great gain to me. Give also to my little
+              Picts and to the Winged Hats such messages as their thick heads can understand. I
+              would have sent you three Legions this very day if all had gone aright. Do not forget
+              me. We have worked together. Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!</span></span>� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Now, that was my Emperor’s last <span class="tei tei-corr">letter.’</span> (The children heard the parchment
+            crackle as Parnesius returned it to its place.) </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I was mistaken,� said Amal. “The servants of such a man will sell nothing except
+            over the sword. I am glad of it.� He held out his hand to me. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“But Maximus has given you your dismissal,� said an elder. “You are certainly free to
+            serve—or to rule—whom you please. Join—do not follow—join us!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“We thank you,� said Pertinax. “But Maximus tells us to give you such messages as<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page194">[pg 194]</span><a name="Pg194" id="Pg194" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>—pardon me, but I use his words—your thick heads can
+            understand.� He pointed through the door to the foot of a catapult wound up. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“We understand,� said an elder. “The Wall must be won at a price?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“It grieves me,� said Pertinax, laughing, “but so it must be won,� and he gave them
+            of our best Southern wine. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘They drank, and wiped their yellow beards in silence till they rose to go. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Said Amal, stretching himself (for they were barbarians), “We be a goodly company; I
+            wonder what the ravens and the dogfish will make of some of us before this snow melts.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Think rather what Theodosius may send,� I answered; and though they laughed, I saw
+            that my chance shot troubled them. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Only old Allo lingered behind a little. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“You see,� he said, winking and blinking, “I am no more than their dog. When I have
+            shown their men the secret short ways across our bogs, they will kick me like one.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Then I should not be in haste to show them those ways,� said Pertinax, “till I were
+            sure that Rome could not save the Wall.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“You think so? Woe is me!� said the old man. “I only wanted peace for my people,� and
+            he went out stumbling through the snow behind the tall Winged Hats. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘In this fashion then, slowly, a day at a time, which is very bad for doubting troops,
+            the War came upon us. At first the Winged Hats swept in from the sea as they had done
+            before, and there we met them as before—with the catapults; and they sickened of it.
+              <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page195">[pg 195]</span><a name="Pg195" id="Pg195" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Yet for a long time they would not trust their
+            duck-legs on land, and I think when it came to revealing the secrets of the tribe, the
+            little Picts were afraid or ashamed to show them all the roads across the heather. I had
+            this from a Pict prisoner. They were as much our spies as our enemies, for the Winged
+            Hats oppressed them, and took their winter stores. Ah, foolish Little People! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then the Winged Hats began to roll us up from each end of the Wall. I sent runners
+            Southward to see what the news might be in Britain; but the wolves were very bold that
+            winter among the deserted stations where the troops had once been, and none came back.
+            We had trouble too with the forage for the ponies along the Wall. I kept ten, and so did
+            Pertinax. We lived and slept in the saddle riding east or west, and we ate our worn-out
+            ponies. The people of the town also made us some trouble till I gathered them all in one
+            quarter behind Hunno. We broke down the Wall on either side of it to make as it were a
+            citadel. Our men fought better in close order. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘By the end of the second month we were deep in the War as a man is deep in a
+            snow-drift or in a dream. I think we fought in our sleep. At least I know I have gone on
+            the Wall and come off again, remembering nothing between, though my throat was harsh
+            with giving orders, and my sword, I could see, had been used. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The Winged Hats fought like wolves—all in a pack. Where they had suffered most, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page196">[pg 196]</span><a name="Pg196" id="Pg196" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>there they charged in most hotly. This was hard for the
+            defender, but it held them from sweeping on into Britain. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘In those days Pertinax and I wrote on the plaster of the bricked archway into
+            Valentia the names of the towers, and the days on which they fell one by one. We wished
+            for some record. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And the fighting? The fight was always hottest to left and right of the great Statue
+            of Roma Dea, near to Rutilianus’ house. By the light of the Sun, that old fat man, whom
+            we had not considered at all, grew young again among the trumpets! I remember he said
+            his sword was an oracle! “Let us consult the Oracle,� he would say, and put the handle
+            against his ear, and shake his head wisely. “And <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">this</span></span> day is
+            allowed Rutilianus to live,� he would say, and, tucking up his cloak, he would puff and
+            pant and fight well. Oh, there were jests in plenty on the Wall to take the place of
+            food! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We endured for two months and seventeen days—always being pressed from three sides
+            into a smaller space. Several times Allo sent in word that help was at hand. We did not
+            believe it, but it cheered our men. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The end came not with shoutings of joy, but, like the rest, as in a dream. The Winged
+            Hats suddenly left us in peace for one night, and the next day; which is too long for
+            spent men. We slept at first lightly, expecting to be roused, and then like logs, each
+            where he lay. May you never need such sleep! When I waked our towers were full of
+            strange, <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page197">[pg 197]</span><a name="Pg197" id="Pg197" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>armed men, who watched us snoring. I roused
+            Pertinax, and we leaped up together. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“What?� said a young man in clean armour. “Do you fight against Theodosius? Look!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘North we looked over the red snow. No Winged Hats were there. South we looked over
+            the white snow, and behold there were the Eagles of two strong Legions encamped. East
+            and west we saw flame and fighting, but by Hunno all was still. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Trouble no more,� said the young man. “Rome’s arm is long. Where are the Captains of
+            the Wall?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We said we were those men. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“But you are old and grey-haired,� he cried. “Maximus said that they were boys.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Yes that was true some years ago,� said Pertinax. “What is our fate to be, you fine
+            and well-fed child?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I am called Ambrosius, a secretary of the Emperor,� he answered. “Show me a certain
+            letter which Maximus wrote from a tent at Aquileia, and perhaps I will believe.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I took it from my breast, and when he had read it he saluted us, saying: “Your fate
+            is in your own hands. If you choose to serve Theodosius, he will give you a Legion. If
+            it suits you to go to your homes, we will give you a Triumph.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I would like better a bath, wine, food, razors, soaps, oils, and scents,� said
+            Pertinax, laughing. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Oh, I see you are a boy,� said Ambrosius. “And you?� turning to me. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page198">[pg 198]</span>
+          <a name="Pg198" id="Pg198" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“We bear no ill-will against Theodosius, but in War——� I began. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“In War it is as it is in Love,� said Pertinax. “Whether she be good or bad, one
+            gives one’s best once, to one only. That given, there remains no second worth giving or
+            taking.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“That is true,� said Ambrosius. “I was with Maximus before he died. He warned
+            Theodosius that you would never serve him, and frankly I say I am sorry for my Emperor.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“He has Rome to console him,� said Pertinax. “I ask you of your kindness to let us go
+            to our homes and get this smell out of our nostrils.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘None the less they gave us a Triumph!’ </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-tb"> </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It was well earned,’ said Puck, throwing some leaves into the still water of the
+            marlpit. The black, oily circles spread dizzily as the children watched them. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I want to know, oh, ever so many things,’ said Dan, ‘What happened to old Allo? Did
+            the Winged Hats ever come back? And what did Amal do?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And what happened to the fat old General with the five cooks?’ said Una. ‘And what
+            did your Mother say when you came home?’... </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘She’d say you’re settin’ too long over this old pit, so late as ’tis already,’ said
+            old Hobden’s voice behind them. ‘Hst!’ he whispered. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He stood still, for not twenty paces away a magnificent dog-fox sat on his haunches
+            and <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page199">[pg 199]</span><a name="Pg199" id="Pg199" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>looked at the children as though he were an old
+            friend of theirs. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, Mus’ Reynolds, Mus’ Reynolds!’ said Hobden, under his breath. ‘If I knowed all
+            was inside your head, I’d know something wuth knowin’. Mus’ Dan an’ Miss Una, come along
+            o’ me while I lock up my liddle hen-house.’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page200">[pg 200]</span>
+          <a name="Pg200" id="Pg200" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page201">[pg 201]</span>
+          <a name="Pg201" id="Pg201" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf18" id="pdf18"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">A PICT SONG</span></h2>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Rome never looks where she treads,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Always her heavy hooves fall,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And Rome never heeds when we bawl.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Her sentries pass on—that is all,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And we gather behind them in hordes,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And plot to reconquer the Wall,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">With only our tongues for our
+            swords.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">We are the Little Folk—we!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Too little to love or to hate.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Leave us alone and you’ll see</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">How we can drag down the Great!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">We are the worm in the wood!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">We are the rot at the root!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">We are the germ in the blood!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">We are the thorn in the foot!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Mistletoe killing an oak—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Rats gnawing cables in two—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Moths making holes in a cloak—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">How they must love what they do!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Yes,—and we Little Folk too,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">We are as busy as they—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Working our works out of view—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Watch, and you’ll see it some day!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page202">[pg 202]</span>
+          <a name="Pg202" id="Pg202" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">No indeed! We are not strong,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But we know Peoples that are.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Yes, and we’ll guide them along,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To smash and destroy you in War!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">We shall be slaves just the same?</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Yes, we have always been slaves;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But you—you will die of the shame,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And then we shall dance on your graves!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">We are the Little Folk, we! etc.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page203">[pg 203]</span>
+        <a name="Pg203" id="Pg203" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%"> HAL O’ THE DRAFT </span></h1>
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page204">[pg 204]</span>
+        <a name="Pg204" id="Pg204" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+        </p>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page205">[pg 205]</span>
+          <a name="Pg205" id="Pg205" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Prophets have honour all over the Earth,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Except in the village where they were
+              born;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Where such as knew them boys from birth,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Nature-ally hold ’em in scorn.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">When Prophets are naughty and young and vain,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">They make a won’erful grievance of it;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">(You can see by their writings how they </span><span class="tei tei-corr" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">complain),</span></span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But O, ’tis won’erful good for the
+              Prophet!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">There’s nothing Nineveh Town can give,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">(Nor being swallowed by whales between),</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Makes up for the place where a man’s folk live,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">That don’t care nothing what he has been.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">He might ha’ been that, or he might ha’ been this,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But they love and they hate him for what he is!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page206">[pg 206]</span>
+          <a name="Pg206" id="Pg206" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page207">[pg 207]</span>
+          <a name="Pg207" id="Pg207" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf19" id="pdf19"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">HAL O’ THE DRAFT</span></h2>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> A rainy afternoon drove Dan and Una over to play pirates in the Little Mill. If you
+            don’t mind rats on the rafters and oats in your shoes, the mill-attic, with its
+            trap-doors and inscriptions on beams about floods and sweethearts, is a splendid place.
+            It is lighted by a foot-square window, called Duck Window, that looks across to Little
+            Lindens Farm, and the spot where Jack Cade was killed. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> When they had climbed the attic ladder (they called it the ‘mainmast tree’ out of the
+            ballad of Sir Andrew Barton, and Dan ‘swarved it with might and main,’ as the ballad
+            says) they saw a man sitting on Duck window-sill. He was dressed in a plum-coloured
+            doublet and tight plum-coloured hose, and he drew busily in a red-edged book. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Sit ye! Sit ye!’ Puck cried from a rafter overhead. ‘See what it is to be beautiful!
+            Sir Harry Dawe—pardon, Hal—says I am the very image of a head for a gargoyle.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The man laughed and raised his dark velvet cap to the children, and his grizzled hair
+            bristled out in a stormy fringe. He was old—forty at least—but his eyes were young,
+            with funny little wrinkles all round them. A satchel of embroidered leather hung from
+            his broad belt, which looked interesting. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page208">[pg 208]</span>
+          <a name="Pg208" id="Pg208" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘May we see?’ said Una, coming forward. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Surely—sure-ly!’ he said, moving up on the window-seat, and returned to his work
+            with a silver-pointed pencil. Puck sat as though the grin were fixed for ever on his
+            broad face, while they watched the quick, certain fingers that copied it. Presently the
+            man took a reed pen from his satchel, and trimmed it with a little ivory knife, carved
+            in the semblance of a fish. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, what a beauty!’ cried Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘’Ware fingers! That blade is perilous sharp. I made it myself of the best Low Country
+            cross-bow steel. And so, too, this fish. When his back-fin travels to his tail—so—he
+            swallows up the blade, even as the whale swallowed Gaffer Jonah.... Yes, and that’s my
+            ink-horn. I made the four silver saints round it. Press Barnabas’s head. It opens, and
+            then——’ He dipped the trimmed pen, and with careful boldness began to put in the
+            essential lines of Puck’s rugged face, that had been but faintly revealed by the
+            silver-point. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The children gasped, for it fairly leaped from the page. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> As he worked, and the rain fell on the tiles, he talked—now clearly, now muttering,
+            now breaking off to frown or smile at his work. He told them he was born at Little
+            Lindens Farms, and his father used to beat him for drawing things instead of doing
+            things, till an old priest called Father Roger, who drew illuminated letters in rich
+            people’s books, coaxed the parents to let him take the boy <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page209">[pg 209]</span><a name="Pg209" id="Pg209" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>as a sort of painter’s apprentice. Then he went with Father Roger to
+            Oxford, where he cleaned plates and carried cloaks and shoes for the scholars of a
+            College called Merton. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Didn’t you hate that?’ said Dan after a great many other questions. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I never thought on’t. Half Oxford was building new colleges or beautifying the old,
+            and she had called to her aid the master-craftsmen of all Christendie—kings in their
+            trade and honoured of Kings. I knew them. I worked for them: that was enough. No
+            wonder——’ He stopped and laughed. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘You became a great man,’ said Puck. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘They said so, Robin. Even Bramante said so.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Why? What did you do?’ Dan asked. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The artist looked at him queerly. ‘Things in stone and such, up and down England. You
+            would not have heard of ’em. To come nearer home, I re-builded this little St.
+            Bartholomew’s church of ours. It cost me more trouble and sorrow than aught I’ve touched
+            in my life. But ’twas a sound lesson.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Um,’ said Dan. ‘We had lessons this morning.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I’ll not afflict ye, lad,’ said Hal, while Puck roared. ‘Only ’tis strange to think
+            how that little church was re-built, re-roofed, and made glorious, thanks to some few
+            godly Sussex iron-masters, a Bristol sailor lad, a proud ass called Hal o’ the Draft
+            because, d’you see, he was always drawing and drafting; and’—he dragged the words
+              slowly—‘<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">and</span></span> a Scotch pirate.’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page210">[pg 210]</span>
+          <a name="Pg210" id="Pg210" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Pirate?’ said Dan. He wriggled like a hooked fish. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Even that Andrew Barton you were singing of on the stair just now.’ He dipped again
+            in the ink-well, and held his breath over a sweeping line, as though he had forgotten
+            everything else. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Pirates don’t build churches, do they?’ said Dan. ‘Or <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">do</span></span>
+            they?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘They help mightily,’ Hal laughed. ‘But you were at your lessons this morn, Jack
+            Scholar?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, pirates aren’t lessons. It was only Bruce and his silly old spider,’ said Una.
+            ‘Why did Sir Andrew Barton help you?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I question if he ever knew it,’ said Hal, twinkling. ‘Robin, how a-mischief’s name am
+            I to tell these innocents what comes of sinful pride?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, we know all about <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">that</span></span>,’ said Una pertly. ‘If you get too
+            beany—that’s cheeky—you get sat upon, of course.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Hal considered a moment, pen in air, and Puck said some long words. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Aha! That was my case too,’ he cried. ‘Beany—you say—but certainly I did not
+            conduct myself well. I was proud of—of such things as porches—a Galilee porch at
+            Lincoln for choice—proud of one Torrigiano’s arm on my shoulder, proud of my knighthood
+            when I made the gilt scroll-work for <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">The Sovereign</span></span>—our King’s
+            ship. But Father Roger sitting in Merton Library, he did not forget me. At the top of my
+            pride, when I and no other should have builded the porch <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page211">[pg 211]</span><a name="Pg211" id="Pg211" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>at Lincoln, he laid it on me with a terrible forefinger to go back to my Sussex clays
+            and re-build, at my own charges, my own church, where we Dawes have been buried for six
+            generations. “Out! Son of my Art!� said he. “Fight the Devil at home ere you call
+            yourself a man and a craftsman.� And I quaked, and I went.... How’s yon, Robin?’ He
+            flourished the finished sketch before Puck. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Me! Me past peradventure,’ said Puck, smirking like a man at a mirror. ‘Ah, see! The
+            rain has took off! I hate housen in daylight.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Whoop! Holiday!’ cried Hal, leaping up. ‘Who’s for my Little Lindens? We can talk
+            there.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They tumbled downstairs, and turned past the dripping willows by the sunny mill dam. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Body o’ me,’ said Hal, staring at the hop-garden, where the hops were just ready to
+            blossom. ‘What are these vines? No, not vines, and they twine the wrong way to beans.’
+            He began to draw in his ready book. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Hops. New since your day,’ said Puck. ‘They’re an herb of Mars, and their flowers
+            dried flavour ale. We say:— </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">‘“Turkeys, Heresy, Hops, and Beer</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Came into England all in one year.�’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Heresy I know. I’ve seen Hops—God be praised for their beauty! What is your Turkis?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The children laughed. They knew the Lindens turkeys, and as soon as they reached <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page212">[pg 212]</span><a name="Pg212" id="Pg212" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Lindens’ orchard on the hill the flock charged at them. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Out came Hal’s book at once. ‘Hoity-toity!’ he cried. ‘Here’s Pride in purple
+            feathers! Here’s wrathy contempt and the Pomps of the Flesh! How d’you call <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">them</span></span>?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Turkeys! Turkeys!’ the children shouted, as the old gobbler raved and flamed against
+            Hal’s plum-coloured hose. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Save Your Magnificence!’ he said. ‘I’ve drafted two good new things to-day.’ And he
+            doffed his cap to the bubbling bird. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Then they walked through the grass to the knoll where Little Lindens stands. The old
+            farm-house, weather-tiled to the ground, took almost the colour of a blood-ruby in the
+            afternoon light. The pigeons pecked at the mortar in the chimney-stacks; the bees that
+            had lived under the tiles since it was built filled the hot August air with their
+            booming; and the smell of the box-tree by the dairy-window mixed with the smell of earth
+            after rain, bread after baking, and a tickle of wood-smoke. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The farmer’s wife came to the door, baby on arm, shaded her brows against the sun,
+            stooped to pluck a sprig of rosemary, and turned down the orchard. The old spaniel in
+            his barrel barked once or twice to show he was in charge of the empty house. Puck
+            clicked back the garden-gate. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘D’you marvel that I love it?’ said Hal, in a whisper. ‘What can town folk know of the
+          nature of housen—or land?’ </p>
+          <a name="image04" id="image04" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                  <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+                    </p><div class="tei tei-figure" style="text-align: center"><img src="images/col04s.jpg" width="400" height="496" alt="Illustration to page 212" title="‘Hoity-toity,’ he cried. ‘Here’s Pride in purple feathers! Here’s wrathy contempt and the Pomps of the Flesh!’... And he doffed his cap to the bubbling bird." /><div class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">‘Hoity-toity,’ he cried. ‘Here’s Pride in purple feathers!<br /> Here’s wrathy
+                        contempt and the Pomps of the Flesh!’...<br /> And he doffed his cap to the bubbling
+                        bird.</a></div></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They perched themselves arow on the old
+            <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page213">[pg 213]</span><a name="Pg213" id="Pg213" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>hacked oak bench in Lindens’ garden, looking across the valley of the brook at the
+            fern-covered dimples and hollows of the Forge behind Hobden’s cottage. The old man was
+            cutting a faggot in his garden by the hives. It was quite a second after his chopper
+            fell that the chump of the blow reached their lazy ears. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Eh—yeh!’ said Hal. ‘I mind when where that old gaffer stands was Nether
+            Forge—Master John Collins’s foundry. Many a night has his big trip-hammer shook me in
+            my bed here. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Boom-bitty! Boom-bitty!</span></span> If the wind was east, I
+            could hear Master Tom Collins’s forge at Stockens answering his brother, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Boom-oop! Boom-oop!</span></span> and midway between, Sir John Pelham’s
+            sledge-hammers at Brightling would strike in like a pack o’scholars, and “<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hic-haec-hoc</span></span>� they’d say, “<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Hic-haec-hoc</span></span>,�
+            till I fell asleep. Yes. The valley was as full o’ forges and fineries as a May shaw o’
+            cuckoos. All gone to grass now!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What did they make?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Guns for the King’s ships—and for others. Serpentines and cannon mostly. When the
+            guns were cast, down would come the King’s Officers, and take our plough-oxen to haul
+            them to the coast. Look! Here’s one of the first and finest craftsmen of the Sea!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He fluttered back a page of his book, and showed them a young man’s head. Underneath
+            was written: ‘Sebastianus.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He came down with a King’s Order on Master John Collins for twenty serpentines
+            (wicked little cannon they be!) to furnish a <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page214">[pg 214]</span><a name="Pg214" id="Pg214" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>venture of
+            ships. I drafted him thus sitting by our fire telling Mother of the new lands he’d find
+            the far side the world. And he found them, too! There’s a nose to cleave through unknown
+            seas! Cabot was his name—a Bristol lad—half a foreigner. I set a heap by him. He
+            helped me to my church-building.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I thought that was Sir Andrew Barton,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Ay, but foundations before roofs,’ Hal answered. ‘Sebastian first put me in the way
+            of it. I had come down here, not to serve God as a craftsman should, but to show my
+            people how great a craftsman I was. They cared not, and it served me right, one split
+            straw for my craft or my greatness. What a murrain call had I, they said, to mell with
+            old St. Barnabas’s? Ruinous the church had been since the Black Death, and ruinous she
+            should remain; and I could hang myself in my new scaffold-ropes! Gentle and simple, high
+            and low—the Hayes, the Fowles, the Fanners, the Collinses—they were all in a tale
+            against me. Only Sir John Pelham up yonder to Brightling bade me heart-up and go on. Yet
+            how could I? Did I ask Master Collins for his timber-tug to haul beams? The oxen had
+            gone to Lewes after <span class="tei tei-corr">lime.</span> Did he promise me a set of iron cramps
+            or ties for the roof? They never came to hand, or else they were spaulty or cracked. So
+            with everything. Nothing said, but naught done except I stood by them, and then done
+            amiss. I thought the countryside was fair bewitched.’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page215">[pg 215]</span>
+          <a name="Pg215" id="Pg215" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It was, sure-ly,’ said Puck, knees under chin. ‘Did you never suspect any one?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Not till Sebastian came for his guns, and John Collins played him the same dog’s
+            tricks as he’d played me with my ironwork. Week in, week out, two of three serpentines
+            would be flawed in the casting, and only fit, they said, to be remelted. Then John
+            Collins would shake his head, and vow he could pass no cannon for the King’s service
+            that were not perfect. Saints! How Sebastian stormed! <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> know, for
+            we sat on this bench sharing our sorrows inter-common. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘When Sebastian had fumed away six weeks at Lindens and gotten just six serpentines,
+            Dirk Brenzett, Master of the <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Cygnet</span></span> hoy, sends me word that the
+            block of stone he was fetching me from France for our new font he’d hove overboard to
+            lighten his ship, chased by Andrew Barton up to Rye Port.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Ah! The pirate!’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes. And while I am tearing my hair over this, Ticehurst Will, my best mason, comes
+            to me shaking, and vowing that the Devil, horned, tailed, and chained, has run out on
+            him from the church-tower, and the men would work there no more. So I took ’em off the
+            foundations, which we were strengthening, and went into the Bell Tavern for a cup of
+            ale. Says Master John Collins: “Have it your own way, lad; but if I was you, I’d take
+            the sinnification o’ the sign, and leave old Barnabas’s Church alone!� And they all
+            wagged their sinful heads, and agreed. Less afraid of the Devil than of me—as I saw
+            later. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page216">[pg 216]</span>
+          <a name="Pg216" id="Pg216" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘When I brought my sweet news to Lindens, Sebastian was <span class="tei tei-sic">limewashing</span> the
+            kitchen-beams for Mother. He loved her like a son. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Cheer up, lad,� he says. “God’s where He was. Only you and I chance to be pure pute
+            asses! We’ve been tricked, Hal, and more shame to me, a sailor, that I did not guess it
+            before! You must leave your belfry alone, forsooth, because the Devil is adrift there;
+            and I cannot get my serpentines because John Collins cannot cast them aright. Meantime
+            Andrew Barton hawks off the Port of Rye. And why? To take those very serpentines which
+            poor Cabot must whistle for; the said serpentines, I’ll wager my share of new
+            Continents, being now hid away in St. Barnabas church tower. Clear as the Irish coast at
+            noonday!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“They’d sure never dare to do it,� I said; “and for another thing, selling cannon to
+            the King’s enemies is black treason—hanging and fine.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“It is sure large profit. Men’ll dare any gallows for that. I have been a trader
+            myself,� says he. “We must be upsides with ’em for the honour of Bristol.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then he hatched a plot, sitting on the <span class="tei tei-sic">lime-wash</span> bucket. We gave out to
+            ride o’ Tuesday to London and made a show of making farewells of our friends—especially
+            of Master John Collins. But at Wadhurst Woods we turned; rode by night to the
+            watermeadows; hid our horses in a willow-tot at the foot of the glebe, and stole
+            a-tiptoe up hill to Bar<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page217">[pg 217]</span><a name="Pg217" id="Pg217" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>nabas’s church again. A thick
+            mist, and a moon coming through. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I had no sooner locked the tower-door behind us than over goes Sebastian full length
+            in the dark. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Pest!� he says. “Step high and feel low, Hal. I’ve stumbled over guns before.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I groped, and one by one—the tower was pitchy dark—I counted the lither barrels of
+            twenty serpentines laid out on pease-straw. No conceal at all! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“There’s two demi-cannon my end,� says Sebastian, slapping metal. “They’ll be for
+            Andrew Barton’s lower deck. Honest—honest John Collins! So this is his warehouse, his
+            arsenal, his armoury! Now, see you why your pokings and pryings have raised the Devil in
+            Sussex? You’ve hindered John’s lawful trade for months,� and he laughed where he lay. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘A clay-cold tower is no fireside at midnight, so we climbed the belfry stairs, and
+            there Sebastian trips over a cow-hide with its horns and tail. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Aha! Your Devil has left his doublet! Does it become me, Hal?� He draws it on and
+            capers in the slits of window-moonlight—won’erful devilish-like. Then he sits on the
+            stair, rapping with his tail on a board, and his back-aspect was dreader than his front;
+            and a howlet lit in, and screeched at the horns of him. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“If you’d keep out the Devil, shut the door,� he whispered. “And that’s another <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page218">[pg 218]</span><a name="Pg218" id="Pg218" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>false proverb, Hal, for I can hear your tower-door
+            opening.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I locked it. Who a-plague has another key, then?� I said. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“All the congregation, to judge by their feet,� he says, and peers into the
+            blackness. “Still! Still, Hal! Hear ’em grunt! That’s more o’ my <span class="tei tei-corr">serpentines</span>, I’ll be bound. One—two—three—four they bear in! Faith, Andrew
+            equips himself like an admiral! Twenty-four serpentines in all!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘As if it had been an echo, we heard John Collins’s voice come up all hollow:
+            “Twenty-four serpentines and two demi-cannon. That’s the full tally for Sir Andrew
+            Barton.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Courtesy costs naught,� whispers Sebastian. “Shall I drop my dagger on his head?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“They go over to Rye o’ Thursday in the <span class="tei tei-sic">wool-wains</span>, hid
+            under the wool packs. Dirk Brenzett meets them at Udimore, as before,� says John. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Lord! What a worn, handsmooth trade it is!� says Sebastian. “I lay we are the sole
+            two babes in the village that have not our lawful share in the venture.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘There was a full score folk below, talking like all Robertsbridge Market. We counted
+            them by voice. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Master John Collins pipes: “The guns for the French carrack must lie here next month.
+            Will, when does your young fool (me, so please you!) come back from Lunnon?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No odds,� I heard Ticehurst Will answer.
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page219">[pg 219]</span>
+          <a name="Pg219" id="Pg219" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>“Lay ’em just where you’ve a mind, Mus’ Collins. We’re all too afraid o’ the Devil to
+            mell with the tower now.� And the long knave laughed. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Ah! ’tis easy enow for you to raise the Devil, Will,� says another—Ralph Hobden
+            from the Forge. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Aaa-men!� roars Sebastian, and ere I could hold him, he leaps down the
+            stairs—won’erful devilish-like—howling no bounds. He had scarce time to lay out for
+            the nearest than they ran. Saints, how they ran! We heard them pound on the door of the
+            Bell Tavern, and then we ran too. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“What’s next?� says Sebastian, looping up his cow-tail as he leaped the briars. “I’ve
+            broke honest John’s face.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Ride to Sir John Pelham’s,� I said. “He is the only one that ever stood by me.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We rode to Brightling, and past Sir John’s lodges, where the keepers would have shot
+            at us for deer-stealers, and we had Sir John down into his Justice’s chair, and when we
+            had told him our tale and showed him the cow-hide which Sebastian wore still girt about
+            him, he laughed till the tears ran. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Wel-a-well!� he says. “I’ll see justice done before daylight. What’s your complaint?
+            Master Collins is my old friend.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“He’s none of mine,� I cried. “When I think how he and his likes have baulked and
+            dozened and cozened me at every turn over the church�——and I choked at the thought. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Ah, but ye see now they needed it for another use,� says he, smoothly. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page220">[pg 220]</span>
+          <a name="Pg220" id="Pg220" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“So they did my serpentines,� Sebastian cries. “I should be half across the Western
+            Ocean by this if my guns had been ready. But they’re sold to a Scotch pirate by your old
+            friend.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Where’s your proof?� says Sir John, stroking his beard. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I broke my shins over them not an hour since, and I heard John give order where they
+            were to be taken,� says Sebastian. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Words! Words only,� says Sir John. “Master Collins is somewhat of a liar at best.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He carried it so gravely, that for the moment, I thought he was dipped in this secret
+            traffick too, and that there was not an honest ironmaster in Sussex. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Name o’ Reason!� says Sebastian, and raps with his cow-tail on the table, “Whose
+            guns are they, then?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Yours, manifestly,� says Sir John. “You come with the King’s Order for ’em, and
+            Master Collins casts them in his foundry. If he chooses to bring them up from Nether
+            Forge and lay ’em out in the church tower, why they are e’en so much the nearer to the
+            main road and you are saved a day’s hauling. What a coil to make of a mere act of
+            neighbourly kindness, lad!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I fear I have requited him very scurvily,� says Sebastian, looking at his knuckles.
+            “But what of the demi-cannon? I could do with ’em well, but <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">they</span></span>
+            are not in the King’s Order.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Kindness—loving-kindness,� says Sir John. “Questionless, in his zeal for the King
+            and his love for you, John adds those two <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page221">[pg 221]</span><a name="Pg221" id="Pg221" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>cannon as a
+            gift. ’Tis plain as this coming daylight, ye stockfish!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“So it is,� says Sebastian. “Oh, Sir John, Sir John, why did you never use the sea?
+            You are lost ashore.� And he looked on him with great love. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I do my best in my station.� Sir John strokes his beard again and rolls forth his
+            deep drumming Justice’s voice thus:—“But—suffer me!—you two lads, on some midnight
+            frolic into which I probe not, roystering around the taverns, surprise Master Collins at
+            his�—he thinks a moment—“at his good deeds done by stealth. Ye surprise him, I say,
+            cruelly.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Truth, Sir John. If you had seen him run!� says Sebastian. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“On this you ride breakneck to me with a tale of pirates, and wool-wains, and
+            cow-hides, which, though it hath moved my mirth as a man, offendeth my reason as a
+            magistrate. So I will e’en accompany you back to the tower with, perhaps, some few of my
+            own people, and three to four wagons, and I’ll be your warrant that Master John Collins
+            will freely give you your guns and your demi-cannon, Master Sebastian.� He breaks into
+            his proper voice—“I warned the old tod and his neighbours long ago that they’d come to
+            trouble with their side-sellings and bye-dealings; but we cannot have half Sussex hanged
+            for a little gun-running. Are ye content, lads?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I’d commit any treason for two demi-cannon,� said Sebastian, and rubs his hands. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page222">[pg 222]</span>
+          <a name="Pg222" id="Pg222" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Ye have just compounded with rank treason-felony for the same bribe,� says Sir John.
+            “Wherefore to horse, and get the guns.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But Master Collins meant the guns for Sir Andrew Barton all along, didn’t he?’ said
+            Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Questionless, that he did,’ said Hal. ‘But he lost them. We poured into the village
+            on the red edge of dawn, Sir John horsed, in half-armour, his pennon flying; behind him
+            thirty stout Brightling knaves, five abreast; behind them four wool-wains, and behind
+            them four trumpets to triumph over the jest, blowing: <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Our King went
+              forth to Normandie</span></span>. When we halted and rolled the ringing guns out of the tower,
+            ’twas for all the world like Friar Roger’s picture of the French siege in the Queen’s
+            Missal-book.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And what did we—I mean, what did our village do?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh! Bore it nobly—nobly,’ cried Hal. ‘Though they had tricked me, I was proud of us.
+            They came out of their housen, looked at that little army as though it had been a post,
+            and went their shut-mouthed way. Never a sign! Never a word! They’d ha’ perished sooner
+            than let Brightling overcrow us. Even that villain, Ticehurst Will, coming out of the
+            Bell for his morning ale, he all but ran under Sir John’s horse. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Ware, Sirrah Devil!� cries Sir John, reining back. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Oh!� says Will. “Market day, is it? And all the bullocks from Brightling here?�</p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page223">[pg 223]</span>
+          <a name="Pg223" id="Pg223" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I spared him his belting for that—the brazen knave! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But John Collins was our masterpiece! He happened along-street (his jaw tied up where
+            Sebastian had clouted him) when we were trundling the first demi-cannon through the
+            lych-gate. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“I reckon you’ll find her middlin’ heavy,� he says. “If you’ve a mind to pay, I’ll
+            loan ye my timber-tug. She won’t lie easy on <span class="tei tei-sic">ary</span> wool-wain.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘That was the one time I ever saw Sebastian taken flat aback. He opened and shut his
+            mouth, fishy-like. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No offence,� says Master John. “You’ve got her reasonable good cheap. I thought ye
+            might not grudge me a groat if I help move her.� Ah, he was a masterpiece! They say that
+            morning’s work cost our John two hundred pounds, and he never winked an eyelid, not even
+            when he saw the guns all carted off to Lewes.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Neither then nor later?’ said Puck. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Once. ’Twas after he gave St. Barnabas the new chime of bells. (Oh, there was nothing
+            the Collinses, or the Hayes, or the Fowles, or the Fanners would not do for the church
+            then! “Ask and have� was their song.) We had rung ’em in, and he was in the tower with
+            Black Nick Fowle, that gave us our rood-screen. The old man pinches the bell-rope one
+            hand and scratches his neck with t’other. “Sooner she was pulling yon clapper than my
+            neck,� he says. That was all! That was Sussex—seely Sussex for everlastin’!’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page224">[pg 224]</span>
+          <a name="Pg224" id="Pg224" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And what happened after?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I went back into England,’ said Hal, slowly. ‘I’d had my lesson against pride. But
+            they tell me I left St. Barnabas’s a jewel—just about a jewel! Wel-a-well! ’Twas done
+            for and among my own people, and—Father Roger was right—I never knew such trouble or
+            such triumph since. That’s the nature o’ things. A dear—dear land.’ He dropped his chin
+            on his chest. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘There’s your Father at the Forge. What’s he talking to old Hobden about?’ said Puck,
+            opening his hand with three leaves in it. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Dan looked towards the cottage. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, I know. It’s that old oak lying across the brook. Pater always wants it grubbed.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> In the still valley they could hear old Hobden’s deep tones. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Have it <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">as</span></span> you’ve a mind to,’ he was saying. ‘But the vivers
+            of her roots they hold the bank together. If you grub her out, the bank she’ll all come
+            tearin’ down, an’ next floods the brook’ll swarve up. But have it <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">as</span></span> you’ve a mind. The mistuss she sets a heap by the ferns on her trunk.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh! I’ll think it over,’ said the Pater. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Una laughed a little bubbling chuckle. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What Devil’s in <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">that</span></span> belfry?’ said Hal, with a lazy laugh.
+            ‘That should be Hobden by his <span class="tei tei-corr">voice.’</span>
+          </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Why, the oak is the regular bridge for all the rabbits between the Three Acre and our
+            meadow. The best place for wires on the farm, Hobden says. He’s got two there now,’ <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page225">[pg 225]</span><a name="Pg225" id="Pg225" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Una answered. ‘<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">He</span></span> won’t ever let
+            it be grubbed!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Ah, Sussex! Silly Sussex for everlastin’,’ murmured Hal; and the next moment their
+            Father’s voice calling across to Little Lindens broke the spell as St. Barnabas’s clock
+            struck five. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page226">[pg 226]</span>
+          <a name="Pg226" id="Pg226" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page227">[pg 227]</span>
+          <a name="Pg227" id="Pg227" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf20" id="pdf20"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">SMUGGLERS’ SONG</span></h2>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse’s feet,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Don’t go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Them that asks no questions isn’t told a lie.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Five and twenty ponies</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Trotting through the dark;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Brandy for the Parson,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">’Baccy for the Clerk</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Laces for a lady, letters for a spy,</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Running round the woodlump if you chance to find</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandywined;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Don’t you shout to come and look, nor take ’em for your play;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Put the brishwood back again,—and they’ll be gone next
+            day!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">If you see the stableyard setting open wide;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">If you see a tied horse lying down inside;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">If the lining’s wet and warm—don’t you ask no more!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page228">[pg 228]</span>
+          <a name="Pg228" id="Pg228" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">If you meet King George’s men, dressed in blue and red,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">If they call you ’pretty maid,’ and chuck you ’neath the chin,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Don’t you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one’s
+            been!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Knocks and footsteps round the house—whistles after dark—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">You’ve no call for running out till the house-dogs bark.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Trusty’s <span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">here, and</span></span> Pincher’s <span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">here, and see
+                how dumb they lie—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">They don’t fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">If you do as you’ve been told, likely there’s a chance,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">You’ll be give a dainty doll, all the way from France,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">A present from the Gentlemen, along o’ being good!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Five and twenty ponies,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Trotting through the Park—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Brandy for the Parson,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">’Baccy for the Clerk.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Them that asks no questions isn’t told a lie.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page229">[pg 229]</span>
+        <a name="Pg229" id="Pg229" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%"> ‘DYMCHURCH FLIT’ </span></h1>
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page230">[pg 230]</span>
+        <a name="Pg230" id="Pg230" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page231">[pg 231]</span>
+          <a name="Pg231" id="Pg231" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf21" id="pdf21"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE BEE BOY’S SONG</span></h2>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Bees! Bees! Hark to the Bees!</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">‘Hide from your neighbours as much as you please,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">But all that has happened to <span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">us</span></span> you must tell!</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Or else we will give you no honey to sell.’</div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">A maiden in her glory,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Upon her wedding-day,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Must tell her Bees the story,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Or else they’ll fly away.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 6.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Fly away—die away—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 8.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Dwindle down and leave you!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 6.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But if you don’t deceive your Bees,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 8.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Your Bees will not deceive you!—</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Marriage, birth or buryin’,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">News across the seas,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">All you’re sad or merry in,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">You must tell the Bees.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 6.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Tell ’em coming in an’ out,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 8.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Where the Fanners fan,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 6.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">’Cause the Bees are justabout</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 8.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">As curious as a man!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Don’t you wait where trees are,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">When the lightnings play;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 2.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Nor don’t you hate where Bees are,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 4.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Or else they’ll pine away.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 6.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Pine away—dwine away—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 8.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Anything to leave you!</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 6.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But if you never grieve your Bees,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left; margin-left: 8.00em"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Your Bees’ll never grieve you.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page232">[pg 232]</span>
+          <a name="Pg232" id="Pg232" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page233">[pg 233]</span>
+          <a name="Pg233" id="Pg233" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf22" id="pdf22"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">‘DYMCHURCH FLIT’</span></h2>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Just at dusk, a soft September rain began to fall on the hop-pickers. The mothers
+            wheeled the bouncing perambulators out of the gardens; bins were put away, and
+            tally-books made up. The young couples strolled home, two to each umbrella, and the
+            single men walked behind them laughing. Dan and Una, who had been picking after their
+            lessons, marched off to roast potatoes at the oast-house, where old Hobden, with
+            Blue-eyed Bess, his lurcher-dog, lived all the month through, drying the hops. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They settled themselves, as usual, on the sack-strewn cot in front of the fires, and,
+            when Hobden drew up the shutter, stared, as usual, at the flameless bed of coals
+            spouting its heat up the dark well of the old-fashioned roundel. Slowly he cracked off a
+            few fresh pieces of coal, packed them, with fingers that never flinched, exactly where
+            they would do most good; slowly he reached behind him till Dan tilted the potatoes into
+            his iron scoop of a hand; carefully he arranged them round the fire, and then stood for
+            a moment, black against the glare. As he closed the shutter, the oast-house seemed dark
+            before the day’s end, and he lit the candle in the lanthorn. The children liked all
+            these things because they knew them so well. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page234">[pg 234]</span>
+          <a name="Pg234" id="Pg234" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The Bee Boy, Hobden’s son, who is not quite right in his head, though he can do
+            anything with bees, slipped in like a shadow. They only guessed it when Bess’s
+            stump-tail wagged against them. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> A big voice began singing outside in the drizzle:— </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">‘Old Mother Laidinwool had nigh twelve months been dead,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">She heard the hops were doing well, and then popped up her head.’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘There can’t be two people made to holler like that!’ cried old Hobden, wheeling
+            round. </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">‘For, says she, “The boys I’ve picked with when I was young and fair,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">They’re bound to be at hoppin’, and I’m——�’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> A man showed at the doorway. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Well, well! They do say hoppin’ll draw the very deadest; and now I belieft ’em. You,
+            Tom? Tom Shoesmith!’ Hobden lowered his lanthorn. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘You’re a hem of a time makin’ your mind to it, Ralph!’ The stranger strode in—three
+            full inches taller than Hobden, a grey-whiskered, brown-faced giant with clear blue
+            eyes. They shook hands, and the children could hear the hard palms rasp together. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘You ain’t lost none o’ your grip,’ said Hobden. ‘Was it thirty or forty year back you
+            broke my head at Peasmarsh Fair?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Only thirty, an’ no odds ’tween us regardin’ heads, neither. You had it back at me
+            with a hop-pole. How did we get home that night? Swimmin’?’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page235">[pg 235]</span>
+          <a name="Pg235" id="Pg235" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Same way the pheasant come into Gubbs’s pocket—by a little luck an’ a deal o’ <span class="tei tei-corr">conjurin’.’</span> Old Hobden laughed in his deep chest. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I see you’ve not forgot your way about the woods. D’ye do any o’ <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">this</span></span> still?’ The stranger pretended to look along a gun. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Hobden answered with a quick movement of the hand as though he were pegging down a
+            rabbit-wire. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">That’s</span></span> all that’s left me now. Age she must as Age she
+            can. An’ what’s your news since all these years?’ </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">‘Oh, I’ve bin to Plymouth, I’ve bin to Dover—</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">I’ve bin ramblin’, boys, the wide world over,’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> the man answered cheerily. ‘I reckon I know as much of Old England as most.’ He turned
+            towards the children and winked boldly. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I lay they told you a sight o’ lies, then. I’ve been into England fur as Wiltsheer
+            once. I was cheated proper over a pair of hedging-gloves,’ said Hobden. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘There’s fancy-talkin’ everywhere. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">You’ve</span></span> cleaved to your own
+            parts pretty middlin’ close, Ralph.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Can’t shift an old tree ’thout it dyin’,’ Hobden chuckled. ‘An’ I be no more anxious
+            to die than you look to be to help me with my hops to-night.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The great man leaned against the brickwork of the roundel, and swung his arms abroad.
+            ‘Hire me!’ was all he said, and they stumped upstairs laughing. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page236">[pg 236]</span>
+          <a name="Pg236" id="Pg236" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The children heard their shovels rasp on the cloth where the yellow hops lie drying
+            above the fires, and all the oast-house filled with the sweet, sleepy smell as they were
+            turned. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Who is it?’ Una whispered to the Bee Boy. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Dunno, no more’n you—if <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">you</span></span> dunno,’ said he, and smiled. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The voices on the drying-floor talked and chuckled together, and the heavy footsteps
+            went back and forth. Presently a hop-pocket dropped through the press-hole overhead, and
+            stiffened and fattened as they shovelled it full. ‘Clank!’ went the press, and rammed
+            the loose stuff into tight cake. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Gently!’ they heard Hobden cry. ‘You’ll bust her crop if you lay on so. You be as
+            careless as Gleason’s bull, Tom. Come an’ sit by the fires. She’ll do now.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They came down, and as Hobden opened the shutter to see if the potatoes were done Tom
+            Shoesmith said to the children, ‘Put a plenty salt on ’em. That’ll show you the sort o’
+            man <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> be.’ Again he winked, and again the Bee Boy laughed and Una
+            stared at Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> know what sort o’ man you be,’ old Hobden grunted, groping
+            for the potatoes round the fire. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Do ye?’ Tom went on behind his back. ‘Some of us can’t abide Horseshoes, or Church
+            Bells, or Running Water; an’, talkin’ o’ runnin’ water’—he turned to Hobden, who was
+            backing out of the roundel—‘d’you mind <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page237">[pg 237]</span><a name="Pg237" id="Pg237" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>the great
+            floods at Robertsbridge, when the miller’s man was drowned in the street?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Middlin’ well.’ Old Hobden let himself down on the coals by the fire door. ‘I was
+            courtin’ my woman on the Marsh that year. Carter to Mus’ Plum I was—gettin’ ten
+            shillin’s week. Mine was a Marsh woman.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Won’erful odd-gates place—Romney Marsh,’ said Tom Shoesmith. ‘I’ve heard say the
+            world’s divided like into Europe, Ashy, Afriky, Ameriky, Australy, an’ Romney Marsh.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The Marsh folk think so,’ said Hobden. ‘I had a hem o’ trouble to get my woman to
+            leave it.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Where did she come out of? I’ve forgot, Ralph.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+            <span class="tei tei-corr">‘Dymchurch</span> under the Wall,’ Hobden answered, a potato in
+            his hand. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then she’d be a Pett—or a Whitgift, would she?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Whitgift.’ Hobden broke open the potato and ate it with the curious neatness of men
+            who make most of their meals in the blowy open. ‘She growed to be quite reasonable-like
+            after livin’ in the Weald awhile, but our first twenty year or two she was
+            odd-fashioned, no bounds. And she was a won’erful hand with bees.’ He cut away a little
+            piece of potato and threw it out to the door. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Ah! I’ve heard say the Whitgifts could see further through a millstone than most,’
+            said Shoesmith. ‘Did she, now?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘She was honest-innocent, of any nigro<span class="tei tei-pb" id="page238">[pg 238]</span><a name="Pg238" id="Pg238" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>mancin’,’ said
+            Hobden. ‘Only she’d read signs and sinnifications out o’ birds flyin’, stars fallin’,
+            bees hivin’, and such. An’ she’d lie awake—listenin’ for calls, she said.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘That don’t prove naught,’ said Tom. ‘All Marsh folk has been smugglers since time
+            everlastin’. ’Twould be in her blood to listen out o’ nights.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Nature-ally,’ old Hobden replied, smiling. ‘I mind when there was smugglin’ a sight
+            nearer us than the Marsh be. But that wasn’t my woman’s trouble. ’Twas a passel o’
+            no-sense talk,’ he dropped his voice, ‘about Pharisees.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes. I’ve heard Marsh men beleft in ’em.’ Tom looked straight at the wide-eyed
+            children beside Bess. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Pharisees,’ cried Una. ‘Fairies? Oh, I see!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘People o’ the Hills,’ said the Bee Boy, throwing half of his potato towards the door. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘There you be!’ said Hobden, pointing at him. ‘My boy, he has her eyes and her
+            out-gate senses. That’s what <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">she</span></span> called ’em!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And what did you think of it all?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Um—um,’ Hobden rumbled. ‘A man that uses fields an’ shaws after dark as much as I’ve
+            done, he don’t go out of his road excep’ for keepers.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But settin’ that aside?’ said Tom, coaxingly. ‘I saw ye throw the Good Piece out-at
+            doors just now. Do ye believe or—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">do</span></span> ye?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘There was a great black eye to that tater,’ said Hobden, indignantly. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘My liddle eye didn’t see un, then. It <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page239">[pg 239]</span><a name="Pg239" id="Pg239" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>looked as if
+            you meant it for—for Any One that might need it. But settin’ that aside. D’ye believe
+              or—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">do</span></span> ye?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I ain’t sayin’ <span class="tei tei-corr">nothin’,</span> because I’ve heard naught, an’ I’ve seen naught. But if you
+            was to say there was more things after dark in the shaws than men, or fur, or feather,
+            or fin, I dunno as I’d go farabout to call you a liar. Now turn again, Tom. What’s your
+            say?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I’m like you. I say nothin’. But I’ll tell you a tale, an’ you can fit it <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">as</span></span> how you please.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Passel o’ no-sense stuff,’ growled Hobden, but he filled his pipe. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The Marsh men they call it Dymchurch Flit,’ Tom went on slowly. ‘Hap you’ve heard
+            it?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘My woman she’ve told it me scores o’ times. Dunno as I didn’t end by belieft in’
+            it—sometimes.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Hobden crossed over as he spoke, and sucked with his pipe at the yellow
+            lanthorn-flame. Tom rested one great elbow on one great knee, where he sat among the
+            coal. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Have you ever bin in the Marsh?’ he said to Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Only as far as Rye, once,’ Dan answered. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Ah, that’s but the edge. Back behind of her there’s steeples settin’ beside churches,
+            an’ wise women settin’ beside their doors, an’ the sea settin’ above the land, an’ ducks
+            herdin’ wild in the diks’ (he meant ditches). ‘The Marsh is justabout riddled with diks
+            an’ sluices, an’ tide-gates an’ water-lets. You can hear em’ bubblin’ an’ grummelin’
+            when the tide works in em’, an’ then you hear the <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page240">[pg 240]</span><a name="Pg240" id="Pg240" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>sea
+            rangin’ left and right-handed all up along the Wall. You’ve seen how flat she is—the
+            Marsh? You’d think nothin’ easier than to walk eend-on acrost her? Ah, but the diks an’
+            the water-lets, they twists the roads about as ravelly as witch-yarn on the spindles. So
+            ye get all turned round in broad daylight.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘That’s because they’ve dreened the waters into the diks,’ said Hobden. ‘When I
+            courted my woman the rushes was green—Eh me! the rushes was green—an’ the Bailiff o’
+            the Marshes, he rode up and down as free as the fog.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Who was he?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Why, the Marsh fever an’ ague. He’ve clapped me on the <span class="tei tei-corr">shoulder</span> once or twice till I
+            shook proper. But now the dreenin’ off of the waters have done away with the fevers; so
+            they make a joke, like, that the Bailiff o’ the Marshes broke his neck in a dik. A
+            won’erful place for bees an’ ducks ’tis too.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘An’ old!’ Tom went on. ‘Flesh an’ Blood have been there since Time Everlastin’
+            Beyond. Well, now, speakin’ among themselves, the Marshmen say that from Time
+            Everlastin’ Beyond the Pharisees favoured the Marsh above the rest of Old England. I lay
+            the Marshmen ought to know. They’ve been out after dark, father an’ son, smugglin’ some
+            one thing or t’other, since ever wool grew to sheep’s backs. They say there was always a
+            middlin’ few Pharisees to be seen on the Marsh. Impident as rabbits, they was. They’d
+            dance on the nakid roads in the nakid daytime; they’d flash their liddle green lights
+              <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page241">[pg 241]</span><a name="Pg241" id="Pg241" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>along the diks, comin’ an’ goin’, like honest
+            smugglers. Yes, an’ times they’d lock the church doors against parson an’ clerk of
+            Sundays!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘That ’ud be smugglers layin’ in the lace or the brandy till they could run it out o’
+            the Marsh. I’ve told my woman so,’ said Hobden. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I’ll lay she didn’t beleft it, then—not if she was a Whitgift. A won’erful choice
+            place for Pharisees, the Marsh, by all accounts, till Queen Bess’s father he come in
+            with his Reformatories.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Would that be a Act o’ Parliament like?’ Hobden asked. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Sure-ly! ’Can’t do nothing in Old England without Act, Warrant, an’ Summons. He got
+            his Act allowed him, an’, they say, Queen Bess’s father he used the parish churches
+            something shameful. Justabout tore the gizzards out of I dunnamany. Some folk in England
+            they held with ’en; but some they saw it different, an’ it eended in ’em takin’ sides
+            an’ burnin’ each other no bounds, accordin’ which side was top, <span class="tei tei-corr">time bein’.</span> That
+            tarrified the Pharisees: for Goodwill among Flesh an’ Blood is meat an’ drink to ’em,
+            an’ ill-will is poison.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Same as bees,’ said the Bee Boy. ‘Bees won’t stay by a house where there’s hating.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘True,’ said Tom. ‘This Reformations tarrified the Pharisees same as the reaper goin’
+            round a last stand o’ wheat tarrifies rabbits. They packed into the Marsh from all
+            parts, and they says, “Fair or foul, we must flit out <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page242">[pg 242]</span><a name="Pg242" id="Pg242" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>o’ this, for Merry England’s done with, an’ we’re reckoned among the Images.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Did they <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">all</span></span> see it that way?’ said Hobden. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘All but one that was called Robin—if you’ve heard of him. What are you laughing at?’
+            Tom turned to Dan. ‘The Pharisees’s trouble didn’t tech Robin, because he’d cleaved
+            middlin’ close to people like. No more he never meant to go out of Old England—not he;
+            so he was sent messagin’ for help among Flesh an’ Blood. But Flesh an’ Blood must always
+            think of their own concerns, an’ Robin couldn’t get <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">through</span></span> at
+            ’em, ye see. They thought it was tide-echoes off the Marsh.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What did you—what did the fai—Pharisees want?’ Una asked. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘A boat to be sure. Their liddle wings could no more cross Channel than so many tired
+            butterflies. A boat an’ a crew they desired to sail ’em over to France, where yet awhile
+            folks hadn’t tore down the Images. They couldn’t abide cruel Canterbury Bells ringin’ to
+            Bulverhithe for more pore men an’ women to be burnded, nor the King’s proud messenger
+            ridin’ through the land givin’ orders to tear down the Images. They couldn’t abide it no
+            shape. Nor yet they couldn’t get their boat an’ crew to flit by without Leave an’
+            Good-will from Flesh an’ Blood; an’ Flesh an’ Blood came an’ went about its own business
+            the while the Marsh was swarvin’ up, an’ swarvin’ up with Pharisees from all England
+            over, striving all means <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page243">[pg 243]</span><a name="Pg243" id="Pg243" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>to get <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">through</span></span> at Flesh an’ Blood to tell ’en their sore need.... I don’t know as
+            you’ve ever heard say Pharisees are like chickens?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘My woman used to say that too,’ said Hobden, folding his brown arms. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘They be. You run too many chickens together, an’ the ground sickens like, an’ you get
+            a squat, an’ your chickens die. ’Same way, you crowd Pharisees all in one place—<span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">they</span></span> don’t die, but Flesh an’ Blood walkin’ among ’em is apt to
+            sick up an’ pine off. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">They</span></span> don’t mean it, an’ Flesh an’ Blood
+            don’t know it, but that’s the truth—as I’ve heard. The Pharisees through bein’ all
+            stenched up an’ frighted, an’ tryin’ to come <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">through</span></span> with their
+            supplications, they nature-ally changed the thin airs and humours in Flesh an’ Blood. It
+            lay on the Marsh like thunder. Men saw their churches ablaze with the wildfire in the
+            windows after dark; they saw their cattle scatterin’ and no man scarin’; their sheep
+            flockin’ and no man drivin’; their horses latherin’ an’ no man leadin’; they saw the
+            liddle low green lights more than ever in the dik-sides; they heard the liddle feet
+            patterin’ more than ever round the houses; an’ night an’ day, day an’ night, ’twas all
+            as though they were bein’ creeped up on, and hinted at by some One or Other that
+            couldn’t rightly shape their trouble. Oh, I lay they sweated! Man an’ maid, woman an’
+            child, their Nature done ’em no service all the weeks while the Marsh was swarvin’ up
+            with Pharisees. But they was Flesh an’ Blood, an’ Marsh men before all. They reckoned
+            the signs sinnified <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page244">[pg 244]</span><a name="Pg244" id="Pg244" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>trouble for the Marsh. Or that the
+            sea ’ud rear up against Dymchurch Wall an’ they’d be drownded like Old Winchelsea; or
+            that the Plague was comin’. So they looked for the meanin’ in the sea or in the
+            clouds—far an’ high up. They never thought to look near an’ knee-high, where they could
+            see naught. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Now there was a poor widow at Dymchurch under the Wall, which, lacking man or
+            property, she had the more time for feeling; and she come to feel there was a Trouble
+            outside her doorstep bigger an’ heavier than aught she’d ever carried over it. She had
+            two sons—one born blind, and t’other struck dumb through fallin’ off the Wall when he
+            was liddle. They was men grown, but not wage-earnin’, an’ she worked for ’em, keepin’
+            bees and answerin’ Questions.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What sort of questions?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Like where lost things might be found, an’ what to put about a crooked baby’s neck,
+            an’ how to join parted sweethearts. She felt the Trouble on the Marsh same as eels feel
+            thunder. She was a wise woman.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘My woman was won’erful weather-tender, too,’ said Hobden. ‘I’ve seen her brish sparks
+            like off an anvil out of her hair in thunderstorms. But she never laid out to answer
+            Questions.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘This woman was a Seeker like, an’ Seekers they sometimes find. One night, while she
+            lay abed, hot an’ aching, there come a Dream <span class="tei tei-corr">an’</span> tapped at her
+            window, and “Widow Whitgift,� it said, “Widow Whitgift!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘First, by the wings an’ the whistling, she <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page245">[pg 245]</span><a name="Pg245" id="Pg245" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>thought
+            it was peewits, but last she arose an’ dressed herself, an’ opened her door to the
+            Marsh, an’ she felt the Trouble an’ the Groaning all about her, strong as fever an’
+            ague, an’ she calls: “What is it? Oh, what is it?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then ’twas all like the frogs in the diks peeping: then ’twas all like the reeds in
+            the diks clipclapping; an’ then the great Tide-wave rummelled along the Wall, an’ she
+            couldn’t hear proper. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Three times she called, an’ three times the Tide-wave did her down. But she catched
+            the quiet between, an’ she cries out, “What is the Trouble on the Marsh that’s been
+            lying down with my heart an’ arising with my body this month gone?� She felt a liddle
+            hand lay hold on her gown-hem, an’ she stooped to the pull o’ that liddle hand.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Tom Shoesmith spread his huge fist before the fire and smiled at it. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Will the sea drown the Marsh?� she says. She was a Marsh-woman first an’ foremost. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No,� says the liddle voice. “Sleep sound for all o’ that.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Is the Plague comin’ to the Marsh?� she says. Them was all the ills she knowed. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“No. Sleep sound for all o’ that,� says Robin. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘She turned about, half mindful to go in, but the liddle voices grieved that shrill
+            an’ sorrowful she turns back, an’ she cries: “If it is not a Trouble of Flesh an’ Blood,
+            what can I do?� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The Pharisees cried out upon her from <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page246">[pg 246]</span><a name="Pg246" id="Pg246" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>all round to
+            fetch them a boat to sail to France, an’ come back no more. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“There’s a boat on the Wall,� she says, “but I can’t push it down to the sea, nor
+            sail it when ’tis there.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Lend us your sons,� says all the Pharisees. “Give ’em Leave an’ Good-will to sail it
+            for us, Mother—O Mother!� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“One’s dumb, an’ t’other’s blind,� she says. “But all the dearer me for that; and
+            you’ll lose them in the big sea.� The voices justabout pierced through her. An’ there
+            was children’s voices too. She stood out all she could, but she couldn’t rightly stand
+            against <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">that</span></span>. So she says: “If you can draw my sons for your job,
+            I’ll not hinder ’em. You can’t ask no more of a Mother.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘She saw them liddle green lights dance an’ cross till she was dizzy; she heard them
+            liddle feet patterin’ by the thousand; she heard cruel Canterbury Bells ringing to
+            Bulverhithe, an’ she heard the great Tide-wave ranging along the Wall. That was while
+            the Pharisees was workin’ a Dream to wake her two sons asleep: an’ while she bit on her
+            fingers she saw them two she’d bore come out an’ pass her with never a word. She
+            followed ’em, cryin’ pitiful, to the old boat on the Wall, an’ that they took an’ runned
+            down to the Sea. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘When they’d stepped mast an’ sail the blind son speaks up: “Mother, we’re waitin’
+            your Leave an’ Good-will to take Them over.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Tom Shoesmith threw back his head and half shut his eyes. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page247">[pg 247]</span>
+          <a name="Pg247" id="Pg247" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Eh, me!’ he said. ‘She was a fine, valiant woman, the Widow Whitgift. She stood
+            twistin’ the ends of her long hair over her fingers, an’ she shook like a poplar, makin’
+            up her mind. The Pharisees all about they hushed their children from cryin’ an’ they
+            waited dumb-still. She was all their dependence. ’Thout her Leave an’ Goodwill they
+            could not pass; for she was the Mother. So she shook like a asp-tree makin’ up her mind.
+            ’Last she drives the word past her teeth, an’ “Go!� she says. “Go with my Leave an’
+            Goodwill.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Then I saw—then, they say, she had to brace back same as if she was wadin’ in
+            tide-water; for the Pharisees justabout flowed past her—down the beach to the boat, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">I</span></span> dunnamany of ’em—with their wives an’ children an’ valooables,
+            all escapin’ out of cruel Old England. Silver you could hear clinkin’, an’ liddle
+            bundles hove down dunt on the bottom-boards, an’ passels o’ liddle swords an’ shield’s
+            raklin’, an’ liddle fingers an’ toes scratchin’ on the boatside to board her when the
+            two sons pushed her off. That boat she sunk lower an’ lower, but all the Widow could see
+            in it was her boys movin’ hampered-like to get at the tackle. Up sail they did, an’ away
+            they went, deep as a Rye barge, away into the off-shore mistes, an’ the Widow Whitgift
+            she sat down and eased her grief till mornin’ light.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I never heard she was <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">all</span></span> alone,’ said Hobden. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I remember now. The one called Robin <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page248">[pg 248]</span><a name="Pg248" id="Pg248" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>he stayed with
+            her, they tell. She was all too grievious to listen to his promises.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Ah! She should ha’ made her bargain beforehand. I allus told my woman so!’ Hobden
+            cried. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No. She loaned her sons for a pure love-loan, bein’ as she sensed the Trouble on the
+            Marshes, an’ was simple good-willing to ease it.’ Tom laughed softly. ‘She done that.
+            Yes, she done that! From Hithe to Bulverthithe, fretty man an’ petty maid, ailin’ woman
+            an’ wailin’ child, they took the advantage of the change in the thin airs just about <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">as</span></span> soon as the Pharisees flitted. Folks come out fresh an’ shining
+            all over the Marsh like snails after wet. An’ that while the Widow Whitgift sat grievin’
+            on the Wall. She might have beleft us—she might have trusted her sons would be sent
+            back! She fussed, no bounds, when their boat come in after three days.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And, of course, the sons were both quite cured?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No-o. That would have been out o’ Nature. She got ’em back <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">as</span></span>
+            she sent ’em. The blind man he hadn’t seen naught of anything, an’ the dumb man
+            nature-ally, he couldn’t say aught of what he’d seen. I reckon that was why the
+            Pharisees pitched on ’em for the ferrying job.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But what did you—what did <span class="tei tei-corr">Robin</span> promise the Widow?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">did</span></span> he promise, now?’ Tom pretended to think. ‘Wasn’t
+            your woman a Whitgift, Ralph? Didn’t she say?’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page249">[pg 249]</span>
+          <a name="Pg249" id="Pg249" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘She told me a passel o’ no-sense stuff when he was born.’ Hobden pointed at his son.
+            ‘There was always to be one of ’em that could see further into a millstone than most.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Me! That’s me!’ said the Bee Boy so suddenly that they all laughed. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I’ve got it now!’ cried Tom, slapping his knee. ‘So long as Whitgift blood lasted,
+            Robin promised there would allers be one o’ her stock that—that no Trouble ’ud lie on,
+            no Maid ’ud sigh on, no Night could frighten, no Fright could harm, no Harm could make
+            sin, an’ no Woman could make a fool.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Well, ain’t that just me?’ said the Bee Boy, where he sat in the silver square of the
+            great September moon that was staring into the oast-house door. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘They was the exact words she told me when we first found he wasn’t like others. But
+            it beats me how you known ’em,’ said Hobden. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Aha! There’s more under my hat besides hair!’ Tom laughed and stretched himself.
+            ‘When I’ve seen these two young folk home, we’ll make a night of old days, Ralph, with
+            passin’ old tales—eh? An’ where might you live?’ he said, gravely, to Dan. ‘An’ do you
+            think your Pa ’ud give me a drink for takin’ you there, Missy?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They giggled so at this that they had to run out. Tom picked them both up, set one on
+            each broad shoulder, and tramped across the ferny pasture where the cows puffed milky
+            puffs at them in the moonlight. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, Puck! Puck! I guessed you right <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page250">[pg 250]</span><a name="Pg250" id="Pg250" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>from when you
+            talked about the salt. How could you ever do it?’ Una cried, swinging along delighted. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Do what?’ he said, and climbed the stile by the pollard oak. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Pretend to be Tom Shoesmith,’ said Dan, and they ducked to avoid the two little ashes
+            that grow by the bridge over the brook. Tom was almost running. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes. That’s my name, Mus’ Dan,’ he said, hurrying over the silent shining lawn, where
+            a rabbit sat by the big white-thorn near the croquet ground. ‘Here you be.’ He strode
+            into the old kitchen yard, and slid them down as Ellen came to ask questions. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I’m helping in Mus’ Spray’s oast-house,’ he said to her. ‘No, I’m no foreigner. I
+            knowed this country ’fore your Mother was born; an’—yes it’s dry work oasting, Miss.
+            Thank you.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Ellen went to get a jug, and the children went in—magicked once more by Oak, Ash, and
+            Thorn! </p>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page251">[pg 251]</span>
+          <a name="Pg251" id="Pg251" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf23" id="pdf23"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">A THREE-PART SONG</span></h2>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">I’m just in love with all these three,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The Weald and the Marsh and the Down countrie;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Nor I don’t know which I love the most,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The Weald or the Marsh or the white chalk coast!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">I’ve buried my heart in a ferny hill,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Twix’ a liddle low Shaw an’ a great high Gill.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Oh hop-vine yaller and woodsmoke blue,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">I reckon you’ll keep her middling true!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">I’ve loosed my mind for to out and run,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">On a Marsh that was old when Kings begun;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Oh Romney Level and Brenzett reeds,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">I reckon you know what my mind needs!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">I’ve given my soul to the Southdown grass,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And sheep-bells tinkled where you pass.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Oh Firle an’ Ditchling an’ sails at sea,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">I reckon you’ll keep my soul or me!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page252">[pg 252]</span>
+          <a name="Pg252" id="Pg252" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+          </p>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page253">[pg 253]</span>
+        <a name="Pg253" id="Pg253" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%"> THE TREASURE AND THE LAW </span></h1>
+        <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page254">[pg 254]</span>
+        <a name="Pg254" id="Pg254" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">
+        </p>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page255">[pg 255]</span>
+          <a name="Pg255" id="Pg255" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf24" id="pdf24"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">SONG OF THE FIFTH RIVER</span></h2>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">When first by Eden Tree,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The Four Great Rivers ran,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To each was appointed a Man</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Her Prince and Ruler to be.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But after this was ordained,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">(The ancient legends tell),</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">There came dark Israel,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">For whom no River remained.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Then He That is Wholly Just,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Said to him: ‘Fling on the ground</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">A handful of yellow dust,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And a Fifth Great River shall run,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Mightier than these Four,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">In secret the Earth around;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And Her secret evermore,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Shall be shown to thee and thy Race.’</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">So it was said and done.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And, deep in the veins of Earth,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And, fed by a thousand springs</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">That comfort the market-place,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Or sap the power of Kings,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The Fifth Great River had birth,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Even as it was foretold—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The Secret River of Gold!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page256">[pg 256]</span>
+          <a name="Pg256" id="Pg256" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And Israel laid down</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">His sceptre and his crown,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">To brood on that River bank,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Where the waters flashed and sank,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And burrowed in earth and fell,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And bided a season below;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">For reason that none might know,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Save only Israel.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">He is Lord of the Last—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The Fifth, most wonderful, Flood.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">He hears her thunder past</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And Her Song is in his blood.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">He can foresay: ‘She will fall,’</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">For he knows which fountain dries,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Behind which desert belt</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">A thousand leagues to the South.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">He can foresay: ‘She will rise.’</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">He knows what far snows melt;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Along what mountain wall</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">A thousand leagues to the North.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">He snuffs the coming drouth</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">As he snuffs the coming rain,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">He knows what each will bring forth</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">And turns it to his gain.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">A Prince without a Sword,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">A Ruler without a Throne;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Israel follows his quest:—</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">In every land a guest.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Of many lands the lord.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">In no land King is he.</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">But the Fifth Great River keeps</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">The secret of her deeps</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">For Israel alone,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">As it was ordered to be.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page257">[pg 257]</span>
+          <a name="Pg257" id="Pg257" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf25" id="pdf25"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE TREASURE AND THE LAW</span></h2>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Now it was the third week in November, and the woods rang with the noise of
+            pheasant-shooting. No one hunted that steep, cramped country except the village beagles,
+            who, as often as not, escaped from their kennels and made a day of their own. Dan and
+            Una found a couple of them towling round the kitchen-garden after the laundry cat. The
+            little brutes were only too pleased to go rabbiting, so the children ran them all along
+            the brook pastures and into Little Lindens farm-yard, where the old sow vanquished
+            them—and up to the quarry-hole, where they started a fox. He headed for Far Wood, and
+            there they frightened out all the pheasants who were sheltering from a big beat across
+            the valley. Then the cruel guns began again, and they grabbed the beagles lest they
+            should stray and get hurt. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I wouldn’t be a pheasant—in November—for a lot,’ Dan panted, as he caught <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Folly</span></span> by the neck. ‘Why did you laugh that horrid way?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I didn’t,’ said Una, sitting on <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Flora</span></span>, the fat lady-dog. ‘Oh,
+            look! The silly birds are going back to their own woods instead of ours, where they
+            would be safe.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Safe till it pleased you to kill them.’ An old man, so tall he was almost a giant,
+            stepped <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page258">[pg 258]</span><a name="Pg258" id="Pg258" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>from behind the clump of hollies by
+            ‘Volaterrae.’ The children jumped, and the dogs dropped like setters. He wore a sweeping
+            gown of dark thick stuff, lined and edged with yellowish fur, and he bowed a bent-down
+            bow that made them feel both proud and ashamed. Then he looked at them steadily, and
+            they stared back without doubt or fear. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘You are not afraid?’ he said, running his hands through his splendid grey beard. ‘Not
+            afraid that those men yonder’—he jerked his head towards the incessant pop-pop of the
+            guns from the lower woods—‘will do you hurt?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘We-ell’—Dan liked to be accurate, especially when he was shy—‘old Hobd—a friend of
+            mine told me that one of the beaters got peppered last week—hit in the leg, I mean. You
+            see, Mr. Meyer <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">will</span></span> fire at rabbits. But he gave Waxy Garnett a
+            quid—sovereign, I mean—and Waxy told Hobden he’d have stood both barrels for half the
+            money.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘He doesn’t understand,’ Una cried, watching the pale, troubled face. ‘Oh, I wish——’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> She had scarcely said it when Puck rustled out of the hollies and spoke to the man
+            quickly in foreign words. Puck wore a long cloak too—the afternoon was just frosting
+            down—and it changed his appearance altogether. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Nay, nay!’ he said at last. ‘You did not understand the boy. A freeman was a little
+            hurt, by pure mischance, at the hunting.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I know that mischance! What did his Lord do? Laugh and ride over him?’ the old man
+            sneered. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page259">[pg 259]</span>
+          <a name="Pg259" id="Pg259" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘It was one of your own people did the hurt, Kadmiel.’ Puck’s eyes twinkled
+            maliciously. ‘So he gave the freeman a piece of gold, and no more was said.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘A Jew drew blood from a Christian and no more was said?’ Kadmiel cried. ‘Never! When
+            did they torture him?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No man may be bound, or fined, or slain till he has been judged by his peers,’ Puck
+            insisted. ‘There is but one Law in Old England for Jew or Christian—the Law that was
+            signed at Runnymede.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Why, that’s Magna Charta!’ Dan whispered. It was one of the few history dates that he
+            could remember. Kadmiel turned on him with a sweep and a whirr of his spicy-scented
+            gown. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Dost <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">thou</span></span> know of that, babe?’ he cried, and lifted his hands
+            in wonder. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yes,’ said Dan, firmly. </p>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">‘Magna Charta was signed by John,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">That Henry the Third put his heel upon.</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> And old Hobden says that if it hadn’t been for her (he calls everything “her,� you
+            know), the keepers would have him clapped in Lewes Gaol all the year round.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Again Puck translated to Kadmiel in the strange, solemn-sounding language, and at last
+            Kadmiel laughed. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Out of the mouths of babes do we learn,’ said he. ‘But tell me now, and I will not
+            call you a babe but a Rabbi, <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">why</span></span> did the King sign the roll of
+            the New Law at Runnymede? For he was a King.’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page260">[pg 260]</span>
+          <a name="Pg260" id="Pg260" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Dan looked sideways at his sister. It was her turn. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Because he jolly well had to,’ <span class="tei tei-corr">said</span> Una, softly. ‘The Barons
+            made him.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Nay,’ Kadmiel answered, shaking his head. ‘You Christians always forget that gold
+            does more than the sword. Our good King signed because he could not borrow more money
+            from us bad Jews.’ He curved his shoulders as he spoke. ‘A King without gold is a snake
+            with a broken back, and’—his nose sneered up and his eyebrows frowned down—‘it is a
+            good deed to break a snake’s back. That was <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">my</span></span> work,’ he cried,
+            triumphantly, to Puck. ‘Spirit of Earth, bear witness that that was my work!’ He shot up
+            to his full towering height, and his words rang like a trumpet. He had a voice that
+            changed its tone almost as an opal changes colour—sometimes deep and thundery,
+            sometimes thin and waily, but always it made you listen. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Many people can bear witness to that,’ Puck answered. ‘Tell these babes how it was
+            done. Remember, Master, they do not know Doubt or Fear.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So I saw in their faces when we met,’ said Kadmiel. ‘Yet surely, surely they are
+            taught to spit upon Jews?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Are they?’ said Dan, much interested. ‘Where at?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Puck fell back a pace, laughing. ‘Kadmiel is thinking of King John’s reign,’ he
+            explained. ‘His people were badly treated then.’ </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page261">[pg 261]</span>
+          <a name="Pg261" id="Pg261" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, we know <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">that</span></span>,’ they answered, and (it was very rude of
+            them, but they could not help it) they stared straight at Kadmiel’s mouth to see if his
+            teeth were all there. It stuck in their lesson-memory that King John used to pull out
+            Jews’ teeth to make them lend him money. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Kadmiel understood the look and smiled bitterly. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No. Your King never drew my teeth: I think, perhaps, I drew his. Listen! I was not
+            born among Christians, but among Moors—in Spain—in a little white town under the
+            mountains. Yes, the Moors are cruel, but at least their learned men dare to think. It
+            was prophesied of me at my birth that I should be a Lawgiver to a People of a strange
+            speech and a hard language. We Jews are always looking for the Prince and the Lawgiver
+            to come. Why not? My people in the town (we were very few) set me apart as a child of
+            the prophecy—the Chosen of the Chosen. We Jews dream so many dreams. You would never
+            guess it to see us slink about the rubbish-heaps in our quarter; but at the day’s
+            end—doors shut, candles lit—aha! <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">then</span></span> we become the Chosen
+            again.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He paced back and forth through the wood as he talked. The rattle of the shot-guns
+            never ceased, and the dogs whimpered a little and lay flat on the leaves. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I was a Prince. Yes! Think of a little Prince who had never known rough words in his
+            own house handed over to shouting, bearded Rabbis, who pulled his ears and <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page262">[pg 262]</span><a name="Pg262" id="Pg262" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>filliped his nose, all that he might learn—learn—learn to be
+            King when his time came. Hé! Such a little Prince it was! One eye he kept on the
+            stone-throwing Moorish boys, and the other it roved about the streets looking for his
+            Kingdom. Yes, and he learned to cry softly when he was hunted up and down those streets.
+            He learned to do all things without noise. He played beneath his father’s table when the
+            Great Candle was lit, and he listened as children listen to the talk of his father’s
+            friends above the table. They came across the mountains, from out of all the world; for
+            my Prince’s father was their councillor. They came from behind the armies of
+            Sala-ud-Din: from Rome: from Venice: from England. They stole down our alley, they
+            tapped secretly at our door, they took off their rags, they arrayed themselves, and they
+            talked to my father at the wine. All over the world the heathen fought each other. They
+            brought news of these wars, and while he played beneath the table, my Prince heard these
+            meanly-dressed ones decide between themselves how, and when, and for how long King
+            should draw sword against King, and People rise up against People. Why not? There can be
+            no war without gold, and we Jews know how the earth’s gold moves with the seasons, and
+            the crops, and the winds; circling and looping and rising and sinking away like a
+            river—a wonderful underground river. How should the foolish Kings know <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">that</span></span> while they fight and steal and kill?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The children’s faces showed that they knew <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page263">[pg 263]</span><a name="Pg263" id="Pg263" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>nothing at
+            all as, with open eyes, they trotted and turned beside the long-striding old man. He
+            twitched his gown over his shoulders, and a square plate of gold, studded with jewels,
+            gleamed for an instant through the fur, like a star through flying snow. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘No matter,’ he said. ‘But, credit me, my Prince saw peace or war decided not once,
+            but many times, by the fall of a coin spun between a Jew from Bury and a Jewess from
+            Alexandria, in his father’s house, when the Great Candle was lit. Such power had we Jews
+            among the Gentiles. Ah, my little Prince! Do you wonder that he learned quickly? Why
+            not?’ He muttered to himself and went on:— </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘My trade was that of a physician. When I had learned it in Spain I went to the East
+            to find my Kingdom. Why not? A Jew is as free as a sparrow—or a dog. He goes where he
+            is hunted. In the East I found libraries where men dared to think—schools of medicine
+            where they dared to learn. I was diligent in my business. Therefore I stood before
+            Kings. I have been a brother to Princes and a companion to beggars, and I have walked
+            between the living and the dead. There was no profit in it. I did not find my Kingdom.
+            So, in the tenth year of my travels, when I had reached the Uttermost Eastern Sea, I
+            returned to my father’s house. God had wonderfully preserved my people. None had been
+            slain, none even wounded, and only a few scourged. I became once more a son in my
+            father’s house.
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page264">[pg 264]</span>
+          <a name="Pg264" id="Pg264" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Again the Great Candle was lit; again the meanly-apparelled ones tapped on our door
+            after dusk; and again I heard them weigh out peace and war, as they weighed out the gold
+            on the table. But I was not rich—not very rich. Therefore, when those that had power
+            and knowledge and wealth talked together, I sat in the shadow. Why not? </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Yet all my wanderings had shown me one sure thing, which is, that a King without
+            money is like a spear without a head. He cannot do much harm. I said, therefore, to
+            Elias of Bury, a great one among our people: “Why do our people lend any more to the
+            Kings that oppress us?� “Because,� said Elias, “if we refuse they stir up their people
+            against us, and the People are tenfold more cruel than Kings. If thou doubtest, come
+            with me to Bury in England and live as I live.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I saw my mother’s face across the candle-flame, and I said, “I will come with thee
+            to Bury. Maybe my Kingdom shall be there.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So I sailed with Elias to the darkness and the cruelty of Bury in England, where
+            there are no learned men. How can a man be wise if he hate? At Bury I kept his accounts
+            for Elias, and I saw men kill Jews there by the tower. No—none laid hands on Elias. He
+            lent money to the King, and the King’s favour was about him. A King will not take the
+            life so long as there is any gold. This King—yes, John—oppressed his people bitterly
+            because they would not give him money. Yet his land was a good land. If he had only <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page265">[pg 265]</span><a name="Pg265" id="Pg265" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>given it rest he might have cropped it as a Christian
+            crops his beard. But even <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">that</span></span> little he did not know; for God
+            had deprived him of all understanding, and had multiplied pestilence, and famine, and
+            despair upon the people. Therefore his people turned against us Jews, who are all
+            people’s dogs. Why not? Lastly the Barons and the people rose together against the King
+            because of his cruelties. Nay—nay—the Barons did not love the people, but they saw
+            that if the King eat up and destroyed the common people, he would presently destroy the
+            Barons. They joined then, as cats and pigs will join to slay a snake. I kept the
+            accounts, and I watched all these things, for I remembered the Prophecy. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘A great gathering of Barons (to most of whom we had lent money) came to Bury, and
+            there, after much talk and a thousand runnings-about, they made a roll of the New Laws
+            that they would force on the King. If he swore to keep those Laws, they would allow him
+            a little money. That was the King’s God—Money—to waste. They showed us the roll of the
+            New Laws. Why not? We had lent them money. We knew all their counsels—we Jews shivering
+            behind our doors in Bury.’ He threw out his hands suddenly. ‘We did not seek to be paid
+              <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">all</span></span> in money. We sought Power—Power—Power! That is <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">our</span></span> God in our captivity. Power to use! </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I said to Elias: “These New Laws are good. Lend no more money to the King: so long as
+            he has money he will lie and slay the people.� </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page266">[pg 266]</span>
+          <a name="Pg266" id="Pg266" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Nay,� said Elias. “I know this people. They are madly cruel. Better one King than a
+            thousand butchers. I have lent a little money to the Barons, or they would torture us,
+            but my most I will lend to the King. He hath promised me a place near him at Court,
+            where my wife and I shall be safe.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“But if the King be made to keep these New Laws,� I said, “the land will have peace,
+            and our trade will grow. If we lend he will fight again.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“Who made thee a Lawgiver in England?� said Elias. “I know this people. Let the dogs
+            tear one another! I will lend the King ten thousand pieces of gold, and he can fight the
+            Barons at his pleasure.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘“There are not two thousand pieces of gold in all England this summer,� I said, for I
+            kept the accounts, and I knew how the earth’s gold moved—that wonderful underground
+            river! Elias barred home the windows, and, his hands about his mouth, he told me how,
+            when he was trading with small wares in a French ship, he had come to the Castle of
+            Pevensey.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh!’ said Dan. ‘Pevensey again!’ and looked at Una, who nodded and skipped. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘There, after they had scattered his pack up and down the Great Hall, some young
+            knights carried him to an upper room, and dropped him into a well in a wall, that rose
+            and fell with the tide. They called him Joseph, and threw torches at his wet head. Why
+            not?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Why, of course,’ cried Dan. ‘Didn’t you know it was——’ Puck held up his hand to <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page267">[pg 267]</span><a name="Pg267" id="Pg267" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>stop him, and Kadmiel, who never noticed, went on. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘When the tide dropped he thought he stood on old armour, but feeling with his toes,
+            he raked up bar on bar of soft gold. Some wicked treasure of the old days put away, and
+            the secret cut off by the sword. I have heard the like before.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So have we,’ Una whispered. ‘But it wasn’t wicked a bit.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Elias took a morsel of the stuff with him, and thrice yearly he would return to
+            Pevensey as a chapman, selling at no price or profit, till they suffered him to sleep in
+            the empty room, where he would plumb and grope, and steal away a few bars. The great
+            store of it still remained, and by long brooding he had come to look on it as his own.
+            Yet when we thought how we should lift and convey it, we saw no way. This was before the
+            Word of the Lord had come to me. A walled fortress possessed by Normans; in the midst a
+            forty-foot tide-well out of which to remove secretly many horse-loads of gold! Hopeless!
+            So Elias wept. Adah, his wife, wept too. She had hoped to stand beside the Queen’s
+            Christian tiring-maids at Court, when the King should give them that place at Court
+            which he had promised. Why not? She was born in England—an odious woman. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘The present evil to us was that Elias, out of his strong folly, had, as it were,
+            promised the King that he would arm him with more gold. Wherefore the King in his camp
+            stopped his ears against the Barons and the people. <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page268">[pg 268]</span><a name="Pg268" id="Pg268" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>Wherefore men died daily. Adah so desired her place at Court, she besought Elias to
+            tell the King where the treasure lay, that the King might take it by force, and—they
+            would trust in his gratitude. Why not? This Elias refused to do, for he looked on the
+            gold as his own. They quarrelled, and they wept at the evening meal, and late in the
+            night came one Langton—a priest, almost learned—to borrow more money for the Barons.
+            Elias and Adah went to their chamber.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Kadmiel laughed scornfully in his beard. The shots across the valley stopped as the
+            shooting-party changed their ground for the last beat. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘So it was I, not Elias,’ he went on, quietly, ‘that made terms with Langton touching
+            the fortieth of the New Laws.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘What terms?’ said Puck, quickly. ‘The Fortieth of the Great Charter say: “To none
+            will we sell, refuse, or deny right or justice.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘True, but the Barons had written first: <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">To no free man.</span></span> It
+            cost me two hundred broad pieces of gold to change those narrow words. Langton, the
+            priest, understood. “Jew though thou art,� said he, “the change is just, and if ever
+            Christian and Jew come to be equal in England thy people may thank thee.� Then he went
+            out stealthily, as men do who deal with Israel by night. I think he spent my gift upon
+            his altar. Why not? I have spoken with Langton. He was such a man as I might have been
+            if—if we Jews had been a people. But yet, in many things, a child. </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page269">[pg 269]</span>
+          <a name="Pg269" id="Pg269" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I heard Elias and Adah abovestairs quarrel, and, knowing the woman was the stronger,
+            I saw that Elias would tell the King of the gold and that the King would continue in his
+              <span class="tei tei-corr">stubbornness</span>. Therefore I saw that the gold must be put
+            away from the reach of any man. Of a sudden, the Word of the Lord came to me saying,
+            “The Morning is come, O thou that dwellest in the land.�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Kadmiel halted, all black against the pale green sky beyond the wood—a huge robed
+            figure, like the Moses in the picture-Bible. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I rose. I went out, and as I shut the door on that House of Foolishness, the woman
+            looked from the window and whispered, “I have prevailed on my husband to tell the King!�
+            I answered, “There is no need. The Lord is with me.� </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘In that hour the Lord gave me full understanding of all that I must do; and His Hand
+            covered me in my ways. First I went to London, to a physician of our people, who sold me
+            certain drugs that I needed. You shall see why. Thence I went swiftly to Pevensey. Men
+            fought all around me, for there were neither rulers nor judges in the abominable land.
+            Yet when I walked by them they cried out that I was one Ahasuerus, a Jew, condemned, as
+            they believe, to live for ever, and they fled from me everyways. Thus the Lord saved me
+            for my work, and at Pevensey I bought me a little boat and moored it on the mud beneath
+            the Marsh-gate of the Castle. That also God showed me.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> He was as calm as though he were speaking <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page270">[pg 270]</span><a name="Pg270" id="Pg270" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>of some
+            stranger, and his voice filled the little bare wood with rolling music. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I cast’—his hand went to his breast, and again the strange jewel gleamed—‘I cast
+            the drugs which I had prepared into the common well of the Castle. Nay, I did no harm.
+            The more we physicians know, the less do we do. Only the fool says: “I dare.� I caused a
+            blotched and itching rash to break out upon their skins, but I knew it would fade in
+            fifteen days. I did not stretch out my hand against their life. They in the Castle
+            thought it was the Plague, and they ran forth, taking with them their very dogs. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘A Christian physician, seeing that I was a Jew and a stranger, vowed that I had
+            brought the sickness from London. This is the one time I have ever heard a Christian
+            leech speak truth of any disease. Thereupon the people beat me, but a merciful woman
+            said: “Do not kill him now. Push him into our Castle with his plague, and if, as he
+            says, it will abate on the fifteenth day, we can kill him then.� Why not? They drove me
+            across the drawbridge of the Castle, and fled back to their booths. Thus I came to be
+            alone with the treasure.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But did you know this was all going to happen just right?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘My Prophecy was that I should be a Lawgiver to a People of a strange land and a hard
+            speech. I knew I should not die. I washed my cuts. I found the tide-well in the wall,
+            and from Sabbath to Sabbath I dove and dug there in that empty, Christian-smelling <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page271">[pg 271]</span><a name="Pg271" id="Pg271" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>fortress. Hé! I spoiled the Egyptians! Hé! If they had
+            only known! I drew up many good loads of gold, which I loaded by night into my boat.
+            There had been gold-dust too, but that had been washed away by the tides.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Didn’t you ever wonder who had put it there?’ said Dan, stealing a glance at Puck’s
+            calm, dark face under the hood of his gown. Puck shook his head and pursed his lips. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Often; for the gold was new to me,’ Kadmiel replied. ‘I know the Golds. I can judge
+            them in the dark; but this was heavier and redder than any we deal in. Perhaps it was
+            the very gold of Parvaim. Eh, why not? It went to my heart to heave it on to the mud,
+            but I saw well that if the evil thing remained, or if even the hope of finding it
+            remained, the King would not sign the New Laws, and the land would perish.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Oh, Marvel!’ said Puck, beneath his breath, rustling in the dead leaves. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘When the boat was loaded I washed my hands seven times, and pared beneath my nails,
+            for I would not keep one grain. I went out by the little gate where the Castle’s refuse
+            is thrown. I dared not hoist sail lest men should see me; but the Lord commanded the
+            tide to bear me carefully, and I was far from land before the morning.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Weren’t you afraid?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Why? There were no Christians in the boat. At sunrise I made my prayer, and cast the
+            gold—all—all that gold into the deep sea! A King’s ransom—no, the ransom of a People!
+            When I had loosed hold of the last <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page272">[pg 272]</span><a name="Pg272" id="Pg272" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>bars, the Lord
+            commanded the tide to return me to a haven at the mouth of a river, and thence I walked
+            across a wilderness to Lewes, where I have brethren. They opened the door to me, and
+            they say—I had not eaten for two days—they say that I fell across the threshold,
+            crying, “I have sunk an army with horsemen in the sea!�’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But you hadn’t,’ said Una. ‘Oh, yes! I see! You meant that King John might have spent
+            it on that?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Even so,’ said Kadmiel. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> The firing broke out again close behind them. The pheasants poured over the top of a
+            belt of tall firs. They could see young Mr. Meyer, in his new yellow gaiters, very busy
+            and excited at the end of the line, and they could hear the thud of the falling birds. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘But what did Elias of Bury do?’ Puck demanded. ‘He had promised money to the King.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Kadmiel smiled grimly. ‘I sent him word from London that the Lord was on my side. When
+            he heard that the Plague had broken out in Pevensey, and that a Jew had been thrust into
+            the Castle to cure it, he understood my word was true. He and Adah hurried to Lewes and
+            asked me for an accounting. He still looked on the gold as his own. I told them where I
+            had laid it, and I gave them full leave to pick it up.... Eh, well! The curses of a fool
+            and the dust of a journey are two things no wise man can escape.... But I pitied Elias!
+            The King was wroth at him because he could not lend; the Barons <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page273">[pg 273]</span><a name="Pg273" id="Pg273" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>were wroth at him because they heard that he would have lent to the King;
+            and Adah was wroth at him because she was an odious woman. They took ship from Lewes to
+            Spain. That was wise!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘And you? Did you see the signing of the Law at Runnymede?’ said Puck, as Kadmiel
+            laughed noiselessly. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Nay. Who am I to meddle with things too high for me? I returned to Bury, and lent
+            money on the autumn crops. Why not?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> There was a crackle overhead. A cock-pheasant that had sheered aside after being hit
+            spattered down almost on top of them, driving up the dry leaves like a shell. <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Flora</span></span> and <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Folly</span></span> threw themselves at it; the
+            children rushed forward, and when they had beaten them off and smoothed down the plumage
+            Kadmiel had disappeared. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Well,’ said Puck, calmly, ‘what did you think of it? Weland gave the Sword. The Sword
+            gave the Treasure, and the Treasure gave the Law. It’s as natural as an oak growing.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘I don’t understand. Didn’t he know it was Sir Richard’s old treasure?’ said Dan. ‘And
+            why did Sir Richard and Brother Hugh leave it lying about? And—and——’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Never mind,’ said Una, politely. ‘He’ll let us come and go, and look, and know
+            another time. Won’t you, Puck?’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Another time maybe,’ Puck answered. ‘Brr! It’s cold—and late. I’ll race you towards
+            home!’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> They hurried down into the sheltered <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page274">[pg 274]</span><a name="Pg274" id="Pg274" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>valley. The sun
+            had almost sunk behind Cherry Clack, the trodden ground by the cattle-gates was freezing
+            at the edges, and the new-waked north wind blew the night on them from over the hills.
