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diff --git a/4282.txt b/4282.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..11bb57a --- /dev/null +++ b/4282.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7980 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Don Rodriguez, by +Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Baron, Dunsany + +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 www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Don Rodriguez + Chronicles of Shadow Valley + +Author: Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Baron, Dunsany + +Posting Date: July 23, 2009 [EBook #4282] +Release Date: July, 2003 +First Posted: December 30, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DON RODRIGUEZ *** + + + + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + + +DON RODRIGUEZ + +CHRONICLES OF SHADOW VALLEY + + +By + +LORD DUNSANY + + + +To WILLIAM BEEBE + + + + + +CHRONOLOGY + +After long and patient research I am still unable to give to the reader +of these Chronicles the exact date of the times that they tell of. Were +it merely a matter of history there could be no doubts about the +period; but where magic is concerned, to however slight an extent, +there must always be some element of mystery, arising partly out of +ignorance and partly from the compulsion of those oaths by which magic +protects its precincts from the tiptoe of curiosity. + +Moreover, magic, even in small quantities, appears to affect time, much +as acids affect some metals, curiously changing its substance, until +dates seem to melt into a mercurial form that renders them elusive even +to the eye of the most watchful historian. + +It is the magic appearing in Chronicles III and IV that has gravely +affected the date, so that all I can tell the reader with certainty of +the period is that it fell in the later years of the Golden Age in +Spain. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +THE FIRST CHRONICLE + HOW HE MET AND SAID FAREWELL TO MINE HOST OF THE DRAGON AND KNIGHT + +THE SECOND CHRONICLE + HOW HE HIRED A MEMORABLE SERVANT + +THE THIRD CHRONICLE + HOW HE CAME TO THE HOUSE OF WONDER + +THE FOURTH CHRONICLE + HOW HE CAME TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE SUN + +THE FIFTH CHRONICLE + HOW HE RODE IN THE TWILIGHT AND SAW SERAFINA + +THE SIXTH CHRONICLE + HOW HE SANG TO HIS MANDOLIN AND WHAT CAME OF HIS SINGING + +THE SEVENTH CHRONICLE + HOW HE CAME TO SHADOW VALLEY + +THE EIGHTH CHRONICLE + HOW HE TRAVELLED FAR + +THE NINTH CHRONICLE + HOW HE WON A CASTLE IN SPAIN + +THE TENTH CHRONICLE + HOW HE CAME BACK TO LOWLIGHT + +THE ELEVENTH CHRONICLE + HOW HE TURNED TO GARDENING AND HIS SWORD RESTED + +THE TWELFTH CHRONICLE + THE BUILDING OF CASTLE RODRIGUEZ AND THE ENDING OF THESE CHRONICLES + + + + + +DON RODRIGUEZ + + + + + +THE FIRST CHRONICLE + +HOW HE MET AND SAID FAREWELL TO MINE HOST OF THE DRAGON AND KNIGHT + + +Being convinced that his end was nearly come, and having lived long on +earth (and all those years in Spain, in the golden time), the Lord of +the Valleys of Arguento Harez, whose heights see not Valladolid, called +for his eldest son. And so he addressed him when he was come to his +chamber, dim with its strange red hangings and august with the +splendour of Spain: "O eldest son of mine, your younger brother being +dull and clever, on whom those traits that women love have not been +bestowed by God; and know my eldest son that here on earth, and for +ought I know Hereafter, but certainly here on earth, these women be the +arbiters of all things; and how this be so God knoweth only, for they +are vain and variable, yet it is surely so: your younger brother then +not having been given those ways that women prize, and God knows why +they prize them for they are vain ways that I have in my mind and that +won me the Valleys of Arguento Harez, from whose heights Angelico swore +he saw Valladolid once, and that won me moreover also ... but that is +long ago and is all gone now ... ah well, well ... what was I saying?" +And being reminded of his discourse, the old lord continued, saying, +"For himself he will win nothing, and therefore I will leave him these +my valleys, for not unlikely it was for some sin of mine that his +spirit was visited with dullness, as Holy Writ sets forth, the sins of +the fathers being visited on the children; and thus I make him amends. +But to you I leave my long, most flexible, ancient Castilian blade, +which infidels dreaded if old songs be true. Merry and lithe it is, and +its true temper singeth when it meets another blade as two friends sing +when met after many years. It is most subtle, nimble and exultant; and +what it will not win for you in the wars, that shall be won for you by +your mandolin, for you have a way with it that goes well with the old +airs of Spain. And choose, my son, rather a moonlight night when you +sing under those curved balconies that I knew, ah me, so well; for +there is much advantage in the moon. In the first place maidens see in +the light of the moon, especially in the Spring, more romance than you +might credit, for it adds for them a mystery to the darkness which the +night has not when it is merely black. And if any statue should gleam +on the grass near by, or if the magnolia be in blossom, or even the +nightingale singing, or if anything be beautiful in the night, in any +of these things also there is advantage; for a maiden will attribute to +her lover all manner of things that are not his at all, but are only +outpourings from the hand of God. There is this advantage also in the +moon, that, if interrupters come, the moonlight is better suited to the +play of a blade than the mere darkness of night; indeed but the merry +play of my sword in the moonlight was often a joy to see, it so +flashed, so danced, so sparkled. In the moonlight also one makes no +unworthy stroke, but hath scope for those fair passes that Sevastiani +taught, which were long ago the wonder of Madrid." + +The old lord paused, and breathed for a little space, as it were +gathering breath for his last words to his son. He breathed +deliberately, then spoke again. "I leave you," he said, "well content +that you have the two accomplishments, my son, that are most needful in +a Christian man, skill with the sword and a way with the mandolin. +There be other arts indeed among the heathen, for the world is wide and +hath full many customs, but these two alone are needful." And then with +that grand manner that they had at that time in Spain, although his +strength was failing, he gave to his eldest son his Castilian sword. He +lay back then in the huge, carved, canopied bed; his eyes closed, the +red silk curtains rustled, and there was no sound of his breathing. But +the old lord's spirit, whatever journey it purposed, lingered yet in +its ancient habitation, and his voice came again, but feebly now and +rambling; he muttered awhile of gardens, such gardens no doubt as the +hidalgos guarded in that fertile region of sunshine in the proudest +period of Spain; he would have known no others. So for awhile his +memory seemed to stray, half blind among those perfumed earthly +wonders; perhaps among these memories his spirit halted, and tarried +those last few moments, mistaking those Spanish gardens, remembered by +moonlight in Spring, for the other end of his journey, the glades of +Paradise. However it be, it tarried. These rambling memories ceased and +silence fell again, with scarcely the sound of breathing. Then +gathering up his strength for the last time and looking at his son, +"The