+            They picked up their feet and flew across the browned pastures, and when they halted,
+            panting in the steam of their own breath, the dead leaves whirled up behind them. There
+            was Oak and Ash and Thorn enough in that year-end shower to magic away a thousand
+            memories. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> So they trotted to the brook at the bottom of the lawn, wondering why <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Flora</span></span> and <span class="tei tei-hi"><span style="font-style: italic">Folly</span></span> had missed the quarry-hole
+            fox. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Old Hobden was just finishing some hedge-work. They saw his white smock glimmer in the
+            twilight where he faggoted the rubbish. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Winter, he’s come, I rackon, Mus’ Dan,’ he called. ‘Hard times now till Heffle Cuckoo
+            Fair. Yes, we’ll all be glad to see the Old Woman let the Cuckoo out o’ the basket for
+            to start lawful Spring in England.’ They heard a crash, and a stamp and a splash of
+            water as though a heavy old cow were crossing almost under their noses. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Hobden ran forward angrily to the ford. </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> ‘Gleason’s bull again, playin’ Robin all over the Farm! Oh, look, Mus’ Dan—his great
+            footmark as big as a trencher. No bounds to his impidence! He might count himself to be
+            a man—or Somebody.’ </p>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> A voice the other side of the brook boomed: </p>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page275">[pg 275]</span>
+          <a name="Pg275" id="Pg275" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-corr" style="text-align: left">‘I</span> marvel who his cloak would turn</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">When Puck had led him round</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Or where those walking fires would <span class="tei tei-corr" style="text-align: left">burn</span>——’</div>
+          </div>
+          <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em"> Then the children went in singing “Farewell Rewards and Fairies� at the tops of their
+            voices. They had forgotten that they had not even said good-night to Puck. </p>
+        </div>
+        <hr class="page" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page276">[pg 276]</span>
+          <a name="Pg276" id="Pg276" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <a name="pdf26" id="pdf26"></a>
+          <h2 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 2.88em; margin-top: 2.88em"><span style="font-size: 144%">THE CHILDREN’S SONG</span></h2>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Land of our Birth, we pledge to thee</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Our love and toil in the years to be,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">When we are grown and take our place,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">As men and women with our race.</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Father in Heaven who lovest all,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Oh help Thy children when they call;</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">That they may build from age to age,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">An undefiled heritage!</div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Teach us to bear the yoke in youth,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">With steadfastness and careful truth;</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">That, in our time, Thy Grace may give</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">The Truth whereby the Nations live.</div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Teach us to rule ourselves alway,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Controlled and cleanly night and day;</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">That we may bring, if need arise,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">No maimed or worthless sacrifice.</div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Teach us to look in all our ends,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">On Thee for judge, and not our friends;</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">That we, with Thee, may walk uncowed</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">By fear or favour of the crowd.</div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Teach us the Strength that cannot seek,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">By deed or thought, to hurt the weak;</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">That, under Thee, we may possess</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Man’s strength to comfort man’s distress.</div>
+          </div>
+          <span class="tei tei-pb" id="page277">[pg 277]</span>
+          <a name="Pg277" id="Pg277" class="tei tei-anchor"></a>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Teach us Delight in simple things,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And Mirth that has no bitter springs;</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">Forgiveness free of evil done,</div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left">And Love to all men ’neath the sun!</div>
+          </div>
+          <div class="tei tei-lg" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-left: 2.00em; margin-top: 1.00em">
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Land of our Birth, our Faith our Pride,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">For whose dear sake our fathers died;</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">O Motherland, we pledge to thee,</span></span></div>
+            <div class="tei tei-l" style="text-align: left"><span class="tei tei-hi" style="text-align: left"><span style="font-style: italic">Head, heart, and hand through the years to be!</span></span></div>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="tei tei-back" style="margin-bottom: 2.00em; margin-top: 6.00em">
+      <div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+
+
+
+            <hr class="page" /><div id="footnotes" class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em">
+              <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%">Footnote</span></h1>
+              <dl class="tei tei-list-footnotes"><dt class="tei tei-notelabel"><a id="note_1" name="note_1" href="#noteref_1">1.</a></dt><dd class="tei tei-notetext">Copyright, 1905, by Rudyard Kipling.</dd></dl>
+            </div>
+
+
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+        <a name="pdf27" id="pdf27"></a>
+        <h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%">Transcriber’s note</span></h1>
+
+        <p class="tei tei-p" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em">The following typographical errors were corrected:</p>
+        <table summary="This is a list." class="tei tei-list" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"><tbody><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg007" class="tei tei-ref">page 7</a>, “Pyramis� changed to “Pyramus�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg009" class="tei tei-ref">page 9</a>, quotes added before “couldn’t� and “I�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg013" class="tei tei-ref">page 13</a>, “draggons� changed to “dragons�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg027" class="tei tei-ref">page 27</a>, quote added before “Late�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg043" class="tei tei-ref">page 43</a>, “summons� changed to “summon�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg051" class="tei tei-ref">page 51</a>, “we� added before “do�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg062" class="tei tei-ref">page 62</a>, double quote changed to single quote after “pirate-folk?�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg064" class="tei tei-ref">page 64</a>, semicolon added after “Yes�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg068" class="tei tei-ref">page 68</a>, double “said� removed, single quote changed to double quote after “kill!�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg069" class="tei tei-ref">page 69</a>, comma added after “Kitai�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg076" class="tei tei-ref">page 76</a>, double “where� removed</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg085" class="tei tei-ref">page 85</a>, quote added after “gold!�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg097" class="tei tei-ref">page 97</a>, quote removed after “Aquila.�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg099" class="tei tei-ref">page 99</a>, “shouder� changed to “shoulder�, single quote changed to double quote after “Look!�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg102" class="tei tei-ref">page 102</a>, “learned� changed to “leaned�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg103" class="tei tei-ref">page 103</a>, “a� added between “is� and “good�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg108" class="tei tei-ref">page 108</a>, quote removed before “At�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg110" class="tei tei-ref">page 110</a>, single quote changed to double quote before “But�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg127" class="tei tei-ref">page 127</a>, quote added after “catapult,�, quote removed after “Una.�, “quicky� changed to “quickly�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg128" class="tei tei-ref">page 128</a>, comma removed after “bigger�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg135" class="tei tei-ref">page 135</a>, “hmself� changed to “himself�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg137" class="tei tei-ref">page 137</a>, “did'nt� changed to “didn’t�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg141" class="tei tei-ref">page 141</a>, quote added before “But�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg142" class="tei tei-ref">page 142</a>, single quote changed to double quote after “reason,�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg143" class="tei tei-ref">page 143</a>, “Cylops� changed to “Cyclops�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg152" class="tei tei-ref">page 152</a>, “Caesar� changed to “Cæsar�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg153" class="tei tei-ref">page 153</a>, comma added after “children,�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg156" class="tei tei-ref">page 156</a>, quote added after “make.�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg160" class="tei tei-ref">page 160</a>, comma added after “No�, period added after “up�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg166" class="tei tei-ref">page 166</a>, quote added after “thoughts.�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg170" class="tei tei-ref">page 170</a>, double quote changed to single quote before “Sorry�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg184" class="tei tei-ref">page 184</a>, single quote changed to double quote after “Man.�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg188" class="tei tei-ref">page 188</a>, single quote changed to double quote after “him,�, “to-day?� and “finished!�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg193" class="tei tei-ref">page 193</a>, quote added after “letter.�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg205" class="tei tei-ref">page 205</a>, parenthesis added after “complain�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg214" class="tei tei-ref">page 214</a>, period added after “lime.�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg218" class="tei tei-ref">page 218</a>, “sepentines� changed to “serpentines�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg224" class="tei tei-ref">page 224</a>, quote added after “voice.�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg235" class="tei tei-ref">page 235</a>, apostroph moved after “conjurin’.�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg237" class="tei tei-ref">page 237</a>, quote added before “Dymchurch�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg239" class="tei tei-ref">page 239</a>, apostroph and comma changed after “nothin’,“</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg240" class="tei tei-ref">page 240</a>, “shouder� changed to “shoulder�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg241" class="tei tei-ref">page 241</a>, apostroph and periodchanged after “bein’.�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg244" class="tei tei-ref">page 244</a>, apostroph added after “an�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg248" class="tei tei-ref">page 248</a>, comma removed after “Robin�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg260" class="tei tei-ref">page 260</a>, “asid� changed to “said�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg269" class="tei tei-ref">page 269</a>, “stubborness� changed to “stubbornness�</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><a href="#Pg275" class="tei tei-ref">page 275</a>, quote added before “I�, “burne� changed to “burn�</td></tr></tbody></table>
+      </div>
+      <hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 5.00em; margin-top: 5.00em">
+                <div id="pgfooter" class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 4.00em; margin-top: 4.00em"><pre class="pre tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em">***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUCK OF POOK'S HILL***
+</pre><hr class="doublepage" /><div class="tei tei-div" style="margin-bottom: 3.00em; margin-top: 3.00em"><a name="rightpageheader28" id="rightpageheader28"></a><a name="pgtoc29" id="pgtoc29"></a><a name="pdf30" id="pdf30"></a><h1 class="tei tei-head" style="text-align: left; margin-bottom: 3.46em; margin-top: 3.46em"><span style="font-size: 173%">Credits</span></h1><table summary="This is a list." class="tei tei-list" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"><tbody><tr><th class="tei tei-label tei-label-gloss">July 11, 2008  </th></tr><tr><td class="tei tei-item"><table summary="This is a list." class="tei tei-list" style="margin-bottom: 1.00em; margin-top: 1.00em"><tbody><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item">Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1</td></tr><tr class="tei tei-labelitem"><th class="tei tei-label"></th><td class="tei tei-item"><span class="tei tei-respStmt">
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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
+<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd">
+<TEI.2 lang="en">
+  <teiHeader>
+    <fileDesc>
+      <titleStmt>
+        <title>Puck of Pook's Hill</title>
+        <author><name reg="Kipling, Rudyard">Rudyard Kipling</name></author>
+      </titleStmt>
+      <publicationStmt>
+        <publisher>Project Gutenberg TEI Edition 1</publisher>
+        <date value="2008-07-11">July 11, 2008</date>
+        <idno type="etext-no">26027</idno>
+        <idno type="DPid">projectID470467677f591</idno>
+        <availability>
+          <p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+            whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project
+            Gutenberg License online at www.gutenberg.org/license</p>
+        </availability>
+      </publicationStmt>
+      <sourceDesc>
+        <bibl>Rudyard Kipling: Puck of Pook’s Hill. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
+        New York; Doubleday, Page &amp; Co. 1906.</bibl>
+      </sourceDesc>
+    </fileDesc>
+    <encodingDesc>
+      <editorialDecl><p>See transcriber's note in the back.</p></editorialDecl>
+    </encodingDesc>
+    <profileDesc>
+      <langUsage>
+        <language id="en"/>
+      </langUsage>
+    </profileDesc>
+    <revisionDesc>
+      <change>
+        <date value="2008-07-11">July 11, 2008</date>
+        <respStmt>
+          <resp>Produced by Suzanne Shell, Stefan Cramme, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+            &lt;http://www.pgdp.net/&gt;.</resp>
+        </respStmt>
+        <item>Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1</item>
+      </change>
+    </revisionDesc>
+  </teiHeader>
+  <pgExtensions>
+    <pgStyleSheet>
+      figure { text-align: center }
+      .italic { font-style: italic } 
+      .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps }
+      lg { margin-left: 2 }
+      docImprint { text-align: center }
+      docDate { text-align: center }
+    </pgStyleSheet>
+    
+  </pgExtensions>
+  <text lang="en">
+    <front>
+      <div>
+                <divGen type="pgheader" />
+            </div>
+            <div>
+                <divGen type="encodingDesc" />
+            </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+       <pgIf output="txt">
+         <then></then>
+         <else>
+           <p>
+             <figure url="images/cover.jpg">
+               <figDesc>Cover illustration</figDesc>
+             </figure>
+           </p>
+         </else>
+       </pgIf>
+        <pb/>
+        
+        <p rend="text-align: center; page-break-before: always"><hi rend="font-size: x-large">PUCK OF POOK’S HILL</hi></p>
+        <pb/>
+        
+        <p rend="font-size: large; margin-top: 2; text-align: center"> BOOKS BY RUDYARD KIPLING </p>
+        <list rend="margin-left: 4">
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">Puck of Pook’s Hill</hi></item>
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">They</hi></item>
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">Traffics and Discoveries</hi></item>
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">The Five Nations</hi></item>
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">The Just So Song Book</hi></item>
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">Just So Stories</hi></item>
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">Kim</hi></item>
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">Stalky &amp; Co.</hi></item>
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">The Day’s Work</hi></item>
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">The Brushwood Boy</hi></item>
+          <item rend="smallcaps">From Sea to Sea</item>
+          <item>
+            <hi rend="smallcaps">Departmental Ditties and Ballads And Barrack-room Ballads</hi></item>
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">Plain Tales From the Hills</hi></item>
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">The Light That Failed</hi></item>
+          <item>
+            <hi rend="smallcaps">Life’s Handicap: Being Stories of Mine Own People</hi>
+          </item>
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">Under the Deodars, the Phantom ’Rickshaw, and Wee Willie
+            Winkie</hi></item>
+          <item>
+            <hi rend="smallcaps">Soldiers Three, the Story of the Gadsbys, and in Black and
+            White</hi>
+          </item>
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">Soldier Stories</hi></item>
+          <item><hi rend="smallcaps">The Kipling Birthday Book</hi></item>
+          <item> (<hi rend="smallcaps">With Wolcott Balestier</hi>) <hi rend="smallcaps">The
+              Naulahka</hi></item>
+        </list>
+        <pb/>
+        
+        <p>&nbsp;
+        </p></div><div rend="page-break-before: always">
+        <pb/>
+        <anchor id="image01"/>
+        <pgIf output="txt">
+          <then>
+            <p rend="margin-left: 2; margin-right: 2">[Illustration: ‘“Go!� she says. “Go with my Leave an’ Goodwill.�’ <lb/><hi rend="italic"
+                >See page 247</hi>]</p>
+          </then>
+          <else>
+            <pgIf output="pdf">
+              <then><p>
+                <figure url="images/col01l.jpg">
+                  <head>‘“Go!� she says. “Go with my Leave an’ Goodwill.�’ <hi rend="italic">See page
+                  247</hi></head>
+                </figure>
+              </p></then>
+              <else><p>
+                <figure url="images/col01s.jpg">
+                  <head><xref url="images/col01l.jpg">‘“Go!� she says. “Go with my Leave an’ Goodwill.�’</xref>
+                    <lb/>
+                    <ref target="Pg247"><hi rend="italic">See page
+                    247</hi></ref></head>
+                  <figDesc>Illustration to page 247</figDesc>
+                </figure>
+              </p></else>
+            </pgIf>
+           
+          </else>
+        </pgIf>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: always"><pgIf output="txt">
+        <then></then>
+        <else>
+          <p>
+            <figure url="images/tp.jpg">
+              <figDesc>title page</figDesc>
+            </figure>
+          </p>
+        </else>
+      </pgIf></div>
+      <titlePage rend="page-break-before: right; text-align: center">
+        <pb/>
+       
+        <docTitle>
+          <titlePart rend="font-size:xx-large">Puck of Pook’s Hill</titlePart>
+        </docTitle>
+        <lb/><lb/>
+        <byline rend="font-size: x-large">By <docAuthor>Rudyard Kipling</docAuthor></byline>
+        <lb/><lb/>
+        <titlePart rend="text-align: center"><hi rend="italic">Illustrated by</hi><lb/>Arthur Rackham, A.R.W.S.</titlePart>
+        <lb/><lb/><lb/><lb/>
+        <docImprint>NEW YORK<lb/>DOUBLEDAY, PAGE &amp; COMPANY</docImprint>
+        <lb/>
+        <docDate>1906</docDate>
+      </titlePage>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: always">
+        <pb/>
+        
+        <p rend="text-align: center">Copyright, 1905, 1906, by<lb/>RUDYARD KIPLING<lb/>Published, October, 1906</p>
+       
+        <p rend="text-align: center">
+          <hi rend="italic; font-size: small">All rights reserved,<lb/>including that of translation into foreign
+            languages,<lb/>including the Scandinavian</hi>
+        </p>
+        <p rend="margin-top: 5; margin-left: 10"> ROBIN GOODFELLOW—HIS FRIENDS </p>
+        <p rend="margin-left: 10"> By <hi rend="smallcaps">Rudyard Kipling</hi>
+        </p>
+        <list type="ordered" rend="list-style-type: upper-roman; margin-left: 10">
+          <item>A Centurion of the Thirtieth.</item>
+          <item>On the Great Wall.</item>
+          <item>The Winged Hats.</item>
+          <item>Hal o’ the Draft.</item>
+          <item>Dymchurch Flit.</item>
+          <item>The Treasure and the Law.</item>
+        </list>
+        
+        <p rend="margin-left: 10"> Copyright, 1906, by <hi rend="smallcaps">Rudyard Kipling</hi>. </p>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: always">
+        <pb/>
+        
+        <index index="pdf"/>
+        <head>CONTENTS</head>
+        <table rows="12" cols="2" rend="tblcolumns: 'lw(40m) r'; latexcolumns: 'p{7cm}r'">
+          <row>
+            <cell/>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="font-size: x-small">PAGE</hi></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell><hi rend="italic">Puck’s Song</hi></cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg001">1</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell>Weland’s Sword</cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg005">5</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell><hi rend="italic">A Tree Song</hi></cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg029">29</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell>Young Men at the Manor</cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg033">33</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell><hi rend="italic">Sir Richard’s Song</hi></cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg055">55</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell><hi rend="italic">Harp Song of the Dane Women</hi></cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg059">59</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell>The Knights of the Joyous Venture</cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg061">61</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell><hi rend="italic">Thorkild’s Song</hi></cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg087">87</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell>Old Men at Pevensey</cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg091">91</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell><hi rend="italic">The Runes on Weland’s Sword</hi></cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg119">119</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell>A Centurion of the Thirtieth</cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg125">125</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell><hi rend="italic">A British-Roman Song</hi></cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg145">145</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell>On the Great Wall</cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg149">149</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell><hi rend="italic">A Song to Mithras</hi></cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg173">173</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell>The Winged Hats</cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg177">177</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell><hi rend="italic">A Pict Song</hi></cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg201">201</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell>Hal o’ the Draft</cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg207">207</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell><hi rend="italic">A Smugglers’ Song</hi></cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg227">227</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell><hi rend="italic">The Bee Boy’s Song</hi></cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg231">231</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell>‘Dymchurch Flit’</cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg233">233</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell><hi rend="italic">A Three-Part Song</hi></cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg251">251</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell><hi rend="italic">Song of the Fifth River</hi></cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg255">255</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell>The Treasure and the Law</cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg257">257</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell><hi rend="italic">The Children’s Song</hi></cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg276">276</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+        </table>
+        <pb/>
+        
+        <p>
+        </p>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+        <pb/>
+        
+        <index index="pdf"/>
+        <head>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</head>
+        <table rows="5" cols="2" rend="tblcolumns: 'lw(55m) r'; latexcolumns: 'p{7cm}r'">
+          <row>
+            <cell>‘“Go!� she says, “Go with my Leave an’ Goodwill.�’ </cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="image01"><hi rend="italic">Frontispiece</hi></ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell/>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="font-size: x-small">FACING&nbsp;PAGE</hi></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell>
+              In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they
+              saw a small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared
+              person with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes,
+              and a grin that ran right across his freckled
+              face.
+            </cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="image02">6</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell>
+              ‘There’s where you meet hunters, and trappers for the
+              Circuses, prodding along chained bears and muzzled
+              wolves.’
+            </cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="image03">152</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          <row>
+            <cell>
+              ‘Hoity-toity!’ he cried. ‘Here’s Pride in purple feathers!
+              Here’s wrathy contempt and the Pomps of
+              the Flesh!’... And he doffed his cap
+              to the bubbling bird.
+            </cell>
+            <cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="image04">212</ref></cell>
+          </row>
+          
+        </table>
+        
+        <pb/>
+        
+        <p>
+        </p>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+        <pb/>
+        
+        <p rend="text-align: center"><hi rend="font-size: x-large">PUCK OF POOK’S HILL</hi></p>
+        <pb/>
+        
+        <p>
+        </p>
+      </div>
+    </front>
+    <body>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+        <pb n="1"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg001"/>
+        <index index="pdf"/>
+        <head>PUCK’S SONG</head>
+        <lg>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">See you the dimpled track that runs,</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">All hollow through the wheat?</hi></l>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">O that was where they hauled the guns</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">That smote King Philip’s fleet.</hi></l>
+        </lg>
+        <lg>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">See you our little mill that clacks,</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">So busy by the brook?</hi></l>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">She has ground her corn and paid her tax</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Ever since Domesday Book.</hi></l>
+        </lg>
+        <lg>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">See you our stilly woods of oak,</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">And the dread ditch beside?</hi></l>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">O that was where the Saxons broke,</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">On the day that Harold died.</hi></l>
+        </lg>
+        <lg>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">See you the windy levels spread</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">About the gates of Rye?</hi></l>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">O that was where the Northmen fled,</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">When Alfred’s ships came by.</hi></l>
+        </lg>
+        <lg>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">See you our pastures wide and lone,</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Where the red oxen browse?</hi></l>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">O there was a City thronged and known,</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Ere London boasted a house.</hi></l>
+        </lg>
+        <lg>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">And see you, after rain, the trace</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Of mound and ditch and wall?</hi></l>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">O that was a Legion’s camping-place,</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">When Cæsar sailed from Gaul.</hi></l>
+        </lg>
+        <pb n="2"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg002"/>
+        <lg>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">And see you marks that show and fade,</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Like shadows on the Downs?</hi></l>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">O they are the lines the Flint Men made,</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">To guard their wondrous towns.</hi></l>
+        </lg>
+        <lg>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">Trackway and Camp and City lost,</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Salt Marsh where now is corn;</hi></l>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">Old Wars, old Peace, old Arts that cease,</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">And so was England born!</hi></l>
+        </lg>
+        <lg>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">She is not any common Earth,</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Water or wood or air,</hi></l>
+          <l><hi rend="italic">But Merlin’s Isle of Gramarye,</hi></l>
+          <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Where you and I will fare.</hi></l>
+        </lg>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+        <pb n="3"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg003"/>
+        <head> WELAND’S SWORD </head>
+        <pb n="4"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg004"/>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="5"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg005"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>WELAND’S SWORD<note place="foot">Copyright, 1905, by Rudyard Kipling.</note></head>
+          <p> The children were at the Theatre, acting to Three Cows as much as they could remember
+            of <hi rend="italic">Midsummer Night’s Dream</hi>. Their father had made them a small
+            play out of the big Shakespeare one, and they had rehearsed it with him and with their
+            mother till they could say it by heart. They began where Nick Bottom the weaver comes
+            out of the bushes with a donkey’s head on his shoulder, and finds Titania, Queen of the
+            Fairies, asleep. Then they skipped to the part where Bottom asks three little fairies to
+            scratch his head and bring him honey, and they ended where he falls asleep in Titania’s
+            arms. Dan was Puck and Nick Bottom, as well as all three Fairies. He wore a pointy-eared
+            cloth cap for Puck, and a paper donkey’s head out of a Christmas cracker—but it tore if
+            you were not careful—for Bottom. Una was Titania, with a wreath of columbines and a
+            foxglove wand. </p>
+          <p> The Theatre lay in a meadow called the Long Slip. A little mill-stream, carrying water
+            to a mill two or three fields away, bent round one corner of it, and in the middle of
+            the bend lay a large old fairy Ring of darkened grass, which was their stage. The
+            mill-stream banks, overgrown with willow, hazel, and guelder rose made convenient places
+            to wait in till your <pb n="6"/><anchor id="Pg006"/>turn came; and a grown-up who had
+            seen it said that Shakespeare himself could not have imagined a more suitable setting
+            for his play. They were not, of course, allowed to act on Midsummer Night itself, but
+            they went down after tea on Midsummer Eve, when the shadows were growing, and they took
+            their supper—hard-boiled eggs, Bath Oliver biscuits, and salt in an envelope—with
+            them. Three Cows had been milked and were grazing steadily with a tearing noise that one
+            could hear all down the meadow; and the noise of the mill at work sounded like bare feet
+            running on hard ground. A cuckoo sat on a gatepost singing his broken June tune,
+            ‘cuckoo-cuk,’ while a busy kingfisher crossed from the mill-stream to the brook which
+            ran on the other side of the meadow. Everything else was a sort of thick, sleepy
+            stillness smelling of meadow-sweet and dry grass. </p>
+          <p> Their play went beautifully. Dan remembered all his parts—Puck, Bottom, and the three
+            Fairies—and Una never forgot a word of Titania—not even the difficult piece where she
+            tells the Fairies how to feed Bottom with ‘apricocks, ripe figs, and dewberries,’ and
+            all the lines end in ‘ies.’ They were both so pleased that they acted it three times
+            over from beginning to end before they sat down in the unthistly centre of the Ring to
+            eat eggs and Bath Olivers. This was when they heard a whistle among the alders on the
+            bank, and they jumped. </p>
+          <anchor id="image02"/>
+          <pgIf output="txt">
+            <then>
+              <p rend="margin-left: 2; margin-right: 2">[Illustration: In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they now saw a small,
+                brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes,
+                and a grin that ran right across his freckled face.]</p>
+            </then>
+            <else>
+              <pgIf output="pdf">
+                <then>
+                  <p rend="margin-left: 2; margin-right: 2">
+                    <figure url="images/col02l.jpg">
+                      <head>In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they now saw a small, brown,
+                        broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes, and
+                        a grin that ran right across his freckled face.</head>
+                    </figure>
+                  </p>
+                </then>
+                <else>
+                  <p>
+                    <figure url="images/col02s.jpg">
+                      <head><xref url="images/col02l.jpg">In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck<lb/>they now saw a small, brown,
+                        broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person<lb/> with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes,<lb/> and
+                        a grin that ran right across his freckled face.</xref></head>
+                      <figDesc>Illustration to page 6</figDesc>
+                    </figure>
+                  </p>
+                </else>
+              </pgIf>
+              
+            </else>
+          </pgIf>
+          <p> The bushes parted. In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they saw a small,
+            <pb n="7"/><anchor id="Pg007"/>brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes, and
+            a grin that ran right across his freckled face. He shaded his forehead as though he were
+            watching Quince, Snout, Bottom, and the others rehearsing <hi rend="italic"><corr
+                sic="Pyramis">Pyramus</corr> and Thisbe</hi>, and, in a voice as deep as Three Cows
+            asking to be milked, he began: </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>‘What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here,</l>
+            <l>So near the cradle of our fairy Queen?’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> He stopped, hollowed one hand round his ear, and, with a wicked twinkle in his eye,
+            went on: </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>‘What a play toward? I’ll be auditor,</l>
+            <l>An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> The children looked and gasped. The small thing—he was no taller than Dan’s
+            shoulder—stepped quietly into the Ring. </p>
+          <p> ‘I’m rather out of practice,’ said he; ‘but that’s the way my part ought to be
+            played.’ </p>
+          <p> Still the children stared at him—from his dark blue cap, like a big columbine flower,
+            to his bare, hairy feet. At last he laughed. </p>
+          <p> ‘Please don’t look like that. It isn’t <hi rend="italic">my</hi> fault. What else
+            could you expect?’ he said. </p>
+          <p> ‘We didn’t expect any one,’ Dan answered, slowly. ‘This is our field.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Is it?’ said their visitor, sitting down. ‘Then what on Human Earth made you act <hi
+              rend="italic">Midsummer Night’s Dream</hi> three times over, <hi rend="italic">on</hi>
+            Midsummer Eve, <hi rend="italic">in</hi> the middle of a Ring, and under—right <hi
+              rend="italic">under</hi> one of my oldest hills in Old England? Pook’s Hill—Puck’s
+              Hill—<pb n="8"/><anchor id="Pg008"/>Puck’s Hill—Pook’s Hill! It’s as plain as the
+            nose on my face.’ </p>
+          <p> He pointed to the bare, fern-covered slope of Pook’s Hill that runs up from the far
+            side of the mill-stream to a dark wood. Beyond that wood the ground rises and rises for
+            five hundred feet, till at last you climb out on the bare top of Beacon Hill, to look
+            over the Pevensey Levels and the Channel and half the naked South Downs. </p>
+          <p> ‘By Oak, Ash, and Thorn!’ he cried, still laughing. ‘If this had happened a few
+            hundred years ago you’d have had all the People of the Hills out like bees in June!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘We didn’t know it was wrong,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Wrong!’ The little fellow shook with laughter. ‘Indeed, it isn’t wrong. You’ve done
+            something that Kings and Knights and Scholars in old days would have given their crowns
+            and spurs and books to find out. If Merlin himself had helped you, you couldn’t have
+            managed better! You’ve broken the Hills—you’ve broken the Hills! It hasn’t happened in
+            a thousand years.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘We—we didn’t mean to,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘Of course you didn’t! That’s just why you did it. Unluckily the Hills are empty now,
+            and all the People of the Hills are gone. I’m the only one left. I’m Puck, the oldest
+            Old Thing in England, very much at your service if—if you care to have anything to do
+            with me. If you don’t, of course you’ve only to say so, and I’ll go.’ </p>
+          <p> He looked at the children and the children looked at him for quite half a minute. His
+              <pb n="9"/><anchor id="Pg009"/>eyes did not twinkle any more. They were very kind,
+            and there was the beginning of a good smile on his lips. </p>
+          <p> Una put out her hand. ‘Don’t go,’ she said. ‘We like you.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Have a Bath Oliver,’ said Dan, and he passed over the squashy envelope with the eggs. </p>
+          <p> ‘By Oak, Ash, and Thorn!’ cried Puck, taking off his blue cap, ‘I like you too.
+            Sprinkle a little salt on the biscuit, Dan, and I’ll eat it with you. That’ll show you
+            the sort of person I am. Some of us’—he went on, with his mouth full—<corr
+              sic="couldn't">‘couldn’t</corr> abide Salt, or Horseshoes over a door, or Mountain-ash
+            berries, or Running Water, or Cold Iron, or the sound of Church Bells. But I’m Puck!’ </p>
+          <p> He brushed the crumbs carefully from his doublet and shook hands. </p>
+          <p> ‘We always said, Dan and I,’ Una stammered, ‘that if it ever happened we’d know
+            ex-actly what to do; but—but now it seems all different somehow.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘She means meeting a fairy,’ said Dan. <corr sic="I">‘<hi rend="italic">I</hi></corr>
+            never believed in ’em—not after I was six, anyhow.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I did,’ said Una. ‘At least, I sort of half believed till we learned “Farewell
+            Rewards.� Do you know “Farewell Rewards and Fairies�?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Do you mean this?’ said Puck. He threw his big head back and began at the second
+            line:— </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">‘Good housewives now may say,</l>
+            <l>For now foul sluts in dairies</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">Do fare as well as they;</l>
+            <l>For though they sweep their hearths no less</l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="10"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg010"/>
+          <p> (‘Join in, Una!’) </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">Than maids were wont to do,</l>
+            <l>Yet who of late for cleanliness</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">Finds sixpence in her shoe?’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> The echoes flapped all along the flat meadow. </p>
+          <p> ‘Of course I know it,’ he said. </p>
+          <p> ‘And then there’s the verse about the Rings,’ said Dan. ‘When I was little it always
+            made me feel unhappy in my inside.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘“Witness those rings and roundelays,� do you mean?’ boomed Puck, with a voice like a
+            great church organ. </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">‘Of theirs which yet remain,</l>
+            <l>Were footed in Queen Mary’s days</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">On many a grassy plain.</l>
+            <l>But since of late Elizabeth,</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">And later James came in,</l>
+            <l>Are never seen on any heath</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">As when the time hath been.</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> ‘It’s some time since I heard that sung, but there’s no good beating about the bush:
+            it’s true. The People of the Hills have all left. I saw them come into Old England and I
+            saw them go. Giants, trolls, kelpies, brownies, goblins, imps; wood, tree, mound, and
+            water spirits; heath-people, hill-watchers, treasure-guards, good people, little people,
+            pishogues, leprechauns, night-riders, pixies, nixies, gnomes and the rest—gone, all
+            gone! I came into England with Oak, Ash, and Thorn, and when Oak, Ash, and Thorn are
+            gone I shall go too.’ </p>
+          <p> Dan looked round the meadow—at Una’s oak by the lower gate, at the line of ash trees
+              <pb n="11"/><anchor id="Pg011"/>that overhang Otter Pool where the mill-stream spills
+            over when the mill does not need it, and at the gnarled old white-thorn where Three Cows
+            scratched their necks. </p>
+          <p> ‘It’s all right,’ he said; and added, ‘I’m planting a lot of acorns this autumn too.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Then aren’t you most awfully old?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘Not old—fairly long-lived, as folk say hereabouts. Let me see—my friends used to
+            set my dish of cream for me o’ nights when Stonehenge was new. Yes, before the Flint Men
+            made the Dewpond under Chanctonbury Ring.’ </p>
+          <p> Una clasped her hands, cried ‘Oh!’ and nodded her head. </p>
+          <p> ‘She’s thought a plan,’ Dan explained. ‘She always does like that when she thinks a
+            plan.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I was thinking—suppose we saved some of our porridge and put it in the attic for
+            you. They’d notice if we left it in the nursery.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Schoolroom,’ said Dan, quickly, and Una flushed, because they had made a solemn
+            treaty that summer not to call the schoolroom the nursery any more. </p>
+          <p> ‘Bless your heart o’ gold!’ said Puck. ‘You’ll make a fine considering wench some
+            market-day. I really don’t want you to put out a bowl for me; but if ever I need a bite,
+            be sure I’ll tell you.’ </p>
+          <p> He stretched himself at length on the dry grass, and the children stretched out beside
+            him, their bare legs waving happily in the air. They felt they could not be afraid of
+            him any <pb n="12"/><anchor id="Pg012"/>more than of their particular friend old
+            Hobden, the hedger. He did not bother them with grown-up questions, or laugh at the
+            donkey’s head, but lay and smiled to himself in the most sensible way. </p>
+          <p> ‘Have you a knife on you?’ he said at last. </p>
+          <p> Dan handed over his big one-bladed outdoor knife, and Puck began to carve out a piece
+            of turf from the centre of the Ring. </p>
+          <p> ‘What’s that for—Magic?’ said Una, as he pressed up the square of chocolate loam that
+            cut like so much cheese. </p>
+          <p> ‘One of my little Magics,’ he answered, and cut another. ‘You see, I can’t let you
+            into the Hills because the People of the Hills have gone; but if you care to take seizin
+            from me, I may be able to show you something out of the common here on Human Earth. You
+            certainly deserve it.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What’s taking seizin?’ said Dan, cautiously. </p>
+          <p> ‘It’s an old custom the people had when they bought and sold land. They used to cut
+            out a clod and hand it over to the buyer, and you weren’t lawfully seized of your
+            land—it didn’t really belong to you—till the other fellow had actually given you a
+            piece of it—like this.’ He held out the turves. </p>
+          <p> ‘But it’s our own meadow,’ said Dan, drawing back. ‘Are you going to magic it away?’ </p>
+          <p> Puck laughed. ‘I know it’s your meadow, but there’s a great deal more in it than you
+            or your father ever guessed. Try!’ </p>
+          <p> He turned his eyes on Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘I’ll do it,’ she said. Dan followed her example at once. </p>
+          <pb n="13"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg013"/>
+          <p> ‘Now are you two lawfully seized and possessed of all Old England,’ began Puck, in a
+            sing-song voice. ‘By Right of Oak, Ash, and Thorn are you free to come and go and look
+            and know where I shall show or best you please. You shall see What you shall see and you
+            shall hear What you shall hear, though It shall have happened three thousand year; and
+            you shall know neither Doubt nor Fear. Fast! Hold fast all I give you.’ </p>
+          <p> The children shut their eyes, but nothing happened. </p>
+          <p> ‘Well?’ said Una, disappointedly opening them. ‘I thought there would be dragons.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Though It shall have happened three thousand year,’ said Puck, and counted on his
+            fingers. ‘No; I’m afraid there were no <corr sic="draggons">dragons</corr> three
+            thousand years ago.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But there hasn’t happened anything at all,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Wait awhile,’ said Puck. ‘You don’t grow an oak in a year—and Old England’s older
+            than twenty oaks. Let’s sit down again and think. <hi rend="italic">I</hi> can do that
+            for a century at a time.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Ah, but you are a fairy,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Have you ever heard me use that word yet?’ said Puck, quickly. </p>
+          <p> ‘No. You talk about “the People of the Hills,� but you never say “fairies,�’ said Una.
+            ‘I was wondering at that. Don’t you like it?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘How would you like to be called “mortal� or “human being� all the time?’ said Puck;
+            ‘or “son of Adam� or “daughter of Eve�?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I shouldn’t like it at all,’ said Dan. ‘That’s <pb n="14"/><anchor id="Pg014"/>how
+            the Djinns and Afrits talk in the <hi rend="italic">Arabian Nights</hi>.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And that’s how <hi rend="italic">I</hi> feel about saying—that word that I don’t
+            say. Besides, what you call <hi rend="italic">them</hi> are made-up things the People of
+            the Hills have never heard of—little buzzflies with butterfly wings and gauze
+            petticoats, and shiny stars in their hair, and a wand like a schoolteacher’s cane for
+            punishing bad boys and rewarding good ones. <hi rend="italic">I</hi> know ’em!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘We don’t mean that sort,’ said Dan. ‘We hate ’em too.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Exactly,’ said Puck. ‘Can you wonder that the People of the Hills don’t care to be
+            confused with that painty-winged, wand-waving, sugar-and-shake-your-head set of
+            impostors? Butterfly wings, indeed! I’ve seen Sir Huon and a troop of his people setting
+            off from Tintagel Castle for Hy-Brasil in the teeth of a sou’-westerly gale, with the
+            spray flying all over the castle, and the Horses of the Hill wild with fright. Out
+            they’d go in a lull, screaming like gulls, and back they’d be driven five good miles
+            inland before they could come head to wind again. Butterfly-wings! It was Magic—Magic
+            as black as Merlin could make it, and the whole sea was green fire and white foam with
+            singing mermaids in it. And the Horses of the Hill picked their way from one wave to
+            another by the lightning flashes! <hi rend="italic">That</hi> was how it was in the old
+            days!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Splendid,’ said Dan, but Una shuddered. </p>
+          <p> ‘I’m glad they’re gone, then; but what made the People of the Hills go away?’ Una
+            asked. </p>
+          <p> ‘Different things. I’ll tell you one of them <pb n="15"/><anchor id="Pg015"/>some
+            day—the thing that made the biggest flit of any,’ said Puck. ‘But they didn’t all flit
+            at once. They dropped off, one by one, through the centuries. Most of them were
+            foreigners who couldn’t stand our climate. <hi rend="italic">They</hi> flitted early.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘How early?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘A couple of thousand years or more. The fact is they began as Gods. The Phœnicians
+            brought some over when they came to buy tin; and the Gauls, and the Jutes, and the
+            Danes, and the Frisians, and the Angles brought more when they landed. They were always
+            landing in those days, or being driven back to their ships, and they always brought
+            their Gods with them. England is a bad country for Gods. Now, <hi rend="italic">I</hi>
+            began as I mean to go on. A bowl of porridge, a dish of milk, and a little quiet fun
+            with the country folk in the lanes was enough for me then, as it is now. I belong here,
+            you see, and I have been mixed up with people all my days. But most of the others
+            insisted on being Gods, and having temples, and altars, and priests, and sacrifices of
+            their own.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘People burned in wicker baskets?’ said Dan. ‘Like Miss Blake tells us about?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘All sorts of sacrifices,’ said Puck. ‘If it wasn’t men, it was horses, or cattle, or
+            pigs, or metheglin—that’s a sticky, sweet sort of beer. <hi rend="italic">I</hi> never
+            liked it. They were a stiff-necked, extravagant set of idols, the Old Things. But what
+            was the result? Men don’t like being sacrificed at the best of times; they don’t even
+            like sacrificing their farm-horses. After a <pb n="16"/><anchor id="Pg016"/>while men
+            simply left the Old Things alone, and the roofs of their temples fell in, and the Old
+            Things had to scuttle out and pick up a living as they could. Some of them took to
+            hanging about trees, and hiding in graves and groaning o’ nights. If they groaned loud
+            enough and long enough they might frighten a poor countryman into sacrificing a hen, or
+            leaving a pound of butter for them. I remember one Goddess called Belisama. She became a
+            common wet water-spirit somewhere in Lancashire. And there were hundreds of other
+            friends of mine. First they were Gods. Then they were People of the Hills, and then they
+            flitted to other places because they couldn’t get on with the English for one reason or
+            another. There was only one Old Thing, I remember, who honestly worked for his living
+            after he came down in the world. He was called Weland, and he was a smith to some Gods.
+            I’ve forgotten their names, but he used to make them swords and spears. I think he
+            claimed kin with Thor of the Scandinavians.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘<hi rend="italic">Heroes of Asgard</hi> Thor?’ said Una. She had been reading the
+            book. </p>
+          <p> ‘Perhaps,’ answered Puck. ‘None the less, when bad times came, he didn’t beg or steal.
+            He worked; and I was lucky enough to be able to do him a good turn.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Tell us about it,’ said Dan. ‘I think I like hearing of Old Things.’ </p>
+          <p> They rearranged themselves comfortably, each chewing a grass stem. Puck propped
+            himself on one strong arm and went on: </p>
+          <p> ‘Let’s think! I met Weland first on a No<pb n="17"/><anchor id="Pg017"/>vember
+            afternoon in a sleet storm, on Pevensey Level——’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Pevensey? Over the hill, you mean?’ Dan pointed south. </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes; but it was all marsh in those days, right up to Horsebridge and Hydeneye. I was
+            on Beacon Hill—they called it Brunanburgh then—when I saw the pale flame that burning
+            thatch makes, and I went down to look. Some pirates—I think they must have been Peofn’s
+            men—were burning a village on the Levels, and Weland’s image—a big, black wooden thing
+            with amber beads round its neck—lay in the bows of a black thirty-two-oar galley that
+            they had just beached. Bitter cold it was! There were icicles hanging from her deck, and
+            the oars were glazed over with ice, and there was ice on Weland’s lips. When he saw me
+            he began a long chant in his own tongue, telling me how he was going to rule England,
+            and how I should smell the smoke of his altars from Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight.
+              <hi rend="italic">I</hi> didn’t care! I’d seen too many Gods charging into Old England
+            to be upset about it. I let him sing himself out while his men were burning the village,
+            and then I said (I don’t know what put it into my head), “Smith of the Gods,� I said,
+            “the time comes when I shall meet you plying your trade for hire by the wayside.�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What did Weland say?’ said Una. ‘Was he angry?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘He called me names and rolled his eyes, and I went away to wake up the people inland.
+            But the pirates conquered the country, and for <pb n="18"/><anchor id="Pg018"
+            />centuries Weland was a most important God. He had temples everywhere—from
+            Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight, as he said—and his sacrifices were simply
+            scandalous. To do him justice, he preferred horses to men; but men <hi rend="italic"
+            >or</hi> horses, I knew that presently he’d have to come down in the world—like the
+            other Old Things. I gave him lots of time—I gave him about a thousand years—and at the
+            end of ’em I went into one of his temples near Andover to see how he prospered. There
+            was his altar, and there was his image, and there were his priests, and there were the
+            congregation, and everybody seemed quite happy, except Weland and the priests. In the
+            old days the congregation were unhappy until the priests had chosen their sacrifices;
+            and so would <hi rend="italic">you</hi> have been. When the service began a priest
+            rushed out, dragged a man up to the altar, pretended to hit him on the head with a
+            little gilt axe, and the man fell down and pretended to die. Then everybody shouted: “A
+            sacrifice to Weland! A sacrifice to Weland!�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And the man wasn’t really dead?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘Not a bit. All as much pretence as a dolls’ tea-party. Then they brought out a
+            splendid white horse, and the priest cut some hair from its mane and tail and burned it
+            on the altar, shouting, “A sacrifice!� That counted the same as if a man and a horse had
+            been killed. I saw poor Weland’s face through the smoke, and I couldn’t help laughing.
+            He looked so disgusted and so hungry, and all he had to satisfy himself was a horrid
+            smell of burning hair. Just a dolls’ tea-party! </p>
+          <pb n="19"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg019"/>
+          <p> ‘I judged it better not to say anything then (’twouldn’t have been fair), and the next
+            time I came to Andover, a few hundred years later, Weland and his temple were gone, and
+            there was a Christian bishop in a Church there. None of the People of the Hills could
+            tell me anything about him, and I supposed that he had left England.’ Puck turned; lay
+            on the other elbow, and thought for a long time. </p>
+          <p> ‘Let’s see,’ he said at last. ‘It must have been some few years later—a year or two
+            before the Conquest, I think—that I came back to Pook’s Hill here, and one evening I
+            heard old Hobden talking about Weland’s Ford.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘If you mean old Hobden the hedger, he’s only seventy-two. He told me so himself,’
+            said Dan. ‘He’s a intimate friend of ours.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘You’re quite right,’ Puck replied. ‘I meant old Hobden’s ninth great-grandfather. He
+            was a free man and burned charcoal hereabouts. I’ve known the family, father and son, so
+            long that I get confused sometimes. Hob of the Dene was my Hobden’s name, and he lived
+            at the Forge cottage. Of course, I pricked up my ears when I heard Weland mentioned, and
+            I scuttled through the woods to the Ford just beyond Bog Wood yonder.’ He jerked his
+            head westward, where the valley narrows between wooded hills and steep hop-fields. </p>
+          <p> ‘Why, that’s Willingford Bridge,’ said Una. ‘We go there for walks often. There’s a
+            kingfisher there.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘It was Weland’s Ford then, dear. A road led down to it from the Beacon on the top of
+              <pb n="20"/><anchor id="Pg020"/>the hill—a shocking bad road it was—and all the
+            hillside was thick, thick oak-forest, with deer in it. There was no trace of Weland, but
+            presently I saw a fat old farmer riding down from the Beacon under the greenwood tree.
+            His horse had cast a shoe in the clay, and when he came to the Ford he dismounted, took
+            a penny out of his purse, laid it on a stone, tied the old horse to an oak, and called
+            out: “Smith, Smith, here is work for you!� Then he sat down and went to sleep. You can
+            imagine how <hi rend="italic">I</hi> felt when I saw a white-bearded, bent old
+            blacksmith in a leather apron creep out from behind the oak and begin to shoe the horse.
+            It was Weland himself. I was so astonished that I jumped out and said: “What on Human
+            Earth are you doing here, Weland?�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Poor Weland!’ sighed Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘He pushed the long hair back from his forehead (he didn’t recognise me at first).
+            Then he said: “<hi rend="italic">You</hi> ought to know. You foretold it, Old Thing. I’m
+            shoeing horses for hire. I’m not even Weland now,� he said. “They call me
+            Wayland-Smith.�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Poor chap!’ said Dan. ‘What did you say?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What could I say? He looked up, with the horse’s foot on his lap, and he said,
+            smiling, “I remember the time when I wouldn’t have accepted this old bag of bones as a
+            sacrifice, and now I’m glad enough to shoe him for a penny.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Isn’t there any way for you to get back to Valhalla, or wherever you come from?� I
+            said. </p>
+          <pb n="21"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg021"/>
+          <p> ‘“I’m afraid not,� he said, rasping away at the hoof. He had a wonderful touch with
+            horses. The old beast was whinnying on his shoulder. “You may remember that I was not a
+            gentle God in my Day and my Time and my Power. I shall never be released till some human
+            being truly wishes me well.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Surely,� said I, “the farmer can’t do less than that. You’re shoeing the horse all
+            round for him.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Yes,� said he, “and my nails will hold a shoe from one full moon to the next. But
+            farmers and Weald Clay,� said he, “are both uncommon cold and sour.� </p>
+          <p> ‘Would you believe it, that when that farmer woke and found his horse shod he rode
+            away without one word of thanks? I was so angry that I wheeled his horse right round and
+            walked him back three miles to the Beacon just to teach the old sinner politeness.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Were you invisible?’ said Una. Puck nodded, gravely. </p>
+          <p> ‘The Beacon was always laid in those days ready to light, in case the French landed at
+            Pevensey; and I walked the horse about and about it that lee-long summer night. The
+            farmer thought he was bewitched—well, he <hi rend="italic">was</hi>, of course—and
+            began to pray and shout. <hi rend="italic">I</hi> didn’t care! I was as good a Christian
+            as he any fair-day in the County, and about four o’clock in the morning a young novice
+            came along from the monastery that used to stand on the top of Beacon hill.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What’s a novice?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘It really means a man who is beginning to <pb n="22"/><anchor id="Pg022"/>be a monk,
+            but in those days people sent their sons to a monastery just the same as a school. This
+            young fellow had been to a monastery in France for a few months every year, and he was
+            finishing his studies in the monastery close to his home here. Hugh was his name, and he
+            had got up to go fishing hereabouts. His people owned all this valley. Hugh heard the
+            farmer shouting, and asked him what in the world he meant. The old man spun him a
+            wonderful tale about fairies and goblins and witches; and I <hi rend="italic">know</hi>
+            he hadn’t seen a thing except rabbits and red deer all that night. (The People of the
+            Hills are like otters—they don’t show except when they choose.) But the novice wasn’t a
+            fool. He looked down at the horse’s feet, and saw the new shoes fastened as only Weland
+            knew how to fasten ’em. (Weland had a way of turning down the nails that folks called
+            the Smith’s Clinch.) </p>
+          <p> ‘“H’m!� said the novice. “Where did you get your horse shod?� </p>
+          <p> ‘The farmer wouldn’t tell him at first, because the priests never liked their people
+            to have any dealings with the Old Things. At last he confessed that the Smith had done
+            it. “What did you pay him?� said the novice. “Penny,� said the farmer, very sulkily.
+            “That’s less than a Christian would have charged,� said the novice. “I hope you threw a
+            ‘Thank you’ into the bargain.� “No,� said the farmer; “Wayland-Smith’s a heathen.�
+            “Heathen or no heathen,� said the novice, “you took his help, and where you get <pb
+              n="23"/><anchor id="Pg023"/>help there you must give thanks.� “What?� said the
+            farmer—he was in a furious temper because I was walking the old horse in circles all
+            this time—“What, you young jackanapes?� said he. “Then by your reasoning I ought to say
+            ‘Thank you’ to Satan if he helped me?� “Don’t roll about up there splitting reasons with
+            me,� said the novice. “Come back to the Ford and thank the Smith, or you’ll be sorry.� </p>
+          <p> ‘Back the farmer had to go! I led the horse, though no one saw me, and the novice
+            walked beside us, his gown swishing through the shiny dew and his fishing-rod across his
+            shoulders spearwise. When we reached the Ford again—it was five o’clock and misty still
+            under the oaks—the farmer simply wouldn’t say “Thank you.� He said he’d tell the Abbot
+            that the novice wanted him to worship heathen gods. Then Hugh the novice lost his
+            temper. He just cried, “Out!� put his arm under the farmer’s fat leg, and heaved him
+            from his saddle on to the turf, and before he could rise he caught him by the back of
+            the neck and shook him like a rat till the farmer growled, “Thank you, Wayland-Smith.�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Did Weland see all this?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh, yes, and he shouted his old war-cry when the farmer thudded on to the ground. He
+            was delighted. Then the novice turned to the oak and said, “Ho! Smith of the Gods, I am
+            ashamed of this rude farmer; but for all you have done in kindness and charity to him
+            and to others of our people, I thank you and wish you well.� Then he picked up his <pb
+              n="24"/><anchor id="Pg024"/>fishing-rod—it looked more like a tall spear than
+            ever—and tramped off down your valley.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And what did poor Weland do?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘He laughed and cried with joy, because he had been released at last, and could go
+            away. But he was an honest Old Thing. He had worked for his living and he paid his debts
+            before he left. “I shall give that novice a gift,� said Weland. “A gift that shall do
+            him good the wide world over, and Old England after him. Blow up my fire, Old Thing,
+            while I get the iron for my last task.� Then he made a sword—a dark grey, wavy-lined
+            sword—and I blew the fire while he hammered. By Oak, Ash, and Thorn, I tell you, Weland
+            was a Smith of the Gods! He cooled that sword in running water twice, and the third time
+            he cooled it in the evening dew, and he laid it out in the moonlight and said Runes
+            (that’s charms) over it, and he carved Runes of Prophecy on the blade. “Old Thing,� he
+            said to me, wiping his forehead, “this is the best blade that Weland ever made. Even the
+            user will never know how good it is. Come to the monastery.� </p>
+          <p> ‘We went to the dormitory where the monks slept. We saw the novice fast asleep in his
+            cot, and Weland put the sword into his hand, and I remember the young fellow gripped it
+            in his sleep. Then Weland strode as far as he dared into the Chapel and threw down all
+            his shoeing-tools—his hammer, and pincers, and rasps—to show that he had done with
+            them for ever. It sounded like suits of armour falling, and the sleepy monks ran in, for
+            they thought the <pb n="25"/><anchor id="Pg025"/>monastery had been attacked by the
+            French. The novice came first of all, waving his new sword and shouting Saxon
+            battle-cries. When they saw the shoeing-tools they were very bewildered, till the novice
+            asked leave to speak, and told what he had done to the farmer, and what he had said to
+            Wayland-Smith, and how, though the dormitory light was burning, he had found the
+            wonderful rune-carved sword in his cot. </p>
+          <p> ‘The Abbot shook his head at first, and then he laughed and said to the novice: “Son
+            Hugh, it needed no sign from a heathen God to show me that you will never be a monk.
+            Take your sword, and keep your sword, and go with your sword, and be as gentle as you
+            are strong and courteous. We will hang up the Smith’s tools before the Altar,� he said,
+            “because, whatever the Smith of the Gods may have been in the old days, we know that he
+            worked honestly for his living and made gifts to Mother Church.� Then they went to bed
+            again, all except the novice, and he sat up in the garth playing with his sword. Then
+            Weland said to me by the stables: “Farewell, Old Thing; you had the right of it. You saw
+            me come to England, and you see me go. Farewell!� </p>
+          <p> ‘With that he strode down the hill to the corner of the Great Woods—Woods Corner, you
+            call it now—to the very place where he had first landed—and I heard him moving through
+            the thickets towards Horsebridge for a little, and then he was gone. That was how it
+            happened. I saw it.’ </p>
+          <pb n="26"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg026"/>
+          <p> Both children drew a long breath. </p>
+          <p> ‘But what happened to Hugh the novice?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘And the sword?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> Puck looked down the meadow that lay all quiet and cool in the shadow of Pook’s Hill.
+            A corncrake jarred in a hay-field near by, and the small trouts of the brook began to
+            jump. A big white moth flew unsteadily from the alders and flapped round the children’s
+            heads, and the least little haze of water-mist rose from the brook. </p>
+          <p> ‘Do you really want to know?’ Puck said. </p>
+          <p> ‘We do,’ cried the children. ‘Awfully!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Very good. I promised you that you shall see What you shall see, and you shall hear
+            What you shall hear, though It shall have happened three thousand year; but just now it
+            seems to me that, unless you go back to the house, people will be looking for you. I’ll
+            walk with you as far as the gate.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Will you be here when we come again?’ they asked. </p>
+          <p> ‘Surely, sure-ly,’ said Puck. ‘I’ve been here some time already. One minute first,
+            please.’ </p>
+          <p> He gave them each three leaves—one of Oak, one of Ash, and one of Thorn. </p>
+          <p> ‘Bite these,’ said he. ‘Otherwise you might be talking at home of what you’ve seen and
+            heard, and—if I know human beings—they’d send for the doctor. Bite!’ </p>
+          <p> They bit hard, and found themselves walking side by side to the lower gate. Their
+            father was leaning over it. </p>
+          <pb n="27"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg027"/>
+          <p> ‘And how did your play go?’ he asked. </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh, splendidly,’ said Dan. ‘Only afterwards, I think, we went to sleep. It was very
+            hot and quiet. Don’t you remember, Una?’ </p>
+          <p> Una shook her head and said nothing. </p>
+          <p> ‘I see,’ said her father. </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l><corr sic="Late">‘Late</corr>—late in the evening Kilmeny came home,</l>
+            <l>For Kilmeny had been she could not tell where,</l>
+            <l>And Kilmeny had seen what she could not declare.</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> But why are you chewing leaves at your time of life, daughter? For fun?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘No. It was for something, but I can’t azactly remember,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> And neither of them could till— </p>
+          <pb n="28"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg028"/>
+          <p>
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="29"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg029"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>A TREE SONG</head>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Of all the trees that grow so fair,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Old England to adorn,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Greater are none beneath the Sun,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good Sirs</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">(All of a Midsummer morn)!</hi></l>
+            <l><hi>Surely we sing no little thing,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Oak of the Clay lived many a day,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Or ever Æneas began;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Ash of the Loam was a lady at home,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">When Brut was an outlaw man;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Thorn of the Down saw New Troy Town</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">(From which was London born);</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Witness hereby the ancientry</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Of Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Yew that is old in churchyard mould,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">He breedeth a mighty bow;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Alder for shoes do wise men choose,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">And beech for cups also.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But when ye have killed, and your bowl is spilled,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">And your shoes are clean outworn,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Back ye must speed for all that ye need,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">To Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="30"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg030"/>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Ellum she hateth mankind, and waiteth</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Till every gust be laid,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">To drop a limb on the head of him,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">That anyway trusts her shade</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But whether a lad be sober or sad,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Or mellow with ale from the horn,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">He will take no wrong when he lieth along</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">’Neath Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Or he would call it a sin;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But—we have been out in the woods all night</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">A-conjuring Summer in!</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And we bring you news by word of mouth—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Good news for cattle and corn—</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Now is the Sun come up from the South,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good Sirs</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">(All of a Midsummer morn)!</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">England shall bide till Judgment Tide,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">By Oak, and Ash and Thorn!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+        <pb n="31"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg031"/>
+        <head> YOUNG MEN AT THE MANOR </head>
+        <pb n="32"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg032"/>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="33"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg033"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>YOUNG MEN AT THE MANOR</head>
+          <p> They were fishing, a few days later, in the bed of the brook that for centuries had
+            cut deep into the soft valley soil. The trees closing overhead made long tunnels through
+            which the sunshine worked in blobs and patches. Down in the tunnels were bars of sand
+            and gravel, old roots and trunks covered with moss or painted red by the irony water;
+            foxgloves growing lean and pale towards the light; clumps of fern and thirsty shy
+            flowers who could not live away from moisture and shade. In the pools you could see the
+            wave thrown up by the trouts as they charged hither and yon, and the pools were joined
+            to each other—except in flood time, when all was one brown rush—by sheets of thin
+            broken water that poured themselves chuckling round the darkness of the next bend. </p>
+          <p> This was one of the children’s most secret hunting-grounds, and their particular
+            friend, old Hobden the hedger, had shown them how to use it. Except for the click of a
+            rod hitting a low willow, or a switch and tussle among the young ash-leaves as a line
+            hung up for the minute, nobody in the hot pasture could have guessed what game was going
+            on among the trouts below the banks. </p>
+          <p> ‘We’s got half-a-dozen,’ said Dan, after a <pb n="34"/><anchor id="Pg034"/>warm, wet
+            hour. ‘I vote we go up to Stone Bay and try Long Pool.’ </p>
+          <p> Una nodded—most of her talk was by nods—and they crept from the gloom of the tunnels
+            towards the tiny weir that turns the brook into the mill-stream. Here the banks are low
+            and bare, and the glare of the afternoon sun on the Long Pool below the weir makes your
+            eyes ache. </p>
+          <p> When they were in the open they nearly fell down with astonishment. A huge grey horse,
+            whose tail-hairs crinkled the glassy water, was drinking in the pool, and the ripples
+            about his muzzle flashed like melted gold. On his back sat an old, white-haired man
+            dressed in a loose glimmery gown of chain-mail. He was bareheaded, and a nut-shaped iron
+            helmet hung at his saddle-bow. His reins were of red leather five or six inches deep,
+            scalloped at the edges, and his high padded saddle with its red girths was held fore and
+            aft by a red leather breastband and crupper. </p>
+          <p> ‘Look!’ said Una, as though Dan were not staring his very eyes out. ‘It’s like the
+            picture in your room—“Sir Isumbras at the Ford.�’ </p>
+          <p> The rider turned towards them, and his thin, long face was just as sweet and gentle as
+            that of the knight who carries the children in that picture. </p>
+          <p> ‘They should be here now, Sir Richard,’ said Puck’s deep voice among the willow-herb. </p>
+          <p> ‘They are here,’ the knight said, and he smiled at Dan with the string of trouts in
+            his hand. ‘There seems no great change in boys since mine fished this water.’ </p>
+          <pb n="35"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg035"/>
+          <p> ‘If your horse has drunk, we shall be more at ease in the Ring,’ said Puck; and he
+            nodded to the children as though he had never magicked away their memories the week
+            before. </p>
+          <p> The great horse turned and hoisted himself into the pasture with a kick and a scramble
+            that tore the clods down rattling. </p>
+          <p> ‘Your pardon!’ said Sir Richard to Dan. ‘When these lands were mine, I never loved
+            that mounted men should cross the brook except by the paved ford. But my Swallow here
+            was thirsty, and I wished to meet you.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘We’re very glad you’ve come, sir,’ said Dan. ‘It doesn’t matter in the least about
+            the banks.’ </p>
+          <p> He trotted across the pasture on the sword-side of the mighty horse, and it was a
+            mighty iron-handled sword that swung from Sir Richard’s belt. Una walked behind with
+            Puck. She remembered everything now. </p>
+          <p> ‘I’m sorry about the Leaves,’ he said, ‘but it would never have done if you had gone
+            home and told, would it?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I s’pose not,’ Una answered. ‘But you said that all the fair—People of the Hills had
+            left England.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘So they have; but I told you that you should come and go and look and know, didn’t I?
+            The knight isn’t a fairy. He’s Sir Richard Dalyngridge, a very old friend of mine. He
+            came over with William the Conqueror, and he wants to see you particularly.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What for?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘On account of your great wisdom and learning,’ Puck replied, without a twinkle. </p>
+          <pb n="36"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg036"/>
+          <p> ‘Us?’ said Una. ‘Why, I don’t know my Nine Times—not to say it dodging; and Dan makes
+            the most <hi rend="italic">awful</hi> mess of fractions. He can’t mean <hi rend="italic"
+              >us</hi>!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Una!’ Dan called back. ‘Sir Richard says he is going to tell what happened to
+            Weland’s sword. He’s got it. Isn’t it splendid?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Nay—nay,’ said Sir Richard, dismounting as they reached the Ring, in the bend of the
+            mill-stream bank. ‘It is you that must tell me, for I hear the youngest child in our
+            England to-day is as wise as our wisest clerk.’ He slipped the bit out of Swallow’s
+            mouth, dropped the ruby-red reins over his head, and the wise horse moved off to graze. </p>
+          <p> Sir Richard (they noticed he limped a little) unslung his great sword. </p>
+          <p> ‘That’s it,’ Dan whispered to Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘This is the sword that Brother Hugh had from Wayland-Smith,’ Sir Richard said. ‘Once
+            he gave it to me, but I would not take it; but at the last it became mine after such a
+            fight as never christened man fought. See!’ He half drew it from its sheath and turned
+            it before them. On either side just below the handle, where the Runic letters shivered
+            as though they were alive, were two deep gouges in the dull, deadly steel. ‘Now, what
+            Thing made those?’ said he. ‘I know not, but you, perhaps, can say.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Tell them all the tale, Sir Richard,’ said Puck. ‘It concerns their land somewhat.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes, from the very beginning,’ Una pleaded, for the knight’s good face and the smile
+            on it <pb n="37"/><anchor id="Pg037"/>more than ever reminded her of ‘Sir Isumbras at
+            the Ford.’ </p>
+          <p> They settled down to listen, Sir Richard bare-headed to the sunshine, dandling the
+            sword in both hands, while the grey horse cropped outside the Ring, and the helmet on
+            the saddle-bow clinged softly each time he jerked his head. </p>
+          <p> ‘From the beginning, then,’ Sir Richard said, ‘since it concerns your land, I will
+            tell the tale. When our Duke came out of Normandy to take his England, great knights
+            (have ye heard?) came and strove hard to serve the Duke, because he promised them lands
+            here, and small knights followed the great ones. My folk in Normandy were poor; but a
+            great knight, Engerrard of the Eagle—Engenulf De Aquila—who was kin to my father,
+            followed the Earl of Mortain, who followed William the Duke, and I followed De Aquila.
+            Yes, with thirty men-at-arms out of my father’s house and a new sword, I set out to
+            conquer England three days after I was made knight. I did not then know that England
+            would conquer me. We went up to Santlache with the rest—a very great host of us.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Does that mean the Battle of Hastings—Ten Sixty-Six?’ Una whispered, and Puck
+            nodded, so as not to interrupt. </p>
+          <p> ‘At Santlache, over the hill yonder’—he pointed south-eastward towards Fairlight—‘we
+            found Harold’s men. We fought. At the day’s end they ran. My men went with De Aquila’s
+            to chase and plunder, and in that chase Engerrard of the Eagle was slain, and <pb
+              n="38"/><anchor id="Pg038"/>his son Gilbert took his banner and his men forward. This
+            I did not know till after, for Swallow here was cut in the flank, so I stayed to wash
+            the wound at a brook by a thorn. There a single Saxon cried out to me in French, and we
+            fought together. I should have known his voice, but we fought together. For a long time
+            neither had any advantage, till by pure ill-fortune his foot slipped and his sword flew
+            from his hand. Now I had but newly been made knight, and wished, above all, to be
+            courteous and fameworthy, so I forebore to strike and bade him get his sword again. “A
+            plague on my sword,� said he. “It has lost me my first fight. You have spared my life.
+            Take my sword.� He held it out to me, but as I stretched my hand the sword groaned like
+            a stricken man, and I leaped back crying, “Sorcery!� </p>
+          <p> [The children looked at the sword as though it might speak again.] </p>
+          <p> ‘Suddenly a clump of Saxons ran out upon me and, seeing a Norman alone, would have
+            killed me, but my Saxon cried out that I was his prisoner, and beat them off. Thus, see
+            you, he saved my life. He put me on my horse and led me through the woods ten long miles
+            to this valley.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘To here, d’you mean?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘To this very valley. We came in by the Lower Ford under the King’s Hill yonder’—he
+            pointed eastward where the valley widens. </p>
+          <p> ‘And was that Saxon Hugh the novice?’ Dan asked. </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes, and more than that. He had been <pb n="39"/><anchor id="Pg039"/>for three years
+            at the monastery at Bec by Rouen, where’—Sir Richard chuckled—‘the Abbot Herluin would
+            not suffer me to remain.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Why wouldn’t he?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Because I rode my horse into the refectory, when the scholars were at meat, to show
+            the Saxon boys we Normans were not afraid of an abbot. It was that very Saxon Hugh
+            tempted me to do it, and we had not met since that day. I thought I knew his voice even
+            inside my helmet, and, for all that our Lords fought, we each rejoiced we had not slain
+            the other. He walked by my side, and he told me how a Heathen God, as he believed, had
+            given him his sword, but he said he had never heard it sing before. I remember I warned
+            him to beware of sorcery and quick enchantments.’ Sir Richard smiled to himself. ‘I was
+            very young—very young! </p>
+          <p> ‘When we came to his house here we had almost forgotten that we had been at blows. It
+            was near midnight, and the Great Hall was full of men and women waiting news. There I
+            first saw his sister, the Lady Ælueva, of whom he had spoken to us in France. She cried
+            out fiercely at me, and would have had me hanged in that hour, but her brother said that
+            I had spared his life—he said not how he saved mine from his Saxons—and that our Duke
+            had won the day; and even while they wrangled over my poor body, of a sudden he fell
+            down in a swoon from his wounds. </p>
+          <p> ‘“This is <hi rend="italic">thy fault</hi>,� said the Lady Ælueva to me, and she
+            kneeled above him and called for wine and cloths. </p>
+          <pb n="40"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg040"/>
+          <p> ‘“If I had known,� I answered, “he should have ridden and I walked. But he set me on
+            my horse; he made no complaint; he walked beside me and spoke merrily throughout. I pray
+            I have done him no harm.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Thou hast need to pray,� she said, catching up her underlip. “If he dies, thou shalt
+            hang!� </p>
+          <p> ‘They bore off Hugh to his chamber; but three tall men of the house bound me and set
+            me under the beam of the Great Hall with a rope round my neck. The end of the rope they
+            flung over the beam, and they sat them down by the fire to wait word whether Hugh lived
+            or died. They cracked nuts with their knife-hilts the while.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And how did you feel?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Very weary; but I did heartily pray for my schoolmate Hugh his health. About noon I
+            heard horses in the valley, and the three men loosed my ropes and fled out, and De
+            Aquila’s men rode up. Gilbert de Aquila came with them, for it was his boast that, like
+            his father, he forgot no man that served him. He was little, like his father, but
+            terrible, with a nose like an eagle’s nose and yellow eyes like an eagle. He rode tall
+            war-horses—roans, which he bred himself—and he could never abide to be helped into the
+            saddle. He saw the rope hanging from the beam and laughed, and his men laughed, for I
+            was too stiff to rise. </p>
+          <p> ‘“This is poor entertainment for a Norman knight,� he said, “but, such as it is, let
+            us be grateful. Show me, boy, to whom thou <pb n="41"/><anchor id="Pg041"/>owest most,
+            and we will pay them out of hand.�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What did he mean? To kill ’em?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Assuredly. But I looked at the Lady Ælueva where she stood among her maids, and her
+            brother beside her. De Aquila’s men had driven them all into the Great Hall.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Was she pretty?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘In all my life I had never seen woman fit to strew rushes before my Lady Ælueva,’ the
+            knight replied, quite simply and quietly. ‘As I looked at her I thought I might save her
+            and her house by a jest. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Seeing that I came somewhat hastily and without warning,� said I to De Aquila, “I
+            have no fault to find with the courtesy that these Saxons have shown me.� But my voice
+            shook. It is—it was not good to jest with that little man. </p>
+          <p> ‘All were silent awhile, till De Aquila laughed. “Look, men—a miracle!� said he. “The
+            fight is scarce sped, my father is not yet buried, and here we find our youngest knight
+            already set down in his Manor, while his Saxons—ye can see it in their fat faces—have
+            paid him homage and service! By the Saints,� he said, rubbing his nose, “I never thought
+            England would be so easy won! Surely I can do no less than give the lad what he has
+            taken. This Manor shall be thine, boy,� he said, “till I come again, or till thou art
+            slain. Now, mount, men, and ride. We follow our Duke into Kent to make him King of
+            England.� </p>
+          <p> ‘He drew me with him to the door while <pb n="42"/><anchor id="Pg042"/>they brought
+            his horse—a lean roan, taller than my Swallow here, but not so well girthed. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Hark to me,� he said, fretting with his great war-gloves. “I have given thee this
+            Manor, which is a Saxon hornets’ nest, and I think thou wilt be slain in a month—as my
+            father was slain. Yet if thou canst keep the roof on the hall, the thatch on the barn,
+            and the plough in the furrow till I come back, thou shalt hold the Manor from me; for
+            the Duke has promised our Earl Mortain all the lands by Pevensey, and Mortain will give
+            me of them what he would have given my father. God knows if thou or I shall live till
+            England is won; but remember, boy, that here and now fighting is foolishness and�—he
+            reached for the reins—“craft and cunning is all.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Alas, I have no cunning,� said I. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Not yet,� said he, hopping abroad, foot in stirrup, and poking his horse in the
+            belly with his toe. “Not yet, but I think thou hast a good teacher. Farewell! Hold the
+            Manor and live. Lose the Manor and hang,� he said, and spurred out, his shield-straps
+            squeaking behind him. </p>
+          <p> ‘So, children, here was I, little more than a boy, and Santlache fight not two days
+            old, left alone with my thirty men-at-arms, in a land I knew not, among a people whose
+            tongue I could not speak, to hold down the land which I had taken from them.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And that was here at home?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes, here. See! From the Upper Ford, Weland’s Ford, to the Lower Ford, by the <pb
+              n="43"/><anchor id="Pg043"/>Belle Allée, west and east it ran half a league. From the
+            Beacon of Brunanburgh behind us here, south and north it ran a full league—and all the
+            woods were full of broken men from Santlache, Saxon thieves, Norman plunderers, robbers,
+            and deerstealers. A hornets’ nest indeed! </p>
+          <p> ‘When De Aquila had gone, Hugh would have thanked me for saving their lives; but Lady
+            Ælueva said that I had done it only for the sake of receiving the Manor. </p>
+          <p> ‘“How could I know that De Aquila would give it me?� I said. “If I had told him I had
+            spent my night in your halter he would have burned the place twice over by now.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“If any man had put <hi rend="italic">my</hi> neck in a rope,� she said, “I would
+            have seen his house burned thrice over before <hi rend="italic">I</hi> would have made
+            terms.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“But it was a woman,� I said; and I laughed and she wept and said that I mocked her
+            in her captivity. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Lady,� said I, “there is no captive in this valley except one, and he is not a
+            Saxon.� </p>
+          <p> ‘At this she cried that I was a Norman thief, who came with false, sweet words, having
+            intended from the first to turn her out in the fields to beg her bread. Into the fields!
+            She had never seen the face of war! </p>
+          <p> ‘I was angry, and answered, “This much at least I can disprove, for I swear�—and on
+            my sword-hilt I swore it in that place—“I swear I will never set foot in the Great Hall
+            till the Lady Ælueva herself shall <corr sic="summons">summon</corr> me there.� </p>
+          <p> ‘She went away, saying nothing, and I <pb n="44"/><anchor id="Pg044"/>walked out, and
+            Hugh limped after me, whistling dolorously (that is a custom of the English), and we
+            came upon the three Saxons that had bound me. They were now bound by my men-at-arms, and
+            behind them stood some fifty stark and sullen churls of the House and the Manor, waiting
+            to see what should fall. We heard De Aquila’s trumpets blow thin through the woods
+            Kentward. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Shall we hang these?� said my men. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Then my churls will fight,� said Hugh, beneath his breath; but I bade him ask the
+            three what mercy they hoped for. </p>
+          <p> ‘“None,� said they all. “She bade us hang thee if our master died. And we would have
+            hanged thee. There is no more to it.� </p>
+          <p> ‘As I stood doubting a woman ran down from the oak wood above the King’s Hill yonder,
+            and cried out that some Normans were driving off the swine there. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Norman or Saxon,� said I, “we must beat them back, or they will rob us every day.
+            Out at them with any arms ye have!� So I loosed those three carles and we ran together,
+            my men-at-arms and the Saxons with bills and bows which they had hidden in the thatch of
+            their huts, and Hugh led them. Half-way up the King’s Hill we found a false fellow from
+            Picardy—a sutler that sold wine in the Duke’s camp—with a dead knight’s shield on his
+            arm, a stolen horse under him, and some ten or twelve wastrels at his tail, all cutting
+            and slashing at the pigs. We beat them off, and saved our pork. One hundred and sev<pb
+              n="45"/><anchor id="Pg045"/>enty pigs we saved in that great battle.’ Sir Richard
+            laughed. </p>
+          <p> ‘That, then, was our first work together, and I bade Hugh tell his folk that so would
+            I deal with any man, knight or churl, Norman or Saxon, who stole as much as one egg from
+            our valley. Said he to me, riding home: “Thou hast gone far to conquer England this
+            evening.� I answered: “England must be thine and mine, then. Help me, Hugh, to deal
+            aright with this people. Make them to know that if they slay me De Aquila will surely
+            send to slay them, and he will put a worse man in my place.� “That may well be true,�
+            said he, and gave me his hand. “Better the devil we know than the devil we know not,
+            till we can pack you Normans home.� And so, too, said his Saxons; and they laughed as we
+            drove the pigs downhill. But I think some of them, even then, began not to hate me.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I like Brother Hugh,’ said Una, softly. </p>
+          <p> ‘Beyond question he was the most perfect, courteous, valiant, tender, and wise knight
+            that ever drew breath,’ said Richard, caressing the sword. ‘He hung up his sword—this
+            sword—on the wall of the Great Hall, because he said it was fairly mine, and never he
+            took it down till De Aquila returned, as I shall presently show. For three months his
+            men and mine guarded the valley, till all robbers and nightwalkers learned there was
+            nothing to get from us save hard tack and a hanging. Side by side we fought against all
+            who came—thrice a week sometimes we fought—against thieves <pb n="46"/><anchor
+              id="Pg046"/>and landless knights looking for good manors. Then we were in some peace,
+            and I made shift by Hugh’s help to govern the valley—for all this valley of yours was
+            my Manor—as a knight should. I kept the roof on the hall and the thatch on the barn,
+            but.... The English are a bold people. His Saxons would laugh and jest with Hugh, and
+            Hugh with them, and—this was marvellous to me—if even the meanest of them said that
+            such and such a thing was the Custom of the Manor, then straightway would Hugh and such
+            old men of the Manor as might be near forsake everything else to debate the matter—I
+            have seen them stop the mill with the corn half ground—and if the custom or usage were
+            proven to be as it was said, why, that was the end of it, even though it were flat
+            against Hugh, his wish and command. Wonderful!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Aye,’ said Puck, breaking in for the first time. ‘The Custom of Old England was here
+            before your Norman knights came, and it outlasted them, though they fought against it
+            cruel.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Not I,’ said Richard. ‘I let the Saxons go their stubborn way, but when my own
+            men-at-arms, Normans not six months in England, stood up and told me what was the custom
+            of the country, <hi rend="italic">then</hi> I was angry. Ah, good days! Ah, wonderful
+            people! And I loved them all.’ </p>
+          <p> The knight lifted his arms as though he would hug the whole dear valley, and Swallow,
+            hearing the chink of his chain-mail, looked up and whinnied softly. </p>
+          <pb n="47"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg047"/>
+          <p> ‘At last,’ he went on, ‘after a year of striving and contriving and some little
+            driving, De Aquila came to the valley, alone and without warning. I saw him first at the
+            Lower Ford, with a swine-herd’s brat on his saddle-bow. </p>
+          <p> ‘“There is no need for thee to give any account of thy stewardship,� said he. “I have
+            it all from the child here.� And he told me how the young thing had stopped his tall
+            horse at the Ford, by waving of a branch, and crying that the way was barred. “And if
+            one bold, bare babe be enough to guard the Ford in these days, thou hast done well,�
+            said he, and puffed and wiped his head. </p>
+          <p> He pinched the child’s cheek, and looked at our cattle in the flat by the brook. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Both fat,� said he, rubbing his nose. “This is craft and cunning such as I love.
+            What did I tell thee when I rode away, boy?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Hold the Manor or hang,� said I. I had never forgotten it. </p>
+          <p> ‘“True. And thou hast held.� He clambered from his saddle and with sword’s point cut
+            out a turf from the bank and gave it me where I kneeled.’ </p>
+          <p> Dan looked at Una, and Una looked at Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘That’s seizin,’ said Puck, in a whisper. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Now thou art lawfully seized of the Manor, Sir Richard,� said he—’twas the first
+            time he ever called me that—“thou and thy heirs for ever. This must serve till the
+            King’s clerks write out thy title on a parchment. England is all ours—if we can hold
+            it.� </p>
+          <pb n="48"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg048"/>
+          <p> ‘“What service shall I pay?� I asked, and I remember I was proud beyond words. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Knight’s fee, boy, knight’s fee!� said he, hopping round his horse on one foot.
+            (Have I said he was little, and could not endure to be helped to his saddle?) “Six
+            mounted men or twelve archers thou shalt send me whenever I call for them, and—where
+            got you that corn?� said he, for it was near harvest, and our corn stood well. “I have
+            never seen such bright straw. Send me three bags of the same seed yearly, and
+            furthermore, in memory of our last meeting—with the rope round thy neck—entertain me
+            and my men for two days of each year in the Great Hall of thy Manor.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Alas!� said I, “then my Manor is already forfeit. I am under vow not to enter the
+            Great Hall.� And I told him what I had sworn to the Lady Ælueva.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And hadn’t you ever been into the house since?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘Never,’ Sir Richard answered smiling. ‘I had made me a little hut of wood up the
+            hill, and there I did justice and slept.... De Aquila wheeled aside, and his shield
+            shook on his back. “No matter, boy,� said he. “I will remit the homage for a year.�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘He meant Sir Richard needn’t give him dinner there the first year,’ Puck explained. </p>
+          <p> ‘De Aquila stayed with me in the hut and Hugh, who could read and write and cast
+            accounts, showed him the roll of the Manor, in which were written all the names of our
+            fields and men, and he asked a thousand questions touching the land, the timber, the <pb
+              n="49"/><anchor id="Pg049"/>grazing, the mill, and the fish-ponds, and the worth of
+            every man in the valley. But never he named the Lady Ælueva’s name, nor went he near the
+            Great Hall. By night he drank with us in the hut. Yes, he sat on the straw like an eagle
+            ruffled in her feathers, his yellow eyes rolling above the cup, and he pounced in his
+            talk like an eagle, swooping from one thing to another, but always binding fast. Yes; he
+            would lie still awhile, and then rustle in the straw, and speak sometimes as though he
+            were King William himself, and anon he would speak in parables and tales, and if at once
+            we saw not his meaning he would yerk us in the ribs with his scabbarded sword. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Look you, boys,� said he, “I am born out of my due time. Five hundred years ago I
+            would have made all England such an England as neither Dane, Saxon, nor Norman should
+            have conquered. Five hundred years hence I should have been such a councillor to Kings
+            as the world hath never dreamed of. ’Tis all here,� said he, tapping his big head, “but
+            it hath no play in this black age. Now Hugh here is a better man than thou art,
+            Richard.� He had made his voice harsh and croaking, like a raven’s. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Truth,� said I. “But for Hugh, his help and patience and long-suffering, I could
+            never have kept the Manor.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Nor thy life either,� said De Aquila. “Hugh has saved thee not once, but a hundred
+            times. Be still, Hugh!� he said. “Dost thou know, Richard, why Hugh slept, and <pb
+              n="50"/><anchor id="Pg050"/>why he still sleeps, among thy Norman men-at-arms?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“To be near me,� said I, for I thought this was truth. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Fool!� said De Aquila. “It is because his Saxons have begged him to rise against
+            thee, and to sweep every Norman out of the valley. No matter how I know. It is truth.
+            Therefore Hugh hath made himself an hostage for thy life, well knowing that if any harm
+            befell thee from his Saxons thy Normans would slay him without remedy. And this his
+            Saxons know. It is true, Hugh?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“In some sort,� said Hugh, shamefacedly; “at least, it was true half a year ago. My
+            Saxons would not harm Richard now. I think they know him; but I judged it best to make
+            sure.� </p>
+          <p> ‘Look, children, what that man had done—and I had never guessed it! Night after night
+            had he lain down among my men-at-arms, knowing that if one Saxon had lifted knife
+            against me his life would have answered for mine. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Yes,� said De Aquila. “And he is a swordless man.� He pointed to Hugh’s belt, for
+            Hugh had put away his sword—did I tell you?—the day after it flew from his hand at
+            Santlache. He carried only the short knife and the long-bow. “Swordless and landless art
+            thou, Hugh; and they call thee kin to Earl Godwin.� (Hugh was indeed of Godwin’s blood.)
+            “The Manor that was thine was given to this boy and to his <pb n="51"/><anchor
+              id="Pg051"/>children for ever. Sit up and beg, for he can turn thee out like a dog,
+            Hugh!� </p>
+          <p> ‘Hugh said nothing, but I heard his teeth grind, and I bade De Aquila, my own
+            overlord, hold his peace, or I would stuff his words down his throat. Then De Aquila
+            laughed till the tears ran down his face. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I warned the King,� said he, “what would come of giving England to us Norman
+            thieves. Here art thou, Richard, less than two days confirmed in thy Manor, and already
+            thou hast risen against thy overlord. What shall <corr sic="do">we do</corr> to him, <hi rend="italic">Sir</hi>
+            Hugh?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I am a swordless man,� said Hugh. “Do not jest with me,� and he laid his head on his
+            knees and groaned. </p>
+          <p> ‘“The greater fool thou,� said De Aquila, and all his voice changed; “for I have given
+            thee the Manor of Dallington up the hill this half-hour since,� and he yerked at Hugh
+            with his scabbard across the straw. </p>
+          <p> ‘“To me?� said Hugh. “I am a Saxon, and, except that I love Richard here, I have not
+            sworn fealty to any Norman.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“In God’s good time, which because of my sins I shall not live to see, there will be
+            neither Saxon nor Norman in England,� said De Aquila. “If I know men, thou art more
+            faithful unsworn than a score of Normans I could name. Take Dallington, and join Sir
+            Richard to fight me to-morrow, if it please thee!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Nay,� said Hugh. “I am no child. Where I take a gift, there I render service�; and
+            he put his hands between De Aquila’s, <pb n="52"/><anchor id="Pg052"/>and swore to be
+            faithful, and, as I remember, I kissed him, and De Aquila kissed us both. </p>
+          <p> ‘We sat afterwards outside the hut while the sun rose, and De Aquila marked our churls
+            going to their work in the fields, and talked of holy things, and how we should govern
+            our Manors in time to come, and of hunting and of horse-breeding, and of the King’s
+            wisdom and unwisdom; for he spoke to us as though we were in all sorts now his brothers.
+            Anon a churl stole up to me—he was one of the three I had not hanged a year ago—and he
+            bellowed—which is the Saxon for whispering—that the Lady Ælueva would speak to me at
+            the Great House. She walked abroad daily in the Manor, and it was her custom to send me
+            word whither she went, that I might set an archer or two behind and in front to guard
+            her. Very often I myself lay up in the woods and watched on her also. </p>
+          <p> ‘I went swiftly, and as I passed the great door it opened from within, and there stood
+            my Lady Ælueva, and she said to me: “Sir Richard, will it please you enter your Great
+            Hall?� Then she wept, but we were alone.’ </p>
+          <p> The knight was silent for a long time, his face turned across the valley, smiling. </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh, well done!’ said Una, and clapped her hands very softly. ‘She was sorry, and she
+            said so.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Aye, she was sorry, and she said so,’ said Sir Richard, coming back with a little
+            start. ‘Very soon—but <hi rend="italic">he</hi> said it was two full hours later—De
+            Aquila rode to the door, with his shield new scoured (Hugh had cleansed it), <pb n="53"
+              /><anchor id="Pg053"/>and demanded entertainment, and called me a false knight, that
+            would starve his overlord to death. Then Hugh cried out that no man should work in the
+            valley that day, and our Saxons blew horns, and set about feasting and drinking, and
+            running of races, and dancing and singing; and De Aquila climbed upon a horse-block and
+            spoke to them in what he swore was good Saxon, but no man understood it. At night we
+            feasted in the Great Hall, and when the harpers and the singers were gone we four sat
+            late at the high table. As I remember, it was a warm night with a full moon, and De
+            Aquila bade Hugh take down his sword from the wall again, for the honour of the Manor of
+            Dallington, and Hugh took it gladly enough. Dust lay on the hilt, for I saw him blow it
+            off. </p>
+          <p> ‘She and I sat talking a little apart, and at first we thought the harpers had come
+            back, for the Great Hall was filled with a rushing noise of music. De Aquila leaped up;
+            but there was only the moonlight fretty on the floor. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Hearken!� said Hugh. “It is my sword,� and as he belted it on the music ceased. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Over Gods, forbid that I should ever belt blade like that,� said De Aquila. “What
+            does it foretell?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“The Gods that made it may know. Last time it spoke was at Hastings, when I lost all
+            my lands. Belike it sings now that I have new lands and am a man again,� said Hugh. </p>
+          <p> ‘He loosed the blade a little and drove it back happily into the sheath, and the sword
+              <pb n="54"/><anchor id="Pg054"/>answered him low and crooningly, as—as a woman would
+            speak to a man, her head on his shoulder. </p>
+          <p> ‘Now that was the second time in all my life I heard this Sword sing.’... </p>
+          <milestone unit="tb"/>
+          <p> ‘Look!’ said Una. ‘There’s mother coming down the Long Slip. What will she say to Sir
+            Richard? She can’t help seeing him.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And Puck can’t magic us this time,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Are you sure?’ said Puck; and he leaned forward and whispered to Sir Richard, who,
+            smiling, bowed his head. </p>
+          <p> ‘But what befell the sword and my brother Hugh I will tell on another time,’ said he,
+            rising. ‘Ohé, Swallow!’ </p>
+          <p> The great horse cantered up from the far end of the meadow, close to mother. </p>
+          <p> They heard mother say: ‘Children, Gleason’s old horse has broken into the meadow
+            again. Where did he get through?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Just below Stone Bay,’ said Dan. ‘He tore down simple flobs of the bank! We noticed
+            it just now. And we’ve caught no end of fish. We’ve been at it all the afternoon.’ </p>
+          <p> And they honestly believed that they had. They never noticed the Oak, Ash, and Thorn
+            leaves that Puck had slyly thrown into their laps. </p>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="55"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg055"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>SIR RICHARD’S SONG</head>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">I followed my Duke ere I was a lover,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi>To take from England fief and fee;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But now this game is the other way over—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">But now England hath taken me!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">I had my horse, my shield and banner,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">And a boy’s heart, so whole and free;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But now I sing in another manner—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">But now England hath taken me!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">As for my Father in his tower,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Asking news of my ship at sea;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">He will remember his own hour—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Tell him England hath taken me!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">As for my Mother in her bower,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi>That rules my Father so cunningly;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">She will remember a maiden’s power—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Tell her England hath taken me!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">As for my Brother in Rouen city,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">A nimble and naughty page is he;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But he will come to suffer and pity—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Tell him England hath taken me!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">As for my little Sister waiting</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">In the pleasant orchards of Normandie;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Tell her youth is the time for mating—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Tell her England hath taken me!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="56"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg056"/>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">As for my Comrades in camp and highway,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">That lift their eyebrows scornfully;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Tell them their way is not my way—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Tell them England hath taken me!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Kings and Princes and Barons famed,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Knights and Captains in your degree;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Hear me a little before I am blamed—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Seeing England hath taken me!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Howso great man’s strength be reckoned,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">There are two things he cannot flee;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Love is the first, and Death is the second—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">And Love, in England, hath taken me!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+        <pb n="57"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg057"/>
+        <head> THE KNIGHTS OF THE JOYOUS VENTURE </head>
+        <pb n="58"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg058"/>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="59"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg059"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>HARP SONG OF THE DANE WOMEN</head>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">What is a woman that you forsake her,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">To go with the old grey Widow-maker</hi>?</l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">She has no house to lay a guest in—</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But one chill bed for all to rest in,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">That the pale suns and the stray bergs nest in.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">She has no strong white arms to fold you,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Bound on the rocks where the tide has rolled you.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Yet, when the signs of summer thicken,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And the ice breaks, and the birch-buds quicken,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Yearly you turn from our side, and sicken—</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Sicken again for the shouts and the slaughters,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">You steal away to the lapping waters,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And look at your ship in her winter quarters.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">You forget our mirth, and talk at the tables,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">The kine in the shed and the horse in the stables—</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">To pitch her sides and go over her cables!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="60"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg060"/>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Then you drive out where the storm-clouds swallow:</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And the sound of your oar-blades falling hollow,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Is all we have left through the months to follow!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Ah, what is Woman that you forsake her,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">To go with the old grey Widow-maker?</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="61"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg061"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>THE KNIGHTS OF THE JOYOUS VENTURE</head>
+          <p> It was too hot to run about in the open, so Dan asked their friend, old Hobden, to
+            take their own dinghy from the pond and put her on the brook at the bottom of the
+            garden. Her painted name was the <hi rend="italic">Daisy</hi>, but for exploring
+            expeditions she was the <hi rend="italic">Golden Hind</hi> or the <hi rend="italic">Long
+              Serpent</hi>, or some such suitable name. Dan hiked and howked with a boat-hook (the
+            brook was too narrow for sculls), and Una punted with a piece of hop-pole. When they
+            came to a very shallow place (the <hi rend="italic">Golden Hind</hi> drew quite three
+            inches of water) they disembarked and scuffled her over the gravel by her tow-rope, and
+            when they reached the overgrown banks beyond the garden they pulled themselves up stream
+            by the low branches. </p>
+          <p> That day they intended to discover the North Cape like ‘Othere, the old sea-captain,’
+            in the book of verses which Una had brought with her; but on account of the heat they
+            changed it to a voyage up the Amazon and the sources of the Nile. Even on the shaded
+            water the air was hot and heavy with drowsy scents, while outside, through breaks in the
+            trees, the sunshine burned the pasture like fire. The kingfisher was asleep on his
+            watching-branch, and the blackbirds scarcely took the trouble to dive into the next
+            bush. <pb n="62"/><anchor id="Pg062"/>Dragon-flies wheeling and clashing were the only
+            things at work, except the moor-hens and a big Red Admiral who flapped down out of the
+            sunshine for a drink. </p>
+          <p> When they reached Otter Pool the <hi rend="italic">Golden Hind</hi> grounded
+            comfortably on a shallow, and they lay beneath a roof of close green, watching the water
+            trickle over the floodgates down the mossy brick chute from the mill-stream to the
+            brook. A big trout—the children knew him well—rolled head and shoulders at some fly
+            that sailed round the bend, while once in just so often the brook rose a fraction of an
+            inch against all the wet pebbles, and they watched the slow draw and shiver of a breath
+            of air through the tree-tops. Then the little voices of the slipping water began again. </p>
+          <p> ‘It’s like the shadows talking, isn’t it?’ said Una. She had given up trying to read.
+            Dan lay over the bows, trailing his hands in the current. They heard feet on the
+            gravel-bar that runs half across the pool and saw Sir Richard Dalyngridge standing over
+            them. </p>
+          <p> ‘Was yours a dangerous voyage?’ he asked, smiling. </p>
+          <p> ‘She bumped a lot, sir,’ said Dan. ‘There’s hardly any water this summer.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Ah, the brook was deeper and wider when my children played at Danish pirates. Are you
+            <corr sic="pirate-folk?+rdquo">pirate-folk?’</corr> </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh, no. We gave up being pirates years ago,’ explained Una. ‘We’re nearly always
+            explorers now. Sailing round the world, you know.’ </p>
+          <pb n="63"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg063"/>
+          <p> ‘Round?’ said Sir Richard. He sat him in the comfortable crotch of the old ash-root on
+            the bank. ‘How can it be round?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Wasn’t it in your books?’ Dan suggested. He had been doing geography at his last
+            lesson. </p>
+          <p> ‘I can neither write nor read,’ he replied. ‘Canst <hi rend="italic">thou</hi> read,
+            child?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes,’ said Dan, ‘barring the very long words.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Wonderful! Read to me, that I may hear for myself.’ </p>
+          <p> Dan flushed, but opened the book and began—gabbling a little—at ‘The Discoverer of
+            the North Cape.’ </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>‘Othere, the old sea captain,</l>
+            <l>Who dwelt in Helgoland,</l>
+            <l>To Alfred, lover of truth,</l>
+            <l>Brought a snow-white walrus tooth,</l>
+            <l>That he held in his right hand.’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> ‘But—but—this I know! This is an old song! This I have heard sung! This is a
+            miracle,’ Sir Richard interrupted. ‘Nay, do not stop!’ He leaned forward, and the
+            shadows of the leaves slipped and slid upon his chain-mail. </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>‘I ploughed the land with horses,</l>
+            <l>But my heart was ill at ease,</l>
+            <l>For the old sea-faring men</l>
+            <l>Came to me now and then</l>
+            <l>With their Sagas of the Seas.’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> His hand fell on the hilt of the great sword. ‘This is truth,’ he cried, ‘for so did
+            it happen to <pb n="64"/><anchor id="Pg064"/>me,’ and he beat time delightedly to the
+            tramp of verse after verse. </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>‘“And now the land,� said Othere,</l>
+            <l>“Bent southward suddenly,</l>
+            <l>And I followed the curving shore,</l>
+            <l>And ever southward bore</l>
+            <l>Into a nameless sea.�’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> ‘A nameless sea!’ he repeated. ‘So did I—so did Hugh and I.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Where did you go? Tell us,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘Wait. Let me hear all first.’ So Dan read to the poem’s very end. </p>
+          <p> ‘Good,’ said the knight. ‘That is Othere’s tale—even as I have heard the men in the
+            Dane ships sing it. Not in those same valiant words, but something like to them.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Have you ever explored North?’ Dan shut the book. </p>
+          <p> ‘Nay. My venture was South. Farther South than any man has fared, Hugh and I went down
+            with Witta and his heathen.’ He jerked the tall sword forward, and leaned on it with
+            both hands; but his eyes looked long past them. </p>
+          <p> ‘I thought you always lived here,’ said Una, timidly. </p>
+          <p> <corr sic="'Yes">‘Yes;</corr> while my Lady Ælueva lived. But she died. She died. Then, my eldest son being a
+            man, I asked De Aquila’s leave that he should hold the Manor while I went on some
+            journey or pilgrimage—to forget. De Aquila, whom the Second William had made Warden of
+            Pevensey in Earl Mortain’s place, was very old then, but still he rode his tall, <pb
+              n="65"/><anchor id="Pg065"/>roan horses, and in the saddle he looked like a little
+            white falcon. When Hugh, at Dallington over yonder, heard what I did, he sent for my
+            second son, whom being unmarried he had ever looked upon as his own child, and, by De
+            Aquila’s leave, gave him the Manor of Dallington to hold till he should return. Then
+            Hugh came with me.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘When did this happen?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘That I can answer to the very day, for as we rode with De Aquila by Pevensey—have I
+            said that he was Lord of Pevensey and of the Honour of the Eagle?—to the Bordeaux ship
+            that fetched him his wines yearly out of France, a Marsh man ran to us crying that he
+            had seen a great black goat which bore on his back the body of the King, and that the
+            goat had spoken to him. On that same day Red William our King, the Conqueror’s son, died
+            of a secret arrow while he hunted in a forest. “This is a cross matter,� said De Aquila,
+            “to meet on the threshold of a journey. If Red William be dead I may have to fight for
+            my lands. Wait a little.� </p>
+          <p> ‘My Lady being dead, I cared nothing for signs and omens, nor Hugh either. We took
+            that wine-ship to go to Bordeaux; but the wind failed while we were yet in sight of
+            Pevensey; a thick mist hid us, and we drifted with the tide along the cliffs to the
+            west. Our company was, for the most part, merchants returning to France, and we were
+            laden with wool and there were three couple of tall hunting-dogs chained to the rail.
+            Their master was a knight of Artois. His name I never <pb n="66"/><anchor id="Pg066"
+            />learned, but his shield bore gold pieces on a red ground, and he limped much as I do,
+            from a wound which he had got in his youth at Mantes siege. He served the Duke of
+            Burgundy against the Moors in Spain, and was returning to that war with his dogs. He
+            sang us strange Moorish songs that first night, and half persuaded us to go with him. I
+            was on pilgrimage to forget—which is what no pilgrimage brings. I think I would have
+            gone, but.... </p>
+          <p> ‘Look you how the life and fortune of man changes! Towards morning a Dane ship, rowing
+            silently, struck against us in the mist, and while we rolled hither and yon Hugh,
+            leaning over the rail, fell outboard. I leaped after him, and we two tumbled aboard the
+            Dane, and were caught and bound ere we could rise. Our own ship was swallowed up in the
+            mist. I judge the Knight of the Gold Pieces muzzled his dogs with his cloak, lest they
+            should give tongue and betray the merchants, for I heard their baying suddenly stop. </p>
+          <p> ‘We lay bound among the benches till morning, when the Danes dragged us to the high
+            deck by the steering-place, and their captain—Witta, he was called—turned us over with
+            his foot. Bracelets of gold from elbow to armpit he wore, and his red hair was long as a
+            woman’s, and came down in plaited locks on his shoulder. He was stout, with bowed legs
+            and long arms. He spoiled us of all we had, but when he laid hand on Hugh’s sword and
+            saw the runes on the blade hastily he thrust it back. Yet his covetousness over<pb
+              n="67"/><anchor id="Pg067"/>came him and he tried again and again, and the third time
+            the Sword sang loud and angrily, so that the rowers leaned on their oars to listen. Here
+            they all spoke together, screaming like gulls, and a Yellow Man, such as I have never
+            seen, came to the high deck and cut our bonds. He was yellow—not from sickness, but by
+            nature. Yellow as honey, and his eyes stood endwise in his head.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘How do you mean?’ said Una, her chin on her hand. </p>
+          <p> ‘Thus,’ said Sir Richard. He put a finger to the corner of each eye, and pushed it up
+            till his eyes narrowed to slits. </p>
+          <p> ‘Why, you look just like a Chinaman!’ cried Dan. ‘Was the man a Chinaman?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I know not what that may be. Witta had found him half dead among ice on the shores of
+            Muscovy. <hi rend="italic">We</hi> thought he was a devil. He crawled before us and
+            brought food in a silver dish which these sea-wolves had robbed from some rich abbey,
+            and Witta with his own hands gave us wine. He spoke a little in French, a little in
+            South Saxon, and much in the Northman’s tongue. We asked him to set us ashore, promising
+            to pay him better ransom than he would get price if he sold us to the Moors—as once
+            befell a knight of my acquaintance sailing from Flushing. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Not by my father Guthrum’s head,� said he. “The Gods sent ye into my ship for a
+            luck-offering.� </p>
+          <p> ‘At this I quaked, for I knew it was still the Dane’s custom to sacrifice captives to
+            their gods for fair weather. </p>
+          <pb n="68"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg068"/>
+          <p> ‘“A plague on thy four long bones!� said Hugh. “What profit canst thou make of poor
+            old pilgrims that can neither work nor fight?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Gods forbid I should fight against thee, poor Pilgrim with the Singing Sword,� <corr
+              sic="said said">said</corr> he. “Come with us and be poor no more. Thy teeth are far
+            apart, which is a sure sign thou wilt travel and grow rich.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“What if we will not come?� said Hugh. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Swim to England or France,� said Witta. “We are midway between the two. Unless ye
+            choose to drown yourselves no hair of your head will be harmed here aboard. We think ye
+            bring us luck, and I myself know the runes on that Sword are good.� He turned and bade
+            them hoist sail. </p>
+          <p> ‘Hereafter all made way for us as we walked about the ship, and the ship was full of
+            wonders.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What was she like?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Long, low, and narrow, bearing one mast with a red sail, and rowed by fifteen oars a
+            side,’ the knight answered. ‘At her bows was a deck under which men might lie, and at
+            her stern another shut off by a painted door from the rowers’ benches. Here Hugh and I
+            slept, with Witta and the Yellow Man, upon tapestries as soft as wool. I remember’—he
+            laughed to himself—‘when first we entered there a loud voice cried, “Out swords! Out
+            swords! Kill, <corr sic="kill!'">kill!�</corr> Seeing us start Witta laughed, and showed us it was but a
+            great-beaked grey bird with a red tail. He sat her on his shoulder, and she called for
+              <pb n="69"/><anchor id="Pg069"/>bread and wine hoarsely, and prayed him to kiss her.
+            Yet she was no more than a silly bird. But—ye knew this?’ He looked at their smiling
+            faces. </p>
+          <p> ‘We weren’t laughing at you,’ said Una. ‘That must have been a parrot. It’s just what
+            Pollies do.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘So we learned later. But here is another marvel. The Yellow Man, whose name was
+            Kitai, had with him a brown box. In the box was a blue bowl with red marks upon the rim,
+            and within the bowl, hanging from a fine thread, was a piece of iron no thicker than
+            that grass stem, and as long, maybe, as my spur, but straight. In this iron, said Witta,
+            abode an Evil Spirit which <corr sic="Kitai">Kitai,</corr> the Yellow Man, had brought by Art Magic out of his own
+            country that lay three years’ journey southward. The Evil Spirit strove day and night to
+            return to his country, and therefore, look you, the iron needle pointed continually to
+            the South.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘South?’ said Dan, suddenly, and put his hand into his pocket. </p>
+          <p> ‘With my own eyes I saw it. Every day and all day long, though the ship rolled, though
+            the sun and the moon and the stars were hid, this blind Spirit in the iron knew whither
+            it would go, and strained to the South. Witta called it the Wise Iron, because it showed
+            him his way across the unknowable seas.’ Again Sir Richard looked keenly at the
+            children. ‘How think ye? Was it sorcery?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Was it anything like this?’ Dan fished <pb n="70"/><anchor id="Pg070"/>out his old
+            brass pocket-compass, that generally lived with his knife and key-ring. ‘The glass has
+            got cracked, but the needle waggles all right, sir.’ </p>
+          <p> The knight drew a long breath of wonder. ‘Yes, yes. The Wise Iron shook and swung in
+            just this fashion. Now it is still. Now it points to the South.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘North,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Nay, South! There is the South,’ said Sir Richard. Then they both laughed, for
+            naturally when one end of a straight compass-needle points to the North, the other must
+            point to the South. </p>
+          <p> ‘Té,’ said Sir Richard, clicking his tongue. ‘There can be no sorcery if a child
+            carries it. Wherefore does it point South—or North?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Father says that nobody knows,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> Sir Richard looked relieved. ‘Then it may still be magic. It was magic to <hi
+              rend="italic">us</hi>. And so we voyaged. When the wind served we hoisted sail, and
+            lay all up along the windward rail, our shields on our backs to break the spray. When it
+            failed, they rowed with long oars; the Yellow Man sat by the Wise Iron, and Witta
+            steered. At first I feared the great white-flowering waves, but as I saw how wisely
+            Witta led his ship among them I grew bolder. Hugh liked it well from the first. My skill
+            is not upon the water; and rocks, and whirlpools such as we saw by the West Isles of
+            France, where an oar caught on a rock and broke, are much against my stomach. We sailed
+            South across a stormy sea, where by moonlight, between clouds, we saw a Flanders <pb
+              n="71"/><anchor id="Pg071"/>ship roll clean over and sink. Again, though Hugh
+            laboured with Witta all night, I lay under the deck with the Talking Bird, and cared not
+            whether I lived or died. There is a sickness of the sea which, for three days, is pure
+            death! When we next saw land Witta said it was Spain, and we stood out to sea. That
+            coast was full of ships busy in the Duke’s war against the Moors, and we feared to be
+            hanged by the Duke’s men or sold into slavery by the Moors. So we put into a small
+            harbour which Witta knew. At night men came down with loaded mules, and Witta exchanged
+            amber out of the North against little wedges of iron and packets of beads in earthen
+            pots. The pots he put under the decks, and the wedges of iron he laid on the bottom of
+            the ship after he had cast out the stones and shingle which till then had been our
+            ballast. Wine, too, he bought for lumps of sweet-smelling grey amber—a little morsel no
+            bigger than a thumbnail purchased a cask of wine. But I speak like a merchant.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘No, no! Tell us what you had to eat,’ cried Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Meat dried in the sun, and dried fish and ground beans, Witta took in; and corded
+            frails of a certain sweet, soft fruit, which the Moors use, which is like paste of figs,
+            but with thin, long stones. Aha! Dates is the name. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Now,� said Witta, when the ship was loaded, “I counsel you <sic>strangers,</sic> to pray to
+            your gods, for from here on our road is No Man’s road.� He and his men killed a black
+            goat for sacrifice on the bows; and the Yellow <pb n="72"/><anchor id="Pg072"/>Man
+            brought out a small, smiling image of dull-green glass and burned incense before it.
+            Hugh and I commended ourselves to God, and Saint Bartholomew, and Our Lady of the
+            Assumption, who was specially dear to my Lady. We were not young, but I think no shame
+            to say, when as we drove out of that secret harbour at sunrise over a still sea, we two
+            rejoiced and sang as did the knights of old when they followed our great Duke to
+            England. Yet was our leader an heathen pirate; all our proud fleet but one galley
+            perilously overloaded; for guidance we leaned on a pagan sorcerer; and our port was
+            beyond the world’s end. Witta told us that his father Guthrum had once in his life rowed
+            along the shores of Africa to a land where naked men sold gold for iron and beads. There
+            had he bought much gold, and no few elephants’ teeth, and thither by help of the Wise
+            Iron would Witta go. Witta feared nothing—except to be poor. </p>
+          <p> ‘“My father told me,� said Witta, “that a great Shoal runs three days’ sail out from
+            that land, and south of the shoal lies a Forest which grows in the sea. South and east
+            of the Forest my father came to a place where the men hid gold in their hair; but all
+            that country, he said, was full of Devils who lived in trees, and tore folk limb from
+            limb. How think ye?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Gold or no gold,� said Hugh, fingering his sword, “it is a joyous venture. Have at
+            these devils of thine, Witta!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Venture!� said Witta, sourly. “I am <pb n="73"/><anchor id="Pg073"/>only a poor
+            sea-thief. I do not set my life adrift on a plank for joy, or the venture. Once I beach
+            ship again at Stavanger, and feel the wife’s arms round my neck, I’ll seek no more
+            ventures. A ship is heavier care than a wife or cattle.� </p>
+          <p> ‘He leaped down among the rowers, chiding them for their little strength and their
+            great stomachs. Yet Witta was a wolf in fight, and a very fox in cunning. </p>
+          <p> ‘We were driven South by a storm, and for three days and three nights he took the
+            stern-oar and threddled the longship through the sea. When it rose beyond measure he
+            brake a pot of whale’s oil upon the water, which wonderfully smoothed it, and in that
+            anointed patch he turned her head to the wind and threw out oars at the end of a rope,
+            to make, he said, an anchor at which we lay rolling sorely, but dry. This craft his
+            father Guthrum had shown him. He knew, too, all the Leech-Book of Bald, who was a wise
+            doctor, and he knew the Ship-Book of Hlaf the Woman, who robbed Egypt. He knew all the
+            care of a ship. </p>
+          <p> ‘After the storm we saw a mountain whose top was covered with snow and pierced the
+            clouds. The grasses under this mountain, boiled and eaten, are a good cure for soreness
+            of the gums and swelled ankles. We lay there eight days, till men in skins threw stones
+            at us. When the heat increased Witta spread a cloth on bent sticks above the rowers, for
+            the wind failed between the Island of the Mountain and the shore of Africa, which is <pb
+              n="74"/><anchor id="Pg074"/>east of it. That shore is sandy, and we rowed along it
+            within three bowshots. Here we saw whales, and fish in the shape of shields, but longer
+            than our ship. Some slept, some opened their mouths at us, and some danced on the hot
+            waters. The water was hot to the hand, and the sky was hidden by hot, grey mists, out of
+            which blew a fine dust that whitened our hair and beards of a morning. Here, too, were
+            fish that flew in the air like birds. They would fall on the laps of the rowers, and
+            when we went ashore we would roast and eat them.’ </p>
+          <p> The knight paused to see if the children doubted him, but they only nodded and said,
+            ‘Go on.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘The yellow land lay on our left, the grey sea on our right. Knight though I was, I
+            pulled my oar amongst the rowers. I caught seaweed and dried it, and stuffed it between
+            the pots of beads lest they should break. Knighthood is for the land. At sea, look you,
+            a man is but a spurless rider on a bridleless horse. I learned to make strong knots in
+            ropes—yes, and to join two ropes end to end, so that even Witta could scarcely see
+            where they had been married. But Hugh had tenfold more sea-cunning than I. Witta gave
+            him charge of the rowers of the left side. Thorkild of Borkum, a man with a broken nose,
+            that wore a Norman steel cap, had the rowers of the right, and each side rowed and sang
+            against the other. They saw that no man was idle. Truly, as Hugh said, and Witta would
+            laugh at him, a ship is all more care than a Manor. </p>
+          <pb n="75"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg075"/>
+          <p> ‘How? Thus. There was water to fetch from the shore when we could find it, as well as
+            wild fruit and grasses, and sand for scrubbing of the decks and benches to keep them
+            sweet. Also we hauled the ship out on low islands and emptied all her gear, even to the
+            iron wedges, and burned off the weed, that had grown on her, with torches of rush, and
+            smoked below the decks with rushes dampened in salt water, as Hlaf the Woman orders in
+            her Ship-Book. Once when we were thus stripped, and the ship lay propped on her keel,
+            the bird cried, “Out swords!� as though she saw an enemy. Witta vowed he would wring her
+            neck.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Poor Polly! Did he?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘Nay. She was the ship’s bird. She could call all the rowers by name.... Those were
+            good days—for a wifeless man—with Witta and his heathen—beyond the world’s end....
+            After many weeks we came on the Great Shoal which stretched, as Witta’s father had said,
+            far out to sea. We skirted it till we were giddy with the sight and dizzy with the sound
+            of bars and breakers; and when we reached land again we found a naked black people
+            dwelling among woods, who for one wedge of iron loaded us with fruits and grasses and
+            eggs. Witta scratched his head at them in sign he would buy gold. They had no gold, but
+            they understood the sign (all the gold-traders hide their gold in their thick hair), for
+            they pointed along the coast. They beat, too, on their chests with their clenched hands,
+              <pb n="76"/><anchor id="Pg076"/>and that, if we had known it, was an evil sign.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What did it mean?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Patience. Ye shall hear. We followed the coast eastward sixteen days (counting time
+            by sword-cuts on the helm-rail) till we came to the Forest in the Sea. Trees grew out of
+            mud, arched upon lean and high roots, and many muddy water-ways ran allwhither into
+            darkness under the trees. Here we lost the sun. We followed the winding channels between
+            the trees, and <corr sic="where where">where</corr> we could not row we laid hold of the
+            crusted roots and hauled ourselves along. The water was foul, and great glittering flies
+            tormented us. Morning and evening a blue mist covered the mud, which bred fevers. Four
+            of our rowers sickened, and were bound to their benches, lest they should leap overboard
+            and be eaten by the monsters of the mud. The Yellow Man lay sick beside the Wise Iron,
+            rolling his head and talking in his own tongue. Only the Bird throve. She sat on Witta’s
+            shoulder and screamed in that noisome, silent darkness. Yes; I think it was the silence
+            we feared.’ </p>
+          <p> He paused to listen to the comfortable home noises of the brook. </p>
+          <p> ‘When we had lost count of time among those black gullies and swashes, we heard, as it
+            were, a drum beat far off, and following it we broke into a broad, brown river by a hut
+            in a clearing among fields of pumkins. We thanked God to see the sun again. The people
+            of the village gave the good welcome, and Witta scratched his head at them (for gold),
+              <pb n="77"/><anchor id="Pg077"/>and showed them our iron and beads. They ran to the
+            bank—we were still in the ship—and pointed to our swords and bows, for always when
+            near shore we lay armed. Soon they fetched store of gold in bars and in dust from their
+            huts, and some great blackened elephant teeth. These they piled on the bank, as though
+            to tempt us, and made signs of dealing blows in battle, and pointed up to the tree tops,
+            and to the forest behind. Their captain or chief sorcerer then beat on his chest with
+            his fists, and gnashed his teeth. </p>
+          <p> ‘Said Thorkild of Borkum: “Do they mean we must fight for all this gear?� and he half
+            drew his sword. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Nay,� said Hugh. “I think they ask us to league against some enemy.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I like this not,� said Witta, of a sudden. “Back into midstream.� </p>
+          <p> ‘So we did, and sat still all, watching the black folk and the gold they piled on the
+            bank. Again we heard drums beat in the forest, and the people fled to their huts,
+            leaving the gold unguarded. </p>
+          <p> ‘Then Hugh, at the bows, pointed without speech, and we saw a great Devil come out of
+            the forest. He shaded his brows with his hand, and moistened his pink tongue between his
+            lips—thus.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘A Devil!’ said Dan, delightfully horrified. </p>
+          <p> ‘Yea. Taller than a man; covered with reddish hair. When he had well regarded our
+            ship, he beat on his chest with his fists till it sounded like rolling drums, and came
+            to the bank swinging all his body between his long <pb n="78"/><anchor id="Pg078"
+            />arms, and gnashed his teeth at us. Hugh loosed arrow, and pierced him through the
+            throat. He fell roaring, and three other Devils ran out of the forest and hauled him
+            into a tall tree out of sight. Anon they cast down the blood-stained arrow, and lamented
+            together among the leaves. Witta saw the gold on the bank; he was loath to leave it.
+            “Sirs,� said he (no man had spoken till then), “yonder is that we have come so far and
+            so painfully to find, laid out to our very hand. Let us row in while these Devils bewail
+            themselves, and at least bear off what we may.� </p>
+          <p> ‘Bold as a wolf, cunning as a fox was Witta! He set four archers on the foredeck to
+            shoot the Devils if they should leap from the tree, which was close to the bank. He
+            manned ten oars a side, and bade them watch his hand to row in or back out, and so
+            coaxed he them toward the bank. But none would set foot ashore, though the gold was
+            within ten paces. No man is hasty to his hanging. They whimpered at their oars like
+            beaten hounds, and Witta bit his fingers for rage. </p>
+          <p> ‘Said Hugh of a sudden, “Hark!� At first we thought it was the buzzing of the
+            glittering flies on the water, but it grew loud and fierce, so that all men heard.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What?’ said Dan and Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘It was the sword.’ Sir Richard patted the smooth hilt. ‘It sang as a Dane sings
+            before battle. “I go,� said Hugh, and he leaped from the bows and fell among the gold. I
+            was afraid to my four bones’ marrow, but for shame’s sake I followed, and Thorkild of
+              <pb n="79"/><anchor id="Pg079"/>Borkum leaped after me. None other came. “Blame me
+            not,� cried Witta behind us, “I must abide by my ship.� We three had no time to blame or
+            praise. We stooped to the gold and threw it back over our shoulders, one hand on our
+            swords and one eye on the tree, which nigh overhung us. </p>
+          <p> ‘I know not how the Devils leaped down, or how the fight began. I heard Hugh cry:
+            “Out! out!� as though he were at Santlache again; I saw Thorkild’s steel cap smitten off
+            his head by a great hairy hand, and I felt an arrow from the ship whistle past my ear.
+            They say that till Witta took his sword to the rowers he could not bring his ship in
+            shore; and each one of the four archers said afterwards that he alone had pierced the
+            Devil that fought me. I do not know. I went to it in my mail-shirt, which saved my skin.
+            With long-sword and belt-dagger I fought for the life against a Devil whose very feet
+            were hands, and who whirled me back and forth like a dead branch. He had me by the
+            waist, my arms to my side, when an arrow from the ship pierced him between the
+            shoulders, and he loosened grip. I passed my sword twice through him, and he crutched
+            himself away between his long arms, coughing and moaning. Next, as I remember, I saw
+            Thorkild of Borkum bareheaded and smiling, leaping up and down before a Devil that
+            leaped and gnashed his teeth. Then Hugh passed, his sword shifted to his left hand, and
+            I wondered why I had not known that Hugh was a left-handed man; and thereafter I
+            remembered nothing till I <pb n="80"/><anchor id="Pg080"/>felt spray on my face, and we
+            were in sunshine on the open sea. That was twenty days after.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What had happened? Did Hugh die?’ the children asked. </p>
+          <p> ‘Never was such a fight fought by christened man,’ said Sir Richard. ‘An arrow from
+            the ship had saved me from my Devil, and Thorkild of Borkum had given back before his
+            Devil, till the bowmen on the ship could shoot it all full of arrows from near by; but
+            Hugh’s Devil was cunning, and had kept behind trees, where no arrow could reach. Body to
+            body there, by stark strength of sword and hand, had Hugh slain him, and, dying, the
+            Thing had clenched his teeth on the sword. Judge what teeth they were!’ </p>
+          <p> Sir Richard turned the sword again that the children might see the two great chiselled
+            gouges on either side of the blade. </p>
+          <p> ‘Those same teeth met in Hugh’s right arm and side,’ Sir Richard went on. ‘I? Oh, I
+            had no more than a broken foot and a fever. Thorkild’s ear was bitten, but Hugh’s arm
+            and side clean withered away. I saw him where he lay along, sucking a fruit in his left
+            hand. His flesh was wasted off his bones, his hair was patched with white, and his hand
+            was blue-veined like a woman’s. He put his left hand round my neck and whispered, “Take
+            my sword. It has been thine since Hastings, O, my brother, but I can never hold hilt
+            again.� We lay there on the high deck talking of Santlache and, I think, of every day
+            since Santlache, and it came so that we <pb n="81"/><anchor id="Pg081"/>both wept. I
+            was weak, and he little more than a shadow. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Nay—nay,� said Witta, at the helm-rail. “Gold is a good right arm to any man.
+            Look—look at the gold!� He bade Thorkild show us the gold and the elephants’ teeth, as
+            though we had been children. He had brought away all the gold on the bank, and twice as
+            much more, that the people of the village gave him for slaying the Devils. They
+            worshipped us as gods, Thorkild told me: it was one of their old women healed up Hugh’s
+            poor arm.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘How much gold did you get?’ asked Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘How can I say? Where we came out with wedges of iron under the rowers’ feet we
+            returned with wedges of gold hidden beneath planks. There was dust of gold in packages
+            where we slept; and along the side and crosswise under the benches we lashed the
+            blackened elephants’ teeth. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I had sooner have my right arm,� said Hugh, when he had seen all. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Ahai! That was my fault,� said Witta. “I should have taken ransom and landed you in
+            France when first you came aboard, ten months ago.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“It is over-late now,� said Hugh, laughing. </p>
+          <p> ‘Witta plucked at his long shoulder-lock. “But think!� said he. “If I had let ye
+            go—which I swear I would never have done, for I love ye more than brothers—if I had
+            let ye go, by now ye might have been horribly slain by some mere Moor in the Duke of
+            Burgundy’s war, or ye might have been murdered by <pb n="82"/><anchor id="Pg082"
+            />land-thieves, or ye might have died of the plague at an inn. Think of this and do not
+            blame me overmuch, Hugh. See! I will only take a half of the gold.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I blame thee not at all, Witta,� said Hugh. “It was a joyous venture, and we
+            thirty-five here have done what never men have done. If I live till England, I will
+            build me a stout keep over Dallington out of my share.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I will buy cattle and amber and warm red cloth for the wife,� said Witta, “and I
+            will hold all the land at the head of Stavanger Fiord. Many will fight for me now. But
+            first we must turn North, and with this honest treasure aboard I pray we meet no pirate
+            ships.� </p>
+          <p> ‘We did not laugh. We were careful. We were afraid lest we should lose one grain of
+            our gold for which we had fought Devils. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Where is the Sorcerer?� said I, for Witta was looking at the Wise Iron in the box,
+            and I could not see the Yellow Man. </p>
+          <p> ‘“He has gone to his own country,� said he. “He rose up in the night while we were
+            beating out of that forest in the mud, and said that he could see it behind the trees.
+            He leaped out on to the mud, and did not answer when we called; so we called no more. He
+            left the Wise Iron, which is all that I care for—and see, the Spirit still points to
+            the South!� </p>
+          <p> ‘We were troubled for fear that the Wise Iron should fail us now that its Yellow Man
+            had gone, and when we saw the Spirit still served us we grew afraid of too strong winds,
+              <pb n="83"/><anchor id="Pg083"/>and of shoals, and of careless leaping fish, and of
+            all the people on all the shores where we landed.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Why?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Because of the gold—because of our gold. Gold changes men altogether. Thorkild of
+            Borkum did not change. He laughed at Witta for his fears, and at us for our counselling
+            Witta to furl sail when the ship pitched at all. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Better be drowned out of hand,� said Thorkild of Borkum, “than go tied to a
+            deck-load of yellow dust.� </p>
+          <p> ‘He was a landless man, and had been slave to some King in the East. He would have
+            beaten out the gold into deep bands to put round the oars, and round the prow. </p>
+          <p> ‘Yet, though he vexed himself for the gold, Witta waited upon Hugh like a woman,
+            lending him his shoulder when the ship rolled, and tying of ropes from side to side that
+            Hugh might hold by them. But for Hugh, he said—and so did all his men—they would never
+            have won the gold. I remember Witta made a little, thin gold ring for our Bird to swing
+            in. Three months we rowed and sailed and went ashore for fruits or to clean the ship.
+            When we saw wild horsemen, riding among sand-dunes, flourishing spears we knew we were
+            on the Moors’ coast, and stood over north to Spain; and a strong south-west wind bore us
+            in ten days to a coast of high red rocks, where we heard a hunting-horn blow among the
+            yellow gorse and knew it was England. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Now find ye Pevensey yourselves,� said <pb n="84"/><anchor id="Pg084"/>Witta. “I
+            love not these narrow ship-filled seas.� </p>
+          <p> ‘He set the dried, salted head of the Devil, which Hugh had killed, high on our prow,
+            and all boats fled from us. Yet, for our gold’s sake, we were more afraid than they. We
+            crept along the coast by night till we came to the chalk cliffs, and so east to
+            Pevensey. Witta would not come ashore with us, though Hugh promised him wine at
+            Dallington enough to swim in. He was on fire to see his wife, and ran into the Marsh
+            after sunset, and there he left us and our share of gold, and backed out on the same
+            tide. He made no promise; he swore no oath; he looked for no thanks; but to Hugh, an
+            armless man, and to me, an old cripple whom he could have flung into the sea, he passed
+            over wedge upon wedge, packet upon packet of gold and dust of gold, and only ceased when
+            we would take no more. As he stooped from the rail to bid us farewell he stripped off
+            his right-arm bracelets and put them all on Hugh’s left, and he kissed Hugh on the
+            cheek. I think when Thorkild of Borkum bade the rowers give way we were near weeping. It
+            is true that Witta was an heathen and a pirate; true it is he held us by force many
+            months in his ship, but I loved that bow-legged, blue-eyed man for his great boldness,
+            his cunning, his skill, and, beyond all, for his simplicity.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Did he get home all right?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘I never knew. We saw him hoist sail under the moon-track and stand away. I have
+            prayed that he found his wife and the children.’ </p>
+          <pb n="85"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg085"/>
+          <p> ‘And what did you do?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘We waited on the Marsh till the day. Then I sat by the gold, all tied in an old sail,
+            while Hugh went to Pevensey, and De Aquila sent us horses.’ </p>
+          <p> Sir Richard crossed hands on his sword-hilt, and stared down stream through the soft
+            warm shadows. </p>
+          <p> ‘A whole shipload of <corr sic="gold!">gold!’</corr> said Una, looking at the little <hi rend="italic">Golden
+              Hind</hi>. ‘But I’m glad I didn’t see the Devils.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I don’t believe they were Devils,’ Dan whispered back. </p>
+          <p> ‘Eh?’ said Sir Richard. ‘Witta’s father warned him they were unquestionable Devils.
+            One must believe one’s father, and not one’s children. What were my Devils, then?’ </p>
+          <p> Dan flushed all over. ‘I—I only thought,’ he stammered; ‘I’ve got a book called <hi
+              rend="italic">The Gorilla Hunters</hi>—it’s a continuation of <hi rend="italic">Coral
+              Island</hi>, sir—and it says there that the gorillas (they’re big monkeys, you know)
+            were always chewing iron up.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Not always,’ said Una. ‘Only twice.’ They had been reading <hi rend="italic">The
+              Gorilla Hunters</hi> in the orchard. </p>
+          <p> ‘Well, anyhow, they always drummed on their chests, like Sir Richard’s did, before
+            they went for people. And they built houses in trees, too.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Ha!’ Sir Richard opened his eyes. ‘Houses like flat nests did our Devils make, where
+            their imps lay and looked at us. I did not see them (I was sick after the fight), but
+            Witta told me and, lo, ye know it also? Won<pb n="86"/><anchor id="Pg086"/>derful! Were
+            our Devils only nest-building apes? Is there no sorcery left in the world?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I don’t know,’ answered Dan, uncomfortably. ‘I’ve seen a man take rabbits out of a
+            hat, and he told us we could see how he did it, if we watched hard. And we did.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But we didn’t,’ said Una sighing. ‘Oh! there’s Puck!’ </p>
+          <p> The little fellow, brown and smiling, peered between two stems of an ash, nodded, and
+            slid down the bank into the cool beside them. </p>
+          <p> ‘No sorcery, Sir Richard?’ he laughed, and blew on a full dandelion head he had
+            picked. </p>
+          <p> ‘They tell me that Witta’s Wise Iron was a toy. The boy carries such an Iron with him.
+            They tell me our Devils were apes, called gorillas!’ said Sir Richard, indignantly. </p>
+          <p> ‘That is the sorcery of books,’ said Puck. ‘I warned thee they were wise children. All
+            people can be wise by reading of books.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But are the books true?’ Sir Richard frowned. ‘I like not all this reading and
+            writing.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Ye-es,’ said Puck, holding the naked dandelion head at arm’s length. ‘But if we hang
+            all fellows who write falsely, why did De Aquila not begin with Gilbert, the Clerk? <hi
+              rend="italic">He</hi> was false enough.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Poor false Gilbert. Yet in his fashion, he was bold,’ said Sir Richard. </p>
+          <p> ‘What did he do?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘He wrote,’ said Sir Richard. ‘Is the tale meet for children, think you?’ He looked at
+            Puck; but, ‘Tell us! Tell us!’ cried Dan and Una together. </p>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="87"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg087"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>THORKILD’S SONG</head>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">There is no wind along these seas,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">Out oars for Stavanger!</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">Forward all for Stavanger!</l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">So we must wake the white-ash breeze,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">Let fall for Stavanger!</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">A long pull for Stavanger!</l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Oh, hear the benches creak and strain!</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">(A long pull for Stavanger!)</l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">She thinks she smells the Northland rain!</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">(A long pull for Stavanger!)</l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi>She thinks she smells the Northland snow,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And she’s as glad as we to go!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">She thinks she smells the Northland rime,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And the dear dark nights of winter-time.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Her very bolts are sick for shore,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And we—we want it ten times more!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Hoe—all you Gods that love brave men,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Send us a three-reef gale again!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Send us a gale, and watch us come,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">With close-cropped canvas slashing home!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l>But—<hi rend="italic">there’s no wind in all these seas,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">A long pull for Stavanger!</l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">So we must wake the white-ash breeze,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">A long pull for Stavanger!</l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="88"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg088"/>
+          <p>
+          </p>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+        <pb n="89"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg089"/>
+        <head> OLD MEN AT PEVENSEY </head>
+        <pb n="90"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg090"/>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="91"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg091"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>OLD MEN AT PEVENSEY</head>
+          <p> ‘It has nought to do with apes or devils,’ Sir Richard went on, in an undertone. ‘It
+            concerns De Aquila, than whom there was never bolder nor craftier, nor more hardy knight
+            born. And, remember, he was an old, old man at that time.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘When?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘When we came back from sailing with Witta.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What did you do with your gold?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Have patience. Link by link is chain-mail made. I will tell all in its place. We bore
+            the gold to Pevensey on horseback—three loads of it—and then up to the north chamber,
+            above the Great Hall of Pevensey Castle, where De Aquila lay in winter. He sat on his
+            bed like a little white falcon, turning his head swiftly from one to the other as we
+            told our tale. Jehan the Crab, an old sour man-at-arms, guarded the stairway, but De
+            Aquila bade him wait at the stair-foot, and let down both leather curtains over the
+            door. It was Jehan whom De Aquila had sent to us with the horses, and only Jehan had
+            loaded the gold. When our story was told, De Aquila gave us the news of England, for we
+            were as men waked from a year-long sleep. The Red King was dead—slain (ye remember?)
+            the day we set sail—and Henry, his younger <pb n="92"/><anchor id="P092"/>brother,
+            had made himself King of England over the head of Robert of Normandy. This was the very
+            thing that the Red King had done to Robert when our Great William died. Then Robert of
+            Normandy, mad, as De Aquila said, at twice missing of this kingdom, had sent an army
+            against England, which army had been well beaten back to their ships at Portsmouth. A
+            little earlier, and Witta’s ship would have rowed through them. </p>
+          <p> ‘“And now,� said De Aquila, “half the great Barons of the north and west are out
+            against the King between Salisbury and Shrewsbury; and half the other half wait to see
+            which way the game shall go. They say Henry is overly English for their stomachs,
+            because he hath married an English wife and she hath coaxed him to give back their old
+            laws to our Saxons. (Better ride a horse on the bit he knows, <hi rend="italic">I</hi>
+            say.) But that is only a cloak to their falsehood.� He cracked his finger on the table
+            where the wine was spilt, and thus he spoke:— </p>
+          <p> ‘“William crammed us Norman barons full of good English acres after Santlache. <hi
+              rend="italic">I</hi> had my share too,� he said, and clapped Hugh on the shoulder;
+            “but I warned him—I warned him before Odo rebelled—that he should have bidden the
+            Barons give up their lands and lordships in Normandy if they would be English lords. Now
+            they are all but princes both in England and Normandy—trencher-fed hounds, with a foot
+            in one trough and both eyes on the other! Robert of Normandy has sent them word that if
+            they do not <pb n="93"/><anchor id="Pg093"/>fight for him in England he will sack and
+            harry out their lands in Normandy. Therefore Clare has risen, Fitz Osborn has risen,
+            Montgomery has risen—whom our First William made an English earl. Even D’Arcy is out
+            with his men, whose father I remember a little hedge-sparrow knight nearby Caen. If
+            Henry wins, the Barons can still flee to Normandy, where Robert will welcome them. If
+            Henry loses, Robert, he says, will give them more lands in England. Oh, a pest—a pest
+            on Normandy, for she will be our England’s curse this many a long year!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Amen,� said Hugh. “But will the war come our ways, think you?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Not from the North,� said De Aquila. “But the sea is always open. If the Barons gain
+            the upper hand Robert will send another army into England for sure; and this time I
+            think he will land here—where his father, the Conqueror, landed. Ye have brought your
+            pigs to a pretty market! Half England alight, and gold enough on the ground�—he stamped
+            on the bars beneath the table—“to set every sword in Christendom fighting.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“What is to do?� said Hugh. “I have no keep at Dallington; and if we buried it, whom
+            could we trust?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Me,� said De Aquila. “Pevensey walls are strong. No man but Jehan, who is my dog,
+            knows what is between them.� He drew a curtain by the shot-window and showed us the
+            shaft of a well in the thickness of the wall. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I made it for a drinking-well,� he said, <pb n="94"/><anchor id="Pg094"/>“but we
+            found salt water, and it rises and falls with the tide. Hark!� We heard the water
+            whistle and blow at the bottom. “Will it serve?� said he. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Needs must,� said Hugh. “Our lives are in thy hands.� So we lowered all the gold
+            down except one small chest of it by De Aquila’s bed, which we kept as much for his
+            delight in its weight and colour as for any our needs. </p>
+          <p> ‘In the morning, ere we rode to our Manors, he said: “I do not say farewell; because
+            ye will return and bide here. Not for love nor for sorrow, but to be with the gold. Have
+            a care,� he said, laughing, “lest I use it to make myself Pope. Trust me not, but
+            return!�’ </p>
+          <p> Sir Richard paused and smiled sadly. </p>
+          <p> ‘In seven days, then, we returned from our Manors—from the Manors which had been
+            ours.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And were the children quite well?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘My sons were young. Land and governance belong by right to young men.’ Sir Richard
+            was talking to himself. ‘It would have broken their hearts if we had taken back our
+            Manors. They made us great welcome, but we could see—Hugh and I could see—that our day
+            was done. I was a cripple and he a one-armed man. No!’ He shook his head. ‘And
+            therefore’—he raised his voice—‘we rode back to Pevensey.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I’m sorry,’ said Una, for the knight seemed very sorrowful. </p>
+          <p> ‘Little maid, it all passed long ago. They <pb n="95"/><anchor id="Pg095"/>were
+            young; we were old. We let them rule the Manors. “Aha!� cried De Aquila from his
+            shot-window, when we dismounted. “Back again to earth, old foxes?� but when we were in
+            his chamber above the hall he puts his arms about us and says, “Welcome, ghosts!
+            Welcome, poor ghosts!�... Thus it fell out that we were rich beyond belief, and lonely.
+            And lonely!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What did you do?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘We watched for Robert of Normandy,’ said the knight. ‘De Aquila was like Witta. He
+            suffered no idleness. In fair weather we would ride along between Bexlei on the one
+            side, to Cuckmere on the other—sometimes with hawk, sometimes with hound (there are
+            stout hares both on the Marsh and the Downland), but always with an eye to the sea, for
+            fear of fleets from Normandy. In foul weather he would walk on the top of his tower,
+            frowning against the rain—peering here and pointing there. It always vexed him to think
+            how Witta’s ship had come and gone without his knowledge. When the wind ceased and ships
+            anchored, to the wharf’s edge he would go and, leaning on his sword among the stinking
+            fish, would call to the mariners for their news from France. His other eye he kept
+            landward for word of Henry’s war against the Barons. </p>
+          <p> ‘Many brought him news—jongleurs, harpers, pedlars, sutlers, priests, and the like;
+            and, though he was secret enough in small things, yet, if their news misliked him, then,
+            regarding neither time nor place nor people, <pb n="96"/><anchor id="Pg096"/>would he
+            curse our King Henry for a fool or a babe. I have heard him cry aloud by the
+            fishing-boats: “If I were King of England I would do thus and thus�; and when I rode out
+            to see that the warning-beacons were laid and dry, he hath often called to me from the
+            shot-window: “Look to it, Richard! Do not copy our blind King, but see with thine own
+            eyes and feel with thine own hands.� I do not think he knew any sort of fear. And so we
+            lived at Pevensey, in the little chamber above the Hall. </p>
+          <p> ‘One foul night came word that a messenger of the King waited below. We were chilled
+            after a long riding in the fog towards Bexlei, which is an easy place for ships to land.
+            De Aquila sent word the man might either eat with us or wait till we had fed. Anon
+            Jehan, at the stair-head, cried that he had called for horse, and was gone. “Pest on
+            him!� said De Aquila. “I have more to do than to shiver in the Great Hall for every
+            gadling the King sends. Left he no word?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“None,� said Jehan, “except�—he had been with De Aquila at Santlache—“except he
+            said that if an old dog could not learn new tricks it was time to sweep out the kennel.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Oho!� said De Aquila, rubbing his nose, “to whom did he say that?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“To his beard, chiefly, but some to his horse’s flank as he was girthing up. I
+            followed him out,� said Jehan the Crab. </p>
+          <p> ‘“What was his shield-mark?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Gold horseshoes on black,� said the Crab. </p>
+          <pb n="97"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg097"/>
+          <p> ‘“That is one of Fulke’s men,� said De Aquila.’ </p>
+          <p> Puck broke in very gently, ‘Gold horseshoes on black is <hi rend="italic">not</hi> the
+            Fulkes’ shield. The Fulkes’ arms are——’ </p>
+          <p> The knight waved one hand statelily. </p>
+          <p> ‘Thou knowest that evil man’s true name,’ he replied, ‘but I have chosen to call him
+            Fulke because I promised him I would not tell the story of his wickedness so that any
+            man might guess it. I have changed <hi rend="italic">all</hi> the names in my tale. His
+            children’s children may be still alive.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘True—true,’ said Puck, smiling softly. ‘It is knightly to keep faith—even after a
+            thousand years.’ </p>
+          <p> Sir Richard bowed a little and went on:— </p>
+          <p> ‘“Gold horseshoes on black?� said De <corr sic='Aquila."'>Aquila.</corr> “I had heard Fulke had joined the
+            Barons, but if this is true our King must be of the upper hand. No matter, all Fulkes
+            are faithful. Still, I would not have sent the man away empty.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“He fed,� said Jehan. “Gilbert the Clerk fetched him meat and wine from the kitchens.
+            He ate at Gilbert’s table.� </p>
+          <p> ‘This Gilbert was a clerk from Battle Abbey, who kept the accounts of the Manor of
+            Pevensey. He was tall and pale-coloured, and carried those new-fashioned beads for
+            counting of prayers. They were large brown nuts or seeds, and hanging from his girdle
+            with his penner and inkhorn they clashed when he walked. His place was in the great
+            fireplace. There was his table of accounts, and there he <pb n="98"/><anchor id="Pg098"
+            />lay o’ nights. He feared the hounds in the Hall that came nosing after bones or to
+            sleep on the warm ashes, and would slash at them with his beads—like a woman. When De
+            Aquila sat in Hall to do justice, take fines, or grant lands, Gilbert would so write it
+            in the Manor-roll. But it was none of his work to feed our guests, or to let them depart
+            without his lord’s knowledge. </p>
+          <p> ‘Said De Aquila, after Jehan was gone down the stair: “Hugh, hast thou ever told my
+            Gilbert thou canst read Latin hand-of-write?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“No,� said Hugh. “He is no friend to me, or to Odo my hound either.� “No matter,�
+            said De Aquila. “Let him never know thou canst tell one letter from its fellow,
+            and�—here he jerked us in the ribs with his scabbard—“watch him both of ye. There be
+            devils in Africa, as I have heard, but by the Saints there be greater devils in
+            Pevensey!� And that was all he would say. </p>
+          <p> ‘It chanced, some small while afterwards, a Norman man-at-arms would wed a Saxon wench
+            of the Manor, and Gilbert (we had watched him well since De Aquila spoke) doubted
+            whether her folk were free or slave. Since De Aquila would give them a field of good
+            land, if she were free, the matter came up at the justice in Great Hall before De
+            Aquila. First the wench’s father spoke; then her mother; then all together, till the
+            hall rang and the hounds bayed. De Aquila held up his hands. “Write her free,� he called
+            to Gilbert by the fireplace. “A’ God’s Name write her free, before she deafens me! Yes,
+              <pb n="99"/><anchor id="Pg099"/>yes,� he said to the wench that was on her knees at
+            him; “thou art Cerdic’s sister, and own cousin to the Lady of Mercia, if thou wilt be
+            silent. In fifty years there will be neither Norman nor Saxon, but all English,� said
+            he, “and <hi rend="italic">these</hi> are the men that do our work!� He clapped the
+            man-at-arms, that was Jehan’s nephew, on the <corr sic="shouder">shoulder</corr>, and
+            kissed the wench, and fretted with his feet among the rushes to show it was finished.
+            (The Great Hall is always bitter cold.) I stood at his side; Hugh was behind Gilbert in
+            the fireplace making to play with wise rough Odo. He signed to De Aquila, who bade
+            Gilbert measure the new field for the new couple. Out then runs our Gilbert between man
+            and maid, his beads clashing at his waist, and the Hall being empty, we three sit by the
+            fire. </p>
+          <p> ‘Said Hugh, leaning down to the hearthstones, “I saw this stone move under Gilbert’s
+            foot when Odo snuffed at it. <corr sic="Look!’">Look!�</corr> De Aquila digged in the ashes with his sword; the
+            stone tilted; beneath it lay a parchment folden, and the writing atop was: “Words spoken
+            against the King by our Lord of Pevensey—the second part.� </p>
+          <p> ‘Here was set out (Hugh read it us whispering) every jest De Aquila had made to us
+            touching the King; every time he had called out to me from the shot-window, and every
+            time he had said what he would do if he were King of England. Yes, day by day had his
+            daily speech, which he never stinted, been set down by Gilbert, tricked out and twisted
+            from its true meaning, yet withal so cunningly <pb n="100"/><anchor id="Pg100"/>that
+            none could deny who knew him that De Aquila had in some sort spoken those words. Ye
+            see?’ </p>
+          <p> Dan and Una nodded. </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes,’ said Una, gravely. ‘It isn’t what you say so much. It’s what you mean when you
+            say it. Like calling Dan a beast in fun. Only grown-ups don’t always understand.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘“He hath done this day by day before our very face?� said De Aquila. </p>
+          <p> “Nay, hour by hour,� said Hugh. “When De Aquila spoke even now, in the hall, of Saxons
+            and Normans, I saw Gilbert write on a parchment, which he kept beside the Manor-roll,
+            that De Aquila said soon there would be no Normans left in England if his men-at-arms
+            did their work aright.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Bones of the Saints!� said De Aquila. “What avail is honour or a sword against a
+            pen? Where did Gilbert hide that writing? He shall eat it.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“In his breast when he ran out,� said Hugh. “Which made me look to see where he kept
+            his finished stuff. When Odo scratched at this stone here, I saw his face change. So I
+            was sure.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“He is bold,� said De Aquila. “Do him justice. In his own fashion, my Gilbert is
+            bold.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Overbold,� said Hugh. “Hearken here,� and he read: “Upon the feast of St. Agatha,
+            our Lord of Pevensey, lying in his upper chamber, being clothed in his second fur gown
+            reversed with rabbit——� </p>
+          <pb n="101"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg101"/>
+          <p> ‘“Pest on him! He is not my tire-woman!� said De Aquila, and Hugh and I laughed. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Reversed with rabbit, seeing a fog over the marshes, did wake Sir Richard
+            Dalyngridge, his drunken cup-mate� (here they laughed at me) “and said, ‘Peer out, old
+            fox, for God is on the Duke of Normandy’s side.’� </p>
+          <p> ‘“So did I. It was a black fog. Robert could have landed ten thousand men, and we none
+            the wiser. Does he tell how we were out all day riding the marsh, and how I near
+            perished in a quicksand, and coughed like a sick ewe for ten days after?� cried De
+            Aquila. </p>
+          <p> ‘“No,� said Hugh. “But here is the prayer of Gilbert himself to his master Fulke.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Ah,� said De Aquila. “Well I knew it was Fulke. What is the price of my blood?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Gilbert prayeth that when our Lord of Pevensey is stripped of his lands on this
+            evidence which Gilbert hath, with fear and pains, collected——� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Fear and pains is a true word,� said De Aquila, and sucked in his cheeks. “But how
+            excellent a weapon is a pen! I must learn it.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“He prays that Fulke will advance him from his present service to that honour in the
+            Church which Fulke promised him. And lest Fulke should forget, he has written below, ‘To
+            be Sacristan of Battle.’� </p>
+          <p> ‘At this De Aquila whistled. “A man who can plot against one lord can plot against
+            another. When I am stripped of my lands Fulke will whip off my Gilbert’s foolish head.
+            None the less Battle needs a new Sacristan. <pb n="102"/><anchor id="Pg102"/>They tell
+            me the Abbot Henry keeps no sort of rule there.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Let the Abbot wait,� said Hugh. “It is our heads and our lands that are in danger.
+            This parchment is the second part of the tale. The first has gone to Fulke, and so to
+            the King, who will hold us traitors.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Assuredly,� said De Aquila. “Fulke’s man took the first part that evening when
+            Gilbert fed him, and our King is so beset by his brother and his Barons (small blame,
+            too!) that he is mad with mistrust. Fulke has his ear, and pours poison into it.
+            Presently the King gives him my land and yours. This is old,� and he <corr sic="learned"
+              >leaned</corr> back and yawned. </p>
+          <p> ‘“And thou wilt surrender Pevensey without word or blow?� said Hugh. “We Saxons will
+            fight your King then. I will go warn my nephew at Dallington. Give me a horse!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Give thee a toy and a rattle.� said De Aquila. “Put back the parchment, and rake
+            over the ashes. If Fulke is given my Pevensey which is England’s gate, what will he do
+            with it? He is Norman at heart, and his heart is in Normandy, where he can kill peasants
+            at his pleasure. He will open England’s gate to our sleepy Robert, as Odo and Mortain
+            tried to do, and then there will be another landing and another Santlache. Therefore I
+            cannot give up Pevensey.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Good,� said we two. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Ah, but wait! If my King be made, on Gilbert’s evidence, to mistrust me, he will
+            send his men against me here, and, while we fight, England’s gate is left unguarded. <pb
+              n="103"/><anchor id="Pg103"/>Who will be the first to come through thereby? Even
+            Robert of Normandy. Therefore I cannot fight my King.� He nursed his sword—thus. </p>
+          <p> ‘“This is saying and unsaying like a Norman,� said Hugh. “What of our Manors?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I do not think for myself,� said De Aquila, “nor for our King, nor for your lands. I
+            think for England, for whom neither King nor Baron thinks. I am not Norman, Sir Richard,
+            nor Saxon, Sir Hugh. English am I.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Saxon, Norman, or English,� said Hugh, “our lives are thine, however the game goes.
+            When do we hang Gilbert?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Never,� said De Aquila. “Who knows he may yet be Sacristan of Battle, for, to do him
+            justice, he <corr sic="is good">is a good</corr> writer. Dead men make dumb witnesses. Wait.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“But the King may give Pevensey to Fulke. And our Manors go with it,� said I. “Shall
+            we tell our sons?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“No. The King will not wake up a hornet’s nest in the South till he has smoked out
+            the bees in the North. He may hold me a traitor; but at least he sees I am not fighting
+            against him, and every day that I lie still is so much gain to him while he fights the
+            barons. If he were wise he would wait till that war were over before he made new
+            enemies. But I think Fulke will play upon him to send for me, and if I do not obey the
+            summons that will, to Henry’s mind, be proof of my treason. But mere talk, such as
+            Gilbert sends, is no proof nowadays. We Barons follow the Church, and, like Anselm, we
+            speak what we <pb n="104"/><anchor id="Pg104"/>please. Let us go about our day’s
+            dealings, and say naught to Gilbert.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Then we do nothing?� said Hugh. </p>
+          <p> ‘“We wait,� said De Aquila. “I am old, but still I find that the most grievous work I
+            know.� </p>
+          <p> ‘And so we found it, but in the end De Aquila was right. </p>
+          <p> ‘A little later in the year, armed men rode over the hill, the Golden Horseshoes
+            flying behind the King’s banner. Said De Aquila, at the window of our chamber: “How did
+            I tell you? Here comes Fulke himself to spy out his new lands which our King hath
+            promised him if he can bring proof of my treason.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“How dost thou know?� said Hugh. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Because that is what I would do if I were Fulke, but <hi rend="italic">I</hi> should
+            have brought more men. My roan horse to your old shoes,� said he, “Fulke brings me the
+            King’s Summons to leave Pevensey and join the war.� He sucked in his cheeks and drummed
+            on the edge of the shaft, where the water sounded all hollow. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Shall we go?� said I. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Go! At this time of year? Stark madness,� said he. “Take <hi rend="italic">me</hi>
+            from Pevensey to fisk and flyte through fern and forest, and in three days Robert’s
+            keels would be lying on Pevensey mud with ten thousand men! Who would stop them—Fulke?� </p>
+          <p> ‘The horns blew without, and anon Fulke cried the King’s Summons at the great door
+            that De Aquila with all men and horse should join the King’s camp at Salisbury. </p>
+          <pb n="105"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg105"/>
+          <p> ‘“How did I tell you?� said De Aquila. “There are twenty Barons ’twixt here and
+            Salisbury could give King Henry good land-service, but he has been worked upon by Fulke
+            to send south and call me—<hi rend="italic">me!</hi>—off the Gate of England, when his
+            enemies stand about to batter it in. See that Fulke’s men lie in the big south barn,�
+            said he. “Give them drink, and when Fulke has eaten we will drink in my chamber. The
+            Great Hall is too cold for old bones.� </p>
+          <p> ‘As soon as he was off-horse Fulke went to the chapel with Gilbert to give thanks for
+            his safe coming, and when he had eaten—he was a fat man, and rolled his eyes greedily
+            at our good roast Sussex wheatears—we led him to the little upper chamber, whither
+            Gilbert had already gone with the Manor-roll. I remember when Fulke heard the tide blow
+            and whistle in the shaft he leaped back, and his long down-turned stirrup-shoes caught
+            in the rushes and he stumbled, so that Jehan behind him found it easy to knock his head
+            against the wall.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Did you know it was going to happen?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Assuredly,’ said Sir Richard, with a sweet smile. ‘I put my foot on his sword and
+            plucked away his dagger, but he knew not whether it was day or night for a while. He lay
+            rolling his eyes and bubbling with his mouth, and Jehan roped him like a calf. He was
+            cased all in that new-fangled armour which we call lizard-mail. Not rings like my
+            hauberk here’—Sir Richard tapped his <pb n="106"/><anchor id="Pg106"/>chest—‘but
+            little pieces of dagger-proof steel overlapping on stout leather. We stripped it off (no
+            need to spoil good harness by wetting it), and in the neck-piece De Aquila found the
+            same folden piece of parchment which we had put back under the hearthstone. </p>
+          <p> ‘At this Gilbert would have run out. I laid my hand on his shoulder. It sufficed. He
+            fell to trembling and praying on his beads. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Gilbert,� said De Aquila, “here be more notable sayings and doings of our Lord of
+            Pevensey for thee to write down. Take penner and inkhorn, Gilbert. We cannot all be
+            Sacristans of Battle.� </p>
+          <p> ‘Said Fulke from the floor, “Ye have bound a King’s messenger. Pevensey shall burn for
+            this!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Maybe. I have seen it besieged once,� said De Aquila, “but heart up, Fulke. I
+            promise thee that thou shalt be hanged in the middle of the flames at the end of that
+            siege, if I have to share my last loaf with thee; and that is more than Odo would have
+            done when we starved out him and Mortain.� </p>
+          <p> ‘Then Fulke sat up and looked long and cunningly at De Aquila. </p>
+          <p> ‘“By the Saints,� said he, “why didst thou not say thou wast on the Duke’s side at the
+            first?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Am I?� said De Aquila. </p>
+          <p> ‘Fulke laughed and said, “No man who serves King Henry dare do this much to his
+            messenger. When didst thou come over to the Duke? Let me up and we can smooth <pb
+              n="107"/><anchor id="Pg107"/>it out together.� And he smiled and becked and winked. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Yes, we will smooth it out,� said De Aquila. He nodded to me, and Jehan and I heaved
+            up Fulke—he was a heavy man—and lowered him into the shaft by a rope, not so as to
+            stand on our gold, but dangling by his shoulders a little above. It was turn of ebb, and
+            the water came to his knees. He said nothing, but shivered somewhat. </p>
+          <p> ‘Then Jehan of a sudden beat down Gilbert’s wrist with his sheathed dagger, “Stop!� he
+            said. “He swallows his beads.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Poison, belike,� said De Aquila. “It is good for men who know too much. I have
+            carried it these thirty years. Give me!� </p>
+          <p> ‘Then Gilbert wept and howled. De Aquila ran the beads through his fingers. The last
+            one—I have said they were large nuts—opened in two halves on a pin, and there was a
+            small folded parchment within. On it was written: “<hi rend="italic">The Old Dog goes to
+              Salisbury to be beaten. I have his Kennel. Come quickly.</hi>� </p>
+          <p> ‘“This is worse than poison,� said De Aquila, very softly, and sucked in his cheeks.
+            Then Gilbert grovelled in the rushes, and told us all he knew. The letter, as we
+            guessed, was from Fulke to the Duke (and not the first that had passed between them);
+            Fulke had given it to Gilbert in the chapel, and Gilbert thought to have taken it by
+            morning to a certain fishing-boat at the wharf, which trafficked between Pevensey and
+            the French shore. Gilbert was a false fellow, but he <pb n="108"/><anchor id="Pg108"
+            />found time between his quakings and shakings to swear that the master of the boat knew
+            nothing of the matter. </p>
+          <p> ‘“He hath called me shaved head,� said Gilbert, “and he hath thrown haddock-guts at
+            me; but for all that, he is no traitor.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I will have no clerk of mine mishandled or miscalled,� said De Aquila. “That seaman
+            shall be whipped at his own mast. Write me first a letter, and thou shalt bear it, with
+            the order for the whipping, to-morrow to the boat.� </p>
+          <p> ‘<corr sic='"At'>At</corr> this Gilbert would have kissed De Aquila’s hand—he had not hoped to live until
+            the morning—and when he trembled less he wrote a letter as from Fulke to the Duke
+            saying that the Kennel, which signified Pevensey, was shut, and that the old Dog (which
+            was De Aquila) sat outside it, and, moreover, that all had been betrayed. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Write to any man that all is betrayed,� said De Aquila, “and even the Pope himself
+            would sleep uneasily. Eh, Jehan? If one told thee all was betrayed, what wouldst thou
+            do?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I would run away,� said Jehan. “It might be true.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Well said,� quoth De Aquila. “Write, Gilbert, that Montgomery, the great Earl, hath
+            made his peace with the King, and that little D’Arcy, whom I hate, hath been hanged by
+            the heels. We will give Robert full measure to chew upon. Write also that Fulke himself
+            is sick to death of a dropsy.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Nay?� cried Fulke, hanging in the well-<pb n="109"/><anchor id="Pg109"/>shaft.
+            “Drown me out of hand, but do not make a jest of me.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Jest? I?� said De Aquila. “I am but fighting for life and lands with a pen, as thou
+            hast shown me, Fulke.� </p>
+          <p> ‘Then Fulke groaned, for he was cold, and, “Let me confess,� said he. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Now, this is right neighbourly,� said De Aquila, leaning over the shaft. “Thou hast
+            read my sayings and doings—or at least the first part of them—and thou art minded to
+            repay me with thy own doings and sayings. Take penner and inkhorn, Gilbert. Here is work
+            that will not irk thee.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Let my men go without hurt, and I will confess my treason against the King,� said
+            Fulke. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Now, why has he grown so tender of his men of a sudden?� said Hugh to me; for Fulke
+            had no name for mercy to his men. Plunder he gave them, but pity, none. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Té! Té!� said De Aquila. “Thy treason was all confessed long ago by Gilbert. It
+            would be enough to hang Montgomery himself.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Nay; but spare my men,� said Fulke; and we heard him splash like a fish in a pond,
+            for the tide was rising. </p>
+          <p> ‘“All in good time,� said De Aquila. “The night is young; the wine is old; and we need
+            only the merry tale. Begin the story of thy life since when thou wast a lad at Tours.
+            Tell it nimbly!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Ye shame me to my soul,� said Fulke. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Then I have done what neither King <pb n="110"/><anchor id="Pg110"/>nor Duke could
+            do,� said De Aquila. “But begin, and forget nothing.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Send thy man away,� said Fulke. </p>
+          <p> ‘“That much I can,� said De Aquila. <corr sic="'But,">“But,</corr> remember, I am like the Danes’ King; I
+            cannot turn the tide.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“How long will it rise?� said Fulke, and splashed anew. </p>
+          <p> ‘“For three hours,� said De Aquila. “Time to tell all thy good deeds. Begin, and
+            Gilbert—I have heard thou art somewhat careless—do not twist his words from their true
+            meaning.� </p>
+          <p> ‘So—fear of death in the dark being upon him—Fulke began; and Gilbert, not knowing
+            what his fate might be, wrote it word by word. I have heard many tales, but never heard
+            I aught to match the tale of Fulke, his black life, as Fulke told it hollowly, hanging
+            in the shaft.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Was it bad?’ said Dan, awestruck. </p>
+          <p> ‘Beyond belief,’ Sir Richard answered. ‘None the less, there was that in it which
+            forced even Gilbert to laugh. We three laughed till we ached. At one place his teeth so
+            chattered that we could not well hear, and we reached him down a cup of wine. Then he
+            warmed to it, and smoothly set out all his shifts, malices, and treacheries, his extreme
+            boldnesses (he was desperate bold); his retreats, shufflings, and counterfeitings (he
+            was also inconceivably a coward); his lack of gear and honour; his despair at their
+            loss; his remedies, and well-coloured contrivances. Yes, he waved the filthy rags of his
+            life before us, as <pb n="111"/><anchor id="Pg111"/>though they had been some proud
+            banner. When he ceased, we saw by torches that the tide stood at the corners of his
+            mouth, and he breathed strongly through his nose. </p>
+          <p> ‘We had him out, and rubbed him; we wrapped him in a cloak, and gave him wine, and we
+            leaned and looked upon him the while he drank. He was shivering, but shameless. </p>
+          <p> ‘Of a sudden we heard Jehan at the stairway wake, but a boy pushed past him, and stood
+            before us, the hall rushes in his hair, all slubbered with sleep. “My father! My father!
+            I dreamed of treachery,� he cried, and babbled thickly. </p>
+          <p> ‘“There is no treachery here,� said Fulke. “Go,� and the boy turned, even then not
+            fully awake, and Jehan led him by the hand to the Great Hall. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Thy only son!� said De Aquila, “Why didst thou bring the child here?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“He is my heir. I dared not trust him to my brother,� said Fulke, and now he was
+            ashamed. De Aquila said nothing, but sat weighing a wine cup in his two hands—thus.
+            Anon, Fulke touched him on the knee. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Let the boy escape to Normandy,� said he, “and do with me at thy pleasure. Yea, hang
+            me to-morrow, with my letter to Robert round my neck, but let the boy go.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Be still,� said De Aquila. “I think for England.� </p>
+          <p> ‘So we waited what our Lord of Pevensey should devise; and the sweat ran down Fulke’s
+            forehead. </p>
+          <p> ‘At last said De Aquila: “I am too old to <pb n="112"/><anchor id="Pg112"/>judge, or
+            to trust any man. I do not covet thy lands, as thou hast coveted mine; and whether thou
+            art any better or any worse than any other black Angevin thief, it is for thy King to
+            find out. Therefore, go back to thy King, Fulke.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“And thou wilt say nothing of what has passed?� said Fulke. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Why should I? Thy son will stay with me. If the King calls me again to leave
+            Pevensey, which I must guard against England’s enemies; if the King sends his men
+            against me for a traitor; or if I hear that the King in his bed thinks any evil of me or
+            my two knights, thy son will be hanged from out this window, Fulke.�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But it hadn’t anything to do with his son,’ cried Una, startled. </p>
+          <p> ‘How could we have hanged Fulke?’ said Sir Richard. ‘We needed him to make our peace
+            with the King. He would have betrayed half England for the boy’s sake. Of that we were
+            sure.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I don’t understand,’ said Una. ‘But I think it was simply awful.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘So did not Fulke. He was well pleased.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What? Because his son was going to be killed?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Nay. Because De Aquila had shown him how he might save the boy’s life and his own
+            lands and honours. “I will do it,� he said. “I swear I will do it. I will tell the King
+            thou art no traitor, but the most excellent, valiant, and perfect of us all. Yes, I will
+            save thee.� </p>
+          <pb n="113"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg113"/>
+          <p> ‘De Aquila looked still into the bottom of the cup, rolling the wine-dregs to and fro. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Ay,� he said. “If I had a son, I would, I think, save him. But do not by any means
+            tell me how thou wilt go about it.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Nay, nay,� said Fulke, nodding his bald head wisely. “That is my secret. But rest at
+            ease, De Aquila, no hair of thy head nor rood of thy land shall be forfeited,� and he
+            smiled like one planning great good deeds. </p>
+          <p> ‘“And henceforward,� said De Aquila, “I counsel thee to serve one master—not two.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“What?� said Fulke. “Can I work no more honest trading between the two sides these
+            troublous times?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Serve Robert or the King—England or Normandy,� said De Aquila. “I care not which it
+            is, but make thy choice here and now.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“The King, then,� said Fulke, “for I see he is better served than Robert. Shall I
+            swear it?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“No need,� said De Aquila, and he laid his hand on the parchments which Gilbert had
+            written. “It shall be some part of my Gilbert’s penance to copy out the savoury tale of
+            thy life, till we have made ten, twenty, an hundred, maybe, copies. How many cattle,
+            think you, would the Bishop of Tours give for that tale? Or thy brother? Or the Monks of
+            Blois? Minstrels will turn it into songs which thy own Saxon serfs shall sing behind
+            their plough-stilts, and men-at-arms riding through thy Norman towns. From here to Rome,
+            Fulke, men will make very merry over <pb n="114"/><anchor id="Pg114"/>that tale, and how
+            Fulke told it, hanging in a well, like a drowned puppy. This shall be thy punishment, if
+            ever I find thee double-dealing with thy King any more. Meantime, the parchments stay
+            here with thy son. Him I will return to thee when thou hast made my peace with the King.
+            The parchments never.� </p>
+          <p> ‘Fulke hid his face and groaned. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Bones of the Saints!� said De Aquila, laughing. “The pen cuts deep. I could never
+            have fetched that grunt out of thee with any sword.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“But so long as I do not anger thee, my tale will be secret?� said Fulke. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Just so long. Does that comfort thee, Fulke?� said De Aquila. </p>
+          <p> ‘“What other comfort have ye left me?� he said, and of a sudden he wept hopelessly
+            like a child, dropping his face on his knees.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Poor Fulke,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘I pitied him also,’ said Sir Richard. </p>
+          <p> ‘“After the spur, corn,� said De Aquila, and he threw Fulke three wedges of gold that
+            he had taken from our little chest by the bed-place. </p>
+          <p> ‘“If I had known this,� said Fulke, catching his breath, “I would never have lifted
+            hand against Pevensey. Only lack of this yellow stuff has made me so unlucky in my
+            dealings.� </p>
+          <p> ‘It was dawn then, and they stirred in the Great Hall below. We sent down Fulke’s mail
+            to be scoured, and when he rode away at noon under his own and the King’s banner very
+            splendid and stately did he show. He <pb n="115"/><anchor id="Pg115"/>smoothed his long
+            beard, and called his son to his stirrup and kissed him. De Aquila rode with him as far
+            as the New Mill landward. We thought the night had been all a dream.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But did he make it right with the King?’ Dan asked. ‘About your not being traitors, I
+            mean?’ </p>
+          <p> Sir Richard smiled. ‘The King sent no second summons to Pevensey, nor did he ask why
+            De Aquila had not obeyed the first. Yes, that was Fulke’s work. I know not how he did
+            it, but it was well and swiftly done.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Then you didn’t do anything to his son?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘The boy? Oh, he was an imp. He turned the keep doors out of dortoirs while we had
+            him. He sang foul songs, learned in the Barons’ camps—poor fool; he set the hounds
+            fighting in hall; he lit the rushes to drive out, as he said, the fleas; he drew his
+            dagger on Jehan, who threw him down the stairway for it; and he rode his horse through
+            crops and among sheep. But when we had beaten him, and showed him wolf and deer, he
+            followed us old men like a young, eager hound, and called us “uncle.� His father came
+            the summer’s end to take him away, but the boy had no lust to go, because of the
+            otter-hunting, and he stayed on till the fox-hunting. I gave him a bittern’s claw to
+            bring him good luck at shooting. An imp, if ever there was!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And what happened to Gilbert?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Not even a whipping. De Aquila said he would sooner a clerk, however false, that knew
+            the Manor-roll than a fool, however true, <pb n="116"/><anchor id="Pg116"/>that must be
+            taught his work afresh. Moreover, after that night I think Gilbert loved as much as he
+            feared De Aquila. At least he would not leave us—not even when Vivian, the King’s
+            Clerk, would have made him Sacristan of Battle Abbey. A false fellow, but, in his
+            fashion, bold.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Did Robert ever land in Pevensey after all?’ Dan went on. </p>
+          <p> ‘We guarded the coast too well while Henry was fighting his Barons; and three or four
+            years later, when England had peace, Henry crossed to Normandy and showed his brother
+            some work at Tenchebrai that cured Robert of fighting. Many of Henry’s men sailed from
+            Pevensey to that war. Fulke came, I remember, and we all four lay in the little chamber
+            once again, and drank together. De Aquila was right. One should not judge men. Fulke was
+            merry. Yes, always merry—with a catch in his breath.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And what did you do afterwards?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘We talked together of times past. That is all men can do when they grow old, little
+            maid.’ </p>
+          <p> The bell for tea rang faintly across the meadows. Dan lay in the bows of the <hi
+              rend="italic">Golden Hind</hi>; Una in the stern, the book of verses open in her lap,
+            was reading from ‘The Slave’s Dream’:— </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>‘Again in the mist and shadow of sleep</l>
+            <l>He saw his native land.’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> ‘I don’t know when you began that,’ said Dan, sleepily. </p>
+          <pb n="117"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg117"/>
+          <p> On the middle thwart of the boat, beside Una’s sun-bonnet, lay an Oak leaf, an Ash
+            leaf, and a Thorn leaf, that must have dropped down from the trees above; and the brook
+            giggled as though it had just seen some joke. </p>
+          <pb n="118"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg118"/>
+          <p>
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="119"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg119"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>THE RUNES ON WELAND’S SWORD</head>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">A Smith makes me</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">To betray my Man</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">In my first fight.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">To gather Gold</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">At the world’s end</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">I am sent.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">The Gold I gather</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Comes into England</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Out of deep Water.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Like a shining Fish</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Then it descends</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Into deep Water.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">It is not given</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">For goods or gear.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But for The Thing</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">The Gold I gather</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">A King covets</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">For an ill use.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">The Gold I gather</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Is drawn up</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Out of deep Water.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="120"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg120"/>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Like a shining Fish</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Then it descends</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Into deep Water.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">It is not given</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">For goods or gear</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But for The Thing.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+        <pb n="121"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg121"/>
+        <head> A CENTURION OF THE THIRTIETH </head>
+        <pb n="122"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg122"/>
+        <p>
+        </p>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="123"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg123"/>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Cities and Thrones and Powers,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Stand in Time’s eye,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Almost as long as flowers,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Which daily die:</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But, as new buds put forth,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi>To glad new men,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Out of the spent and unconsidered Earth,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">The Cities rise again.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">This season’s Daffodil,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">She never hears,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">What change, what chance, what chill,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Cut down last year’s;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But with bold countenance,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">And knowledge small,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Esteems her seven days’ continuance</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">To be perpetual.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">So Time that is o’er-kind,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">To all that be,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Ordains us e’en as blind,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">As bold as she:</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">That in our very death,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">And burial sure,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Shadow to shadow, well-persuaded, saith,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">‘See how our works endure!’</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="124"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg124"/>
+          <p>
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="125"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg125"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>A CENTURION OF THE THIRTIETH</head>
+          <p> Dan had come to grief over his Latin, and was kept in; so Una went alone to Far Wood.
+            Dan’s big catapult and the lead bullets that Hobden had made for him were hidden in an
+            old hollow beech-stub on the west of the wood. They had named the place out of the verse
+            in <hi rend="italic">Lays of Ancient Rome</hi>. </p>
+          <lg rend="font.size: small">
+            <l>From lordly Volaterrae,</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">Where scowls the far-famed hold,</l>
+            <l>Piled by the hands of giants</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">For Godlike Kings of old.</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> They were the ‘Godlike Kings,’ and when old Hobden piled some comfortable brushwood
+            between the big wooden knees of Volaterrae, they called him ‘Hands of Giants.’ </p>
+          <p> Una slipped through their private gap in the fence, and sat still a while, scowling as
+            scowlily and lordlily as she knew how; for ‘Volaterrae’ is an important watch-tower that
+            juts out of Far Wood just as Far Wood juts out of the hillside. Pook’s Hill lay below
+            her, and all the turns of the brook as it wanders from out of the Willingford Woods,
+            between hop-gardens, to old Hobden’s cottage at the Forge. The Sou’-West wind (there is
+            always a wind by ‘Volaterrae’) blew from the bare ridge where Cherry Clack Windmill
+            stands. </p>
+          <p> Now wind prowling through woods sounds like exciting things going to happen, and <pb
+              n="126"/><anchor id="Pg126"/>that is why on ‘blowy days’ you stand up in Volaterrae
+            and shout bits of the <hi rend="italic">Lays</hi> to suit its noises. </p>
+          <p> Una took Dan’s catapult from its secret place, and made ready to meet Lars Porsena’s
+            army stealing through the wind-whitened aspens by the brook. A gust boomed up the
+            valley, and Una chanted sorrowfully: </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>‘Verbenna down to Ostia</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">Hath wasted all the plain;</l>
+            <l>Astur hath stormed Janiculum</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">And the stout guards are slain.’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> But the wind, not charging fair to the wood, started aside and shook a single oak in
+            Gleason’s pasture. Here it made itself all small and crouched among the grasses, waving
+            the tips of them as a cat waves the tip of her tail before she springs. </p>
+          <p> ‘Now welcome—welcome Sextus,’ sang Una, loading the catapult— </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">‘Now welcome to thy home,</l>
+            <l>Why dost thou turn and run away?</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">Here lies the rod of Rome.’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> She fired into the face of the lull, to wake up the cowardly wind, and heard a grunt
+            from behind a thorn in the pasture. </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh, my Winkie!’ she said aloud, and that was something she had picked up from Dan. ‘I
+            believe I’ve tickled up a Gleason cow.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘You little painted beast!’ a voice cried. ‘I’ll teach you to sling your masters!’ </p>
+          <p> She looked down most cautiously, and saw a young man covered with hoopy bronze armour
+            all glowing among the late broom. <pb n="127"/><anchor id="Pg127"/>But what Una admired
+            beyond all was his great bronze helmet with its red horse-tail that flicked in the wind.
+            She could hear the long hairs rasp on his shimmery shoulder-plates. </p>
+          <p> ‘What does the Faun mean,’ he said, half aloud to himself, ‘by telling me the Painted
+            People have changed?’ He caught sight of Una’s yellow head. ‘Have you seen a painted
+            lead-slinger?’ he called. </p>
+          <p> ‘No-o,’ said Una. ‘But if you’ve seen a bullet——’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Seen?’ cried the man. ‘It passed within a hair’s breadth of my ear.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Well, that was me. I’m most awfully sorry.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Didn’t the Faun tell you I was coming?’ He smiled. </p>
+          <p> ‘Not if you mean Puck. I thought you were a Gleason cow. I—I didn’t know you were
+            a—a——What are you?’ </p>
+          <p> He laughed outright, showing a set of splendid teeth. His face and eyes were dark, and
+            his eyebrows met above his big nose in one bushy black bar. </p>
+          <p> ‘They call me Parnesius. I have been an officer of the Seventh Cohort of the Thirtieth
+            Legion—the Ulpia Victrix. Did you sling that bullet?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I did. I was using Dan’s <corr sic="catapult,">catapult,’</corr> said <corr
+              sic="Una.'">Una.</corr>
+          </p>
+          <p> ‘Catapults!’ said he. ‘I ought to know something about them. Show me!’ </p>
+          <p> He leaped the rough fence with a rattle of spear, shield, and armour, and hoisted
+            himself into ‘Volaterrae’ as <corr sic="quicky">quickly</corr> as a shadow. </p>
+          <pb n="128"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg128"/>
+          <p> ‘A sling on a forked stick. <hi rend="italic">I</hi> understand!’ he cried, and pulled
+            at the elastic. ‘But what wonderful beast yields this stretching leather?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘It’s laccy—elastic. You put the bullet into that loop, and then you pull hard.’ </p>
+          <p> The man pulled, and hit himself square on his thumb-nail. </p>
+          <p> ‘Each to his own weapon,’ he said, gravely, handing it back. ‘I am better with the
+              <corr sic="bigger,">bigger</corr> machine, little maiden. But it’s a pretty toy. A
+            wolf would laugh at it. Aren’t you afraid of wolves?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘There aren’t any,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘Never believe it! A wolf is like a Winged Hat. He comes when he isn’t expected. Don’t
+            they hunt wolves here?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘We don’t hunt,’ said Una, remembering what she had heard from grown-ups. ‘We
+            preserve—pheasants. Do you know them?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I ought to,’ said the young man, smiling again, and he imitated the cry of the
+            cock-pheasant so perfectly that a bird answered out of the wood. </p>
+          <p> ‘What a big painted clucking fool is a pheasant,’ he said. ‘Just like some Romans!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But you’re a Roman yourself, aren’t you?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘Ye-es and no. I’m one of a good few thousands who have never seen Rome except in a
+            picture. My people have lived at Vectis for generations. Vectis! That island West yonder
+            that you can see from so far in clear weather.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Do you mean the Isle of Wight? It lifts <pb n="129"/><anchor id="Pg129"/>up just
+            before rain, and we see it from the Downs.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Very likely. Our Villa’s on the South edge of the Island, by the Broken Cliffs. Most
+            of it is three hundred years old, but the cow-stables, where our first ancestor lived,
+            must be a hundred years older. Oh, quite that, because the founder of our family had his
+            land given him by Agricola at the Settlement. It’s not a bad little place for its size.
+            In spring-time violets grow down to the very beach. I’ve gathered sea-weeds for myself
+            and violets for my Mother many a time with our old nurse.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Was your nurse a—a Romaness too?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘No, a Numidian. Gods be good to her! A dear, fat, brown thing with a tongue like a
+            cowbell. She was a free woman. By the way, are you free, maiden?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh, quite,’ said Una. ‘At least, till tea-time; and in summer our governess doesn’t
+            say much if we’re late.’ </p>
+          <p> The young man laughed again—a proper understanding laugh. </p>
+          <p> ‘I see,’ said he. ‘That accounts for your being in the wood. <hi rend="italic">We</hi>
+            hid among the cliffs.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Did <hi rend="italic">you</hi> have a governess, then?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Did we not? A Greek, too. She had a way of clutching her dress when she hunted us
+            among the gorze-bushes that made us laugh. Then she’d say she’d get us whipped. She
+            never did, though, bless her! Aglaia was a thorough sportswoman, for all her learning.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But what lessons did you do—when—when you were little!’ </p>
+          <pb n="130"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg130"/>
+          <p> ‘Ancient history, the Classics, arithmetic, and so on,’ he answered. ‘My sister and I
+            were thickheads, but my two brothers (I’m the middle one) liked those things, and, of
+            course, Mother was clever enough for any six. She was nearly as tall as I am, and she
+            looked like the new statue on the Western Road—the Demeter of the Baskets, you know.
+            And funny! Roma Dea! How Mother could make us laugh!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What at?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Little jokes and sayings that every family has. Don’t you know?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I know <hi rend="italic">we</hi> have, but I didn’t know other people had them too,’
+            said Una. ‘Tell me about all your family, please.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Good families are very much alike. Mother would sit spinning of evenings while Aglaia
+            read in her corner, and Father did accounts, and we four romped about the passages. When
+            our noise grew too loud the Pater would say, “Less tumult! Less tumult! Have you never
+            heard of a Father’s right over his children? He can slay them, my loves—slay them dead,
+            and the Gods highly approve of the action!� Then Mother would prim up her dear mouth
+            over the wheel and answer: “H’m! I’m afraid there can’t be much of the Roman Father
+            about you!� Then the Pater would roll up his accounts, and say, “I’ll show you!� and
+            then—then, he’d be worse than any of us!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Fathers can—if they like,’ said Una, her eyes dancing. </p>
+          <pb n="131"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg131"/>
+          <p> ‘Didn’t I say all good families are very much the same?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What did you do in summer?’ said Una. ‘Play about, like us?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes, and we visited our friends. There are no wolves in Vectis. We had many friends,
+            and as many ponies as we wished.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘It must have been lovely,’ said Una. ‘I hope it lasted for ever.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Not quite, little maid. When I was about sixteen or seventeen, the Father felt gouty,
+            and we all went to the Waters.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What waters?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘At Aquae Solis. Every one goes there. You ought to get your Father to take you some
+            day.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But where? I don’t know,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> The young man looked astonished for a moment. ‘Aquae Solis,’ he repeated. ‘The best
+            baths in Britain. Just as good, I’m told, as Rome. All the old gluttons sit in its hot
+            water, and talk scandal and politics. And the Generals come through the streets with
+            their guards behind them; and the magistrates come in their chairs with their stiff
+            guards behind them; and you meet fortune-tellers, and goldsmiths, and merchants, and
+            philosophers, and feather-sellers, and ultra-Roman Britons, and ultra-British Romans,
+            and tame tribesmen pretending to be civilised, and Jew lecturers, and—oh, everybody
+            interesting. We young people, of course, took no interest in politics. We had not the
+            gout: there were many of our age like us. We did not find life sad. </p>
+          <pb n="132"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg132"/>
+          <p> ‘But while we were enjoying ourselves without thinking, my sister met the son of a
+            magistrate in the West—and a year afterwards she was married to him. My young brother,
+            who was always interested in plants and roots, met the First Doctor of a Legion from the
+            City of the Legions, and he decided that he would be an Army doctor. I do not think it
+            is a profession for a well-born man, but then—I’m not my brother. He went to Rome to
+            study medicine, and now he’s First Doctor of a Legion in Egypt—at Antinoe, I think, but
+            I have not heard from him for some time. </p>
+          <p> ‘My eldest brother came across a Greek philosopher, and told my Father that he
+            intended to settle down on the estate as a farmer and a philosopher. You see’—the young
+            man’s eyes twinkled—‘his philosopher was a long-haired one!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I thought philosophers were bald,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘Not all. She was very pretty. I don’t blame him. Nothing could have suited me better
+            than my eldest brother’s doing this, for I was only too keen to join the Army. I had
+            always feared I should have to stay at home and look after the estate while my brother
+            took <hi rend="italic">this</hi>.’ </p>
+          <p> He rapped on his great glistening shield that never seemed to be in his way. </p>
+          <p> ‘So we were well contented—we young people—and we rode back to Clausentum along the
+            Wood Road very quietly. But when we reached home, Aglaia, our governess, <pb n="133"
+              /><anchor id="Pg133"/>saw what had come to us. I remember her at the door, the torch
+            over her head, watching us climb the cliff-path from the boat. “Aie! Aie!� she said.
+            “Children you went away. Men and a woman you return!� Then she kissed Mother, and Mother
+            wept. Thus our visit to the Waters settled our fates for each of us, Maiden.’ </p>
+          <p> He rose to his feet and listened, leaning on the shield-rim. </p>
+          <p> ‘I think that’s Dan—my brother,’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes; and the Faun is with him,’ he replied, as Dan with Puck stumbled through the
+            copse. </p>
+          <p> ‘We should have come sooner,’ Puck called, ‘but the beauties of your native tongue, O
+            Parnesius, have enthralled this young citizen.’ </p>
+          <p> Parnesius looked bewildered, even when Una explained. </p>
+          <p> ‘Dan said the plural of “dominus� was “dominoes,� and when Miss Blake said it wasn’t
+            he said he supposed it was “backgammon,� and so he had to write it out twice—for cheek,
+            you know.’ </p>
+          <p> Dan had climbed into Volaterrae, hot and panting. </p>
+          <p> ‘I’ve run nearly all the way,’ he gasped, ‘and then Puck met me. How do you do, Sir?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I am in good health,’ Parnesius answered. ‘See! I have tried to bend the bow of
+            Ulysses, but——’ He held up his thumb. </p>
+          <p> ‘I’m sorry. You must have pulled off too soon,’ said Dan. ‘Puck said you were telling
+            Una a story.’ </p>
+          <pb n="134"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg134"/>
+          <p> ‘Continue, O Parnesius,’ said Puck, who had perched himself on a dead branch above
+            them. ‘I will be chorus. Has he puzzled you much, Una?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Not a bit, except—I didn’t know where Ak—Ak something was,’ she answered. </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh, Aquae Solis. That’s Bath, where the buns come from. Let the hero tell his own
+            tale.’ </p>
+          <p> Parnesius pretended to thrust his spear at Puck’s legs, but Puck reached down, caught
+            at the horse-tail plume, and pulled off the tall helmet. </p>
+          <p> ‘Thanks, jester,’ said Parnesius, shaking his curly dark head. ‘That is cooler. Now
+            hang it up for me.... </p>
+          <p> ‘I was telling your sister how I joined the Army,’ he said to Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Did you have to pass an Exam?’ Dan asked, eagerly. </p>
+          <p> ‘No. I went to my Father, and said I should like to enter the Dacian Horse (I had seen
+            some at Aquae Solis); but he said I had better begin service in a regular Legion from
+            Rome. Now, like many of our youngsters, I was not too fond of anything Roman. The
+            Roman-born officers and magistrates looked down on us British-born as though we were
+            barbarians. I told my Father so. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I know they do,� he said; “but remember, after all, we are the people of the Old
+            Stock, and our duty is to the Empire.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“To which Empire?’� I asked. “We split the Eagle before I was born.� </p>
+          <pb n="135"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg135"/>
+          <p> ‘“What thieves’ talk is that?� said my Father. He hated slang. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Well, Sir,� I said, “we’ve one Emperor in Rome, and I don’t know how many Emperors
+            the outlying Provinces have set up from time to time. Which am I to follow?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Gratian,� said he. “At least he’s a sportsman.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“He’s all that,� I said. “Hasn’t he turned himself into a raw-beef-eating Scythian?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Where did you hear of it?� said the Pater. </p>
+          <p> ‘“At Aquae Solis,� I said. It was perfectly true. This precious Emperor Gratian of
+            ours had a bodyguard of fur-cloaked Scythians, and he was so crazy about them that he
+            dressed like them. In Rome of all places in the world! It was as bad as if my own Father
+            had painted <corr sic="hmself">himself</corr> blue! </p>
+          <p> ‘“No matter for the clothes,� said the Pater. “They are only the fringe of the
+            trouble. It began before your time or mine. Rome has forsaken her Gods, and must be
+            punished. The great war with the Painted People broke out in the very year the temples
+            of our Gods were destroyed. We beat the Painted People in the very year our temples were
+            rebuilt. Go back further still.�... He went back to the time of Diocletian; and to
+            listen to him you would have thought Eternal Rome herself was on the edge of
+            destruction, just because a few people had become a little large-minded. </p>
+          <p> ‘<hi rend="italic">I</hi> knew nothing about it. Aglaia never <pb n="136"/><anchor
+              id="Pg136"/>taught us the history of our own country. She was so full of her ancient
+            Greeks. </p>
+          <p> ‘“There is no hope for Rome,� said the Pater, at last. “She has forsaken her Gods, but
+            if the Gods forgive <hi rend="italic">us</hi> here, we may save Britain. To do that, we
+            must keep the Painted People back. Therefore, I tell you, Parnesius, as a Father, that
+            if your heart is set on service, your place is among men on the Wall—and not with women
+            among the cities.�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What Wall?’ asked Dan and Una at once. </p>
+          <p> ‘Father meant the one we call Hadrian’s Wall. I’ll tell you about it later. It was
+            built long ago, across North Britain, to keep out the Painted People—Picts you call
+            them. Father had fought in the great Pict War that lasted more than twenty years, and he
+            knew what fighting meant. Theodosius, one of our great Generals, had chased the little
+            beasts back far into the North before I was born: down at Vectis, of course, we never
+            troubled our heads about them. But when my Father spoke as he did, I kissed his hand,
+            and waited for orders. We British-born Romans know what is due to our parents.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘If I kissed my Father’s hand, he’d laugh,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Customs change; but if you do not obey your father, the Gods remember it. You may be
+            quite sure of <hi rend="italic">that</hi>. </p>
+          <p> ‘After our talk, seeing I was in earnest, the Pater sent me over to Clausentum to
+            learn my foot-drill in a barrack full of foreign Auxiliaries—as unwashed and unshaved a
+            mob <pb n="137"/><anchor id="Pg137"/>of mixed barbarians as ever scrubbed a
+            breast-plate. It was your stick in their stomachs and your shield in their faces to push
+            them into any sort of formation. When I had learned my work the Instructor gave me a
+            handful—and they were a handful!—of Gauls and Iberians to polish up till they were
+            sent to their stations up-country. I did my best, and one night a villa in the suburbs
+            caught fire, and I had my handful out and at work before any of the other troops. I
+            noticed a quiet-looking man on the lawn, leaning on a stick. He watched us passing
+            buckets from the pond, and at last he said to me: “Who are you?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“A probationer, waiting for a cohort,� I answered. <hi rend="italic">I</hi>
+            <corr sic="did'nt">didn’t</corr> know who he was from Deucalion! </p>
+          <p> ‘“Born in Britain?� he said. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Yes, if you were born in Spain,� I said, for he neighed his words like an Iberian
+            mule. </p>
+          <p> ‘“And what might you call yourself when you are at home?� he said laughing. </p>
+          <p> ‘“That depends,� I answered; “sometimes one thing and sometimes another. But now I’m
+            busy.� </p>
+          <p> ‘He said no more till we had saved the family gods (they were respectable
+            householders), and then he grunted across the laurels: “Listen, young
+            sometimes-one-thing-and-sometimes-another. In future call yourself Centurion of the
+            Seventh Cohort of the Thirtieth, the Ulpia Victrix. That will help me to remember you.
+            Your Father and a few other people call me Maximus.� </p>
+          <pb n="138"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg138"/>
+          <p> ‘He tossed me the polished stick he was leaning on, and went away. You might have
+            knocked me down with it!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Who was he?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Maximus himself, our great General! <hi rend="italic">The</hi> General of Britain who
+            had been Theodosius’s right hand in the Pict War! Not only had he given me my
+            Centurion’s stick direct, but three steps in a good Legion as well! A new man generally
+            begins in the Tenth Cohort of his Legion, and works up.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And were you pleased?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘Very. I thought Maximus had chosen me for my good looks and fine style in marching,
+            but, when I went home, the Pater told me he had served under Maximus in the great Pict
+            War, and had asked him to promote me.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘A child you were!’ said Puck, from above. </p>
+          <p> ‘I was,’ said Parnesius. ‘Don’t begrudge it me, Faun. Afterwards—the Gods know I put
+            aside the games!’ And Puck nodded, brown chin on brown hand, his big eyes still. </p>
+          <p> ‘The night before I left we sacrificed to our ancestors—the usual little Home
+            Sacrifice—but I never prayed so earnestly to all the Good Shades, and then I went with
+            my Father by boat to Regnum, and across the chalk eastwards to Anderida yonder.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Regnum? Anderida?’ The children turned their faces to Puck. </p>
+          <p> ‘Regnum’s Chichester,’ he said, pointing towards Cherry Clack, and—he threw his arm
+            South behind him—‘Anderida’s Pevensey.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Pevensey again!’ said Dan. ‘Where Weland landed?’ </p>
+          <pb n="139"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg139"/>
+          <p> ‘Weland and a few others,’ said Puck. ‘Pevensey isn’t young—even compared to me!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘The head-quarters of the Thirtieth lay at Anderida in summer, but my own Cohort, the
+            Seventh, was on the Wall up North. Maximus was inspecting Auxiliaries—the Abulci, I
+            think—at Anderida, and we stayed with him, for he and my Father were very old friends.
+            I was only there ten days when I was ordered to go up with thirty men to my Cohort.’ He
+            laughed merrily. ‘A man never forgets his first march. I was happier than any Emperor
+            when I led my handful through the North Gate of the Camp, and we saluted the guard and
+            the Altar of Victory there.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘How? How?’ said Dan and Una. </p>
+          <p> Parnesius smiled, and stood up, flashing in his armour. </p>
+          <p> ‘So!’ said he; and he moved slowly through the beautiful movements of the Roman
+            Salute, that ends with a hollow clang of the shield coming into its place between the
+            shoulders. </p>
+          <p> ‘Hai!’ said Puck. ‘That sets one thinking!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘We went out fully armed,’ said Parnesius, sitting down; ‘but as soon as the road
+            entered the Great Forest, my men expected the pack-horses to hang their shields on.
+            “No!� I said; “you can dress like women in Anderida, but while you’re with me you will
+            carry your own weapons and armour.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“But it’s hot,� said one of them, “and we haven’t a doctor. Suppose we get sunstroke,
+            or a fever?� </p>
+          <pb n="140"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg140"/>
+          <p> ‘“Then die,� I said, “and a good riddance to Rome! Up shield—up spears, and tighten
+            your foot-wear!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Don’t think yourself Emperor of Britain already,� a fellow shouted. I knocked him
+            over with the butt of my spear, and explained to these Roman-born Romans that, if there
+            were any further trouble, we should go on with one man short. And, by the Light of the
+            Sun, I meant it too! My raw Gauls at Clausentum had never treated me so. </p>
+          <p> ‘Then, quietly as a cloud, Maximus rode out of the fern (my Father behind him), and
+            reined up across the road. He wore the Purple, as though he were already Emperor; his
+            leggings were of white buckskin laced with gold. </p>
+          <p> ‘My men dropped like—like partridges. </p>
+          <p> ‘He said nothing for some time, only looked, with his eyes puckered. Then he crooked
+            his forefinger, and my men walked—crawled, I mean—to one side. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Stand in the sun, children,� he said, and they formed up on the hard road. </p>
+          <p> ‘“What would you have done?� he said to me, “If I had not been here?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I should have killed that man,� I answered. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Kill him now,� he said. “He will not move a limb.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“No,� I said. “You’ve taken my men out of my command. I should only be your butcher
+            if I killed him now.� Do you see what I meant?’ Parnesius turned to Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes,’ said Dan. ‘It wouldn’t have been fair, somehow.’ </p>
+          <pb n="141"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg141"/>
+          <p> ‘That was what I thought,’ said Parnesius. <corr sic="But">‘But</corr> Maximus frowned. “You’ll never be an
+            Emperor,� he said. “Not even a General will you be.� </p>
+          <p> ‘I was silent, but my Father seemed pleased. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I came here to see the last of you,� he said. </p>
+          <p> ‘“You have seen it,� said Maximus. “I shall never need your son any more. He will live
+            and he will die an officer of a Legion—and he might have been Prefect of one of my
+            Provinces. Now eat and drink with us,� he said. “Your men will wait till you have
+            finished.� </p>
+          <p> ‘My miserable thirty stood like wine-skins glistening in the hot sun, and Maximus led
+            us to where his people had set a meal. Himself he mixed the wine. </p>
+          <p> ‘“A year from now,� he said, “you will remember that you have sat with the Emperor of
+            Britain—and Gaul.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Yes,� said the Pater, “you can drive two mules—Gaul and Britain.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Five years hence you will remember that you have drunk�—he passed me the cup and
+            there was blue borage in it—“with the Emperor of Rome!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“No; you can’t drive three mules; they will tear you in pieces,� said my Father. </p>
+          <p> ‘“And you on the Wall, among the heather, will weep because your notion of justice was
+            more to you than the favour of the Emperor of Rome.� </p>
+          <p> ‘I sat quite still. One does not answer a General who wears the Purple. </p>
+          <pb n="142"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg142"/>
+          <p> ‘“I am not angry with you,� he went on; “I owe too much to your Father——� </p>
+          <p> ‘“You owe me nothing but advice that you never took,� said the Pater. </p>
+          <p> ‘“——to be unjust to any of your family. Indeed, I say you will make a good officer,
+            but, so far as I am concerned, on the Wall you will live, and on the Wall you will die,�
+            said Maximus. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Very like,� said my Father. “But we shall have the Picts <hi rend="italic">and</hi>
+            their friends breaking through before long. You cannot move all troops out of Britain to
+            make you Emperor, and expect the North to sit quiet.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I follow my destiny,� said Maximus. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Follow it, then,� said my Father pulling up a fern root; “and die as Theodosius
+            died.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Ah!� said Maximus. “My old General was killed because he served the Empire too well.