sword to the wars," he said. "The mandolin to the balconies." With +that he fell back dead. + +Now there were no wars at that time so far as was known in Spain, but +that old lord's eldest son, regarding those last words of his father as +a commandment, determined then and there in that dim, vast chamber to +gird his legacy to him and seek for the wars, wherever the wars might +be, so soon as the obsequies of the sepulture were ended. And of those +obsequies I tell not here, for they are fully told in the Black Books +of Spain, and the deeds of that old lord's youth are told in the Golden +Stories. The Book of Maidens mentions him, and again we read of him in +Gardens of Spain. I take my leave of him, happy, I trust, in Paradise, +for he had himself the accomplishments that he held needful in a +Christian, skill with the sword and a way with the mandolin; and if +there be some harder, better way to salvation than to follow that which +we believe to be good, then are we all damned. So he was buried, and +his eldest son fared forth with his legacy dangling from his girdle in +its long, straight, lovely scabbard, blue velvet, with emeralds on it, +fared forth on foot along a road of Spain. And though the road turned +left and right and sometimes nearly ceased, as though to let the small +wild flowers grow, out of sheer good will such as some roads never +have; though it ran west and east and sometimes south, yet in the main +it ran northward, though wandered is a better word than ran, and the +Lord of the Valleys of Arguento Harez who owned no valleys, or anything +but a sword, kept company with it looking for the wars. Upon his back +he had slung his mandolin. Now the time of the year was Spring, not +Spring as we know it in England, for it was but early March, but it was +the time when Spring coming up out of Africa, or unknown lands to the +south, first touches Spain, and multitudes of anemones come forth at +her feet. + +Thence she comes north to our islands, no less wonderful in our woods +than in Andalusian valleys, fresh as a new song, fabulous as a rune, +but a little pale through travel, so that our flowers do not quite +flare forth with all the myriad blaze of the flowers of Spain. + +And all the way as he went the young man looked at the flame of those +southern flowers, flashing on either side of him all the way, as though +the rainbow had been broken in Heaven and its fragments fallen on +Spain. All the way as he went he gazed at those flowers, the first +anemones of the year; and long after, whenever he sang to old airs of +Spain, he thought of Spain as it appeared that day in all the wonder of +Spring; the memory lent a beauty to his voice and a wistfulness to his +eyes that accorded not ill with the theme of the songs he sang, and +were more than once to melt proud hearts deemed cold. And so gazing he +came to a town that stood on a hill, before he was yet tired, though he +had done nigh twenty of those flowery miles of Spain; and since it was +evening and the light was fading away, he went to an inn and drew his +sword in the twilight and knocked with the hilt of it on the oaken +door. The name of it was the Inn of the Dragon and Knight. A light was +lit in one of the upper windows, the darkness seemed to deepen at that +moment, a step was heard coming heavily down a stairway; and having +named the inn to you, gentle reader, it is time for me to name the +young man also, the landless lord of the Valleys of Arguento Harez, as +the step comes slowly down the inner stairway, as the gloaming darkens +over the first house in which he has ever sought shelter so far from +his father's valleys, as he stands upon the threshold of romance. He +was named Rodriguez Trinidad Fernandez, Concepcion Henrique Maria; but +we shall briefly name him Rodriguez in this story; you and I, reader, +will know whom we mean; there is no need therefore to give him his full +names, unless I do it here and there to remind you. + +The steps came thumping on down the inner stairway, different windows +took the light of the candle, and none other shone in the house; it was +clear that it was moving with the steps all down that echoing stairway. +The sound of the steps ceased to reverberate upon the wood, and now +they slowly moved over stone flags; Rodriguez now heard breathing, one +breath with every step, and at length the sound of bolts and chains +undone and the breathing now very close. The door was opened swiftly; a +man with mean eyes, and expression devoted to evil, stood watching him +for an instant; then the door slammed to again, the bolts were heard +going back again to their places, the steps and the breathing moved +away over the stone floor, and the inner stairway began again to echo. + +"If the wars are here," said Rodriguez to himself and his sword, "good, +and I sleep under the stars." And he listened in the street for the +sound of war and, hearing none, continued his discourse. "But if I have +not come as yet to the wars I sleep beneath a roof." + +For the second time therefore he drew his sword, and began to strike +methodically at the door, noting the grain in the wood and hitting +where it was softest. Scarcely had he got a good strip of the oak to +look like coming away, when the steps once more descended the wooden +stair and came lumbering over the stones; both the steps and the +breathing were quicker, for mine host of the Dragon and Knight was +hurrying to save his door. + +When he heard the sound of the bolts and chains again Rodriguez ceased +to beat upon the door: once more it opened swiftly, and he saw mine +host before him, eyeing him with those bad eyes; of too much girth, you +might have said, to be nimble, yet somehow suggesting to the swift +intuition of youth, as Rodriguez looked at him standing upon his +door-step, the spirit and shape of a spider, who despite her ungainly +build is agile enough in her way. + +Mine host said nothing; and Rodriguez, who seldom concerned himself +with the past, holding that the future is all we can order the scheme +of (and maybe even here he was wrong), made no mention of bolts or door +and merely demanded a bed for himself for the night. + +Mine host rubbed his chin; he had neither beard nor moustache but wore +hideous whiskers; he rubbed it thoughtfully and looked at Rodriguez. +Yes, he said, he could have a bed for the night. No more words he said, +but turned and led the way; while Rodriguez, who could sing to the +mandolin, wasted none of his words on this discourteous object. They +ascended the short oak stairway down which mine host had come, the +great timbers of which were gnawed by a myriad rats, and they went by +passages with the light of one candle into the interior of the inn, +which went back farther from the street than the young man had +supposed; indeed he perceived when they came to the great corridor at +the end of which was his appointed chamber, that here was no ordinary +inn, as it had appeared from outside, but that it penetrated into the +fastness of some great family of former times which had fallen on evil +days. The vast size of it, the noble design where the rats had spared +the carving, what the moths had left of the tapestries, all testified +to that; and, as for the evil days, they hung about the place, evident +even by the light of one candle guttering with every draught that blew +from the haunts of the rats, an inseparable heirloom for all who +disturbed those corridors. + +And so they came to the chamber. + +Mine host entered, bowed without grace in the doorway, and extended his +left hand, pointing into the