+              <hi rend="italic">I</hi> may be killed, but not for that <corr sic="reason,'"
+            >reason,�</corr> and he smiled a little pale grey smile that made my blood run cold. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Then I had better follow my destiny,� I said, “and take my men to the Wall.� </p>
+          <p> ‘He looked at me a long time, and bowed his head slanting like a Spaniard. “Follow it,
+            boy,� he said. That was all. I was only too glad to get away, though I had many messages
+            for home. I found my men standing as they had been put—they had not even shifted their
+            feet in the dust,—and off I marched, still feeling that terrific smile like an east
+            wind up my back. I never halted them till sunset, and’—he turned about and looked at
+            Pook’s Hill below him—‘then I <pb n="143"/><anchor id="Pg143"/>halted yonder.’ He
+            pointed to the broken, bracken-covered shoulder of the Forge Hill behind old Hobden’s
+            cottage. </p>
+          <p> ‘There? Why, that’s only the old Forge—where they made iron once,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Very good stuff it was too,’ said Parnesius, calmly. ‘We mended three shoulder-straps
+            here and had a spear-head riveted. The forge was rented from the Government by a
+            one-eyed smith from Carthage. I remember we called him <corr sic="Cylops"
+            >Cyclops</corr>. He sold me a beaver-skin rug for my sister’s room.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But it couldn’t have been here,’ Dan insisted. </p>
+          <p> ‘But it was! From the Altar of Victory at Anderida to the First Forge in the Forest
+            here is twelve miles seven hundred paces. It is all in the Road Book. A man doesn’t
+            forget his first march. I think I could tell you every station between this and——’ He
+            leaned forward, but his eye was caught by the setting sun. </p>
+          <p> It had come down to the top of Cherry Clack Hill, and the light poured in between the
+            tree trunks so that you could see red and gold and black deep into the heart of Far
+            Wood; and Parnesius in his armour shone as though he had been afire. </p>
+          <p> ‘Wait,’ he said, lifting a hand, and the sunlight jinked on his glass bracelet. ‘Wait!
+            I pray to Mithras!’ </p>
+          <p> He rose and stretched his arms westward, with deep, splendid-sounding words. </p>
+          <p> Then Puck began to sing too, in a voice like bells tolling, and as he sang he slipped
+              <pb n="144"/><anchor id="Pg144"/>from ‘Volaterrae’ to the ground, and beckoned the
+            children to follow. They obeyed; it seemed as though the voices were pushing them along;
+            and through the goldy-brown light on the beech leaves they walked, while Puck between
+            them chanted something like this:— </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>Cur mundus militat sub vana gloria</l>
+            <l>Cujus prosperitas est transitoria?</l>
+            <l>Tam cito labitur ejus potentia</l>
+            <l>Quam vasa figuli quæ sunt fragilia.</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> They found themselves at the little locked gates of the wood. </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>Quo Cæsar abiit celsus imperio?</l>
+            <l>Vel Dives splendidus totus in prandio?</l>
+            <l>Dic ubi Tullius——</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> Still singing, he took Dan’s hand and wheeled him round to face Una as she came out of
+            the gate. It shut behind her, at the same time as Puck threw the memory-magicking Oak,
+            Ash, and Thorn leaves over their heads. </p>
+          <p> ‘Well, you <hi rend="italic">are</hi> jolly late,’ said Una. ‘Couldn’t you get away
+            before?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I did,’ said Dan. ‘I got away in lots of time, but—but I didn’t know it was so late.
+            Where’ve you been?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘In Volaterrae—waiting for you.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Sorry,’ said Dan. ‘It was all that beastly Latin.’ </p>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="145"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg145"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>A BRITISH-ROMAN SONG</head>
+          <p rend="margin-left: 8"> (A. D. 406) </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">My father’s father saw it not,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">And I, belike, shall never come,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">To look on that so-holy spot—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 10"><hi rend="italic">The very Rome—</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Crowned by all Time, all Art, all Might,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">The equal work of Gods and Man—</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">City beneath whose oldest height</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 10"><hi rend="italic">The Race began,—</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Soon to send forth again a brood</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Unshakeable, we pray, that clings,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">To Rome’s thrice-hammered hardihood—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 10"><hi rend="italic">In arduous things.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Strong heart with triple armour bound,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Beat strongly, for thy life-blood runs,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Age after Age, the Empire round—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 10"><hi rend="italic">In us thy Sons,</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Who, distant from the Seven Hills,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Loving and serving much, require</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Thee, Thee to guard ’gainst home-born ills,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 10"><hi rend="italic">The Imperial Fire!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="146"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg146"/>
+          <p>
+          </p>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+        <pb n="147"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg147"/>
+        <head> ON THE GREAT WALL </head>
+        <pb n="148"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg148"/>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="149"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg149"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>ON THE GREAT WALL</head>
+          <lg>
+            <l>When I left Rome for Lalage’s sake</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">By the Legions’ Road to Rimini,</l>
+            <l>She vowed her heart was mine to take</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">With me and my shield to Rimini—</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">(Till the Eagles flew from Rimini!)</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4">And I’ve tramped Britain and I’ve tramped Gaul</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4">And the Pontic shore where the snow-flakes fall</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">As white as the neck of Lalage—</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2">As cold as the heart of Lalage!</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4">And I’ve lost Britain and I’ve lost Gaul</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> (the voice seemed very cheerful about it), </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4">And I’ve lost Rome, and worst of all,</l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 6">I’ve lost Lalage!</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> They were standing by the gate to Far Wood when they heard this song. Without a word
+            they hurried to their private gap and wriggled through the hedge almost atop of a jay
+            that was feeding from Puck’s hand. </p>
+          <p> ‘Gently!’ said Puck. ‘What are you looking for?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Parnesius, of course,’ Dan answered. ‘We’ve only just remembered yesterday. It isn’t
+            fair.’ </p>
+          <p> Puck chuckled as he rose. ‘I’m sorry, but children who spend the afternoon with me and
+            a Roman Centurion need a little settling dose of Magic before they go to tea with their
+            governess. Ohé, Parnesius!’ he called. </p>
+          <pb n="150"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg150"/>
+          <p> ‘Here, Faun!’ came the answer from ‘Volaterrae.’ They could see the shimmer of bronze
+            armour in the beech crotch, and the friendly flash of the great shield uplifted. </p>
+          <p> ‘I have driven out the Britons.’ Parnesius laughed like a boy. ‘I occupy their high
+            forts. But Rome is merciful! You may come up.’ And up they three all scrambled. </p>
+          <p> ‘What was the song you were singing just now?’ said Una, as soon as she had settled
+            herself. </p>
+          <p> ‘That? Oh, <hi rend="italic">Rimini</hi>. It’s one of the tunes that are always being
+            born somewhere in the Empire. They run like a pestilence for six months or a year, till
+            another one pleases the Legions, and then they march to <hi rend="italic">that</hi>.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Tell them about the marching, Parnesius. Few people nowadays walk from end to end of
+            this country,’ said Puck. </p>
+          <p> ‘The greater their loss. I know nothing better than the Long March when your feet are
+            hardened. You begin after the mists have risen, and you end, perhaps, an hour after
+            sundown.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And what do you have to eat?’ Dan asked, promptly. </p>
+          <p> ‘Fat bacon, beans, and bread, and whatever wine happens to be in the rest-houses. But
+            soldiers are born grumblers. Their very first day out, my men complained of our
+            water-ground British corn. They said it wasn’t so filling as the rough stuff that is
+            ground in the Roman ox-mills. However, they had to fetch and eat it.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Fetch it? Where from?’ said Una. </p>
+          <pb n="151"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg151"/>
+          <p> ‘From that newly-invented water-mill below the Forge.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘That’s Forge Mill—<hi rend="italic">our</hi> Mill!’ Una looked at Puck. </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes; yours,’ Puck put in. ‘How old did you think it was?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I don’t know. Didn’t Sir Richard Dalyngridge talk about it?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘He did, and it was old in his day,’ Puck answered. ‘Hundreds of years old.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘It was new in mine,’ said Parnesius. ‘My men looked at the flour in their helmets as
+            though it had been a nest of adders. They did it to try my patience. But I—addressed
+            them, and we became friends. To tell the truth, they taught me the Roman Step. You see,
+            I’d only served with quick-marching Auxiliaries. A Legion’s pace is altogether
+            different. It is a long, slow stride, that never varies from sunrise to sunset. “Rome’s
+            Race—Rome’s Pace,� as the proverb says. Twenty-four miles in eight hours, neither more
+            nor less. Head and spear up, shield on your back, cuirass-collar open one hand’s
+            breadth—and that’s how you take the Eagles through Britain.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And did you meet any adventures?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘There are no adventures South the Wall,’ said Parnesius. ‘The worst thing that
+            happened me was having to appear before a magistrate up North, where a wandering
+            philosopher had jeered at the Eagles. I was able to show that the old man had
+            deliberately blocked our road, and the magistrate told <pb n="152"/><anchor id="Pg152"
+            />him, out of his own Book, I believe, that, whatever his God might be, he should pay
+            proper respect to <corr sic="Caesar">Cæsar</corr>.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What did you do?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Went on. Why should <hi rend="italic">I</hi> care for such things, my business being
+            to reach my station? It took me twenty days. </p>
+          <p> ‘Of course, the farther North you go the emptier are the roads. At last you fetch
+            clear of the forests and climb bare hills, where wolves howl in the ruins of our cities
+            that have been. No more pretty girls; no more jolly magistrates who knew your Father
+            when he was young, and invite you to stay with them; no news at the temples and
+            way-stations except bad news of wild beasts. There’s where you meet hunters, and
+            trappers for the Circuses, prodding along chained bears and muzzled wolves. Your pony
+            shies at them, and your men laugh. </p>
+          <p> ‘The houses change from gardened villas to shut forts with watch-towers of grey stone,
+            and great stone-walled sheepfolds, guarded by armed Britons of the North Shore. In the
+            naked hills beyond the naked houses, where the shadows of the clouds play like cavalry
+            charging, you see puffs of black smoke from the mines. The hard road goes on and on—and
+            the wind sings through your helmet-plume—past altars to Legions and Generals forgotten,
+            and broken statues of Gods and Heroes, and thousands of graves where the mountain foxes
+            and hares peep at you. Red-hot in summer, freezing in winter, is that big, purple
+            heather country of broken stone. </p>
+         <anchor id="image03"/>
+          <pgIf output="txt">
+            <then>
+              <p rend="margin-left: 2; margin-right: 2">[Illustration: ‘There’s where you meet hunters, and trappers for the Circuses,
+                prodding along chained bears and muzzled wolves.’]</p>
+            </then>
+            <else>
+              <pgIf output="pdf">
+                <then>
+                  <p rend="margin-left: 2; margin-right: 2">
+                    <figure url="images/col03l.jpg">
+                      <head>‘There’s where you meet hunters, and trappers for the Circuses, prodding
+                        along chained bears and muzzled wolves.’</head>
+                    </figure>
+                  </p>
+                </then>
+                <else>
+                  <p>
+                    <figure url="images/col03s.jpg">
+                      <head><xref url="images/col03l.jpg">‘There’s where you meet hunters, and trappers for the Circuses,<lb/> prodding
+                      along chained bears and muzzled wolves.’</xref></head>
+                      <figDesc>Illustration to page 152</figDesc>
+                    </figure>
+                  </p>
+                </else>
+              </pgIf>
+              
+            </else>
+          </pgIf>
+          
+          <pb n="153"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg153"/>
+          <p> ‘Just when you think you are at the world’s end, you see a smoke from East to West as
+            far as the eye can turn, and then, under it, also as far as the eye can stretch, houses
+            and temples, shops and theatres, barracks, and granaries, trickling along like dice
+            behind—always behind—one long, low, rising and falling, and hiding and showing line of
+            towers. And that is the Wall!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Ah!’ said the <corr sic="children">children,</corr> taking breath. </p>
+          <p> ‘You may well,’ said Parnesius. ‘Old men who have followed the Eagles since boyhood
+            say nothing in the Empire is more wonderful than first sight of the Wall!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Is it just a Wall? Like the one round the kitchen-garden?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘No, no! It is <hi rend="italic">the</hi> Wall. Along the top are towers with
+            guard-houses, small towers, between. Even on the narrowest part of it three men with
+            shields can walk abreast from guard-house to guard-house. A little curtain wall, no
+            higher than a man’s neck, runs along the top of the thick wall, so that from a distance
+            you see the helmets of the sentries sliding back and forth like beads. Thirty feet high
+            is the Wall, and on the Picts’ side, the North, is a ditch, strewn with blades of old
+            swords and spear-heads set in wood, and tyres of wheels joined by chains. The Little
+            People come there to steal iron for their arrow-heads. </p>
+          <p> ‘But the Wall itself is not more wonderful than the town behind it. Long ago there
+            were great ramparts and ditches on the South side, and no one was allowed to build <pb
+              n="154"/><anchor id="Pg154"/>there. Now the ramparts are partly pulled down and built
+            over, from end to end of the Wall; making a thin town eighty miles long. Think of it!
+            One roaring, rioting, cockfighting, wolf-baiting, horse-racing town, from Ituna on the
+            West to Segedunum on the cold eastern beach! On one side heather, woods and ruins where
+            Picts hide, and on the other, a vast town—long like a snake, and wicked like a snake.
+            Yes, a snake basking beside a warm wall! </p>
+          <p> ‘My Cohort, I was told, lay at Hunno, where the Great North Road runs through the Wall
+            into the Province of Valentia.’ Parnesius laughed scornfully. ‘The Province of Valentia!
+            We followed the road, therefore, into Hunno town, and stood astonished. The place was a
+            fair—a fair of peoples from every corner of the Empire. Some were racing horses: some
+            sat in wine-shops: some watched dogs baiting bears, and many gathered in a ditch to see
+            cocks fight. A boy not much older than myself, but I could see he was an Officer, reined
+            up before me and asked what I wanted. </p>
+          <p> ‘“My station,� I said, and showed him my shield.’ Parnesius held up his broad shield
+            with its three X’s like letters on a beer-cask. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Lucky omen!� said he. “Your Cohort’s the next tower to us, but they’re all at the
+            cock-fight. This is a happy place. Come and wet the Eagles.� He meant to offer me a
+            drink. </p>
+          <p> ‘“When I’ve handed over my men,� I said. I felt angry and ashamed. </p>
+          <pb n="155"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg155"/>
+          <p> ‘“Oh, you’ll soon outgrow that sort of nonsense,� he answered. “But don’t let me
+            interfere with your hopes. Go on to the Statue of Roma Dea. You can’t miss it. The main
+            road into Valentia!� and he laughed and rode off. I could see the Statue not a quarter
+            of a mile away, and there I went. At some time or other the Great North Road ran under
+            it into Valentia; but the far end had been blocked up because of the Picts, and on the
+            plaster a man had scratched, “Finish!� It was like marching into a cave. We grounded
+            spears together, my little thirty, and it echoed in the barrel of the arch, but none
+            came. There was a door at one side painted with our number. We prowled in, and I found a
+            cook asleep, and ordered him to give us food. Then I climbed to the top of the Wall, and
+            looked out over the Pict country, and I—thought,’ said Parnesius. ‘The bricked-up arch
+            with “Finish!� on the plaster was what shook me, for I was not much more than a boy.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What a shame!’ said Una. ‘But did you feel happy after you’d had a good——’ Dan
+            stopped her with a nudge. </p>
+          <p> ‘Happy?’ said Parnesius. ‘When the men of the Cohort I was to command came back
+            unhelmeted from the cock-fight, their birds under their arms, and asked me who I was?
+            No, I was not happy; but I made my new Cohort unhappy too.... I wrote my Mother I was
+            happy, but, oh, my friends’—he stretched arms over bare knees—‘I would not wish my
+            worst enemy to suffer as I suf<pb n="156"/><anchor id="Pg156"/>fered through my first
+            months on the Wall. Remember this: among the officers was scarcely one, except myself
+            (and I thought I had lost the favour of Maximus, my General), scarcely one who had not
+            done something of wrong or folly. Either he had killed a man, or taken money, or
+            insulted the magistrates, or blasphemed the Gods, and so had been sent to the Wall as a
+            hiding-place from shame or fear. And the men were as the officers. Remember, also, that
+            the Wall was manned by every breed and race in the Empire. No two towers spoke the same
+            tongue, or worshipped the same Gods. In one thing only we were all equal. No matter what
+            arms we had used before we came to the Wall, <hi rend="italic">on</hi> the Wall we were
+            all archers, like the Scythians. The Pict cannot run away from the arrow, or crawl under
+            it. He is a bowman himself. <hi rend="italic">He</hi> knows!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I suppose you were fighting Picts all the time,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Picts seldom fight. I never saw a fighting Pict for half a year. The tame Picts told
+            us they had all gone North.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What is a tame Pict?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘A Pict—there were many such—who speaks a few words of our tongue, and slips across
+            the Wall to sell ponies and wolf-hounds. Without a horse and a dog, <hi rend="italic"
+              >and</hi> a friend, man would perish. The Gods gave me all three, and there is no gift
+            like friendship. Remember this’—Parnesius turned to Dan—‘when you become a young man.
+            For your fate will turn on the first true friend you <corr sic="make.">make.’</corr> </p>
+          <pb n="157"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg157"/>
+          <p> ‘He means,’ said Puck, grinning, ‘that if you try to make yourself a decent chap when
+            you’re young, you’ll make rather decent friends when you grow up. If you’re a beast,
+            you’ll have beastly friends. Listen to the Pious Parnesius on Friendship!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I am not pious,’ Parnesius answered, ‘but I know what goodness means; and my friend,
+            though he was without hope, was ten thousand times better than I. Stop laughing, Faun!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh Youth Eternal and All-believing,’ cried Puck, as he rocked on the branch above.
+            ‘Tell them about your Pertinax.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘He was that friend the Gods sent me—the boy who spoke to me when I first came.
+            Little older than myself, commanding the Augusta Victoria Cohort on the tower next to us
+            and the Numidians. In virtue he was far my superior.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Then why was he on the Wall?’ Una asked, quickly. ‘They’d all done something bad. You
+            said so yourself.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘He was the nephew, his Father had died, of a great rich man in Gaul who was not
+            always kind to his Mother. When Pertinax grew up, he discovered this, and so his uncle
+            shipped him off, by trickery and force, to the Wall. We came to know each other at a
+            ceremony in our Temple—in the dark. It was the Bull Killing,’ Parnesius explained to
+            Puck. </p>
+          <p> ‘<hi rend="italic">I</hi> see,’ said Puck, and turned to the children. ‘That’s
+            something you wouldn’t quite understand. Parnesius means he met Pertinax in church.’ </p>
+          <pb n="158"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg158"/>
+          <p> ‘Yes—in the Cave we first met, and we were both raised to the Degree of Gryphons
+            together.’ Parnesius lifted his hand towards his neck for an instant. ‘He had been on
+            the Wall two years, and knew the Picts well. He taught me first how to take Heather.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What’s that?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Going out hunting in the Pict country with a tame Pict. You are quite safe so long as
+            you are his guest, and wear a sprig of heather where it can be seen. If you went alone
+            you would surely be killed, if you were not smothered first in the bogs. Only the Picts
+            know their way about those black and hidden bogs. Old Allo, the one-eyed, withered
+            little Pict from whom we bought our ponies, was our special friend. At first we went
+            only to escape from the terrible town, and to talk together about our homes. Then he
+            showed us how to hunt wolves and those great red deer with horns like Jewish
+            candlesticks. The Roman-born officers rather looked down on us for doing this, but we
+            preferred the heather to their amusements. Believe me,’ Parnesius turned again to Dan,
+            ‘a boy is safe from all things that really harm when he is astride a pony or after a
+            deer. Do you remember, O Faun,’ he turned to Puck, ‘the little altar I built to the
+            Sylvan Pan by the pine-forest beyond the brook?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Which? The stone one with the line from Xenophon?’ said Puck, in quite a new voice. </p>
+          <p> ‘No. What do <hi rend="italic">I</hi> know of Xenophon? That was Pertinax—after he
+            had shot his first mountain-hare with an arrow—by chance! <pb n="159"/><anchor
+              id="Pg159"/>Mine I made of round pebbles in memory of my first bear. It took me one
+            happy day to build.’ Parnesius faced the children quickly. </p>
+          <p> ‘And that was how we lived on the Wall for two years—a little scuffling with the
+            Picts, and a great deal of hunting with old Allo in the Pict country. He called us his
+            children sometimes, and we were fond of him and his barbarians, though we never let them
+            paint us Pict fashion. The marks endure till you die.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘How’s it done?’ said Dan. ‘Anything like tattooing?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘They prick the skin till the blood runs, and rub in coloured juices. Allo was painted
+            blue, green, and red from his forehead to his ankles. He said it was part of his
+            religion. He told us about his religion (Pertinax was always interested in such things),
+            and as we came to know him well, he told us what was happening in Britain behind the
+            Wall. Many things took place behind us in those days. And, by the Light of the Sun,’
+            said Parnesius, earnestly, ‘there was not much that those little people did not know! He
+            told me when Maximus crossed over to Gaul, after he had made himself Emperor of Britain,
+            and what troops and emigrants he had taken with him. <hi rend="italic">We</hi> did not
+            get the news on the Wall till fifteen days later. He told me what troops Maximus was
+            taking out of Britain every month to help him to conquer Gaul; and I always found the
+            numbers as he said. Wonderful! And I tell another strange thing!’ </p>
+          <p> He jointed his hands across his knees, and <pb n="160"/><anchor id="Pg160"/>leaned his
+            head on the curve of the shield behind him. </p>
+          <p> ‘Late in the summer, when the first frosts begin and the Picts kill their bees, we
+            three rode out after wolf with some new hounds. Rutilianus, our General, had given us
+            ten days’ leave, and we had pushed beyond the Second Wall—beyond the Province of
+            Valentia—into the higher hills, where there are not even any of Rome’s old ruins. We
+            killed a she-wolf before noon, and while Allo was skinning her he looked up and said to
+            me, “When you are Captain of the Wall, my child, you won’t be able to do this any more!� </p>
+          <p> ‘I might as well have been made Prefect of Lower Gaul, so I laughed and said, “Wait
+            till I am Captain.� “<corr sic="No don’t,">No, don’t</corr> wait,� said Allo. “Take my advice and go home—both of
+            you.� “We have no homes,� said Pertinax. “You know that as well as we do. We’re finished
+            men—thumbs down against both of us. Only men without hope would risk their necks on
+            your ponies.� The old man laughed one of those short Pict laughs—like a fox barking on
+            a frosty night. “I’m fond of you two,� he said. “Besides, I’ve taught you what little
+            you know about hunting. Take my advice and go home.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“We can’t,� I said. “I’m out of favour with my General, for one thing; and for
+            another, Pertinax has an uncle.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I don’t know about his uncle,� said Allo, “but the trouble with you, Parnesius, is
+            that your General thinks well of you.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Roma Dea!� said Pertinax, sitting <corr sic="up">up.</corr>
+            <pb n="161"/><anchor id="Pg161"/>“What can you guess what Maximus thinks, you old
+            horse-coper?� </p>
+          <p> ‘Just then (you know how near the brutes creep when one is eating?) a great dog-wolf
+            jumped out behind us, and away our rested hounds tore after him, with us at their tails.
+            He ran us far out of any country we’d ever heard of, straight as an arrow till sunset,
+            towards the sunset. We came at last to long capes stretching into winding waters, and on
+            a grey beach below us we saw ships drawn up. Forty-seven we counted—not Roman galleys
+            but the raven-winged ships from the North where Rome does not rule. Men moved in the
+            ships, and the sun flashed on their helmets—winged helmets of the red-haired men from
+            the North where Rome does not rule. We watched, and we counted, and we wondered; for
+            though we had heard rumours concerning these Winged Hats, as the Picts called them,
+            never before had we looked upon them. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Come away! Come away!� said Allo. “My Heather won’t protect you here. We shall all
+            be killed!� His legs trembled like his voice. Back we went—back across the heather
+            under the moon, till it was nearly morning, and our poor beasts stumbled on some ruins. </p>
+          <p> ‘When we woke, very stiff and cold, Allo was mixing the meal and water. One does not
+            light fires in the Pict country except near a village. The little men are always
+            signalling to each other with smokes, and a strange smoke brings them out buzzing like
+            bees. They can sting, too! </p>
+          <pb n="162"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg162"/>
+          <p> ‘“What we saw last night was a trading-station,� said Allo. “Nothing but a
+            trading-station.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I do not like lies on an empty stomach,� said Pertinax. “I suppose� (he had eyes
+            like an eagle’s), “I suppose <hi rend="italic">that</hi> is a trading-station also?� He
+            pointed to a smoke far off on a hill-top, ascending in what we call the Pict’s
+            Call:—Puff—double-puff: double-puff—puff! They make it by raising and dropping a wet
+            hide on a fire. </p>
+          <p> ‘“No,� said Allo, pushing the platter back into the bag. “That is for you and me. Your
+            fate is fixed. Come.� </p>
+          <p> ‘We came. When one takes Heather, one must obey one’s Pict—but that wretched smoke
+            was twenty miles distant, well over on the east coast, and the day was as hot as a bath. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Whatever happens,� said Allo, while our ponies grunted along, “I want you to
+            remember me.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I shall not forget,� said Pertinax. “You have cheated me out of my breakfast.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“What is a handful of crushed oats to a Roman?� he said. Then he laughed his laugh
+            that was not a laugh. “What would you do if you were a handful of oats being crushed
+            between the upper and lower stones of a mill?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I’m Pertinax, not a riddle-guesser,� said Pertinax. </p>
+          <p> ‘“You’re a fool,� said Allo. “Your Gods and my Gods are threatened by strange Gods,
+            and all you can do is to laugh.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Threatened men live long,� I said. </p>
+          <pb n="163"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg163"/>
+          <p> ‘“I pray the Gods that may be true,� he said. “But I ask you again not to forget me.� </p>
+          <p> ‘We climbed the last hot hill and looked out on the eastern sea, three or four miles
+            off. There was a small sailing-galley of the North Gaul pattern at anchor, her
+            landing-plank down and her sail half up; and below us, alone in a hollow, holding his
+            pony, sat Maximus, Emperor of Britain! He was dressed like a hunter, and he leaned on
+            his little stick; but I knew that back as far as I could see it, and I told Pertinax. </p>
+          <p> ‘“You’re madder than Allo!� he said. “It must be the sun!� </p>
+          <p> ‘Maximus never stirred till we stood before him. Then he looked me up and down, and
+            said: “Hungry again? It seems to be my destiny to feed you whenever we meet. I have food
+            here. Allo shall cook it.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“No,� said Allo. “A Prince in his own land does not wait on wandering Emperors. I
+            feed my two children without asking your leave.� He began to blow up the ashes. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I was wrong,� said Pertinax. “We are all mad. Speak up, O Madman called Emperor!� </p>
+          <p> ‘Maximus smiled his terrible tight-lipped smile, but two years on the Wall do not make
+            a man afraid of mere looks. So I was not afraid. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I meant you, Parnesius, to live and die an Officer of the Wall,� said Maximus. “But
+            it seems from these,� he fumbled in his breast, “you can think as well as draw.� He
+            pulled out a roll of letters I had written to my <pb n="164"/><anchor id="Pg164"
+            />people, full of drawings of Picts, and bears, and men I had met on the Wall. Mother
+            and my sister always liked my pictures. </p>
+          <p> ‘He handed me one that I had called “Maximus’s Soldiers.� It showed a row of fat
+            wine-skins, and our old Doctor of the Hunno hospital snuffing at them. Each time that
+            Maximus had taken troops out of Britain to help him to conquer Gaul, he used to send the
+            garrisons more wine—to keep them quiet, I suppose. On the Wall, we always called a
+            wine-skin a “Maximus.� Oh, yes; and I had drawn them in Imperial helmets! </p>
+          <p> ‘“Not long since,� he went on, “men’s names were sent up to Cæsar for smaller jokes
+            than this.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“True, Cæsar,� said Pertinax; “but you forget that was before I, your friend’s
+            friend, became such a good spear-thrower.� </p>
+          <p> ‘He did not actually point his hunting spear at Maximus, but balanced it on his
+            palm—so! </p>
+          <p> ‘“I was speaking of time past,� said Maximus, never fluttering an eyelid. “Nowadays
+            one is only too pleased to find boys who can think for themselves, <hi rend="italic"
+            >and</hi> their friends.� He nodded at Pertinax. “Your Father lent me the letters,
+            Parnesius, so you run no risk from me.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“None whatever,� said Pertinax, and rubbed the spear-point on his sleeve. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I have been forced to reduce the garrisons in Britain, because I need troops in
+            Gaul. Now I come to take troops from the Wall itself,� said he. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I wish you joy of us,� said Pertinax. <pb n="165"/><anchor id="Pg165"/>“We’re the
+            last sweepings of the Empire—the men without hope. Myself, I’d sooner trust condemned
+            criminals.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“You think so?� he said, quite seriously. “But it will only be till I win Gaul. One
+            must always risk one’s life, or one’s soul, or one’s peace—or some little thing.� </p>
+          <p> ‘Allo passed round the fire with the sizzling deer’s meat. He served us two first. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Ah!� said Maximus, waiting his turn. “I perceive you are in your own country. Well,
+            you deserve it. They tell me you have quite a following among the Picts, Parnesius.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I have hunted with them,� I said. “Maybe I have a few friends among the Heather.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“He is the only armoured man of you all who understands us,� said Allo, and he began
+            a long speech about our virtues, and how we had saved one of his grandchildren from a
+            wolf the year before.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Had you?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes; but that was neither here nor there. The little green man orated like a—like
+            Cicero. He made us out to be magnificent fellows. Maximus never took his eyes off our
+            faces. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Enough,� he said. “I have heard Allo on you. I wish to hear you on the Picts.� </p>
+          <p> ‘I told him as much as I knew, and Pertinax helped me out. There is never harm in a
+            Pict if you but take the trouble to find out what he wants. Their real grievance against
+            us came from our burning their heather. The whole garrison of the Wall moved out twice a
+            year, and solemnly burned the heather for <pb n="166"/><anchor id="Pg166"/>ten miles
+            North. Rutilianus, our General, called it clearing the country. The Picts, of course,
+            scampered away, and all we did was to destroy their bee-bloom in the summer, and ruin
+            their sheep-food in the spring. </p>
+          <p> ‘“True, quite true,� said Allo. “How can we make our holy heather-wine, if you burn
+            our bee-pasture?� </p>
+          <p> ‘We talked long, Maximus asking keen questions that showed he knew much and had
+            thought more about the Picts. He said presently to me: “If I gave you the old Province
+            of Valentia to govern, could you keep the Picts contented till I won Gaul? Stand away,
+            so that you do not see Allo’s face; and speak your own <corr sic="thoughts."
+            >thoughts.�</corr>
+          </p>
+          <p> ‘“No,� I said. “You cannot re-make that Province. The Picts have been free too long.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Leave them their village councils, and let them furnish their own soldiers,� he
+            said. “You, I am sure, would hold the reins very lightly.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Even then, no,� I said. “At least not now. They have been too oppressed by us to
+            trust anything with a Roman name for years and years.� </p>
+          <p> ‘I heard old Allo behind me mutter: “Good child!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Then what do you recommend,� said Maximus, “to keep the North quiet till I win
+            Gaul?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Leave the Picts alone,� I said. “Stop the heather-burning at once, and—they are
+            improvident little animals—send them a shipload or two of corn now and then.� </p>
+          <pb n="167"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg167"/>
+          <p> ‘“Their own men must distribute it—not some cheating Greek accountant,� said
+            Pertinax. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Yes, and allow them to come to our hospitals when they are sick,� I said. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Surely they would die first,� said Maximus. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Not if Parnesius brought them in,� said Allo. “I could show you twenty wolf-bitten,
+            bear-clawed Picts within twenty miles of here. But Parnesius must stay with them in
+            Hospital, else they would go mad with fear.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“<hi rend="italic">I</hi> see,� said Maximus. “Like everything else in the world, it
+            is one man’s work. You, I think, are that one man.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Pertinax and I are one,� I said. </p>
+          <p> ‘“As you please, so long as you work. Now, Allo, you know that I mean your people no
+            harm. Leave us to talk together,� said Maximus. </p>
+          <p> ‘“No need!� said Allo. “I am the corn between the upper and lower millstones. I must
+            know what the lower millstone means to do. These boys have spoken the truth as far as
+            they know it. I, a Prince, will tell you the rest. I am troubled about the Men of the
+            North.� He squatted like a hare in the heather, and looked over his shoulder. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I also,� said Maximus, “or I should not be here.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Listen,� said Allo. “Long and long ago the Winged Hats�—he meant the
+            Northmen—“came to our beaches and said, ‘Rome falls! Push her down!’ We fought you. You
+            sent men. We were beaten. After <pb n="168"/><anchor id="Pg168"/>that we said to the
+            Winged Hats, ‘You are liars! Make our men alive that Rome killed, and we will believe
+            you.’ They went away ashamed. Now they come back bold, and they tell the old tale, which
+            we begin to believe—that Rome falls!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Give me three years’ peace on the Wall,� cried Maximus, “and I will show you and all
+            the ravens how they lie!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Ah, I wish it too! I wish to save what is left of the corn from the millstones. But
+            you shoot us Picts when we come to borrow a little iron from the Iron Ditch; you burn
+            our heather, which is all our crop; you trouble us with your great catapults. Then you
+            hide behind the Wall, and scorch us with Greek fire. How can I keep my young men from
+            listening to the Winged Hats—in winter especially, when we are hungry? My young men
+            will say, ‘Rome can neither fight nor rule. She is taking her men out of Britain. The
+            Winged Hats will help us to push down the Wall. Let us show them the secret roads across
+            the bogs.’ Do <hi rend="italic">I</hi> want that? No!� He spat like an adder. “<hi
+              rend="italic">I</hi> would keep the secrets of my people though I were burned alive.
+            My two children here have spoken truth. Leave us Picts alone. Comfort us, and cherish
+            us, and feed us from far off—with the hand behind your back. Parnesius understands us.
+            Let <hi rend="italic">him</hi> have rule on the Wall, and I will hold my young men quiet
+            for�—he ticked it off on his fingers—“one year easily: the next year not so easily:
+            the third year, perhaps! See, I give you three <pb n="169"/><anchor id="Pg169"/>years.
+            If then you do not show us that Rome is strong in men and terrible in arms, the Winged
+            Hats, I tell you, will sweep down the Wall from either sea till they meet in the middle,
+            and you will go. <hi rend="italic">I</hi> shall not grieve over that, but well I know
+            tribe never helps tribe except for one price. We Picts will go too. The Winged Hats will
+            grind us to this!� He tossed a handful of dust in the air. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Oh, Roma Dea!� said Maximus, half aloud. “It is always one man’s work—always and
+            everywhere!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“And one man’s life,� said Allo. “You are Emperor, but not a God. You may die.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I have thought of that, too,� said he. “Very good. If this wind holds, I shall be at
+            the East end of the Wall by morning. To-morrow, then, I shall see you two when I
+            inspect; and I will make you Captains of the Wall for this work.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“One instant, Cæsar,� said Pertinax. “All men have their price. I am not bought yet.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Do <hi rend="italic">you</hi> also begin to bargain so early?� said Maximus. “Well?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Give me justice against my uncle Icenus, the Duumvir of Divio in Gaul,� he said. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Only a life? I thought it would be money or an office. Certainly you shall have him.
+            Write his name on these tablets—on the red side; the other is for the living!� And
+            Maximus held out his tablets. </p>
+          <p> ‘“He is of no use to me dead,� said Pertinax. “My mother is a widow. I am far off. I
+            am not sure he pays her all her dowry.� </p>
+          <pb n="170"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg170"/>
+          <p> ‘“No matter. My arm is reasonably long. We will look through your uncle’s accounts in
+            due time. Now, farewell till to-morrow, O Captains of the Wall!� </p>
+          <p> ‘We saw him grow small across the heather as he walked to the galley. There were
+            Picts, scores, each side of him, hidden behind stones. He never looked left or right. He
+            sailed away Southerly, full spread before the evening breeze, and when we had watched
+            him out to sea, we were silent. We understood Earth bred few men like to this man. </p>
+          <p> ‘Presently Allo brought the ponies and held them for us to mount—a thing he had never
+            done before. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Wait awhile,� said Pertinax, and he made a little altar of cut turf, and strewed
+            heather-bloom atop, and laid upon it a letter from a girl in Gaul. </p>
+          <p> ‘“What do you do, O my friend?� I said. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I sacrifice to my dead youth,� he answered, and, when the flames had consumed the
+            letter, he ground them out with his heel. Then we rode back to that Wall of which we
+            were to be Captains.’ </p>
+          <p> Parnesius stopped. The children sat still, not even asking if that were all the tale.
+            Puck beckoned, and pointed the way out of the wood. <corr sic="''Sorry,'">‘Sorry,’</corr> he whispered, ‘but you
+            must go now.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘We haven’t made him angry, have we?’ said Una. ‘He looks so far off,
+            and—and—thinky.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Bless your heart, no. Wait till to-morrow. <pb n="171"/><anchor id="Pg171"/>It won’t
+            be long. Remember, you’ve been playing “<hi rend="italic">Lays of Ancient Rome</hi>.�’ </p>
+          <p> And as soon as they had scrambled through their gap, where Oak, Ash and Thorn grow,
+            that was all they remembered. </p>
+          <pb n="172"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg172"/>
+          <p>
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="173"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg173"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>A SONG TO MITHRAS</head>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Mithras, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall!</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">‘Rome is above the Nations, but Thou art over all!’</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Now as the names are answered and the guards are marched away,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Mithras, God of the Noontide, the heather swims in the heat,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Our helmets scorch our foreheads; our sandals burn our feet!</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Now in the ungirt hour; now ere we blink and drowse,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Mithras, also a soldier, keep us true to our vows!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again!</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Mithras, God of the Midnight, here where the great bull lies,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Look on thy children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice!</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Many roads Thou hast fashioned: all of them lead to the Light,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Mithras, also a soldier, teach us to die aright!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="174"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg174"/>
+          <p>
+          </p>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+        <pb n="175"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg175"/>
+        <head> THE WINGED HATS </head>
+        <pb n="176"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg176"/>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="177"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg177"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>THE WINGED HATS</head>
+          <p> The next day happened to be what they called a Wild Afternoon. Father and Mother went
+            out to pay calls; Miss Blake went for a ride on her bicycle, and they were left all
+            alone till eight o’clock. </p>
+          <p> When they had seen their dear parents and their dear preceptress politely off the
+            premises they got a cabbage-leaf full of raspberries from the gardener, and a Wild Tea
+            from Ellen. They ate the raspberries to prevent their squashing, and they meant to
+            divide the cabbage-leaf with Three Cows down at the Theatre, but they came across a dead
+            hedgehog which they simply <hi rend="italic">had</hi> to bury, and the leaf was too
+            useful to waste. </p>
+          <p> Then they went on to the Forge and found old Hobden the hedger at home with his son
+            the Bee Boy who is not quite right in his head, but who can pick up swarms of bees in
+            his naked hands; and the Bee Boy told them the rhyme about the slow-worm:— </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>‘If I had eyes <hi rend="italic">as</hi> I could see,</l>
+            <l>No mortal man would trouble me.’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> They all had tea together by the hives, and Hobden said the loaf-cake which Ellen had
+            given them was almost as good as what his wife used to make, and he showed them how <pb
+              n="178"/><anchor id="Pg178"/>to set a wire at the right height for hares. They knew
+            about rabbits already. </p>
+          <p> Then they climbed up Long Ditch into the lower end of Far Wood. This is sadder and
+            darker than the ‘Volaterrae’ end because of an old marlpit full of black water, where
+            weepy, hairy moss hangs round the stumps of the willows and alders. But the birds come
+            to perch on the dead branches, and Hobden says that the bitter willow-water is a sort of
+            medicine for sick animals. </p>
+          <p> They sat down on a felled oak-trunk in the shadows of the beech undergrowth, and were
+            looping the wires Hobden had given them, when they saw Parnesius. </p>
+          <p> ‘How quietly you came!’ said Una, moving up to make room. ‘Where’s Puck?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘The Faun and I have disputed whether it is better that I should tell you all my tale,
+            or leave it untold,’ he replied. </p>
+          <p> ‘I only said that if he told it as it happened you wouldn’t understand it,’ said Puck,
+            jumping up like a squirrel from behind the log. </p>
+          <p> ‘I don’t understand all of it,’ said Una, ‘but I like hearing about the little Picts.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What <hi rend="italic">I</hi> can’t understand,’ said Dan, ‘is how Maximus knew all
+            about the Picts when he was over in Gaul.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘He who makes himself Emperor anywhere must know everything, everywhere,’ said
+            Parnesius. ‘We had this much from Maximus’ mouth after the Games.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Games? What games?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> Parnesius stretched his arm out stiffly, <pb n="179"/><anchor id="Pg179"/>thumb
+            pointed to the ground. ‘Gladiators! <hi rend="italic">That</hi> sort of game,’ he said.
+            ‘There were two days’ Games in his honour when he landed all unexpected at Segedunum on
+            the East end of the Wall. Yes, the day after we had met him we held two days’ games; but
+            I think the greatest risk was run, not by the poor wretches on the sand, but by Maximus.
+            In the old days the Legions kept silence before their Emperor. So did not we! You could
+            hear the solid roar run West along the Wall as his chair was carried rocking through the
+            crowds. The garrison beat round him—clamouring, clowning, asking for pay, for change of
+            quarters, for anything that came into their wild heads. That chair was like a little
+            boat among waves, dipping and falling, but always rising again after one had shut the
+            eyes.’ Parnesius shivered. </p>
+          <p> ‘Were they angry with him?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘No more angry than wolves in a cage when their trainer walks among them. If he had
+            turned his back an instant, or for an instant had ceased to hold their eyes, there would
+            have been another Emperor made on the Wall that hour. Was it not so, Faun?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘So it was. So it always will be,’ said Puck. </p>
+          <p> ‘Late in the evening his messenger came for us, and we followed to the Temple of
+            Victory, where he lodged with Rutilianus, the General of the Wall. I had hardly seen the
+            General before, but he always gave me leave when I wished to take Heather. He was a
+            great glutton, and kept five Asian cooks, <pb n="180"/><anchor id="Pg180"/>and he came
+            of a family that believed in oracles. We could smell his good dinner when we entered,
+            but the tables were empty. He lay snorting on a couch. Maximus sat apart among long
+            rolls of accounts. Then the doors were shut. </p>
+          <p> ‘“These are your men,� said Maximus to the General, who propped his eye-corners open
+            with his gouty fingers, and stared at us like a fish. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I shall know them again, Cæsar,� said Rutilianus. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Very good,� said Maximus. “Now hear! You are not to move man or shield on the Wall
+            except as these boys shall tell you. You will do nothing, except eat, without their
+            permission. They are the head and arms. You are the belly!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“As Cæsar pleases,� the old man grunted. “If my pay and profits are not cut, you may
+            make my Ancestors’ Oracle my master. Rome has been! Rome has been!� Then he turned on
+            his side to sleep. </p>
+          <p> ‘“He has it,� said Maximus. “We will get to what <hi rend="italic">I</hi> need.� </p>
+          <p> ‘He unrolled full copies of the number of men and supplies on the Wall—down to the
+            sick that very day in Hunno Hospital. Oh, but I groaned when his pen marked off
+            detachment after detachment of our best—of our least worthless men! He took two towers
+            of our Scythians, two of our North British auxiliaries, two Numidian cohorts, the
+            Dacians all, and half the Belgians. It was like an eagle pecking a carcass. </p>
+          <pb n="181"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg181"/>
+          <p> ‘“And now, how many catapults have you?� He turned up a new list, but Pertinax laid
+            his open hand there. </p>
+          <p> ‘“No, Cæsar,� said he. “Do not tempt the Gods too far. Take men, or engines, but not
+            both; else we refuse.�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Engines?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘The catapults of the Wall—huge things forty feet high to the head—firing nets of
+            raw stone or forged bolts. Nothing can stand against them. He left us our catapults at
+            last, but he took a Cæsar’s half of our men without pity. We were a shell when he rolled
+            up the lists! </p>
+          <p> ‘“Hail, Cæsar! We, about to die, salute you!� said Pertinax, laughing. “If any enemy
+            even leans against the Wall now, it will tumble.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Give me the three years Allo spoke of,� he answered, “and you shall have twenty
+            thousand men of your own choosing up here. But now it is a gamble—a game played against
+            the Gods, and the stakes are Britain, Gaul, and perhaps, Rome. You play on my side?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“We will play, Cæsar,� I said for I had never met a man like this man. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Good. To-morrow,� said he, “I proclaim you Captains of the Wall before the troops.� </p>
+          <p> ‘So we went into the moonlight, where they were cleaning the ground after the Games.
+            We saw great Roma Dea atop of the Wall, the frost on her helmet, and her spear pointed
+            towards the North Star. We saw the twinkle <pb n="182"/><anchor id="Pg182"/>of
+            night-fires all along the guard-towers, and the line of the black catapults growing
+            smaller and smaller in the distance. All these things we knew till we were weary; but
+            that night they seemed very strange to us, because the next day we knew we were to be
+            their masters. </p>
+          <p> ‘The men took the news well; but when Maximus went away with half our strength, and we
+            had to spread ourselves into the emptied towers, and the townspeople complained that
+            trade would be ruined, and the Autumn gales blew—it was dark days for us two. Here
+            Pertinax was more than my right hand. Being born and bred among the great country-houses
+            in Gaul, he knew the proper words to address to all—from Roman-born Centurions to those
+            dogs of the Third—the Libyans. And he spoke to each as though that man were as
+            high-minded as himself. Now <hi rend="italic">I</hi> saw so strongly what things were
+            needed to be done, that I forgot things are only accomplished by means of men. That was
+            a mistake. </p>
+          <p> ‘I feared nothing from the Picts, at least for that year, but Allo warned me that the
+            Winged Hats would soon come in from the sea at each end of the Wall to prove to the
+            Picts how weak we were. So I made ready in haste, and none too soon. I shifted our best
+            men to the ends of the Wall, and set up screened catapults by the beach. The Winged Hats
+            would drive in before the snow-squalls—ten or twenty boats at a time—on Segedunum or
+            Ituna, according as the wind blew. </p>
+          <p> ‘Now a ship coming in to land men must <pb n="183"/><anchor id="Pg183"/>furl her sail.
+            If you wait till you see her men gather up the sail’s foot, your catapults can jerk a
+            net of loose stones (bolts only cut through the cloth) into the bag of it. Then she
+            turns over, and the sea makes everything clean again. A few men may come ashore, but
+            very few.... It was not hard work, except the waiting on the beach in blowing sand and
+            snow. And that was how we dealt with the Winged Hats that winter. </p>
+          <p> ‘Early in the Spring, when the East winds blow like skinning-knives, they gathered
+            again off the East end with many ships. Allo told me they would never rest till they had
+            taken a tower in open fight. Certainly they fought in the open. We dealt with them
+            thoroughly through a long day: and when all was finished, one man dived clear of the
+            wreckage of his ship, and swam towards shore. I waited, and a wave tumbled him at my
+            feet. </p>
+          <p> ‘As I stooped, I saw he wore such a medal as I wear.’ Parnesius raised his hand to his
+            neck. ‘Therefore, when he could speak, I addressed him a certain Question which can only
+            be answered in a certain manner. He answered with the necessary Word—the Word that
+            belongs to the Degree of Gryphons in the science of Mithras my God. I put my shield over
+            him till he could stand up. You see I am not short, but he was a head taller than I. He
+            said: “What now?� I said: “At your pleasure, my brother, to stay or go.� </p>
+          <p> ‘He looked out across the surf. There remained one ship unhurt, beyond range of our
+            catapults. I checked the catapults and he <pb n="184"/><anchor id="Pg184"/>waved her in.
+            She came as a hound comes to a master. When she was yet a hundred paces from the beach,
+            he flung back his hair, and swam out. They hauled him in, and went away. I knew that
+            those who worship Mithras are many and of all races, so I did not think much more upon
+            the matter. </p>
+          <p> ‘A month later I saw Allo with his horses—by the Temple of Pan, O Faun!—and he gave
+            me a great necklace of gold studded with coral. </p>
+          <p> ‘At first I thought it was a bribe from some tradesman in the town—meant for old
+            Rutilianus. “Nay,� said Allo. “This is a gift from Amal, that Winged Hat whom you saved
+            on the beach. He says you are a <corr sic="Man.'">Man.�</corr>
+          </p>
+          <p> ‘“He is a Man, too. Tell him I can wear his gift,� I answered. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Oh, Amal is a young fool; but, speaking as sensible men, your Emperor is doing such
+            great things in Gaul that the Winged Hats are anxious to be his friends, or, better
+            still, the friends of his servants. They think you and Pertinax could lead them to
+            victories.� Allo looked at me like a one-eyed raven. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Allo,� I said, “you are the corn between the two millstones. Be content if they
+            grind evenly, and don’t thrust your hand between them.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I?� said Allo. “I hate Rome and the Winged Hats equally; but if the Winged Hats
+            thought that some day you and Pertinax might join them against Maximus, they would leave
+            you in peace while you considered. Time is what we need—you and I and Maxi<pb n="185"
+              /><anchor id="Pg185"/>mus. Let me carry a pleasant message back to the Winged
+            Hats—something for them to make a council over. We barbarians are all alike. We sit up
+            half the night to discuss anything a Roman says. Eh?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“We have no men. We must fight with words,� said Pertinax. “Leave it to Allo and me.� </p>
+          <p> ‘So Allo carried word back to the Winged Hats that we would not fight them if they did
+            not fight us; and they (I think they were a little tired of losing men in the sea)
+            agreed to a sort of truce. I believe Allo, who being a horse-dealer loved lies, also
+            told them we might some day rise against Maximus as Maximus had risen against Rome. </p>
+          <p> ‘Indeed, they permitted the corn-ships which I sent to the Picts to pass North that
+            season without harm. Therefore the Picts were well fed that winter, and since they were
+            in some sort my children, I was glad of it. We had only two thousand men on the Wall,
+            and I wrote many times to Maximus and begged—prayed—him to send me only one cohort of
+            my old North British troops. He could not spare them. He needed them to win more
+            victories in Gaul. </p>
+          <p> ‘Then came news that he had defeated and slain the Emperor Gratian, and thinking he
+            must now be secure, I wrote again for men. He answered: “You will learn that I have at
+            last settled accounts with the pup Gratian. There was no need that he should have died,
+            but he became confused and lost his head, which is a bad thing to befall any Emperor.
+              <pb n="186"/><anchor id="Pg186"/>Tell your Father I am content to drive two mules
+            only; for unless my old General’s son thinks himself destined to destroy me, I shall
+            rest Emperor of Gaul and Britain, and then you, my two children, will presently get all
+            the men you need. Just now I can spare none.�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What did he mean by his General’s son?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘He meant Theodosius Emperor of Rome, who was the son of Theodosius the General under
+            whom Maximus had fought in the old Pict War. The two men never loved each other, and
+            when Gratian made the younger Theodosius Emperor of the East (at least, so I’ve heard),
+            Maximus carried on the war to the second generation. It was his fate, and it was his
+            fall. But Theodosius the Emperor is a good man. As I know.’ Parnesius was silent for a
+            moment and then continued. </p>
+          <p> ‘I wrote back to Maximus that, though we had peace on the Wall, I should be happier
+            with a few more men and some new catapults. He answered: “You must live a little longer
+            under the shadow of my victories, till I can see what young Theodosius intends. He may
+            welcome me as a brother-Emperor, or he may be preparing an army. In either case I cannot
+            spare men just now.�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But he was always saying that,’ cried Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘It was true. He did not make excuses; but thanks, as he said, to the news of his
+            victories, we had no trouble on the Wall for a long, long time. The Picts grew fat as
+            their own sheep among the heather, and as many <pb n="187"/><anchor id="Pg187"/>of my
+            men as lived were well exercised in their weapons. Yes, the Wall looked strong. For
+            myself, I knew how weak we were. I knew that if even a false rumour of any defeat to
+            Maximus broke loose among the Winged Hats, they might come down in earnest, and
+            then—the Wall must go! For the Picts I never cared, but in those years I learned
+            something of the strength of the Winged Hats. They increased their strength every day,
+            but I could not increase my men. Maximus had emptied Britain behind us, and I felt
+            myself to be a man with a rotten stick standing before a broken fence to turn bulls. </p>
+          <p> ‘Thus, my friends, we lived on the Wall, waiting—waiting—waiting for the men that
+            Maximus never sent! </p>
+          <p> ‘Presently he wrote that he was preparing an army against Theodosius. He wrote—and
+            Pertinax read it over my shoulder in our quarters: “<hi rend="italic">Tell your Father
+              that my destiny orders me to drive three mules or be torn in pieces by them. I hope
+              within a year to finish with Theodosius, son of Theodosius, once and for all. Then you
+              shall have Britain to rule, and Pertinax, if he chooses, Gaul. To-day I wish strongly
+              you were with me to beat my Auxiliaries into shape. Do not, I pray you, believe any
+              rumour of my sickness. I have a little evil in my old body which I shall cure by
+              riding swiftly into Rome.</hi>� </p>
+          <p> ‘Said Pertinax: “It is finished with Maximus! He writes as a man without hope. I, a
+            man without hope, can see this. What does he add at the bottom of the roll? ‘<hi
+              rend="italic">Tell <pb n="188"/><anchor id="Pg188"/>Pertinax I have met his late
+              Uncle, the Duumvir of Divio, and that he accounted to me quite truthfully for all his
+              Mother’s monies. I have sent her with a fitting escort, for she is the mother of a
+              hero, to Nicæa, where the climate is warm.</hi>’ </p>
+          <p> ‘“That is proof!� said Pertinax. “Nicæa is not far by sea from Rome. A woman there
+            could take ship and fly to Rome in time of war. Yes, Maximus foresees his death, and is
+            fulfilling his promises one by one. But I am glad my Uncle met <corr
+              sic="him.&quot;+apo">him.�</corr>
+          </p>
+          <p> ‘“You think blackly <corr sic="to-day?'">to-day?�</corr> I asked. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I think truth. The Gods weary of the play we have played against them. Theodosius
+            will destroy Maximus. It is <corr sic="finished!'">finished!�</corr>
+          </p>
+          <p> ‘“Will you write him that?� I said. </p>
+          <p> ‘“See what I shall write,� he answered, and he took pen and wrote a letter cheerful as
+            the light of day, tender as a woman’s and full of jests. Even I, reading over his
+            shoulder, took comfort from it till—I saw his face! </p>
+          <p> ‘“And now,� he said, sealing it, “we be two dead men, my brother. Let us go to the
+            Temple.� </p>
+          <p> ‘We prayed awhile to Mithras, where we had many times prayed before. After that we
+            lived day by day among evil rumours till winter came again. </p>
+          <p> ‘It happened one morning that we rode to the East Shore, and found on the beach a
+            fair-haired man, half frozen, bound to some broken planks. Turning him over, we saw by
+            his belt-buckle that he was a Goth of an Eastern Legion. Suddenly he opened his eyes and
+            cried loudly: “He is dead! The <pb n="189"/><anchor id="Pg189"/>letters were with me,
+            but the Winged Hats sunk the ship.� So saying, he died between our hands. </p>
+          <p> ‘We asked not who was dead. We knew! We raced before the driving snow to Hunno,
+            thinking perhaps Allo might be there. We found him already at our stables, and he saw by
+            our faces what we had heard. </p>
+          <p> ‘“It was in a tent by the Sea,� he stammered. “He was beheaded by Theodosius. He sent
+            a letter to you, written while he waited to be slain. The Winged Hats met the ship and
+            took it. The news is running through the heather like fire. Blame me not! I cannot hold
+            back my young men any more.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I would we could say as much for our men,� said Pertinax, laughing. “But, Gods be
+            praised, they cannot run away.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“What do you do?� said Allo. “I bring an order—a message—from the Winged Hats that
+            you join them with your men, and march South to plunder Britain.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“It grieves me,� said Pertinax, “but we are stationed here to stop that thing.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“If I carry back such an answer they will kill me,� said Allo. “I always promised the
+            Winged Hats that you would rise when Maximus fell. I—I did not think he could fall.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Alas! my poor barbarian,� said Pertinax, still laughing. “Well, you have sold us too
+            many good ponies to be thrown back to your friends. We will make you a prisoner,
+            although you are an ambassador.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Yes, that will be best,� said Allo, holding <pb n="190"/><anchor id="Pg190"/>out a
+            halter. We bound him lightly, for he was an old man. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Presently the Winged Hats may come to look for you, and that will give us more time.
+            See how the habit of playing for time sticks to a man!� said Pertinax, as he tied the
+            rope. </p>
+          <p> ‘“No,� I said. “Time may help. If Maximus wrote us letters while he was a prisoner,
+            Theodosius must have sent the ship that brought it. If he can send ships, he can send
+            men.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“How will that profit us?� said Pertinax. “We serve Maximus, not Theodosius. Even if
+            by some miracle of the Gods Theodosius down South sent and saved the Wall, we could not
+            expect more than the death Maximus died.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“It concerns us to defend the Wall, no matter what Emperor dies, or makes die,� I
+            said. </p>
+          <p> ‘“That is worthy of your brother the philosopher,� said Pertinax. “Myself I am without
+            hope, so I do not say solemn and stupid things! Rouse the Wall!� </p>
+          <p> ‘We armed the Wall from end to end; we told the officers that there was a rumour of
+            Maximus’s death which might bring down the Winged Hats, but we were sure, even if it
+            were true, that Theodosius, for the sake of Britain, would send us help. Therefore, we
+            must stand fast.... My friends, it is above all things strange to see how men bear ill
+            news! Often the strongest till then become the weakest, while the weakest, as it <pb
+              n="191"/><anchor id="Pg191"/>were, reach up and steal strength from the Gods. So it
+            was with us. Yet my Pertinax by his jests and his courtesy and his labours had put heart
+            and training into our poor numbers during the past years—more than I should have
+            thought possible. Even our Libyan Cohort—the Thirds—stood up in their padded cuirasses
+            and did not whimper. </p>
+          <p> ‘In three days came seven chiefs and elders of the Winged Hats. Among them was that
+            tall young man, Amal, whom I had met on the beach, and he smiled when he saw my
+            necklace. We made them welcome, for they were ambassadors. We showed them Allo, alive
+            but bound. They thought we had killed him, and I saw it would not have vexed them if we
+            had. Allo saw it too, and it vexed him. Then in our quarters at Hunno we came to
+            Council. </p>
+          <p> ‘They said that Rome was falling, and that we must join them. They offered me all
+            South Britain to govern after they had taken a tribute out of it. </p>
+          <p> ‘I answered, “Patience. This Wall is not weighed off like plunder. Give me proof that
+            my General is dead.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Nay,� said one elder, “prove to us that he lives�; and another said, cunningly,
+            “What will you give us if we read you his last words?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“We are not merchants to bargain,� cried Amal. “Moreover, I owe this man my life. He
+            shall have his proof.� He threw across to me a letter (well I knew the seal) from
+            Maximus. </p>
+          <pb n="192"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg192"/>
+          <p> ‘“We took this out of the ship we sunk,� he cried. “I cannot read, but I know one
+            sign, at least, which makes me believe.� He showed me a dark stain on the outer roll
+            that my heavy heart perceived was the valiant blood of Maximus. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Read!� said Amal. “Read, and then let us hear whose servants you are!� </p>
+          <p> ‘Said Pertinax, very softly, after he had looked through it: “I will read it all.
+            Listen, barbarians!� He read from that which I have carried next my heart ever since.’ </p>
+          <p> Parnesius drew from his neck a folded and spotted piece of parchment, and began in a
+            hushed voice:— </p>
+          <p> ‘“<hi rend="italic">To Parnesius and Pertinax, the not unworthy Captains of the Wall,
+              from Maximus, once Emperor of Gaul and Britain, now prisoner waiting death by the sea
+              in the camp of Theodosius—Greeting and Good-bye!</hi>� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Enough,� said young Amal; “there is your proof! You must join us now!� </p>
+          <p> ‘Pertinax looked long and silently at him, till that fair man blushed like a girl.
+            Then read Pertinax:— </p>
+          <p> ‘“<hi rend="italic">I have joyfully done much evil in my life to those who have wished
+              me evil, but if ever I did any evil to you two I repent, and I ask your forgiveness.
+              The three mules which I strove to drive have torn me in pieces as your Father
+              prophesied. The naked swords wait at the tent door to give me the death I gave to
+              Gratian. Therefore I, your General and your Emperor, send you free and honourable
+              dismissal from my service, which you entered, not for money <pb n="193"/><anchor
+                id="Pg193"/>or office, but, as it makes me warm to believe, because you loved
+            me!</hi>� </p>
+          <p> ‘“By the Light of the Sun,� Amal broke in. “This was in some sort a Man! We may have
+            been mistaken in his servants!� </p>
+          <p> ‘And Pertinax read on: “<hi rend="italic">You gave me the time for which I asked. If I
+              have failed to use it, do not lament. We have gambled very splendidly against the
+              Gods, but they hold weighted dice, and I must pay the forfeit. Remember, I have been;
+              but Rome is; and Rome will be! Tell Pertinax his Mother is in safety at Nicæa, and her
+              monies are in charge of the Prefect at Antipolis. Make my remembrances to your Father
+              and to your Mother, whose friendship was great gain to me. Give also to my little
+              Picts and to the Winged Hats such messages as their thick heads can understand. I
+              would have sent you three Legions this very day if all had gone aright. Do not forget
+              me. We have worked together. Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!</hi>� </p>
+          <p> ‘Now, that was my Emperor’s last <corr sic="letter.">letter.’</corr> (The children heard the parchment
+            crackle as Parnesius returned it to its place.) </p>
+          <p> ‘“I was mistaken,� said Amal. “The servants of such a man will sell nothing except
+            over the sword. I am glad of it.� He held out his hand to me. </p>
+          <p> ‘“But Maximus has given you your dismissal,� said an elder. “You are certainly free to
+            serve—or to rule—whom you please. Join—do not follow—join us!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“We thank you,� said Pertinax. “But Maximus tells us to give you such messages as<pb
+              n="194"/><anchor id="Pg194"/>—pardon me, but I use his words—your thick heads can
+            understand.� He pointed through the door to the foot of a catapult wound up. </p>
+          <p> ‘“We understand,� said an elder. “The Wall must be won at a price?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“It grieves me,� said Pertinax, laughing, “but so it must be won,� and he gave them
+            of our best Southern wine. </p>
+          <p> ‘They drank, and wiped their yellow beards in silence till they rose to go. </p>
+          <p> ‘Said Amal, stretching himself (for they were barbarians), “We be a goodly company; I
+            wonder what the ravens and the dogfish will make of some of us before this snow melts.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Think rather what Theodosius may send,� I answered; and though they laughed, I saw
+            that my chance shot troubled them. </p>
+          <p> ‘Only old Allo lingered behind a little. </p>
+          <p> ‘“You see,� he said, winking and blinking, “I am no more than their dog. When I have
+            shown their men the secret short ways across our bogs, they will kick me like one.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Then I should not be in haste to show them those ways,� said Pertinax, “till I were
+            sure that Rome could not save the Wall.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“You think so? Woe is me!� said the old man. “I only wanted peace for my people,� and
+            he went out stumbling through the snow behind the tall Winged Hats. </p>
+          <p> ‘In this fashion then, slowly, a day at a time, which is very bad for doubting troops,
+            the War came upon us. At first the Winged Hats swept in from the sea as they had done
+            before, and there we met them as before—with the catapults; and they sickened of it.
+              <pb n="195"/><anchor id="Pg195"/>Yet for a long time they would not trust their
+            duck-legs on land, and I think when it came to revealing the secrets of the tribe, the
+            little Picts were afraid or ashamed to show them all the roads across the heather. I had
+            this from a Pict prisoner. They were as much our spies as our enemies, for the Winged
+            Hats oppressed them, and took their winter stores. Ah, foolish Little People! </p>
+          <p> ‘Then the Winged Hats began to roll us up from each end of the Wall. I sent runners
+            Southward to see what the news might be in Britain; but the wolves were very bold that
+            winter among the deserted stations where the troops had once been, and none came back.
+            We had trouble too with the forage for the ponies along the Wall. I kept ten, and so did
+            Pertinax. We lived and slept in the saddle riding east or west, and we ate our worn-out
+            ponies. The people of the town also made us some trouble till I gathered them all in one
+            quarter behind Hunno. We broke down the Wall on either side of it to make as it were a
+            citadel. Our men fought better in close order. </p>
+          <p> ‘By the end of the second month we were deep in the War as a man is deep in a
+            snow-drift or in a dream. I think we fought in our sleep. At least I know I have gone on
+            the Wall and come off again, remembering nothing between, though my throat was harsh
+            with giving orders, and my sword, I could see, had been used. </p>
+          <p> ‘The Winged Hats fought like wolves—all in a pack. Where they had suffered most, <pb
+              n="196"/><anchor id="Pg196"/>there they charged in most hotly. This was hard for the
+            defender, but it held them from sweeping on into Britain. </p>
+          <p> ‘In those days Pertinax and I wrote on the plaster of the bricked archway into
+            Valentia the names of the towers, and the days on which they fell one by one. We wished
+            for some record. </p>
+          <p> ‘And the fighting? The fight was always hottest to left and right of the great Statue
+            of Roma Dea, near to Rutilianus’ house. By the light of the Sun, that old fat man, whom
+            we had not considered at all, grew young again among the trumpets! I remember he said
+            his sword was an oracle! “Let us consult the Oracle,� he would say, and put the handle
+            against his ear, and shake his head wisely. “And <hi rend="italic">this</hi> day is
+            allowed Rutilianus to live,� he would say, and, tucking up his cloak, he would puff and
+            pant and fight well. Oh, there were jests in plenty on the Wall to take the place of
+            food! </p>
+          <p> ‘We endured for two months and seventeen days—always being pressed from three sides
+            into a smaller space. Several times Allo sent in word that help was at hand. We did not
+            believe it, but it cheered our men. </p>
+          <p> ‘The end came not with shoutings of joy, but, like the rest, as in a dream. The Winged
+            Hats suddenly left us in peace for one night, and the next day; which is too long for
+            spent men. We slept at first lightly, expecting to be roused, and then like logs, each
+            where he lay. May you never need such sleep! When I waked our towers were full of
+            strange, <pb n="197"/><anchor id="Pg197"/>armed men, who watched us snoring. I roused
+            Pertinax, and we leaped up together. </p>
+          <p> ‘“What?� said a young man in clean armour. “Do you fight against Theodosius? Look!� </p>
+          <p> ‘North we looked over the red snow. No Winged Hats were there. South we looked over
+            the white snow, and behold there were the Eagles of two strong Legions encamped. East
+            and west we saw flame and fighting, but by Hunno all was still. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Trouble no more,� said the young man. “Rome’s arm is long. Where are the Captains of
+            the Wall?� </p>
+          <p> ‘We said we were those men. </p>
+          <p> ‘“But you are old and grey-haired,� he cried. “Maximus said that they were boys.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Yes that was true some years ago,� said Pertinax. “What is our fate to be, you fine
+            and well-fed child?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I am called Ambrosius, a secretary of the Emperor,� he answered. “Show me a certain
+            letter which Maximus wrote from a tent at Aquileia, and perhaps I will believe.� </p>
+          <p> ‘I took it from my breast, and when he had read it he saluted us, saying: “Your fate
+            is in your own hands. If you choose to serve Theodosius, he will give you a Legion. If
+            it suits you to go to your homes, we will give you a Triumph.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I would like better a bath, wine, food, razors, soaps, oils, and scents,� said
+            Pertinax, laughing. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Oh, I see you are a boy,� said Ambrosius. “And you?� turning to me. </p>
+          <pb n="198"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg198"/>
+          <p> ‘“We bear no ill-will against Theodosius, but in War——� I began. </p>
+          <p> ‘“In War it is as it is in Love,� said Pertinax. “Whether she be good or bad, one
+            gives one’s best once, to one only. That given, there remains no second worth giving or
+            taking.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“That is true,� said Ambrosius. “I was with Maximus before he died. He warned
+            Theodosius that you would never serve him, and frankly I say I am sorry for my Emperor.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“He has Rome to console him,� said Pertinax. “I ask you of your kindness to let us go
+            to our homes and get this smell out of our nostrils.� </p>
+          <p> ‘None the less they gave us a Triumph!’ </p>
+          <milestone unit="tb"/>
+          <p> ‘It was well earned,’ said Puck, throwing some leaves into the still water of the
+            marlpit. The black, oily circles spread dizzily as the children watched them. </p>
+          <p> ‘I want to know, oh, ever so many things,’ said Dan, ‘What happened to old Allo? Did
+            the Winged Hats ever come back? And what did Amal do?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And what happened to the fat old General with the five cooks?’ said Una. ‘And what
+            did your Mother say when you came home?’... </p>
+          <p> ‘She’d say you’re settin’ too long over this old pit, so late as ’tis already,’ said
+            old Hobden’s voice behind them. ‘Hst!’ he whispered. </p>
+          <p> He stood still, for not twenty paces away a magnificent dog-fox sat on his haunches
+            and <pb n="199"/><anchor id="Pg199"/>looked at the children as though he were an old
+            friend of theirs. </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh, Mus’ Reynolds, Mus’ Reynolds!’ said Hobden, under his breath. ‘If I knowed all
+            was inside your head, I’d know something wuth knowin’. Mus’ Dan an’ Miss Una, come along
+            o’ me while I lock up my liddle hen-house.’ </p>
+          <pb n="200"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg200"/>
+          <p>
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="201"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg201"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>A PICT SONG</head>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Rome never looks where she treads,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Always her heavy hooves fall,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads;</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">And Rome never heeds when we bawl.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Her sentries pass on—that is all,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">And we gather behind them in hordes,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And plot to reconquer the Wall,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">With only our tongues for our
+            swords.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">We are the Little Folk—we!</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Too little to love or to hate.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Leave us alone and you’ll see</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">How we can drag down the Great!</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">We are the worm in the wood!</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">We are the rot at the root!</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">We are the germ in the blood!</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">We are the thorn in the foot!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Mistletoe killing an oak—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Rats gnawing cables in two—</hi></l>
+            <l><hi>Moths making holes in a cloak—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">How they must love what they do!</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Yes,—and we Little Folk too,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">We are as busy as they—</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Working our works out of view—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Watch, and you’ll see it some day!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="202"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg202"/>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">No indeed! We are not strong,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">But we know Peoples that are.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi>Yes, and we’ll guide them along,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">To smash and destroy you in War!</hi></l>
+            <l><hi>We shall be slaves just the same?</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Yes, we have always been slaves;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But you—you will die of the shame,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi>And then we shall dance on your graves!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">We are the Little Folk, we! etc.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+        <pb n="203"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg203"/>
+        <head> HAL O’ THE DRAFT </head>
+        <pb n="204"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg204"/>
+        <p>
+        </p>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="205"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg205"/>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Prophets have honour all over the Earth,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Except in the village where they were
+              born;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Where such as knew them boys from birth,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Nature-ally hold ’em in scorn.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">When Prophets are naughty and young and vain,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">They make a won’erful grievance of it;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">(You can see by their writings how they <corr sic="complain,">complain),</corr></hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">But O, ’tis won’erful good for the
+              Prophet!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi>There’s nothing Nineveh Town can give,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">(Nor being swallowed by whales between),</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Makes up for the place where a man’s folk live,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi>That don’t care nothing what he has been.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">He might ha’ been that, or he might ha’ been this,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But they love and they hate him for what he is!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="206"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg206"/>
+          <p>
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="207"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg207"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>HAL O’ THE DRAFT</head>
+          <p> A rainy afternoon drove Dan and Una over to play pirates in the Little Mill. If you
+            don’t mind rats on the rafters and oats in your shoes, the mill-attic, with its
+            trap-doors and inscriptions on beams about floods and sweethearts, is a splendid place.
+            It is lighted by a foot-square window, called Duck Window, that looks across to Little
+            Lindens Farm, and the spot where Jack Cade was killed. </p>
+          <p> When they had climbed the attic ladder (they called it the ‘mainmast tree’ out of the
+            ballad of Sir Andrew Barton, and Dan ‘swarved it with might and main,’ as the ballad
+            says) they saw a man sitting on Duck window-sill. He was dressed in a plum-coloured
+            doublet and tight plum-coloured hose, and he drew busily in a red-edged book. </p>
+          <p> ‘Sit ye! Sit ye!’ Puck cried from a rafter overhead. ‘See what it is to be beautiful!
+            Sir Harry Dawe—pardon, Hal—says I am the very image of a head for a gargoyle.’ </p>
+          <p> The man laughed and raised his dark velvet cap to the children, and his grizzled hair
+            bristled out in a stormy fringe. He was old—forty at least—but his eyes were young,
+            with funny little wrinkles all round them. A satchel of embroidered leather hung from
+            his broad belt, which looked interesting. </p>
+          <pb n="208"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg208"/>
+          <p> ‘May we see?’ said Una, coming forward. </p>
+          <p> ‘Surely—sure-ly!’ he said, moving up on the window-seat, and returned to his work
+            with a silver-pointed pencil. Puck sat as though the grin were fixed for ever on his
+            broad face, while they watched the quick, certain fingers that copied it. Presently the
+            man took a reed pen from his satchel, and trimmed it with a little ivory knife, carved
+            in the semblance of a fish. </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh, what a beauty!’ cried Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘’Ware fingers! That blade is perilous sharp. I made it myself of the best Low Country
+            cross-bow steel. And so, too, this fish. When his back-fin travels to his tail—so—he
+            swallows up the blade, even as the whale swallowed Gaffer Jonah.... Yes, and that’s my
+            ink-horn. I made the four silver saints round it. Press Barnabas’s head. It opens, and
+            then——’ He dipped the trimmed pen, and with careful boldness began to put in the
+            essential lines of Puck’s rugged face, that had been but faintly revealed by the
+            silver-point. </p>
+          <p> The children gasped, for it fairly leaped from the page. </p>
+          <p> As he worked, and the rain fell on the tiles, he talked—now clearly, now muttering,
+            now breaking off to frown or smile at his work. He told them he was born at Little
+            Lindens Farms, and his father used to beat him for drawing things instead of doing
+            things, till an old priest called Father Roger, who drew illuminated letters in rich
+            people’s books, coaxed the parents to let him take the boy <pb n="209"/><anchor
+              id="Pg209"/>as a sort of painter’s apprentice. Then he went with Father Roger to
+            Oxford, where he cleaned plates and carried cloaks and shoes for the scholars of a
+            College called Merton. </p>
+          <p> ‘Didn’t you hate that?’ said Dan after a great many other questions. </p>
+          <p> ‘I never thought on’t. Half Oxford was building new colleges or beautifying the old,
+            and she had called to her aid the master-craftsmen of all Christendie—kings in their
+            trade and honoured of Kings. I knew them. I worked for them: that was enough. No
+            wonder——’ He stopped and laughed. </p>
+          <p> ‘You became a great man,’ said Puck. </p>
+          <p> ‘They said so, Robin. Even Bramante said so.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Why? What did you do?’ Dan asked. </p>
+          <p> The artist looked at him queerly. ‘Things in stone and such, up and down England. You
+            would not have heard of ’em. To come nearer home, I re-builded this little St.
+            Bartholomew’s church of ours. It cost me more trouble and sorrow than aught I’ve touched
+            in my life. But ’twas a sound lesson.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Um,’ said Dan. ‘We had lessons this morning.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I’ll not afflict ye, lad,’ said Hal, while Puck roared. ‘Only ’tis strange to think
+            how that little church was re-built, re-roofed, and made glorious, thanks to some few
+            godly Sussex iron-masters, a Bristol sailor lad, a proud ass called Hal o’ the Draft
+            because, d’you see, he was always drawing and drafting; and’—he dragged the words
+              slowly—‘<hi rend="italic">and</hi> a Scotch pirate.’ </p>
+          <pb n="210"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg210"/>
+          <p> ‘Pirate?’ said Dan. He wriggled like a hooked fish. </p>
+          <p> ‘Even that Andrew Barton you were singing of on the stair just now.’ He dipped again
+            in the ink-well, and held his breath over a sweeping line, as though he had forgotten
+            everything else. </p>
+          <p> ‘Pirates don’t build churches, do they?’ said Dan. ‘Or <hi rend="italic">do</hi>
+            they?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘They help mightily,’ Hal laughed. ‘But you were at your lessons this morn, Jack
+            Scholar?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh, pirates aren’t lessons. It was only Bruce and his silly old spider,’ said Una.
+            ‘Why did Sir Andrew Barton help you?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I question if he ever knew it,’ said Hal, twinkling. ‘Robin, how a-mischief’s name am
+            I to tell these innocents what comes of sinful pride?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh, we know all about <hi rend="italic">that</hi>,’ said Una pertly. ‘If you get too
+            beany—that’s cheeky—you get sat upon, of course.’ </p>
+          <p> Hal considered a moment, pen in air, and Puck said some long words. </p>
+          <p> ‘Aha! That was my case too,’ he cried. ‘Beany—you say—but certainly I did not
+            conduct myself well. I was proud of—of such things as porches—a Galilee porch at
+            Lincoln for choice—proud of one Torrigiano’s arm on my shoulder, proud of my knighthood
+            when I made the gilt scroll-work for <hi rend="italic">The Sovereign</hi>—our King’s
+            ship. But Father Roger sitting in Merton Library, he did not forget me. At the top of my
+            pride, when I and no other should have builded the porch <pb n="211"/><anchor id="Pg211"
+            />at Lincoln, he laid it on me with a terrible forefinger to go back to my Sussex clays
+            and re-build, at my own charges, my own church, where we Dawes have been buried for six
+            generations. “Out! Son of my Art!� said he. “Fight the Devil at home ere you call
+            yourself a man and a craftsman.� And I quaked, and I went.... How’s yon, Robin?’ He
+            flourished the finished sketch before Puck. </p>
+          <p> ‘Me! Me past peradventure,’ said Puck, smirking like a man at a mirror. ‘Ah, see! The
+            rain has took off! I hate housen in daylight.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Whoop! Holiday!’ cried Hal, leaping up. ‘Who’s for my Little Lindens? We can talk
+            there.’ </p>
+          <p> They tumbled downstairs, and turned past the dripping willows by the sunny mill dam. </p>
+          <p> ‘Body o’ me,’ said Hal, staring at the hop-garden, where the hops were just ready to
+            blossom. ‘What are these vines? No, not vines, and they twine the wrong way to beans.’
+            He began to draw in his ready book. </p>
+          <p> ‘Hops. New since your day,’ said Puck. ‘They’re an herb of Mars, and their flowers
+            dried flavour ale. We say:— </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>‘“Turkeys, Heresy, Hops, and Beer</l>
+            <l>Came into England all in one year.�’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> ‘Heresy I know. I’ve seen Hops—God be praised for their beauty! What is your Turkis?’ </p>
+          <p> The children laughed. They knew the Lindens turkeys, and as soon as they reached <pb
+              n="212"/><anchor id="Pg212"/>Lindens’ orchard on the hill the flock charged at them. </p>
+          <p> Out came Hal’s book at once. ‘Hoity-toity!’ he cried. ‘Here’s Pride in purple
+            feathers! Here’s wrathy contempt and the Pomps of the Flesh! How d’you call <hi
+              rend="italic">them</hi>?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Turkeys! Turkeys!’ the children shouted, as the old gobbler raved and flamed against
+            Hal’s plum-coloured hose. </p>
+          <p> ‘Save Your Magnificence!’ he said. ‘I’ve drafted two good new things to-day.’ And he
+            doffed his cap to the bubbling bird. </p>
+          <p> Then they walked through the grass to the knoll where Little Lindens stands. The old
+            farm-house, weather-tiled to the ground, took almost the colour of a blood-ruby in the
+            afternoon light. The pigeons pecked at the mortar in the chimney-stacks; the bees that
+            had lived under the tiles since it was built filled the hot August air with their
+            booming; and the smell of the box-tree by the dairy-window mixed with the smell of earth
+            after rain, bread after baking, and a tickle of wood-smoke. </p>
+          <p> The farmer’s wife came to the door, baby on arm, shaded her brows against the sun,
+            stooped to pluck a sprig of rosemary, and turned down the orchard. The old spaniel in
+            his barrel barked once or twice to show he was in charge of the empty house. Puck
+            clicked back the garden-gate. </p>
+          <p> ‘D’you marvel that I love it?’ said Hal, in a whisper. ‘What can town folk know of the
+          nature of housen—or land?’ </p>
+          <anchor id="image04"/>
+          <pgIf output="txt">
+            <then>
+              <p rend="margin-left: 2; margin-right: 2">[Illustration: ‘Hoity-toity,’ he cried. ‘Here’s Pride in purple feathers! Here’s
+                wrathy contempt and the Pomps of the Flesh!’... And he doffed his cap to the
+                bubbling bird.]</p>
+            </then>
+            <else>
+              <pgIf output="pdf">
+                <then>
+                  <p rend="margin-left: 2; margin-right: 2">
+                    <figure url="images/col04l.jpg">
+                      <head>‘Hoity-toity,’ he cried. ‘Here’s Pride in purple feathers! Here’s wrathy
+                        contempt and the Pomps of the Flesh!’... And he doffed his cap to the bubbling
+                        bird.</head>
+                    </figure>
+                  </p>
+                </then>
+                <else>
+                  <p>
+                    <figure url="images/col04s.jpg">
+                      <head><xref url="images/col04l.jpg">‘Hoity-toity,’ he cried. ‘Here’s Pride in purple feathers!<lb/> Here’s wrathy
+                        contempt and the Pomps of the Flesh!’...<lb/> And he doffed his cap to the bubbling
+                        bird.</xref></head>
+                      <figDesc>Illustration to page 212</figDesc>
+                    </figure>
+                  </p>
+                </else>
+              </pgIf>
+              
+            </else>
+          </pgIf>
+          <p> They perched themselves arow on the old 
+            <pb n="213"/><anchor id="Pg213"/>hacked oak bench in Lindens’ garden, looking across the valley of the brook at the
+            fern-covered dimples and hollows of the Forge behind Hobden’s cottage. The old man was
+            cutting a faggot in his garden by the hives. It was quite a second after his chopper
+            fell that the chump of the blow reached their lazy ears. </p>
+          <p> ‘Eh—yeh!’ said Hal. ‘I mind when where that old gaffer stands was Nether
+            Forge—Master John Collins’s foundry. Many a night has his big trip-hammer shook me in
+            my bed here. <hi rend="italic">Boom-bitty! Boom-bitty!</hi> If the wind was east, I
+            could hear Master Tom Collins’s forge at Stockens answering his brother, <hi
+              rend="italic">Boom-oop! Boom-oop!</hi> and midway between, Sir John Pelham’s
+            sledge-hammers at Brightling would strike in like a pack o’scholars, and “<hi
+              rend="italic">Hic-haec-hoc</hi>� they’d say, “<hi rend="italic">Hic-haec-hoc</hi>,�
+            till I fell asleep. Yes. The valley was as full o’ forges and fineries as a May shaw o’
+            cuckoos. All gone to grass now!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What did they make?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Guns for the King’s ships—and for others. Serpentines and cannon mostly. When the
+            guns were cast, down would come the King’s Officers, and take our plough-oxen to haul
+            them to the coast. Look! Here’s one of the first and finest craftsmen of the Sea!’ </p>
+          <p> He fluttered back a page of his book, and showed them a young man’s head. Underneath
+            was written: ‘Sebastianus.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘He came down with a King’s Order on Master John Collins for twenty serpentines
+            (wicked little cannon they be!) to furnish a <pb n="214"/><anchor id="Pg214"/>venture of
+            ships. I drafted him thus sitting by our fire telling Mother of the new lands he’d find
+            the far side the world. And he found them, too! There’s a nose to cleave through unknown
+            seas! Cabot was his name—a Bristol lad—half a foreigner. I set a heap by him. He
+            helped me to my church-building.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I thought that was Sir Andrew Barton,’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Ay, but foundations before roofs,’ Hal answered. ‘Sebastian first put me in the way
+            of it. I had come down here, not to serve God as a craftsman should, but to show my
+            people how great a craftsman I was. They cared not, and it served me right, one split
+            straw for my craft or my greatness. What a murrain call had I, they said, to mell with
+            old St. Barnabas’s? Ruinous the church had been since the Black Death, and ruinous she
+            should remain; and I could hang myself in my new scaffold-ropes! Gentle and simple, high
+            and low—the Hayes, the Fowles, the Fanners, the Collinses—they were all in a tale
+            against me. Only Sir John Pelham up yonder to Brightling bade me heart-up and go on. Yet
+            how could I? Did I ask Master Collins for his timber-tug to haul beams? The oxen had
+            gone to Lewes after <corr sic="lime">lime.</corr> Did he promise me a set of iron cramps
+            or ties for the roof? They never came to hand, or else they were spaulty or cracked. So
+            with everything. Nothing said, but naught done except I stood by them, and then done
+            amiss. I thought the countryside was fair bewitched.’ </p>
+          <pb n="215"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg215"/>
+          <p> ‘It was, sure-ly,’ said Puck, knees under chin. ‘Did you never suspect any one?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Not till Sebastian came for his guns, and John Collins played him the same dog’s
+            tricks as he’d played me with my ironwork. Week in, week out, two of three serpentines
+            would be flawed in the casting, and only fit, they said, to be remelted. Then John
+            Collins would shake his head, and vow he could pass no cannon for the King’s service
+            that were not perfect. Saints! How Sebastian stormed! <hi rend="italic">I</hi> know, for
+            we sat on this bench sharing our sorrows inter-common. </p>
+          <p> ‘When Sebastian had fumed away six weeks at Lindens and gotten just six serpentines,
+            Dirk Brenzett, Master of the <hi rend="italic">Cygnet</hi> hoy, sends me word that the
+            block of stone he was fetching me from France for our new font he’d hove overboard to
+            lighten his ship, chased by Andrew Barton up to Rye Port.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Ah! The pirate!’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes. And while I am tearing my hair over this, Ticehurst Will, my best mason, comes
+            to me shaking, and vowing that the Devil, horned, tailed, and chained, has run out on
+            him from the church-tower, and the men would work there no more. So I took ’em off the
+            foundations, which we were strengthening, and went into the Bell Tavern for a cup of
+            ale. Says Master John Collins: “Have it your own way, lad; but if I was you, I’d take
+            the sinnification o’ the sign, and leave old Barnabas’s Church alone!� And they all
+            wagged their sinful heads, and agreed. Less afraid of the Devil than of me—as I saw
+            later. </p>
+          <pb n="216"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg216"/>
+          <p> ‘When I brought my sweet news to Lindens, Sebastian was <sic>limewashing</sic> the
+            kitchen-beams for Mother. He loved her like a son. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Cheer up, lad,� he says. “God’s where He was. Only you and I chance to be pure pute
+            asses! We’ve been tricked, Hal, and more shame to me, a sailor, that I did not guess it
+            before! You must leave your belfry alone, forsooth, because the Devil is adrift there;
+            and I cannot get my serpentines because John Collins cannot cast them aright. Meantime
+            Andrew Barton hawks off the Port of Rye. And why? To take those very serpentines which
+            poor Cabot must whistle for; the said serpentines, I’ll wager my share of new
+            Continents, being now hid away in St. Barnabas church tower. Clear as the Irish coast at
+            noonday!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“They’d sure never dare to do it,� I said; “and for another thing, selling cannon to
+            the King’s enemies is black treason—hanging and fine.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“It is sure large profit. Men’ll dare any gallows for that. I have been a trader
+            myself,� says he. “We must be upsides with ’em for the honour of Bristol.� </p>
+          <p> ‘Then he hatched a plot, sitting on the <sic>lime-wash</sic> bucket. We gave out to
+            ride o’ Tuesday to London and made a show of making farewells of our friends—especially
+            of Master John Collins. But at Wadhurst Woods we turned; rode by night to the
+            watermeadows; hid our horses in a willow-tot at the foot of the glebe, and stole
+            a-tiptoe up hill to Bar<pb n="217"/><anchor id="Pg217"/>nabas’s church again. A thick
+            mist, and a moon coming through. </p>
+          <p> ‘I had no sooner locked the tower-door behind us than over goes Sebastian full length
+            in the dark. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Pest!� he says. “Step high and feel low, Hal. I’ve stumbled over guns before.� </p>
+          <p> ‘I groped, and one by one—the tower was pitchy dark—I counted the lither barrels of
+            twenty serpentines laid out on pease-straw. No conceal at all! </p>
+          <p> ‘“There’s two demi-cannon my end,� says Sebastian, slapping metal. “They’ll be for
+            Andrew Barton’s lower deck. Honest—honest John Collins! So this is his warehouse, his
+            arsenal, his armoury! Now, see you why your pokings and pryings have raised the Devil in
+            Sussex? You’ve hindered John’s lawful trade for months,� and he laughed where he lay. </p>
+          <p> ‘A clay-cold tower is no fireside at midnight, so we climbed the belfry stairs, and
+            there Sebastian trips over a cow-hide with its horns and tail. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Aha! Your Devil has left his doublet! Does it become me, Hal?� He draws it on and
+            capers in the slits of window-moonlight—won’erful devilish-like. Then he sits on the
+            stair, rapping with his tail on a board, and his back-aspect was dreader than his front;
+            and a howlet lit in, and screeched at the horns of him. </p>
+          <p> ‘“If you’d keep out the Devil, shut the door,� he whispered. “And that’s another <pb
+              n="218"/><anchor id="Pg218"/>false proverb, Hal, for I can hear your tower-door
+            opening.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I locked it. Who a-plague has another key, then?� I said. </p>
+          <p> ‘“All the congregation, to judge by their feet,� he says, and peers into the
+            blackness. “Still! Still, Hal! Hear ’em grunt! That’s more o’ my <corr sic="sepentines"
+              >serpentines</corr>, I’ll be bound. One—two—three—four they bear in! Faith, Andrew
+            equips himself like an admiral! Twenty-four serpentines in all!� </p>
+          <p> ‘As if it had been an echo, we heard John Collins’s voice come up all hollow:
+            “Twenty-four serpentines and two demi-cannon. That’s the full tally for Sir Andrew
+            Barton.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Courtesy costs naught,� whispers Sebastian. “Shall I drop my dagger on his head?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“They go over to Rye o’ Thursday in the <sic corr="wool-wains">woolwains</sic>, hid
+            under the wool packs. Dirk Brenzett meets them at Udimore, as before,� says John. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Lord! What a worn, handsmooth trade it is!� says Sebastian. “I lay we are the sole
+            two babes in the village that have not our lawful share in the venture.� </p>
+          <p> ‘There was a full score folk below, talking like all Robertsbridge Market. We counted
+            them by voice. </p>
+          <p> ‘Master John Collins pipes: “The guns for the French carrack must lie here next month.
+            Will, when does your young fool (me, so please you!) come back from Lunnon?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“No odds,� I heard Ticehurst Will answer.
+          <pb n="219"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg219"/>“Lay ’em just where you’ve a mind, Mus’ Collins. We’re all too afraid o’ the Devil to
+            mell with the tower now.� And the long knave laughed. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Ah! ’tis easy enow for you to raise the Devil, Will,� says another—Ralph Hobden
+            from the Forge. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Aaa-men!� roars Sebastian, and ere I could hold him, he leaps down the
+            stairs—won’erful devilish-like—howling no bounds. He had scarce time to lay out for
+            the nearest than they ran. Saints, how they ran! We heard them pound on the door of the
+            Bell Tavern, and then we ran too. </p>
+          <p> ‘“What’s next?� says Sebastian, looping up his cow-tail as he leaped the briars. “I’ve
+            broke honest John’s face.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Ride to Sir John Pelham’s,� I said. “He is the only one that ever stood by me.� </p>
+          <p> ‘We rode to Brightling, and past Sir John’s lodges, where the keepers would have shot
+            at us for deer-stealers, and we had Sir John down into his Justice’s chair, and when we
+            had told him our tale and showed him the cow-hide which Sebastian wore still girt about
+            him, he laughed till the tears ran. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Wel-a-well!� he says. “I’ll see justice done before daylight. What’s your complaint?
+            Master Collins is my old friend.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“He’s none of mine,� I cried. “When I think how he and his likes have baulked and
+            dozened and cozened me at every turn over the church�——and I choked at the thought. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Ah, but ye see now they needed it for another use,� says he, smoothly. </p>
+          <pb n="220"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg220"/>
+          <p> ‘“So they did my serpentines,� Sebastian cries. “I should be half across the Western
+            Ocean by this if my guns had been ready. But they’re sold to a Scotch pirate by your old
+            friend.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Where’s your proof?� says Sir John, stroking his beard. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I broke my shins over them not an hour since, and I heard John give order where they
+            were to be taken,� says Sebastian. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Words! Words only,� says Sir John. “Master Collins is somewhat of a liar at best.� </p>
+          <p> ‘He carried it so gravely, that for the moment, I thought he was dipped in this secret
+            traffick too, and that there was not an honest ironmaster in Sussex. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Name o’ Reason!� says Sebastian, and raps with his cow-tail on the table, “Whose
+            guns are they, then?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Yours, manifestly,� says Sir John. “You come with the King’s Order for ’em, and
+            Master Collins casts them in his foundry. If he chooses to bring them up from Nether
+            Forge and lay ’em out in the church tower, why they are e’en so much the nearer to the
+            main road and you are saved a day’s hauling. What a coil to make of a mere act of
+            neighbourly kindness, lad!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I fear I have requited him very scurvily,� says Sebastian, looking at his knuckles.
+            “But what of the demi-cannon? I could do with ’em well, but <hi rend="italic">they</hi>
+            are not in the King’s Order.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Kindness—loving-kindness,� says Sir John. “Questionless, in his zeal for the King
+            and his love for you, John adds those two <pb n="221"/><anchor id="Pg221"/>cannon as a
+            gift. ’Tis plain as this coming daylight, ye stockfish!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“So it is,� says Sebastian. “Oh, Sir John, Sir John, why did you never use the sea?
+            You are lost ashore.� And he looked on him with great love. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I do my best in my station.� Sir John strokes his beard again and rolls forth his
+            deep drumming Justice’s voice thus:—“But—suffer me!—you two lads, on some midnight
+            frolic into which I probe not, roystering around the taverns, surprise Master Collins at
+            his�—he thinks a moment—“at his good deeds done by stealth. Ye surprise him, I say,
+            cruelly.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Truth, Sir John. If you had seen him run!� says Sebastian. </p>
+          <p> ‘“On this you ride breakneck to me with a tale of pirates, and wool-wains, and
+            cow-hides, which, though it hath moved my mirth as a man, offendeth my reason as a
+            magistrate. So I will e’en accompany you back to the tower with, perhaps, some few of my
+            own people, and three to four wagons, and I’ll be your warrant that Master John Collins
+            will freely give you your guns and your demi-cannon, Master Sebastian.� He breaks into
+            his proper voice—“I warned the old tod and his neighbours long ago that they’d come to
+            trouble with their side-sellings and bye-dealings; but we cannot have half Sussex hanged
+            for a little gun-running. Are ye content, lads?� </p>
+          <p> ‘“I’d commit any treason for two demi-cannon,� said Sebastian, and rubs his hands. </p>
+          <pb n="222"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg222"/>
+          <p> ‘“Ye have just compounded with rank treason-felony for the same bribe,� says Sir John.
+            “Wherefore to horse, and get the guns.�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But Master Collins meant the guns for Sir Andrew Barton all along, didn’t he?’ said
+            Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Questionless, that he did,’ said Hal. ‘But he lost them. We poured into the village
+            on the red edge of dawn, Sir John horsed, in half-armour, his pennon flying; behind him
+            thirty stout Brightling knaves, five abreast; behind them four wool-wains, and behind
+            them four trumpets to triumph over the jest, blowing: <hi rend="italic">Our King went
+              forth to Normandie</hi>. When we halted and rolled the ringing guns out of the tower,
+            ’twas for all the world like Friar Roger’s picture of the French siege in the Queen’s
+            Missal-book.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And what did we—I mean, what did our village do?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh! Bore it nobly—nobly,’ cried Hal. ‘Though they had tricked me, I was proud of us.
+            They came out of their housen, looked at that little army as though it had been a post,
+            and went their shut-mouthed way. Never a sign! Never a word! They’d ha’ perished sooner
+            than let Brightling overcrow us. Even that villain, Ticehurst Will, coming out of the
+            Bell for his morning ale, he all but ran under Sir John’s horse. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Ware, Sirrah Devil!� cries Sir John, reining back. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Oh!� says Will. “Market day, is it? And all the bullocks from Brightling here?�</p>
+          <pb n="223"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg223"/>
+          <p> ‘I spared him his belting for that—the brazen knave! </p>
+          <p> ‘But John Collins was our masterpiece! He happened along-street (his jaw tied up where
+            Sebastian had clouted him) when we were trundling the first demi-cannon through the
+            lych-gate. </p>
+          <p> ‘“I reckon you’ll find her middlin’ heavy,� he says. “If you’ve a mind to pay, I’ll
+            loan ye my timber-tug. She won’t lie easy on <sic>ary</sic> wool-wain.� </p>
+          <p> ‘That was the one time I ever saw Sebastian taken flat aback. He opened and shut his
+            mouth, fishy-like. </p>
+          <p> ‘“No offence,� says Master John. “You’ve got her reasonable good cheap. I thought ye
+            might not grudge me a groat if I help move her.� Ah, he was a masterpiece! They say that
+            morning’s work cost our John two hundred pounds, and he never winked an eyelid, not even
+            when he saw the guns all carted off to Lewes.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Neither then nor later?’ said Puck. </p>
+          <p> ‘Once. ’Twas after he gave St. Barnabas the new chime of bells. (Oh, there was nothing
+            the Collinses, or the Hayes, or the Fowles, or the Fanners would not do for the church
+            then! “Ask and have� was their song.) We had rung ’em in, and he was in the tower with
+            Black Nick Fowle, that gave us our rood-screen. The old man pinches the bell-rope one
+            hand and scratches his neck with t’other. “Sooner she was pulling yon clapper than my
+            neck,� he says. That was all! That was Sussex—seely Sussex for everlastin’!’ </p>
+          <pb n="224"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg224"/>
+          <p> ‘And what happened after?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘I went back into England,’ said Hal, slowly. ‘I’d had my lesson against pride. But
+            they tell me I left St. Barnabas’s a jewel—just about a jewel! Wel-a-well! ’Twas done
+            for and among my own people, and—Father Roger was right—I never knew such trouble or
+            such triumph since. That’s the nature o’ things. A dear—dear land.’ He dropped his chin
+            on his chest. </p>
+          <p> ‘There’s your Father at the Forge. What’s he talking to old Hobden about?’ said Puck,
+            opening his hand with three leaves in it. </p>
+          <p> Dan looked towards the cottage. </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh, I know. It’s that old oak lying across the brook. Pater always wants it grubbed.’ </p>
+          <p> In the still valley they could hear old Hobden’s deep tones. </p>
+          <p> ‘Have it <hi rend="italic">as</hi> you’ve a mind to,’ he was saying. ‘But the vivers
+            of her roots they hold the bank together. If you grub her out, the bank she’ll all come
+            tearin’ down, an’ next floods the brook’ll swarve up. But have it <hi rend="italic"
+            >as</hi> you’ve a mind. The mistuss she sets a heap by the ferns on her trunk.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh! I’ll think it over,’ said the Pater. </p>
+          <p> Una laughed a little bubbling chuckle. </p>
+          <p> ‘What Devil’s in <hi rend="italic">that</hi> belfry?’ said Hal, with a lazy laugh.
+            ‘That should be Hobden by his <corr sic="voice.">voice.’</corr>
+          </p>
+          <p> ‘Why, the oak is the regular bridge for all the rabbits between the Three Acre and our
+            meadow. The best place for wires on the farm, Hobden says. He’s got two there now,’ <pb
+              n="225"/><anchor id="Pg225"/>Una answered. ‘<hi rend="italic">He</hi> won’t ever let
+            it be grubbed!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Ah, Sussex! Silly Sussex for everlastin’,’ murmured Hal; and the next moment their
+            Father’s voice calling across to Little Lindens broke the spell as St. Barnabas’s clock
+            struck five. </p>
+          <pb n="226"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg226"/>
+          <p>
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="227"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg227"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>SMUGGLERS’ SONG</head>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse’s feet,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Don’t go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Them that asks no questions isn’t told a lie.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">Five and twenty ponies</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">Trotting through the dark;</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">Brandy for the Parson,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">’Baccy for the Clerk</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">Laces for a lady, letters for a spy,</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Running round the woodlump if you chance to find</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandywined;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Don’t you shout to come and look, nor take ’em for your play;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Put the brishwood back again,—and they’ll be gone next
+            day!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">If you see the stableyard setting open wide;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">If you see a tied horse lying down inside;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">If the lining’s wet and warm—don’t you ask no more!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="228"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg228"/>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">If you meet King George’s men, dressed in blue and red,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">If they call you ’pretty maid,’ and chuck you ’neath the chin,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Don’t you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one’s
+            been!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Knocks and footsteps round the house—whistles after dark—</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">You’ve no call for running out till the house-dogs bark.</hi></l>
+            <l>Trusty’s <hi rend="italic">here, and</hi> Pincher’s <hi rend="italic">here, and see
+                how dumb they lie—</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">They don’t fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">If you do as you’ve been told, likely there’s a chance,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">You’ll be give a dainty doll, all the way from France,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood—</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">A present from the Gentlemen, along o’ being good!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">Five and twenty ponies,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">Trotting through the Park—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">Brandy for the Parson,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">’Baccy for the Clerk.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Them that asks no questions isn’t told a lie.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+        <pb n="229"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg229"/>
+        <head> ‘DYMCHURCH FLIT’ </head>
+        <pb n="230"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg230"/>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="231"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg231"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>THE BEE BOY’S SONG</head>
+          <lg>
+            <l>Bees! Bees! Hark to the Bees!</l>
+            <l>‘Hide from your neighbours as much as you please,</l>
+            <l>But all that has happened to <hi rend="italic">us</hi> you must tell!</l>
+            <l>Or else we will give you no honey to sell.’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">A maiden in her glory,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">Upon her wedding-day,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Must tell her Bees the story,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">Or else they’ll fly away.</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 6"><hi rend="italic">Fly away—die away—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 8"><hi rend="italic">Dwindle down and leave you!</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 6"><hi rend="italic">But if you don’t deceive your Bees,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 8"><hi rend="italic">Your Bees will not deceive you!—</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Marriage, birth or buryin’,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">News across the seas,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">All you’re sad or merry in,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">You must tell the Bees.</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 6"><hi rend="italic">Tell ’em coming in an’ out,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 8"><hi rend="italic">Where the Fanners fan,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 6"><hi rend="italic">’Cause the Bees are justabout</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 8"><hi rend="italic">As curious as a man!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Don’t you wait where trees are,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">When the lightnings play;</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 2"><hi rend="italic">Nor don’t you hate where Bees are,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 4"><hi rend="italic">Or else they’ll pine away.</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 6"><hi rend="italic">Pine away—dwine away—</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 8"><hi rend="italic">Anything to leave you!</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 6"><hi rend="italic">But if you never grieve your Bees,</hi></l>
+            <l rend="margin-left: 8"><hi rend="italic">Your Bees’ll never grieve you.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="232"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg232"/>
+          <p>
+          </p>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="233"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg233"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>‘DYMCHURCH FLIT’</head>
+          <p> Just at dusk, a soft September rain began to fall on the hop-pickers. The mothers
+            wheeled the bouncing perambulators out of the gardens; bins were put away, and
+            tally-books made up. The young couples strolled home, two to each umbrella, and the
+            single men walked behind them laughing. Dan and Una, who had been picking after their
+            lessons, marched off to roast potatoes at the oast-house, where old Hobden, with
+            Blue-eyed Bess, his lurcher-dog, lived all the month through, drying the hops. </p>
+          <p> They settled themselves, as usual, on the sack-strewn cot in front of the fires, and,
+            when Hobden drew up the shutter, stared, as usual, at the flameless bed of coals
+            spouting its heat up the dark well of the old-fashioned roundel. Slowly he cracked off a
+            few fresh pieces of coal, packed them, with fingers that never flinched, exactly where
+            they would do most good; slowly he reached behind him till Dan tilted the potatoes into
+            his iron scoop of a hand; carefully he arranged them round the fire, and then stood for
+            a moment, black against the glare. As he closed the shutter, the oast-house seemed dark
+            before the day’s end, and he lit the candle in the lanthorn. The children liked all
+            these things because they knew them so well. </p>
+          <pb n="234"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg234"/>
+          <p> The Bee Boy, Hobden’s son, who is not quite right in his head, though he can do
+            anything with bees, slipped in like a shadow. They only guessed it when Bess’s
+            stump-tail wagged against them. </p>
+          <p> A big voice began singing outside in the drizzle:— </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>‘Old Mother Laidinwool had nigh twelve months been dead,</l>
+            <l>She heard the hops were doing well, and then popped up her head.’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> ‘There can’t be two people made to holler like that!’ cried old Hobden, wheeling
+            round. </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>‘For, says she, “The boys I’ve picked with when I was young and fair,</l>
+            <l>They’re bound to be at hoppin’, and I’m——�’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> A man showed at the doorway. </p>
+          <p> ‘Well, well! They do say hoppin’ll draw the very deadest; and now I belieft ’em. You,
+            Tom? Tom Shoesmith!’ Hobden lowered his lanthorn. </p>
+          <p> ‘You’re a hem of a time makin’ your mind to it, Ralph!’ The stranger strode in—three
+            full inches taller than Hobden, a grey-whiskered, brown-faced giant with clear blue
+            eyes. They shook hands, and the children could hear the hard palms rasp together. </p>
+          <p> ‘You ain’t lost none o’ your grip,’ said Hobden. ‘Was it thirty or forty year back you
+            broke my head at Peasmarsh Fair?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Only thirty, an’ no odds ’tween us regardin’ heads, neither. You had it back at me
+            with a hop-pole. How did we get home that night? Swimmin’?’ </p>
+          <pb n="235"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg235"/>
+          <p> ‘Same way the pheasant come into Gubbs’s pocket—by a little luck an’ a deal o’ <corr
+              sic="conjurin.''">conjurin’.’</corr> Old Hobden laughed in his deep chest. </p>
+          <p> ‘I see you’ve not forgot your way about the woods. D’ye do any o’ <hi rend="italic"
+              >this</hi> still?’ The stranger pretended to look along a gun. </p>
+          <p> Hobden answered with a quick movement of the hand as though he were pegging down a
+            rabbit-wire. </p>
+          <p> ‘No. <hi rend="italic">That’s</hi> all that’s left me now. Age she must as Age she
+            can. An’ what’s your news since all these years?’ </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>‘Oh, I’ve bin to Plymouth, I’ve bin to Dover—</l>
+            <l>I’ve bin ramblin’, boys, the wide world over,’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> the man answered cheerily. ‘I reckon I know as much of Old England as most.’ He turned
+            towards the children and winked boldly. </p>
+          <p> ‘I lay they told you a sight o’ lies, then. I’ve been into England fur as Wiltsheer
+            once. I was cheated proper over a pair of hedging-gloves,’ said Hobden. </p>
+          <p> ‘There’s fancy-talkin’ everywhere. <hi rend="italic">You’ve</hi> cleaved to your own
+            parts pretty middlin’ close, Ralph.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Can’t shift an old tree ’thout it dyin’,’ Hobden chuckled. ‘An’ I be no more anxious
+            to die than you look to be to help me with my hops to-night.’ </p>
+          <p> The great man leaned against the brickwork of the roundel, and swung his arms abroad.
+            ‘Hire me!’ was all he said, and they stumped upstairs laughing. </p>
+          <pb n="236"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg236"/>
+          <p> The children heard their shovels rasp on the cloth where the yellow hops lie drying
+            above the fires, and all the oast-house filled with the sweet, sleepy smell as they were
+            turned. </p>
+          <p> ‘Who is it?’ Una whispered to the Bee Boy. </p>
+          <p> ‘Dunno, no more’n you—if <hi rend="italic">you</hi> dunno,’ said he, and smiled. </p>
+          <p> The voices on the drying-floor talked and chuckled together, and the heavy footsteps
+            went back and forth. Presently a hop-pocket dropped through the press-hole overhead, and
+            stiffened and fattened as they shovelled it full. ‘Clank!’ went the press, and rammed
+            the loose stuff into tight cake. </p>
+          <p> ‘Gently!’ they heard Hobden cry. ‘You’ll bust her crop if you lay on so. You be as
+            careless as Gleason’s bull, Tom. Come an’ sit by the fires. She’ll do now.’ </p>
+          <p> They came down, and as Hobden opened the shutter to see if the potatoes were done Tom
+            Shoesmith said to the children, ‘Put a plenty salt on ’em. That’ll show you the sort o’
+            man <hi rend="italic">I</hi> be.’ Again he winked, and again the Bee Boy laughed and Una
+            stared at Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘<hi rend="italic">I</hi> know what sort o’ man you be,’ old Hobden grunted, groping
+            for the potatoes round the fire. </p>
+          <p> ‘Do ye?’ Tom went on behind his back. ‘Some of us can’t abide Horseshoes, or Church
+            Bells, or Running Water; an’, talkin’ o’ runnin’ water’—he turned to Hobden, who was
+            backing out of the roundel—‘d’you mind <pb n="237"/><anchor id="Pg237"/>the great
+            floods at Robertsbridge, when the miller’s man was drowned in the street?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Middlin’ well.’ Old Hobden let himself down on the coals by the fire door. ‘I was
+            courtin’ my woman on the Marsh that year. Carter to Mus’ Plum I was—gettin’ ten
+            shillin’s week. Mine was a Marsh woman.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Won’erful odd-gates place—Romney Marsh,’ said Tom Shoesmith. ‘I’ve heard say the
+            world’s divided like into Europe, Ashy, Afriky, Ameriky, Australy, an’ Romney Marsh.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘The Marsh folk think so,’ said Hobden. ‘I had a hem o’ trouble to get my woman to
+            leave it.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Where did she come out of? I’ve forgot, Ralph.’ </p>
+          <p>
+            <corr sic="Dymchurch">‘Dymchurch</corr> under the Wall,’ Hobden answered, a potato in
+            his hand. </p>
+          <p> ‘Then she’d be a Pett—or a Whitgift, would she?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Whitgift.’ Hobden broke open the potato and ate it with the curious neatness of men
+            who make most of their meals in the blowy open. ‘She growed to be quite reasonable-like
+            after livin’ in the Weald awhile, but our first twenty year or two she was
+            odd-fashioned, no bounds. And she was a won’erful hand with bees.’ He cut away a little
+            piece of potato and threw it out to the door. </p>
+          <p> ‘Ah! I’ve heard say the Whitgifts could see further through a millstone than most,’
+            said Shoesmith. ‘Did she, now?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘She was honest-innocent, of any nigro<pb n="238"/><anchor id="Pg238"/>mancin’,’ said
+            Hobden. ‘Only she’d read signs and sinnifications out o’ birds flyin’, stars fallin’,
+            bees hivin’, and such. An’ she’d lie awake—listenin’ for calls, she said.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘That don’t prove naught,’ said Tom. ‘All Marsh folk has been smugglers since time
+            everlastin’. ’Twould be in her blood to listen out o’ nights.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Nature-ally,’ old Hobden replied, smiling. ‘I mind when there was smugglin’ a sight
+            nearer us than the Marsh be. But that wasn’t my woman’s trouble. ’Twas a passel o’
+            no-sense talk,’ he dropped his voice, ‘about Pharisees.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes. I’ve heard Marsh men beleft in ’em.’ Tom looked straight at the wide-eyed
+            children beside Bess. </p>
+          <p> ‘Pharisees,’ cried Una. ‘Fairies? Oh, I see!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘People o’ the Hills,’ said the Bee Boy, throwing half of his potato towards the door. </p>
+          <p> ‘There you be!’ said Hobden, pointing at him. ‘My boy, he has her eyes and her
+            out-gate senses. That’s what <hi rend="italic">she</hi> called ’em!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And what did you think of it all?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Um—um,’ Hobden rumbled. ‘A man that uses fields an’ shaws after dark as much as I’ve
+            done, he don’t go out of his road excep’ for keepers.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But settin’ that aside?’ said Tom, coaxingly. ‘I saw ye throw the Good Piece out-at
+            doors just now. Do ye believe or—<hi rend="italic">do</hi> ye?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘There was a great black eye to that tater,’ said Hobden, indignantly. </p>
+          <p> ‘My liddle eye didn’t see un, then. It <pb n="239"/><anchor id="Pg239"/>looked as if
+            you meant it for—for Any One that might need it. But settin’ that aside. D’ye believe
+              or—<hi rend="italic">do</hi> ye?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I ain’t sayin’ <corr sic="nothin,'">nothin’,</corr> because I’ve heard naught, an’ I’ve seen naught. But if you
+            was to say there was more things after dark in the shaws than men, or fur, or feather,
+            or fin, I dunno as I’d go farabout to call you a liar. Now turn again, Tom. What’s your
+            say?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I’m like you. I say nothin’. But I’ll tell you a tale, an’ you can fit it <hi
+              rend="italic">as</hi> how you please.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Passel o’ no-sense stuff,’ growled Hobden, but he filled his pipe. </p>
+          <p> ‘The Marsh men they call it Dymchurch Flit,’ Tom went on slowly. ‘Hap you’ve heard
+            it?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘My woman she’ve told it me scores o’ times. Dunno as I didn’t end by belieft in’
+            it—sometimes.’ </p>
+          <p> Hobden crossed over as he spoke, and sucked with his pipe at the yellow
+            lanthorn-flame. Tom rested one great elbow on one great knee, where he sat among the
+            coal. </p>
+          <p> ‘Have you ever bin in the Marsh?’ he said to Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Only as far as Rye, once,’ Dan answered. </p>
+          <p> ‘Ah, that’s but the edge. Back behind of her there’s steeples settin’ beside churches,
+            an’ wise women settin’ beside their doors, an’ the sea settin’ above the land, an’ ducks
+            herdin’ wild in the diks’ (he meant ditches). ‘The Marsh is justabout riddled with diks
+            an’ sluices, an’ tide-gates an’ water-lets. You can hear em’ bubblin’ an’ grummelin’
+            when the tide works in em’, an’ then you hear the <pb n="240"/><anchor id="Pg240"/>sea
+            rangin’ left and right-handed all up along the Wall. You’ve seen how flat she is—the
+            Marsh? You’d think nothin’ easier than to walk eend-on acrost her? Ah, but the diks an’
+            the water-lets, they twists the roads about as ravelly as witch-yarn on the spindles. So
+            ye get all turned round in broad daylight.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘That’s because they’ve dreened the waters into the diks,’ said Hobden. ‘When I
+            courted my woman the rushes was green—Eh me! the rushes was green—an’ the Bailiff o’
+            the Marshes, he rode up and down as free as the fog.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Who was he?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Why, the Marsh fever an’ ague. He’ve clapped me on the <corr sic="shouder">shoulder</corr> once or twice till I
+            shook proper. But now the dreenin’ off of the waters have done away with the fevers; so
+            they make a joke, like, that the Bailiff o’ the Marshes broke his neck in a dik. A
+            won’erful place for bees an’ ducks ’tis too.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘An’ old!’ Tom went on. ‘Flesh an’ Blood have been there since Time Everlastin’
+            Beyond. Well, now, speakin’ among themselves, the Marshmen say that from Time
+            Everlastin’ Beyond the Pharisees favoured the Marsh above the rest of Old England. I lay
+            the Marshmen ought to know. They’ve been out after dark, father an’ son, smugglin’ some
+            one thing or t’other, since ever wool grew to sheep’s backs. They say there was always a
+            middlin’ few Pharisees to be seen on the Marsh. Impident as rabbits, they was. They’d
+            dance on the nakid roads in the nakid daytime; they’d flash their liddle green lights
+              <pb n="241"/><anchor id="Pg241"/>along the diks, comin’ an’ goin’, like honest
+            smugglers. Yes, an’ times they’d lock the church doors against parson an’ clerk of
+            Sundays!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘That ’ud be smugglers layin’ in the lace or the brandy till they could run it out o’
+            the Marsh. I’ve told my woman so,’ said Hobden. </p>
+          <p> ‘I’ll lay she didn’t beleft it, then—not if she was a Whitgift. A won’erful choice
+            place for Pharisees, the Marsh, by all accounts, till Queen Bess’s father he come in
+            with his Reformatories.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Would that be a Act o’ Parliament like?’ Hobden asked. </p>
+          <p> ‘Sure-ly! ’Can’t do nothing in Old England without Act, Warrant, an’ Summons. He got
+            his Act allowed him, an’, they say, Queen Bess’s father he used the parish churches
+            something shameful. Justabout tore the gizzards out of I dunnamany. Some folk in England
+            they held with ’en; but some they saw it different, an’ it eended in ’em takin’ sides
+            an’ burnin’ each other no bounds, accordin’ which side was top, <corr sic="time bein.'">time bein’.</corr> That
+            tarrified the Pharisees: for Goodwill among Flesh an’ Blood is meat an’ drink to ’em,
+            an’ ill-will is poison.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Same as bees,’ said the Bee Boy. ‘Bees won’t stay by a house where there’s hating.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘True,’ said Tom. ‘This Reformations tarrified the Pharisees same as the reaper goin’
+            round a last stand o’ wheat tarrifies rabbits. They packed into the Marsh from all
+            parts, and they says, “Fair or foul, we must flit out <pb n="242"/><anchor id="Pg242"
+            />o’ this, for Merry England’s done with, an’ we’re reckoned among the Images.�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Did they <hi rend="italic">all</hi> see it that way?’ said Hobden. </p>
+          <p> ‘All but one that was called Robin—if you’ve heard of him. What are you laughing at?’
+            Tom turned to Dan. ‘The Pharisees’s trouble didn’t tech Robin, because he’d cleaved
+            middlin’ close to people like. No more he never meant to go out of Old England—not he;
+            so he was sent messagin’ for help among Flesh an’ Blood. But Flesh an’ Blood must always
+            think of their own concerns, an’ Robin couldn’t get <hi rend="italic">through</hi> at
+            ’em, ye see. They thought it was tide-echoes off the Marsh.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What did you—what did the fai—Pharisees want?’ Una asked. </p>
+          <p> ‘A boat to be sure. Their liddle wings could no more cross Channel than so many tired
+            butterflies. A boat an’ a crew they desired to sail ’em over to France, where yet awhile
+            folks hadn’t tore down the Images. They couldn’t abide cruel Canterbury Bells ringin’ to
+            Bulverhithe for more pore men an’ women to be burnded, nor the King’s proud messenger
+            ridin’ through the land givin’ orders to tear down the Images. They couldn’t abide it no
+            shape. Nor yet they couldn’t get their boat an’ crew to flit by without Leave an’
+            Good-will from Flesh an’ Blood; an’ Flesh an’ Blood came an’ went about its own business
+            the while the Marsh was swarvin’ up, an’ swarvin’ up with Pharisees from all England
+            over, striving all means <pb n="243"/><anchor id="Pg243"/>to get <hi rend="italic"
+              >through</hi> at Flesh an’ Blood to tell ’en their sore need.... I don’t know as
+            you’ve ever heard say Pharisees are like chickens?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘My woman used to say that too,’ said Hobden, folding his brown arms. </p>
+          <p> ‘They be. You run too many chickens together, an’ the ground sickens like, an’ you get
+            a squat, an’ your chickens die. ’Same way, you crowd Pharisees all in one place—<hi
+              rend="italic">they</hi> don’t die, but Flesh an’ Blood walkin’ among ’em is apt to
+            sick up an’ pine off. <hi rend="italic">They</hi> don’t mean it, an’ Flesh an’ Blood
+            don’t know it, but that’s the truth—as I’ve heard. The Pharisees through bein’ all
+            stenched up an’ frighted, an’ tryin’ to come <hi rend="italic">through</hi> with their
+            supplications, they nature-ally changed the thin airs and humours in Flesh an’ Blood. It
+            lay on the Marsh like thunder. Men saw their churches ablaze with the wildfire in the
+            windows after dark; they saw their cattle scatterin’ and no man scarin’; their sheep
+            flockin’ and no man drivin’; their horses latherin’ an’ no man leadin’; they saw the
+            liddle low green lights more than ever in the dik-sides; they heard the liddle feet
+            patterin’ more than ever round the houses; an’ night an’ day, day an’ night, ’twas all
+            as though they were bein’ creeped up on, and hinted at by some One or Other that
+            couldn’t rightly shape their trouble. Oh, I lay they sweated! Man an’ maid, woman an’
+            child, their Nature done ’em no service all the weeks while the Marsh was swarvin’ up
+            with Pharisees. But they was Flesh an’ Blood, an’ Marsh men before all. They reckoned
+            the signs sinnified <pb n="244"/><anchor id="Pg244"/>trouble for the Marsh. Or that the
+            sea ’ud rear up against Dymchurch Wall an’ they’d be drownded like Old Winchelsea; or
+            that the Plague was comin’. So they looked for the meanin’ in the sea or in the
+            clouds—far an’ high up. They never thought to look near an’ knee-high, where they could
+            see naught. </p>
+          <p> ‘Now there was a poor widow at Dymchurch under the Wall, which, lacking man or
+            property, she had the more time for feeling; and she come to feel there was a Trouble
+            outside her doorstep bigger an’ heavier than aught she’d ever carried over it. She had
+            two sons—one born blind, and t’other struck dumb through fallin’ off the Wall when he
+            was liddle. They was men grown, but not wage-earnin’, an’ she worked for ’em, keepin’
+            bees and answerin’ Questions.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What sort of questions?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘Like where lost things might be found, an’ what to put about a crooked baby’s neck,
+            an’ how to join parted sweethearts. She felt the Trouble on the Marsh same as eels feel
+            thunder. She was a wise woman.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘My woman was won’erful weather-tender, too,’ said Hobden. ‘I’ve seen her brish sparks
+            like off an anvil out of her hair in thunderstorms. But she never laid out to answer
+            Questions.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘This woman was a Seeker like, an’ Seekers they sometimes find. One night, while she
+            lay abed, hot an’ aching, there come a Dream <corr sic="an">an’</corr> tapped at her
+            window, and “Widow Whitgift,� it said, “Widow Whitgift!� </p>
+          <p> ‘First, by the wings an’ the whistling, she <pb n="245"/><anchor id="Pg245"/>thought
+            it was peewits, but last she arose an’ dressed herself, an’ opened her door to the
+            Marsh, an’ she felt the Trouble an’ the Groaning all about her, strong as fever an’
+            ague, an’ she calls: “What is it? Oh, what is it?� </p>
+          <p> ‘Then ’twas all like the frogs in the diks peeping: then ’twas all like the reeds in
+            the diks clipclapping; an’ then the great Tide-wave rummelled along the Wall, an’ she
+            couldn’t hear proper. </p>
+          <p> ‘Three times she called, an’ three times the Tide-wave did her down. But she catched
+            the quiet between, an’ she cries out, “What is the Trouble on the Marsh that’s been
+            lying down with my heart an’ arising with my body this month gone?� She felt a liddle
+            hand lay hold on her gown-hem, an’ she stooped to the pull o’ that liddle hand.’ </p>
+          <p> Tom Shoesmith spread his huge fist before the fire and smiled at it. </p>
+          <p> ‘“Will the sea drown the Marsh?� she says. She was a Marsh-woman first an’ foremost. </p>
+          <p> ‘“No,� says the liddle voice. “Sleep sound for all o’ that.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Is the Plague comin’ to the Marsh?� she says. Them was all the ills she knowed. </p>
+          <p> ‘“No. Sleep sound for all o’ that,� says Robin. </p>
+          <p> ‘She turned about, half mindful to go in, but the liddle voices grieved that shrill
+            an’ sorrowful she turns back, an’ she cries: “If it is not a Trouble of Flesh an’ Blood,
+            what can I do?� </p>
+          <p> ‘The Pharisees cried out upon her from <pb n="246"/><anchor id="Pg246"/>all round to
+            fetch them a boat to sail to France, an’ come back no more. </p>
+          <p> ‘“There’s a boat on the Wall,� she says, “but I can’t push it down to the sea, nor
+            sail it when ’tis there.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Lend us your sons,� says all the Pharisees. “Give ’em Leave an’ Good-will to sail it
+            for us, Mother—O Mother!� </p>
+          <p> ‘“One’s dumb, an’ t’other’s blind,� she says. “But all the dearer me for that; and
+            you’ll lose them in the big sea.� The voices justabout pierced through her. An’ there
+            was children’s voices too. She stood out all she could, but she couldn’t rightly stand
+            against <hi rend="italic">that</hi>. So she says: “If you can draw my sons for your job,
+            I’ll not hinder ’em. You can’t ask no more of a Mother.� </p>
+          <p> ‘She saw them liddle green lights dance an’ cross till she was dizzy; she heard them
+            liddle feet patterin’ by the thousand; she heard cruel Canterbury Bells ringing to
+            Bulverhithe, an’ she heard the great Tide-wave ranging along the Wall. That was while
+            the Pharisees was workin’ a Dream to wake her two sons asleep: an’ while she bit on her
+            fingers she saw them two she’d bore come out an’ pass her with never a word. She
+            followed ’em, cryin’ pitiful, to the old boat on the Wall, an’ that they took an’ runned
+            down to the Sea. </p>
+          <p> ‘When they’d stepped mast an’ sail the blind son speaks up: “Mother, we’re waitin’
+            your Leave an’ Good-will to take Them over.�’ </p>
+          <p> Tom Shoesmith threw back his head and half shut his eyes. </p>
+          <pb n="247"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg247"/>
+          <p> ‘Eh, me!’ he said. ‘She was a fine, valiant woman, the Widow Whitgift. She stood
+            twistin’ the ends of her long hair over her fingers, an’ she shook like a poplar, makin’
+            up her mind. The Pharisees all about they hushed their children from cryin’ an’ they
+            waited dumb-still. She was all their dependence. ’Thout her Leave an’ Goodwill they
+            could not pass; for she was the Mother. So she shook like a asp-tree makin’ up her mind.
+            ’Last she drives the word past her teeth, an’ “Go!� she says. “Go with my Leave an’
+            Goodwill.� </p>
+          <p> ‘Then I saw—then, they say, she had to brace back same as if she was wadin’ in
+            tide-water; for the Pharisees justabout flowed past her—down the beach to the boat, <hi
+              rend="italic">I</hi> dunnamany of ’em—with their wives an’ children an’ valooables,
+            all escapin’ out of cruel Old England. Silver you could hear clinkin’, an’ liddle
+            bundles hove down dunt on the bottom-boards, an’ passels o’ liddle swords an’ shield’s
+            raklin’, an’ liddle fingers an’ toes scratchin’ on the boatside to board her when the
+            two sons pushed her off. That boat she sunk lower an’ lower, but all the Widow could see
+            in it was her boys movin’ hampered-like to get at the tackle. Up sail they did, an’ away
+            they went, deep as a Rye barge, away into the off-shore mistes, an’ the Widow Whitgift
+            she sat down and eased her grief till mornin’ light.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I never heard she was <hi rend="italic">all</hi> alone,’ said Hobden. </p>
+          <p> ‘I remember now. The one called Robin <pb n="248"/><anchor id="Pg248"/>he stayed with
+            her, they tell. She was all too grievious to listen to his promises.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Ah! She should ha’ made her bargain beforehand. I allus told my woman so!’ Hobden
+            cried. </p>
+          <p> ‘No. She loaned her sons for a pure love-loan, bein’ as she sensed the Trouble on the
+            Marshes, an’ was simple good-willing to ease it.’ Tom laughed softly. ‘She done that.
+            Yes, she done that! From Hithe to Bulverthithe, fretty man an’ petty maid, ailin’ woman
+            an’ wailin’ child, they took the advantage of the change in the thin airs just about <hi
+              rend="italic">as</hi> soon as the Pharisees flitted. Folks come out fresh an’ shining
+            all over the Marsh like snails after wet. An’ that while the Widow Whitgift sat grievin’
+            on the Wall. She might have beleft us—she might have trusted her sons would be sent
+            back! She fussed, no bounds, when their boat come in after three days.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And, of course, the sons were both quite cured?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘No-o. That would have been out o’ Nature. She got ’em back <hi rend="italic">as</hi>
+            she sent ’em. The blind man he hadn’t seen naught of anything, an’ the dumb man
+            nature-ally, he couldn’t say aught of what he’d seen. I reckon that was why the
+            Pharisees pitched on ’em for the ferrying job.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But what did you—what did <corr sic="Robin,">Robin</corr> promise the Widow?’ said Dan. </p>
+          <p> ‘What <hi rend="italic">did</hi> he promise, now?’ Tom pretended to think. ‘Wasn’t
+            your woman a Whitgift, Ralph? Didn’t she say?’ </p>
+          <pb n="249"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg249"/>
+          <p> ‘She told me a passel o’ no-sense stuff when he was born.’ Hobden pointed at his son.
+            ‘There was always to be one of ’em that could see further into a millstone than most.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Me! That’s me!’ said the Bee Boy so suddenly that they all laughed. </p>
+          <p> ‘I’ve got it now!’ cried Tom, slapping his knee. ‘So long as Whitgift blood lasted,
+            Robin promised there would allers be one o’ her stock that—that no Trouble ’ud lie on,
+            no Maid ’ud sigh on, no Night could frighten, no Fright could harm, no Harm could make
+            sin, an’ no Woman could make a fool.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Well, ain’t that just me?’ said the Bee Boy, where he sat in the silver square of the
+            great September moon that was staring into the oast-house door. </p>
+          <p> ‘They was the exact words she told me when we first found he wasn’t like others. But
+            it beats me how you known ’em,’ said Hobden. </p>
+          <p> ‘Aha! There’s more under my hat besides hair!’ Tom laughed and stretched himself.
+            ‘When I’ve seen these two young folk home, we’ll make a night of old days, Ralph, with
+            passin’ old tales—eh? An’ where might you live?’ he said, gravely, to Dan. ‘An’ do you
+            think your Pa ’ud give me a drink for takin’ you there, Missy?’ </p>
+          <p> They giggled so at this that they had to run out. Tom picked them both up, set one on
+            each broad shoulder, and tramped across the ferny pasture where the cows puffed milky
+            puffs at them in the moonlight. </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh, Puck! Puck! I guessed you right <pb n="250"/><anchor id="Pg250"/>from when you
+            talked about the salt. How could you ever do it?’ Una cried, swinging along delighted. </p>
+          <p> ‘Do what?’ he said, and climbed the stile by the pollard oak. </p>
+          <p> ‘Pretend to be Tom Shoesmith,’ said Dan, and they ducked to avoid the two little ashes
+            that grow by the bridge over the brook. Tom was almost running. </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes. That’s my name, Mus’ Dan,’ he said, hurrying over the silent shining lawn, where
+            a rabbit sat by the big white-thorn near the croquet ground. ‘Here you be.’ He strode
+            into the old kitchen yard, and slid them down as Ellen came to ask questions. </p>
+          <p> ‘I’m helping in Mus’ Spray’s oast-house,’ he said to her. ‘No, I’m no foreigner. I
+            knowed this country ’fore your Mother was born; an’—yes it’s dry work oasting, Miss.
+            Thank you.’ </p>
+          <p> Ellen went to get a jug, and the children went in—magicked once more by Oak, Ash, and
+            Thorn! </p>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="251"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg251"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>A THREE-PART SONG</head>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">I’m just in love with all these three,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">The Weald and the Marsh and the Down countrie;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Nor I don’t know which I love the most,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">The Weald or the Marsh or the white chalk coast!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">I’ve buried my heart in a ferny hill,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Twix’ a liddle low Shaw an’ a great high Gill.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Oh hop-vine yaller and woodsmoke blue,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">I reckon you’ll keep her middling true!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">I’ve loosed my mind for to out and run,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">On a Marsh that was old when Kings begun;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Oh Romney Level and Brenzett reeds,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">I reckon you know what my mind needs!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">I’ve given my soul to the Southdown grass,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And sheep-bells tinkled where you pass.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Oh Firle an’ Ditchling an’ sails at sea,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">I reckon you’ll keep my soul or me!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="252"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg252"/>
+          <p>
+          </p>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+        <pb n="253"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg253"/>
+        <head> THE TREASURE AND THE LAW </head>
+        <pb n="254"/>
+        <anchor id="Pg254"/>
+        <p>
+        </p>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="255"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg255"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>SONG OF THE FIFTH RIVER</head>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">When first by Eden Tree,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">The Four Great Rivers ran,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">To each was appointed a Man</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Her Prince and Ruler to be.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But after this was ordained,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">(The ancient legends tell),</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">There came dark Israel,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">For whom no River remained.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Then He That is Wholly Just,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Said to him: ‘Fling on the ground</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">A handful of yellow dust,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And a Fifth Great River shall run,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Mightier than these Four,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">In secret the Earth around;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And Her secret evermore,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Shall be shown to thee and thy Race.’</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">So it was said and done.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And, deep in the veins of Earth,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And, fed by a thousand springs</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">That comfort the market-place,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Or sap the power of Kings,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">The Fifth Great River had birth,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Even as it was foretold—</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">The Secret River of Gold!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="256"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg256"/>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And Israel laid down</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">His sceptre and his crown,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">To brood on that River bank,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Where the waters flashed and sank,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And burrowed in earth and fell,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And bided a season below;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">For reason that none might know,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Save only Israel.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">He is Lord of the Last—</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">The Fifth, most wonderful, Flood.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">He hears her thunder past</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And Her Song is in his blood.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">He can foresay: ‘She will fall,’</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">For he knows which fountain dries,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Behind which desert belt</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">A thousand leagues to the South.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">He can foresay: ‘She will rise.’</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">He knows what far snows melt;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Along what mountain wall</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">A thousand leagues to the North.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">He snuffs the coming drouth</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">As he snuffs the coming rain,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">He knows what each will bring forth</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">And turns it to his gain.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">A Prince without a Sword,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">A Ruler without a Throne;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Israel follows his quest:—</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">In every land a guest.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Of many lands the lord.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">In no land King is he.</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">But the Fifth Great River keeps</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">The secret of her deeps</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">For Israel alone,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">As it was ordered to be.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+          <pb n="257"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg257"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>THE TREASURE AND THE LAW</head>
+          <p> Now it was the third week in November, and the woods rang with the noise of
+            pheasant-shooting. No one hunted that steep, cramped country except the village beagles,
+            who, as often as not, escaped from their kennels and made a day of their own. Dan and
+            Una found a couple of them towling round the kitchen-garden after the laundry cat. The
+            little brutes were only too pleased to go rabbiting, so the children ran them all along
+            the brook pastures and into Little Lindens farm-yard, where the old sow vanquished
+            them—and up to the quarry-hole, where they started a fox. He headed for Far Wood, and
+            there they frightened out all the pheasants who were sheltering from a big beat across
+            the valley. Then the cruel guns began again, and they grabbed the beagles lest they
+            should stray and get hurt. </p>
+          <p> ‘I wouldn’t be a pheasant—in November—for a lot,’ Dan panted, as he caught <hi
+              rend="italic">Folly</hi> by the neck. ‘Why did you laugh that horrid way?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I didn’t,’ said Una, sitting on <hi rend="italic">Flora</hi>, the fat lady-dog. ‘Oh,
+            look! The silly birds are going back to their own woods instead of ours, where they
+            would be safe.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Safe till it pleased you to kill them.’ An old man, so tall he was almost a giant,
+            stepped <pb n="258"/><anchor id="Pg258"/>from behind the clump of hollies by
+            ‘Volaterrae.’ The children jumped, and the dogs dropped like setters. He wore a sweeping
+            gown of dark thick stuff, lined and edged with yellowish fur, and he bowed a bent-down
+            bow that made them feel both proud and ashamed. Then he looked at them steadily, and
+            they stared back without doubt or fear. </p>
+          <p> ‘You are not afraid?’ he said, running his hands through his splendid grey beard. ‘Not
+            afraid that those men yonder’—he jerked his head towards the incessant pop-pop of the
+            guns from the lower woods—‘will do you hurt?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘We-ell’—Dan liked to be accurate, especially when he was shy—‘old Hobd—a friend of
+            mine told me that one of the beaters got peppered last week—hit in the leg, I mean. You
+            see, Mr. Meyer <hi rend="italic">will</hi> fire at rabbits. But he gave Waxy Garnett a
+            quid—sovereign, I mean—and Waxy told Hobden he’d have stood both barrels for half the
+            money.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘He doesn’t understand,’ Una cried, watching the pale, troubled face. ‘Oh, I wish——’ </p>
+          <p> She had scarcely said it when Puck rustled out of the hollies and spoke to the man
+            quickly in foreign words. Puck wore a long cloak too—the afternoon was just frosting
+            down—and it changed his appearance altogether. </p>
+          <p> ‘Nay, nay!’ he said at last. ‘You did not understand the boy. A freeman was a little
+            hurt, by pure mischance, at the hunting.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I know that mischance! What did his Lord do? Laugh and ride over him?’ the old man
+            sneered. </p>
+          <pb n="259"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg259"/>
+          <p> ‘It was one of your own people did the hurt, Kadmiel.’ Puck’s eyes twinkled
+            maliciously. ‘So he gave the freeman a piece of gold, and no more was said.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘A Jew drew blood from a Christian and no more was said?’ Kadmiel cried. ‘Never! When
+            did they torture him?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘No man may be bound, or fined, or slain till he has been judged by his peers,’ Puck
+            insisted. ‘There is but one Law in Old England for Jew or Christian—the Law that was
+            signed at Runnymede.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Why, that’s Magna Charta!’ Dan whispered. It was one of the few history dates that he
+            could remember. Kadmiel turned on him with a sweep and a whirr of his spicy-scented
+            gown. </p>
+          <p> ‘Dost <hi rend="italic">thou</hi> know of that, babe?’ he cried, and lifted his hands
+            in wonder. </p>
+          <p> ‘Yes,’ said Dan, firmly. </p>
+          <lg>
+            <l>‘Magna Charta was signed by John,</l>
+            <l>That Henry the Third put his heel upon.</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> And old Hobden says that if it hadn’t been for her (he calls everything “her,� you
+            know), the keepers would have him clapped in Lewes Gaol all the year round.’ </p>
+          <p> Again Puck translated to Kadmiel in the strange, solemn-sounding language, and at last
+            Kadmiel laughed. </p>
+          <p> ‘Out of the mouths of babes do we learn,’ said he. ‘But tell me now, and I will not
+            call you a babe but a Rabbi, <hi rend="italic">why</hi> did the King sign the roll of
+            the New Law at Runnymede? For he was a King.’ </p>
+          <pb n="260"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg260"/>
+          <p> Dan looked sideways at his sister. It was her turn. </p>
+          <p> ‘Because he jolly well had to,’ <corr sic="asid">said</corr> Una, softly. ‘The Barons
+            made him.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Nay,’ Kadmiel answered, shaking his head. ‘You Christians always forget that gold
+            does more than the sword. Our good King signed because he could not borrow more money
+            from us bad Jews.’ He curved his shoulders as he spoke. ‘A King without gold is a snake
+            with a broken back, and’—his nose sneered up and his eyebrows frowned down—‘it is a
+            good deed to break a snake’s back. That was <hi rend="italic">my</hi> work,’ he cried,
+            triumphantly, to Puck. ‘Spirit of Earth, bear witness that that was my work!’ He shot up
+            to his full towering height, and his words rang like a trumpet. He had a voice that
+            changed its tone almost as an opal changes colour—sometimes deep and thundery,
+            sometimes thin and waily, but always it made you listen. </p>
+          <p> ‘Many people can bear witness to that,’ Puck answered. ‘Tell these babes how it was
+            done. Remember, Master, they do not know Doubt or Fear.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘So I saw in their faces when we met,’ said Kadmiel. ‘Yet surely, surely they are
+            taught to spit upon Jews?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Are they?’ said Dan, much interested. ‘Where at?’ </p>
+          <p> Puck fell back a pace, laughing. ‘Kadmiel is thinking of King John’s reign,’ he
+            explained. ‘His people were badly treated then.’ </p>
+          <pb n="261"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg261"/>
+          <p> ‘Oh, we know <hi rend="italic">that</hi>,’ they answered, and (it was very rude of
+            them, but they could not help it) they stared straight at Kadmiel’s mouth to see if his
+            teeth were all there. It stuck in their lesson-memory that King John used to pull out
+            Jews’ teeth to make them lend him money. </p>
+          <p> Kadmiel understood the look and smiled bitterly. </p>
+          <p> ‘No. Your King never drew my teeth: I think, perhaps, I drew his. Listen! I was not
+            born among Christians, but among Moors—in Spain—in a little white town under the
+            mountains. Yes, the Moors are cruel, but at least their learned men dare to think. It
+            was prophesied of me at my birth that I should be a Lawgiver to a People of a strange
+            speech and a hard language. We Jews are always looking for the Prince and the Lawgiver
+            to come. Why not? My people in the town (we were very few) set me apart as a child of
+            the prophecy—the Chosen of the Chosen. We Jews dream so many dreams. You would never
+            guess it to see us slink about the rubbish-heaps in our quarter; but at the day’s
+            end—doors shut, candles lit—aha! <hi rend="italic">then</hi> we become the Chosen
+            again.’ </p>
+          <p> He paced back and forth through the wood as he talked. The rattle of the shot-guns
+            never ceased, and the dogs whimpered a little and lay flat on the leaves. </p>
+          <p> ‘I was a Prince. Yes! Think of a little Prince who had never known rough words in his
+            own house handed over to shouting, bearded Rabbis, who pulled his ears and <pb n="262"
+              /><anchor id="Pg262"/>filliped his nose, all that he might learn—learn—learn to be
+            King when his time came. Hé! Such a little Prince it was! One eye he kept on the
+            stone-throwing Moorish boys, and the other it roved about the streets looking for his
+            Kingdom. Yes, and he learned to cry softly when he was hunted up and down those streets.
+            He learned to do all things without noise. He played beneath his father’s table when the
+            Great Candle was lit, and he listened as children listen to the talk of his father’s
+            friends above the table. They came across the mountains, from out of all the world; for
+            my Prince’s father was their councillor. They came from behind the armies of
+            Sala-ud-Din: from Rome: from Venice: from England. They stole down our alley, they
+            tapped secretly at our door, they took off their rags, they arrayed themselves, and they
+            talked to my father at the wine. All over the world the heathen fought each other. They
+            brought news of these wars, and while he played beneath the table, my Prince heard these
+            meanly-dressed ones decide between themselves how, and when, and for how long King
+            should draw sword against King, and People rise up against People. Why not? There can be
+            no war without gold, and we Jews know how the earth’s gold moves with the seasons, and
+            the crops, and the winds; circling and looping and rising and sinking away like a
+            river—a wonderful underground river. How should the foolish Kings know <hi
+              rend="italic">that</hi> while they fight and steal and kill?’ </p>
+          <p> The children’s faces showed that they knew <pb n="263"/><anchor id="Pg263"/>nothing at
+            all as, with open eyes, they trotted and turned beside the long-striding old man. He
+            twitched his gown over his shoulders, and a square plate of gold, studded with jewels,
+            gleamed for an instant through the fur, like a star through flying snow. </p>
+          <p> ‘No matter,’ he said. ‘But, credit me, my Prince saw peace or war decided not once,
+            but many times, by the fall of a coin spun between a Jew from Bury and a Jewess from
+            Alexandria, in his father’s house, when the Great Candle was lit. Such power had we Jews
+            among the Gentiles. Ah, my little Prince! Do you wonder that he learned quickly? Why
+            not?’ He muttered to himself and went on:— </p>
+          <p> ‘My trade was that of a physician. When I had learned it in Spain I went to the East
+            to find my Kingdom. Why not? A Jew is as free as a sparrow—or a dog. He goes where he
+            is hunted. In the East I found libraries where men dared to think—schools of medicine
+            where they dared to learn. I was diligent in my business. Therefore I stood before
+            Kings. I have been a brother to Princes and a companion to beggars, and I have walked
+            between the living and the dead. There was no profit in it. I did not find my Kingdom.
+            So, in the tenth year of my travels, when I had reached the Uttermost Eastern Sea, I
+            returned to my father’s house. God had wonderfully preserved my people. None had been
+            slain, none even wounded, and only a few scourged. I became once more a son in my
+            father’s house.
+          <pb n="264"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg264"/>Again the Great Candle was lit; again the meanly-apparelled ones tapped on our door
+            after dusk; and again I heard them weigh out peace and war, as they weighed out the gold
+            on the table. But I was not rich—not very rich. Therefore, when those that had power
+            and knowledge and wealth talked together, I sat in the shadow. Why not? </p>
+          <p> ‘Yet all my wanderings had shown me one sure thing, which is, that a King without
+            money is like a spear without a head. He cannot do much harm. I said, therefore, to
+            Elias of Bury, a great one among our people: “Why do our people lend any more to the
+            Kings that oppress us?� “Because,� said Elias, “if we refuse they stir up their people
+            against us, and the People are tenfold more cruel than Kings. If thou doubtest, come
+            with me to Bury in England and live as I live.� </p>
+          <p> ‘I saw my mother’s face across the candle-flame, and I said, “I will come with thee
+            to Bury. Maybe my Kingdom shall be there.� </p>
+          <p> ‘So I sailed with Elias to the darkness and the cruelty of Bury in England, where
+            there are no learned men. How can a man be wise if he hate? At Bury I kept his accounts
+            for Elias, and I saw men kill Jews there by the tower. No—none laid hands on Elias. He
+            lent money to the King, and the King’s favour was about him. A King will not take the
+            life so long as there is any gold. This King—yes, John—oppressed his people bitterly
+            because they would not give him money. Yet his land was a good land. If he had only <pb
+              n="265"/><anchor id="Pg265"/>given it rest he might have cropped it as a Christian
+            crops his beard. But even <hi rend="italic">that</hi> little he did not know; for God
+            had deprived him of all understanding, and had multiplied pestilence, and famine, and
+            despair upon the people. Therefore his people turned against us Jews, who are all
+            people’s dogs. Why not? Lastly the Barons and the people rose together against the King
+            because of his cruelties. Nay—nay—the Barons did not love the people, but they saw
+            that if the King eat up and destroyed the common people, he would presently destroy the
+            Barons. They joined then, as cats and pigs will join to slay a snake. I kept the
+            accounts, and I watched all these things, for I remembered the Prophecy. </p>
+          <p> ‘A great gathering of Barons (to most of whom we had lent money) came to Bury, and
+            there, after much talk and a thousand runnings-about, they made a roll of the New Laws
+            that they would force on the King. If he swore to keep those Laws, they would allow him
+            a little money. That was the King’s God—Money—to waste. They showed us the roll of the
+            New Laws. Why not? We had lent them money. We knew all their counsels—we Jews shivering
+            behind our doors in Bury.’ He threw out his hands suddenly. ‘We did not seek to be paid
+              <hi rend="italic">all</hi> in money. We sought Power—Power—Power! That is <hi
+              rend="italic">our</hi> God in our captivity. Power to use! </p>
+          <p> ‘I said to Elias: “These New Laws are good. Lend no more money to the King: so long as
+            he has money he will lie and slay the people.� </p>
+          <pb n="266"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg266"/>
+          <p> ‘“Nay,� said Elias. “I know this people. They are madly cruel. Better one King than a
+            thousand butchers. I have lent a little money to the Barons, or they would torture us,
+            but my most I will lend to the King. He hath promised me a place near him at Court,
+            where my wife and I shall be safe.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“But if the King be made to keep these New Laws,� I said, “the land will have peace,
+            and our trade will grow. If we lend he will fight again.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“Who made thee a Lawgiver in England?� said Elias. “I know this people. Let the dogs
+            tear one another! I will lend the King ten thousand pieces of gold, and he can fight the
+            Barons at his pleasure.� </p>
+          <p> ‘“There are not two thousand pieces of gold in all England this summer,� I said, for I
+            kept the accounts, and I knew how the earth’s gold moved—that wonderful underground
+            river! Elias barred home the windows, and, his hands about his mouth, he told me how,
+            when he was trading with small wares in a French ship, he had come to the Castle of
+            Pevensey.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh!’ said Dan. ‘Pevensey again!’ and looked at Una, who nodded and skipped. </p>
+          <p> ‘There, after they had scattered his pack up and down the Great Hall, some young
+            knights carried him to an upper room, and dropped him into a well in a wall, that rose
+            and fell with the tide. They called him Joseph, and threw torches at his wet head. Why
+            not?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Why, of course,’ cried Dan. ‘Didn’t you know it was——’ Puck held up his hand to <pb
+              n="267"/><anchor id="Pg267"/>stop him, and Kadmiel, who never noticed, went on. </p>
+          <p> ‘When the tide dropped he thought he stood on old armour, but feeling with his toes,
+            he raked up bar on bar of soft gold. Some wicked treasure of the old days put away, and
+            the secret cut off by the sword. I have heard the like before.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘So have we,’ Una whispered. ‘But it wasn’t wicked a bit.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Elias took a morsel of the stuff with him, and thrice yearly he would return to
+            Pevensey as a chapman, selling at no price or profit, till they suffered him to sleep in
+            the empty room, where he would plumb and grope, and steal away a few bars. The great
+            store of it still remained, and by long brooding he had come to look on it as his own.
+            Yet when we thought how we should lift and convey it, we saw no way. This was before the
+            Word of the Lord had come to me. A walled fortress possessed by Normans; in the midst a
+            forty-foot tide-well out of which to remove secretly many horse-loads of gold! Hopeless!
+            So Elias wept. Adah, his wife, wept too. She had hoped to stand beside the Queen’s
+            Christian tiring-maids at Court, when the King should give them that place at Court
+            which he had promised. Why not? She was born in England—an odious woman. </p>
+          <p> ‘The present evil to us was that Elias, out of his strong folly, had, as it were,
+            promised the King that he would arm him with more gold. Wherefore the King in his camp
+            stopped his ears against the Barons and the people. <pb n="268"/><anchor id="Pg268"
+            />Wherefore men died daily. Adah so desired her place at Court, she besought Elias to
+            tell the King where the treasure lay, that the King might take it by force, and—they
+            would trust in his gratitude. Why not? This Elias refused to do, for he looked on the
+            gold as his own. They quarrelled, and they wept at the evening meal, and late in the
+            night came one Langton—a priest, almost learned—to borrow more money for the Barons.
+            Elias and Adah went to their chamber.’ </p>
+          <p> Kadmiel laughed scornfully in his beard. The shots across the valley stopped as the
+            shooting-party changed their ground for the last beat. </p>
+          <p> ‘So it was I, not Elias,’ he went on, quietly, ‘that made terms with Langton touching
+            the fortieth of the New Laws.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘What terms?’ said Puck, quickly. ‘The Fortieth of the Great Charter say: “To none
+            will we sell, refuse, or deny right or justice.�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘True, but the Barons had written first: <hi rend="italic">To no free man.</hi> It
+            cost me two hundred broad pieces of gold to change those narrow words. Langton, the
+            priest, understood. “Jew though thou art,� said he, “the change is just, and if ever
+            Christian and Jew come to be equal in England thy people may thank thee.� Then he went
+            out stealthily, as men do who deal with Israel by night. I think he spent my gift upon
+            his altar. Why not? I have spoken with Langton. He was such a man as I might have been
+            if—if we Jews had been a people. But yet, in many things, a child. </p>
+          <pb n="269"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg269"/>
+          <p> ‘I heard Elias and Adah abovestairs quarrel, and, knowing the woman was the stronger,
+            I saw that Elias would tell the King of the gold and that the King would continue in his
+              <corr sic="stubborness">stubbornness</corr>. Therefore I saw that the gold must be put
+            away from the reach of any man. Of a sudden, the Word of the Lord came to me saying,
+            “The Morning is come, O thou that dwellest in the land.�’ </p>
+          <p> Kadmiel halted, all black against the pale green sky beyond the wood—a huge robed
+            figure, like the Moses in the picture-Bible. </p>
+          <p> ‘I rose. I went out, and as I shut the door on that House of Foolishness, the woman
+            looked from the window and whispered, “I have prevailed on my husband to tell the King!�
+            I answered, “There is no need. The Lord is with me.� </p>
+          <p> ‘In that hour the Lord gave me full understanding of all that I must do; and His Hand
+            covered me in my ways. First I went to London, to a physician of our people, who sold me
+            certain drugs that I needed. You shall see why. Thence I went swiftly to Pevensey. Men
+            fought all around me, for there were neither rulers nor judges in the abominable land.
+            Yet when I walked by them they cried out that I was one Ahasuerus, a Jew, condemned, as
+            they believe, to live for ever, and they fled from me everyways. Thus the Lord saved me
+            for my work, and at Pevensey I bought me a little boat and moored it on the mud beneath
+            the Marsh-gate of the Castle. That also God showed me.’ </p>
+          <p> He was as calm as though he were speaking <pb n="270"/><anchor id="Pg270"/>of some
+            stranger, and his voice filled the little bare wood with rolling music. </p>
+          <p> ‘I cast’—his hand went to his breast, and again the strange jewel gleamed—‘I cast
+            the drugs which I had prepared into the common well of the Castle. Nay, I did no harm.
+            The more we physicians know, the less do we do. Only the fool says: “I dare.� I caused a
+            blotched and itching rash to break out upon their skins, but I knew it would fade in
+            fifteen days. I did not stretch out my hand against their life. They in the Castle
+            thought it was the Plague, and they ran forth, taking with them their very dogs. </p>
+          <p> ‘A Christian physician, seeing that I was a Jew and a stranger, vowed that I had
+            brought the sickness from London. This is the one time I have ever heard a Christian
+            leech speak truth of any disease. Thereupon the people beat me, but a merciful woman
+            said: “Do not kill him now. Push him into our Castle with his plague, and if, as he
+            says, it will abate on the fifteenth day, we can kill him then.� Why not? They drove me
+            across the drawbridge of the Castle, and fled back to their booths. Thus I came to be
+            alone with the treasure.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But did you know this was all going to happen just right?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘My Prophecy was that I should be a Lawgiver to a People of a strange land and a hard
+            speech. I knew I should not die. I washed my cuts. I found the tide-well in the wall,
+            and from Sabbath to Sabbath I dove and dug there in that empty, Christian-smelling <pb
+              n="271"/><anchor id="Pg271"/>fortress. Hé! I spoiled the Egyptians! Hé! If they had
+            only known! I drew up many good loads of gold, which I loaded by night into my boat.
+            There had been gold-dust too, but that had been washed away by the tides.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Didn’t you ever wonder who had put it there?’ said Dan, stealing a glance at Puck’s
+            calm, dark face under the hood of his gown. Puck shook his head and pursed his lips. </p>
+          <p> ‘Often; for the gold was new to me,’ Kadmiel replied. ‘I know the Golds. I can judge
+            them in the dark; but this was heavier and redder than any we deal in. Perhaps it was
+            the very gold of Parvaim. Eh, why not? It went to my heart to heave it on to the mud,
+            but I saw well that if the evil thing remained, or if even the hope of finding it
+            remained, the King would not sign the New Laws, and the land would perish.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Oh, Marvel!’ said Puck, beneath his breath, rustling in the dead leaves. </p>
+          <p> ‘When the boat was loaded I washed my hands seven times, and pared beneath my nails,
+            for I would not keep one grain. I went out by the little gate where the Castle’s refuse
+            is thrown. I dared not hoist sail lest men should see me; but the Lord commanded the
+            tide to bear me carefully, and I was far from land before the morning.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Weren’t you afraid?’ said Una. </p>
+          <p> ‘Why? There were no Christians in the boat. At sunrise I made my prayer, and cast the
+            gold—all—all that gold into the deep sea! A King’s ransom—no, the ransom of a People!
+            When I had loosed hold of the last <pb n="272"/><anchor id="Pg272"/>bars, the Lord
+            commanded the tide to return me to a haven at the mouth of a river, and thence I walked
+            across a wilderness to Lewes, where I have brethren. They opened the door to me, and
+            they say—I had not eaten for two days—they say that I fell across the threshold,
+            crying, “I have sunk an army with horsemen in the sea!�’ </p>
+          <p> ‘But you hadn’t,’ said Una. ‘Oh, yes! I see! You meant that King John might have spent
+            it on that?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Even so,’ said Kadmiel. </p>
+          <p> The firing broke out again close behind them. The pheasants poured over the top of a
+            belt of tall firs. They could see young Mr. Meyer, in his new yellow gaiters, very busy
+            and excited at the end of the line, and they could hear the thud of the falling birds. </p>
+          <p> ‘But what did Elias of Bury do?’ Puck demanded. ‘He had promised money to the King.’ </p>
+          <p> Kadmiel smiled grimly. ‘I sent him word from London that the Lord was on my side. When
+            he heard that the Plague had broken out in Pevensey, and that a Jew had been thrust into
+            the Castle to cure it, he understood my word was true. He and Adah hurried to Lewes and
+            asked me for an accounting. He still looked on the gold as his own. I told them where I
+            had laid it, and I gave them full leave to pick it up.... Eh, well! The curses of a fool
+            and the dust of a journey are two things no wise man can escape.... But I pitied Elias!
+            The King was wroth at him because he could not lend; the Barons <pb n="273"/><anchor
+              id="Pg273"/>were wroth at him because they heard that he would have lent to the King;
+            and Adah was wroth at him because she was an odious woman. They took ship from Lewes to
+            Spain. That was wise!’ </p>
+          <p> ‘And you? Did you see the signing of the Law at Runnymede?’ said Puck, as Kadmiel
+            laughed noiselessly. </p>
+          <p> ‘Nay. Who am I to meddle with things too high for me? I returned to Bury, and lent
+            money on the autumn crops. Why not?’ </p>
+          <p> There was a crackle overhead. A cock-pheasant that had sheered aside after being hit
+            spattered down almost on top of them, driving up the dry leaves like a shell. <hi
+              rend="italic">Flora</hi> and <hi rend="italic">Folly</hi> threw themselves at it; the
+            children rushed forward, and when they had beaten them off and smoothed down the plumage
+            Kadmiel had disappeared. </p>
+          <p> ‘Well,’ said Puck, calmly, ‘what did you think of it? Weland gave the Sword. The Sword
+            gave the Treasure, and the Treasure gave the Law. It’s as natural as an oak growing.’ </p>
+          <p> ‘I don’t understand. Didn’t he know it was Sir Richard’s old treasure?’ said Dan. ‘And
+            why did Sir Richard and Brother Hugh leave it lying about? And—and——’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Never mind,’ said Una, politely. ‘He’ll let us come and go, and look, and know
+            another time. Won’t you, Puck?’ </p>
+          <p> ‘Another time maybe,’ Puck answered. ‘Brr! It’s cold—and late. I’ll race you towards
+            home!’ </p>
+          <p> They hurried down into the sheltered <pb n="274"/><anchor id="Pg274"/>valley. The sun
+            had almost sunk behind Cherry Clack, the trodden ground by the cattle-gates was freezing
+            at the edges, and the new-waked north wind blew the night on them from over the hills.
+            They picked up their feet and flew across the browned pastures, and when they halted,
+            panting in the steam of their own breath, the dead leaves whirled up behind them. There
+            was Oak and Ash and Thorn enough in that year-end shower to magic away a thousand
+            memories. </p>
+          <p> So they trotted to the brook at the bottom of the lawn, wondering why <hi
+              rend="italic">Flora</hi> and <hi rend="italic">Folly</hi> had missed the quarry-hole
+            fox. </p>
+          <p> Old Hobden was just finishing some hedge-work. They saw his white smock glimmer in the
+            twilight where he faggoted the rubbish. </p>
+          <p> ‘Winter, he’s come, I rackon, Mus’ Dan,’ he called. ‘Hard times now till Heffle Cuckoo
+            Fair. Yes, we’ll all be glad to see the Old Woman let the Cuckoo out o’ the basket for
+            to start lawful Spring in England.’ They heard a crash, and a stamp and a splash of
+            water as though a heavy old cow were crossing almost under their noses. </p>
+          <p> Hobden ran forward angrily to the ford. </p>
+          <p> ‘Gleason’s bull again, playin’ Robin all over the Farm! Oh, look, Mus’ Dan—his great
+            footmark as big as a trencher. No bounds to his impidence! He might count himself to be
+            a man—or Somebody.’ </p>
+          <p> A voice the other side of the brook boomed: </p>
+          <pb n="275"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg275"/>
+          <lg>
+            <l><corr sic="I">‘I</corr> marvel who his cloak would turn</l>
+            <l>When Puck had led him round</l>
+            <l>Or where those walking fires would <corr sic="burne">burn</corr>——’</l>
+          </lg>
+          <p> Then the children went in singing “Farewell Rewards and Fairies� at the tops of their
+            voices. They had forgotten that they had not even said good-night to Puck. </p>
+        </div>
+        <div rend="page-break-before: always">
+          <pb n="276"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg276"/>
+          <index index="pdf"/>
+          <head>THE CHILDREN’S SONG</head>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Land of our Birth, we pledge to thee</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Our love and toil in the years to be,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">When we are grown and take our place,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">As men and women with our race.</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l>Father in Heaven who lovest all,</l>
+            <l>Oh help Thy children when they call;</l>
+            <l>That they may build from age to age,</l>
+            <l>An undefiled heritage!</l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l>Teach us to bear the yoke in youth,</l>
+            <l>With steadfastness and careful truth;</l>
+            <l>That, in our time, Thy Grace may give</l>
+            <l>The Truth whereby the Nations live.</l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l>Teach us to rule ourselves alway,</l>
+            <l>Controlled and cleanly night and day;</l>
+            <l>That we may bring, if need arise,</l>
+            <l>No maimed or worthless sacrifice.</l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l>Teach us to look in all our ends,</l>
+            <l>On Thee for judge, and not our friends;</l>
+            <l>That we, with Thee, may walk uncowed</l>
+            <l>By fear or favour of the crowd.</l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l>Teach us the Strength that cannot seek,</l>
+            <l>By deed or thought, to hurt the weak;</l>
+            <l>That, under Thee, we may possess</l>
+            <l>Man’s strength to comfort man’s distress.</l>
+          </lg>
+          <pb n="277"/>
+          <anchor id="Pg277"/>
+          <lg>
+            <l>Teach us Delight in simple things,</l>
+            <l>And Mirth that has no bitter springs;</l>
+            <l>Forgiveness free of evil done,</l>
+            <l>And Love to all men ’neath the sun!</l>
+          </lg>
+          <lg>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Land of our Birth, our Faith our Pride,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">For whose dear sake our fathers died;</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">O Motherland, we pledge to thee,</hi></l>
+            <l><hi rend="italic">Head, heart, and hand through the years to be!</hi></l>
+          </lg>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+    </body>
+    <back>
+      <div>
+        <pgIf output="pdf">
+          <then/>
+          <else>
+            <div id="footnotes" rend="page-break-before: always">
+              <head>Footnote</head>
+              <divGen type="footnotes"/>
+            </div>
+          </else>
+        </pgIf>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+        <index index="pdf"/>
+        <head>Transcriber&rsquo;s note</head>
+        
+        <p>The following typographical errors were corrected:</p>
+        <list>
+          <item><ref target="Pg007">page 7</ref>, “Pyramis� changed to “Pyramus�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg009">page 9</ref>, quotes added before “couldn’t� and “I�</item>          
+          <item><ref target="Pg013">page 13</ref>, “draggons� changed to “dragons�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg027">page 27</ref>, quote added before “Late�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg043">page 43</ref>, “summons� changed to “summon�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg051">page 51</ref>, “we� added before “do�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg062">page 62</ref>, double quote changed to single quote after “pirate-folk?�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg064">page 64</ref>, semicolon added after “Yes�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg068">page 68</ref>, double “said� removed, single quote changed to double quote after “kill!�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg069">page 69</ref>, comma added after “Kitai�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg076">page 76</ref>, double “where� removed</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg085">page 85</ref>, quote added after “gold!�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg097">page 97</ref>, quote removed after “Aquila.�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg099">page 99</ref>, “shouder� changed to “shoulder�, single quote changed to double quote after “Look!�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg102">page 102</ref>, “learned� changed to “leaned�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg103">page 103</ref>, “a� added between “is� and “good�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg108">page 108</ref>, quote removed before “At�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg110">page 110</ref>, single quote changed to double quote before “But�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg127">page 127</ref>, quote added after “catapult,�, quote removed after “Una.�, “quicky� changed to “quickly�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg128">page 128</ref>, comma removed after “bigger�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg135">page 135</ref>, “hmself� changed to “himself�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg137">page 137</ref>, “did'nt� changed to “didn’t�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg141">page 141</ref>, quote added before “But�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg142">page 142</ref>, single quote changed to double quote after “reason,�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg143">page 143</ref>, “Cylops� changed to “Cyclops�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg152">page 152</ref>, “Caesar� changed to “Cæsar�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg153">page 153</ref>, comma added after “children,�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg156">page 156</ref>, quote added after “make.�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg160">page 160</ref>, comma added after “No�, period added after “up�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg166">page 166</ref>, quote added after “thoughts.�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg170">page 170</ref>, double quote changed to single quote before “Sorry�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg184">page 184</ref>, single quote changed to double quote after “Man.�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg188">page 188</ref>, single quote changed to double quote after “him,�, “to-day?� and “finished!�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg193">page 193</ref>, quote added after “letter.�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg205">page 205</ref>, parenthesis added after “complain�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg214">page 214</ref>, period added after “lime.�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg218">page 218</ref>, “sepentines� changed to “serpentines�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg224">page 224</ref>, quote added after “voice.�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg235">page 235</ref>, apostroph moved after “conjurin’.�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg237">page 237</ref>, quote added before “Dymchurch�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg239">page 239</ref>, apostroph and comma changed after “nothin’,“</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg240">page 240</ref>, “shouder� changed to “shoulder�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg241">page 241</ref>, apostroph and periodchanged after “bein’.�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg244">page 244</ref>, apostroph added after “an�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg248">page 248</ref>, comma removed after “Robin�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg260">page 260</ref>, “asid� changed to “said�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg269">page 269</ref>, “stubborness� changed to “stubbornness�</item>
+          <item><ref target="Pg275">page 275</ref>, quote added before “I�, “burne� changed to “burn�</item>
+        </list>
+      </div>
+      <div rend="page-break-before: right">
+                <divGen type="pgfooter" />
+            </div>
+    </back>
+  </text>
+</TEI.2>
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@@ -0,0 +1,7566 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Puck of Pook's Hill by Rudyard Kipling
+
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no
+restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under
+the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or
+online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license
+
+
+
+Title: Puck of Pook's Hill
+
+Author: Rudyard Kipling
+
+Release Date: July 11, 2008 [Ebook #26027]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUCK OF POOK'S HILL***
+
+
+
+
+
+                           PUCK OF POOK'S HILL
+
+
+                         BOOKS BY RUDYARD KIPLING
+
+          PUCK OF POOK'S HILL
+          THEY
+          TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES
+          THE FIVE NATIONS
+          THE JUST SO SONG BOOK
+          JUST SO STORIES
+          KIM
+          STALKY & CO.
+          THE DAY'S WORK
+          THE BRUSHWOOD BOY
+          FROM SEA TO SEA
+          DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES AND BALLADS AND BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS
+          PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS
+          THE LIGHT THAT FAILED
+          LIFE'S HANDICAP: BEING STORIES OF MINE OWN PEOPLE
+          UNDER THE DEODARS, THE PHANTOM 'RICKSHAW, AND WEE WILLIE WINKIE
+          SOLDIERS THREE, THE STORY OF THE GADSBYS, AND IN BLACK AND WHITE
+          SOLDIER STORIES
+          THE KIPLING BIRTHDAY BOOK
+          (WITH WOLCOTT BALESTIER) THE NAULAHKA
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: '"Go!" she says. "Go with my Leave an' Goodwill."'
+  _See page 247_]
+
+
+
+
+
+                          Puck of Pook's Hill
+
+                            By Rudyard Kipling
+
+
+_Illustrated by_
+Arthur Rackham, A.R.W.S.
+
+
+
+NEW YORK
+DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
+1906
+
+
+
+
+
+                        Copyright, 1905, 1906, by
+                             RUDYARD KIPLING
+                         Published, October, 1906
+
+                         _All rights reserved,_
+         _including that of translation into foreign languages,_
+                       _including the Scandinavian_
+
+
+
+
+
+          ROBIN GOODFELLOW--HIS FRIENDS
+
+          By RUDYARD KIPLING
+
+             I. A Centurion of the Thirtieth.
+            II. On the Great Wall.
+           III. The Winged Hats.
+            IV. Hal o' the Draft.
+             V. Dymchurch Flit.
+            VI. The Treasure and the Law.
+
+          Copyright, 1906, by RUDYARD KIPLING.
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                           PAGE
+_Puck's Song_                                 1
+Weland's Sword                                5
+_A Tree Song_                                29
+Young Men at the Manor                       33
+_Sir Richard's Song_                         55
+_Harp Song of the Dane Women_                59
+The Knights of the Joyous Venture            61
+_Thorkild's Song_                            87
+Old Men at Pevensey                          91
+_The Runes on Weland's Sword_               119
+A Centurion of the Thirtieth                125
+_A British-Roman Song_                      145
+On the Great Wall                           149
+_A Song to Mithras_                         173
+The Winged Hats                             177
+_A Pict Song_                               201
+Hal o' the Draft                            207
+_A Smugglers' Song_                         227
+_The Bee Boy's Song_                        231
+'Dymchurch Flit'                            233
+_A Three-Part Song_                         251
+_Song of the Fifth River_                   255
+The Treasure and the Law                    257
+_The Children's Song_                       276
+
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+'"Go!" she says, "Go with my Leave an' Goodwill."'        _Frontispiece_
+                                                             FACING PAGE
+In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they saw a                6
+small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person
+with a snub nose, slanting blue eyes, and a grin that
+ran right across his freckled face.
+'There's where you meet hunters, and trappers for the                152
+Circuses, prodding along chained bears and muzzled
+wolves.'
+'Hoity-toity!' he cried. 'Here's Pride in purple                     212
+feathers! Here's wrathy contempt and the Pomps of the
+Flesh!'... And he doffed his cap to the bubbling bird.
+
+
+
+
+
+                           PUCK OF POOK'S HILL
+
+
+
+
+
+
+PUCK'S SONG
+
+
+  _See you the dimpled track that runs,_
+    _All hollow through the wheat?_
+  _O that was where they hauled the guns_
+    _That smote King Philip's fleet._
+
+  _See you our little mill that clacks,_
+    _So busy by the brook?_
+  _She has ground her corn and paid her tax_
+    _Ever since Domesday Book._
+
+  _See you our stilly woods of oak,_
+    _And the dread ditch beside?_
+  _O that was where the Saxons broke,_
+    _On the day that Harold died._
+
+  _See you the windy levels spread_
+    _About the gates of Rye?_
+  _O that was where the Northmen fled,_
+    _When Alfred's ships came by._
+
+  _See you our pastures wide and lone,_
+    _Where the red oxen browse?_
+  _O there was a City thronged and known,_
+    _Ere London boasted a house._
+
+  _And see you, after rain, the trace_
+    _Of mound and ditch and wall?_
+  _O that was a Legion's camping-place,_
+    _When Caesar sailed from Gaul._
+
+  _And see you marks that show and fade,_
+    _Like shadows on the Downs?_
+  _O they are the lines the Flint Men made,_
+    _To guard their wondrous towns._
+
+  _Trackway and Camp and City lost,_
+    _Salt Marsh where now is corn;_
+  _Old Wars, old Peace, old Arts that cease,_
+    _And so was England born!_
+
+  _She is not any common Earth,_
+    _Water or wood or air,_
+  _But Merlin's Isle of Gramarye,_
+    _Where you and I will fare._
+
+
+
+
+
+WELAND'S SWORD
+
+
+
+
+WELAND'S SWORD(1)
+
+
+The children were at the Theatre, acting to Three Cows as much as they
+could remember of _Midsummer Night's Dream_. Their father had made them a
+small play out of the big Shakespeare one, and they had rehearsed it with
+him and with their mother till they could say it by heart. They began
+where Nick Bottom the weaver comes out of the bushes with a donkey's head
+on his shoulder, and finds Titania, Queen of the Fairies, asleep. Then
+they skipped to the part where Bottom asks three little fairies to scratch
+his head and bring him honey, and they ended where he falls asleep in
+Titania's arms. Dan was Puck and Nick Bottom, as well as all three
+Fairies. He wore a pointy-eared cloth cap for Puck, and a paper donkey's
+head out of a Christmas cracker--but it tore if you were not careful--for
+Bottom. Una was Titania, with a wreath of columbines and a foxglove wand.
+
+The Theatre lay in a meadow called the Long Slip. A little mill-stream,
+carrying water to a mill two or three fields away, bent round one corner
+of it, and in the middle of the bend lay a large old fairy Ring of
+darkened grass, which was their stage. The mill-stream banks, overgrown
+with willow, hazel, and guelder rose made convenient places to wait in
+till your turn came; and a grown-up who had seen it said that Shakespeare
+himself could not have imagined a more suitable setting for his play. They
+were not, of course, allowed to act on Midsummer Night itself, but they
+went down after tea on Midsummer Eve, when the shadows were growing, and
+they took their supper--hard-boiled eggs, Bath Oliver biscuits, and salt in
+an envelope--with them. Three Cows had been milked and were grazing
+steadily with a tearing noise that one could hear all down the meadow; and
+the noise of the mill at work sounded like bare feet running on hard
+ground. A cuckoo sat on a gatepost singing his broken June tune,
+'cuckoo-cuk,' while a busy kingfisher crossed from the mill-stream to the
+brook which ran on the other side of the meadow. Everything else was a
+sort of thick, sleepy stillness smelling of meadow-sweet and dry grass.
+
+Their play went beautifully. Dan remembered all his parts--Puck, Bottom,
+and the three Fairies--and Una never forgot a word of Titania--not even the
+difficult piece where she tells the Fairies how to feed Bottom with
+'apricocks, ripe figs, and dewberries,' and all the lines end in 'ies.'
+They were both so pleased that they acted it three times over from
+beginning to end before they sat down in the unthistly centre of the Ring
+to eat eggs and Bath Olivers. This was when they heard a whistle among the
+alders on the bank, and they jumped.
+
+  [Illustration: In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they now
+  saw a small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub
+  nose, slanting blue eyes, and a grin that ran right across his
+  freckled face.]
+
+The bushes parted. In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they saw a
+small, brown, broad-shouldered, pointy-eared person with a snub nose,
+slanting blue eyes, and a grin that ran right across his freckled face. He
+shaded his forehead as though he were watching Quince, Snout, Bottom, and
+the others rehearsing _Pyramus__ and Thisbe_, and, in a voice as deep as
+Three Cows asking to be milked, he began:
+
+  'What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here,
+  So near the cradle of our fairy Queen?'
+
+He stopped, hollowed one hand round his ear, and, with a wicked twinkle in
+his eye, went on:
+
+  'What a play toward? I'll be auditor,
+  An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.'
+
+The children looked and gasped. The small thing--he was no taller than
+Dan's shoulder--stepped quietly into the Ring.
+
+'I'm rather out of practice,' said he; 'but that's the way my part ought
+to be played.'
+
+Still the children stared at him--from his dark blue cap, like a big
+columbine flower, to his bare, hairy feet. At last he laughed.
+
+'Please don't look like that. It isn't _my_ fault. What else could you
+expect?' he said.
+
+'We didn't expect any one,' Dan answered, slowly. 'This is our field.'
+
+'Is it?' said their visitor, sitting down. 'Then what on Human Earth made
+you act _Midsummer Night's Dream_ three times over, _on_ Midsummer Eve,
+_in_ the middle of a Ring, and under--right _under_ one of my oldest hills
+in Old England? Pook's Hill--Puck's Hill--Puck's Hill--Pook's Hill! It's as
+plain as the nose on my face.'
+
+He pointed to the bare, fern-covered slope of Pook's Hill that runs up
+from the far side of the mill-stream to a dark wood. Beyond that wood the
+ground rises and rises for five hundred feet, till at last you climb out
+on the bare top of Beacon Hill, to look over the Pevensey Levels and the
+Channel and half the naked South Downs.
+
+'By Oak, Ash, and Thorn!' he cried, still laughing. 'If this had happened
+a few hundred years ago you'd have had all the People of the Hills out
+like bees in June!'
+
+'We didn't know it was wrong,' said Dan.
+
+'Wrong!' The little fellow shook with laughter. 'Indeed, it isn't wrong.
+You've done something that Kings and Knights and Scholars in old days
+would have given their crowns and spurs and books to find out. If Merlin
+himself had helped you, you couldn't have managed better! You've broken
+the Hills--you've broken the Hills! It hasn't happened in a thousand
+years.'
+
+'We--we didn't mean to,' said Una.
+
+'Of course you didn't! That's just why you did it. Unluckily the Hills are
+empty now, and all the People of the Hills are gone. I'm the only one
+left. I'm Puck, the oldest Old Thing in England, very much at your service
+if--if you care to have anything to do with me. If you don't, of course
+you've only to say so, and I'll go.'
+
+He looked at the children and the children looked at him for quite half a
+minute. His eyes did not twinkle any more. They were very kind, and there
+was the beginning of a good smile on his lips.
+
+Una put out her hand. 'Don't go,' she said. 'We like you.'
+
+'Have a Bath Oliver,' said Dan, and he passed over the squashy envelope
+with the eggs.
+
+'By Oak, Ash, and Thorn!' cried Puck, taking off his blue cap, 'I like you
+too. Sprinkle a little salt on the biscuit, Dan, and I'll eat it with you.
+That'll show you the sort of person I am. Some of us'--he went on, with his
+mouth full--'couldn't abide Salt, or Horseshoes over a door, or
+Mountain-ash berries, or Running Water, or Cold Iron, or the sound of
+Church Bells. But I'm Puck!'
+
+He brushed the crumbs carefully from his doublet and shook hands.
+
+'We always said, Dan and I,' Una stammered, 'that if it ever happened we'd
+know ex-actly what to do; but--but now it seems all different somehow.'
+
+'She means meeting a fairy,' said Dan. '_I_ never believed in 'em--not
+after I was six, anyhow.'
+
+'I did,' said Una. 'At least, I sort of half believed till we learned
+"Farewell Rewards." Do you know "Farewell Rewards and Fairies"?'
+
+'Do you mean this?' said Puck. He threw his big head back and began at the
+second line:--
+
+    'Good housewives now may say,
+  For now foul sluts in dairies
+    Do fare as well as they;
+  For though they sweep their hearths no less
+
+('Join in, Una!')
+
+    Than maids were wont to do,
+  Yet who of late for cleanliness
+    Finds sixpence in her shoe?'
+
+The echoes flapped all along the flat meadow.
+
+'Of course I know it,' he said.
+
+'And then there's the verse about the Rings,' said Dan. 'When I was little
+it always made me feel unhappy in my inside.'
+
+'"Witness those rings and roundelays," do you mean?' boomed Puck, with a
+voice like a great church organ.
+
+    'Of theirs which yet remain,
+  Were footed in Queen Mary's days
+    On many a grassy plain.
+  But since of late Elizabeth,
+    And later James came in,
+  Are never seen on any heath
+    As when the time hath been.
+
+'It's some time since I heard that sung, but there's no good beating about
+the bush: it's true. The People of the Hills have all left. I saw them
+come into Old England and I saw them go. Giants, trolls, kelpies,
+brownies, goblins, imps; wood, tree, mound, and water spirits;
+heath-people, hill-watchers, treasure-guards, good people, little people,
+pishogues, leprechauns, night-riders, pixies, nixies, gnomes and the
+rest--gone, all gone! I came into England with Oak, Ash, and Thorn, and
+when Oak, Ash, and Thorn are gone I shall go too.'
+
+Dan looked round the meadow--at Una's oak by the lower gate, at the line of
+ash trees that overhang Otter Pool where the mill-stream spills over when
+the mill does not need it, and at the gnarled old white-thorn where Three
+Cows scratched their necks.
+
+'It's all right,' he said; and added, 'I'm planting a lot of acorns this
+autumn too.'
+
+'Then aren't you most awfully old?' said Una.
+
+'Not old--fairly long-lived, as folk say hereabouts. Let me see--my friends
+used to set my dish of cream for me o' nights when Stonehenge was new.
+Yes, before the Flint Men made the Dewpond under Chanctonbury Ring.'
+
+Una clasped her hands, cried 'Oh!' and nodded her head.
+
+'She's thought a plan,' Dan explained. 'She always does like that when she
+thinks a plan.'
+
+'I was thinking--suppose we saved some of our porridge and put it in the
+attic for you. They'd notice if we left it in the nursery.'
+
+'Schoolroom,' said Dan, quickly, and Una flushed, because they had made a
+solemn treaty that summer not to call the schoolroom the nursery any more.
+
+'Bless your heart o' gold!' said Puck. 'You'll make a fine considering
+wench some market-day. I really don't want you to put out a bowl for me;
+but if ever I need a bite, be sure I'll tell you.'
+
+He stretched himself at length on the dry grass, and the children
+stretched out beside him, their bare legs waving happily in the air. They
+felt they could not be afraid of him any more than of their particular
+friend old Hobden, the hedger. He did not bother them with grown-up
+questions, or laugh at the donkey's head, but lay and smiled to himself in
+the most sensible way.
+
+'Have you a knife on you?' he said at last.
+
+Dan handed over his big one-bladed outdoor knife, and Puck began to carve
+out a piece of turf from the centre of the Ring.
+
+'What's that for--Magic?' said Una, as he pressed up the square of
+chocolate loam that cut like so much cheese.
+
+'One of my little Magics,' he answered, and cut another. 'You see, I can't
+let you into the Hills because the People of the Hills have gone; but if
+you care to take seizin from me, I may be able to show you something out
+of the common here on Human Earth. You certainly deserve it.'
+
+'What's taking seizin?' said Dan, cautiously.
+
+'It's an old custom the people had when they bought and sold land. They
+used to cut out a clod and hand it over to the buyer, and you weren't
+lawfully seized of your land--it didn't really belong to you--till the other
+fellow had actually given you a piece of it--like this.' He held out the
+turves.
+
+'But it's our own meadow,' said Dan, drawing back. 'Are you going to magic
+it away?'
+
+Puck laughed. 'I know it's your meadow, but there's a great deal more in
+it than you or your father ever guessed. Try!'
+
+He turned his eyes on Una.
+
+'I'll do it,' she said. Dan followed her example at once.
+
+'Now are you two lawfully seized and possessed of all Old England,' began
+Puck, in a sing-song voice. 'By Right of Oak, Ash, and Thorn are you free
+to come and go and look and know where I shall show or best you please.
+You shall see What you shall see and you shall hear What you shall hear,
+though It shall have happened three thousand year; and you shall know
+neither Doubt nor Fear. Fast! Hold fast all I give you.'
+
+The children shut their eyes, but nothing happened.
+
+'Well?' said Una, disappointedly opening them. 'I thought there would be
+dragons.'
+
+'Though It shall have happened three thousand year,' said Puck, and
+counted on his fingers. 'No; I'm afraid there were no dragons three
+thousand years ago.'
+
+'But there hasn't happened anything at all,' said Dan.
+
+'Wait awhile,' said Puck. 'You don't grow an oak in a year--and Old
+England's older than twenty oaks. Let's sit down again and think. _I_ can
+do that for a century at a time.'
+
+'Ah, but you are a fairy,' said Dan.
+
+'Have you ever heard me use that word yet?' said Puck, quickly.
+
+'No. You talk about "the People of the Hills," but you never say
+"fairies,"' said Una. 'I was wondering at that. Don't you like it?'
+
+'How would you like to be called "mortal" or "human being" all the time?'
+said Puck; 'or "son of Adam" or "daughter of Eve"?'
+
+'I shouldn't like it at all,' said Dan. 'That's how the Djinns and Afrits
+talk in the _Arabian Nights_.'
+
+'And that's how _I_ feel about saying--that word that I don't say. Besides,
+what you call _them_ are made-up things the People of the Hills have never
+heard of--little buzzflies with butterfly wings and gauze petticoats, and
+shiny stars in their hair, and a wand like a schoolteacher's cane for
+punishing bad boys and rewarding good ones. _I_ know 'em!'
+
+'We don't mean that sort,' said Dan. 'We hate 'em too.'
+
+'Exactly,' said Puck. 'Can you wonder that the People of the Hills don't
+care to be confused with that painty-winged, wand-waving,
+sugar-and-shake-your-head set of impostors? Butterfly wings, indeed! I've
+seen Sir Huon and a troop of his people setting off from Tintagel Castle
+for Hy-Brasil in the teeth of a sou'-westerly gale, with the spray flying
+all over the castle, and the Horses of the Hill wild with fright. Out
+they'd go in a lull, screaming like gulls, and back they'd be driven five
+good miles inland before they could come head to wind again.
+Butterfly-wings! It was Magic--Magic as black as Merlin could make it, and
+the whole sea was green fire and white foam with singing mermaids in it.
+And the Horses of the Hill picked their way from one wave to another by
+the lightning flashes! _That_ was how it was in the old days!'
+
+'Splendid,' said Dan, but Una shuddered.
+
+'I'm glad they're gone, then; but what made the People of the Hills go
+away?' Una asked.
+
+'Different things. I'll tell you one of them some day--the thing that made
+the biggest flit of any,' said Puck. 'But they didn't all flit at once.
+They dropped off, one by one, through the centuries. Most of them were
+foreigners who couldn't stand our climate. _They_ flitted early.'
+
+'How early?' said Dan.
+
+'A couple of thousand years or more. The fact is they began as Gods. The
+Phoenicians brought some over when they came to buy tin; and the Gauls, and
+the Jutes, and the Danes, and the Frisians, and the Angles brought more
+when they landed. They were always landing in those days, or being driven
+back to their ships, and they always brought their Gods with them. England
+is a bad country for Gods. Now, _I_ began as I mean to go on. A bowl of
+porridge, a dish of milk, and a little quiet fun with the country folk in
+the lanes was enough for me then, as it is now. I belong here, you see,
+and I have been mixed up with people all my days. But most of the others
+insisted on being Gods, and having temples, and altars, and priests, and
+sacrifices of their own.'
+
+'People burned in wicker baskets?' said Dan. 'Like Miss Blake tells us
+about?'
+
+'All sorts of sacrifices,' said Puck. 'If it wasn't men, it was horses, or
+cattle, or pigs, or metheglin--that's a sticky, sweet sort of beer. _I_
+never liked it. They were a stiff-necked, extravagant set of idols, the
+Old Things. But what was the result? Men don't like being sacrificed at
+the best of times; they don't even like sacrificing their farm-horses.
+After a while men simply left the Old Things alone, and the roofs of their
+temples fell in, and the Old Things had to scuttle out and pick up a
+living as they could. Some of them took to hanging about trees, and hiding
+in graves and groaning o' nights. If they groaned loud enough and long
+enough they might frighten a poor countryman into sacrificing a hen, or
+leaving a pound of butter for them. I remember one Goddess called
+Belisama. She became a common wet water-spirit somewhere in Lancashire.
+And there were hundreds of other friends of mine. First they were Gods.
+Then they were People of the Hills, and then they flitted to other places
+because they couldn't get on with the English for one reason or another.
+There was only one Old Thing, I remember, who honestly worked for his
+living after he came down in the world. He was called Weland, and he was a
+smith to some Gods. I've forgotten their names, but he used to make them
+swords and spears. I think he claimed kin with Thor of the Scandinavians.'
+
+'_Heroes of Asgard_ Thor?' said Una. She had been reading the book.
+
+'Perhaps,' answered Puck. 'None the less, when bad times came, he didn't
+beg or steal. He worked; and I was lucky enough to be able to do him a
+good turn.'
+
+'Tell us about it,' said Dan. 'I think I like hearing of Old Things.'
+
+They rearranged themselves comfortably, each chewing a grass stem. Puck
+propped himself on one strong arm and went on:
+
+'Let's think! I met Weland first on a November afternoon in a sleet storm,
+on Pevensey Level----'
+
+'Pevensey? Over the hill, you mean?' Dan pointed south.
+
+'Yes; but it was all marsh in those days, right up to Horsebridge and
+Hydeneye. I was on Beacon Hill--they called it Brunanburgh then--when I saw
+the pale flame that burning thatch makes, and I went down to look. Some
+pirates--I think they must have been Peofn's men--were burning a village on
+the Levels, and Weland's image--a big, black wooden thing with amber beads
+round its neck--lay in the bows of a black thirty-two-oar galley that they
+had just beached. Bitter cold it was! There were icicles hanging from her
+deck, and the oars were glazed over with ice, and there was ice on
+Weland's lips. When he saw me he began a long chant in his own tongue,
+telling me how he was going to rule England, and how I should smell the
+smoke of his altars from Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight. _I_ didn't
+care! I'd seen too many Gods charging into Old England to be upset about
+it. I let him sing himself out while his men were burning the village, and
+then I said (I don't know what put it into my head), "Smith of the Gods,"
+I said, "the time comes when I shall meet you plying your trade for hire
+by the wayside."'
+
+'What did Weland say?' said Una. 'Was he angry?'
+
+'He called me names and rolled his eyes, and I went away to wake up the
+people inland. But the pirates conquered the country, and for centuries
+Weland was a most important God. He had temples everywhere--from
+Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight, as he said--and his sacrifices were
+simply scandalous. To do him justice, he preferred horses to men; but men
+_or_ horses, I knew that presently he'd have to come down in the
+world--like the other Old Things. I gave him lots of time--I gave him about
+a thousand years--and at the end of 'em I went into one of his temples near
+Andover to see how he prospered. There was his altar, and there was his
+image, and there were his priests, and there were the congregation, and
+everybody seemed quite happy, except Weland and the priests. In the old
+days the congregation were unhappy until the priests had chosen their
+sacrifices; and so would _you_ have been. When the service began a priest
+rushed out, dragged a man up to the altar, pretended to hit him on the
+head with a little gilt axe, and the man fell down and pretended to die.