room. The draughts that blew from the +rat-holes in the wainscot, or the mere action of entering, beat down +the flame of the squat, guttering candle so that the chamber remained +dim for a moment, in spite of the candle, as would naturally be the +case. Yet the impression made upon Rodriguez was as of some old +darkness that had been long undisturbed and that yielded reluctantly to +that candle's intrusion, a darkness that properly became the place and +was a part of it and had long been so, in the face of which the candle +appeared an ephemeral thing devoid of grace or dignity or tradition. +And indeed there was room for darkness in that chamber, for the walls +went up and up into such an altitude that you could scarcely see the +ceiling, at which mine host's eyes glanced, and Rodriguez followed his +look. + +He accepted his accommodation with a nod; as indeed he would have +accepted any room in that inn, for the young are swift judges of +character, and one who had accepted such a host was unlikely to find +fault with rats or the profusion of giant cobwebs, dark with the dust +of years, that added so much to the dimness of that sinister inn. They +turned now and went back, in the wake of that guttering candle, till +they came again to the humbler part of the building. Here mine host, +pushing open a door of blackened oak, indicated his dining-chamber. +There a long table stood, and on it parts of the head and hams of a +boar; and at the far end of the table a plump and sturdy man was seated +in shirt-sleeves feasting himself on the boar's meat. He leaped up at +once from his chair as soon as his master entered, for he was the +servant at the Dragon and Knight; mine host may have said much to him +with a flash of his eyes, but he said no more with his tongue than the +one word, "Dog": he then bowed himself out, leaving Rodriguez to take +the only chair and to be waited upon by its recent possessor. The +boar's meat was cold and gnarled, another piece of meat stood on a +plate on a shelf and a loaf of bread near by, but the rats had had most +of the bread: Rodriguez demanded what the meat was. "Unicorn's tongue," +said the servant, and Rodriguez bade him set the dish before him, and +he set to well content, though I fear the unicorn's tongue was only +horse: it was a credulous age, as all ages are. At the same time he +pointed to a three-legged stool that he perceived in a corner of the +room, then to the table, then to the boar's meat, and lastly at the +servant, who perceived that he was permitted to return to his feast, to +which he ran with alacrity. "Your name?" said Rodriguez as soon as both +were eating. "Morano," replied the servant, though it must not be +supposed that when answering Rodriguez he spoke as curtly as this; I +merely give the reader the gist of his answer, for he added Spanish +words that correspond in our depraved and decadent language of to-day +to such words as "top dog," "nut" and "boss," so that his speech had a +certain grace about it in that far-away time in Spain. + +I have said that Rodriguez seldom concerned himself with the past, but +considered chiefly the future: it was of the future that he was +thinking now as he asked Morano this question: + +"Why did my worthy and entirely excellent host shut his door in my +face?" + +"Did he so?" said Morano. + +"He then bolted it and found it necessary to put the chains back, +doubtless for some good reason." + +"Yes," said Morano thoughtfully, and looking at Rodriguez, "and so he +might. He must have liked you." + +Verily Rodriguez was just the young man to send out with a sword and a +mandolin into the wide world, for he had much shrewd sense. He never +pressed a point, but when something had been said that might mean much +he preferred to store it, as it were, in his mind and pass on to other +things, somewhat as one might kill game and pass on and kill more and +bring it all home, while a savage would cook the first kill where it +fell and eat it on the spot. Pardon me, reader, but at Morano's remark +you may perhaps have exclaimed, "That is not the way to treat one you +like." Not so did Rodriguez. His attention passed on to notice Morano's +rings which he wore in great profusion upon his little fingers; they +were gold and of exquisite work and had once held precious stones, as +large gaps testified; in these days they would have been priceless, but +in an age when workers only worked at arts that they understood, and +then worked for the joy of it, before the word artistic became +ridiculous, exquisite work went without saying; and as the rings were +slender they were of little value. Rodriguez made no comment upon the +rings; it was enough for him to have noticed them. He merely noted that +they were not ladies' rings, for no lady's ring would have fitted on to +any one of those fingers: the rings therefore of gallants: and not +given to Morano by their owners, for whoever wore precious stone needed +a ring to wear it in, and rings did not wear out like hose, which a +gallant might give to a servant. Nor, thought he, had Morano stolen +them, for whoever stole them would keep them whole, or part with them +whole and get a better price. Besides Morano had an honest face, or a +face at least that seemed honest in such an inn: and while these +thoughts were passing through his mind Morano spoke again: "Good hams," +said Morano. He had already eaten one and was starting upon the next. +Perhaps he spoke out of gratitude for the honour and physical advantage +of being permitted to sit there and eat those hams, perhaps +tentatively, to find out whether he might consume the second, perhaps +merely to start a conversation, being attracted by the honest looks of +Rodriguez. + +"You are hungry," said Rodriguez. + +"Praise God I am always hungry," answered Morano. "If I were not hungry +I should starve." + +"Is it so?" said Rodriguez. + +"You see," said Morano, "the manner of it is this: my master gives me +no food, and it is only when I am hungry that I dare to rob him by +breaking in, as you saw me, upon his viands; were I not hungry I should +not dare to do so, and so ..." He made a sad and expressive movement +with both his hands suggestive of autumn leaves blown hence to die. + +"He gives you no food?" said Rodriguez. + +"It is the way of many men with their dog," said Morano. "They give him +no food," and then he rubbed his hands cheerfully, "and yet the dog +does not die." + +"And he gives you no wages?" said Rodriguez. + +"Just these rings." + +Now Rodriguez had himself a ring upon his finger (as a gallant should), +a slender piece of gold with four tiny angels holding a sapphire, and +for a moment he pictured the sapphire passing into the hands of mine +host and the ring of gold and the four small angels being flung to +Morano; the thought darkened his gaiety for no longer than one of those +fleecy clouds in Spring shadows the fields of Spain. + +Morano was also looking at the ring; he had followed the young man's +glance. + +"Master," he said, "do you draw your sword of a night?" + +"And you?" said Rodriguez. + +"I have no sword," said Morano. "I am but as dog's meat that needs no +guarding, but you whose meat is rare like the flesh of the unicorn need +a sword to guard your meat. The unicorn has his horn always, and even +then he sometimes sleeps." + +"It is bad, you think, to sleep," Rodriguez said. + +"For some it is very bad, master. They say they never take the unicorn +waking. For me I am but dog's meat: when I have eaten hams I curl up +and sleep; but then you see, master, I know I shall wake in the +morning." + +"Ah," said Rodriguez, "the morning's a pleasant time," and he leaned +back comfortably in his chair. Morano took one shrewd look at him, and +was soon asleep upon his three-legged stool. + +The door opened after a while and mine host appeared. "It is late," he +said. Rodriguez smiled acquiescently and mine host withdrew, and +presently leaving Morano whom his master's voice had waked, to curl up +on the floor in a corner, Rodriguez took the candle that lit the room +and passed once more through the passages of the inn and down the great +corridor of the fastness of the family that had fallen on evil days, +and so came to his chamber. I will not waste a multitude of words over +that chamber; if you have no picture of it in your mind already, my +reader, you are reading an unskilled writer, and if in that picture it +appear a wholesome room, tidy and well kept up, if it appear a place in +which a stranger might sleep without some faint foreboding of disaster, +then I am wasting your time, and will waste no more of it with bits of +"descriptive writing" about that dim, high room, whose blackness +towered before Rodriguez in the night. He entered and shut the door, as +many had done before him; but for all his youth he took some wiser +precautions than had they, perhaps, who closed that door before. For +first he drew his sword; then for some while he stood quite still near +the door and listened to the rats; then he looked round the chamber and +perceived only one door; then he looked at the heavy oak furniture, +carved by some artist, gnawed by rats, and all blackened by time; then +swiftly opened the door of the largest cupboard and thrust his sword in +to see who might be inside, but the carved satyr's heads at the top of +the cupboard eyed him silently and nothing moved. Then he noted that +though there was no bolt on the door the furniture might be placed +across to make what in the wars is called a barricado, but the wiser +thought came at once that this was too easily done, and that if the +danger that the dim room seemed gloomily to forebode were to come from +a door so readily barricadoed, then those must have been simple +gallants who parted so easily with the rings that adorned Morano's two +little fingers. No, it was something more subtle than any attack +through that door that brought his regular wages to Morano. Rodriguez +looked at the window, which let in the light of a moon that was getting +low, for the curtains had years ago been eaten up by the moths; but the +window was barred with iron bars that were not yet rusted away, and +looked out, thus guarded, over a sheer wall that even in the moonlight +fell into blackness. Rodriguez then looked round for some hidden door, +the sword all the while in his hand, and very soon he knew that room +fairly well, but not its secret, nor why those unknown gallants had +given up their rings. + +It is much to know of an unknown danger that it really is unknown. Many +have met their deaths through looking for danger from one particular +direction, whereas had they perceived that they were ignorant of its +direction they would have been wise in their ignorance. Rodriguez had +the great discretion to understand clearly that he did not know the +direction from which danger would come. He accepted this as his only +discovery about that portentous room which seemed to beckon to him with +every shadow and to sigh over him with every mournful draught, and to +whisper to him unintelligible warnings with every rustle of tattered +silk that hung about his bed. And as soon as he discovered that this +was his only knowledge he began at once to make his preparations: he +was a right young man for the wars. He divested himself of his shoes +and doublet and the light cloak that hung from his shoulder and cast +the clothes on a chair. Over the back of the chair he slung his girdle +and the scabbard hanging therefrom and placed his plumed hat so that +none could see that his Castilian blade was not in its resting-place. +And when the sombre chamber had the appearance of one having undressed +in it before retiring Rodriguez turned his attention to the bed, which +he noticed to be of great depth and softness. That something not unlike +blood had been spilt on the floor excited no wonder in Rodriguez; that +vast chamber was evidently, as I have said, in the fortress of some +great family, against one of whose walls the humble inn had once leaned +for protection; the great family were gone: how they were gone +Rodriguez did not know, but it excited no wonder in him to see blood on +the boards: besides, two gallants may have disagreed; or one who loved +not dumb animals might have been killing rats. Blood did not disturb +him; but what amazed him, and would have surprised anyone who stood in +that ruinous room, was that there were clean new sheets on the bed. Had +you seen the state of the furniture and the floor, O my reader, and the +vastness of the old cobwebs and the black dust that they held, the dead +spiders and huge dead flies, and the living generation of spiders +descending and ascending through the gloom, I say that you also would +have been surprised at the sight of those nice clean sheets. Rodriguez +noted the fact and continued his preparations. He took the bolster from +underneath the pillow and laid it down the middle of the bed and put +the sheets back over it; then he stood back and looked at it, much as a +sculptor might stand back from his marble, then he returned to it and +bent it a little in the middle, and after that he placed his mandolin +on the pillow and nearly covered it with the sheet, but not quite, for +a little of the curved dark-brown wood remained still to be seen. It +looked wonderfully now like a sleeper in the bed, but Rodriguez was not +satisfied with his work until he had placed his kerchief and one of his +shoes where a shoulder ought to be; then he stood back once more and +eyed it with satisfaction. Next he considered the light. He looked at +the light of the moon and remembered his father's advice, as the young +often do, but considered that this was not the occasion for it, and +decided to leave the light of his candle instead, so that anyone who +might be familiar with the moonlight in that shadowy chamber should +find instead a less sinister light. He therefore dragged a table to the +bedside, placed the candle upon it, and opened a treasured book that he +bore in his doublet, and laid it on the bed near by, between the candle +and his mandolin-headed sleeper; the name of the book was Notes in a +Cathedral and dealt with the confessions of a young girl, which the +author claimed to have jotted down, while concealed behind a pillow +near the Confessional, every Sunday for the entire period of Lent. +Lastly he pulled a sheet a little loose from the bed, until a corner of +it lay on the floor; then he lay down on the boards, still keeping his +sword in his hand, and by means of the sheet and some silk that hung +from the bed, he concealed himself sufficient for his purpose, which +was to see before he should be seen by any intruder that might enter +that chamber. + +And if Rodriguez appear to have been unduly suspicious, it should be +borne in mind not only that those empty rings needed much explanation, +but that every house suggests to the stranger something; and that +whereas one house seems to promise a welcome in front of cosy fires, +another good fare, another joyous wine, this inn seemed to promise +murder; or so the young man's intuition said, and the young are wise to +trust to their intuitions. + +The reader