+Then everybody shouted: "A sacrifice to Weland! A sacrifice to Weland!"'
+
+'And the man wasn't really dead?' said Una.
+
+'Not a bit. All as much pretence as a dolls' tea-party. Then they brought
+out a splendid white horse, and the priest cut some hair from its mane and
+tail and burned it on the altar, shouting, "A sacrifice!" That counted the
+same as if a man and a horse had been killed. I saw poor Weland's face
+through the smoke, and I couldn't help laughing. He looked so disgusted
+and so hungry, and all he had to satisfy himself was a horrid smell of
+burning hair. Just a dolls' tea-party!
+
+'I judged it better not to say anything then ('twouldn't have been fair),
+and the next time I came to Andover, a few hundred years later, Weland and
+his temple were gone, and there was a Christian bishop in a Church there.
+None of the People of the Hills could tell me anything about him, and I
+supposed that he had left England.' Puck turned; lay on the other elbow,
+and thought for a long time.
+
+'Let's see,' he said at last. 'It must have been some few years later--a
+year or two before the Conquest, I think--that I came back to Pook's Hill
+here, and one evening I heard old Hobden talking about Weland's Ford.'
+
+'If you mean old Hobden the hedger, he's only seventy-two. He told me so
+himself,' said Dan. 'He's a intimate friend of ours.'
+
+'You're quite right,' Puck replied. 'I meant old Hobden's ninth
+great-grandfather. He was a free man and burned charcoal hereabouts. I've
+known the family, father and son, so long that I get confused sometimes.
+Hob of the Dene was my Hobden's name, and he lived at the Forge cottage.
+Of course, I pricked up my ears when I heard Weland mentioned, and I
+scuttled through the woods to the Ford just beyond Bog Wood yonder.' He
+jerked his head westward, where the valley narrows between wooded hills
+and steep hop-fields.
+
+'Why, that's Willingford Bridge,' said Una. 'We go there for walks often.
+There's a kingfisher there.'
+
+'It was Weland's Ford then, dear. A road led down to it from the Beacon on
+the top of the hill--a shocking bad road it was--and all the hillside was
+thick, thick oak-forest, with deer in it. There was no trace of Weland,
+but presently I saw a fat old farmer riding down from the Beacon under the
+greenwood tree. His horse had cast a shoe in the clay, and when he came to
+the Ford he dismounted, took a penny out of his purse, laid it on a stone,
+tied the old horse to an oak, and called out: "Smith, Smith, here is work
+for you!" Then he sat down and went to sleep. You can imagine how _I_ felt
+when I saw a white-bearded, bent old blacksmith in a leather apron creep
+out from behind the oak and begin to shoe the horse. It was Weland
+himself. I was so astonished that I jumped out and said: "What on Human
+Earth are you doing here, Weland?"'
+
+'Poor Weland!' sighed Una.
+
+'He pushed the long hair back from his forehead (he didn't recognise me at
+first). Then he said: "_You_ ought to know. You foretold it, Old Thing.
+I'm shoeing horses for hire. I'm not even Weland now," he said. "They call
+me Wayland-Smith."'
+
+'Poor chap!' said Dan. 'What did you say?'
+
+'What could I say? He looked up, with the horse's foot on his lap, and he
+said, smiling, "I remember the time when I wouldn't have accepted this old
+bag of bones as a sacrifice, and now I'm glad enough to shoe him for a
+penny."
+
+'"Isn't there any way for you to get back to Valhalla, or wherever you
+come from?" I said.
+
+'"I'm afraid not," he said, rasping away at the hoof. He had a wonderful
+touch with horses. The old beast was whinnying on his shoulder. "You may
+remember that I was not a gentle God in my Day and my Time and my Power. I
+shall never be released till some human being truly wishes me well."
+
+'"Surely," said I, "the farmer can't do less than that. You're shoeing the
+horse all round for him."
+
+'"Yes," said he, "and my nails will hold a shoe from one full moon to the
+next. But farmers and Weald Clay," said he, "are both uncommon cold and
+sour."
+
+'Would you believe it, that when that farmer woke and found his horse shod
+he rode away without one word of thanks? I was so angry that I wheeled his
+horse right round and walked him back three miles to the Beacon just to
+teach the old sinner politeness.'
+
+'Were you invisible?' said Una. Puck nodded, gravely.
+
+'The Beacon was always laid in those days ready to light, in case the
+French landed at Pevensey; and I walked the horse about and about it that
+lee-long summer night. The farmer thought he was bewitched--well, he _was_,
+of course--and began to pray and shout. _I_ didn't care! I was as good a
+Christian as he any fair-day in the County, and about four o'clock in the
+morning a young novice came along from the monastery that used to stand on
+the top of Beacon hill.'
+
+'What's a novice?' said Dan.
+
+'It really means a man who is beginning to be a monk, but in those days
+people sent their sons to a monastery just the same as a school. This
+young fellow had been to a monastery in France for a few months every
+year, and he was finishing his studies in the monastery close to his home
+here. Hugh was his name, and he had got up to go fishing hereabouts. His
+people owned all this valley. Hugh heard the farmer shouting, and asked
+him what in the world he meant. The old man spun him a wonderful tale
+about fairies and goblins and witches; and I _know_ he hadn't seen a thing
+except rabbits and red deer all that night. (The People of the Hills are
+like otters--they don't show except when they choose.) But the novice
+wasn't a fool. He looked down at the horse's feet, and saw the new shoes
+fastened as only Weland knew how to fasten 'em. (Weland had a way of
+turning down the nails that folks called the Smith's Clinch.)
+
+'"H'm!" said the novice. "Where did you get your horse shod?"
+
+'The farmer wouldn't tell him at first, because the priests never liked
+their people to have any dealings with the Old Things. At last he
+confessed that the Smith had done it. "What did you pay him?" said the
+novice. "Penny," said the farmer, very sulkily. "That's less than a
+Christian would have charged," said the novice. "I hope you threw a 'Thank
+you' into the bargain." "No," said the farmer; "Wayland-Smith's a
+heathen." "Heathen or no heathen," said the novice, "you took his help,
+and where you get help there you must give thanks." "What?" said the
+farmer--he was in a furious temper because I was walking the old horse in
+circles all this time--"What, you young jackanapes?" said he. "Then by your
+reasoning I ought to say 'Thank you' to Satan if he helped me?" "Don't
+roll about up there splitting reasons with me," said the novice. "Come
+back to the Ford and thank the Smith, or you'll be sorry."
+
+'Back the farmer had to go! I led the horse, though no one saw me, and the
+novice walked beside us, his gown swishing through the shiny dew and his
+fishing-rod across his shoulders spearwise. When we reached the Ford
+again--it was five o'clock and misty still under the oaks--the farmer simply
+wouldn't say "Thank you." He said he'd tell the Abbot that the novice
+wanted him to worship heathen gods. Then Hugh the novice lost his temper.
+He just cried, "Out!" put his arm under the farmer's fat leg, and heaved
+him from his saddle on to the turf, and before he could rise he caught him
+by the back of the neck and shook him like a rat till the farmer growled,
+"Thank you, Wayland-Smith."'
+
+'Did Weland see all this?' said Dan.
+
+'Oh, yes, and he shouted his old war-cry when the farmer thudded on to the
+ground. He was delighted. Then the novice turned to the oak and said, "Ho!
+Smith of the Gods, I am ashamed of this rude farmer; but for all you have
+done in kindness and charity to him and to others of our people, I thank
+you and wish you well." Then he picked up his fishing-rod--it looked more
+like a tall spear than ever--and tramped off down your valley.'
+
+'And what did poor Weland do?' said Una.
+
+'He laughed and cried with joy, because he had been released at last, and
+could go away. But he was an honest Old Thing. He had worked for his
+living and he paid his debts before he left. "I shall give that novice a
+gift," said Weland. "A gift that shall do him good the wide world over,
+and Old England after him. Blow up my fire, Old Thing, while I get the
+iron for my last task." Then he made a sword--a dark grey, wavy-lined
+sword--and I blew the fire while he hammered. By Oak, Ash, and Thorn, I
+tell you, Weland was a Smith of the Gods! He cooled that sword in running
+water twice, and the third time he cooled it in the evening dew, and he
+laid it out in the moonlight and said Runes (that's charms) over it, and
+he carved Runes of Prophecy on the blade. "Old Thing," he said to me,
+wiping his forehead, "this is the best blade that Weland ever made. Even
+the user will never know how good it is. Come to the monastery."
+
+'We went to the dormitory where the monks slept. We saw the novice fast
+asleep in his cot, and Weland put the sword into his hand, and I remember
+the young fellow gripped it in his sleep. Then Weland strode as far as he
+dared into the Chapel and threw down all his shoeing-tools--his hammer, and
+pincers, and rasps--to show that he had done with them for ever. It sounded
+like suits of armour falling, and the sleepy monks ran in, for they
+thought the monastery had been attacked by the French. The novice came
+first of all, waving his new sword and shouting Saxon battle-cries. When
+they saw the shoeing-tools they were very bewildered, till the novice
+asked leave to speak, and told what he had done to the farmer, and what he
+had said to Wayland-Smith, and how, though the dormitory light was
+burning, he had found the wonderful rune-carved sword in his cot.
+
+'The Abbot shook his head at first, and then he laughed and said to the
+novice: "Son Hugh, it needed no sign from a heathen God to show me that
+you will never be a monk. Take your sword, and keep your sword, and go
+with your sword, and be as gentle as you are strong and courteous. We will
+hang up the Smith's tools before the Altar," he said, "because, whatever
+the Smith of the Gods may have been in the old days, we know that he
+worked honestly for his living and made gifts to Mother Church." Then they
+went to bed again, all except the novice, and he sat up in the garth
+playing with his sword. Then Weland said to me by the stables: "Farewell,
+Old Thing; you had the right of it. You saw me come to England, and you
+see me go. Farewell!"
+
+'With that he strode down the hill to the corner of the Great Woods--Woods
+Corner, you call it now--to the very place where he had first landed--and I
+heard him moving through the thickets towards Horsebridge for a little,
+and then he was gone. That was how it happened. I saw it.'
+
+Both children drew a long breath.
+
+'But what happened to Hugh the novice?' said Una.
+
+'And the sword?' said Dan.
+
+Puck looked down the meadow that lay all quiet and cool in the shadow of
+Pook's Hill. A corncrake jarred in a hay-field near by, and the small
+trouts of the brook began to jump. A big white moth flew unsteadily from
+the alders and flapped round the children's heads, and the least little
+haze of water-mist rose from the brook.
+
+'Do you really want to know?' Puck said.
+
+'We do,' cried the children. 'Awfully!'
+
+'Very good. I promised you that you shall see What you shall see, and you
+shall hear What you shall hear, though It shall have happened three
+thousand year; but just now it seems to me that, unless you go back to the
+house, people will be looking for you. I'll walk with you as far as the
+gate.'
+
+'Will you be here when we come again?' they asked.
+
+'Surely, sure-ly,' said Puck. 'I've been here some time already. One
+minute first, please.'
+
+He gave them each three leaves--one of Oak, one of Ash, and one of Thorn.
+
+'Bite these,' said he. 'Otherwise you might be talking at home of what
+you've seen and heard, and--if I know human beings--they'd send for the
+doctor. Bite!'
+
+They bit hard, and found themselves walking side by side to the lower
+gate. Their father was leaning over it.
+
+'And how did your play go?' he asked.
+
+'Oh, splendidly,' said Dan. 'Only afterwards, I think, we went to sleep.
+It was very hot and quiet. Don't you remember, Una?'
+
+Una shook her head and said nothing.
+
+'I see,' said her father.
+
+  'Late--late in the evening Kilmeny came home,
+  For Kilmeny had been she could not tell where,
+  And Kilmeny had seen what she could not declare.
+
+But why are you chewing leaves at your time of life, daughter? For fun?'
+
+'No. It was for something, but I can't azactly remember,' said Una.
+
+And neither of them could till--
+
+
+
+
+A TREE SONG
+
+
+  _Of all the trees that grow so fair,_
+    _Old England to adorn,_
+  _Greater are none beneath the Sun,_
+    _Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn._
+  _Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good Sirs_
+    _(All of a Midsummer morn)!_
+  _Surely we sing no little thing,_
+    _In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Oak of the Clay lived many a day,_
+    _Or ever AEneas began;_
+  _Ash of the Loam was a lady at home,_
+    _When Brut was an outlaw man;_
+  _Thorn of the Down saw New Troy Town_
+    _(From which was London born);_
+  _Witness hereby the ancientry_
+    _Of Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Yew that is old in churchyard mould,_
+    _He breedeth a mighty bow;_
+  _Alder for shoes do wise men choose,_
+    _And beech for cups also._
+  _But when ye have killed, and your bowl is spilled,_
+    _And your shoes are clean outworn,_
+  _Back ye must speed for all that ye need,_
+    _To Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Ellum she hateth mankind, and waiteth_
+    _Till every gust be laid,_
+  _To drop a limb on the head of him,_
+    _That anyway trusts her shade_
+  _But whether a lad be sober or sad,_
+    _Or mellow with ale from the horn,_
+  _He will take no wrong when he lieth along_
+    _'Neath Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Oh, do not tell the Priest our plight,_
+    _Or he would call it a sin;_
+  _But--we have been out in the woods all night_
+    _A-conjuring Summer in!_
+  _And we bring you news by word of mouth--_
+    _Good news for cattle and corn--_
+  _Now is the Sun come up from the South,_
+    _With Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!_
+
+  _Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good Sirs_
+    _(All of a Midsummer morn)!_
+  _England shall bide till Judgment Tide,_
+    _By Oak, and Ash and Thorn!_
+
+
+
+
+
+YOUNG MEN AT THE MANOR
+
+
+
+
+YOUNG MEN AT THE MANOR
+
+
+They were fishing, a few days later, in the bed of the brook that for
+centuries had cut deep into the soft valley soil. The trees closing
+overhead made long tunnels through which the sunshine worked in blobs and
+patches. Down in the tunnels were bars of sand and gravel, old roots and
+trunks covered with moss or painted red by the irony water; foxgloves
+growing lean and pale towards the light; clumps of fern and thirsty shy
+flowers who could not live away from moisture and shade. In the pools you
+could see the wave thrown up by the trouts as they charged hither and yon,
+and the pools were joined to each other--except in flood time, when all was
+one brown rush--by sheets of thin broken water that poured themselves
+chuckling round the darkness of the next bend.
+
+This was one of the children's most secret hunting-grounds, and their
+particular friend, old Hobden the hedger, had shown them how to use it.
+Except for the click of a rod hitting a low willow, or a switch and tussle
+among the young ash-leaves as a line hung up for the minute, nobody in the
+hot pasture could have guessed what game was going on among the trouts
+below the banks.
+
+'We's got half-a-dozen,' said Dan, after a warm, wet hour. 'I vote we go
+up to Stone Bay and try Long Pool.'
+
+Una nodded--most of her talk was by nods--and they crept from the gloom of
+the tunnels towards the tiny weir that turns the brook into the
+mill-stream. Here the banks are low and bare, and the glare of the
+afternoon sun on the Long Pool below the weir makes your eyes ache.
+
+When they were in the open they nearly fell down with astonishment. A huge
+grey horse, whose tail-hairs crinkled the glassy water, was drinking in
+the pool, and the ripples about his muzzle flashed like melted gold. On
+his back sat an old, white-haired man dressed in a loose glimmery gown of
+chain-mail. He was bareheaded, and a nut-shaped iron helmet hung at his
+saddle-bow. His reins were of red leather five or six inches deep,
+scalloped at the edges, and his high padded saddle with its red girths was
+held fore and aft by a red leather breastband and crupper.
+
+'Look!' said Una, as though Dan were not staring his very eyes out. 'It's
+like the picture in your room--"Sir Isumbras at the Ford."'
+
+The rider turned towards them, and his thin, long face was just as sweet
+and gentle as that of the knight who carries the children in that picture.
+
+'They should be here now, Sir Richard,' said Puck's deep voice among the
+willow-herb.
+
+'They are here,' the knight said, and he smiled at Dan with the string of
+trouts in his hand. 'There seems no great change in boys since mine fished
+this water.'
+
+'If your horse has drunk, we shall be more at ease in the Ring,' said
+Puck; and he nodded to the children as though he had never magicked away
+their memories the week before.
+
+The great horse turned and hoisted himself into the pasture with a kick
+and a scramble that tore the clods down rattling.
+
+'Your pardon!' said Sir Richard to Dan. 'When these lands were mine, I
+never loved that mounted men should cross the brook except by the paved
+ford. But my Swallow here was thirsty, and I wished to meet you.'
+
+'We're very glad you've come, sir,' said Dan. 'It doesn't matter in the
+least about the banks.'
+
+He trotted across the pasture on the sword-side of the mighty horse, and
+it was a mighty iron-handled sword that swung from Sir Richard's belt. Una
+walked behind with Puck. She remembered everything now.
+
+'I'm sorry about the Leaves,' he said, 'but it would never have done if
+you had gone home and told, would it?'
+
+'I s'pose not,' Una answered. 'But you said that all the fair--People of
+the Hills had left England.'
+
+'So they have; but I told you that you should come and go and look and
+know, didn't I? The knight isn't a fairy. He's Sir Richard Dalyngridge, a
+very old friend of mine. He came over with William the Conqueror, and he
+wants to see you particularly.'
+
+'What for?' said Una.
+
+'On account of your great wisdom and learning,' Puck replied, without a
+twinkle.
+
+'Us?' said Una. 'Why, I don't know my Nine Times--not to say it dodging;
+and Dan makes the most _awful_ mess of fractions. He can't mean _us_!'
+
+'Una!' Dan called back. 'Sir Richard says he is going to tell what
+happened to Weland's sword. He's got it. Isn't it splendid?'
+
+'Nay--nay,' said Sir Richard, dismounting as they reached the Ring, in the
+bend of the mill-stream bank. 'It is you that must tell me, for I hear the
+youngest child in our England to-day is as wise as our wisest clerk.' He
+slipped the bit out of Swallow's mouth, dropped the ruby-red reins over
+his head, and the wise horse moved off to graze.
+
+Sir Richard (they noticed he limped a little) unslung his great sword.
+
+'That's it,' Dan whispered to Una.
+
+'This is the sword that Brother Hugh had from Wayland-Smith,' Sir Richard
+said. 'Once he gave it to me, but I would not take it; but at the last it
+became mine after such a fight as never christened man fought. See!' He
+half drew it from its sheath and turned it before them. On either side
+just below the handle, where the Runic letters shivered as though they
+were alive, were two deep gouges in the dull, deadly steel. 'Now, what
+Thing made those?' said he. 'I know not, but you, perhaps, can say.'
+
+'Tell them all the tale, Sir Richard,' said Puck. 'It concerns their land
+somewhat.'
+
+'Yes, from the very beginning,' Una pleaded, for the knight's good face
+and the smile on it more than ever reminded her of 'Sir Isumbras at the
+Ford.'
+
+They settled down to listen, Sir Richard bare-headed to the sunshine,
+dandling the sword in both hands, while the grey horse cropped outside the
+Ring, and the helmet on the saddle-bow clinged softly each time he jerked
+his head.
+
+'From the beginning, then,' Sir Richard said, 'since it concerns your
+land, I will tell the tale. When our Duke came out of Normandy to take his
+England, great knights (have ye heard?) came and strove hard to serve the
+Duke, because he promised them lands here, and small knights followed the
+great ones. My folk in Normandy were poor; but a great knight, Engerrard
+of the Eagle--Engenulf De Aquila--who was kin to my father, followed the
+Earl of Mortain, who followed William the Duke, and I followed De Aquila.
+Yes, with thirty men-at-arms out of my father's house and a new sword, I
+set out to conquer England three days after I was made knight. I did not
+then know that England would conquer me. We went up to Santlache with the
+rest--a very great host of us.'
+
+'Does that mean the Battle of Hastings--Ten Sixty-Six?' Una whispered, and
+Puck nodded, so as not to interrupt.
+
+'At Santlache, over the hill yonder'--he pointed south-eastward towards
+Fairlight--'we found Harold's men. We fought. At the day's end they ran. My
+men went with De Aquila's to chase and plunder, and in that chase
+Engerrard of the Eagle was slain, and his son Gilbert took his banner and
+his men forward. This I did not know till after, for Swallow here was cut
+in the flank, so I stayed to wash the wound at a brook by a thorn. There a
+single Saxon cried out to me in French, and we fought together. I should
+have known his voice, but we fought together. For a long time neither had
+any advantage, till by pure ill-fortune his foot slipped and his sword
+flew from his hand. Now I had but newly been made knight, and wished,
+above all, to be courteous and fameworthy, so I forebore to strike and
+bade him get his sword again. "A plague on my sword," said he. "It has
+lost me my first fight. You have spared my life. Take my sword." He held
+it out to me, but as I stretched my hand the sword groaned like a stricken
+man, and I leaped back crying, "Sorcery!"
+
+[The children looked at the sword as though it might speak again.]
+
+'Suddenly a clump of Saxons ran out upon me and, seeing a Norman alone,
+would have killed me, but my Saxon cried out that I was his prisoner, and
+beat them off. Thus, see you, he saved my life. He put me on my horse and
+led me through the woods ten long miles to this valley.'
+
+'To here, d'you mean?' said Una.
+
+'To this very valley. We came in by the Lower Ford under the King's Hill
+yonder'--he pointed eastward where the valley widens.
+
+'And was that Saxon Hugh the novice?' Dan asked.
+
+'Yes, and more than that. He had been for three years at the monastery at
+Bec by Rouen, where'--Sir Richard chuckled--'the Abbot Herluin would not
+suffer me to remain.'
+
+'Why wouldn't he?' said Dan.
+
+'Because I rode my horse into the refectory, when the scholars were at
+meat, to show the Saxon boys we Normans were not afraid of an abbot. It
+was that very Saxon Hugh tempted me to do it, and we had not met since
+that day. I thought I knew his voice even inside my helmet, and, for all
+that our Lords fought, we each rejoiced we had not slain the other. He
+walked by my side, and he told me how a Heathen God, as he believed, had
+given him his sword, but he said he had never heard it sing before. I
+remember I warned him to beware of sorcery and quick enchantments.' Sir
+Richard smiled to himself. 'I was very young--very young!
+
+'When we came to his house here we had almost forgotten that we had been
+at blows. It was near midnight, and the Great Hall was full of men and
+women waiting news. There I first saw his sister, the Lady AElueva, of whom
+he had spoken to us in France. She cried out fiercely at me, and would
+have had me hanged in that hour, but her brother said that I had spared
+his life--he said not how he saved mine from his Saxons--and that our Duke
+had won the day; and even while they wrangled over my poor body, of a
+sudden he fell down in a swoon from his wounds.
+
+'"This is _thy fault_," said the Lady AElueva to me, and she kneeled above
+him and called for wine and cloths.
+
+'"If I had known," I answered, "he should have ridden and I walked. But he
+set me on my horse; he made no complaint; he walked beside me and spoke
+merrily throughout. I pray I have done him no harm."
+
+'"Thou hast need to pray," she said, catching up her underlip. "If he
+dies, thou shalt hang!"
+
+'They bore off Hugh to his chamber; but three tall men of the house bound
+me and set me under the beam of the Great Hall with a rope round my neck.
+The end of the rope they flung over the beam, and they sat them down by
+the fire to wait word whether Hugh lived or died. They cracked nuts with
+their knife-hilts the while.'
+
+'And how did you feel?' said Dan.
+
+'Very weary; but I did heartily pray for my schoolmate Hugh his health.
+About noon I heard horses in the valley, and the three men loosed my ropes
+and fled out, and De Aquila's men rode up. Gilbert de Aquila came with
+them, for it was his boast that, like his father, he forgot no man that
+served him. He was little, like his father, but terrible, with a nose like
+an eagle's nose and yellow eyes like an eagle. He rode tall
+war-horses--roans, which he bred himself--and he could never abide to be
+helped into the saddle. He saw the rope hanging from the beam and laughed,
+and his men laughed, for I was too stiff to rise.
+
+'"This is poor entertainment for a Norman knight," he said, "but, such as
+it is, let us be grateful. Show me, boy, to whom thou owest most, and we
+will pay them out of hand."'
+
+'What did he mean? To kill 'em?' said Dan.
+
+'Assuredly. But I looked at the Lady AElueva where she stood among her
+maids, and her brother beside her. De Aquila's men had driven them all
+into the Great Hall.'
+
+'Was she pretty?' said Una.
+
+'In all my life I had never seen woman fit to strew rushes before my Lady
+AElueva,' the knight replied, quite simply and quietly. 'As I looked at her
+I thought I might save her and her house by a jest.
+
+'"Seeing that I came somewhat hastily and without warning," said I to De
+Aquila, "I have no fault to find with the courtesy that these Saxons have
+shown me." But my voice shook. It is--it was not good to jest with that
+little man.
+
+'All were silent awhile, till De Aquila laughed. "Look, men--a miracle!"
+said he. "The fight is scarce sped, my father is not yet buried, and here
+we find our youngest knight already set down in his Manor, while his
+Saxons--ye can see it in their fat faces--have paid him homage and service!
+By the Saints," he said, rubbing his nose, "I never thought England would
+be so easy won! Surely I can do no less than give the lad what he has
+taken. This Manor shall be thine, boy," he said, "till I come again, or
+till thou art slain. Now, mount, men, and ride. We follow our Duke into
+Kent to make him King of England."
+
+'He drew me with him to the door while they brought his horse--a lean roan,
+taller than my Swallow here, but not so well girthed.
+
+'"Hark to me," he said, fretting with his great war-gloves. "I have given
+thee this Manor, which is a Saxon hornets' nest, and I think thou wilt be
+slain in a month--as my father was slain. Yet if thou canst keep the roof
+on the hall, the thatch on the barn, and the plough in the furrow till I
+come back, thou shalt hold the Manor from me; for the Duke has promised
+our Earl Mortain all the lands by Pevensey, and Mortain will give me of
+them what he would have given my father. God knows if thou or I shall live
+till England is won; but remember, boy, that here and now fighting is
+foolishness and"--he reached for the reins--"craft and cunning is all."
+
+'"Alas, I have no cunning," said I.
+
+'"Not yet," said he, hopping abroad, foot in stirrup, and poking his horse
+in the belly with his toe. "Not yet, but I think thou hast a good teacher.
+Farewell! Hold the Manor and live. Lose the Manor and hang," he said, and
+spurred out, his shield-straps squeaking behind him.
+
+'So, children, here was I, little more than a boy, and Santlache fight not
+two days old, left alone with my thirty men-at-arms, in a land I knew not,
+among a people whose tongue I could not speak, to hold down the land which
+I had taken from them.'
+
+'And that was here at home?' said Una.
+
+'Yes, here. See! From the Upper Ford, Weland's Ford, to the Lower Ford, by
+the Belle Allee, west and east it ran half a league. From the Beacon of
+Brunanburgh behind us here, south and north it ran a full league--and all
+the woods were full of broken men from Santlache, Saxon thieves, Norman
+plunderers, robbers, and deerstealers. A hornets' nest indeed!
+
+'When De Aquila had gone, Hugh would have thanked me for saving their
+lives; but Lady AElueva said that I had done it only for the sake of
+receiving the Manor.
+
+'"How could I know that De Aquila would give it me?" I said. "If I had
+told him I had spent my night in your halter he would have burned the
+place twice over by now."
+
+'"If any man had put _my_ neck in a rope," she said, "I would have seen
+his house burned thrice over before _I_ would have made terms."
+
+'"But it was a woman," I said; and I laughed and she wept and said that I
+mocked her in her captivity.
+
+'"Lady," said I, "there is no captive in this valley except one, and he is
+not a Saxon."
+
+'At this she cried that I was a Norman thief, who came with false, sweet
+words, having intended from the first to turn her out in the fields to beg
+her bread. Into the fields! She had never seen the face of war!
+
+'I was angry, and answered, "This much at least I can disprove, for I
+swear"--and on my sword-hilt I swore it in that place--"I swear I will never
+set foot in the Great Hall till the Lady AElueva herself shall summon me
+there."
+
+'She went away, saying nothing, and I walked out, and Hugh limped after
+me, whistling dolorously (that is a custom of the English), and we came
+upon the three Saxons that had bound me. They were now bound by my
+men-at-arms, and behind them stood some fifty stark and sullen churls of
+the House and the Manor, waiting to see what should fall. We heard De
+Aquila's trumpets blow thin through the woods Kentward.
+
+'"Shall we hang these?" said my men.
+
+'"Then my churls will fight," said Hugh, beneath his breath; but I bade
+him ask the three what mercy they hoped for.
+
+'"None," said they all. "She bade us hang thee if our master died. And we
+would have hanged thee. There is no more to it."
+
+'As I stood doubting a woman ran down from the oak wood above the King's
+Hill yonder, and cried out that some Normans were driving off the swine
+there.
+
+'"Norman or Saxon," said I, "we must beat them back, or they will rob us
+every day. Out at them with any arms ye have!" So I loosed those three
+carles and we ran together, my men-at-arms and the Saxons with bills and
+bows which they had hidden in the thatch of their huts, and Hugh led them.
+Half-way up the King's Hill we found a false fellow from Picardy--a sutler
+that sold wine in the Duke's camp--with a dead knight's shield on his arm,
+a stolen horse under him, and some ten or twelve wastrels at his tail, all
+cutting and slashing at the pigs. We beat them off, and saved our pork.
+One hundred and seventy pigs we saved in that great battle.' Sir Richard
+laughed.
+
+'That, then, was our first work together, and I bade Hugh tell his folk
+that so would I deal with any man, knight or churl, Norman or Saxon, who
+stole as much as one egg from our valley. Said he to me, riding home:
+"Thou hast gone far to conquer England this evening." I answered: "England
+must be thine and mine, then. Help me, Hugh, to deal aright with this
+people. Make them to know that if they slay me De Aquila will surely send
+to slay them, and he will put a worse man in my place." "That may well be
+true," said he, and gave me his hand. "Better the devil we know than the
+devil we know not, till we can pack you Normans home." And so, too, said
+his Saxons; and they laughed as we drove the pigs downhill. But I think
+some of them, even then, began not to hate me.'
+
+'I like Brother Hugh,' said Una, softly.
+
+'Beyond question he was the most perfect, courteous, valiant, tender, and
+wise knight that ever drew breath,' said Richard, caressing the sword. 'He
+hung up his sword--this sword--on the wall of the Great Hall, because he
+said it was fairly mine, and never he took it down till De Aquila
+returned, as I shall presently show. For three months his men and mine
+guarded the valley, till all robbers and nightwalkers learned there was
+nothing to get from us save hard tack and a hanging. Side by side we
+fought against all who came--thrice a week sometimes we fought--against
+thieves and landless knights looking for good manors. Then we were in some
+peace, and I made shift by Hugh's help to govern the valley--for all this
+valley of yours was my Manor--as a knight should. I kept the roof on the
+hall and the thatch on the barn, but.... The English are a bold people.
+His Saxons would laugh and jest with Hugh, and Hugh with them, and--this
+was marvellous to me--if even the meanest of them said that such and such a
+thing was the Custom of the Manor, then straightway would Hugh and such
+old men of the Manor as might be near forsake everything else to debate
+the matter--I have seen them stop the mill with the corn half ground--and if
+the custom or usage were proven to be as it was said, why, that was the
+end of it, even though it were flat against Hugh, his wish and command.
+Wonderful!'
+
+'Aye,' said Puck, breaking in for the first time. 'The Custom of Old
+England was here before your Norman knights came, and it outlasted them,
+though they fought against it cruel.'
+
+'Not I,' said Richard. 'I let the Saxons go their stubborn way, but when
+my own men-at-arms, Normans not six months in England, stood up and told
+me what was the custom of the country, _then_ I was angry. Ah, good days!
+Ah, wonderful people! And I loved them all.'
+
+The knight lifted his arms as though he would hug the whole dear valley,
+and Swallow, hearing the chink of his chain-mail, looked up and whinnied
+softly.
+
+'At last,' he went on, 'after a year of striving and contriving and some
+little driving, De Aquila came to the valley, alone and without warning. I
+saw him first at the Lower Ford, with a swine-herd's brat on his
+saddle-bow.
+
+'"There is no need for thee to give any account of thy stewardship," said
+he. "I have it all from the child here." And he told me how the young
+thing had stopped his tall horse at the Ford, by waving of a branch, and
+crying that the way was barred. "And if one bold, bare babe be enough to
+guard the Ford in these days, thou hast done well," said he, and puffed
+and wiped his head.
+
+He pinched the child's cheek, and looked at our cattle in the flat by the
+brook.
+
+'"Both fat," said he, rubbing his nose. "This is craft and cunning such as
+I love. What did I tell thee when I rode away, boy?"
+
+'"Hold the Manor or hang," said I. I had never forgotten it.
+
+'"True. And thou hast held." He clambered from his saddle and with sword's
+point cut out a turf from the bank and gave it me where I kneeled.'
+
+Dan looked at Una, and Una looked at Dan.
+
+'That's seizin,' said Puck, in a whisper.
+
+'"Now thou art lawfully seized of the Manor, Sir Richard," said he--'twas
+the first time he ever called me that--"thou and thy heirs for ever. This
+must serve till the King's clerks write out thy title on a parchment.
+England is all ours--if we can hold it."
+
+'"What service shall I pay?" I asked, and I remember I was proud beyond
+words.
+
+'"Knight's fee, boy, knight's fee!" said he, hopping round his horse on
+one foot. (Have I said he was little, and could not endure to be helped to
+his saddle?) "Six mounted men or twelve archers thou shalt send me
+whenever I call for them, and--where got you that corn?" said he, for it
+was near harvest, and our corn stood well. "I have never seen such bright
+straw. Send me three bags of the same seed yearly, and furthermore, in
+memory of our last meeting--with the rope round thy neck--entertain me and
+my men for two days of each year in the Great Hall of thy Manor."
+
+'"Alas!" said I, "then my Manor is already forfeit. I am under vow not to
+enter the Great Hall." And I told him what I had sworn to the Lady
+AElueva.'
+
+'And hadn't you ever been into the house since?' said Una.
+
+'Never,' Sir Richard answered smiling. 'I had made me a little hut of wood
+up the hill, and there I did justice and slept.... De Aquila wheeled
+aside, and his shield shook on his back. "No matter, boy," said he. "I
+will remit the homage for a year."'
+
+'He meant Sir Richard needn't give him dinner there the first year,' Puck
+explained.
+
+'De Aquila stayed with me in the hut and Hugh, who could read and write
+and cast accounts, showed him the roll of the Manor, in which were written
+all the names of our fields and men, and he asked a thousand questions
+touching the land, the timber, the grazing, the mill, and the fish-ponds,
+and the worth of every man in the valley. But never he named the Lady
+AElueva's name, nor went he near the Great Hall. By night he drank with us
+in the hut. Yes, he sat on the straw like an eagle ruffled in her
+feathers, his yellow eyes rolling above the cup, and he pounced in his
+talk like an eagle, swooping from one thing to another, but always binding
+fast. Yes; he would lie still awhile, and then rustle in the straw, and
+speak sometimes as though he were King William himself, and anon he would
+speak in parables and tales, and if at once we saw not his meaning he
+would yerk us in the ribs with his scabbarded sword.
+
+'"Look you, boys," said he, "I am born out of my due time. Five hundred
+years ago I would have made all England such an England as neither Dane,
+Saxon, nor Norman should have conquered. Five hundred years hence I should
+have been such a councillor to Kings as the world hath never dreamed of.
+'Tis all here," said he, tapping his big head, "but it hath no play in
+this black age. Now Hugh here is a better man than thou art, Richard." He
+had made his voice harsh and croaking, like a raven's.
+
+'"Truth," said I. "But for Hugh, his help and patience and long-suffering,
+I could never have kept the Manor."
+
+'"Nor thy life either," said De Aquila. "Hugh has saved thee not once, but
+a hundred times. Be still, Hugh!" he said. "Dost thou know, Richard, why
+Hugh slept, and why he still sleeps, among thy Norman men-at-arms?"
+
+'"To be near me," said I, for I thought this was truth.
+
+'"Fool!" said De Aquila. "It is because his Saxons have begged him to rise
+against thee, and to sweep every Norman out of the valley. No matter how I
+know. It is truth. Therefore Hugh hath made himself an hostage for thy
+life, well knowing that if any harm befell thee from his Saxons thy
+Normans would slay him without remedy. And this his Saxons know. It is
+true, Hugh?"
+
+'"In some sort," said Hugh, shamefacedly; "at least, it was true half a
+year ago. My Saxons would not harm Richard now. I think they know him; but
+I judged it best to make sure."
+
+'Look, children, what that man had done--and I had never guessed it! Night
+after night had he lain down among my men-at-arms, knowing that if one
+Saxon had lifted knife against me his life would have answered for mine.
+
+'"Yes," said De Aquila. "And he is a swordless man." He pointed to Hugh's
+belt, for Hugh had put away his sword--did I tell you?--the day after it
+flew from his hand at Santlache. He carried only the short knife and the
+long-bow. "Swordless and landless art thou, Hugh; and they call thee kin
+to Earl Godwin." (Hugh was indeed of Godwin's blood.) "The Manor that was
+thine was given to this boy and to his children for ever. Sit up and beg,
+for he can turn thee out like a dog, Hugh!"
+
+'Hugh said nothing, but I heard his teeth grind, and I bade De Aquila, my
+own overlord, hold his peace, or I would stuff his words down his throat.
+Then De Aquila laughed till the tears ran down his face.
+
+'"I warned the King," said he, "what would come of giving England to us
+Norman thieves. Here art thou, Richard, less than two days confirmed in
+thy Manor, and already thou hast risen against thy overlord. What shall we
+do to him, _Sir_ Hugh?"
+
+'"I am a swordless man," said Hugh. "Do not jest with me," and he laid his
+head on his knees and groaned.
+
+'"The greater fool thou," said De Aquila, and all his voice changed; "for
+I have given thee the Manor of Dallington up the hill this half-hour
+since," and he yerked at Hugh with his scabbard across the straw.
+
+'"To me?" said Hugh. "I am a Saxon, and, except that I love Richard here,
+I have not sworn fealty to any Norman."
+
+'"In God's good time, which because of my sins I shall not live to see,
+there will be neither Saxon nor Norman in England," said De Aquila. "If I
+know men, thou art more faithful unsworn than a score of Normans I could
+name. Take Dallington, and join Sir Richard to fight me to-morrow, if it
+please thee!"
+
+'"Nay," said Hugh. "I am no child. Where I take a gift, there I render
+service"; and he put his hands between De Aquila's, and swore to be
+faithful, and, as I remember, I kissed him, and De Aquila kissed us both.
+
+'We sat afterwards outside the hut while the sun rose, and De Aquila
+marked our churls going to their work in the fields, and talked of holy
+things, and how we should govern our Manors in time to come, and of
+hunting and of horse-breeding, and of the King's wisdom and unwisdom; for
+he spoke to us as though we were in all sorts now his brothers. Anon a
+churl stole up to me--he was one of the three I had not hanged a year
+ago--and he bellowed--which is the Saxon for whispering--that the Lady AElueva
+would speak to me at the Great House. She walked abroad daily in the
+Manor, and it was her custom to send me word whither she went, that I
+might set an archer or two behind and in front to guard her. Very often I
+myself lay up in the woods and watched on her also.
+
+'I went swiftly, and as I passed the great door it opened from within, and
+there stood my Lady AElueva, and she said to me: "Sir Richard, will it
+please you enter your Great Hall?" Then she wept, but we were alone.'
+
+The knight was silent for a long time, his face turned across the valley,
+smiling.
+
+'Oh, well done!' said Una, and clapped her hands very softly. 'She was
+sorry, and she said so.'
+
+'Aye, she was sorry, and she said so,' said Sir Richard, coming back with
+a little start. 'Very soon--but _he_ said it was two full hours later--De
+Aquila rode to the door, with his shield new scoured (Hugh had cleansed
+it), and demanded entertainment, and called me a false knight, that would
+starve his overlord to death. Then Hugh cried out that no man should work
+in the valley that day, and our Saxons blew horns, and set about feasting
+and drinking, and running of races, and dancing and singing; and De Aquila
+climbed upon a horse-block and spoke to them in what he swore was good
+Saxon, but no man understood it. At night we feasted in the Great Hall,
+and when the harpers and the singers were gone we four sat late at the
+high table. As I remember, it was a warm night with a full moon, and De
+Aquila bade Hugh take down his sword from the wall again, for the honour
+of the Manor of Dallington, and Hugh took it gladly enough. Dust lay on
+the hilt, for I saw him blow it off.
+
+'She and I sat talking a little apart, and at first we thought the harpers
+had come back, for the Great Hall was filled with a rushing noise of
+music. De Aquila leaped up; but there was only the moonlight fretty on the
+floor.
+
+'"Hearken!" said Hugh. "It is my sword," and as he belted it on the music
+ceased.
+
+'"Over Gods, forbid that I should ever belt blade like that," said De
+Aquila. "What does it foretell?"
+
+'"The Gods that made it may know. Last time it spoke was at Hastings, when
+I lost all my lands. Belike it sings now that I have new lands and am a
+man again," said Hugh.
+
+'He loosed the blade a little and drove it back happily into the sheath,
+and the sword answered him low and crooningly, as--as a woman would speak
+to a man, her head on his shoulder.
+
+'Now that was the second time in all my life I heard this Sword sing.'...
+
+
+
+'Look!' said Una. 'There's mother coming down the Long Slip. What will she
+say to Sir Richard? She can't help seeing him.'
+
+'And Puck can't magic us this time,' said Dan.
+
+'Are you sure?' said Puck; and he leaned forward and whispered to Sir
+Richard, who, smiling, bowed his head.
+
+'But what befell the sword and my brother Hugh I will tell on another
+time,' said he, rising. 'Ohe, Swallow!'
+
+The great horse cantered up from the far end of the meadow, close to
+mother.
+
+They heard mother say: 'Children, Gleason's old horse has broken into the
+meadow again. Where did he get through?'
+
+'Just below Stone Bay,' said Dan. 'He tore down simple flobs of the bank!
+We noticed it just now. And we've caught no end of fish. We've been at it
+all the afternoon.'
+
+And they honestly believed that they had. They never noticed the Oak, Ash,
+and Thorn leaves that Puck had slyly thrown into their laps.
+
+
+
+
+SIR RICHARD'S SONG
+
+
+  _I followed my Duke ere I was a lover,_
+    _To take from England fief and fee;_
+  _But now this game is the other way over--_
+    _But now England hath taken me!_
+
+  _I had my horse, my shield and banner,_
+    _And a boy's heart, so whole and free;_
+  _But now I sing in another manner--_
+    _But now England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my Father in his tower,_
+    _Asking news of my ship at sea;_
+  _He will remember his own hour--_
+    _Tell him England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my Mother in her bower,_
+    _That rules my Father so cunningly;_
+  _She will remember a maiden's power--_
+    _Tell her England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my Brother in Rouen city,_
+    _A nimble and naughty page is he;_
+  _But he will come to suffer and pity--_
+    _Tell him England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my little Sister waiting_
+    _In the pleasant orchards of Normandie;_
+  _Tell her youth is the time for mating--_
+    _Tell her England hath taken me!_
+
+  _As for my Comrades in camp and highway,_
+    _That lift their eyebrows scornfully;_
+  _Tell them their way is not my way--_
+    _Tell them England hath taken me!_
+
+  _Kings and Princes and Barons famed,_
+    _Knights and Captains in your degree;_
+  _Hear me a little before I am blamed--_
+    _Seeing England hath taken me!_
+
+  _Howso great man's strength be reckoned,_
+    _There are two things he cannot flee;_
+  _Love is the first, and Death is the second--_
+    _And Love, in England, hath taken me!_
+
+
+
+
+
+THE KNIGHTS OF THE JOYOUS VENTURE
+
+
+
+
+HARP SONG OF THE DANE WOMEN
+
+
+  _What is a woman that you forsake her,_
+  _And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,_
+  _To go with the old grey Widow-maker_?
+
+  _She has no house to lay a guest in--_
+  _But one chill bed for all to rest in,_
+  _That the pale suns and the stray bergs nest in._
+
+  _She has no strong white arms to fold you,_
+  _But the ten-times-fingering weed to hold you_
+  _Bound on the rocks where the tide has rolled you._
+
+  _Yet, when the signs of summer thicken,_
+  _And the ice breaks, and the birch-buds quicken,_
+  _Yearly you turn from our side, and sicken--_
+
+  _Sicken again for the shouts and the slaughters,_
+  _You steal away to the lapping waters,_
+  _And look at your ship in her winter quarters._
+
+  _You forget our mirth, and talk at the tables,_
+  _The kine in the shed and the horse in the stables--_
+  _To pitch her sides and go over her cables!_
+
+  _Then you drive out where the storm-clouds swallow:_
+  _And the sound of your oar-blades falling hollow,_
+  _Is all we have left through the months to follow!_
+
+  _Ah, what is Woman that you forsake her,_
+  _And the hearth-fire and the home-acre,_
+  _To go with the old grey Widow-maker?_
+
+
+
+
+THE KNIGHTS OF THE JOYOUS VENTURE
+
+
+It was too hot to run about in the open, so Dan asked their friend, old
+Hobden, to take their own dinghy from the pond and put her on the brook at
+the bottom of the garden. Her painted name was the _Daisy_, but for
+exploring expeditions she was the _Golden Hind_ or the _Long Serpent_, or
+some such suitable name. Dan hiked and howked with a boat-hook (the brook
+was too narrow for sculls), and Una punted with a piece of hop-pole. When
+they came to a very shallow place (the _Golden Hind_ drew quite three
+inches of water) they disembarked and scuffled her over the gravel by her
+tow-rope, and when they reached the overgrown banks beyond the garden they
+pulled themselves up stream by the low branches.
+
+That day they intended to discover the North Cape like 'Othere, the old
+sea-captain,' in the book of verses which Una had brought with her; but on
+account of the heat they changed it to a voyage up the Amazon and the
+sources of the Nile. Even on the shaded water the air was hot and heavy
+with drowsy scents, while outside, through breaks in the trees, the
+sunshine burned the pasture like fire. The kingfisher was asleep on his
+watching-branch, and the blackbirds scarcely took the trouble to dive into
+the next bush. Dragon-flies wheeling and clashing were the only things at
+work, except the moor-hens and a big Red Admiral who flapped down out of
+the sunshine for a drink.
+
+When they reached Otter Pool the _Golden Hind_ grounded comfortably on a
+shallow, and they lay beneath a roof of close green, watching the water
+trickle over the floodgates down the mossy brick chute from the
+mill-stream to the brook. A big trout--the children knew him well--rolled
+head and shoulders at some fly that sailed round the bend, while once in
+just so often the brook rose a fraction of an inch against all the wet
+pebbles, and they watched the slow draw and shiver of a breath of air
+through the tree-tops. Then the little voices of the slipping water began
+again.
+
+'It's like the shadows talking, isn't it?' said Una. She had given up
+trying to read. Dan lay over the bows, trailing his hands in the current.
+They heard feet on the gravel-bar that runs half across the pool and saw
+Sir Richard Dalyngridge standing over them.
+
+'Was yours a dangerous voyage?' he asked, smiling.
+
+'She bumped a lot, sir,' said Dan. 'There's hardly any water this summer.'
+
+'Ah, the brook was deeper and wider when my children played at Danish
+pirates. Are you pirate-folk?'
+
+'Oh, no. We gave up being pirates years ago,' explained Una. 'We're nearly
+always explorers now. Sailing round the world, you know.'
+
+'Round?' said Sir Richard. He sat him in the comfortable crotch of the old
+ash-root on the bank. 'How can it be round?'
+
+'Wasn't it in your books?' Dan suggested. He had been doing geography at
+his last lesson.
+
+'I can neither write nor read,' he replied. 'Canst _thou_ read, child?'
+
+'Yes,' said Dan, 'barring the very long words.'
+
+'Wonderful! Read to me, that I may hear for myself.'
+
+Dan flushed, but opened the book and began--gabbling a little--at 'The
+Discoverer of the North Cape.'
+
+  'Othere, the old sea captain,
+  Who dwelt in Helgoland,
+  To Alfred, lover of truth,
+  Brought a snow-white walrus tooth,
+  That he held in his right hand.'
+
+'But--but--this I know! This is an old song! This I have heard sung! This is
+a miracle,' Sir Richard interrupted. 'Nay, do not stop!' He leaned
+forward, and the shadows of the leaves slipped and slid upon his
+chain-mail.
+
+  'I ploughed the land with horses,
+  But my heart was ill at ease,
+  For the old sea-faring men
+  Came to me now and then
+  With their Sagas of the Seas.'
+
+His hand fell on the hilt of the great sword. 'This is truth,' he cried,
+'for so did it happen to me,' and he beat time delightedly to the tramp of
+verse after verse.
+
+  '"And now the land," said Othere,
+  "Bent southward suddenly,
+  And I followed the curving shore,
+  And ever southward bore
+  Into a nameless sea."'
+
+'A nameless sea!' he repeated. 'So did I--so did Hugh and I.'
+
+'Where did you go? Tell us,' said Una.
+
+'Wait. Let me hear all first.' So Dan read to the poem's very end.
+
+'Good,' said the knight. 'That is Othere's tale--even as I have heard the
+men in the Dane ships sing it. Not in those same valiant words, but
+something like to them.'
+
+'Have you ever explored North?' Dan shut the book.
+
+'Nay. My venture was South. Farther South than any man has fared, Hugh and
+I went down with Witta and his heathen.' He jerked the tall sword forward,
+and leaned on it with both hands; but his eyes looked long past them.
+
+'I thought you always lived here,' said Una, timidly.
+
+'Yes; while my Lady AElueva lived. But she died. She died. Then, my eldest
+son being a man, I asked De Aquila's leave that he should hold the Manor
+while I went on some journey or pilgrimage--to forget. De Aquila, whom the
+Second William had made Warden of Pevensey in Earl Mortain's place, was
+very old then, but still he rode his tall, roan horses, and in the saddle
+he looked like a little white falcon. When Hugh, at Dallington over
+yonder, heard what I did, he sent for my second son, whom being unmarried
+he had ever looked upon as his own child, and, by De Aquila's leave, gave
+him the Manor of Dallington to hold till he should return. Then Hugh came
+with me.'
+
+'When did this happen?' said Dan.
+
+'That I can answer to the very day, for as we rode with De Aquila by
+Pevensey--have I said that he was Lord of Pevensey and of the Honour of the
+Eagle?--to the Bordeaux ship that fetched him his wines yearly out of
+France, a Marsh man ran to us crying that he had seen a great black goat
+which bore on his back the body of the King, and that the goat had spoken
+to him. On that same day Red William our King, the Conqueror's son, died
+of a secret arrow while he hunted in a forest. "This is a cross matter,"
+said De Aquila, "to meet on the threshold of a journey. If Red William be
+dead I may have to fight for my lands. Wait a little."
+
+'My Lady being dead, I cared nothing for signs and omens, nor Hugh either.
+We took that wine-ship to go to Bordeaux; but the wind failed while we
+were yet in sight of Pevensey; a thick mist hid us, and we drifted with
+the tide along the cliffs to the west. Our company was, for the most part,
+merchants returning to France, and we were laden with wool and there were
+three couple of tall hunting-dogs chained to the rail. Their master was a
+knight of Artois. His name I never learned, but his shield bore gold
+pieces on a red ground, and he limped much as I do, from a wound which he
+had got in his youth at Mantes siege. He served the Duke of Burgundy
+against the Moors in Spain, and was returning to that war with his dogs.
+He sang us strange Moorish songs that first night, and half persuaded us
+to go with him. I was on pilgrimage to forget--which is what no pilgrimage
+brings. I think I would have gone, but....
+
+'Look you how the life and fortune of man changes! Towards morning a Dane
+ship, rowing silently, struck against us in the mist, and while we rolled
+hither and yon Hugh, leaning over the rail, fell outboard. I leaped after
+him, and we two tumbled aboard the Dane, and were caught and bound ere we
+could rise. Our own ship was swallowed up in the mist. I judge the Knight
+of the Gold Pieces muzzled his dogs with his cloak, lest they should give
+tongue and betray the merchants, for I heard their baying suddenly stop.
+
+'We lay bound among the benches till morning, when the Danes dragged us to
+the high deck by the steering-place, and their captain--Witta, he was
+called--turned us over with his foot. Bracelets of gold from elbow to
+armpit he wore, and his red hair was long as a woman's, and came down in
+plaited locks on his shoulder. He was stout, with bowed legs and long
+arms. He spoiled us of all we had, but when he laid hand on Hugh's sword
+and saw the runes on the blade hastily he thrust it back. Yet his
+covetousness overcame him and he tried again and again, and the third time
+the Sword sang loud and angrily, so that the rowers leaned on their oars
+to listen. Here they all spoke together, screaming like gulls, and a
+Yellow Man, such as I have never seen, came to the high deck and cut our
+bonds. He was yellow--not from sickness, but by nature. Yellow as honey,
+and his eyes stood endwise in his head.'
+
+'How do you mean?' said Una, her chin on her hand.
+
+'Thus,' said Sir Richard. He put a finger to the corner of each eye, and
+pushed it up till his eyes narrowed to slits.
+
+'Why, you look just like a Chinaman!' cried Dan. 'Was the man a Chinaman?'
+
+'I know not what that may be. Witta had found him half dead among ice on
+the shores of Muscovy. _We_ thought he was a devil. He crawled before us
+and brought food in a silver dish which these sea-wolves had robbed from
+some rich abbey, and Witta with his own hands gave us wine. He spoke a
+little in French, a little in South Saxon, and much in the Northman's
+tongue. We asked him to set us ashore, promising to pay him better ransom
+than he would get price if he sold us to the Moors--as once befell a knight
+of my acquaintance sailing from Flushing.
+
+'"Not by my father Guthrum's head," said he. "The Gods sent ye into my
+ship for a luck-offering."
+
+'At this I quaked, for I knew it was still the Dane's custom to sacrifice
+captives to their gods for fair weather.
+
+'"A plague on thy four long bones!" said Hugh. "What profit canst thou
+make of poor old pilgrims that can neither work nor fight?"
+
+'"Gods forbid I should fight against thee, poor Pilgrim with the Singing
+Sword," said he. "Come with us and be poor no more. Thy teeth are far
+apart, which is a sure sign thou wilt travel and grow rich."
+
+'"What if we will not come?" said Hugh.
+
+'"Swim to England or France," said Witta. "We are midway between the two.
+Unless ye choose to drown yourselves no hair of your head will be harmed
+here aboard. We think ye bring us luck, and I myself know the runes on
+that Sword are good." He turned and bade them hoist sail.
+
+'Hereafter all made way for us as we walked about the ship, and the ship
+was full of wonders.'
+
+'What was she like?' said Dan.
+
+'Long, low, and narrow, bearing one mast with a red sail, and rowed by
+fifteen oars a side,' the knight answered. 'At her bows was a deck under
+which men might lie, and at her stern another shut off by a painted door
+from the rowers' benches. Here Hugh and I slept, with Witta and the Yellow
+Man, upon tapestries as soft as wool. I remember'--he laughed to
+himself--'when first we entered there a loud voice cried, "Out swords! Out
+swords! Kill, kill!" Seeing us start Witta laughed, and showed us it was
+but a great-beaked grey bird with a red tail. He sat her on his shoulder,
+and she called for bread and wine hoarsely, and prayed him to kiss her.
+Yet she was no more than a silly bird. But--ye knew this?' He looked at
+their smiling faces.
+
+'We weren't laughing at you,' said Una. 'That must have been a parrot.
+It's just what Pollies do.'
+
+'So we learned later. But here is another marvel. The Yellow Man, whose
+name was Kitai, had with him a brown box. In the box was a blue bowl with
+red marks upon the rim, and within the bowl, hanging from a fine thread,
+was a piece of iron no thicker than that grass stem, and as long, maybe,
+as my spur, but straight. In this iron, said Witta, abode an Evil Spirit
+which Kitai, the Yellow Man, had brought by Art Magic out of his own
+country that lay three years' journey southward. The Evil Spirit strove
+day and night to return to his country, and therefore, look you, the iron
+needle pointed continually to the South.'
+
+'South?' said Dan, suddenly, and put his hand into his pocket.
+
+'With my own eyes I saw it. Every day and all day long, though the ship
+rolled, though the sun and the moon and the stars were hid, this blind
+Spirit in the iron knew whither it would go, and strained to the South.
+Witta called it the Wise Iron, because it showed him his way across the
+unknowable seas.' Again Sir Richard looked keenly at the children. 'How
+think ye? Was it sorcery?'
+
+'Was it anything like this?' Dan fished out his old brass pocket-compass,
+that generally lived with his knife and key-ring. 'The glass has got
+cracked, but the needle waggles all right, sir.'
+
+The knight drew a long breath of wonder. 'Yes, yes. The Wise Iron shook
+and swung in just this fashion. Now it is still. Now it points to the
+South.'
+
+'North,' said Dan.
+
+'Nay, South! There is the South,' said Sir Richard. Then they both
+laughed, for naturally when one end of a straight compass-needle points to
+the North, the other must point to the South.
+
+'Te,' said Sir Richard, clicking his tongue. 'There can be no sorcery if a
+child carries it. Wherefore does it point South--or North?'
+
+'Father says that nobody knows,' said Una.
+
+Sir Richard looked relieved. 'Then it may still be magic. It was magic to
+_us_. And so we voyaged. When the wind served we hoisted sail, and lay all
+up along the windward rail, our shields on our backs to break the spray.
+When it failed, they rowed with long oars; the Yellow Man sat by the Wise
+Iron, and Witta steered. At first I feared the great white-flowering
+waves, but as I saw how wisely Witta led his ship among them I grew
+bolder. Hugh liked it well from the first. My skill is not upon the water;
+and rocks, and whirlpools such as we saw by the West Isles of France,
+where an oar caught on a rock and broke, are much against my stomach. We
+sailed South across a stormy sea, where by moonlight, between clouds, we
+saw a Flanders ship roll clean over and sink. Again, though Hugh laboured
+with Witta all night, I lay under the deck with the Talking Bird, and
+cared not whether I lived or died. There is a sickness of the sea which,
+for three days, is pure death! When we next saw land Witta said it was
+Spain, and we stood out to sea. That coast was full of ships busy in the
+Duke's war against the Moors, and we feared to be hanged by the Duke's men
+or sold into slavery by the Moors. So we put into a small harbour which
+Witta knew. At night men came down with loaded mules, and Witta exchanged
+amber out of the North against little wedges of iron and packets of beads
+in earthen pots. The pots he put under the decks, and the wedges of iron
+he laid on the bottom of the ship after he had cast out the stones and
+shingle which till then had been our ballast. Wine, too, he bought for
+lumps of sweet-smelling grey amber--a little morsel no bigger than a
+thumbnail purchased a cask of wine. But I speak like a merchant.'
+
+'No, no! Tell us what you had to eat,' cried Dan.
+
+'Meat dried in the sun, and dried fish and ground beans, Witta took in;
+and corded frails of a certain sweet, soft fruit, which the Moors use,
+which is like paste of figs, but with thin, long stones. Aha! Dates is the
+name.
+
+'"Now," said Witta, when the ship was loaded, "I counsel you strangers, to
+pray to your gods, for from here on our road is No Man's road." He and his
+men killed a black goat for sacrifice on the bows; and the Yellow Man
+brought out a small, smiling image of dull-green glass and burned incense
+before it. Hugh and I commended ourselves to God, and Saint Bartholomew,
+and Our Lady of the Assumption, who was specially dear to my Lady. We were
+not young, but I think no shame to say, when as we drove out of that
+secret harbour at sunrise over a still sea, we two rejoiced and sang as
+did the knights of old when they followed our great Duke to England. Yet
+was our leader an heathen pirate; all our proud fleet but one galley
+perilously overloaded; for guidance we leaned on a pagan sorcerer; and our
+port was beyond the world's end. Witta told us that his father Guthrum had
+once in his life rowed along the shores of Africa to a land where naked
+men sold gold for iron and beads. There had he bought much gold, and no
+few elephants' teeth, and thither by help of the Wise Iron would Witta go.
+Witta feared nothing--except to be poor.
+
+'"My father told me," said Witta, "that a great Shoal runs three days'
+sail out from that land, and south of the shoal lies a Forest which grows
+in the sea. South and east of the Forest my father came to a place where
+the men hid gold in their hair; but all that country, he said, was full of
+Devils who lived in trees, and tore folk limb from limb. How think ye?"
+
+'"Gold or no gold," said Hugh, fingering his sword, "it is a joyous
+venture. Have at these devils of thine, Witta!"
+
+'"Venture!" said Witta, sourly. "I am only a poor sea-thief. I do not set
+my life adrift on a plank for joy, or the venture. Once I beach ship again
+at Stavanger, and feel the wife's arms round my neck, I'll seek no more
+ventures. A ship is heavier care than a wife or cattle."
+
+'He leaped down among the rowers, chiding them for their little strength
+and their great stomachs. Yet Witta was a wolf in fight, and a very fox in
+cunning.
+
+'We were driven South by a storm, and for three days and three nights he
+took the stern-oar and threddled the longship through the sea. When it
+rose beyond measure he brake a pot of whale's oil upon the water, which
+wonderfully smoothed it, and in that anointed patch he turned her head to
+the wind and threw out oars at the end of a rope, to make, he said, an
+anchor at which we lay rolling sorely, but dry. This craft his father
+Guthrum had shown him. He knew, too, all the Leech-Book of Bald, who was a
+wise doctor, and he knew the Ship-Book of Hlaf the Woman, who robbed
+Egypt. He knew all the care of a ship.
+
+'After the storm we saw a mountain whose top was covered with snow and
+pierced the clouds. The grasses under this mountain, boiled and eaten, are
+a good cure for soreness of the gums and swelled ankles. We lay there
+eight days, till men in skins threw stones at us. When the heat increased
+Witta spread a cloth on bent sticks above the rowers, for the wind failed
+between the Island of the Mountain and the shore of Africa, which is east
+of it. That shore is sandy, and we rowed along it within three bowshots.
+Here we saw whales, and fish in the shape of shields, but longer than our
+ship. Some slept, some opened their mouths at us, and some danced on the
+hot waters. The water was hot to the hand, and the sky was hidden by hot,
+grey mists, out of which blew a fine dust that whitened our hair and
+beards of a morning. Here, too, were fish that flew in the air like birds.
+They would fall on the laps of the rowers, and when we went ashore we
+would roast and eat them.'
+
+The knight paused to see if the children doubted him, but they only nodded
+and said, 'Go on.'
+
+'The yellow land lay on our left, the grey sea on our right. Knight though
+I was, I pulled my oar amongst the rowers. I caught seaweed and dried it,
+and stuffed it between the pots of beads lest they should break.
+Knighthood is for the land. At sea, look you, a man is but a spurless
+rider on a bridleless horse. I learned to make strong knots in ropes--yes,
+and to join two ropes end to end, so that even Witta could scarcely see
+where they had been married. But Hugh had tenfold more sea-cunning than I.
+Witta gave him charge of the rowers of the left side. Thorkild of Borkum,
+a man with a broken nose, that wore a Norman steel cap, had the rowers of
+the right, and each side rowed and sang against the other. They saw that
+no man was idle. Truly, as Hugh said, and Witta would laugh at him, a ship
+is all more care than a Manor.
+
+'How? Thus. There was water to fetch from the shore when we could find it,
+as well as wild fruit and grasses, and sand for scrubbing of the decks and
+benches to keep them sweet. Also we hauled the ship out on low islands and
+emptied all her gear, even to the iron wedges, and burned off the weed,
+that had grown on her, with torches of rush, and smoked below the decks
+with rushes dampened in salt water, as Hlaf the Woman orders in her
+Ship-Book. Once when we were thus stripped, and the ship lay propped on
+her keel, the bird cried, "Out swords!" as though she saw an enemy. Witta
+vowed he would wring her neck.'
+
+'Poor Polly! Did he?' said Una.
+
+'Nay. She was the ship's bird. She could call all the rowers by name....
+Those were good days--for a wifeless man--with Witta and his heathen--beyond
+the world's end.... After many weeks we came on the Great Shoal which
+stretched, as Witta's father had said, far out to sea. We skirted it till
+we were giddy with the sight and dizzy with the sound of bars and
+breakers; and when we reached land again we found a naked black people
+dwelling among woods, who for one wedge of iron loaded us with fruits and
+grasses and eggs. Witta scratched his head at them in sign he would buy
+gold. They had no gold, but they understood the sign (all the gold-traders
+hide their gold in their thick hair), for they pointed along the coast.
+They beat, too, on their chests with their clenched hands, and that, if we
+had known it, was an evil sign.'
+
+'What did it mean?' said Dan.
+
+'Patience. Ye shall hear. We followed the coast eastward sixteen days
+(counting time by sword-cuts on the helm-rail) till we came to the Forest
+in the Sea. Trees grew out of mud, arched upon lean and high roots, and
+many muddy water-ways ran allwhither into darkness under the trees. Here
+we lost the sun. We followed the winding channels between the trees, and
+where we could not row we laid hold of the crusted roots and hauled
+ourselves along. The water was foul, and great glittering flies tormented
+us. Morning and evening a blue mist covered the mud, which bred fevers.
+Four of our rowers sickened, and were bound to their benches, lest they
+should leap overboard and be eaten by the monsters of the mud. The Yellow
+Man lay sick beside the Wise Iron, rolling his head and talking in his own
+tongue. Only the Bird throve. She sat on Witta's shoulder and screamed in
+that noisome, silent darkness. Yes; I think it was the silence we feared.'
+
+He paused to listen to the comfortable home noises of the brook.
+
+'When we had lost count of time among those black gullies and swashes, we
+heard, as it were, a drum beat far off, and following it we broke into a
+broad, brown river by a hut in a clearing among fields of pumkins. We
+thanked God to see the sun again. The people of the village gave the good
+welcome, and Witta scratched his head at them (for gold), and showed them
+our iron and beads. They ran to the bank--we were still in the ship--and
+pointed to our swords and bows, for always when near shore we lay armed.
+Soon they fetched store of gold in bars and in dust from their huts, and
+some great blackened elephant teeth. These they piled on the bank, as
+though to tempt us, and made signs of dealing blows in battle, and pointed
+up to the tree tops, and to the forest behind. Their captain or chief
+sorcerer then beat on his chest with his fists, and gnashed his teeth.
+
+'Said Thorkild of Borkum: "Do they mean we must fight for all this gear?"
+and he half drew his sword.
+
+'"Nay," said Hugh. "I think they ask us to league against some enemy."
+
+'"I like this not," said Witta, of a sudden. "Back into midstream."
+
+'So we did, and sat still all, watching the black folk and the gold they
+piled on the bank. Again we heard drums beat in the forest, and the people
+fled to their huts, leaving the gold unguarded.
+
+'Then Hugh, at the bows, pointed without speech, and we saw a great Devil
+come out of the forest. He shaded his brows with his hand, and moistened
+his pink tongue between his lips--thus.'
+
+'A Devil!' said Dan, delightfully horrified.
+
+'Yea. Taller than a man; covered with reddish hair. When he had well
+regarded our ship, he beat on his chest with his fists till it sounded
+like rolling drums, and came to the bank swinging all his body between his
+long arms, and gnashed his teeth at us. Hugh loosed arrow, and pierced him
+through the throat. He fell roaring, and three other Devils ran out of the
+forest and hauled him into a tall tree out of sight. Anon they cast down
+the blood-stained arrow, and lamented together among the leaves. Witta saw
+the gold on the bank; he was loath to leave it. "Sirs," said he (no man
+had spoken till then), "yonder is that we have come so far and so
+painfully to find, laid out to our very hand. Let us row in while these
+Devils bewail themselves, and at least bear off what we may."
+
+'Bold as a wolf, cunning as a fox was Witta! He set four archers on the
+foredeck to shoot the Devils if they should leap from the tree, which was
+close to the bank. He manned ten oars a side, and bade them watch his hand
+to row in or back out, and so coaxed he them toward the bank. But none
+would set foot ashore, though the gold was within ten paces. No man is
+hasty to his hanging. They whimpered at their oars like beaten hounds, and
+Witta bit his fingers for rage.
+
+'Said Hugh of a sudden, "Hark!" At first we thought it was the buzzing of
+the glittering flies on the water, but it grew loud and fierce, so that
+all men heard.'
+
+'What?' said Dan and Una.
+
+'It was the sword.' Sir Richard patted the smooth hilt. 'It sang as a Dane
+sings before battle. "I go," said Hugh, and he leaped from the bows and
+fell among the gold. I was afraid to my four bones' marrow, but for
+shame's sake I followed, and Thorkild of Borkum leaped after me. None
+other came. "Blame me not," cried Witta behind us, "I must abide by my
+ship." We three had no time to blame or praise. We stooped to the gold and
+threw it back over our shoulders, one hand on our swords and one eye on
+the tree, which nigh overhung us.
+
+'I know not how the Devils leaped down, or how the fight began. I heard
+Hugh cry: "Out! out!" as though he were at Santlache again; I saw
+Thorkild's steel cap smitten off his head by a great hairy hand, and I
+felt an arrow from the ship whistle past my ear. They say that till Witta
+took his sword to the rowers he could not bring his ship in shore; and
+each one of the four archers said afterwards that he alone had pierced the
+Devil that fought me. I do not know. I went to it in my mail-shirt, which
+saved my skin. With long-sword and belt-dagger I fought for the life
+against a Devil whose very feet were hands, and who whirled me back and
+forth like a dead branch. He had me by the waist, my arms to my side, when
+an arrow from the ship pierced him between the shoulders, and he loosened
+grip. I passed my sword twice through him, and he crutched himself away
+between his long arms, coughing and moaning. Next, as I remember, I saw
+Thorkild of Borkum bareheaded and smiling, leaping up and down before a
+Devil that leaped and gnashed his teeth. Then Hugh passed, his sword
+shifted to his left hand, and I wondered why I had not known that Hugh was
+a left-handed man; and thereafter I remembered nothing till I felt spray
+on my face, and we were in sunshine on the open sea. That was twenty days
+after.'
+
+'What had happened? Did Hugh die?' the children asked.
+
+'Never was such a fight fought by christened man,' said Sir Richard. 'An
+arrow from the ship had saved me from my Devil, and Thorkild of Borkum had
+given back before his Devil, till the bowmen on the ship could shoot it
+all full of arrows from near by; but Hugh's Devil was cunning, and had
+kept behind trees, where no arrow could reach. Body to body there, by
+stark strength of sword and hand, had Hugh slain him, and, dying, the
+Thing had clenched his teeth on the sword. Judge what teeth they were!'
+
+Sir Richard turned the sword again that the children might see the two
+great chiselled gouges on either side of the blade.
+
+'Those same teeth met in Hugh's right arm and side,' Sir Richard went on.
+'I? Oh, I had no more than a broken foot and a fever. Thorkild's ear was
+bitten, but Hugh's arm and side clean withered away. I saw him where he
+lay along, sucking a fruit in his left hand. His flesh was wasted off his
+bones, his hair was patched with white, and his hand was blue-veined like
+a woman's. He put his left hand round my neck and whispered, "Take my
+sword. It has been thine since Hastings, O, my brother, but I can never
+hold hilt again." We lay there on the high deck talking of Santlache and,
+I think, of every day since Santlache, and it came so that we both wept. I
+was weak, and he little more than a shadow.
+
+'"Nay--nay," said Witta, at the helm-rail. "Gold is a good right arm to any
+man. Look--look at the gold!" He bade Thorkild show us the gold and the
+elephants' teeth, as though we had been children. He had brought away all
+the gold on the bank, and twice as much more, that the people of the
+village gave him for slaying the Devils. They worshipped us as gods,
+Thorkild told me: it was one of their old women healed up Hugh's poor
+arm.'
+
+'How much gold did you get?' asked Dan.
+
+'How can I say? Where we came out with wedges of iron under the rowers'
+feet we returned with wedges of gold hidden beneath planks. There was dust
+of gold in packages where we slept; and along the side and crosswise under
+the benches we lashed the blackened elephants' teeth.
+
+'"I had sooner have my right arm," said Hugh, when he had seen all.
+
+'"Ahai! That was my fault," said Witta. "I should have taken ransom and
+landed you in France when first you came aboard, ten months ago."
+
+'"It is over-late now," said Hugh, laughing.
+
+'Witta plucked at his long shoulder-lock. "But think!" said he. "If I had
+let ye go--which I swear I would never have done, for I love ye more than
+brothers--if I had let ye go, by now ye might have been horribly slain by
+some mere Moor in the Duke of Burgundy's war, or ye might have been
+murdered by land-thieves, or ye might have died of the plague at an inn.
+Think of this and do not blame me overmuch, Hugh. See! I will only take a
+half of the gold."
+
+'"I blame thee not at all, Witta," said Hugh. "It was a joyous venture,
+and we thirty-five here have done what never men have done. If I live till
+England, I will build me a stout keep over Dallington out of my share."
+
+'"I will buy cattle and amber and warm red cloth for the wife," said
+Witta, "and I will hold all the land at the head of Stavanger Fiord. Many
+will fight for me now. But first we must turn North, and with this honest
+treasure aboard I pray we meet no pirate ships."
+
+'We did not laugh. We were careful. We were afraid lest we should lose one
+grain of our gold for which we had fought Devils.
+
+'"Where is the Sorcerer?" said I, for Witta was looking at the Wise Iron
+in the box, and I could not see the Yellow Man.
+
+'"He has gone to his own country," said he. "He rose up in the night while
+we were beating out of that forest in the mud, and said that he could see
+it behind the trees. He leaped out on to the mud, and did not answer when
+we called; so we called no more. He left the Wise Iron, which is all that
+I care for--and see, the Spirit still points to the South!"
+
+'We were troubled for fear that the Wise Iron should fail us now that its
+Yellow Man had gone, and when we saw the Spirit still served us we grew
+afraid of too strong winds, and of shoals, and of careless leaping fish,
+and of all the people on all the shores where we landed.'
+
+'Why?' said Dan.
+
+'Because of the gold--because of our gold. Gold changes men altogether.
+Thorkild of Borkum did not change. He laughed at Witta for his fears, and
+at us for our counselling Witta to furl sail when the ship pitched at all.
+
+'"Better be drowned out of hand," said Thorkild of Borkum, "than go tied
+to a deck-load of yellow dust."
+
+'He was a landless man, and had been slave to some King in the East. He
+would have beaten out the gold into deep bands to put round the oars, and
+round the prow.
+
+'Yet, though he vexed himself for the gold, Witta waited upon Hugh like a
+woman, lending him his shoulder when the ship rolled, and tying of ropes
+from side to side that Hugh might hold by them. But for Hugh, he said--and
+so did all his men--they would never have won the gold. I remember Witta
+made a little, thin gold ring for our Bird to swing in. Three months we
+rowed and sailed and went ashore for fruits or to clean the ship. When we
+saw wild horsemen, riding among sand-dunes, flourishing spears we knew we
+were on the Moors' coast, and stood over north to Spain; and a strong
+south-west wind bore us in ten days to a coast of high red rocks, where we
+heard a hunting-horn blow among the yellow gorse and knew it was England.
+
+'"Now find ye Pevensey yourselves," said Witta. "I love not these narrow
+ship-filled seas."
+
+'He set the dried, salted head of the Devil, which Hugh had killed, high
+on our prow, and all boats fled from us. Yet, for our gold's sake, we were
+more afraid than they. We crept along the coast by night till we came to
+the chalk cliffs, and so east to Pevensey. Witta would not come ashore
+with us, though Hugh promised him wine at Dallington enough to swim in. He
+was on fire to see his wife, and ran into the Marsh after sunset, and
+there he left us and our share of gold, and backed out on the same tide.
+He made no promise; he swore no oath; he looked for no thanks; but to
+Hugh, an armless man, and to me, an old cripple whom he could have flung
+into the sea, he passed over wedge upon wedge, packet upon packet of gold
+and dust of gold, and only ceased when we would take no more. As he
+stooped from the rail to bid us farewell he stripped off his right-arm
+bracelets and put them all on Hugh's left, and he kissed Hugh on the
+cheek. I think when Thorkild of Borkum bade the rowers give way we were
+near weeping. It is true that Witta was an heathen and a pirate; true it
+is he held us by force many months in his ship, but I loved that
+bow-legged, blue-eyed man for his great boldness, his cunning, his skill,
+and, beyond all, for his simplicity.'
+
+'Did he get home all right?' said Dan.
+
+'I never knew. We saw him hoist sail under the moon-track and stand away.
+I have prayed that he found his wife and the children.'
+
+'And what did you do?'
+
+'We waited on the Marsh till the day. Then I sat by the gold, all tied in
+an old sail, while Hugh went to Pevensey, and De Aquila sent us horses.'
+
+Sir Richard crossed hands on his sword-hilt, and stared down stream
+through the soft warm shadows.
+
+'A whole shipload of gold!' said Una, looking at the little _Golden Hind_.
+'But I'm glad I didn't see the Devils.'
+
+'I don't believe they were Devils,' Dan whispered back.
+
+'Eh?' said Sir Richard. 'Witta's father warned him they were
+unquestionable Devils. One must believe one's father, and not one's
+children. What were my Devils, then?'
+
+Dan flushed all over. 'I--I only thought,' he stammered; 'I've got a book
+called _The Gorilla Hunters_--it's a continuation of _Coral Island_,
+sir--and it says there that the gorillas (they're big monkeys, you know)
+were always chewing iron up.'
+
+'Not always,' said Una. 'Only twice.' They had been reading _The Gorilla
+Hunters_ in the orchard.
+
+'Well, anyhow, they always drummed on their chests, like Sir Richard's
+did, before they went for people. And they built houses in trees, too.'
+
+'Ha!' Sir Richard opened his eyes. 'Houses like flat nests did our Devils
+make, where their imps lay and looked at us. I did not see them (I was
+sick after the fight), but Witta told me and, lo, ye know it also?
+Wonderful! Were our Devils only nest-building apes? Is there no sorcery
+left in the world?'
+
+'I don't know,' answered Dan, uncomfortably. 'I've seen a man take rabbits
+out of a hat, and he told us we could see how he did it, if we watched
+hard. And we did.'
+
+'But we didn't,' said Una sighing. 'Oh! there's Puck!'
+
+The little fellow, brown and smiling, peered between two stems of an ash,
+nodded, and slid down the bank into the cool beside them.
+
+'No sorcery, Sir Richard?' he laughed, and blew on a full dandelion head
+he had picked.
+
+'They tell me that Witta's Wise Iron was a toy. The boy carries such an
+Iron with him. They tell me our Devils were apes, called gorillas!' said
+Sir Richard, indignantly.
+
+'That is the sorcery of books,' said Puck. 'I warned thee they were wise
+children. All people can be wise by reading of books.'
+
+'But are the books true?' Sir Richard frowned. 'I like not all this
+reading and writing.'
+
+'Ye-es,' said Puck, holding the naked dandelion head at arm's length. 'But
+if we hang all fellows who write falsely, why did De Aquila not begin with
+Gilbert, the Clerk? _He_ was false enough.'
+
+'Poor false Gilbert. Yet in his fashion, he was bold,' said Sir Richard.
+
+'What did he do?' said Dan.
+
+'He wrote,' said Sir Richard. 'Is the tale meet for children, think you?'
+He looked at Puck; but, 'Tell us! Tell us!' cried Dan and Una together.
+
+
+
+
+THORKILD'S SONG
+
+
+  _There is no wind along these seas,_
+    Out oars for Stavanger!
+    Forward all for Stavanger!
+  _So we must wake the white-ash breeze,_
+    Let fall for Stavanger!
+    A long pull for Stavanger!
+
+  _Oh, hear the benches creak and strain!_
+    (A long pull for Stavanger!)
+  _She thinks she smells the Northland rain!_
+    (A long pull for Stavanger!)
+
+  _She thinks she smells the Northland snow,_
+  _And she's as glad as we to go!_
+
+  _She thinks she smells the Northland rime,_
+  _And the dear dark nights of winter-time._
+
+  _Her very bolts are sick for shore,_
+  _And we--we want it ten times more!_
+
+  _Hoe--all you Gods that love brave men,_
+  _Send us a three-reef gale again!_
+
+  _Send us a gale, and watch us come,_
+  _With close-cropped canvas slashing home!_
+
+  But--_there's no wind in all these seas,_
+    A long pull for Stavanger!
+  _So we must wake the white-ash breeze,_
+    A long pull for Stavanger!
+
+
+
+
+
+OLD MEN AT PEVENSEY
+
+
+
+
+OLD MEN AT PEVENSEY
+
+
+'It has nought to do with apes or devils,' Sir Richard went on, in an
+undertone. 'It concerns De Aquila, than whom there was never bolder nor
+craftier, nor more hardy knight born. And, remember, he was an old, old
+man at that time.'
+
+'When?' said Dan.
+
+'When we came back from sailing with Witta.'
+
+'What did you do with your gold?' said Dan.
+
+'Have patience. Link by link is chain-mail made. I will tell all in its
+place. We bore the gold to Pevensey on horseback--three loads of it--and
+then up to the north chamber, above the Great Hall of Pevensey Castle,
+where De Aquila lay in winter. He sat on his bed like a little white
+falcon, turning his head swiftly from one to the other as we told our
+tale. Jehan the Crab, an old sour man-at-arms, guarded the stairway, but
+De Aquila bade him wait at the stair-foot, and let down both leather
+curtains over the door. It was Jehan whom De Aquila had sent to us with
+the horses, and only Jehan had loaded the gold. When our story was told,
+De Aquila gave us the news of England, for we were as men waked from a
+year-long sleep. The Red King was dead--slain (ye remember?) the day we set
+sail--and Henry, his younger brother, had made himself King of England over
+the head of Robert of Normandy. This was the very thing that the Red King
+had done to Robert when our Great William died. Then Robert of Normandy,
+mad, as De Aquila said, at twice missing of this kingdom, had sent an army
+against England, which army had been well beaten back to their ships at
+Portsmouth. A little earlier, and Witta's ship would have rowed through
+them.
+
+'"And now," said De Aquila, "half the great Barons of the north and west
+are out against the King between Salisbury and Shrewsbury; and half the
+other half wait to see which way the game shall go. They say Henry is
+overly English for their stomachs, because he hath married an English wife
+and she hath coaxed him to give back their old laws to our Saxons. (Better
+ride a horse on the bit he knows, _I_ say.) But that is only a cloak to
+their falsehood." He cracked his finger on the table where the wine was
+spilt, and thus he spoke:--
+
+'"William crammed us Norman barons full of good English acres after
+Santlache. _I_ had my share too," he said, and clapped Hugh on the
+shoulder; "but I warned him--I warned him before Odo rebelled--that he
+should have bidden the Barons give up their lands and lordships in
+Normandy if they would be English lords. Now they are all but princes both
+in England and Normandy--trencher-fed hounds, with a foot in one trough and
+both eyes on the other! Robert of Normandy has sent them word that if they
+do not fight for him in England he will sack and harry out their lands in
+Normandy. Therefore Clare has risen, Fitz Osborn has risen, Montgomery has
+risen--whom our First William made an English earl. Even D'Arcy is out with
+his men, whose father I remember a little hedge-sparrow knight nearby
+Caen. If Henry wins, the Barons can still flee to Normandy, where Robert
+will welcome them. If Henry loses, Robert, he says, will give them more
+lands in England. Oh, a pest--a pest on Normandy, for she will be our
+England's curse this many a long year!"
+
+'"Amen," said Hugh. "But will the war come our ways, think you?"
+
+'"Not from the North," said De Aquila. "But the sea is always open. If the
+Barons gain the upper hand Robert will send another army into England for
+sure; and this time I think he will land here--where his father, the
+Conqueror, landed. Ye have brought your pigs to a pretty market! Half
+England alight, and gold enough on the ground"--he stamped on the bars
+beneath the table--"to set every sword in Christendom fighting."
+
+'"What is to do?" said Hugh. "I have no keep at Dallington; and if we
+buried it, whom could we trust?"
+
+'"Me," said De Aquila. "Pevensey walls are strong. No man but Jehan, who
+is my dog, knows what is between them." He drew a curtain by the
+shot-window and showed us the shaft of a well in the thickness of the
+wall.
+
+'"I made it for a drinking-well," he said, "but we found salt water, and
+it rises and falls with the tide. Hark!" We heard the water whistle and
+blow at the bottom. "Will it serve?" said he.
+
+'"Needs must," said Hugh. "Our lives are in thy hands." So we lowered all
+the gold down except one small chest of it by De Aquila's bed, which we
+kept as much for his delight in its weight and colour as for any our
+needs.
+
+'In the morning, ere we rode to our Manors, he said: "I do not say
+farewell; because ye will return and bide here. Not for love nor for
+sorrow, but to be with the gold. Have a care," he said, laughing, "lest I
+use it to make myself Pope. Trust me not, but return!"'
+
+Sir Richard paused and smiled sadly.
+
+'In seven days, then, we returned from our Manors--from the Manors which
+had been ours.'
+
+'And were the children quite well?' said Una.
+
+'My sons were young. Land and governance belong by right to young men.'
+Sir Richard was talking to himself. 'It would have broken their hearts if
+we had taken back our Manors. They made us great welcome, but we could
+see--Hugh and I could see--that our day was done. I was a cripple and he a
+one-armed man. No!' He shook his head. 'And therefore'--he raised his
+voice--'we rode back to Pevensey.'
+
+'I'm sorry,' said Una, for the knight seemed very sorrowful.
+
+'Little maid, it all passed long ago. They were young; we were old. We let
+them rule the Manors. "Aha!" cried De Aquila from his shot-window, when we
+dismounted. "Back again to earth, old foxes?" but when we were in his
+chamber above the hall he puts his arms about us and says, "Welcome,
+ghosts! Welcome, poor ghosts!"... Thus it fell out that we were rich
+beyond belief, and lonely. And lonely!'
+
+'What did you do?' said Dan.
+
+'We watched for Robert of Normandy,' said the knight. 'De Aquila was like
+Witta. He suffered no idleness. In fair weather we would ride along
+between Bexlei on the one side, to Cuckmere on the other--sometimes with
+hawk, sometimes with hound (there are stout hares both on the Marsh and
+the Downland), but always with an eye to the sea, for fear of fleets from
+Normandy. In foul weather he would walk on the top of his tower, frowning
+against the rain--peering here and pointing there. It always vexed him to
+think how Witta's ship had come and gone without his knowledge. When the
+wind ceased and ships anchored, to the wharf's edge he would go and,
+leaning on his sword among the stinking fish, would call to the mariners
+for their news from France. His other eye he kept landward for word of
+Henry's war against the Barons.
+
+'Many brought him news--jongleurs, harpers, pedlars, sutlers, priests, and
+the like; and, though he was secret enough in small things, yet, if their
+news misliked him, then, regarding neither time nor place nor people,
+would he curse our King Henry for a fool or a babe. I have heard him cry
+aloud by the fishing-boats: "If I were King of England I would do thus and
+thus"; and when I rode out to see that the warning-beacons were laid and
+dry, he hath often called to me from the shot-window: "Look to it,
+Richard! Do not copy our blind King, but see with thine own eyes and feel
+with thine own hands." I do not think he knew any sort of fear. And so we
+lived at Pevensey, in the little chamber above the Hall.
+
+'One foul night came word that a messenger of the King waited below. We
+were chilled after a long riding in the fog towards Bexlei, which is an
+easy place for ships to land. De Aquila sent word the man might either eat
+with us or wait till we had fed. Anon Jehan, at the stair-head, cried that
+he had called for horse, and was gone. "Pest on him!" said De Aquila. "I
+have more to do than to shiver in the Great Hall for every gadling the
+King sends. Left he no word?"
+
+'"None," said Jehan, "except"--he had been with De Aquila at
+Santlache--"except he said that if an old dog could not learn new tricks it
+was time to sweep out the kennel."
+
+'"Oho!" said De Aquila, rubbing his nose, "to whom did he say that?"
+
+'"To his beard, chiefly, but some to his horse's flank as he was girthing
+up. I followed him out," said Jehan the Crab.
+
+'"What was his shield-mark?"
+
+'"Gold horseshoes on black," said the Crab.
+
+'"That is one of Fulke's men," said De Aquila.'
+
+Puck broke in very gently, 'Gold horseshoes on black is _not_ the Fulkes'
+shield. The Fulkes' arms are----'
+
+The knight waved one hand statelily.
+
+'Thou knowest that evil man's true name,' he replied, 'but I have chosen
+to call him Fulke because I promised him I would not tell the story of his
+wickedness so that any man might guess it. I have changed _all_ the names
+in my tale. His children's children may be still alive.'
+
+'True--true,' said Puck, smiling softly. 'It is knightly to keep faith--even
+after a thousand years.'
+
+Sir Richard bowed a little and went on:--
+
+'"Gold horseshoes on black?" said De Aquila. "I had heard Fulke had joined
+the Barons, but if this is true our King must be of the upper hand. No
+matter, all Fulkes are faithful. Still, I would not have sent the man away
+empty."
+
+'"He fed," said Jehan. "Gilbert the Clerk fetched him meat and wine from
+the kitchens. He ate at Gilbert's table."
+
+'This Gilbert was a clerk from Battle Abbey, who kept the accounts of the
+Manor of Pevensey. He was tall and pale-coloured, and carried those
+new-fashioned beads for counting of prayers. They were large brown nuts or
+seeds, and hanging from his girdle with his penner and inkhorn they
+clashed when he walked. His place was in the great fireplace. There was
+his table of accounts, and there he lay o' nights. He feared the hounds in
+the Hall that came nosing after bones or to sleep on the warm ashes, and
+would slash at them with his beads--like a woman. When De Aquila sat in
+Hall to do justice, take fines, or grant lands, Gilbert would so write it
+in the Manor-roll. But it was none of his work to feed our guests, or to
+let them depart without his lord's knowledge.
+
+'Said De Aquila, after Jehan was gone down the stair: "Hugh, hast thou
+ever told my Gilbert thou canst read Latin hand-of-write?"
+
+'"No," said Hugh. "He is no friend to me, or to Odo my hound either." "No
+matter," said De Aquila. "Let him never know thou canst tell one letter
+from its fellow, and"--here he jerked us in the ribs with his
+scabbard--"watch him both of ye. There be devils in Africa, as I have
+heard, but by the Saints there be greater devils in Pevensey!" And that
+was all he would say.
+
+'It chanced, some small while afterwards, a Norman man-at-arms would wed a
+Saxon wench of the Manor, and Gilbert (we had watched him well since De
+Aquila spoke) doubted whether her folk were free or slave. Since De Aquila
+would give them a field of good land, if she were free, the matter came up
+at the justice in Great Hall before De Aquila. First the wench's father
+spoke; then her mother; then all together, till the hall rang and the
+hounds bayed. De Aquila held up his hands. "Write her free," he called to
+Gilbert by the fireplace. "A' God's Name write her free, before she
+deafens me! Yes, yes," he said to the wench that was on her knees at him;
+"thou art Cerdic's sister, and own cousin to the Lady of Mercia, if thou
+wilt be silent. In fifty years there will be neither Norman nor Saxon, but
+all English," said he, "and _these_ are the men that do our work!" He
+clapped the man-at-arms, that was Jehan's nephew, on the shoulder, and
+kissed the wench, and fretted with his feet among the rushes to show it
+was finished. (The Great Hall is always bitter cold.) I stood at his side;
+Hugh was behind Gilbert in the fireplace making to play with wise rough
+Odo. He signed to De Aquila, who bade Gilbert measure the new field for
+the new couple. Out then runs our Gilbert between man and maid, his beads
+clashing at his waist, and the Hall being empty, we three sit by the fire.
+
+'Said Hugh, leaning down to the hearthstones, "I saw this stone move under
+Gilbert's foot when Odo snuffed at it. Look!" De Aquila digged in the
+ashes with his sword; the stone tilted; beneath it lay a parchment folden,
+and the writing atop was: "Words spoken against the King by our Lord of
+Pevensey--the second part."
+
+'Here was set out (Hugh read it us whispering) every jest De Aquila had
+made to us touching the King; every time he had called out to me from the
+shot-window, and every time he had said what he would do if he were King
+of England. Yes, day by day had his daily speech, which he never stinted,
+been set down by Gilbert, tricked out and twisted from its true meaning,
+yet withal so cunningly that none could deny who knew him that De Aquila
+had in some sort spoken those words. Ye see?'
+
+Dan and Una nodded.
+
+'Yes,' said Una, gravely. 'It isn't what you say so much. It's what you
+mean when you say it. Like calling Dan a beast in fun. Only grown-ups
+don't always understand.'
+
+'"He hath done this day by day before our very face?" said De Aquila.
+
+"Nay, hour by hour," said Hugh. "When De Aquila spoke even now, in the
+hall, of Saxons and Normans, I saw Gilbert write on a parchment, which he
+kept beside the Manor-roll, that De Aquila said soon there would be no
+Normans left in England if his men-at-arms did their work aright."
+
+'"Bones of the Saints!" said De Aquila. "What avail is honour or a sword
+against a pen? Where did Gilbert hide that writing? He shall eat it."
+
+'"In his breast when he ran out," said Hugh. "Which made me look to see
+where he kept his finished stuff. When Odo scratched at this stone here, I
+saw his face change. So I was sure."
+
+'"He is bold," said De Aquila. "Do him justice. In his own fashion, my
+Gilbert is bold."
+
+'"Overbold," said Hugh. "Hearken here," and he read: "Upon the feast of
+St. Agatha, our Lord of Pevensey, lying in his upper chamber, being
+clothed in his second fur gown reversed with rabbit----"
+
+'"Pest on him! He is not my tire-woman!" said De Aquila, and Hugh and I
+laughed.
+
+'"Reversed with rabbit, seeing a fog over the marshes, did wake Sir
+Richard Dalyngridge, his drunken cup-mate" (here they laughed at me) "and
+said, 'Peer out, old fox, for God is on the Duke of Normandy's side.'"
+
+'"So did I. It was a black fog. Robert could have landed ten thousand men,
+and we none the wiser. Does he tell how we were out all day riding the
+marsh, and how I near perished in a quicksand, and coughed like a sick ewe
+for ten days after?" cried De Aquila.
+
+'"No," said Hugh. "But here is the prayer of Gilbert himself to his master
+Fulke."
+
+'"Ah," said De Aquila. "Well I knew it was Fulke. What is the price of my
+blood?"
+
+'"Gilbert prayeth that when our Lord of Pevensey is stripped of his lands
+on this evidence which Gilbert hath, with fear and pains, collected----"
+
+'"Fear and pains is a true word," said De Aquila, and sucked in his
+cheeks. "But how excellent a weapon is a pen! I must learn it."
+
+'"He prays that Fulke will advance him from his present service to that
+honour in the Church which Fulke promised him. And lest Fulke should
+forget, he has written below, 'To be Sacristan of Battle.'"
+
+'At this De Aquila whistled. "A man who can plot against one lord can plot
+against another. When I am stripped of my lands Fulke will whip off my
+Gilbert's foolish head. None the less Battle needs a new Sacristan. They
+tell me the Abbot Henry keeps no sort of rule there."
+
+'"Let the Abbot wait," said Hugh. "It is our heads and our lands that are
+in danger. This parchment is the second part of the tale. The first has
+gone to Fulke, and so to the King, who will hold us traitors."
+
+'"Assuredly," said De Aquila. "Fulke's man took the first part that
+evening when Gilbert fed him, and our King is so beset by his brother and
+his Barons (small blame, too!) that he is mad with mistrust. Fulke has his
+ear, and pours poison into it. Presently the King gives him my land and
+yours. This is old," and he leaned back and yawned.
+
+'"And thou wilt surrender Pevensey without word or blow?" said Hugh. "We
+Saxons will fight your King then. I will go warn my nephew at Dallington.
+Give me a horse!"
+
+'"Give thee a toy and a rattle." said De Aquila. "Put back the parchment,
+and rake over the ashes. If Fulke is given my Pevensey which is England's
+gate, what will he do with it? He is Norman at heart, and his heart is in
+Normandy, where he can kill peasants at his pleasure. He will open
+England's gate to our sleepy Robert, as Odo and Mortain tried to do, and
+then there will be another landing and another Santlache. Therefore I
+cannot give up Pevensey."
+
+'"Good," said we two.
+
+'"Ah, but wait! If my King be made, on Gilbert's evidence, to mistrust me,
+he will send his men against me here, and, while we fight, England's gate
+is left unguarded. Who will be the first to come through thereby? Even
+Robert of Normandy. Therefore I cannot fight my King." He nursed his
+sword--thus.
+
+'"This is saying and unsaying like a Norman," said Hugh. "What of our
+Manors?"
+
+'"I do not think for myself," said De Aquila, "nor for our King, nor for
+your lands. I think for England, for whom neither King nor Baron thinks. I
+am not Norman, Sir Richard, nor Saxon, Sir Hugh. English am I."
+
+'"Saxon, Norman, or English," said Hugh, "our lives are thine, however the
+game goes. When do we hang Gilbert?"
+
+'"Never," said De Aquila. "Who knows he may yet be Sacristan of Battle,
+for, to do him justice, he is a good writer. Dead men make dumb witnesses.
+Wait."
+
+'"But the King may give Pevensey to Fulke. And our Manors go with it,"
+said I. "Shall we tell our sons?"
+
+'"No. The King will not wake up a hornet's nest in the South till he has
+smoked out the bees in the North. He may hold me a traitor; but at least
+he sees I am not fighting against him, and every day that I lie still is
+so much gain to him while he fights the barons. If he were wise he would
+wait till that war were over before he made new enemies. But I think Fulke
+will play upon him to send for me, and if I do not obey the summons that
+will, to Henry's mind, be proof of my treason. But mere talk, such as
+Gilbert sends, is no proof nowadays. We Barons follow the Church, and,
+like Anselm, we speak what we please. Let us go about our day's dealings,
+and say naught to Gilbert."
+
+'"Then we do nothing?" said Hugh.
+
+'"We wait," said De Aquila. "I am old, but still I find that the most
+grievous work I know."
+
+'And so we found it, but in the end De Aquila was right.
+
+'A little later in the year, armed men rode over the hill, the Golden
+Horseshoes flying behind the King's banner. Said De Aquila, at the window
+of our chamber: "How did I tell you? Here comes Fulke himself to spy out
+his new lands which our King hath promised him if he can bring proof of my
+treason."
+
+'"How dost thou know?" said Hugh.
+
+'"Because that is what I would do if I were Fulke, but _I_ should have
+brought more men. My roan horse to your old shoes," said he, "Fulke brings
+me the King's Summons to leave Pevensey and join the war." He sucked in
+his cheeks and drummed on the edge of the shaft, where the water sounded
+all hollow.
+
+'"Shall we go?" said I.
+
+'"Go! At this time of year? Stark madness," said he. "Take _me_ from
+Pevensey to fisk and flyte through fern and forest, and in three days
+Robert's keels would be lying on Pevensey mud with ten thousand men! Who
+would stop them--Fulke?"
+
+'The horns blew without, and anon Fulke cried the King's Summons at the
+great door that De Aquila with all men and horse should join the King's
+camp at Salisbury.
+
+'"How did I tell you?" said De Aquila. "There are twenty Barons 'twixt
+here and Salisbury could give King Henry good land-service, but he has
+been worked upon by Fulke to send south and call me--_me!_--off the Gate of
+England, when his enemies stand about to batter it in. See that Fulke's
+men lie in the big south barn," said he. "Give them drink, and when Fulke
+has eaten we will drink in my chamber. The Great Hall is too cold for old
+bones."
+
+'As soon as he was off-horse Fulke went to the chapel with Gilbert to give
+thanks for his safe coming, and when he had eaten--he was a fat man, and
+rolled his eyes greedily at our good roast Sussex wheatears--we led him to
+the little upper chamber, whither Gilbert had already gone with the
+Manor-roll. I remember when Fulke heard the tide blow and whistle in the
+shaft he leaped back, and his long down-turned stirrup-shoes caught in the
+rushes and he stumbled, so that Jehan behind him found it easy to knock
+his head against the wall.'
+
+'Did you know it was going to happen?' said Dan.
+
+'Assuredly,' said Sir Richard, with a sweet smile. 'I put my foot on his
+sword and plucked away his dagger, but he knew not whether it was day or
+night for a while. He lay rolling his eyes and bubbling with his mouth,
+and Jehan roped him like a calf. He was cased all in that new-fangled
+armour which we call lizard-mail. Not rings like my hauberk here'--Sir
+Richard tapped his chest--'but little pieces of dagger-proof steel
+overlapping on stout leather. We stripped it off (no need to spoil good
+harness by wetting it), and in the neck-piece De Aquila found the same
+folden piece of parchment which we had put back under the hearthstone.
+
+'At this Gilbert would have run out. I laid my hand on his shoulder. It
+sufficed. He fell to trembling and praying on his beads.
+
+'"Gilbert," said De Aquila, "here be more notable sayings and doings of
+our Lord of Pevensey for thee to write down. Take penner and inkhorn,
+Gilbert. We cannot all be Sacristans of Battle."
+
+'Said Fulke from the floor, "Ye have bound a King's messenger. Pevensey
+shall burn for this!"
+
+'"Maybe. I have seen it besieged once," said De Aquila, "but heart up,
+Fulke. I promise thee that thou shalt be hanged in the middle of the
+flames at the end of that siege, if I have to share my last loaf with
+thee; and that is more than Odo would have done when we starved out him
+and Mortain."
+
+'Then Fulke sat up and looked long and cunningly at De Aquila.
+
+'"By the Saints," said he, "why didst thou not say thou wast on the Duke's
+side at the first?"
+
+'"Am I?" said De Aquila.
+
+'Fulke laughed and said, "No man who serves King Henry dare do this much
+to his messenger. When didst thou come over to the Duke? Let me up and we
+can smooth it out together." And he smiled and becked and winked.
+
+'"Yes, we will smooth it out," said De Aquila. He nodded to me, and Jehan
+and I heaved up Fulke--he was a heavy man--and lowered him into the shaft by
+a rope, not so as to stand on our gold, but dangling by his shoulders a
+little above. It was turn of ebb, and the water came to his knees. He said
+nothing, but shivered somewhat.
+
+'Then Jehan of a sudden beat down Gilbert's wrist with his sheathed
+dagger, "Stop!" he said. "He swallows his beads."
+
+'"Poison, belike," said De Aquila. "It is good for men who know too much.
+I have carried it these thirty years. Give me!"
+
+'Then Gilbert wept and howled. De Aquila ran the beads through his
+fingers. The last one--I have said they were large nuts--opened in two
+halves on a pin, and there was a small folded parchment within. On it was
+written: "_The Old Dog goes to Salisbury to be beaten. I have his Kennel.
+Come quickly._"
+
+'"This is worse than poison," said De Aquila, very softly, and sucked in
+his cheeks. Then Gilbert grovelled in the rushes, and told us all he knew.
+The letter, as we guessed, was from Fulke to the Duke (and not the first
+that had passed between them); Fulke had given it to Gilbert in the
+chapel, and Gilbert thought to have taken it by morning to a certain
+fishing-boat at the wharf, which trafficked between Pevensey and the
+French shore. Gilbert was a false fellow, but he found time between his
+quakings and shakings to swear that the master of the boat knew nothing of
+the matter.
+
+'"He hath called me shaved head," said Gilbert, "and he hath thrown
+haddock-guts at me; but for all that, he is no traitor."
+
+'"I will have no clerk of mine mishandled or miscalled," said De Aquila.
+"That seaman shall be whipped at his own mast. Write me first a letter,
+and thou shalt bear it, with the order for the whipping, to-morrow to the
+boat."
+
+'At this Gilbert would have kissed De Aquila's hand--he had not hoped to
+live until the morning--and when he trembled less he wrote a letter as from
+Fulke to the Duke saying that the Kennel, which signified Pevensey, was
+shut, and that the old Dog (which was De Aquila) sat outside it, and,
+moreover, that all had been betrayed.
+
+'"Write to any man that all is betrayed," said De Aquila, "and even the
+Pope himself would sleep uneasily. Eh, Jehan? If one told thee all was
+betrayed, what wouldst thou do?"
+
+'"I would run away," said Jehan. "It might be true."
+
+'"Well said," quoth De Aquila. "Write, Gilbert, that Montgomery, the great
+Earl, hath made his peace with the King, and that little D'Arcy, whom I
+hate, hath been hanged by the heels. We will give Robert full measure to
+chew upon. Write also that Fulke himself is sick to death of a dropsy."
+
+'"Nay?" cried Fulke, hanging in the well-shaft. "Drown me out of hand, but
+do not make a jest of me."
+
+'"Jest? I?" said De Aquila. "I am but fighting for life and lands with a
+pen, as thou hast shown me, Fulke."
+
+'Then Fulke groaned, for he was cold, and, "Let me confess," said he.
+
+'"Now, this is right neighbourly," said De Aquila, leaning over the shaft.
+"Thou hast read my sayings and doings--or at least the first part of
+them--and thou art minded to repay me with thy own doings and sayings. Take
+penner and inkhorn, Gilbert. Here is work that will not irk thee."
+
+'"Let my men go without hurt, and I will confess my treason against the
+King," said Fulke.
+
+'"Now, why has he grown so tender of his men of a sudden?" said Hugh to
+me; for Fulke had no name for mercy to his men. Plunder he gave them, but
+pity, none.
+
+'"Te! Te!" said De Aquila. "Thy treason was all confessed long ago by
+Gilbert. It would be enough to hang Montgomery himself."
+
+'"Nay; but spare my men," said Fulke; and we heard him splash like a fish
+in a pond, for the tide was rising.
+
+'"All in good time," said De Aquila. "The night is young; the wine is old;
+and we need only the merry tale. Begin the story of thy life since when
+thou wast a lad at Tours. Tell it nimbly!"
+
+'"Ye shame me to my soul," said Fulke.
+
+'"Then I have done what neither King nor Duke could do," said De Aquila.
+"But begin, and forget nothing."
+
+'"Send thy man away," said Fulke.
+
+'"That much I can," said De Aquila. "But, remember, I am like the Danes'
+King; I cannot turn the tide."
+
+'"How long will it rise?" said Fulke, and splashed anew.
+
+'"For three hours," said De Aquila. "Time to tell all thy good deeds.
+Begin, and Gilbert--I have heard thou art somewhat careless--do not twist
+his words from their true meaning."
+
+'So--fear of death in the dark being upon him--Fulke began; and Gilbert, not
+knowing what his fate might be, wrote it word by word. I have heard many
+tales, but never heard I aught to match the tale of Fulke, his black life,
+as Fulke told it hollowly, hanging in the shaft.'
+
+'Was it bad?' said Dan, awestruck.
+
+'Beyond belief,' Sir Richard answered. 'None the less, there was that in
+it which forced even Gilbert to laugh. We three laughed till we ached. At
+one place his teeth so chattered that we could not well hear, and we
+reached him down a cup of wine. Then he warmed to it, and smoothly set out
+all his shifts, malices, and treacheries, his extreme boldnesses (he was
+desperate bold); his retreats, shufflings, and counterfeitings (he was
+also inconceivably a coward); his lack of gear and honour; his despair at
+their loss; his remedies, and well-coloured contrivances. Yes, he waved
+the filthy rags of his life before us, as though they had been some proud
+banner. When he ceased, we saw by torches that the tide stood at the
+corners of his mouth, and he breathed strongly through his nose.
+
+'We had him out, and rubbed him; we wrapped him in a cloak, and gave him
+wine, and we leaned and looked upon him the while he drank. He was
+shivering, but shameless.
+
+'Of a sudden we heard Jehan at the stairway wake, but a boy pushed past
+him, and stood before us, the hall rushes in his hair, all slubbered with
+sleep. "My father! My father! I dreamed of treachery," he cried, and
+babbled thickly.
+
+'"There is no treachery here," said Fulke. "Go," and the boy turned, even
+then not fully awake, and Jehan led him by the hand to the Great Hall.
+
+'"Thy only son!" said De Aquila, "Why didst thou bring the child here?"
+
+'"He is my heir. I dared not trust him to my brother," said Fulke, and now
+he was ashamed. De Aquila said nothing, but sat weighing a wine cup in his
+two hands--thus. Anon, Fulke touched him on the knee.
+
+'"Let the boy escape to Normandy," said he, "and do with me at thy
+pleasure. Yea, hang me to-morrow, with my letter to Robert round my neck,
+but let the boy go."
+
+'"Be still," said De Aquila. "I think for England."
+
+'So we waited what our Lord of Pevensey should devise; and the sweat ran
+down Fulke's forehead.
+
+'At last said De Aquila: "I am too old to judge, or to trust any man. I do
+not covet thy lands, as thou hast coveted mine; and whether thou art any
+better or any worse than any other black Angevin thief, it is for thy King
+to find out. Therefore, go back to thy King, Fulke."
+
+'"And thou wilt say nothing of what has passed?" said Fulke.
+
+'"Why should I? Thy son will stay with me. If the King calls me again to
+leave Pevensey, which I must guard against England's enemies; if the King
+sends his men against me for a traitor; or if I hear that the King in his
+bed thinks any evil of me or my two knights, thy son will be hanged from
+out this window, Fulke."'
+
+'But it hadn't anything to do with his son,' cried Una, startled.
+
+'How could we have hanged Fulke?' said Sir Richard. 'We needed him to make
+our peace with the King. He would have betrayed half England for the boy's
+sake. Of that we were sure.'
+
+'I don't understand,' said Una. 'But I think it was simply awful.'
+
+'So did not Fulke. He was well pleased.'
+
+'What? Because his son was going to be killed?'
+
+'Nay. Because De Aquila had shown him how he might save the boy's life and
+his own lands and honours. "I will do it," he said. "I swear I will do it.
+I will tell the King thou art no traitor, but the most excellent, valiant,
+and perfect of us all. Yes, I will save thee."
+
+'De Aquila looked still into the bottom of the cup, rolling the wine-dregs
+to and fro.
+
+'"Ay," he said. "If I had a son, I would, I think, save him. But do not by
+any means tell me how thou wilt go about it."
+
+'"Nay, nay," said Fulke, nodding his bald head wisely. "That is my secret.
+But rest at ease, De Aquila, no hair of thy head nor rood of thy land
+shall be forfeited," and he smiled like one planning great good deeds.
+
+'"And henceforward," said De Aquila, "I counsel thee to serve one
+master--not two."
+
+'"What?" said Fulke. "Can I work no more honest trading between the two
+sides these troublous times?"
+
+'"Serve Robert or the King--England or Normandy," said De Aquila. "I care
+not which it is, but make thy choice here and now."
+
+'"The King, then," said Fulke, "for I see he is better served than Robert.
+Shall I swear it?"
+
+'"No need," said De Aquila, and he laid his hand on the parchments which
+Gilbert had written. "It shall be some part of my Gilbert's penance to
+copy out the savoury tale of thy life, till we have made ten, twenty, an
+hundred, maybe, copies. How many cattle, think you, would the Bishop of
+Tours give for that tale? Or thy brother? Or the Monks of Blois? Minstrels
+will turn it into songs which thy own Saxon serfs shall sing behind their
+plough-stilts, and men-at-arms riding through thy Norman towns. From here
+to Rome, Fulke, men will make very merry over that tale, and how Fulke
+told it, hanging in a well, like a drowned puppy. This shall be thy
+punishment, if ever I find thee double-dealing with thy King any more.
+Meantime, the parchments stay here with thy son. Him I will return to thee
+when thou hast made my peace with the King. The parchments never."
+
+'Fulke hid his face and groaned.
+
+'"Bones of the Saints!" said De Aquila, laughing. "The pen cuts deep. I
+could never have fetched that grunt out of thee with any sword."
+
+'"But so long as I do not anger thee, my tale will be secret?" said Fulke.
+
+'"Just so long. Does that comfort thee, Fulke?" said De Aquila.
+
+'"What other comfort have ye left me?" he said, and of a sudden he wept
+hopelessly like a child, dropping his face on his knees.'
+
+'Poor Fulke,' said Una.
+
+'I pitied him also,' said Sir Richard.
+
+'"After the spur, corn," said De Aquila, and he threw Fulke three wedges
+of gold that he had taken from our little chest by the bed-place.
+
+'"If I had known this," said Fulke, catching his breath, "I would never
+have lifted hand against Pevensey. Only lack of this yellow stuff has made
+me so unlucky in my dealings."
+
+'It was dawn then, and they stirred in the Great Hall below. We sent down
+Fulke's mail to be scoured, and when he rode away at noon under his own
+and the King's banner very splendid and stately did he show. He smoothed
+his long beard, and called his son to his stirrup and kissed him. De
+Aquila rode with him as far as the New Mill landward. We thought the night
+had been all a dream.'
+
+'But did he make it right with the King?' Dan asked. 'About your not being
+traitors, I mean?'
+
+Sir Richard smiled. 'The King sent no second summons to Pevensey, nor did
+he ask why De Aquila had not obeyed the first. Yes, that was Fulke's work.
+I know not how he did it, but it was well and swiftly done.'
+
+'Then you didn't do anything to his son?' said Una.
+
+'The boy? Oh, he was an imp. He turned the keep doors out of dortoirs
+while we had him. He sang foul songs, learned in the Barons' camps--poor
+fool; he set the hounds fighting in hall; he lit the rushes to drive out,
+as he said, the fleas; he drew his dagger on Jehan, who threw him down the
+stairway for it; and he rode his horse through crops and among sheep. But
+when we had beaten him, and showed him wolf and deer, he followed us old
+men like a young, eager hound, and called us "uncle." His father came the
+summer's end to take him away, but the boy had no lust to go, because of
+the otter-hunting, and he stayed on till the fox-hunting. I gave him a
+bittern's claw to bring him good luck at shooting. An imp, if ever there
+was!'
+
+'And what happened to Gilbert?' said Dan.
+
+'Not even a whipping. De Aquila said he would sooner a clerk, however
+false, that knew the Manor-roll than a fool, however true, that must be
+taught his work afresh. Moreover, after that night I think Gilbert loved
+as much as he feared De Aquila. At least he would not leave us--not even
+when Vivian, the King's Clerk, would have made him Sacristan of Battle
+Abbey. A false fellow, but, in his fashion, bold.'
+
+'Did Robert ever land in Pevensey after all?' Dan went on.
+
+'We guarded the coast too well while Henry was fighting his Barons; and
+three or four years later, when England had peace, Henry crossed to
+Normandy and showed his brother some work at Tenchebrai that cured Robert
+of fighting. Many of Henry's men sailed from Pevensey to that war. Fulke
+came, I remember, and we all four lay in the little chamber once again,
+and drank together. De Aquila was right. One should not judge men. Fulke
+was merry. Yes, always merry--with a catch in his breath.'
+
+'And what did you do afterwards?' said Una.
+
+'We talked together of times past. That is all men can do when they grow
+old, little maid.'
+
+The bell for tea rang faintly across the meadows. Dan lay in the bows of
+the _Golden Hind_; Una in the stern, the book of verses open in her lap,
+was reading from 'The Slave's Dream':--
+
+  'Again in the mist and shadow of sleep
+  He saw his native land.'
+
+'I don't know when you began that,' said Dan, sleepily.
+
+On the middle thwart of the boat, beside Una's sun-bonnet, lay an Oak
+leaf, an Ash leaf, and a Thorn leaf, that must have dropped down from the
+trees above; and the brook giggled as though it had just seen some joke.
+
+
+
+
+THE RUNES ON WELAND'S SWORD
+
+
+  _A Smith makes me_
+  _To betray my Man_
+  _In my first fight._
+
+  _To gather Gold_
+  _At the world's end_
+  _I am sent._
+
+  _The Gold I gather_
+  _Comes into England_
+  _Out of deep Water._
+
+  _Like a shining Fish_
+  _Then it descends_
+  _Into deep Water._
+
+  _It is not given_
+  _For goods or gear._
+  _But for The Thing_
+
+  _The Gold I gather_
+  _A King covets_
+  _For an ill use._
+
+  _The Gold I gather_
+  _Is drawn up_
+  _Out of deep Water._
+
+  _Like a shining Fish_
+  _Then it descends_
+  _Into deep Water._
+
+  _It is not given_
+  _For goods or gear_
+  _But for The Thing._
+
+
+
+
+
+A CENTURION OF THE THIRTIETH
+
+
+
+
+  _Cities and Thrones and Powers,_
+    _Stand in Time's eye,_
+  _Almost as long as flowers,_
+    _Which daily die:_
+  _But, as new buds put forth,_
+    _To glad new men,_
+  _Out of the spent and unconsidered Earth,_
+    _The Cities rise again._
+
+  _This season's Daffodil,_
+    _She never hears,_
+  _What change, what chance, what chill,_
+    _Cut down last year's;_
+  _But with bold countenance,_
+    _And knowledge small,_
+  _Esteems her seven days' continuance_
+    _To be perpetual._
+
+  _So Time that is o'er-kind,_
+    _To all that be,_
+  _Ordains us e'en as blind,_
+    _As bold as she:_
+  _That in our very death,_
+    _And burial sure,_
+  _Shadow to shadow, well-persuaded, saith,_
+    _'See how our works endure!'_
+
+
+
+
+A CENTURION OF THE THIRTIETH
+
+
+Dan had come to grief over his Latin, and was kept in; so Una went alone
+to Far Wood. Dan's big catapult and the lead bullets that Hobden had made
+for him were hidden in an old hollow beech-stub on the west of the wood.
+They had named the place out of the verse in _Lays of Ancient Rome_.
+
+  From lordly Volaterrae,
+    Where scowls the far-famed hold,
+  Piled by the hands of giants
+    For Godlike Kings of old.
+
+They were the 'Godlike Kings,' and when old Hobden piled some comfortable
+brushwood between the big wooden knees of Volaterrae, they called him
+'Hands of Giants.'
+
+Una slipped through their private gap in the fence, and sat still a while,
+scowling as scowlily and lordlily as she knew how; for 'Volaterrae' is an
+important watch-tower that juts out of Far Wood just as Far Wood juts out
+of the hillside. Pook's Hill lay below her, and all the turns of the brook
+as it wanders from out of the Willingford Woods, between hop-gardens, to
+old Hobden's cottage at the Forge. The Sou'-West wind (there is always a
+wind by 'Volaterrae') blew from the bare ridge where Cherry Clack Windmill
+stands.
+
+Now wind prowling through woods sounds like exciting things going to
+happen, and that is why on 'blowy days' you stand up in Volaterrae and
+shout bits of the _Lays_ to suit its noises.
+
+Una took Dan's catapult from its secret place, and made ready to meet Lars
+Porsena's army stealing through the wind-whitened aspens by the brook. A
+gust boomed up the valley, and Una chanted sorrowfully:
+
+  'Verbenna down to Ostia
+    Hath wasted all the plain;
+  Astur hath stormed Janiculum
+    And the stout guards are slain.'
+
+But the wind, not charging fair to the wood, started aside and shook a
+single oak in Gleason's pasture. Here it made itself all small and
+crouched among the grasses, waving the tips of them as a cat waves the tip
+of her tail before she springs.
+
+'Now welcome--welcome Sextus,' sang Una, loading the catapult--
+
+    'Now welcome to thy home,
+  Why dost thou turn and run away?
+    Here lies the rod of Rome.'
+
+She fired into the face of the lull, to wake up the cowardly wind, and
+heard a grunt from behind a thorn in the pasture.
+
+'Oh, my Winkie!' she said aloud, and that was something she had picked up
+from Dan. 'I believe I've tickled up a Gleason cow.'
+
+'You little painted beast!' a voice cried. 'I'll teach you to sling your
+masters!'
+
+She looked down most cautiously, and saw a young man covered with hoopy
+bronze armour all glowing among the late broom. But what Una admired
+beyond all was his great bronze helmet with its red horse-tail that
+flicked in the wind. She could hear the long hairs rasp on his shimmery
+shoulder-plates.
+
+'What does the Faun mean,' he said, half aloud to himself, 'by telling me
+the Painted People have changed?' He caught sight of Una's yellow head.
+'Have you seen a painted lead-slinger?' he called.
+
+'No-o,' said Una. 'But if you've seen a bullet----'
+
+'Seen?' cried the man. 'It passed within a hair's breadth of my ear.'
+
+'Well, that was me. I'm most awfully sorry.'
+
+'Didn't the Faun tell you I was coming?' He smiled.
+
+'Not if you mean Puck. I thought you were a Gleason cow. I--I didn't know
+you were a--a----What are you?'
+
+He laughed outright, showing a set of splendid teeth. His face and eyes
+were dark, and his eyebrows met above his big nose in one bushy black bar.
+
+'They call me Parnesius. I have been an officer of the Seventh Cohort of
+the Thirtieth Legion--the Ulpia Victrix. Did you sling that bullet?'
+
+'I did. I was using Dan's catapult,' said Una.
+
+'Catapults!' said he. 'I ought to know something about them. Show me!'
+
+He leaped the rough fence with a rattle of spear, shield, and armour, and
+hoisted himself into 'Volaterrae' as quickly as a shadow.
+
+'A sling on a forked stick. _I_ understand!' he cried, and pulled at the
+elastic. 'But what wonderful beast yields this stretching leather?'
+
+'It's laccy--elastic. You put the bullet into that loop, and then you pull
+hard.'
+
+The man pulled, and hit himself square on his thumb-nail.
+
+'Each to his own weapon,' he said, gravely, handing it back. 'I am better
+with the bigger machine, little maiden. But it's a pretty toy. A wolf
+would laugh at it. Aren't you afraid of wolves?'
+
+'There aren't any,' said Una.
+
+'Never believe it! A wolf is like a Winged Hat. He comes when he isn't
+expected. Don't they hunt wolves here?'
+
+'We don't hunt,' said Una, remembering what she had heard from grown-ups.
+'We preserve--pheasants. Do you know them?'
+
+'I ought to,' said the young man, smiling again, and he imitated the cry
+of the cock-pheasant so perfectly that a bird answered out of the wood.
+
+'What a big painted clucking fool is a pheasant,' he said. 'Just like some
+Romans!'
+
+'But you're a Roman yourself, aren't you?' said Una.
+
+'Ye-es and no. I'm one of a good few thousands who have never seen Rome
+except in a picture. My people have lived at Vectis for generations.
+Vectis! That island West yonder that you can see from so far in clear
+weather.'
+
+'Do you mean the Isle of Wight? It lifts up just before rain, and we see
+it from the Downs.'
+
+'Very likely. Our Villa's on the South edge of the Island, by the Broken
+Cliffs. Most of it is three hundred years old, but the cow-stables, where
+our first ancestor lived, must be a hundred years older. Oh, quite that,
+because the founder of our family had his land given him by Agricola at
+the Settlement. It's not a bad little place for its size. In spring-time
+violets grow down to the very beach. I've gathered sea-weeds for myself
+and violets for my Mother many a time with our old nurse.'
+
+'Was your nurse a--a Romaness too?'
+
+'No, a Numidian. Gods be good to her! A dear, fat, brown thing with a
+tongue like a cowbell. She was a free woman. By the way, are you free,
+maiden?'
+
+'Oh, quite,' said Una. 'At least, till tea-time; and in summer our
+governess doesn't say much if we're late.'
+
+The young man laughed again--a proper understanding laugh.
+
+'I see,' said he. 'That accounts for your being in the wood. _We_ hid
+among the cliffs.'
+
+'Did _you_ have a governess, then?'
+
+'Did we not? A Greek, too. She had a way of clutching her dress when she
+hunted us among the gorze-bushes that made us laugh. Then she'd say she'd
+get us whipped. She never did, though, bless her! Aglaia was a thorough
+sportswoman, for all her learning.'
+
+'But what lessons did you do--when--when you were little!'
+
+'Ancient history, the Classics, arithmetic, and so on,' he answered. 'My
+sister and I were thickheads, but my two brothers (I'm the middle one)
+liked those things, and, of course, Mother was clever enough for any six.
+She was nearly as tall as I am, and she looked like the new statue on the
+Western Road--the Demeter of the Baskets, you know. And funny! Roma Dea!
+How Mother could make us laugh!'
+
+'What at?'
+
+'Little jokes and sayings that every family has. Don't you know?'
+
+'I know _we_ have, but I didn't know other people had them too,' said Una.
+'Tell me about all your family, please.'
+
+'Good families are very much alike. Mother would sit spinning of evenings
+while Aglaia read in her corner, and Father did accounts, and we four
+romped about the passages. When our noise grew too loud the Pater would
+say, "Less tumult! Less tumult! Have you never heard of a Father's right
+over his children? He can slay them, my loves--slay them dead, and the Gods
+highly approve of the action!" Then Mother would prim up her dear mouth
+over the wheel and answer: "H'm! I'm afraid there can't be much of the
+Roman Father about you!" Then the Pater would roll up his accounts, and
+say, "I'll show you!" and then--then, he'd be worse than any of us!'
+
+'Fathers can--if they like,' said Una, her eyes dancing.
+
+'Didn't I say all good families are very much the same?'
+
+'What did you do in summer?' said Una. 'Play about, like us?'
+
+'Yes, and we visited our friends. There are no wolves in Vectis. We had
+many friends, and as many ponies as we wished.'
+
+'It must have been lovely,' said Una. 'I hope it lasted for ever.'
+
+'Not quite, little maid. When I was about sixteen or seventeen, the Father
+felt gouty, and we all went to the Waters.'
+
+'What waters?'
+
+'At Aquae Solis. Every one goes there. You ought to get your Father to
+take you some day.'
+
+'But where? I don't know,' said Una.
+
+The young man looked astonished for a moment. 'Aquae Solis,' he repeated.
+'The best baths in Britain. Just as good, I'm told, as Rome. All the old
+gluttons sit in its hot water, and talk scandal and politics. And the
+Generals come through the streets with their guards behind them; and the
+magistrates come in their chairs with their stiff guards behind them; and
+you meet fortune-tellers, and goldsmiths, and merchants, and philosophers,
+and feather-sellers, and ultra-Roman Britons, and ultra-British Romans,
+and tame tribesmen pretending to be civilised, and Jew lecturers, and--oh,
+everybody interesting. We young people, of course, took no interest in
+politics. We had not the gout: there were many of our age like us. We did
+not find life sad.
+
+'But while we were enjoying ourselves without thinking, my sister met the
+son of a magistrate in the West--and a year afterwards she was married to
+him. My young brother, who was always interested in plants and roots, met
+the First Doctor of a Legion from the City of the Legions, and he decided
+that he would be an Army doctor. I do not think it is a profession for a
+well-born man, but then--I'm not my brother. He went to Rome to study
+medicine, and now he's First Doctor of a Legion in Egypt--at Antinoe, I
+think, but I have not heard from him for some time.
+
+'My eldest brother came across a Greek philosopher, and told my Father
+that he intended to settle down on the estate as a farmer and a
+philosopher. You see'--the young man's eyes twinkled--'his philosopher was a
+long-haired one!'
+
+'I thought philosophers were bald,' said Una.
+
+'Not all. She was very pretty. I don't blame him. Nothing could have
+suited me better than my eldest brother's doing this, for I was only too
+keen to join the Army. I had always feared I should have to stay at home
+and look after the estate while my brother took _this_.'
+
+He rapped on his great glistening shield that never seemed to be in his
+way.
+
+'So we were well contented--we young people--and we rode back to Clausentum
+along the Wood Road very quietly. But when we reached home, Aglaia, our
+governess, saw what had come to us. I remember her at the door, the torch
+over her head, watching us climb the cliff-path from the boat. "Aie! Aie!"
+she said. "Children you went away. Men and a woman you return!" Then she
+kissed Mother, and Mother wept. Thus our visit to the Waters settled our
+fates for each of us, Maiden.'
+
+He rose to his feet and listened, leaning on the shield-rim.
+
+'I think that's Dan--my brother,' said Una.
+
+'Yes; and the Faun is with him,' he replied, as Dan with Puck stumbled
+through the copse.
+
+'We should have come sooner,' Puck called, 'but the beauties of your
+native tongue, O Parnesius, have enthralled this young citizen.'
+
+Parnesius looked bewildered, even when Una explained.
+
+'Dan said the plural of "dominus" was "dominoes," and when Miss Blake said
+it wasn't he said he supposed it was "backgammon," and so he had to write
+it out twice--for cheek, you know.'
+
+Dan had climbed into Volaterrae, hot and panting.
+
+'I've run nearly all the way,' he gasped, 'and then Puck met me. How do
+you do, Sir?'
+
+'I am in good health,' Parnesius answered. 'See! I have tried to bend the
+bow of Ulysses, but----' He held up his thumb.
+
+'I'm sorry. You must have pulled off too soon,' said Dan. 'Puck said you
+were telling Una a story.'
+
+'Continue, O Parnesius,' said Puck, who had perched himself on a dead
+branch above them. 'I will be chorus. Has he puzzled you much, Una?'
+
+'Not a bit, except--I didn't know where Ak--Ak something was,' she answered.
+
+'Oh, Aquae Solis. That's Bath, where the buns come from. Let the hero tell
+his own tale.'
+
+Parnesius pretended to thrust his spear at Puck's legs, but Puck reached
+down, caught at the horse-tail plume, and pulled off the tall helmet.
+
+'Thanks, jester,' said Parnesius, shaking his curly dark head. 'That is
+cooler. Now hang it up for me....
+
+'I was telling your sister how I joined the Army,' he said to Dan.
+
+'Did you have to pass an Exam?' Dan asked, eagerly.
+
+'No. I went to my Father, and said I should like to enter the Dacian Horse
+(I had seen some at Aquae Solis); but he said I had better begin service
+in a regular Legion from Rome. Now, like many of our youngsters, I was not
+too fond of anything Roman. The Roman-born officers and magistrates looked
+down on us British-born as though we were barbarians. I told my Father so.
+
+'"I know they do," he said; "but remember, after all, we are the people of
+the Old Stock, and our duty is to the Empire."
+
+'"To which Empire?'" I asked. "We split the Eagle before I was born."
+
+'"What thieves' talk is that?" said my Father. He hated slang.
+
+'"Well, Sir," I said, "we've one Emperor in Rome, and I don't know how
+many Emperors the outlying Provinces have set up from time to time. Which
+am I to follow?"
+
+'"Gratian," said he. "At least he's a sportsman."
+
+'"He's all that," I said. "Hasn't he turned himself into a raw-beef-eating
+Scythian?"
+
+'"Where did you hear of it?" said the Pater.
+
+'"At Aquae Solis," I said. It was perfectly true. This precious Emperor
+Gratian of ours had a bodyguard of fur-cloaked Scythians, and he was so
+crazy about them that he dressed like them. In Rome of all places in the
+world! It was as bad as if my own Father had painted himself blue!
+
+'"No matter for the clothes," said the Pater. "They are only the fringe of
+the trouble. It began before your time or mine. Rome has forsaken her
+Gods, and must be punished. The great war with the Painted People broke
+out in the very year the temples of our Gods were destroyed. We beat the
+Painted People in the very year our temples were rebuilt. Go back further
+still."... He went back to the time of Diocletian; and to listen to him
+you would have thought Eternal Rome herself was on the edge of
+destruction, just because a few people had become a little large-minded.
+
+'_I_ knew nothing about it. Aglaia never taught us the history of our own
+country. She was so full of her ancient Greeks.
+
+'"There is no hope for Rome," said the Pater, at last. "She has forsaken
+her Gods, but if the Gods forgive _us_ here, we may save Britain. To do
+that, we must keep the Painted People back. Therefore, I tell you,
+Parnesius, as a Father, that if your heart is set on service, your place
+is among men on the Wall--and not with women among the cities."'
+
+'What Wall?' asked Dan and Una at once.
+
+'Father meant the one we call Hadrian's Wall. I'll tell you about it
+later. It was built long ago, across North Britain, to keep out the
+Painted People--Picts you call them. Father had fought in the great Pict
+War that lasted more than twenty years, and he knew what fighting meant.
+Theodosius, one of our great Generals, had chased the little beasts back
+far into the North before I was born: down at Vectis, of course, we never
+troubled our heads about them. But when my Father spoke as he did, I
+kissed his hand, and waited for orders. We British-born Romans know what
+is due to our parents.'
+
+'If I kissed my Father's hand, he'd laugh,' said Dan.
+
+'Customs change; but if you do not obey your father, the Gods remember it.
+You may be quite sure of _that_.
+
+'After our talk, seeing I was in earnest, the Pater sent me over to
+Clausentum to learn my foot-drill in a barrack full of foreign
+Auxiliaries--as unwashed and unshaved a mob of mixed barbarians as ever
+scrubbed a breast-plate. It was your stick in their stomachs and your
+shield in their faces to push them into any sort of formation. When I had
+learned my work the Instructor gave me a handful--and they were a
+handful!--of Gauls and Iberians to polish up till they were sent to their
+stations up-country. I did my best, and one night a villa in the suburbs
+caught fire, and I had my handful out and at work before any of the other
+troops. I noticed a quiet-looking man on the lawn, leaning on a stick. He
+watched us passing buckets from the pond, and at last he said to me: "Who
+are you?"
+
+'"A probationer, waiting for a cohort," I answered. _I_ didn't know who he
+was from Deucalion!
+
+'"Born in Britain?" he said.
+
+'"Yes, if you were born in Spain," I said, for he neighed his words like
+an Iberian mule.
+
+'"And what might you call yourself when you are at home?" he said
+laughing.
+
+'"That depends," I answered; "sometimes one thing and sometimes another.
+But now I'm busy."
+
+'He said no more till we had saved the family gods (they were respectable
+householders), and then he grunted across the laurels: "Listen, young
+sometimes-one-thing-and-sometimes-another. In future call yourself
+Centurion of the Seventh Cohort of the Thirtieth, the Ulpia Victrix. That
+will help me to remember you. Your Father and a few other people call me
+Maximus."
+
+'He tossed me the polished stick he was leaning on, and went away. You
+might have knocked me down with it!'
+
+'Who was he?' said Dan.
+
+'Maximus himself, our great General! _The_ General of Britain who had been
+Theodosius's right hand in the Pict War! Not only had he given me my
+Centurion's stick direct, but three steps in a good Legion as well! A new
+man generally begins in the Tenth Cohort of his Legion, and works up.'
+
+'And were you pleased?' said Una.
+
+'Very. I thought Maximus had chosen me for my good looks and fine style in
+marching, but, when I went home, the Pater told me he had served under
+Maximus in the great Pict War, and had asked him to promote me.'
+
+'A child you were!' said Puck, from above.
+
+'I was,' said Parnesius. 'Don't begrudge it me, Faun. Afterwards--the Gods
+know I put aside the games!' And Puck nodded, brown chin on brown hand,
+his big eyes still.
+
+'The night before I left we sacrificed to our ancestors--the usual little
+Home Sacrifice--but I never prayed so earnestly to all the Good Shades, and
+then I went with my Father by boat to Regnum, and across the chalk
+eastwards to Anderida yonder.'
+
+'Regnum? Anderida?' The children turned their faces to Puck.
+
+'Regnum's Chichester,' he said, pointing towards Cherry Clack, and--he
+threw his arm South behind him--'Anderida's Pevensey.'
+
+'Pevensey again!' said Dan. 'Where Weland landed?'
+
+'Weland and a few others,' said Puck. 'Pevensey isn't young--even compared
+to me!'
+
+'The head-quarters of the Thirtieth lay at Anderida in summer, but my own
+Cohort, the Seventh, was on the Wall up North. Maximus was inspecting
+Auxiliaries--the Abulci, I think--at Anderida, and we stayed with him, for
+he and my Father were very old friends. I was only there ten days when I
+was ordered to go up with thirty men to my Cohort.' He laughed merrily. 'A
+man never forgets his first march. I was happier than any Emperor when I
+led my handful through the North Gate of the Camp, and we saluted the
+guard and the Altar of Victory there.'
+
+'How? How?' said Dan and Una.
+
+Parnesius smiled, and stood up, flashing in his armour.
+
+'So!' said he; and he moved slowly through the beautiful movements of the
+Roman Salute, that ends with a hollow clang of the shield coming into its
+place between the shoulders.
+
+'Hai!' said Puck. 'That sets one thinking!'
+
+'We went out fully armed,' said Parnesius, sitting down; 'but as soon as
+the road entered the Great Forest, my men expected the pack-horses to hang
+their shields on. "No!" I said; "you can dress like women in Anderida, but
+while you're with me you will carry your own weapons and armour."
+
+'"But it's hot," said one of them, "and we haven't a doctor. Suppose we
+get sunstroke, or a fever?"
+
+'"Then die," I said, "and a good riddance to Rome! Up shield--up spears,
+and tighten your foot-wear!"
+
+'"Don't think yourself Emperor of Britain already," a fellow shouted. I
+knocked him over with the butt of my spear, and explained to these
+Roman-born Romans that, if there were any further trouble, we should go on
+with one man short. And, by the Light of the Sun, I meant it too! My raw
+Gauls at Clausentum had never treated me so.
+
+'Then, quietly as a cloud, Maximus rode out of the fern (my Father behind
+him), and reined up across the road. He wore the Purple, as though he were
+already Emperor; his leggings were of white buckskin laced with gold.
+
+'My men dropped like--like partridges.
+
+'He said nothing for some time, only looked, with his eyes puckered. Then
+he crooked his forefinger, and my men walked--crawled, I mean--to one side.
+
+'"Stand in the sun, children," he said, and they formed up on the hard
+road.
+
+'"What would you have done?" he said to me, "If I had not been here?"
+
+'"I should have killed that man," I answered.
+
+'"Kill him now," he said. "He will not move a limb."
+
+'"No," I said. "You've taken my men out of my command. I should only be
+your butcher if I killed him now." Do you see what I meant?' Parnesius
+turned to Dan.
+
+'Yes,' said Dan. 'It wouldn't have been fair, somehow.'
+
+'That was what I thought,' said Parnesius. 'But Maximus frowned. "You'll
+never be an Emperor," he said. "Not even a General will you be."
+
+'I was silent, but my Father seemed pleased.
+
+'"I came here to see the last of you," he said.
+
+'"You have seen it," said Maximus. "I shall never need your son any more.
+He will live and he will die an officer of a Legion--and he might have been
+Prefect of one of my Provinces. Now eat and drink with us," he said. "Your
+men will wait till you have finished."
+
+'My miserable thirty stood like wine-skins glistening in the hot sun, and
+Maximus led us to where his people had set a meal. Himself he mixed the
+wine.
+
+'"A year from now," he said, "you will remember that you have sat with the
+Emperor of Britain--and Gaul."
+
+'"Yes," said the Pater, "you can drive two mules--Gaul and Britain."
+
+'"Five years hence you will remember that you have drunk"--he passed me the
+cup and there was blue borage in it--"with the Emperor of Rome!"
+
+'"No; you can't drive three mules; they will tear you in pieces," said my
+Father.
+
+'"And you on the Wall, among the heather, will weep because your notion of
+justice was more to you than the favour of the Emperor of Rome."
+
+'I sat quite still. One does not answer a General who wears the Purple.
+
+'"I am not angry with you," he went on; "I owe too much to your Father----"
+
+'"You owe me nothing but advice that you never took," said the Pater.
+
+'"----to be unjust to any of your family. Indeed, I say you will make a good
+officer, but, so far as I am concerned, on the Wall you will live, and on
+the Wall you will die," said Maximus.
+
+'"Very like," said my Father. "But we shall have the Picts _and_ their
+friends breaking through before long. You cannot move all troops out of
+Britain to make you Emperor, and expect the North to sit quiet."
+
+'"I follow my destiny," said Maximus.
+
+'"Follow it, then," said my Father pulling up a fern root; "and die as
+Theodosius died."
+
+'"Ah!" said Maximus. "My old General was killed because he served the
+Empire too well. _I_ may be killed, but not for that reason," and he
+smiled a little pale grey smile that made my blood run cold.
+
+'"Then I had better follow my destiny," I said, "and take my men to the
+Wall."
+
+'He looked at me a long time, and bowed his head slanting like a Spaniard.
+"Follow it, boy," he said. That was all. I was only too glad to get away,
+though I had many messages for home. I found my men standing as they had
+been put--they had not even shifted their feet in the dust,--and off I
+marched, still feeling that terrific smile like an east wind up my back. I
+never halted them till sunset, and'--he turned about and looked at Pook's
+Hill below him--'then I halted yonder.' He pointed to the broken,
+bracken-covered shoulder of the Forge Hill behind old Hobden's cottage.
+
+'There? Why, that's only the old Forge--where they made iron once,' said
+Dan.
+
+'Very good stuff it was too,' said Parnesius, calmly. 'We mended three
+shoulder-straps here and had a spear-head riveted. The forge was rented
+from the Government by a one-eyed smith from Carthage. I remember we
+called him Cyclops. He sold me a beaver-skin rug for my sister's room.'
+
+'But it couldn't have been here,' Dan insisted.
+
+'But it was! From the Altar of Victory at Anderida to the First Forge in
+the Forest here is twelve miles seven hundred paces. It is all in the Road
+Book. A man doesn't forget his first march. I think I could tell you every
+station between this and----' He leaned forward, but his eye was caught by
+the setting sun.
+
+It had come down to the top of Cherry Clack Hill, and the light poured in
+between the tree trunks so that you could see red and gold and black deep
+into the heart of Far Wood; and Parnesius in his armour shone as though he
+had been afire.
+
+'Wait,' he said, lifting a hand, and the sunlight jinked on his glass
+bracelet. 'Wait! I pray to Mithras!'
+
+He rose and stretched his arms westward, with deep, splendid-sounding
+words.
+
+Then Puck began to sing too, in a voice like bells tolling, and as he sang
+he slipped from 'Volaterrae' to the ground, and beckoned the children to
+follow. They obeyed; it seemed as though the voices were pushing them
+along; and through the goldy-brown light on the beech leaves they walked,
+while Puck between them chanted something like this:--
+
+  Cur mundus militat sub vana gloria
+  Cujus prosperitas est transitoria?
+  Tam cito labitur ejus potentia
+  Quam vasa figuli quae sunt fragilia.
+
+They found themselves at the little locked gates of the wood.
+
+  Quo Caesar abiit celsus imperio?
+  Vel Dives splendidus totus in prandio?
+  Dic ubi Tullius----
+
+Still singing, he took Dan's hand and wheeled him round to face Una as she
+came out of the gate. It shut behind her, at the same time as Puck threw
+the memory-magicking Oak, Ash, and Thorn leaves over their heads.
+
+'Well, you _are_ jolly late,' said Una. 'Couldn't you get away before?'
+
+'I did,' said Dan. 'I got away in lots of time, but--but I didn't know it
+was so late. Where've you been?'
+
+'In Volaterrae--waiting for you.'
+
+'Sorry,' said Dan. 'It was all that beastly Latin.'
+
+
+
+
+A BRITISH-ROMAN SONG
+
+
+        (A. D. 406)
+
+  _My father's father saw it not,_
+    _And I, belike, shall never come,_
+  _To look on that so-holy spot--_
+            _The very Rome--_
+
+  _Crowned by all Time, all Art, all Might,_
+    _The equal work of Gods and Man--_
+  _City beneath whose oldest height_
+            _The Race began,--_
+
+  _Soon to send forth again a brood_
+    _Unshakeable, we pray, that clings,_
+  _To Rome's thrice-hammered hardihood--_
+            _In arduous things._
+
+  _Strong heart with triple armour bound,_
+    _Beat strongly, for thy life-blood runs,_
+  _Age after Age, the Empire round--_
+            _In us thy Sons,_
+
+  _Who, distant from the Seven Hills,_
+    _Loving and serving much, require_
+  _Thee, Thee to guard 'gainst home-born ills,_
+            _The Imperial Fire!_
+
+
+
+
+
+ON THE GREAT WALL
+
+
+
+
+ON THE GREAT WALL
+
+
+  When I left Rome for Lalage's sake
+    By the Legions' Road to Rimini,
+  She vowed her heart was mine to take
+    With me and my shield to Rimini--
+    (Till the Eagles flew from Rimini!)
+      And I've tramped Britain and I've tramped Gaul
+      And the Pontic shore where the snow-flakes fall
+    As white as the neck of Lalage--
+    As cold as the heart of Lalage!
+      And I've lost Britain and I've lost Gaul
+
+(the voice seemed very cheerful about it),
+
+      And I've lost Rome, and worst of all,
+        I've lost Lalage!
+
+They were standing by the gate to Far Wood when they heard this song.
+Without a word they hurried to their private gap and wriggled through the
+hedge almost atop of a jay that was feeding from Puck's hand.
+
+'Gently!' said Puck. 'What are you looking for?'
+
+'Parnesius, of course,' Dan answered. 'We've only just remembered
+yesterday. It isn't fair.'
+
+Puck chuckled as he rose. 'I'm sorry, but children who spend the afternoon
+with me and a Roman Centurion need a little settling dose of Magic before
+they go to tea with their governess. Ohe, Parnesius!' he called.
+
+'Here, Faun!' came the answer from 'Volaterrae.' They could see the
+shimmer of bronze armour in the beech crotch, and the friendly flash of
+the great shield uplifted.
+
+'I have driven out the Britons.' Parnesius laughed like a boy. 'I occupy
+their high forts. But Rome is merciful! You may come up.' And up they
+three all scrambled.
+
+'What was the song you were singing just now?' said Una, as soon as she
+had settled herself.
+
+'That? Oh, _Rimini_. It's one of the tunes that are always being born
+somewhere in the Empire. They run like a pestilence for six months or a
+year, till another one pleases the Legions, and then they march to
+_that_.'
+
+'Tell them about the marching, Parnesius. Few people nowadays walk from
+end to end of this country,' said Puck.
+
+'The greater their loss. I know nothing better than the Long March when
+your feet are hardened. You begin after the mists have risen, and you end,
+perhaps, an hour after sundown.'
+
+'And what do you have to eat?' Dan asked, promptly.
+
+'Fat bacon, beans, and bread, and whatever wine happens to be in the
+rest-houses. But soldiers are born grumblers. Their very first day out, my
+men complained of our water-ground British corn. They said it wasn't so
+filling as the rough stuff that is ground in the Roman ox-mills. However,
+they had to fetch and eat it.'
+
+'Fetch it? Where from?' said Una.
+
+'From that newly-invented water-mill below the Forge.'
+
+'That's Forge Mill--_our_ Mill!' Una looked at Puck.
+
+'Yes; yours,' Puck put in. 'How old did you think it was?'
+
+'I don't know. Didn't Sir Richard Dalyngridge talk about it?'
+
+'He did, and it was old in his day,' Puck answered. 'Hundreds of years
+old.'
+
+'It was new in mine,' said Parnesius. 'My men looked at the flour in their
+helmets as though it had been a nest of adders. They did it to try my
+patience. But I--addressed them, and we became friends. To tell the truth,
+they taught me the Roman Step. You see, I'd only served with
+quick-marching Auxiliaries. A Legion's pace is altogether different. It is
+a long, slow stride, that never varies from sunrise to sunset. "Rome's
+Race--Rome's Pace," as the proverb says. Twenty-four miles in eight hours,
+neither more nor less. Head and spear up, shield on your back,
+cuirass-collar open one hand's breadth--and that's how you take the Eagles
+through Britain.'
+
+'And did you meet any adventures?' said Dan.
+
+'There are no adventures South the Wall,' said Parnesius. 'The worst thing
+that happened me was having to appear before a magistrate up North, where
+a wandering philosopher had jeered at the Eagles. I was able to show that
+the old man had deliberately blocked our road, and the magistrate told
+him, out of his own Book, I believe, that, whatever his God might be, he
+should pay proper respect to Caesar.'
+
+'What did you do?' said Dan.
+
+'Went on. Why should _I_ care for such things, my business being to reach
+my station? It took me twenty days.
+
+'Of course, the farther North you go the emptier are the roads. At last
+you fetch clear of the forests and climb bare hills, where wolves howl in
+the ruins of our cities that have been. No more pretty girls; no more
+jolly magistrates who knew your Father when he was young, and invite you
+to stay with them; no news at the temples and way-stations except bad news
+of wild beasts. There's where you meet hunters, and trappers for the
+Circuses, prodding along chained bears and muzzled wolves. Your pony shies
+at them, and your men laugh.
+
+'The houses change from gardened villas to shut forts with watch-towers of
+grey stone, and great stone-walled sheepfolds, guarded by armed Britons of
+the North Shore. In the naked hills beyond the naked houses, where the
+shadows of the clouds play like cavalry charging, you see puffs of black
+smoke from the mines. The hard road goes on and on--and the wind sings
+through your helmet-plume--past altars to Legions and Generals forgotten,
+and broken statues of Gods and Heroes, and thousands of graves where the
+mountain foxes and hares peep at you. Red-hot in summer, freezing in
+winter, is that big, purple heather country of broken stone.
+
+  [Illustration: 'There's where you meet hunters, and trappers for the
+  Circuses, prodding along chained bears and muzzled wolves.']
+
+'Just when you think you are at the world's end, you see a smoke from East
+to West as far as the eye can turn, and then, under it, also as far as the
+eye can stretch, houses and temples, shops and theatres, barracks, and
+granaries, trickling along like dice behind--always behind--one long, low,
+rising and falling, and hiding and showing line of towers. And that is the
+Wall!'
+
+'Ah!' said the children, taking breath.
+
+'You may well,' said Parnesius. 'Old men who have followed the Eagles
+since boyhood say nothing in the Empire is more wonderful than first sight
+of the Wall!'
+
+'Is it just a Wall? Like the one round the kitchen-garden?' said Dan.
+
+'No, no! It is _the_ Wall. Along the top are towers with guard-houses,
+small towers, between. Even on the narrowest part of it three men with
+shields can walk abreast from guard-house to guard-house. A little curtain
+wall, no higher than a man's neck, runs along the top of the thick wall,
+so that from a distance you see the helmets of the sentries sliding back
+and forth like beads. Thirty feet high is the Wall, and on the Picts'
+side, the North, is a ditch, strewn with blades of old swords and
+spear-heads set in wood, and tyres of wheels joined by chains. The Little
+People come there to steal iron for their arrow-heads.
+
+'But the Wall itself is not more wonderful than the town behind it. Long
+ago there were great ramparts and ditches on the South side, and no one
+was allowed to build there. Now the ramparts are partly pulled down and
+built over, from end to end of the Wall; making a thin town eighty miles
+long. Think of it! One roaring, rioting, cockfighting, wolf-baiting,
+horse-racing town, from Ituna on the West to Segedunum on the cold eastern
+beach! On one side heather, woods and ruins where Picts hide, and on the
+other, a vast town--long like a snake, and wicked like a snake. Yes, a
+snake basking beside a warm wall!
+
+'My Cohort, I was told, lay at Hunno, where the Great North Road runs
+through the Wall into the Province of Valentia.' Parnesius laughed
+scornfully. 'The Province of Valentia! We followed the road, therefore,
+into Hunno town, and stood astonished. The place was a fair--a fair of
+peoples from every corner of the Empire. Some were racing horses: some sat
+in wine-shops: some watched dogs baiting bears, and many gathered in a
+ditch to see cocks fight. A boy not much older than myself, but I could
+see he was an Officer, reined up before me and asked what I wanted.
+
+'"My station," I said, and showed him my shield.' Parnesius held up his
+broad shield with its three X's like letters on a beer-cask.
+
+'"Lucky omen!" said he. "Your Cohort's the next tower to us, but they're
+all at the cock-fight. This is a happy place. Come and wet the Eagles." He
+meant to offer me a drink.
+
+'"When I've handed over my men," I said. I felt angry and ashamed.
+
+'"Oh, you'll soon outgrow that sort of nonsense," he answered. "But don't
+let me interfere with your hopes. Go on to the Statue of Roma Dea. You
+can't miss it. The main road into Valentia!" and he laughed and rode off.
+I could see the Statue not a quarter of a mile away, and there I went. At
+some time or other the Great North Road ran under it into Valentia; but
+the far end had been blocked up because of the Picts, and on the plaster a
+man had scratched, "Finish!" It was like marching into a cave. We grounded
+spears together, my little thirty, and it echoed in the barrel of the
+arch, but none came. There was a door at one side painted with our number.
+We prowled in, and I found a cook asleep, and ordered him to give us food.
+Then I climbed to the top of the Wall, and looked out over the Pict
+country, and I--thought,' said Parnesius. 'The bricked-up arch with
+"Finish!" on the plaster was what shook me, for I was not much more than a
+boy.'
+
+'What a shame!' said Una. 'But did you feel happy after you'd had a
+good----' Dan stopped her with a nudge.
+
+'Happy?' said Parnesius. 'When the men of the Cohort I was to command came
+back unhelmeted from the cock-fight, their birds under their arms, and
+asked me who I was? No, I was not happy; but I made my new Cohort unhappy
+too.... I wrote my Mother I was happy, but, oh, my friends'--he stretched
+arms over bare knees--'I would not wish my worst enemy to suffer as I
+suffered through my first months on the Wall. Remember this: among the
+officers was scarcely one, except myself (and I thought I had lost the
+favour of Maximus, my General), scarcely one who had not done something of
+wrong or folly. Either he had killed a man, or taken money, or insulted
+the magistrates, or blasphemed the Gods, and so had been sent to the Wall
+as a hiding-place from shame or fear. And the men were as the officers.
+Remember, also, that the Wall was manned by every breed and race in the
+Empire. No two towers spoke the same tongue, or worshipped the same Gods.
+In one thing only we were all equal. No matter what arms we had used
+before we came to the Wall, _on_ the Wall we were all archers, like the
+Scythians. The Pict cannot run away from the arrow, or crawl under it. He
+is a bowman himself. _He_ knows!'
+
+'I suppose you were fighting Picts all the time,' said Dan.
+
+'Picts seldom fight. I never saw a fighting Pict for half a year. The tame
+Picts told us they had all gone North.'
+
+'What is a tame Pict?' said Dan.
+
+'A Pict--there were many such--who speaks a few words of our tongue, and
+slips across the Wall to sell ponies and wolf-hounds. Without a horse and
+a dog, _and_ a friend, man would perish. The Gods gave me all three, and
+there is no gift like friendship. Remember this'--Parnesius turned to
+Dan--'when you become a young man. For your fate will turn on the first
+true friend you make.'
+
+'He means,' said Puck, grinning, 'that if you try to make yourself a
+decent chap when you're young, you'll make rather decent friends when you
+grow up. If you're a beast, you'll have beastly friends. Listen to the
+Pious Parnesius on Friendship!'
+
+'I am not pious,' Parnesius answered, 'but I know what goodness means; and
+my friend, though he was without hope, was ten thousand times better than
+I. Stop laughing, Faun!'
+
+'Oh Youth Eternal and All-believing,' cried Puck, as he rocked on the
+branch above. 'Tell them about your Pertinax.'
+
+'He was that friend the Gods sent me--the boy who spoke to me when I first
+came. Little older than myself, commanding the Augusta Victoria Cohort on
+the tower next to us and the Numidians. In virtue he was far my superior.'
+
+'Then why was he on the Wall?' Una asked, quickly. 'They'd all done
+something bad. You said so yourself.'
+
+'He was the nephew, his Father had died, of a great rich man in Gaul who
+was not always kind to his Mother. When Pertinax grew up, he discovered
+this, and so his uncle shipped him off, by trickery and force, to the
+Wall. We came to know each other at a ceremony in our Temple--in the dark.
+It was the Bull Killing,' Parnesius explained to Puck.
+
+'_I_ see,' said Puck, and turned to the children. 'That's something you
+wouldn't quite understand. Parnesius means he met Pertinax in church.'
+
+'Yes--in the Cave we first met, and we were both raised to the Degree of
+Gryphons together.' Parnesius lifted his hand towards his neck for an
+instant. 'He had been on the Wall two years, and knew the Picts well. He
+taught me first how to take Heather.'
+
+'What's that?' said Dan.
+
+'Going out hunting in the Pict country with a tame Pict. You are quite
+safe so long as you are his guest, and wear a sprig of heather where it
+can be seen. If you went alone you would surely be killed, if you were not
+smothered first in the bogs. Only the Picts know their way about those
+black and hidden bogs. Old Allo, the one-eyed, withered little Pict from
+whom we bought our ponies, was our special friend. At first we went only
+to escape from the terrible town, and to talk together about our homes.
+Then he showed us how to hunt wolves and those great red deer with horns
+like Jewish candlesticks. The Roman-born officers rather looked down on us
+for doing this, but we preferred the heather to their amusements. Believe
+me,' Parnesius turned again to Dan, 'a boy is safe from all things that
+really harm when he is astride a pony or after a deer. Do you remember, O
+Faun,' he turned to Puck, 'the little altar I built to the Sylvan Pan by
+the pine-forest beyond the brook?'
+
+'Which? The stone one with the line from Xenophon?' said Puck, in quite a
+new voice.
+
+'No. What do _I_ know of Xenophon? That was Pertinax--after he had shot his
+first mountain-hare with an arrow--by chance! Mine I made of round pebbles
+in memory of my first bear. It took me one happy day to build.' Parnesius
+faced the children quickly.
+
+'And that was how we lived on the Wall for two years--a little scuffling
+with the Picts, and a great deal of hunting with old Allo in the Pict
+country. He called us his children sometimes, and we were fond of him and
+his barbarians, though we never let them paint us Pict fashion. The marks
+endure till you die.'
+
+'How's it done?' said Dan. 'Anything like tattooing?'
+
+'They prick the skin till the blood runs, and rub in coloured juices. Allo
+was painted blue, green, and red from his forehead to his ankles. He said
+it was part of his religion. He told us about his religion (Pertinax was
+always interested in such things), and as we came to know him well, he
+told us what was happening in Britain behind the Wall. Many things took
+place behind us in those days. And, by the Light of the Sun,' said
+Parnesius, earnestly, 'there was not much that those little people did not
+know! He told me when Maximus crossed over to Gaul, after he had made
+himself Emperor of Britain, and what troops and emigrants he had taken
+with him. _We_ did not get the news on the Wall till fifteen days later.
+He told me what troops Maximus was taking out of Britain every month to
+help him to conquer Gaul; and I always found the numbers as he said.
+Wonderful! And I tell another strange thing!'
+
+He jointed his hands across his knees, and leaned his head on the curve of
+the shield behind him.
+
+'Late in the summer, when the first frosts begin and the Picts kill their
+bees, we three rode out after wolf with some new hounds. Rutilianus, our
+General, had given us ten days' leave, and we had pushed beyond the Second
+Wall--beyond the Province of Valentia--into the higher hills, where there
+are not even any of Rome's old ruins. We killed a she-wolf before noon,
+and while Allo was skinning her he looked up and said to me, "When you are
+Captain of the Wall, my child, you won't be able to do this any more!"
+
+'I might as well have been made Prefect of Lower Gaul, so I laughed and
+said, "Wait till I am Captain." "No, don't wait," said Allo. "Take my
+advice and go home--both of you." "We have no homes," said Pertinax. "You
+know that as well as we do. We're finished men--thumbs down against both of
+us. Only men without hope would risk their necks on your ponies." The old
+man laughed one of those short Pict laughs--like a fox barking on a frosty
+night. "I'm fond of you two," he said. "Besides, I've taught you what
+little you know about hunting. Take my advice and go home."
+
+'"We can't," I said. "I'm out of favour with my General, for one thing;
+and for another, Pertinax has an uncle."
+
+'"I don't know about his uncle," said Allo, "but the trouble with you,
+Parnesius, is that your General thinks well of you."
+
+'"Roma Dea!" said Pertinax, sitting up. "What can you guess what Maximus
+thinks, you old horse-coper?"
+
+'Just then (you know how near the brutes creep when one is eating?) a
+great dog-wolf jumped out behind us, and away our rested hounds tore after
+him, with us at their tails. He ran us far out of any country we'd ever
+heard of, straight as an arrow till sunset, towards the sunset. We came at
+last to long capes stretching into winding waters, and on a grey beach
+below us we saw ships drawn up. Forty-seven we counted--not Roman galleys
+but the raven-winged ships from the North where Rome does not rule. Men
+moved in the ships, and the sun flashed on their helmets--winged helmets of
+the red-haired men from the North where Rome does not rule. We watched,
+and we counted, and we wondered; for though we had heard rumours
+concerning these Winged Hats, as the Picts called them, never before had
+we looked upon them.
+
+'"Come away! Come away!" said Allo. "My Heather won't protect you here. We
+shall all be killed!" His legs trembled like his voice. Back we went--back
+across the heather under the moon, till it was nearly morning, and our
+poor beasts stumbled on some ruins.
+
+'When we woke, very stiff and cold, Allo was mixing the meal and water.
+One does not light fires in the Pict country except near a village. The
+little men are always signalling to each other with smokes, and a strange
+smoke brings them out buzzing like bees. They can sting, too!
+
+'"What we saw last night was a trading-station," said Allo. "Nothing but a
+trading-station."
+
+'"I do not like lies on an empty stomach," said Pertinax. "I suppose" (he
+had eyes like an eagle's), "I suppose _that_ is a trading-station also?"
+He pointed to a smoke far off on a hill-top, ascending in what we call the
+Pict's Call:--Puff--double-puff: double-puff--puff! They make it by raising
+and dropping a wet hide on a fire.
+
+'"No," said Allo, pushing the platter back into the bag. "That is for you
+and me. Your fate is fixed. Come."
+
+'We came. When one takes Heather, one must obey one's Pict--but that
+wretched smoke was twenty miles distant, well over on the east coast, and
+the day was as hot as a bath.
+
+'"Whatever happens," said Allo, while our ponies grunted along, "I want
+you to remember me."
+
+'"I shall not forget," said Pertinax. "You have cheated me out of my
+breakfast."
+
+'"What is a handful of crushed oats to a Roman?" he said. Then he laughed
+his laugh that was not a laugh. "What would you do if you were a handful
+of oats being crushed between the upper and lower stones of a mill?"
+
+'"I'm Pertinax, not a riddle-guesser," said Pertinax.
+
+'"You're a fool," said Allo. "Your Gods and my Gods are threatened by
+strange Gods, and all you can do is to laugh."
+
+'"Threatened men live long," I said.
+
+'"I pray the Gods that may be true," he said. "But I ask you again not to
+forget me."
+
+'We climbed the last hot hill and looked out on the eastern sea, three or
+four miles off. There was a small sailing-galley of the North Gaul pattern
+at anchor, her landing-plank down and her sail half up; and below us,
+alone in a hollow, holding his pony, sat Maximus, Emperor of Britain! He
+was dressed like a hunter, and he leaned on his little stick; but I knew
+that back as far as I could see it, and I told Pertinax.
+
+'"You're madder than Allo!" he said. "It must be the sun!"
+
+'Maximus never stirred till we stood before him. Then he looked me up and
+down, and said: "Hungry again? It seems to be my destiny to feed you
+whenever we meet. I have food here. Allo shall cook it."
+
+'"No," said Allo. "A Prince in his own land does not wait on wandering
+Emperors. I feed my two children without asking your leave." He began to
+blow up the ashes.
+
+'"I was wrong," said Pertinax. "We are all mad. Speak up, O Madman called
+Emperor!"
+
+'Maximus smiled his terrible tight-lipped smile, but two years on the Wall
+do not make a man afraid of mere looks. So I was not afraid.
+
+'"I meant you, Parnesius, to live and die an Officer of the Wall," said
+Maximus. "But it seems from these," he fumbled in his breast, "you can
+think as well as draw." He pulled out a roll of letters I had written to
+my people, full of drawings of Picts, and bears, and men I had met on the
+Wall. Mother and my sister always liked my pictures.
+
+'He handed me one that I had called "Maximus's Soldiers." It showed a row
+of fat wine-skins, and our old Doctor of the Hunno hospital snuffing at
+them. Each time that Maximus had taken troops out of Britain to help him
+to conquer Gaul, he used to send the garrisons more wine--to keep them
+quiet, I suppose. On the Wall, we always called a wine-skin a "Maximus."
+Oh, yes; and I had drawn them in Imperial helmets!
+
+'"Not long since," he went on, "men's names were sent up to Caesar for
+smaller jokes than this."
+
+'"True, Caesar," said Pertinax; "but you forget that was before I, your
+friend's friend, became such a good spear-thrower."
+
+'He did not actually point his hunting spear at Maximus, but balanced it
+on his palm--so!
+
+'"I was speaking of time past," said Maximus, never fluttering an eyelid.
+"Nowadays one is only too pleased to find boys who can think for
+themselves, _and_ their friends." He nodded at Pertinax. "Your Father lent
+me the letters, Parnesius, so you run no risk from me."
+
+'"None whatever," said Pertinax, and rubbed the spear-point on his sleeve.
+
+'"I have been forced to reduce the garrisons in Britain, because I need
+troops in Gaul. Now I come to take troops from the Wall itself," said he.
+
+'"I wish you joy of us," said Pertinax. "We're the last sweepings of the
+Empire--the men without hope. Myself, I'd sooner trust condemned
+criminals."
+
+'"You think so?" he said, quite seriously. "But it will only be till I win
+Gaul. One must always risk one's life, or one's soul, or one's peace--or
+some little thing."
+
+'Allo passed round the fire with the sizzling deer's meat. He served us
+two first.
+
+'"Ah!" said Maximus, waiting his turn. "I perceive you are in your own
+country. Well, you deserve it. They tell me you have quite a following
+among the Picts, Parnesius."
+
+'"I have hunted with them," I said. "Maybe I have a few friends among the
+Heather."
+
+'"He is the only armoured man of you all who understands us," said Allo,
+and he began a long speech about our virtues, and how we had saved one of
+his grandchildren from a wolf the year before.'
+
+'Had you?' said Una.
+
+'Yes; but that was neither here nor there. The little green man orated
+like a--like Cicero. He made us out to be magnificent fellows. Maximus
+never took his eyes off our faces.
+
+'"Enough," he said. "I have heard Allo on you. I wish to hear you on the
+Picts."
+
+'I told him as much as I knew, and Pertinax helped me out. There is never
+harm in a Pict if you but take the trouble to find out what he wants.
+Their real grievance against us came from our burning their heather. The
+whole garrison of the Wall moved out twice a year, and solemnly burned the
+heather for ten miles North. Rutilianus, our General, called it clearing
+the country. The Picts, of course, scampered away, and all we did was to
+destroy their bee-bloom in the summer, and ruin their sheep-food in the
+spring.
+
+'"True, quite true," said Allo. "How can we make our holy heather-wine, if
+you burn our bee-pasture?"
+
+'We talked long, Maximus asking keen questions that showed he knew much
+and had thought more about the Picts. He said presently to me: "If I gave
+you the old Province of Valentia to govern, could you keep the Picts
+contented till I won Gaul? Stand away, so that you do not see Allo's face;
+and speak your own thoughts."
+
+'"No," I said. "You cannot re-make that Province. The Picts have been free
+too long."
+
+'"Leave them their village councils, and let them furnish their own
+soldiers," he said. "You, I am sure, would hold the reins very lightly."
+
+'"Even then, no," I said. "At least not now. They have been too oppressed
+by us to trust anything with a Roman name for years and years."
+
+'I heard old Allo behind me mutter: "Good child!"
+
+'"Then what do you recommend," said Maximus, "to keep the North quiet till
+I win Gaul?"
+
+'"Leave the Picts alone," I said. "Stop the heather-burning at once,
+and--they are improvident little animals--send them a shipload or two of
+corn now and then."
+
+'"Their own men must distribute it--not some cheating Greek accountant,"
+said Pertinax.
+
+'"Yes, and allow them to come to our hospitals when they are sick," I
+said.
+
+'"Surely they would die first," said Maximus.
+
+'"Not if Parnesius brought them in," said Allo. "I could show you twenty
+wolf-bitten, bear-clawed Picts within twenty miles of here. But Parnesius
+must stay with them in Hospital, else they would go mad with fear."
+
+'"_I_ see," said Maximus. "Like everything else in the world, it is one
+man's work. You, I think, are that one man."
+
+'"Pertinax and I are one," I said.
+
+'"As you please, so long as you work. Now, Allo, you know that I mean your
+people no harm. Leave us to talk together," said Maximus.
+
+'"No need!" said Allo. "I am the corn between the upper and lower
+millstones. I must know what the lower millstone means to do. These boys
+have spoken the truth as far as they know it. I, a Prince, will tell you
+the rest. I am troubled about the Men of the North." He squatted like a
+hare in the heather, and looked over his shoulder.
+
+'"I also," said Maximus, "or I should not be here."
+
+'"Listen," said Allo. "Long and long ago the Winged Hats"--he meant the
+Northmen--"came to our beaches and said, 'Rome falls! Push her down!' We
+fought you. You sent men. We were beaten. After that we said to the Winged
+Hats, 'You are liars! Make our men alive that Rome killed, and we will
+believe you.' They went away ashamed. Now they come back bold, and they
+tell the old tale, which we begin to believe--that Rome falls!"
+
+'"Give me three years' peace on the Wall," cried Maximus, "and I will show
+you and all the ravens how they lie!"
+
+'"Ah, I wish it too! I wish to save what is left of the corn from the
+millstones. But you shoot us Picts when we come to borrow a little iron
+from the Iron Ditch; you burn our heather, which is all our crop; you
+trouble us with your great catapults. Then you hide behind the Wall, and
+scorch us with Greek fire. How can I keep my young men from listening to
+the Winged Hats--in winter especially, when we are hungry? My young men
+will say, 'Rome can neither fight nor rule. She is taking her men out of
+Britain. The Winged Hats will help us to push down the Wall. Let us show
+them the secret roads across the bogs.' Do _I_ want that? No!" He spat
+like an adder. "_I_ would keep the secrets of my people though I were
+burned alive. My two children here have spoken truth. Leave us Picts
+alone. Comfort us, and cherish us, and feed us from far off--with the hand
+behind your back. Parnesius understands us. Let _him_ have rule on the
+Wall, and I will hold my young men quiet for"--he ticked it off on his
+fingers--"one year easily: the next year not so easily: the third year,
+perhaps! See, I give you three years. If then you do not show us that Rome
+is strong in men and terrible in arms, the Winged Hats, I tell you, will
+sweep down the Wall from either sea till they meet in the middle, and you
+will go. _I_ shall not grieve over that, but well I know tribe never helps
+tribe except for one price. We Picts will go too. The Winged Hats will
+grind us to this!" He tossed a handful of dust in the air.
+
+'"Oh, Roma Dea!" said Maximus, half aloud. "It is always one man's
+work--always and everywhere!"
+
+'"And one man's life," said Allo. "You are Emperor, but not a God. You may
+die."
+
+'"I have thought of that, too," said he. "Very good. If this wind holds, I
+shall be at the East end of the Wall by morning. To-morrow, then, I shall
+see you two when I inspect; and I will make you Captains of the Wall for
+this work."
+
+'"One instant, Caesar," said Pertinax. "All men have their price. I am not
+bought yet."
+
+'"Do _you_ also begin to bargain so early?" said Maximus. "Well?"
+
+'"Give me justice against my uncle Icenus, the Duumvir of Divio in Gaul,"
+he said.
+
+'"Only a life? I thought it would be money or an office. Certainly you
+shall have him. Write his name on these tablets--on the red side; the other
+is for the living!" And Maximus held out his tablets.
+
+'"He is of no use to me dead," said Pertinax. "My mother is a widow. I am
+far off. I am not sure he pays her all her dowry."
+
+'"No matter. My arm is reasonably long. We will look through your uncle's
+accounts in due time. Now, farewell till to-morrow, O Captains of the
+Wall!"
+
+'We saw him grow small across the heather as he walked to the galley.
+There were Picts, scores, each side of him, hidden behind stones. He never
+looked left or right. He sailed away Southerly, full spread before the
+evening breeze, and when we had watched him out to sea, we were silent. We
+understood Earth bred few men like to this man.
+
+'Presently Allo brought the ponies and held them for us to mount--a thing
+he had never done before.
+
+'"Wait awhile," said Pertinax, and he made a little altar of cut turf, and
+strewed heather-bloom atop, and laid upon it a letter from a girl in Gaul.
+
+'"What do you do, O my friend?" I said.
+
+'"I sacrifice to my dead youth," he answered, and, when the flames had
+consumed the letter, he ground them out with his heel. Then we rode back
+to that Wall of which we were to be Captains.'
+
+Parnesius stopped. The children sat still, not even asking if that were
+all the tale. Puck beckoned, and pointed the way out of the wood. 'Sorry,'
+he whispered, 'but you must go now.'
+
+'We haven't made him angry, have we?' said Una. 'He looks so far off,
+and--and--thinky.'
+
+'Bless your heart, no. Wait till to-morrow. It won't be long. Remember,
+you've been playing "_Lays of Ancient Rome_."'
+
+And as soon as they had scrambled through their gap, where Oak, Ash and
+Thorn grow, that was all they remembered.
+
+
+
+
+A SONG TO MITHRAS
+
+
+  _Mithras, God of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall!_
+  _'Rome is above the Nations, but Thou art over all!'_
+  _Now as the names are answered and the guards are marched away,_
+  _Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day!_
+
+  _Mithras, God of the Noontide, the heather swims in the heat,_
+  _Our helmets scorch our foreheads; our sandals burn our feet!_
+  _Now in the ungirt hour; now ere we blink and drowse,_
+  _Mithras, also a soldier, keep us true to our vows!_
+
+  _Mithras, God of the Sunset, low on the Western main,_
+  _Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again!_
+  _Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn,_
+  _Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn!_
+
+  _Mithras, God of the Midnight, here where the great bull lies,_
+  _Look on thy children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice!_
+  _Many roads Thou hast fashioned: all of them lead to the Light,_
+  _Mithras, also a soldier, teach us to die aright!_
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WINGED HATS
+
+
+
+
+THE WINGED HATS
+
+
+The next day happened to be what they called a Wild Afternoon. Father and
+Mother went out to pay calls; Miss Blake went for a ride on her bicycle,
+and they were left all alone till eight o'clock.
+
+When they had seen their dear parents and their dear preceptress politely
+off the premises they got a cabbage-leaf full of raspberries from the
+gardener, and a Wild Tea from Ellen. They ate the raspberries to prevent
+their squashing, and they meant to divide the cabbage-leaf with Three Cows
+down at the Theatre, but they came across a dead hedgehog which they
+simply _had_ to bury, and the leaf was too useful to waste.
+
+Then they went on to the Forge and found old Hobden the hedger at home
+with his son the Bee Boy who is not quite right in his head, but who can
+pick up swarms of bees in his naked hands; and the Bee Boy told them the
+rhyme about the slow-worm:--
+
+  'If I had eyes _as_ I could see,
+  No mortal man would trouble me.'
+
+They all had tea together by the hives, and Hobden said the loaf-cake
+which Ellen had given them was almost as good as what his wife used to
+make, and he showed them how to set a wire at the right height for hares.
+They knew about rabbits already.
+
+Then they climbed up Long Ditch into the lower end of Far Wood. This is
+sadder and darker than the 'Volaterrae' end because of an old marlpit full
+of black water, where weepy, hairy moss hangs round the stumps of the
+willows and alders. But the birds come to perch on the dead branches, and
+Hobden says that the bitter willow-water is a sort of medicine for sick
+animals.
+
+They sat down on a felled oak-trunk in the shadows of the beech
+undergrowth, and were looping the wires Hobden had given them, when they
+saw Parnesius.
+
+'How quietly you came!' said Una, moving up to make room. 'Where's Puck?'
+
+'The Faun and I have disputed whether it is better that I should tell you
+all my tale, or leave it untold,' he replied.
+
+'I only said that if he told it as it happened you wouldn't understand
+it,' said Puck, jumping up like a squirrel from behind the log.
+
+'I don't understand all of it,' said Una, 'but I like hearing about the
+little Picts.'
+
+'What _I_ can't understand,' said Dan, 'is how Maximus knew all about the
+Picts when he was over in Gaul.'
+
+'He who makes himself Emperor anywhere must know everything, everywhere,'
+said Parnesius. 'We had this much from Maximus' mouth after the Games.'
+
+'Games? What games?' said Dan.
+
+Parnesius stretched his arm out stiffly, thumb pointed to the ground.
+'Gladiators! _That_ sort of game,' he said. 'There were two days' Games in
+his honour when he landed all unexpected at Segedunum on the East end of
+the Wall. Yes, the day after we had met him we held two days' games; but I
+think the greatest risk was run, not by the poor wretches on the sand, but
+by Maximus. In the old days the Legions kept silence before their Emperor.
+So did not we! You could hear the solid roar run West along the Wall as
+his chair was carried rocking through the crowds. The garrison beat round
+him--clamouring, clowning, asking for pay, for change of quarters, for
+anything that came into their wild heads. That chair was like a little
+boat among waves, dipping and falling, but always rising again after one
+had shut the eyes.' Parnesius shivered.
+
+'Were they angry with him?' said Dan.
+
+'No more angry than wolves in a cage when their trainer walks among them.
+If he had turned his back an instant, or for an instant had ceased to hold
+their eyes, there would have been another Emperor made on the Wall that
+hour. Was it not so, Faun?'
+
+'So it was. So it always will be,' said Puck.
+
+'Late in the evening his messenger came for us, and we followed to the
+Temple of Victory, where he lodged with Rutilianus, the General of the
+Wall. I had hardly seen the General before, but he always gave me leave
+when I wished to take Heather. He was a great glutton, and kept five Asian
+cooks, and he came of a family that believed in oracles. We could smell
+his good dinner when we entered, but the tables were empty. He lay
+snorting on a couch. Maximus sat apart among long rolls of accounts. Then
+the doors were shut.
+
+'"These are your men," said Maximus to the General, who propped his
+eye-corners open with his gouty fingers, and stared at us like a fish.
+
+'"I shall know them again, Caesar," said Rutilianus.
+
+'"Very good," said Maximus. "Now hear! You are not to move man or shield
+on the Wall except as these boys shall tell you. You will do nothing,
+except eat, without their permission. They are the head and arms. You are
+the belly!"
+
+'"As Caesar pleases," the old man grunted. "If my pay and profits are not
+cut, you may make my Ancestors' Oracle my master. Rome has been! Rome has
+been!" Then he turned on his side to sleep.
+
+'"He has it," said Maximus. "We will get to what _I_ need."
+
+'He unrolled full copies of the number of men and supplies on the
+Wall--down to the sick that very day in Hunno Hospital. Oh, but I groaned
+when his pen marked off detachment after detachment of our best--of our
+least worthless men! He took two towers of our Scythians, two of our North
+British auxiliaries, two Numidian cohorts, the Dacians all, and half the
+Belgians. It was like an eagle pecking a carcass.
+
+'"And now, how many catapults have you?" He turned up a new list, but
+Pertinax laid his open hand there.
+
+'"No, Caesar," said he. "Do not tempt the Gods too far. Take men, or
+engines, but not both; else we refuse."'
+
+'Engines?' said Una.
+
+'The catapults of the Wall--huge things forty feet high to the head--firing
+nets of raw stone or forged bolts. Nothing can stand against them. He left
+us our catapults at last, but he took a Caesar's half of our men without
+pity. We were a shell when he rolled up the lists!
+
+'"Hail, Caesar! We, about to die, salute you!" said Pertinax, laughing. "If
+any enemy even leans against the Wall now, it will tumble."
+
+'"Give me the three years Allo spoke of," he answered, "and you shall have
+twenty thousand men of your own choosing up here. But now it is a gamble--a
+game played against the Gods, and the stakes are Britain, Gaul, and
+perhaps, Rome. You play on my side?"
+
+'"We will play, Caesar," I said for I had never met a man like this man.
+
+'"Good. To-morrow," said he, "I proclaim you Captains of the Wall before
+the troops."
+
+'So we went into the moonlight, where they were cleaning the ground after
+the Games. We saw great Roma Dea atop of the Wall, the frost on her
+helmet, and her spear pointed towards the North Star. We saw the twinkle
+of night-fires all along the guard-towers, and the line of the black
+catapults growing smaller and smaller in the distance. All these things we
+knew till we were weary; but that night they seemed very strange to us,
+because the next day we knew we were to be their masters.
+
+'The men took the news well; but when Maximus went away with half our
+strength, and we had to spread ourselves into the emptied towers, and the
+townspeople complained that trade would be ruined, and the Autumn gales
+blew--it was dark days for us two. Here Pertinax was more than my right
+hand. Being born and bred among the great country-houses in Gaul, he knew
+the proper words to address to all--from Roman-born Centurions to those
+dogs of the Third--the Libyans. And he spoke to each as though that man
+were as high-minded as himself. Now _I_ saw so strongly what things were
+needed to be done, that I forgot things are only accomplished by means of
+men. That was a mistake.
+
+'I feared nothing from the Picts, at least for that year, but Allo warned
+me that the Winged Hats would soon come in from the sea at each end of the
+Wall to prove to the Picts how weak we were. So I made ready in haste, and
+none too soon. I shifted our best men to the ends of the Wall, and set up
+screened catapults by the beach. The Winged Hats would drive in before the
+snow-squalls--ten or twenty boats at a time--on Segedunum or Ituna,
+according as the wind blew.
+
+'Now a ship coming in to land men must furl her sail. If you wait till you
+see her men gather up the sail's foot, your catapults can jerk a net of
+loose stones (bolts only cut through the cloth) into the bag of it. Then
+she turns over, and the sea makes everything clean again. A few men may
+come ashore, but very few.... It was not hard work, except the waiting on
+the beach in blowing sand and snow. And that was how we dealt with the
+Winged Hats that winter.
+
+'Early in the Spring, when the East winds blow like skinning-knives, they
+gathered again off the East end with many ships. Allo told me they would
+never rest till they had taken a tower in open fight. Certainly they
+fought in the open. We dealt with them thoroughly through a long day: and
+when all was finished, one man dived clear of the wreckage of his ship,
+and swam towards shore. I waited, and a wave tumbled him at my feet.
+
+'As I stooped, I saw he wore such a medal as I wear.' Parnesius raised his
+hand to his neck. 'Therefore, when he could speak, I addressed him a
+certain Question which can only be answered in a certain manner. He
+answered with the necessary Word--the Word that belongs to the Degree of
+Gryphons in the science of Mithras my God. I put my shield over him till
+he could stand up. You see I am not short, but he was a head taller than
+I. He said: "What now?" I said: "At your pleasure, my brother, to stay or
+go."
+
+'He looked out across the surf. There remained one ship unhurt, beyond
+range of our catapults. I checked the catapults and he waved her in. She
+came as a hound comes to a master. When she was yet a hundred paces from
+the beach, he flung back his hair, and swam out. They hauled him in, and
+went away. I knew that those who worship Mithras are many and of all
+races, so I did not think much more upon the matter.
+
+'A month later I saw Allo with his horses--by the Temple of Pan, O
+Faun!--and he gave me a great necklace of gold studded with coral.
+
+'At first I thought it was a bribe from some tradesman in the town--meant
+for old Rutilianus. "Nay," said Allo. "This is a gift from Amal, that
+Winged Hat whom you saved on the beach. He says you are a Man."
+
+'"He is a Man, too. Tell him I can wear his gift," I answered.
+
+'"Oh, Amal is a young fool; but, speaking as sensible men, your Emperor is
+doing such great things in Gaul that the Winged Hats are anxious to be his
+friends, or, better still, the friends of his servants. They think you and
+Pertinax could lead them to victories." Allo looked at me like a one-eyed
+raven.
+
+'"Allo," I said, "you are the corn between the two millstones. Be content
+if they grind evenly, and don't thrust your hand between them."
+
+'"I?" said Allo. "I hate Rome and the Winged Hats equally; but if the
+Winged Hats thought that some day you and Pertinax might join them against
+Maximus, they would leave you in peace while you considered. Time is what
+we need--you and I and Maximus. Let me carry a pleasant message back to the
+Winged Hats--something for them to make a council over. We barbarians are
+all alike. We sit up half the night to discuss anything a Roman says. Eh?"
+
+'"We have no men. We must fight with words," said Pertinax. "Leave it to
+Allo and me."
+
+'So Allo carried word back to the Winged Hats that we would not fight them
+if they did not fight us; and they (I think they were a little tired of
+losing men in the sea) agreed to a sort of truce. I believe Allo, who
+being a horse-dealer loved lies, also told them we might some day rise
+against Maximus as Maximus had risen against Rome.
+
+'Indeed, they permitted the corn-ships which I sent to the Picts to pass
+North that season without harm. Therefore the Picts were well fed that
+winter, and since they were in some sort my children, I was glad of it. We
+had only two thousand men on the Wall, and I wrote many times to Maximus
+and begged--prayed--him to send me only one cohort of my old North British
+troops. He could not spare them. He needed them to win more victories in
+Gaul.
+
+'Then came news that he had defeated and slain the Emperor Gratian, and
+thinking he must now be secure, I wrote again for men. He answered: "You
+will learn that I have at last settled accounts with the pup Gratian.
+There was no need that he should have died, but he became confused and
+lost his head, which is a bad thing to befall any Emperor. Tell your
+Father I am content to drive two mules only; for unless my old General's
+son thinks himself destined to destroy me, I shall rest Emperor of Gaul
+and Britain, and then you, my two children, will presently get all the men
+you need. Just now I can spare none."'
+
+'What did he mean by his General's son?' said Dan.
+
+'He meant Theodosius Emperor of Rome, who was the son of Theodosius the
+General under whom Maximus had fought in the old Pict War. The two men
+never loved each other, and when Gratian made the younger Theodosius
+Emperor of the East (at least, so I've heard), Maximus carried on the war
+to the second generation. It was his fate, and it was his fall. But
+Theodosius the Emperor is a good man. As I know.' Parnesius was silent for
+a moment and then continued.
+
+'I wrote back to Maximus that, though we had peace on the Wall, I should
+be happier with a few more men and some new catapults. He answered: "You
+must live a little longer under the shadow of my victories, till I can see
+what young Theodosius intends. He may welcome me as a brother-Emperor, or
+he may be preparing an army. In either case I cannot spare men just now."'
+
+'But he was always saying that,' cried Una.
+
+'It was true. He did not make excuses; but thanks, as he said, to the news
+of his victories, we had no trouble on the Wall for a long, long time. The
+Picts grew fat as their own sheep among the heather, and as many of my men
+as lived were well exercised in their weapons. Yes, the Wall looked
+strong. For myself, I knew how weak we were. I knew that if even a false
+rumour of any defeat to Maximus broke loose among the Winged Hats, they
+might come down in earnest, and then--the Wall must go! For the Picts I
+never cared, but in those years I learned something of the strength of the
+Winged Hats. They increased their strength every day, but I could not
+increase my men. Maximus had emptied Britain behind us, and I felt myself
+to be a man with a rotten stick standing before a broken fence to turn
+bulls.
+
+'Thus, my friends, we lived on the Wall, waiting--waiting--waiting for the
+men that Maximus never sent!
+
+'Presently he wrote that he was preparing an army against Theodosius. He
+wrote--and Pertinax read it over my shoulder in our quarters: "_Tell your
+Father that my destiny orders me to drive three mules or be torn in pieces
+by them. I hope within a year to finish with Theodosius, son of
+Theodosius, once and for all. Then you shall have Britain to rule, and
+Pertinax, if he chooses, Gaul. To-day I wish strongly you were with me to
+beat my Auxiliaries into shape. Do not, I pray you, believe any rumour of
+my sickness. I have a little evil in my old body which I shall cure by
+riding swiftly into Rome._"
+
+'Said Pertinax: "It is finished with Maximus! He writes as a man without
+hope. I, a man without hope, can see this. What does he add at the bottom
+of the roll? '_Tell __Pertinax I have met his late Uncle, the Duumvir of
+Divio, and that he accounted to me quite truthfully for all his Mother's
+monies. I have sent her with a fitting escort, for she is the mother of a
+hero, to Nicaea, where the climate is warm._'
+
+'"That is proof!" said Pertinax. "Nicaea is not far by sea from Rome. A
+woman there could take ship and fly to Rome in time of war. Yes, Maximus
+foresees his death, and is fulfilling his promises one by one. But I am
+glad my Uncle met him."
+
+'"You think blackly to-day?" I asked.
+
+'"I think truth. The Gods weary of the play we have played against them.
+Theodosius will destroy Maximus. It is finished!"
+
+'"Will you write him that?" I said.
+
+'"See what I shall write," he answered, and he took pen and wrote a letter
+cheerful as the light of day, tender as a woman's and full of jests. Even
+I, reading over his shoulder, took comfort from it till--I saw his face!
+
+'"And now," he said, sealing it, "we be two dead men, my brother. Let us
+go to the Temple."
+
+'We prayed awhile to Mithras, where we had many times prayed before. After
+that we lived day by day among evil rumours till winter came again.
+
+'It happened one morning that we rode to the East Shore, and found on the
+beach a fair-haired man, half frozen, bound to some broken planks. Turning
+him over, we saw by his belt-buckle that he was a Goth of an Eastern
+Legion. Suddenly he opened his eyes and cried loudly: "He is dead! The
+letters were with me, but the Winged Hats sunk the ship." So saying, he
+died between our hands.
+
+'We asked not who was dead. We knew! We raced before the driving snow to
+Hunno, thinking perhaps Allo might be there. We found him already at our
+stables, and he saw by our faces what we had heard.
+
+'"It was in a tent by the Sea," he stammered. "He was beheaded by
+Theodosius. He sent a letter to you, written while he waited to be slain.
+The Winged Hats met the ship and took it. The news is running through the
+heather like fire. Blame me not! I cannot hold back my young men any
+more."
+
+'"I would we could say as much for our men," said Pertinax, laughing.
+"But, Gods be praised, they cannot run away."
+
+'"What do you do?" said Allo. "I bring an order--a message--from the Winged
+Hats that you join them with your men, and march South to plunder
+Britain."
+
+'"It grieves me," said Pertinax, "but we are stationed here to stop that
+thing."
+
+'"If I carry back such an answer they will kill me," said Allo. "I always
+promised the Winged Hats that you would rise when Maximus fell. I--I did
+not think he could fall."
+
+'"Alas! my poor barbarian," said Pertinax, still laughing. "Well, you have
+sold us too many good ponies to be thrown back to your friends. We will
+make you a prisoner, although you are an ambassador."
+
+'"Yes, that will be best," said Allo, holding out a halter. We bound him
+lightly, for he was an old man.
+
+'"Presently the Winged Hats may come to look for you, and that will give
+us more time. See how the habit of playing for time sticks to a man!" said
+Pertinax, as he tied the rope.
+
+'"No," I said. "Time may help. If Maximus wrote us letters while he was a
+prisoner, Theodosius must have sent the ship that brought it. If he can
+send ships, he can send men."
+
+'"How will that profit us?" said Pertinax. "We serve Maximus, not
+Theodosius. Even if by some miracle of the Gods Theodosius down South sent
+and saved the Wall, we could not expect more than the death Maximus died."
+
+'"It concerns us to defend the Wall, no matter what Emperor dies, or makes
+die," I said.
+
+'"That is worthy of your brother the philosopher," said Pertinax. "Myself
+I am without hope, so I do not say solemn and stupid things! Rouse the
+Wall!"