will know, if he be one of us, who have been to the wars and +slept in curious ways, that it is hard to sleep when sober upon a +floor; it is not like the earth, or snow, or a feather bed; even rock +can be more accommodating; it is hard, unyielding and level, all night +unmistakable floor. Yet Rodriguez took no risk of falling asleep, so he +said over to himself in his mind as much as he remembered of his +treasured book, Notes in a Cathedral, which he always read to himself +before going to rest and now so sadly missed. It told how a lady who +had listened to a lover longer than her soul's safety could warrant, as +he played languorous music in the moonlight and sang soft by her low +balcony, and how she being truly penitent, had gathered many roses, the +emblems of love (as surely, she said at confession, all the world +knows), and when her lover came again by moonlight had cast them all +from her from the balcony, showing that she had renounced love; and her +lover had entirely misunderstood her. It told how she often tried to +show him this again, and all the misunderstandings are sweetly set +forth and with true Christian penitence. Sometimes some little matter +escaped Rodriguez's memory and then he longed to rise up and look at +his dear book, yet he lay still where he was: and all the while he +listened to the rats, and the rats went on gnawing and running +regularly, scared by nothing new; Rodriguez trusted as much to their +myriad ears as to his own two. The great spiders descended out of such +heights that you could not see whence they came, and ascended again +into blackness; it was a chamber of prodigious height. Sometimes the +shadow of a descending spider that had come close to the candle assumed +a frightening size, but Rodriguez gave little thought to it; it was of +murder he was thinking, not of shadows; still, in its way it was +ominous, and reminded Rodriguez horribly of his host; but what of an +omen, again, in a chamber full of omens. The place itself was ominous; +spiders could scarce make it more so. The spider itself was big enough, +he thought, to be impaled on his Castilian blade; indeed, he would have +done it but that he thought it wiser to stay where he was and watch. +And then the spider found the candle too hot and climbed in a hurry all +the way to the ceiling, and his horrible shadow grew less and dwindled +away. + +It was not that the rats were frightened: whatever it was that happened +happened too quietly for that, but the volume of the sound of their +running had suddenly increased: it was not like fear among them, for +the running was no swifter, and it did not fade away; it was as though +the sound of rats running, which had not been heard before, was +suddenly heard now. Rodriguez looked at the door, the door was shut. A +young Englishman would long ago have been afraid that he was making a +fuss over nothing and would have gone to sleep in the bed, and not seen +what Rodriguez saw. He might have thought that hearing more rats all at +once was merely a fancy, and that everything was all right. Rodriguez +saw a rope coming slowly down from the ceiling, he quickly determined +whether it was a rope or only the shadow of some huge spider's thread, +and then he watched it and saw it come down right over his bed and stop +within a few feet of it. Rodriguez looked up cautiously to see who had +sent him that strange addition to the portents that troubled the +chamber, but the ceiling was too high and dim for him to perceive +anything but the rope coming down out of the darkness. Yet he surmised +that the ceiling must have softly opened, without any sound at all, at +the moment that he heard the greater number of rats. He waited then to +see what the rope would do; and at first it hung as still as the great +festoons dead spiders had made in the corners; then as he watched it it +began to sway. He looked up into the dimness then to see who was +swaying the rope; and for a long time, as it seemed to him lying +gripping his Castilian sword on the floor he saw nothing clearly. And +then he saw mine host coming down the rope, hand over hand quite +nimbly, as though he lived by this business. In his right hand he held +a poniard of exceptional length, yet he managed to clutch the rope and +hold the poniard all the time with the same hand. + +If there had been something hideous about the shadow of the spider that +came down from that height the shadow of mine host was indeed demoniac. +He too was like a spider, with his body at no time slender all bunched +up on the rope, and his shadow was six times his size: you could turn +from the spider's shadow to the spider and see that it was for the most +part a fancy of the candle half crazed by the draughts, but to turn +from mine host's shadow to himself and to see his wicked eyes was to +say that the candle's wildest fears were true. So he climbed down his +rope holding his poniard upward. But when he came within perhaps ten +feet of the bed he pointed it downward and began to sway about. It will +be readily seen that by swaying his rope at a height mine host could +drop on any part of the bed. Rodriguez as he watched him saw him +scrutinise closely and continue to sway on his rope. He feared that +mine host was ill satisfied with the look of the mandolin and that he +would climb away again, well warned of his guest's astuteness, into the +heights of the ceiling to devise some fearfuller scheme; but he was +only looking for the shoulder. And then mine host dropped; poniard +first, he went down with all his weight behind it and drove it through +the bolster below where the shoulder should be, just where we slant our +arms across our bodies, when we lie asleep on our sides, leaving the +ribs exposed: and the soft bed received him. And the moment that mine +host let go of his rope Rodriguez leaped to his feet. He saw Rodriguez, +indeed their eyes met as he dropped through the air, but what could +mine host do? He was already committed to his stroke, and his poniard +was already deep in the mattress when the good Castilian blade passed +through his ribs. + + + + +THE SECOND CHRONICLE + +HOW HE HIRED A MEMORABLE SERVANT + + +When Rodriguez woke, the birds were singing gloriously. The sun was up +and the air was sparkling over Spain. The gloom had left his high +chamber, and much of the menace had gone from it that overnight had +seemed to bode in the corners. It had not become suddenly tidy; it was +still more suitable for spiders than men, it still mourned and brooded +over the great family that it had nursed and that evil days had so +obviously overtaken; but it no longer had the air of finger to lips, no +longer seemed to share a secret with you, and that secret Murder. The +rats still ran round the wainscot, but the song of the birds and the +jolly, dazzling sunshine were so much larger than the sombre room that +the young man's thoughts escaped from it and ran free to the fields. It +may have been only his fancy but the world seemed somehow brighter for +the demise of mine host of the Dragon and Knight, whose body still lay +hunched up on the foot of his bed. Rodriguez jumped up and went to the +high, barred window and looked out of it at the morning: far below him +a little town with red roofs lay; the smoke came up from the chimneys +toward him slowly, and spread out flat and did not reach so high. +Between him and the roofs swallows were sailing. + +He found water for washing in a cracked pitcher of earthenware and as +he dressed he looked up at the ceiling and admired mine host's device, +for there was an open hole