+
+'We armed the Wall from end to end; we told the officers that there was a
+rumour of Maximus's death which might bring down the Winged Hats, but we
+were sure, even if it were true, that Theodosius, for the sake of Britain,
+would send us help. Therefore, we must stand fast.... My friends, it is
+above all things strange to see how men bear ill news! Often the strongest
+till then become the weakest, while the weakest, as it were, reach up and
+steal strength from the Gods. So it was with us. Yet my Pertinax by his
+jests and his courtesy and his labours had put heart and training into our
+poor numbers during the past years--more than I should have thought
+possible. Even our Libyan Cohort--the Thirds--stood up in their padded
+cuirasses and did not whimper.
+
+'In three days came seven chiefs and elders of the Winged Hats. Among them
+was that tall young man, Amal, whom I had met on the beach, and he smiled
+when he saw my necklace. We made them welcome, for they were ambassadors.
+We showed them Allo, alive but bound. They thought we had killed him, and
+I saw it would not have vexed them if we had. Allo saw it too, and it
+vexed him. Then in our quarters at Hunno we came to Council.
+
+'They said that Rome was falling, and that we must join them. They offered
+me all South Britain to govern after they had taken a tribute out of it.
+
+'I answered, "Patience. This Wall is not weighed off like plunder. Give me
+proof that my General is dead."
+
+'"Nay," said one elder, "prove to us that he lives"; and another said,
+cunningly, "What will you give us if we read you his last words?"
+
+'"We are not merchants to bargain," cried Amal. "Moreover, I owe this man
+my life. He shall have his proof." He threw across to me a letter (well I
+knew the seal) from Maximus.
+
+'"We took this out of the ship we sunk," he cried. "I cannot read, but I
+know one sign, at least, which makes me believe." He showed me a dark
+stain on the outer roll that my heavy heart perceived was the valiant
+blood of Maximus.
+
+'"Read!" said Amal. "Read, and then let us hear whose servants you are!"
+
+'Said Pertinax, very softly, after he had looked through it: "I will read
+it all. Listen, barbarians!" He read from that which I have carried next
+my heart ever since.'
+
+Parnesius drew from his neck a folded and spotted piece of parchment, and
+began in a hushed voice:--
+
+'"_To Parnesius and Pertinax, the not unworthy Captains of the Wall, from
+Maximus, once Emperor of Gaul and Britain, now prisoner waiting death by
+the sea in the camp of Theodosius--Greeting and Good-bye!_"
+
+'"Enough," said young Amal; "there is your proof! You must join us now!"
+
+'Pertinax looked long and silently at him, till that fair man blushed like
+a girl. Then read Pertinax:--
+
+'"_I have joyfully done much evil in my life to those who have wished me
+evil, but if ever I did any evil to you two I repent, and I ask your
+forgiveness. The three mules which I strove to drive have torn me in
+pieces as your Father prophesied. The naked swords wait at the tent door
+to give me the death I gave to Gratian. Therefore I, your General and your
+Emperor, send you free and honourable dismissal from my service, which you
+entered, not for money __or office, but, as it makes me warm to believe,
+because you loved me!_"
+
+'"By the Light of the Sun," Amal broke in. "This was in some sort a Man!
+We may have been mistaken in his servants!"
+
+'And Pertinax read on: "_You gave me the time for which I asked. If I have
+failed to use it, do not lament. We have gambled very splendidly against
+the Gods, but they hold weighted dice, and I must pay the forfeit.
+Remember, I have been; but Rome is; and Rome will be! Tell Pertinax his
+Mother is in safety at Nicaea, and her monies are in charge of the Prefect
+at Antipolis. Make my remembrances to your Father and to your Mother,
+whose friendship was great gain to me. Give also to my little Picts and to
+the Winged Hats such messages as their thick heads can understand. I would
+have sent you three Legions this very day if all had gone aright. Do not
+forget me. We have worked together. Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!_"
+
+'Now, that was my Emperor's last letter.' (The children heard the
+parchment crackle as Parnesius returned it to its place.)
+
+'"I was mistaken," said Amal. "The servants of such a man will sell
+nothing except over the sword. I am glad of it." He held out his hand to
+me.
+
+'"But Maximus has given you your dismissal," said an elder. "You are
+certainly free to serve--or to rule--whom you please. Join--do not
+follow--join us!"
+
+'"We thank you," said Pertinax. "But Maximus tells us to give you such
+messages as--pardon me, but I use his words--your thick heads can
+understand." He pointed through the door to the foot of a catapult wound
+up.
+
+'"We understand," said an elder. "The Wall must be won at a price?"
+
+'"It grieves me," said Pertinax, laughing, "but so it must be won," and he
+gave them of our best Southern wine.
+
+'They drank, and wiped their yellow beards in silence till they rose to
+go.
+
+'Said Amal, stretching himself (for they were barbarians), "We be a goodly
+company; I wonder what the ravens and the dogfish will make of some of us
+before this snow melts."
+
+'"Think rather what Theodosius may send," I answered; and though they
+laughed, I saw that my chance shot troubled them.
+
+'Only old Allo lingered behind a little.
+
+'"You see," he said, winking and blinking, "I am no more than their dog.
+When I have shown their men the secret short ways across our bogs, they
+will kick me like one."
+
+'"Then I should not be in haste to show them those ways," said Pertinax,
+"till I were sure that Rome could not save the Wall."
+
+'"You think so? Woe is me!" said the old man. "I only wanted peace for my
+people," and he went out stumbling through the snow behind the tall Winged
+Hats.
+
+'In this fashion then, slowly, a day at a time, which is very bad for
+doubting troops, the War came upon us. At first the Winged Hats swept in
+from the sea as they had done before, and there we met them as before--with
+the catapults; and they sickened of it. Yet for a long time they would not
+trust their duck-legs on land, and I think when it came to revealing the
+secrets of the tribe, the little Picts were afraid or ashamed to show them
+all the roads across the heather. I had this from a Pict prisoner. They
+were as much our spies as our enemies, for the Winged Hats oppressed them,
+and took their winter stores. Ah, foolish Little People!
+
+'Then the Winged Hats began to roll us up from each end of the Wall. I
+sent runners Southward to see what the news might be in Britain; but the
+wolves were very bold that winter among the deserted stations where the
+troops had once been, and none came back. We had trouble too with the
+forage for the ponies along the Wall. I kept ten, and so did Pertinax. We
+lived and slept in the saddle riding east or west, and we ate our worn-out
+ponies. The people of the town also made us some trouble till I gathered
+them all in one quarter behind Hunno. We broke down the Wall on either
+side of it to make as it were a citadel. Our men fought better in close
+order.
+
+'By the end of the second month we were deep in the War as a man is deep
+in a snow-drift or in a dream. I think we fought in our sleep. At least I
+know I have gone on the Wall and come off again, remembering nothing
+between, though my throat was harsh with giving orders, and my sword, I
+could see, had been used.
+
+'The Winged Hats fought like wolves--all in a pack. Where they had suffered
+most, there they charged in most hotly. This was hard for the defender,
+but it held them from sweeping on into Britain.
+
+'In those days Pertinax and I wrote on the plaster of the bricked archway
+into Valentia the names of the towers, and the days on which they fell one
+by one. We wished for some record.
+
+'And the fighting? The fight was always hottest to left and right of the
+great Statue of Roma Dea, near to Rutilianus' house. By the light of the
+Sun, that old fat man, whom we had not considered at all, grew young again
+among the trumpets! I remember he said his sword was an oracle! "Let us
+consult the Oracle," he would say, and put the handle against his ear, and
+shake his head wisely. "And _this_ day is allowed Rutilianus to live," he
+would say, and, tucking up his cloak, he would puff and pant and fight
+well. Oh, there were jests in plenty on the Wall to take the place of
+food!
+
+'We endured for two months and seventeen days--always being pressed from
+three sides into a smaller space. Several times Allo sent in word that
+help was at hand. We did not believe it, but it cheered our men.
+
+'The end came not with shoutings of joy, but, like the rest, as in a
+dream. The Winged Hats suddenly left us in peace for one night, and the
+next day; which is too long for spent men. We slept at first lightly,
+expecting to be roused, and then like logs, each where he lay. May you
+never need such sleep! When I waked our towers were full of strange, armed
+men, who watched us snoring. I roused Pertinax, and we leaped up together.
+
+'"What?" said a young man in clean armour. "Do you fight against
+Theodosius? Look!"
+
+'North we looked over the red snow. No Winged Hats were there. South we
+looked over the white snow, and behold there were the Eagles of two strong
+Legions encamped. East and west we saw flame and fighting, but by Hunno
+all was still.
+
+'"Trouble no more," said the young man. "Rome's arm is long. Where are the
+Captains of the Wall?"
+
+'We said we were those men.
+
+'"But you are old and grey-haired," he cried. "Maximus said that they were
+boys."
+
+'"Yes that was true some years ago," said Pertinax. "What is our fate to
+be, you fine and well-fed child?"
+
+'"I am called Ambrosius, a secretary of the Emperor," he answered. "Show
+me a certain letter which Maximus wrote from a tent at Aquileia, and
+perhaps I will believe."
+
+'I took it from my breast, and when he had read it he saluted us, saying:
+"Your fate is in your own hands. If you choose to serve Theodosius, he
+will give you a Legion. If it suits you to go to your homes, we will give
+you a Triumph."
+
+'"I would like better a bath, wine, food, razors, soaps, oils, and
+scents," said Pertinax, laughing.
+
+'"Oh, I see you are a boy," said Ambrosius. "And you?" turning to me.
+
+'"We bear no ill-will against Theodosius, but in War----" I began.
+
+'"In War it is as it is in Love," said Pertinax. "Whether she be good or
+bad, one gives one's best once, to one only. That given, there remains no
+second worth giving or taking."
+
+'"That is true," said Ambrosius. "I was with Maximus before he died. He
+warned Theodosius that you would never serve him, and frankly I say I am
+sorry for my Emperor."
+
+'"He has Rome to console him," said Pertinax. "I ask you of your kindness
+to let us go to our homes and get this smell out of our nostrils."
+
+'None the less they gave us a Triumph!'
+
+
+
+'It was well earned,' said Puck, throwing some leaves into the still water
+of the marlpit. The black, oily circles spread dizzily as the children
+watched them.
+
+'I want to know, oh, ever so many things,' said Dan, 'What happened to old
+Allo? Did the Winged Hats ever come back? And what did Amal do?'
+
+'And what happened to the fat old General with the five cooks?' said Una.
+'And what did your Mother say when you came home?'...
+
+'She'd say you're settin' too long over this old pit, so late as 'tis
+already,' said old Hobden's voice behind them. 'Hst!' he whispered.
+
+He stood still, for not twenty paces away a magnificent dog-fox sat on his
+haunches and looked at the children as though he were an old friend of
+theirs.
+
+'Oh, Mus' Reynolds, Mus' Reynolds!' said Hobden, under his breath. 'If I
+knowed all was inside your head, I'd know something wuth knowin'. Mus' Dan
+an' Miss Una, come along o' me while I lock up my liddle hen-house.'
+
+
+
+
+A PICT SONG
+
+
+  _Rome never looks where she treads,_
+    _Always her heavy hooves fall,_
+  _On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads;_
+    _And Rome never heeds when we bawl._
+  _Her sentries pass on--that is all,_
+    _And we gather behind them in hordes,_
+  _And plot to reconquer the Wall,_
+    _With only our tongues for our swords._
+
+  _We are the Little Folk--we!_
+    _Too little to love or to hate._
+  _Leave us alone and you'll see_
+    _How we can drag down the Great!_
+  _We are the worm in the wood!_
+    _We are the rot at the root!_
+  _We are the germ in the blood!_
+    _We are the thorn in the foot!_
+
+  _Mistletoe killing an oak--_
+    _Rats gnawing cables in two--_
+  _Moths making holes in a cloak--_
+    _How they must love what they do!_
+  _Yes,--and we Little Folk too,_
+    _We are as busy as they--_
+  _Working our works out of view--_
+    _Watch, and you'll see it some day!_
+
+  _No indeed! We are not strong,_
+    _But we know Peoples that are._
+  _Yes, and we'll guide them along,_
+    _To smash and destroy you in War!_
+  _We shall be slaves just the same?_
+    _Yes, we have always been slaves;_
+  _But you--you will die of the shame,_
+    _And then we shall dance on your graves!_
+
+    _We are the Little Folk, we! etc._
+
+
+
+
+
+HAL O' THE DRAFT
+
+
+
+
+  _Prophets have honour all over the Earth,_
+    _Except in the village where they were born;_
+  _Where such as knew them boys from birth,_
+    _Nature-ally hold 'em in scorn._
+
+  _When Prophets are naughty and young and vain,_
+    _They make a won'erful grievance of it;_
+  _(You can see by their writings how they __complain),_
+    _But O, 'tis won'erful good for the Prophet!_
+
+  _There's nothing Nineveh Town can give,_
+    _(Nor being swallowed by whales between),_
+  _Makes up for the place where a man's folk live,_
+    _That don't care nothing what he has been._
+  _He might ha' been that, or he might ha' been this,_
+  _But they love and they hate him for what he is!_
+
+
+
+
+HAL O' THE DRAFT
+
+
+A rainy afternoon drove Dan and Una over to play pirates in the Little
+Mill. If you don't mind rats on the rafters and oats in your shoes, the
+mill-attic, with its trap-doors and inscriptions on beams about floods and
+sweethearts, is a splendid place. It is lighted by a foot-square window,
+called Duck Window, that looks across to Little Lindens Farm, and the spot
+where Jack Cade was killed.
+
+When they had climbed the attic ladder (they called it the 'mainmast tree'
+out of the ballad of Sir Andrew Barton, and Dan 'swarved it with might and
+main,' as the ballad says) they saw a man sitting on Duck window-sill. He
+was dressed in a plum-coloured doublet and tight plum-coloured hose, and
+he drew busily in a red-edged book.
+
+'Sit ye! Sit ye!' Puck cried from a rafter overhead. 'See what it is to be
+beautiful! Sir Harry Dawe--pardon, Hal--says I am the very image of a head
+for a gargoyle.'
+
+The man laughed and raised his dark velvet cap to the children, and his
+grizzled hair bristled out in a stormy fringe. He was old--forty at
+least--but his eyes were young, with funny little wrinkles all round them.
+A satchel of embroidered leather hung from his broad belt, which looked
+interesting.
+
+'May we see?' said Una, coming forward.
+
+'Surely--sure-ly!' he said, moving up on the window-seat, and returned to
+his work with a silver-pointed pencil. Puck sat as though the grin were
+fixed for ever on his broad face, while they watched the quick, certain
+fingers that copied it. Presently the man took a reed pen from his
+satchel, and trimmed it with a little ivory knife, carved in the semblance
+of a fish.
+
+'Oh, what a beauty!' cried Dan.
+
+''Ware fingers! That blade is perilous sharp. I made it myself of the best
+Low Country cross-bow steel. And so, too, this fish. When his back-fin
+travels to his tail--so--he swallows up the blade, even as the whale
+swallowed Gaffer Jonah.... Yes, and that's my ink-horn. I made the four
+silver saints round it. Press Barnabas's head. It opens, and then----' He
+dipped the trimmed pen, and with careful boldness began to put in the
+essential lines of Puck's rugged face, that had been but faintly revealed
+by the silver-point.
+
+The children gasped, for it fairly leaped from the page.
+
+As he worked, and the rain fell on the tiles, he talked--now clearly, now
+muttering, now breaking off to frown or smile at his work. He told them he
+was born at Little Lindens Farms, and his father used to beat him for
+drawing things instead of doing things, till an old priest called Father
+Roger, who drew illuminated letters in rich people's books, coaxed the
+parents to let him take the boy as a sort of painter's apprentice. Then he
+went with Father Roger to Oxford, where he cleaned plates and carried
+cloaks and shoes for the scholars of a College called Merton.
+
+'Didn't you hate that?' said Dan after a great many other questions.
+
+'I never thought on't. Half Oxford was building new colleges or
+beautifying the old, and she had called to her aid the master-craftsmen of
+all Christendie--kings in their trade and honoured of Kings. I knew them. I
+worked for them: that was enough. No wonder----' He stopped and laughed.
+
+'You became a great man,' said Puck.
+
+'They said so, Robin. Even Bramante said so.'
+
+'Why? What did you do?' Dan asked.
+
+The artist looked at him queerly. 'Things in stone and such, up and down
+England. You would not have heard of 'em. To come nearer home, I
+re-builded this little St. Bartholomew's church of ours. It cost me more
+trouble and sorrow than aught I've touched in my life. But 'twas a sound
+lesson.'
+
+'Um,' said Dan. 'We had lessons this morning.'
+
+'I'll not afflict ye, lad,' said Hal, while Puck roared. 'Only 'tis
+strange to think how that little church was re-built, re-roofed, and made
+glorious, thanks to some few godly Sussex iron-masters, a Bristol sailor
+lad, a proud ass called Hal o' the Draft because, d'you see, he was always
+drawing and drafting; and'--he dragged the words slowly--'_and_ a Scotch
+pirate.'
+
+'Pirate?' said Dan. He wriggled like a hooked fish.
+
+'Even that Andrew Barton you were singing of on the stair just now.' He
+dipped again in the ink-well, and held his breath over a sweeping line, as
+though he had forgotten everything else.
+
+'Pirates don't build churches, do they?' said Dan. 'Or _do_ they?'
+
+'They help mightily,' Hal laughed. 'But you were at your lessons this
+morn, Jack Scholar?'
+
+'Oh, pirates aren't lessons. It was only Bruce and his silly old spider,'
+said Una. 'Why did Sir Andrew Barton help you?'
+
+'I question if he ever knew it,' said Hal, twinkling. 'Robin, how
+a-mischief's name am I to tell these innocents what comes of sinful
+pride?'
+
+'Oh, we know all about _that_,' said Una pertly. 'If you get too
+beany--that's cheeky--you get sat upon, of course.'
+
+Hal considered a moment, pen in air, and Puck said some long words.
+
+'Aha! That was my case too,' he cried. 'Beany--you say--but certainly I did
+not conduct myself well. I was proud of--of such things as porches--a
+Galilee porch at Lincoln for choice--proud of one Torrigiano's arm on my
+shoulder, proud of my knighthood when I made the gilt scroll-work for _The
+Sovereign_--our King's ship. But Father Roger sitting in Merton Library, he
+did not forget me. At the top of my pride, when I and no other should have
+builded the porch at Lincoln, he laid it on me with a terrible forefinger
+to go back to my Sussex clays and re-build, at my own charges, my own
+church, where we Dawes have been buried for six generations. "Out! Son of
+my Art!" said he. "Fight the Devil at home ere you call yourself a man and
+a craftsman." And I quaked, and I went.... How's yon, Robin?' He
+flourished the finished sketch before Puck.
+
+'Me! Me past peradventure,' said Puck, smirking like a man at a mirror.
+'Ah, see! The rain has took off! I hate housen in daylight.'
+
+'Whoop! Holiday!' cried Hal, leaping up. 'Who's for my Little Lindens? We
+can talk there.'
+
+They tumbled downstairs, and turned past the dripping willows by the sunny
+mill dam.
+
+'Body o' me,' said Hal, staring at the hop-garden, where the hops were
+just ready to blossom. 'What are these vines? No, not vines, and they
+twine the wrong way to beans.' He began to draw in his ready book.
+
+'Hops. New since your day,' said Puck. 'They're an herb of Mars, and their
+flowers dried flavour ale. We say:--
+
+  '"Turkeys, Heresy, Hops, and Beer
+  Came into England all in one year."'
+
+'Heresy I know. I've seen Hops--God be praised for their beauty! What is
+your Turkis?'
+
+The children laughed. They knew the Lindens turkeys, and as soon as they
+reached Lindens' orchard on the hill the flock charged at them.
+
+Out came Hal's book at once. 'Hoity-toity!' he cried. 'Here's Pride in
+purple feathers! Here's wrathy contempt and the Pomps of the Flesh! How
+d'you call _them_?'
+
+'Turkeys! Turkeys!' the children shouted, as the old gobbler raved and
+flamed against Hal's plum-coloured hose.
+
+'Save Your Magnificence!' he said. 'I've drafted two good new things
+to-day.' And he doffed his cap to the bubbling bird.
+
+Then they walked through the grass to the knoll where Little Lindens
+stands. The old farm-house, weather-tiled to the ground, took almost the
+colour of a blood-ruby in the afternoon light. The pigeons pecked at the
+mortar in the chimney-stacks; the bees that had lived under the tiles
+since it was built filled the hot August air with their booming; and the
+smell of the box-tree by the dairy-window mixed with the smell of earth
+after rain, bread after baking, and a tickle of wood-smoke.
+
+The farmer's wife came to the door, baby on arm, shaded her brows against
+the sun, stooped to pluck a sprig of rosemary, and turned down the
+orchard. The old spaniel in his barrel barked once or twice to show he was
+in charge of the empty house. Puck clicked back the garden-gate.
+
+'D'you marvel that I love it?' said Hal, in a whisper. 'What can town folk
+know of the nature of housen--or land?'
+
+  [Illustration: 'Hoity-toity,' he cried. 'Here's Pride in purple
+  feathers! Here's wrathy contempt and the Pomps of the Flesh!'... And
+  he doffed his cap to the bubbling bird.]
+
+They perched themselves arow on the old hacked oak bench in Lindens'
+garden, looking across the valley of the brook at the fern-covered dimples
+and hollows of the Forge behind Hobden's cottage. The old man was cutting
+a faggot in his garden by the hives. It was quite a second after his
+chopper fell that the chump of the blow reached their lazy ears.
+
+'Eh--yeh!' said Hal. 'I mind when where that old gaffer stands was Nether
+Forge--Master John Collins's foundry. Many a night has his big trip-hammer
+shook me in my bed here. _Boom-bitty! Boom-bitty!_ If the wind was east, I
+could hear Master Tom Collins's forge at Stockens answering his brother,
+_Boom-oop! Boom-oop!_ and midway between, Sir John Pelham's sledge-hammers
+at Brightling would strike in like a pack o'scholars, and "_Hic-haec-hoc_"
+they'd say, "_Hic-haec-hoc_," till I fell asleep. Yes. The valley was as
+full o' forges and fineries as a May shaw o' cuckoos. All gone to grass
+now!'
+
+'What did they make?' said Dan.
+
+'Guns for the King's ships--and for others. Serpentines and cannon mostly.
+When the guns were cast, down would come the King's Officers, and take our
+plough-oxen to haul them to the coast. Look! Here's one of the first and
+finest craftsmen of the Sea!'
+
+He fluttered back a page of his book, and showed them a young man's head.
+Underneath was written: 'Sebastianus.'
+
+'He came down with a King's Order on Master John Collins for twenty
+serpentines (wicked little cannon they be!) to furnish a venture of ships.
+I drafted him thus sitting by our fire telling Mother of the new lands
+he'd find the far side the world. And he found them, too! There's a nose
+to cleave through unknown seas! Cabot was his name--a Bristol lad--half a
+foreigner. I set a heap by him. He helped me to my church-building.'
+
+'I thought that was Sir Andrew Barton,' said Dan.
+
+'Ay, but foundations before roofs,' Hal answered. 'Sebastian first put me
+in the way of it. I had come down here, not to serve God as a craftsman
+should, but to show my people how great a craftsman I was. They cared not,
+and it served me right, one split straw for my craft or my greatness. What
+a murrain call had I, they said, to mell with old St. Barnabas's? Ruinous
+the church had been since the Black Death, and ruinous she should remain;
+and I could hang myself in my new scaffold-ropes! Gentle and simple, high
+and low--the Hayes, the Fowles, the Fanners, the Collinses--they were all in
+a tale against me. Only Sir John Pelham up yonder to Brightling bade me
+heart-up and go on. Yet how could I? Did I ask Master Collins for his
+timber-tug to haul beams? The oxen had gone to Lewes after lime. Did he
+promise me a set of iron cramps or ties for the roof? They never came to
+hand, or else they were spaulty or cracked. So with everything. Nothing
+said, but naught done except I stood by them, and then done amiss. I
+thought the countryside was fair bewitched.'
+
+'It was, sure-ly,' said Puck, knees under chin. 'Did you never suspect any
+one?'
+
+'Not till Sebastian came for his guns, and John Collins played him the
+same dog's tricks as he'd played me with my ironwork. Week in, week out,
+two of three serpentines would be flawed in the casting, and only fit,
+they said, to be remelted. Then John Collins would shake his head, and vow
+he could pass no cannon for the King's service that were not perfect.
+Saints! How Sebastian stormed! _I_ know, for we sat on this bench sharing
+our sorrows inter-common.
+
+'When Sebastian had fumed away six weeks at Lindens and gotten just six
+serpentines, Dirk Brenzett, Master of the _Cygnet_ hoy, sends me word that
+the block of stone he was fetching me from France for our new font he'd
+hove overboard to lighten his ship, chased by Andrew Barton up to Rye
+Port.'
+
+'Ah! The pirate!' said Dan.
+
+'Yes. And while I am tearing my hair over this, Ticehurst Will, my best
+mason, comes to me shaking, and vowing that the Devil, horned, tailed, and
+chained, has run out on him from the church-tower, and the men would work
+there no more. So I took 'em off the foundations, which we were
+strengthening, and went into the Bell Tavern for a cup of ale. Says Master
+John Collins: "Have it your own way, lad; but if I was you, I'd take the
+sinnification o' the sign, and leave old Barnabas's Church alone!" And
+they all wagged their sinful heads, and agreed. Less afraid of the Devil
+than of me--as I saw later.
+
+'When I brought my sweet news to Lindens, Sebastian was limewashing the
+kitchen-beams for Mother. He loved her like a son.
+
+'"Cheer up, lad," he says. "God's where He was. Only you and I chance to
+be pure pute asses! We've been tricked, Hal, and more shame to me, a
+sailor, that I did not guess it before! You must leave your belfry alone,
+forsooth, because the Devil is adrift there; and I cannot get my
+serpentines because John Collins cannot cast them aright. Meantime Andrew
+Barton hawks off the Port of Rye. And why? To take those very serpentines
+which poor Cabot must whistle for; the said serpentines, I'll wager my
+share of new Continents, being now hid away in St. Barnabas church tower.
+Clear as the Irish coast at noonday!"
+
+'"They'd sure never dare to do it," I said; "and for another thing,
+selling cannon to the King's enemies is black treason--hanging and fine."
+
+'"It is sure large profit. Men'll dare any gallows for that. I have been a
+trader myself," says he. "We must be upsides with 'em for the honour of
+Bristol."
+
+'Then he hatched a plot, sitting on the lime-wash bucket. We gave out to
+ride o' Tuesday to London and made a show of making farewells of our
+friends--especially of Master John Collins. But at Wadhurst Woods we
+turned; rode by night to the watermeadows; hid our horses in a willow-tot
+at the foot of the glebe, and stole a-tiptoe up hill to Barnabas's church
+again. A thick mist, and a moon coming through.
+
+'I had no sooner locked the tower-door behind us than over goes Sebastian
+full length in the dark.
+
+'"Pest!" he says. "Step high and feel low, Hal. I've stumbled over guns
+before."
+
+'I groped, and one by one--the tower was pitchy dark--I counted the lither
+barrels of twenty serpentines laid out on pease-straw. No conceal at all!
+
+'"There's two demi-cannon my end," says Sebastian, slapping metal.
+"They'll be for Andrew Barton's lower deck. Honest--honest John Collins! So
+this is his warehouse, his arsenal, his armoury! Now, see you why your
+pokings and pryings have raised the Devil in Sussex? You've hindered
+John's lawful trade for months," and he laughed where he lay.
+
+'A clay-cold tower is no fireside at midnight, so we climbed the belfry
+stairs, and there Sebastian trips over a cow-hide with its horns and tail.
+
+'"Aha! Your Devil has left his doublet! Does it become me, Hal?" He draws
+it on and capers in the slits of window-moonlight--won'erful devilish-like.
+Then he sits on the stair, rapping with his tail on a board, and his
+back-aspect was dreader than his front; and a howlet lit in, and screeched
+at the horns of him.
+
+'"If you'd keep out the Devil, shut the door," he whispered. "And that's
+another false proverb, Hal, for I can hear your tower-door opening."
+
+'"I locked it. Who a-plague has another key, then?" I said.
+
+'"All the congregation, to judge by their feet," he says, and peers into
+the blackness. "Still! Still, Hal! Hear 'em grunt! That's more o' my
+serpentines, I'll be bound. One--two--three--four they bear in! Faith, Andrew
+equips himself like an admiral! Twenty-four serpentines in all!"
+
+'As if it had been an echo, we heard John Collins's voice come up all
+hollow: "Twenty-four serpentines and two demi-cannon. That's the full
+tally for Sir Andrew Barton."
+
+'"Courtesy costs naught," whispers Sebastian. "Shall I drop my dagger on
+his head?"
+
+'"They go over to Rye o' Thursday in the wool-wains, hid under the wool
+packs. Dirk Brenzett meets them at Udimore, as before," says John.
+
+'"Lord! What a worn, handsmooth trade it is!" says Sebastian. "I lay we
+are the sole two babes in the village that have not our lawful share in
+the venture."
+
+'There was a full score folk below, talking like all Robertsbridge Market.
+We counted them by voice.
+
+'Master John Collins pipes: "The guns for the French carrack must lie here
+next month. Will, when does your young fool (me, so please you!) come back
+from Lunnon?"
+
+'"No odds," I heard Ticehurst Will answer. "Lay 'em just where you've a
+mind, Mus' Collins. We're all too afraid o' the Devil to mell with the
+tower now." And the long knave laughed.
+
+'"Ah! 'tis easy enow for you to raise the Devil, Will," says another--Ralph
+Hobden from the Forge.
+
+'"Aaa-men!" roars Sebastian, and ere I could hold him, he leaps down the
+stairs--won'erful devilish-like--howling no bounds. He had scarce time to
+lay out for the nearest than they ran. Saints, how they ran! We heard them
+pound on the door of the Bell Tavern, and then we ran too.
+
+'"What's next?" says Sebastian, looping up his cow-tail as he leaped the
+briars. "I've broke honest John's face."
+
+'"Ride to Sir John Pelham's," I said. "He is the only one that ever stood
+by me."
+
+'We rode to Brightling, and past Sir John's lodges, where the keepers
+would have shot at us for deer-stealers, and we had Sir John down into his
+Justice's chair, and when we had told him our tale and showed him the
+cow-hide which Sebastian wore still girt about him, he laughed till the
+tears ran.
+
+'"Wel-a-well!" he says. "I'll see justice done before daylight. What's
+your complaint? Master Collins is my old friend."
+
+'"He's none of mine," I cried. "When I think how he and his likes have
+baulked and dozened and cozened me at every turn over the church"----and I
+choked at the thought.
+
+'"Ah, but ye see now they needed it for another use," says he, smoothly.
+
+'"So they did my serpentines," Sebastian cries. "I should be half across
+the Western Ocean by this if my guns had been ready. But they're sold to a
+Scotch pirate by your old friend."
+
+'"Where's your proof?" says Sir John, stroking his beard.
+
+'"I broke my shins over them not an hour since, and I heard John give
+order where they were to be taken," says Sebastian.
+
+'"Words! Words only," says Sir John. "Master Collins is somewhat of a liar
+at best."
+
+'He carried it so gravely, that for the moment, I thought he was dipped in
+this secret traffick too, and that there was not an honest ironmaster in
+Sussex.
+
+'"Name o' Reason!" says Sebastian, and raps with his cow-tail on the
+table, "Whose guns are they, then?"
+
+'"Yours, manifestly," says Sir John. "You come with the King's Order for
+'em, and Master Collins casts them in his foundry. If he chooses to bring
+them up from Nether Forge and lay 'em out in the church tower, why they
+are e'en so much the nearer to the main road and you are saved a day's
+hauling. What a coil to make of a mere act of neighbourly kindness, lad!"
+
+'"I fear I have requited him very scurvily," says Sebastian, looking at
+his knuckles. "But what of the demi-cannon? I could do with 'em well, but
+_they_ are not in the King's Order."
+
+'"Kindness--loving-kindness," says Sir John. "Questionless, in his zeal for
+the King and his love for you, John adds those two cannon as a gift. 'Tis
+plain as this coming daylight, ye stockfish!"
+
+'"So it is," says Sebastian. "Oh, Sir John, Sir John, why did you never
+use the sea? You are lost ashore." And he looked on him with great love.
+
+'"I do my best in my station." Sir John strokes his beard again and rolls
+forth his deep drumming Justice's voice thus:--"But--suffer me!--you two
+lads, on some midnight frolic into which I probe not, roystering around
+the taverns, surprise Master Collins at his"--he thinks a moment--"at his
+good deeds done by stealth. Ye surprise him, I say, cruelly."
+
+'"Truth, Sir John. If you had seen him run!" says Sebastian.
+
+'"On this you ride breakneck to me with a tale of pirates, and wool-wains,
+and cow-hides, which, though it hath moved my mirth as a man, offendeth my
+reason as a magistrate. So I will e'en accompany you back to the tower
+with, perhaps, some few of my own people, and three to four wagons, and
+I'll be your warrant that Master John Collins will freely give you your
+guns and your demi-cannon, Master Sebastian." He breaks into his proper
+voice--"I warned the old tod and his neighbours long ago that they'd come
+to trouble with their side-sellings and bye-dealings; but we cannot have
+half Sussex hanged for a little gun-running. Are ye content, lads?"
+
+'"I'd commit any treason for two demi-cannon," said Sebastian, and rubs
+his hands.
+
+'"Ye have just compounded with rank treason-felony for the same bribe,"
+says Sir John. "Wherefore to horse, and get the guns."'
+
+'But Master Collins meant the guns for Sir Andrew Barton all along, didn't
+he?' said Dan.
+
+'Questionless, that he did,' said Hal. 'But he lost them. We poured into
+the village on the red edge of dawn, Sir John horsed, in half-armour, his
+pennon flying; behind him thirty stout Brightling knaves, five abreast;
+behind them four wool-wains, and behind them four trumpets to triumph over
+the jest, blowing: _Our King went forth to Normandie_. When we halted and
+rolled the ringing guns out of the tower, 'twas for all the world like
+Friar Roger's picture of the French siege in the Queen's Missal-book.'
+
+'And what did we--I mean, what did our village do?' said Dan.
+
+'Oh! Bore it nobly--nobly,' cried Hal. 'Though they had tricked me, I was
+proud of us. They came out of their housen, looked at that little army as
+though it had been a post, and went their shut-mouthed way. Never a sign!
+Never a word! They'd ha' perished sooner than let Brightling overcrow us.
+Even that villain, Ticehurst Will, coming out of the Bell for his morning
+ale, he all but ran under Sir John's horse.
+
+'"Ware, Sirrah Devil!" cries Sir John, reining back.
+
+'"Oh!" says Will. "Market day, is it? And all the bullocks from Brightling
+here?"
+
+'I spared him his belting for that--the brazen knave!
+
+'But John Collins was our masterpiece! He happened along-street (his jaw
+tied up where Sebastian had clouted him) when we were trundling the first
+demi-cannon through the lych-gate.
+
+'"I reckon you'll find her middlin' heavy," he says. "If you've a mind to
+pay, I'll loan ye my timber-tug. She won't lie easy on ary wool-wain."
+
+'That was the one time I ever saw Sebastian taken flat aback. He opened
+and shut his mouth, fishy-like.
+
+'"No offence," says Master John. "You've got her reasonable good cheap. I
+thought ye might not grudge me a groat if I help move her." Ah, he was a
+masterpiece! They say that morning's work cost our John two hundred
+pounds, and he never winked an eyelid, not even when he saw the guns all
+carted off to Lewes.'
+
+'Neither then nor later?' said Puck.
+
+'Once. 'Twas after he gave St. Barnabas the new chime of bells. (Oh, there
+was nothing the Collinses, or the Hayes, or the Fowles, or the Fanners
+would not do for the church then! "Ask and have" was their song.) We had
+rung 'em in, and he was in the tower with Black Nick Fowle, that gave us
+our rood-screen. The old man pinches the bell-rope one hand and scratches
+his neck with t'other. "Sooner she was pulling yon clapper than my neck,"
+he says. That was all! That was Sussex--seely Sussex for everlastin'!'
+
+'And what happened after?' said Una.
+
+'I went back into England,' said Hal, slowly. 'I'd had my lesson against
+pride. But they tell me I left St. Barnabas's a jewel--just about a jewel!
+Wel-a-well! 'Twas done for and among my own people, and--Father Roger was
+right--I never knew such trouble or such triumph since. That's the nature
+o' things. A dear--dear land.' He dropped his chin on his chest.
+
+'There's your Father at the Forge. What's he talking to old Hobden about?'
+said Puck, opening his hand with three leaves in it.
+
+Dan looked towards the cottage.
+
+'Oh, I know. It's that old oak lying across the brook. Pater always wants
+it grubbed.'
+
+In the still valley they could hear old Hobden's deep tones.
+
+'Have it _as_ you've a mind to,' he was saying. 'But the vivers of her
+roots they hold the bank together. If you grub her out, the bank she'll
+all come tearin' down, an' next floods the brook'll swarve up. But have it
+_as_ you've a mind. The mistuss she sets a heap by the ferns on her
+trunk.'
+
+'Oh! I'll think it over,' said the Pater.
+
+Una laughed a little bubbling chuckle.
+
+'What Devil's in _that_ belfry?' said Hal, with a lazy laugh. 'That should
+be Hobden by his voice.'
+
+'Why, the oak is the regular bridge for all the rabbits between the Three
+Acre and our meadow. The best place for wires on the farm, Hobden says.
+He's got two there now,' Una answered. '_He_ won't ever let it be
+grubbed!'
+
+'Ah, Sussex! Silly Sussex for everlastin',' murmured Hal; and the next
+moment their Father's voice calling across to Little Lindens broke the
+spell as St. Barnabas's clock struck five.
+
+
+
+
+SMUGGLERS' SONG
+
+
+  _If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,_
+  _Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,_
+  _Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie._
+  _Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!_
+
+      _Five and twenty ponies_
+      _Trotting through the dark;_
+      _Brandy for the Parson,_
+      _'Baccy for the Clerk_
+      _Laces for a lady, letters for a spy,_
+
+  _And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!_
+
+  _Running round the woodlump if you chance to find_
+  _Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandywined;_
+  _Don't you shout to come and look, nor take 'em for your play;_
+  _Put the brishwood back again,--and they'll be gone next day!_
+
+  _If you see the stableyard setting open wide;_
+  _If you see a tied horse lying down inside;_
+  _If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore;_
+  _If the lining's wet and warm--don't you ask no more!_
+
+  _If you meet King George's men, dressed in blue and red,_
+  _You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said._
+  _If they call you 'pretty maid,' and chuck you 'neath the chin,_
+  _Don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been!_
+
+  _Knocks and footsteps round the house--whistles after dark--_
+  _You've no call for running out till the house-dogs bark._
+  Trusty's _here, and_ Pincher's _here, and see how dumb they lie--_
+  _They don't fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by!_
+
+  _If you do as you've been told, likely there's a chance,_
+  _You'll be give a dainty doll, all the way from France,_
+  _With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood--_
+  _A present from the Gentlemen, along o' being good!_
+
+      _Five and twenty ponies,_
+      _Trotting through the Park--_
+      _Brandy for the Parson,_
+      _'Baccy for the Clerk._
+
+  _Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie._
+  _Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!_
+
+
+
+
+
+'DYMCHURCH FLIT'
+
+
+
+
+THE BEE BOY'S SONG
+
+
+  Bees! Bees! Hark to the Bees!
+  'Hide from your neighbours as much as you please,
+  But all that has happened to _us_ you must tell!
+  Or else we will give you no honey to sell.'
+
+    _A maiden in her glory,_
+      _Upon her wedding-day,_
+    _Must tell her Bees the story,_
+      _Or else they'll fly away._
+        _Fly away--die away--_
+          _Dwindle down and leave you!_
+        _But if you don't deceive your Bees,_
+          _Your Bees will not deceive you!--_
+
+    _Marriage, birth or buryin',_
+      _News across the seas,_
+    _All you're sad or merry in,_
+      _You must tell the Bees._
+        _Tell 'em coming in an' out,_
+          _Where the Fanners fan,_
+        _'Cause the Bees are justabout_
+          _As curious as a man!_
+
+    _Don't you wait where trees are,_
+      _When the lightnings play;_
+    _Nor don't you hate where Bees are,_
+      _Or else they'll pine away._
+        _Pine away--dwine away--_
+          _Anything to leave you!_
+        _But if you never grieve your Bees,_
+          _Your Bees'll never grieve you._
+
+
+
+
+'DYMCHURCH FLIT'
+
+
+Just at dusk, a soft September rain began to fall on the hop-pickers. The
+mothers wheeled the bouncing perambulators out of the gardens; bins were
+put away, and tally-books made up. The young couples strolled home, two to
+each umbrella, and the single men walked behind them laughing. Dan and
+Una, who had been picking after their lessons, marched off to roast
+potatoes at the oast-house, where old Hobden, with Blue-eyed Bess, his
+lurcher-dog, lived all the month through, drying the hops.
+
+They settled themselves, as usual, on the sack-strewn cot in front of the
+fires, and, when Hobden drew up the shutter, stared, as usual, at the
+flameless bed of coals spouting its heat up the dark well of the
+old-fashioned roundel. Slowly he cracked off a few fresh pieces of coal,
+packed them, with fingers that never flinched, exactly where they would do
+most good; slowly he reached behind him till Dan tilted the potatoes into
+his iron scoop of a hand; carefully he arranged them round the fire, and
+then stood for a moment, black against the glare. As he closed the
+shutter, the oast-house seemed dark before the day's end, and he lit the
+candle in the lanthorn. The children liked all these things because they
+knew them so well.
+
+The Bee Boy, Hobden's son, who is not quite right in his head, though he
+can do anything with bees, slipped in like a shadow. They only guessed it
+when Bess's stump-tail wagged against them.
+
+A big voice began singing outside in the drizzle:--
+
+  'Old Mother Laidinwool had nigh twelve months been dead,
+  She heard the hops were doing well, and then popped up her head.'
+
+'There can't be two people made to holler like that!' cried old Hobden,
+wheeling round.
+
+  'For, says she, "The boys I've picked with when I was young and fair,
+  They're bound to be at hoppin', and I'm----"'
+
+A man showed at the doorway.
+
+'Well, well! They do say hoppin'll draw the very deadest; and now I
+belieft 'em. You, Tom? Tom Shoesmith!' Hobden lowered his lanthorn.
+
+'You're a hem of a time makin' your mind to it, Ralph!' The stranger
+strode in--three full inches taller than Hobden, a grey-whiskered,
+brown-faced giant with clear blue eyes. They shook hands, and the children
+could hear the hard palms rasp together.
+
+'You ain't lost none o' your grip,' said Hobden. 'Was it thirty or forty
+year back you broke my head at Peasmarsh Fair?'
+
+'Only thirty, an' no odds 'tween us regardin' heads, neither. You had it
+back at me with a hop-pole. How did we get home that night? Swimmin'?'
+
+'Same way the pheasant come into Gubbs's pocket--by a little luck an' a
+deal o' conjurin'.' Old Hobden laughed in his deep chest.
+
+'I see you've not forgot your way about the woods. D'ye do any o' _this_
+still?' The stranger pretended to look along a gun.
+
+Hobden answered with a quick movement of the hand as though he were
+pegging down a rabbit-wire.
+
+'No. _That's_ all that's left me now. Age she must as Age she can. An'
+what's your news since all these years?'
+
+  'Oh, I've bin to Plymouth, I've bin to Dover--
+  I've bin ramblin', boys, the wide world over,'
+
+the man answered cheerily. 'I reckon I know as much of Old England as
+most.' He turned towards the children and winked boldly.
+
+'I lay they told you a sight o' lies, then. I've been into England fur as
+Wiltsheer once. I was cheated proper over a pair of hedging-gloves,' said
+Hobden.
+
+'There's fancy-talkin' everywhere. _You've_ cleaved to your own parts
+pretty middlin' close, Ralph.'
+
+'Can't shift an old tree 'thout it dyin',' Hobden chuckled. 'An' I be no
+more anxious to die than you look to be to help me with my hops to-night.'
+
+The great man leaned against the brickwork of the roundel, and swung his
+arms abroad. 'Hire me!' was all he said, and they stumped upstairs
+laughing.
+
+The children heard their shovels rasp on the cloth where the yellow hops
+lie drying above the fires, and all the oast-house filled with the sweet,
+sleepy smell as they were turned.
+
+'Who is it?' Una whispered to the Bee Boy.
+
+'Dunno, no more'n you--if _you_ dunno,' said he, and smiled.
+
+The voices on the drying-floor talked and chuckled together, and the heavy
+footsteps went back and forth. Presently a hop-pocket dropped through the
+press-hole overhead, and stiffened and fattened as they shovelled it full.
+'Clank!' went the press, and rammed the loose stuff into tight cake.
+
+'Gently!' they heard Hobden cry. 'You'll bust her crop if you lay on so.
+You be as careless as Gleason's bull, Tom. Come an' sit by the fires.
+She'll do now.'
+
+They came down, and as Hobden opened the shutter to see if the potatoes
+were done Tom Shoesmith said to the children, 'Put a plenty salt on 'em.
+That'll show you the sort o' man _I_ be.' Again he winked, and again the
+Bee Boy laughed and Una stared at Dan.
+
+'_I_ know what sort o' man you be,' old Hobden grunted, groping for the
+potatoes round the fire.
+
+'Do ye?' Tom went on behind his back. 'Some of us can't abide Horseshoes,
+or Church Bells, or Running Water; an', talkin' o' runnin' water'--he
+turned to Hobden, who was backing out of the roundel--'d'you mind the great
+floods at Robertsbridge, when the miller's man was drowned in the street?'
+
+'Middlin' well.' Old Hobden let himself down on the coals by the fire
+door. 'I was courtin' my woman on the Marsh that year. Carter to Mus' Plum
+I was--gettin' ten shillin's week. Mine was a Marsh woman.'
+
+'Won'erful odd-gates place--Romney Marsh,' said Tom Shoesmith. 'I've heard
+say the world's divided like into Europe, Ashy, Afriky, Ameriky, Australy,
+an' Romney Marsh.'
+
+'The Marsh folk think so,' said Hobden. 'I had a hem o' trouble to get my
+woman to leave it.'
+
+'Where did she come out of? I've forgot, Ralph.'
+
+'Dymchurch under the Wall,' Hobden answered, a potato in his hand.
+
+'Then she'd be a Pett--or a Whitgift, would she?'
+
+'Whitgift.' Hobden broke open the potato and ate it with the curious
+neatness of men who make most of their meals in the blowy open. 'She
+growed to be quite reasonable-like after livin' in the Weald awhile, but
+our first twenty year or two she was odd-fashioned, no bounds. And she was
+a won'erful hand with bees.' He cut away a little piece of potato and
+threw it out to the door.
+
+'Ah! I've heard say the Whitgifts could see further through a millstone
+than most,' said Shoesmith. 'Did she, now?'
+
+'She was honest-innocent, of any nigromancin',' said Hobden. 'Only she'd
+read signs and sinnifications out o' birds flyin', stars fallin', bees
+hivin', and such. An' she'd lie awake--listenin' for calls, she said.'
+
+'That don't prove naught,' said Tom. 'All Marsh folk has been smugglers
+since time everlastin'. 'Twould be in her blood to listen out o' nights.'
+
+'Nature-ally,' old Hobden replied, smiling. 'I mind when there was
+smugglin' a sight nearer us than the Marsh be. But that wasn't my woman's
+trouble. 'Twas a passel o' no-sense talk,' he dropped his voice, 'about
+Pharisees.'
+
+'Yes. I've heard Marsh men beleft in 'em.' Tom looked straight at the
+wide-eyed children beside Bess.
+
+'Pharisees,' cried Una. 'Fairies? Oh, I see!'
+
+'People o' the Hills,' said the Bee Boy, throwing half of his potato
+towards the door.
+
+'There you be!' said Hobden, pointing at him. 'My boy, he has her eyes and
+her out-gate senses. That's what _she_ called 'em!'
+
+'And what did you think of it all?'
+
+'Um--um,' Hobden rumbled. 'A man that uses fields an' shaws after dark as
+much as I've done, he don't go out of his road excep' for keepers.'
+
+'But settin' that aside?' said Tom, coaxingly. 'I saw ye throw the Good
+Piece out-at doors just now. Do ye believe or--_do_ ye?'
+
+'There was a great black eye to that tater,' said Hobden, indignantly.
+
+'My liddle eye didn't see un, then. It looked as if you meant it for--for
+Any One that might need it. But settin' that aside. D'ye believe or--_do_
+ye?'
+
+'I ain't sayin' nothin', because I've heard naught, an' I've seen naught.
+But if you was to say there was more things after dark in the shaws than
+men, or fur, or feather, or fin, I dunno as I'd go farabout to call you a
+liar. Now turn again, Tom. What's your say?'
+
+'I'm like you. I say nothin'. But I'll tell you a tale, an' you can fit it
+_as_ how you please.'
+
+'Passel o' no-sense stuff,' growled Hobden, but he filled his pipe.
+
+'The Marsh men they call it Dymchurch Flit,' Tom went on slowly. 'Hap
+you've heard it?'
+
+'My woman she've told it me scores o' times. Dunno as I didn't end by
+belieft in' it--sometimes.'
+
+Hobden crossed over as he spoke, and sucked with his pipe at the yellow
+lanthorn-flame. Tom rested one great elbow on one great knee, where he sat
+among the coal.
+
+'Have you ever bin in the Marsh?' he said to Dan.
+
+'Only as far as Rye, once,' Dan answered.
+
+'Ah, that's but the edge. Back behind of her there's steeples settin'
+beside churches, an' wise women settin' beside their doors, an' the sea
+settin' above the land, an' ducks herdin' wild in the diks' (he meant
+ditches). 'The Marsh is justabout riddled with diks an' sluices, an'
+tide-gates an' water-lets. You can hear em' bubblin' an' grummelin' when
+the tide works in em', an' then you hear the sea rangin' left and
+right-handed all up along the Wall. You've seen how flat she is--the Marsh?
+You'd think nothin' easier than to walk eend-on acrost her? Ah, but the
+diks an' the water-lets, they twists the roads about as ravelly as
+witch-yarn on the spindles. So ye get all turned round in broad daylight.'
+
+'That's because they've dreened the waters into the diks,' said Hobden.
+'When I courted my woman the rushes was green--Eh me! the rushes was
+green--an' the Bailiff o' the Marshes, he rode up and down as free as the
+fog.'
+
+'Who was he?' said Dan.
+
+'Why, the Marsh fever an' ague. He've clapped me on the shoulder once or
+twice till I shook proper. But now the dreenin' off of the waters have
+done away with the fevers; so they make a joke, like, that the Bailiff o'
+the Marshes broke his neck in a dik. A won'erful place for bees an' ducks
+'tis too.'
+
+'An' old!' Tom went on. 'Flesh an' Blood have been there since Time
+Everlastin' Beyond. Well, now, speakin' among themselves, the Marshmen say
+that from Time Everlastin' Beyond the Pharisees favoured the Marsh above
+the rest of Old England. I lay the Marshmen ought to know. They've been
+out after dark, father an' son, smugglin' some one thing or t'other, since
+ever wool grew to sheep's backs. They say there was always a middlin' few
+Pharisees to be seen on the Marsh. Impident as rabbits, they was. They'd
+dance on the nakid roads in the nakid daytime; they'd flash their liddle
+green lights along the diks, comin' an' goin', like honest smugglers. Yes,
+an' times they'd lock the church doors against parson an' clerk of
+Sundays!'
+
+'That 'ud be smugglers layin' in the lace or the brandy till they could
+run it out o' the Marsh. I've told my woman so,' said Hobden.
+
+'I'll lay she didn't beleft it, then--not if she was a Whitgift. A
+won'erful choice place for Pharisees, the Marsh, by all accounts, till
+Queen Bess's father he come in with his Reformatories.'
+
+'Would that be a Act o' Parliament like?' Hobden asked.
+
+'Sure-ly! 'Can't do nothing in Old England without Act, Warrant, an'
+Summons. He got his Act allowed him, an', they say, Queen Bess's father he
+used the parish churches something shameful. Justabout tore the gizzards
+out of I dunnamany. Some folk in England they held with 'en; but some they
+saw it different, an' it eended in 'em takin' sides an' burnin' each other
+no bounds, accordin' which side was top, time bein'. That tarrified the
+Pharisees: for Goodwill among Flesh an' Blood is meat an' drink to 'em,
+an' ill-will is poison.'
+
+'Same as bees,' said the Bee Boy. 'Bees won't stay by a house where
+there's hating.'
+
+'True,' said Tom. 'This Reformations tarrified the Pharisees same as the
+reaper goin' round a last stand o' wheat tarrifies rabbits. They packed
+into the Marsh from all parts, and they says, "Fair or foul, we must flit
+out o' this, for Merry England's done with, an' we're reckoned among the
+Images."'
+
+'Did they _all_ see it that way?' said Hobden.
+
+'All but one that was called Robin--if you've heard of him. What are you
+laughing at?' Tom turned to Dan. 'The Pharisees's trouble didn't tech
+Robin, because he'd cleaved middlin' close to people like. No more he
+never meant to go out of Old England--not he; so he was sent messagin' for
+help among Flesh an' Blood. But Flesh an' Blood must always think of their
+own concerns, an' Robin couldn't get _through_ at 'em, ye see. They
+thought it was tide-echoes off the Marsh.'
+
+'What did you--what did the fai--Pharisees want?' Una asked.
+
+'A boat to be sure. Their liddle wings could no more cross Channel than so
+many tired butterflies. A boat an' a crew they desired to sail 'em over to
+France, where yet awhile folks hadn't tore down the Images. They couldn't
+abide cruel Canterbury Bells ringin' to Bulverhithe for more pore men an'
+women to be burnded, nor the King's proud messenger ridin' through the
+land givin' orders to tear down the Images. They couldn't abide it no
+shape. Nor yet they couldn't get their boat an' crew to flit by without
+Leave an' Good-will from Flesh an' Blood; an' Flesh an' Blood came an'
+went about its own business the while the Marsh was swarvin' up, an'
+swarvin' up with Pharisees from all England over, striving all means to
+get _through_ at Flesh an' Blood to tell 'en their sore need.... I don't
+know as you've ever heard say Pharisees are like chickens?'
+
+'My woman used to say that too,' said Hobden, folding his brown arms.
+
+'They be. You run too many chickens together, an' the ground sickens like,
+an' you get a squat, an' your chickens die. 'Same way, you crowd Pharisees
+all in one place--_they_ don't die, but Flesh an' Blood walkin' among 'em
+is apt to sick up an' pine off. _They_ don't mean it, an' Flesh an' Blood
+don't know it, but that's the truth--as I've heard. The Pharisees through
+bein' all stenched up an' frighted, an' tryin' to come _through_ with
+their supplications, they nature-ally changed the thin airs and humours in
+Flesh an' Blood. It lay on the Marsh like thunder. Men saw their churches
+ablaze with the wildfire in the windows after dark; they saw their cattle
+scatterin' and no man scarin'; their sheep flockin' and no man drivin';
+their horses latherin' an' no man leadin'; they saw the liddle low green
+lights more than ever in the dik-sides; they heard the liddle feet
+patterin' more than ever round the houses; an' night an' day, day an'
+night, 'twas all as though they were bein' creeped up on, and hinted at by
+some One or Other that couldn't rightly shape their trouble. Oh, I lay
+they sweated! Man an' maid, woman an' child, their Nature done 'em no
+service all the weeks while the Marsh was swarvin' up with Pharisees. But
+they was Flesh an' Blood, an' Marsh men before all. They reckoned the
+signs sinnified trouble for the Marsh. Or that the sea 'ud rear up against
+Dymchurch Wall an' they'd be drownded like Old Winchelsea; or that the
+Plague was comin'. So they looked for the meanin' in the sea or in the
+clouds--far an' high up. They never thought to look near an' knee-high,
+where they could see naught.
+
+'Now there was a poor widow at Dymchurch under the Wall, which, lacking
+man or property, she had the more time for feeling; and she come to feel
+there was a Trouble outside her doorstep bigger an' heavier than aught
+she'd ever carried over it. She had two sons--one born blind, and t'other
+struck dumb through fallin' off the Wall when he was liddle. They was men
+grown, but not wage-earnin', an' she worked for 'em, keepin' bees and
+answerin' Questions.'
+
+'What sort of questions?' said Dan.
+
+'Like where lost things might be found, an' what to put about a crooked
+baby's neck, an' how to join parted sweethearts. She felt the Trouble on
+the Marsh same as eels feel thunder. She was a wise woman.'
+
+'My woman was won'erful weather-tender, too,' said Hobden. 'I've seen her
+brish sparks like off an anvil out of her hair in thunderstorms. But she
+never laid out to answer Questions.'
+
+'This woman was a Seeker like, an' Seekers they sometimes find. One night,
+while she lay abed, hot an' aching, there come a Dream an' tapped at her
+window, and "Widow Whitgift," it said, "Widow Whitgift!"
+
+'First, by the wings an' the whistling, she thought it was peewits, but
+last she arose an' dressed herself, an' opened her door to the Marsh, an'
+she felt the Trouble an' the Groaning all about her, strong as fever an'
+ague, an' she calls: "What is it? Oh, what is it?"
+
+'Then 'twas all like the frogs in the diks peeping: then 'twas all like
+the reeds in the diks clipclapping; an' then the great Tide-wave rummelled
+along the Wall, an' she couldn't hear proper.
+
+'Three times she called, an' three times the Tide-wave did her down. But
+she catched the quiet between, an' she cries out, "What is the Trouble on
+the Marsh that's been lying down with my heart an' arising with my body
+this month gone?" She felt a liddle hand lay hold on her gown-hem, an' she
+stooped to the pull o' that liddle hand.'
+
+Tom Shoesmith spread his huge fist before the fire and smiled at it.
+
+'"Will the sea drown the Marsh?" she says. She was a Marsh-woman first an'
+foremost.
+
+'"No," says the liddle voice. "Sleep sound for all o' that."
+
+'"Is the Plague comin' to the Marsh?" she says. Them was all the ills she
+knowed.
+
+'"No. Sleep sound for all o' that," says Robin.
+
+'She turned about, half mindful to go in, but the liddle voices grieved
+that shrill an' sorrowful she turns back, an' she cries: "If it is not a
+Trouble of Flesh an' Blood, what can I do?"
+
+'The Pharisees cried out upon her from all round to fetch them a boat to
+sail to France, an' come back no more.
+
+'"There's a boat on the Wall," she says, "but I can't push it down to the
+sea, nor sail it when 'tis there."
+
+'"Lend us your sons," says all the Pharisees. "Give 'em Leave an'
+Good-will to sail it for us, Mother--O Mother!"
+
+'"One's dumb, an' t'other's blind," she says. "But all the dearer me for
+that; and you'll lose them in the big sea." The voices justabout pierced
+through her. An' there was children's voices too. She stood out all she
+could, but she couldn't rightly stand against _that_. So she says: "If you
+can draw my sons for your job, I'll not hinder 'em. You can't ask no more
+of a Mother."
+
+'She saw them liddle green lights dance an' cross till she was dizzy; she
+heard them liddle feet patterin' by the thousand; she heard cruel
+Canterbury Bells ringing to Bulverhithe, an' she heard the great Tide-wave
+ranging along the Wall. That was while the Pharisees was workin' a Dream
+to wake her two sons asleep: an' while she bit on her fingers she saw them
+two she'd bore come out an' pass her with never a word. She followed 'em,
+cryin' pitiful, to the old boat on the Wall, an' that they took an' runned
+down to the Sea.
+
+'When they'd stepped mast an' sail the blind son speaks up: "Mother, we're
+waitin' your Leave an' Good-will to take Them over."'
+
+Tom Shoesmith threw back his head and half shut his eyes.
+
+'Eh, me!' he said. 'She was a fine, valiant woman, the Widow Whitgift. She
+stood twistin' the ends of her long hair over her fingers, an' she shook
+like a poplar, makin' up her mind. The Pharisees all about they hushed
+their children from cryin' an' they waited dumb-still. She was all their
+dependence. 'Thout her Leave an' Goodwill they could not pass; for she was
+the Mother. So she shook like a asp-tree makin' up her mind. 'Last she
+drives the word past her teeth, an' "Go!" she says. "Go with my Leave an'
+Goodwill."
+
+'Then I saw--then, they say, she had to brace back same as if she was
+wadin' in tide-water; for the Pharisees justabout flowed past her--down the
+beach to the boat, _I_ dunnamany of 'em--with their wives an' children an'
+valooables, all escapin' out of cruel Old England. Silver you could hear
+clinkin', an' liddle bundles hove down dunt on the bottom-boards, an'
+passels o' liddle swords an' shield's raklin', an' liddle fingers an' toes
+scratchin' on the boatside to board her when the two sons pushed her off.
+That boat she sunk lower an' lower, but all the Widow could see in it was
+her boys movin' hampered-like to get at the tackle. Up sail they did, an'
+away they went, deep as a Rye barge, away into the off-shore mistes, an'
+the Widow Whitgift she sat down and eased her grief till mornin' light.'
+
+'I never heard she was _all_ alone,' said Hobden.
+
+'I remember now. The one called Robin he stayed with her, they tell. She
+was all too grievious to listen to his promises.'
+
+'Ah! She should ha' made her bargain beforehand. I allus told my woman
+so!' Hobden cried.
+
+'No. She loaned her sons for a pure love-loan, bein' as she sensed the
+Trouble on the Marshes, an' was simple good-willing to ease it.' Tom
+laughed softly. 'She done that. Yes, she done that! From Hithe to
+Bulverthithe, fretty man an' petty maid, ailin' woman an' wailin' child,
+they took the advantage of the change in the thin airs just about _as_
+soon as the Pharisees flitted. Folks come out fresh an' shining all over
+the Marsh like snails after wet. An' that while the Widow Whitgift sat
+grievin' on the Wall. She might have beleft us--she might have trusted her
+sons would be sent back! She fussed, no bounds, when their boat come in
+after three days.'
+
+'And, of course, the sons were both quite cured?' said Una.
+
+'No-o. That would have been out o' Nature. She got 'em back _as_ she sent
+'em. The blind man he hadn't seen naught of anything, an' the dumb man
+nature-ally, he couldn't say aught of what he'd seen. I reckon that was
+why the Pharisees pitched on 'em for the ferrying job.'
+
+'But what did you--what did Robin promise the Widow?' said Dan.
+
+'What _did_ he promise, now?' Tom pretended to think. 'Wasn't your woman a
+Whitgift, Ralph? Didn't she say?'
+
+'She told me a passel o' no-sense stuff when he was born.' Hobden pointed
+at his son. 'There was always to be one of 'em that could see further into
+a millstone than most.'
+
+'Me! That's me!' said the Bee Boy so suddenly that they all laughed.
+
+'I've got it now!' cried Tom, slapping his knee. 'So long as Whitgift
+blood lasted, Robin promised there would allers be one o' her stock
+that--that no Trouble 'ud lie on, no Maid 'ud sigh on, no Night could
+frighten, no Fright could harm, no Harm could make sin, an' no Woman could
+make a fool.'
+
+'Well, ain't that just me?' said the Bee Boy, where he sat in the silver
+square of the great September moon that was staring into the oast-house
+door.
+
+'They was the exact words she told me when we first found he wasn't like
+others. But it beats me how you known 'em,' said Hobden.
+
+'Aha! There's more under my hat besides hair!' Tom laughed and stretched
+himself. 'When I've seen these two young folk home, we'll make a night of
+old days, Ralph, with passin' old tales--eh? An' where might you live?' he
+said, gravely, to Dan. 'An' do you think your Pa 'ud give me a drink for
+takin' you there, Missy?'
+
+They giggled so at this that they had to run out. Tom picked them both up,
+set one on each broad shoulder, and tramped across the ferny pasture where
+the cows puffed milky puffs at them in the moonlight.
+
+'Oh, Puck! Puck! I guessed you right from when you talked about the salt.
+How could you ever do it?' Una cried, swinging along delighted.
+
+'Do what?' he said, and climbed the stile by the pollard oak.
+
+'Pretend to be Tom Shoesmith,' said Dan, and they ducked to avoid the two
+little ashes that grow by the bridge over the brook. Tom was almost
+running.
+
+'Yes. That's my name, Mus' Dan,' he said, hurrying over the silent shining
+lawn, where a rabbit sat by the big white-thorn near the croquet ground.
+'Here you be.' He strode into the old kitchen yard, and slid them down as
+Ellen came to ask questions.
+
+'I'm helping in Mus' Spray's oast-house,' he said to her. 'No, I'm no
+foreigner. I knowed this country 'fore your Mother was born; an'--yes it's
+dry work oasting, Miss. Thank you.'
+
+Ellen went to get a jug, and the children went in--magicked once more by
+Oak, Ash, and Thorn!
+
+
+
+
+A THREE-PART SONG
+
+
+  _I'm just in love with all these three,_
+  _The Weald and the Marsh and the Down countrie;_
+  _Nor I don't know which I love the most,_
+  _The Weald or the Marsh or the white chalk coast!_
+
+  _I've buried my heart in a ferny hill,_
+  _Twix' a liddle low Shaw an' a great high Gill._
+  _Oh hop-vine yaller and woodsmoke blue,_
+  _I reckon you'll keep her middling true!_
+
+  _I've loosed my mind for to out and run,_
+  _On a Marsh that was old when Kings begun;_
+  _Oh Romney Level and Brenzett reeds,_
+  _I reckon you know what my mind needs!_
+
+  _I've given my soul to the Southdown grass,_
+  _And sheep-bells tinkled where you pass._
+  _Oh Firle an' Ditchling an' sails at sea,_
+  _I reckon you'll keep my soul or me!_
+
+
+
+
+
+THE TREASURE AND THE LAW
+
+
+
+
+SONG OF THE FIFTH RIVER
+
+
+  _When first by Eden Tree,_
+  _The Four Great Rivers ran,_
+  _To each was appointed a Man_
+  _Her Prince and Ruler to be._
+
+  _But after this was ordained,_
+  _(The ancient legends tell),_
+  _There came dark Israel,_
+  _For whom no River remained._
+
+  _Then He That is Wholly Just,_
+  _Said to him: 'Fling on the ground_
+  _A handful of yellow dust,_
+  _And a Fifth Great River shall run,_
+  _Mightier than these Four,_
+  _In secret the Earth around;_
+  _And Her secret evermore,_
+  _Shall be shown to thee and thy Race.'_
+
+  _So it was said and done._
+  _And, deep in the veins of Earth,_
+  _And, fed by a thousand springs_
+  _That comfort the market-place,_
+  _Or sap the power of Kings,_
+  _The Fifth Great River had birth,_
+  _Even as it was foretold--_
+  _The Secret River of Gold!_
+
+  _And Israel laid down_
+  _His sceptre and his crown,_
+  _To brood on that River bank,_
+  _Where the waters flashed and sank,_
+  _And burrowed in earth and fell,_
+  _And bided a season below;_
+  _For reason that none might know,_
+  _Save only Israel._
+
+  _He is Lord of the Last--_
+  _The Fifth, most wonderful, Flood._
+  _He hears her thunder past_
+  _And Her Song is in his blood._
+  _He can foresay: 'She will fall,'_
+  _For he knows which fountain dries,_
+  _Behind which desert belt_
+  _A thousand leagues to the South._
+  _He can foresay: 'She will rise.'_
+  _He knows what far snows melt;_
+  _Along what mountain wall_
+  _A thousand leagues to the North._
+  _He snuffs the coming drouth_
+  _As he snuffs the coming rain,_
+  _He knows what each will bring forth_
+  _And turns it to his gain._
+
+  _A Prince without a Sword,_
+  _A Ruler without a Throne;_
+  _Israel follows his quest:--_
+  _In every land a guest._
+  _Of many lands the lord._
+  _In no land King is he._
+  _But the Fifth Great River keeps_
+  _The secret of her deeps_
+  _For Israel alone,_
+  _As it was ordered to be._
+
+
+
+
+THE TREASURE AND THE LAW
+
+
+Now it was the third week in November, and the woods rang with the noise
+of pheasant-shooting. No one hunted that steep, cramped country except the
+village beagles, who, as often as not, escaped from their kennels and made
+a day of their own. Dan and Una found a couple of them towling round the
+kitchen-garden after the laundry cat. The little brutes were only too
+pleased to go rabbiting, so the children ran them all along the brook
+pastures and into Little Lindens farm-yard, where the old sow vanquished
+them--and up to the quarry-hole, where they started a fox. He headed for
+Far Wood, and there they frightened out all the pheasants who were
+sheltering from a big beat across the valley. Then the cruel guns began
+again, and they grabbed the beagles lest they should stray and get hurt.
+
+'I wouldn't be a pheasant--in November--for a lot,' Dan panted, as he caught
+_Folly_ by the neck. 'Why did you laugh that horrid way?'
+
+'I didn't,' said Una, sitting on _Flora_, the fat lady-dog. 'Oh, look! The
+silly birds are going back to their own woods instead of ours, where they
+would be safe.'
+
+'Safe till it pleased you to kill them.' An old man, so tall he was almost
+a giant, stepped from behind the clump of hollies by 'Volaterrae.' The
+children jumped, and the dogs dropped like setters. He wore a sweeping
+gown of dark thick stuff, lined and edged with yellowish fur, and he bowed
+a bent-down bow that made them feel both proud and ashamed. Then he looked
+at them steadily, and they stared back without doubt or fear.
+
+'You are not afraid?' he said, running his hands through his splendid grey
+beard. 'Not afraid that those men yonder'--he jerked his head towards the
+incessant pop-pop of the guns from the lower woods--'will do you hurt?'
+
+'We-ell'--Dan liked to be accurate, especially when he was shy--'old Hobd--a
+friend of mine told me that one of the beaters got peppered last week--hit
+in the leg, I mean. You see, Mr. Meyer _will_ fire at rabbits. But he gave
+Waxy Garnett a quid--sovereign, I mean--and Waxy told Hobden he'd have stood
+both barrels for half the money.'
+
+'He doesn't understand,' Una cried, watching the pale, troubled face. 'Oh,
+I wish----'
+
+She had scarcely said it when Puck rustled out of the hollies and spoke to
+the man quickly in foreign words. Puck wore a long cloak too--the afternoon
+was just frosting down--and it changed his appearance altogether.
+
+'Nay, nay!' he said at last. 'You did not understand the boy. A freeman
+was a little hurt, by pure mischance, at the hunting.'
+
+'I know that mischance! What did his Lord do? Laugh and ride over him?'
+the old man sneered.
+
+'It was one of your own people did the hurt, Kadmiel.' Puck's eyes
+twinkled maliciously. 'So he gave the freeman a piece of gold, and no more
+was said.'
+
+'A Jew drew blood from a Christian and no more was said?' Kadmiel cried.
+'Never! When did they torture him?'
+
+'No man may be bound, or fined, or slain till he has been judged by his
+peers,' Puck insisted. 'There is but one Law in Old England for Jew or
+Christian--the Law that was signed at Runnymede.'
+
+'Why, that's Magna Charta!' Dan whispered. It was one of the few history
+dates that he could remember. Kadmiel turned on him with a sweep and a
+whirr of his spicy-scented gown.
+
+'Dost _thou_ know of that, babe?' he cried, and lifted his hands in
+wonder.
+
+'Yes,' said Dan, firmly.
+
+  'Magna Charta was signed by John,
+  That Henry the Third put his heel upon.
+
+And old Hobden says that if it hadn't been for her (he calls everything
+"her," you know), the keepers would have him clapped in Lewes Gaol all the
+year round.'
+
+Again Puck translated to Kadmiel in the strange, solemn-sounding language,
+and at last Kadmiel laughed.
+
+'Out of the mouths of babes do we learn,' said he. 'But tell me now, and I
+will not call you a babe but a Rabbi, _why_ did the King sign the roll of
+the New Law at Runnymede? For he was a King.'
+
+Dan looked sideways at his sister. It was her turn.
+
+'Because he jolly well had to,' said Una, softly. 'The Barons made him.'
+
+'Nay,' Kadmiel answered, shaking his head. 'You Christians always forget
+that gold does more than the sword. Our good King signed because he could
+not borrow more money from us bad Jews.' He curved his shoulders as he
+spoke. 'A King without gold is a snake with a broken back, and'--his nose
+sneered up and his eyebrows frowned down--'it is a good deed to break a
+snake's back. That was _my_ work,' he cried, triumphantly, to Puck.
+'Spirit of Earth, bear witness that that was my work!' He shot up to his
+full towering height, and his words rang like a trumpet. He had a voice
+that changed its tone almost as an opal changes colour--sometimes deep and
+thundery, sometimes thin and waily, but always it made you listen.
+
+'Many people can bear witness to that,' Puck answered. 'Tell these babes
+how it was done. Remember, Master, they do not know Doubt or Fear.'
+
+'So I saw in their faces when we met,' said Kadmiel. 'Yet surely, surely
+they are taught to spit upon Jews?'
+
+'Are they?' said Dan, much interested. 'Where at?'
+
+Puck fell back a pace, laughing. 'Kadmiel is thinking of King John's
+reign,' he explained. 'His people were badly treated then.'
+
+'Oh, we know _that_,' they answered, and (it was very rude of them, but
+they could not help it) they stared straight at Kadmiel's mouth to see if
+his teeth were all there. It stuck in their lesson-memory that King John
+used to pull out Jews' teeth to make them lend him money.
+
+Kadmiel understood the look and smiled bitterly.
+
+'No. Your King never drew my teeth: I think, perhaps, I drew his. Listen!
+I was not born among Christians, but among Moors--in Spain--in a little
+white town under the mountains. Yes, the Moors are cruel, but at least
+their learned men dare to think. It was prophesied of me at my birth that
+I should be a Lawgiver to a People of a strange speech and a hard
+language. We Jews are always looking for the Prince and the Lawgiver to
+come. Why not? My people in the town (we were very few) set me apart as a
+child of the prophecy--the Chosen of the Chosen. We Jews dream so many
+dreams. You would never guess it to see us slink about the rubbish-heaps
+in our quarter; but at the day's end--doors shut, candles lit--aha! _then_
+we become the Chosen again.'
+
+He paced back and forth through the wood as he talked. The rattle of the
+shot-guns never ceased, and the dogs whimpered a little and lay flat on
+the leaves.
+
+'I was a Prince. Yes! Think of a little Prince who had never known rough
+words in his own house handed over to shouting, bearded Rabbis, who pulled
+his ears and filliped his nose, all that he might learn--learn--learn to be
+King when his time came. He! Such a little Prince it was! One eye he kept
+on the stone-throwing Moorish boys, and the other it roved about the
+streets looking for his Kingdom. Yes, and he learned to cry softly when he
+was hunted up and down those streets. He learned to do all things without
+noise. He played beneath his father's table when the Great Candle was lit,
+and he listened as children listen to the talk of his father's friends
+above the table. They came across the mountains, from out of all the
+world; for my Prince's father was their councillor. They came from behind
+the armies of Sala-ud-Din: from Rome: from Venice: from England. They
+stole down our alley, they tapped secretly at our door, they took off
+their rags, they arrayed themselves, and they talked to my father at the
+wine. All over the world the heathen fought each other. They brought news
+of these wars, and while he played beneath the table, my Prince heard
+these meanly-dressed ones decide between themselves how, and when, and for
+how long King should draw sword against King, and People rise up against
+People. Why not? There can be no war without gold, and we Jews know how
+the earth's gold moves with the seasons, and the crops, and the winds;
+circling and looping and rising and sinking away like a river--a wonderful
+underground river. How should the foolish Kings know _that_ while they
+fight and steal and kill?'
+
+The children's faces showed that they knew nothing at all as, with open
+eyes, they trotted and turned beside the long-striding old man. He
+twitched his gown over his shoulders, and a square plate of gold, studded
+with jewels, gleamed for an instant through the fur, like a star through
+flying snow.
+
+'No matter,' he said. 'But, credit me, my Prince saw peace or war decided
+not once, but many times, by the fall of a coin spun between a Jew from
+Bury and a Jewess from Alexandria, in his father's house, when the Great
+Candle was lit. Such power had we Jews among the Gentiles. Ah, my little
+Prince! Do you wonder that he learned quickly? Why not?' He muttered to
+himself and went on:--
+
+'My trade was that of a physician. When I had learned it in Spain I went
+to the East to find my Kingdom. Why not? A Jew is as free as a sparrow--or
+a dog. He goes where he is hunted. In the East I found libraries where men
+dared to think--schools of medicine where they dared to learn. I was
+diligent in my business. Therefore I stood before Kings. I have been a
+brother to Princes and a companion to beggars, and I have walked between
+the living and the dead. There was no profit in it. I did not find my
+Kingdom. So, in the tenth year of my travels, when I had reached the
+Uttermost Eastern Sea, I returned to my father's house. God had
+wonderfully preserved my people. None had been slain, none even wounded,
+and only a few scourged. I became once more a son in my father's house.
+Again the Great Candle was lit; again the meanly-apparelled ones tapped on
+our door after dusk; and again I heard them weigh out peace and war, as
+they weighed out the gold on the table. But I was not rich--not very rich.
+Therefore, when those that had power and knowledge and wealth talked
+together, I sat in the shadow. Why not?
+
+'Yet all my wanderings had shown me one sure thing, which is, that a King
+without money is like a spear without a head. He cannot do much harm. I
+said, therefore, to Elias of Bury, a great one among our people: "Why do
+our people lend any more to the Kings that oppress us?" "Because," said
+Elias, "if we refuse they stir up their people against us, and the People
+are tenfold more cruel than Kings. If thou doubtest, come with me to Bury
+in England and live as I live."
+
+'I saw my mother's face across the candle-flame, and I said, "I will come
+with thee to Bury. Maybe my Kingdom shall be there."
+
+'So I sailed with Elias to the darkness and the cruelty of Bury in
+England, where there are no learned men. How can a man be wise if he hate?
+At Bury I kept his accounts for Elias, and I saw men kill Jews there by
+the tower. No--none laid hands on Elias. He lent money to the King, and the
+King's favour was about him. A King will not take the life so long as
+there is any gold. This King--yes, John--oppressed his people bitterly
+because they would not give him money. Yet his land was a good land. If he
+had only given it rest he might have cropped it as a Christian crops his
+beard. But even _that_ little he did not know; for God had deprived him of
+all understanding, and had multiplied pestilence, and famine, and despair
+upon the people. Therefore his people turned against us Jews, who are all
+people's dogs. Why not? Lastly the Barons and the people rose together
+against the King because of his cruelties. Nay--nay--the Barons did not love
+the people, but they saw that if the King eat up and destroyed the common
+people, he would presently destroy the Barons. They joined then, as cats
+and pigs will join to slay a snake. I kept the accounts, and I watched all
+these things, for I remembered the Prophecy.
+
+'A great gathering of Barons (to most of whom we had lent money) came to
+Bury, and there, after much talk and a thousand runnings-about, they made
+a roll of the New Laws that they would force on the King. If he swore to
+keep those Laws, they would allow him a little money. That was the King's
+God--Money--to waste. They showed us the roll of the New Laws. Why not? We
+had lent them money. We knew all their counsels--we Jews shivering behind
+our doors in Bury.' He threw out his hands suddenly. 'We did not seek to
+be paid _all_ in money. We sought Power--Power--Power! That is _our_ God in
+our captivity. Power to use!
+
+'I said to Elias: "These New Laws are good. Lend no more money to the
+King: so long as he has money he will lie and slay the people."
+
+'"Nay," said Elias. "I know this people. They are madly cruel. Better one
+King than a thousand butchers. I have lent a little money to the Barons,
+or they would torture us, but my most I will lend to the King. He hath
+promised me a place near him at Court, where my wife and I shall be safe."
+
+'"But if the King be made to keep these New Laws," I said, "the land will
+have peace, and our trade will grow. If we lend he will fight again."
+
+'"Who made thee a Lawgiver in England?" said Elias. "I know this people.
+Let the dogs tear one another! I will lend the King ten thousand pieces of
+gold, and he can fight the Barons at his pleasure."
+
+'"There are not two thousand pieces of gold in all England this summer," I
+said, for I kept the accounts, and I knew how the earth's gold moved--that
+wonderful underground river! Elias barred home the windows, and, his hands
+about his mouth, he told me how, when he was trading with small wares in a
+French ship, he had come to the Castle of Pevensey.'
+
+'Oh!' said Dan. 'Pevensey again!' and looked at Una, who nodded and
+skipped.
+
+'There, after they had scattered his pack up and down the Great Hall, some
+young knights carried him to an upper room, and dropped him into a well in
+a wall, that rose and fell with the tide. They called him Joseph, and
+threw torches at his wet head. Why not?'
+
+'Why, of course,' cried Dan. 'Didn't you know it was----' Puck held up his
+hand to stop him, and Kadmiel, who never noticed, went on.
+
+'When the tide dropped he thought he stood on old armour, but feeling with
+his toes, he raked up bar on bar of soft gold. Some wicked treasure of the
+old days put away, and the secret cut off by the sword. I have heard the
+like before.'
+
+'So have we,' Una whispered. 'But it wasn't wicked a bit.'
+
+'Elias took a morsel of the stuff with him, and thrice yearly he would
+return to Pevensey as a chapman, selling at no price or profit, till they
+suffered him to sleep in the empty room, where he would plumb and grope,
+and steal away a few bars. The great store of it still remained, and by
+long brooding he had come to look on it as his own. Yet when we thought
+how we should lift and convey it, we saw no way. This was before the Word
+of the Lord had come to me. A walled fortress possessed by Normans; in the
+midst a forty-foot tide-well out of which to remove secretly many
+horse-loads of gold! Hopeless! So Elias wept. Adah, his wife, wept too.
+She had hoped to stand beside the Queen's Christian tiring-maids at Court,
+when the King should give them that place at Court which he had promised.
+Why not? She was born in England--an odious woman.
+
+'The present evil to us was that Elias, out of his strong folly, had, as
+it were, promised the King that he would arm him with more gold. Wherefore
+the King in his camp stopped his ears against the Barons and the people.
+Wherefore men died daily. Adah so desired her place at Court, she besought
+Elias to tell the King where the treasure lay, that the King might take it
+by force, and--they would trust in his gratitude. Why not? This Elias
+refused to do, for he looked on the gold as his own. They quarrelled, and
+they wept at the evening meal, and late in the night came one Langton--a
+priest, almost learned--to borrow more money for the Barons. Elias and Adah
+went to their chamber.'
+
+Kadmiel laughed scornfully in his beard. The shots across the valley
+stopped as the shooting-party changed their ground for the last beat.
+
+'So it was I, not Elias,' he went on, quietly, 'that made terms with
+Langton touching the fortieth of the New Laws.'
+
+'What terms?' said Puck, quickly. 'The Fortieth of the Great Charter say:
+"To none will we sell, refuse, or deny right or justice."'
+
+'True, but the Barons had written first: _To no free man._ It cost me two
+hundred broad pieces of gold to change those narrow words. Langton, the
+priest, understood. "Jew though thou art," said he, "the change is just,
+and if ever Christian and Jew come to be equal in England thy people may
+thank thee." Then he went out stealthily, as men do who deal with Israel
+by night. I think he spent my gift upon his altar. Why not? I have spoken
+with Langton. He was such a man as I might have been if--if we Jews had
+been a people. But yet, in many things, a child.
+
+'I heard Elias and Adah abovestairs quarrel, and, knowing the woman was
+the stronger, I saw that Elias would tell the King of the gold and that
+the King would continue in his stubbornness. Therefore I saw that the gold
+must be put away from the reach of any man. Of a sudden, the Word of the
+Lord came to me saying, "The Morning is come, O thou that dwellest in the
+land."'
+
+Kadmiel halted, all black against the pale green sky beyond the wood--a
+huge robed figure, like the Moses in the picture-Bible.
+
+'I rose. I went out, and as I shut the door on that House of Foolishness,
+the woman looked from the window and whispered, "I have prevailed on my
+husband to tell the King!" I answered, "There is no need. The Lord is with
+me."
+
+'In that hour the Lord gave me full understanding of all that I must do;
+and His Hand covered me in my ways. First I went to London, to a physician
+of our people, who sold me certain drugs that I needed. You shall see why.
+Thence I went swiftly to Pevensey. Men fought all around me, for there
+were neither rulers nor judges in the abominable land. Yet when I walked
+by them they cried out that I was one Ahasuerus, a Jew, condemned, as they
+believe, to live for ever, and they fled from me everyways. Thus the Lord
+saved me for my work, and at Pevensey I bought me a little boat and moored
+it on the mud beneath the Marsh-gate of the Castle. That also God showed
+me.'
+
+He was as calm as though he were speaking of some stranger, and his voice
+filled the little bare wood with rolling music.
+
+'I cast'--his hand went to his breast, and again the strange jewel
+gleamed--'I cast the drugs which I had prepared into the common well of the
+Castle. Nay, I did no harm. The more we physicians know, the less do we
+do. Only the fool says: "I dare." I caused a blotched and itching rash to
+break out upon their skins, but I knew it would fade in fifteen days. I
+did not stretch out my hand against their life. They in the Castle thought
+it was the Plague, and they ran forth, taking with them their very dogs.
+
+'A Christian physician, seeing that I was a Jew and a stranger, vowed that
+I had brought the sickness from London. This is the one time I have ever
+heard a Christian leech speak truth of any disease. Thereupon the people
+beat me, but a merciful woman said: "Do not kill him now. Push him into
+our Castle with his plague, and if, as he says, it will abate on the
+fifteenth day, we can kill him then." Why not? They drove me across the
+drawbridge of the Castle, and fled back to their booths. Thus I came to be
+alone with the treasure.'
+
+'But did you know this was all going to happen just right?' said Una.
+
+'My Prophecy was that I should be a Lawgiver to a People of a strange land
+and a hard speech. I knew I should not die. I washed my cuts. I found the
+tide-well in the wall, and from Sabbath to Sabbath I dove and dug there in
+that empty, Christian-smelling fortress. He! I spoiled the Egyptians! He!
+If they had only known! I drew up many good loads of gold, which I loaded
+by night into my boat. There had been gold-dust too, but that had been
+washed away by the tides.'
+
+'Didn't you ever wonder who had put it there?' said Dan, stealing a glance
+at Puck's calm, dark face under the hood of his gown. Puck shook his head
+and pursed his lips.
+
+'Often; for the gold was new to me,' Kadmiel replied. 'I know the Golds. I
+can judge them in the dark; but this was heavier and redder than any we
+deal in. Perhaps it was the very gold of Parvaim. Eh, why not? It went to
+my heart to heave it on to the mud, but I saw well that if the evil thing
+remained, or if even the hope of finding it remained, the King would not
+sign the New Laws, and the land would perish.'
+
+'Oh, Marvel!' said Puck, beneath his breath, rustling in the dead leaves.
+
+'When the boat was loaded I washed my hands seven times, and pared beneath
+my nails, for I would not keep one grain. I went out by the little gate
+where the Castle's refuse is thrown. I dared not hoist sail lest men
+should see me; but the Lord commanded the tide to bear me carefully, and I
+was far from land before the morning.'
+
+'Weren't you afraid?' said Una.
+
+'Why? There were no Christians in the boat. At sunrise I made my prayer,
+and cast the gold--all--all that gold into the deep sea! A King's ransom--no,
+the ransom of a People! When I had loosed hold of the last bars, the Lord
+commanded the tide to return me to a haven at the mouth of a river, and
+thence I walked across a wilderness to Lewes, where I have brethren. They
+opened the door to me, and they say--I had not eaten for two days--they say
+that I fell across the threshold, crying, "I have sunk an army with
+horsemen in the sea!"'
+
+'But you hadn't,' said Una. 'Oh, yes! I see! You meant that King John
+might have spent it on that?'
+
+'Even so,' said Kadmiel.
+
+The firing broke out again close behind them. The pheasants poured over
+the top of a belt of tall firs. They could see young Mr. Meyer, in his new
+yellow gaiters, very busy and excited at the end of the line, and they
+could hear the thud of the falling birds.
+
+'But what did Elias of Bury do?' Puck demanded. 'He had promised money to
+the King.'
+
+Kadmiel smiled grimly. 'I sent him word from London that the Lord was on
+my side. When he heard that the Plague had broken out in Pevensey, and
+that a Jew had been thrust into the Castle to cure it, he understood my
+word was true. He and Adah hurried to Lewes and asked me for an
+accounting. He still looked on the gold as his own. I told them where I
+had laid it, and I gave them full leave to pick it up.... Eh, well! The
+curses of a fool and the dust of a journey are two things no wise man can
+escape.... But I pitied Elias! The King was wroth at him because he could
+not lend; the Barons were wroth at him because they heard that he would
+have lent to the King; and Adah was wroth at him because she was an odious
+woman. They took ship from Lewes to Spain. That was wise!'
+
+'And you? Did you see the signing of the Law at Runnymede?' said Puck, as
+Kadmiel laughed noiselessly.
+
+'Nay. Who am I to meddle with things too high for me? I returned to Bury,
+and lent money on the autumn crops. Why not?'
+
+There was a crackle overhead. A cock-pheasant that had sheered aside after
+being hit spattered down almost on top of them, driving up the dry leaves
+like a shell. _Flora_ and _Folly_ threw themselves at it; the children
+rushed forward, and when they had beaten them off and smoothed down the
+plumage Kadmiel had disappeared.
+
+'Well,' said Puck, calmly, 'what did you think of it? Weland gave the
+Sword. The Sword gave the Treasure, and the Treasure gave the Law. It's as
+natural as an oak growing.'
+
+'I don't understand. Didn't he know it was Sir Richard's old treasure?'
+said Dan. 'And why did Sir Richard and Brother Hugh leave it lying about?
+And--and----'
+
+'Never mind,' said Una, politely. 'He'll let us come and go, and look, and
+know another time. Won't you, Puck?'
+
+'Another time maybe,' Puck answered. 'Brr! It's cold--and late. I'll race
+you towards home!'
+
+They hurried down into the sheltered valley. The sun had almost sunk
+behind Cherry Clack, the trodden ground by the cattle-gates was freezing
+at the edges, and the new-waked north wind blew the night on them from
+over the hills. They picked up their feet and flew across the browned
+pastures, and when they halted, panting in the steam of their own breath,
+the dead leaves whirled up behind them. There was Oak and Ash and Thorn
+enough in that year-end shower to magic away a thousand memories.
+
+So they trotted to the brook at the bottom of the lawn, wondering why
+_Flora_ and _Folly_ had missed the quarry-hole fox.
+
+Old Hobden was just finishing some hedge-work. They saw his white smock
+glimmer in the twilight where he faggoted the rubbish.
+
+'Winter, he's come, I rackon, Mus' Dan,' he called. 'Hard times now till
+Heffle Cuckoo Fair. Yes, we'll all be glad to see the Old Woman let the
+Cuckoo out o' the basket for to start lawful Spring in England.' They
+heard a crash, and a stamp and a splash of water as though a heavy old cow
+were crossing almost under their noses.
+
+Hobden ran forward angrily to the ford.
+
+'Gleason's bull again, playin' Robin all over the Farm! Oh, look, Mus'
+Dan--his great footmark as big as a trencher. No bounds to his impidence!
+He might count himself to be a man--or Somebody.'
+
+A voice the other side of the brook boomed:
+
+  'I marvel who his cloak would turn
+  When Puck had led him round
+  Or where those walking fires would burn----'
+
+Then the children went in singing "Farewell Rewards and Fairies" at the
+tops of their voices. They had forgotten that they had not even said
+good-night to Puck.
+
+
+
+
+THE CHILDREN'S SONG
+
+
+  _Land of our Birth, we pledge to thee_
+  _Our love and toil in the years to be,_
+  _When we are grown and take our place,_
+  _As men and women with our race._
+
+  Father in Heaven who lovest all,
+  Oh help Thy children when they call;
+  That they may build from age to age,
+  An undefiled heritage!
+
+  Teach us to bear the yoke in youth,
+  With steadfastness and careful truth;
+  That, in our time, Thy Grace may give
+  The Truth whereby the Nations live.
+
+  Teach us to rule ourselves alway,
+  Controlled and cleanly night and day;
+  That we may bring, if need arise,
+  No maimed or worthless sacrifice.
+
+  Teach us to look in all our ends,
+  On Thee for judge, and not our friends;
+  That we, with Thee, may walk uncowed
+  By fear or favour of the crowd.
+
+  Teach us the Strength that cannot seek,
+  By deed or thought, to hurt the weak;
+  That, under Thee, we may possess
+  Man's strength to comfort man's distress.
+
+  Teach us Delight in simple things,
+  And Mirth that has no bitter springs;
+  Forgiveness free of evil done,
+  And Love to all men 'neath the sun!
+
+  _Land of our Birth, our Faith our Pride,_
+  _For whose dear sake our fathers died;_
+  _O Motherland, we pledge to thee,_
+  _Head, heart, and hand through the years to be!_
+
+
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTE
+
+
+    1 Copyright, 1905, by Rudyard Kipling.
+
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
+
+
+The following typographical errors were corrected:
+
+      page 7, "Pyramis" changed to "Pyramus"
+      page 9, quotes added before "couldn't" and "I"
+      page 13, "draggons" changed to "dragons"
+      page 27, quote added before "Late"
+      page 43, "summons" changed to "summon"
+      page 51, "we" added before "do"
+      page 62, double quote changed to single quote after "pirate-folk?"
+      page 64, semicolon added after "Yes"
+      page 68, double "said" removed, single quote changed to double quote
+      after "kill!"
+      page 69, comma added after "Kitai"
+      page 76, double "where" removed
+      page 85, quote added after "gold!"
+      page 97, quote removed after "Aquila."
+      page 99, "shouder" changed to "shoulder", single quote changed to
+      double quote after "Look!"
+      page 102, "learned" changed to "leaned"
+      page 103, "a" added between "is" and "good"
+      page 108, quote removed before "At"
+      page 110, single quote changed to double quote before "But"
+      page 127, quote added after "catapult,", quote removed after "Una.",
+      "quicky" changed to "quickly"
+      page 128, comma removed after "bigger"
+      page 135, "hmself" changed to "himself"
+      page 137, "did'nt" changed to "didn't"
+      page 141, quote added before "But"
+      page 142, single quote changed to double quote after "reason,"
+      page 143, "Cylops" changed to "Cyclops"
+      page 152, "Caesar" changed to "Caesar"
+      page 153, comma added after "children,"
+      page 156, quote added after "make."
+      page 160, comma added after "No", period added after "up"
+      page 166, quote added after "thoughts."
+      page 170, double quote changed to single quote before "Sorry"
+      page 184, single quote changed to double quote after "Man."
+      page 188, single quote changed to double quote after "him,",
+      "to-day?" and "finished!"
+      page 193, quote added after "letter."
+      page 205, parenthesis added after "complain"
+      page 214, period added after "lime."
+      page 218, "sepentines" changed to "serpentines"
+      page 224, quote added after "voice."
+      page 235, apostroph moved after "conjurin'."
+      page 237, quote added before "Dymchurch"
+      page 239, apostroph and comma changed after "nothin',"
+      page 240, "shouder" changed to "shoulder"
+      page 241, apostroph and periodchanged after "bein'."
+      page 244, apostroph added after "an"
+      page 248, comma removed after "Robin"
+      page 260, "asid" changed to "said"
+      page 269, "stubborness" changed to "stubbornness"
+      page 275, quote added before "I", "burne" changed to "burn"
+
+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUCK OF POOK'S HILL***
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