that had come noiselessly, without any +sounds of bolts or lifting of trap-doors, but seemed to have opened out +all round on perfectly oiled grooves, to fit that well-to-do body, and +down from the middle of it from some higher beam hung the rope down +which mine host had made his last journey. + +Before taking leave of his host Rodriguez looked at his poniard, which +was a good two feet in length, not counting the hilt, and was surprised +to find it an excellent blade. It bore a design on the steel +representing a town, which Rodriguez recognised for the towers of +Toledo; and had held moreover a jewel at the end of the hilt, but the +little gold socket was empty. Rodriguez therefore perceived that the +poniard was that of a gallant, and surmised that mine host had begun +his trade with a butcher's knife, but having come by the poniard had +found it to be handier for his business. Rodriguez being now fully +dressed, girt his own blade about him, and putting the poniard under +his cloak, for he thought to find a use for it at the wars, set his +plumed hat upon him and jauntily stepped from the chamber. By the light +of day he saw clearly at what point the passages of the inn had dared +to make their intrusion on the corridors of the fortress, for he walked +for four paces between walls of huge grey rocks which had never been +plastered and were clearly a breach in the fortress, though whether the +breach were made by one of the evil days that had come upon the family +in their fastness, and whether men had poured through it with torches +and swords, or whether the gap had been cut in later years for mine +host of the Dragon and Knight, and he had gone quietly through it +rubbing his hands, nothing remained to show Rodriguez now. + +When he came to the dining-chamber he found Morano astir. Morano looked +up from his overwhelming task of tidying the Inn of the Dragon and +Knight and then went on with his pretended work, for he felt a little +ashamed of the knowledge he had concerning the ways of that inn, which +was more than an honest man should know about such a place. + +"Good morning, Morano," said Rodriguez blithely. + +"Good morning," answered the servant of the Dragon and Knight. + +"I am looking for the wars. Would you like a new master, Morano?" + +"Indeed," said Morano, "a good master is better to some men's minds +than a bad one. Yet, you see senor, my bad master has me bound never to +leave him, by oaths that I do not properly understand the meaning of, +and that might blast me in any world were I to forswear them. He hath +bound me by San Sathanas, with many others. I do not like the sound of +that San Sathanas. And so you see, senor, my bad master suits me better +than perhaps to be whithered in this world by a levin-stroke, and in +the next world who knows?" + +"Morano," said Rodriguez, "there is a dead spider on my bed." + +"A dead spider, master?" said Morano, with as much concern in his voice +as though no spider had ever sullied that chamber before. + +"Yes," said Rodriguez, "I shall require you to keep my bed tidy on our +way to the wars." + +"Master," said Morano, "no spider shall come near it, living or dead." + +And so our company of one going northward through Spain looking for +romance became a company of two. + +"Master," said Morano, "as I do not see him whom I serve, and his ways +are early ways, I fear some evil has overtaken him, whereby we shall be +suspect, for none other dwells here: and he is under special protection +of the Garda Civil; it would be well therefore to start for the wars +right early." + +"The guard protect mine host then." Rodriguez said with as much +surprise in his tones as he ever permitted himself. + +"Master," Morano said, "it could not be otherwise. For so many gallants +have entered the door of this inn and supped in this chamber and never +been seen again, and so many suspicious things have been found here, +such as blood, that it became necessary for him to pay the guard well, +and so they protect him." And Morano hastily slung over his shoulder by +leather straps an iron pot and a frying-pan and took his broad felt hat +from a peg on the wall. + +Rodriguez' eyes looked so curiously at the great cooking utensils +dangling there from the straps that Morano perceived his young master +did not fully understand these preparations: he therefore instructed +him thus: "Master, there be two things necessary in the wars, strategy +and cooking. Now the first of these comes in use when the captains +speak of their achievements and the historians write of the wars. +Strategy is a learned thing, master, and the wars may not be told of +without it, but while the war rageth and men be camped upon the +foughten field then is the time for cooking; for many a man that fights +the wars, if he hath not his food, were well content to let the enemy +live, but feed him and at once he becometh proud at heart and cannot +a-bear the sight of the enemy walking among his tents but must needs +slay him outright. Aye, master, the cooking for the wars; and when the +wars are over you who are learned shall study strategy." + +And Rodriguez perceived that there was wisdom in the world that was not +taught in the College of San Josephus, near to his father's valleys, +where he had learned in his youth the ways of books. + +"Morano," he said, "let us now leave mine host to entertain la Garda." + +And at the mention of the guard hurry came on Morano, he closed his +lips upon his store of wisdom, and together they left the Inn of the +Dragon and Knight. And when Rodriguez saw shut behind him that dark +door of oak that he had so persistently entered, and through which he +had come again to the light of the sun by many precautions and some +luck, he felt gratitude to Morano. For had it not been for Morano's +sinister hints, and above all his remark that mine host would have +driven him thence because he liked him, the evil look of the sombre +chamber alone might not have been enough to persuade him to the +precautions that cut short the dreadful business of that inn. And with +his gratitude was a feeling not unlike remorse, for he felt that he had +deprived this poor man of a part of his regular wages, which would have +been his own gold ring and the setting that held the sapphire, had all +gone well with the business. So he slipped the ring from his finger and +gave it to Morano, sapphire and all. + +Morano's expressions of gratitude were in keeping with that flowery +period in Spain, and might appear ridiculous were I to expose them to +the eyes of an age in which one in Morano's place on such an occasion +would have merely said, "Damned good of you old nut, not half," and let +the matter drop. + +I merely record therefore that Morano was grateful and so expressed +himself; while Rodriguez, in addition to the pleasant glow in the mind +that comes from a generous action, had another feeling that gives all +of us pleasure, or comfort at least (until it grows monotonous), a +feeling of increased safety; for while he had the ring upon his finger +and Morano went unpaid the thought could not help occurring, even to a +generous mind, that one of these windy nights Morano might come for his +wages. + +"Master," said Morano looking at the sapphire now on his own little +finger near the top joint, the only stone amongst his row of rings, +"you must surely have great wealth." + +"Yes," said Rodriguez slapping the scabbard that held his Castilian +blade. And when he saw that Morano's eyes were staring at the little +emeralds that were dotted along the velvet of the scabbard he explained +that it was the sword that was his wealth: + +"For in the wars," he said, "are all things to be won, and nothing is +unobtainable to the sword. For parchment and custom govern all the +possessions of man, as they taught me in the College of San Josephus. +Yet the sword is at first the founder and discoverer of all +possessions; and this my father told me before he gave me this sword, +which hath already acquired in the old time fair castles with many a +tower." + +"And those that dwelt in the castles, master, before the sword came?" +said Morano. + +"They died and went dismally to Hell," said Rodriguez, "as the old +songs say." + +They walked on then in silence. Morano, with his low forehead and +greater girth of body than of brain to the superficial observer, was +not incapable of thought. However slow his thoughts may have come, +Morano was pondering surely. Suddenly the puckers on his little +forehead cleared and he brightly looked at Rodriguez as they went on +side by side. + +"Master," Morano said, "when you choose a castle in the wars, let it +above all things be one of those that is easy to be defended; for +castles are easily got, as the old songs tell, and in the heat of +combat positions are quickly stormed, and no more ado; but, when wars +are over, then is the time for ease and languorous days and the +imperilling of the soul, though not beyond the point where our good +fathers may save it." + +"Nay, Morano," Rodriguez said, "no man, as they taught me well in the +College of San Josephus, should ever imperil his soul." + +"But, master," Morano said, "a man imperils his body in the wars yet +hopes by dexterity and his sword to draw it safely thence: so a man of +courage and high heart may surely imperil his soul and still hope to +bring it at the last to salvation." + +"Not so," said Rodriguez, and gave his mind to pondering upon the exact +teaching he had received on this very point, but could not clearly +remember. + +So they walked in silence, Rodriguez thinking still of this spiritual +problem, Morano turning, though with infinite slowness, to another +thought upon a lower plane. + +And after a while Rodriguez' eyes turned again to the flowers, and he +felt his meditation, as youth will, and looking abroad he saw the +wonder of Spring calling forth the beauty of Spain, and he lifted up +his head and his heart rejoiced with the anemones, as hearts at his age +do: but Morano clung to his thought. + +It was long before Rodriguez' fanciful thoughts came back from among +the flowers, for among those delicate earliest blooms of Spring his +youthful visions felt they were with familiars; so they tarried, +neglecting the dusty road and poor gross Morano. But when his fancies +left the flowers at last and looked again at Morano, Rodriguez +perceived that his servant was all troubled with thought: so he left +Morano in silence for his thought to come to maturity, for he had +formed a liking already for the judgments of Morano's simple mind. + +They walked in silence for the space of an hour, and at last Morano +spoke. It was then noon. "Master," he said, "at this hour it is the +custom of la Garda to enter the Inn of the Dragon and to dine at the +expense of mine host." + +"A merry custom," said Rodriguez. + +"Master," said Morano, "if they find him in less than his usual health +they will get their dinners for themselves in the larder and dine and +afterwards sleep. But after that; master, after that, should anything +inauspicious have befallen mine host, they will seek out and ask many +questions concerning all travellers, too many for our liking." + +"We are many good miles from the Inn of the Dragon and Knight," said +Rodriguez. + +"Master, when they have eaten and slept and asked questions they will +follow on horses," said Morano. + +"We can hide," said Rodriguez, and he looked round over the plain, very +full of flowers, but empty and bare under the blue sky of any place in +which a man might hide to escape from pursuers on horse back. He +perceived then that he had no plan. + +"Master," said Morano, "there is no hiding like disguises." + +Once more Rodriguez looked round him over the plain, seeing no houses, +no men; and his opinion of Morano's judgment sank when he said +disguises. But then Morano unfolded to him that plan which up to that +day had never been tried before, so far as records tell, in all the +straits in which fugitive men have been; and which seems from my +researches in verse and prose never to have been attempted since. + +The plan was this, astute as Morano, and simple as his naive mind. The +clothing for which Rodriguez searched the plain vainly was ready to +hand. No disguise was effective against la Garda, they had too many +suspicions, their skill was to discover disguises. But in the moment of +la Garda's triumph, when they had found out the disguise, when success +had lulled the suspicions for which they were infamous, then was the +time to trick la Garda. Rodriguez wondered; but the slow mind of Morano +was sure, and now he came to the point, the fruit of his hour's +thinking. Rodriguez should disguise himself as Morano. When la Garda +discovered that he was not the man he appeared to be, a study to which +they devoted their lives, their suspicions would rest and there would +be an end of it. And Morano should disguise himself as Rodriguez. + +It was a new idea. Had Rodriguez been twice his age he would have +discarded it at once; for age is guided by precedent which, when +pursued, is a dangerous guide indeed. Even as it was he was critical, +for the novelty of the thing coming thus from his gross servant +surprised him as much as though Morano had uttered poetry of his own +when he sang, as he sometimes did, certain merry lascivious songs of +Spain that any one of the last few centuries knew as well as any of the +others. + +And would not la Garda find out that he was himself, Rodriguez asked, +as quickly as they found out he was not Morano. + +"That," said Morano, "is not the way of la Garda. For once let la Garda +come by a suspicion, such as that you, master, are but Morano, and they +will cling to it even to the last, and not abandon it until they needs +must, and then throw it away as it were in disgust and ride hence at +once, for they like not tarrying long near one who has seen them +mistaken." + +"They will soon then come by another suspicion," said Rodriguez. + +"Not so, master," answered Morano, "for those that are as suspicious as +la Garda change their suspicions but slowly. A suspicion is an old song +to them." + +"Then," said Rodriguez, "I shall be hard set ever to show that I am not +you if they ever suspect I am." + +"It will be hard, master," Morano answered; "but we shall do it, for we +shall have truth upon our side." + +"How shall we disguise ourselves?" said Rodriguez. + +"Master," said Morano, "when you came to our town none knew you and all +marked your clothes. As for me my fat body is better known than my +clothes, yet am I not too well known by la Garda, for, being an honest +man, whenever la Garda came I used to hide." + +"You did well," said Rodriguez. + +"Certainly I did well," said Morano, "for had they seen me they might, +on account of certain matters, have taken me to prison, and prison is +no place for an honest man." + +"Let us disguise ourselves," said Rodriguez. + +"Master," answered Morano, "the brain is greater than the stomach, and +now more than at any time we need the counsel of the brain; let us +therefore appease the clamours of the stomach that it be silent." + +And he drew out from amongst his clothing a piece of sacking in which +was a mass of bacon and some lard, and unslung his huge frying-pan. +Rodriguez had entirely forgotten the need of food, but now the memory +of it had rushed upon him like a flood over a barrier, as soon as he +saw the bacon. And when they had collected enough of tiny inflammable +things, for it was a treeless plain, and Morano had made a fire, and +the odour of the bacon became perceptible, this memory was hugely +intensified. + +"Let us eat while they eat, master," said Morano, "and plan while they +sleep, and disguise ourselves while they pursue." + +And this they did: for after they had eaten they dug up earth and +gathered leaves with which to fill the gaps in Morano's garments when +they should hang on Rodriguez, they plucked a geranium with whose dye +they deepened Rodriguez' complexion, and with the sap from the stalk of +a weed Morano toned to a pallor the ruddy brown of his tough cheeks. +Then they changed clothes altogether, which made Morano gasp: and after +that nothing remained but to cut off the delicate black moustachios of +Rodriguez and to stick them to the face of Morano with the juice of +another flower that he knew where to find. Rodriguez sighed when he saw +them go. He had pictured ecstatic glances cast some day at those +moustachios, glances from under long eyelashes twinkling at evening +from balconies; and looking at them where they were now, he felt that +this was impossible. + +For one moment Morano raised his head with an air, as it were preening +himself, when the new moustachios had stuck; but as soon as he saw, or +felt, his master's sorrow at their loss he immediately hung his head, +showing nothing but shame for the loss he had caused his master, or for +the impropriety of those delicate growths that so ill become his jowl. +And now they took the road again, Rodriguez with the great frying-pan +and cooking-pot; no longer together, but not too far apart for la Garda +to take them both at once, and to make the doubly false charge that +should so confound their errand. And Morano wore that old triumphant +sword, and carried the mandolin that was ever young. + +They had not gone far when it was as Morano had said; for, looking +back, as they often did, to the spot where their road touched the +sky-line, they saw la Garda spurring, seven of them in their +unmistakable looped hats, very clear against the sky which a moment ago +seemed so fair. + +When the seven saw the two they did not spare the dust; and first they +came to Morano. + +"You," they said, "are Rodriguez Trinidad Fernandez, Concepcion +Henrique Maria, a Lord of the Valleys of Arguento Harez." + +"No, masters," said Morano. + +Oh but denials were lost upon la Garda. + +Denials inflamed their suspicions as no other evidence could. Many a +man had they seen with his throat in the hands of the public garrotter; +and all had begun with denials who ended thus. They looked at the +mandolin, at the gay cloak, at the emeralds in the scabbard, for +wherever emeralds go there is evidence to identify them, until the +nature of man changes or the price of emeralds. They spoke hastily +among themselves. + +"Without doubt," said one of them, "you are whom we said." And they +arrested Morano. + +Then they spurred on to Rodriguez. "You are," they said, "as no man +doubts, one Morano, servant at the Inn of the Dragon and Knight, whose +good master is, as we allege, dead." + +"Masters," answered Rodriguez, "I am but a poor traveller, and no +servant at any inn." + +Now la Garda, as I have indicated, will hear all things except denials; +and thus to receive two within the space of two moments infuriated them +so fiercely that they were incapable of forming any other theory that +day except the one they held. + +There are many men like this; they can form a plausible theory and +grasp its logical points, but take it away from them and destroy it +utterly before their eyes, and they will not so easily lash their tired +brains at once to build another theory in place of the one that is +ruined. + +"As the saints live," they said, "you are Morano." And they arrested +Rodriguez too. + +Now when they began to turn back by the way they had come Rodriguez +began to fear overmuch identification, so he assured la Garda that in +the next village ahead of them were those who would answer all +questions concerning him, as well as being the possessors of the finest +vintage of wine in the kingdom of Spain. + +Now it may be that the mention of this wine soothed the anger caused in +the men of la Garda by two denials, or it may be that curiosity guided +them, at any rate they took the road that led away from last night's +sinister shelter, Rodriguez and five of la Garda. Two of them stayed +behind with Morano, undecided as yet which way to take, though looking +wistfully the way that that wine was said to be; and Rodriguez left +Morano to his own devices, in which he trusted profoundly. + +Now Rodriguez knew not the name of the next village that they would +come to nor the names of any of the dwellers in it. + +Yet he had a plan. As he went by the side of one of the horses he +questioned the rider. + +"Can Morano write?" he said. La Garda laughed. + +"Can Morano talk Latin?" he said. La Garda crossed themselves, all five +men. And after some while of riding, and hard walking for Rodriguez, to +whom they allowed a hand on a stirrup leather, there came in sight the +tops of the brown roofs of a village over a fold of the plain. "Is this +your village?" said one of his captors. + +"Surely," answered Rodriguez. + +"What is its name?" said one. + +"It has many names," said Rodriguez. + +And then another one of them recognised it from the shape of its roofs. +"It is Saint Judas-not-Iscariot," he said. + +"Aye, so strangers call it," said Rodriguez. + +And where the road turned round that fold of the plain, lolling a +little to its left in the idle Spanish air, they came upon the village +all in view. I do not know how to describe this village to you, my +reader, for the words that mean to you what it was are all the wrong +words to use. "Antique," "old-world," "quaint," seem words with which +to tell of it. Yet it had no antiquity denied to the other villages; it +had been brought to birth like them by the passing of time, and was +nursed like them in the lap of plains or valleys of Spain. Nor was it +quainter than any of its neighbours, though it was like itself alone, +as they had their characters also; and, though no village in the world +was like it, it differed only from the next as sister differs from +sister. To those that dwelt in it, it was wholly apart from all the +world of man. + +Most of its tall white houses with green doors were gathered about the +market-place, in which were pigeons and smells and declining sunlight, +as Rodriguez and his escort came towards it, and from round a corner at +the back of it the short, repeated song of one who would sell a +commodity went up piercingly. + +This was all very long ago. Time has wrecked that village now. +Centuries have flowed over it, some stormily, some smoothly, but so +many that, of the village Rodriguez saw, there can be now no more than +wreckage. For all I know a village of that name may stand on that same +plain, but the Saint Judas-not-Iscariot that Rodriguez knew is gone +like youth. + +Queerly tiled, sheltered by small dense trees, and standing a little +apart, Rodriguez recognised the house of the Priest. He recognised it +by a certain air it had. Thither he pointed and la Garda rode. Again he +spoke to them. "Can Morano speak Latin?" he said. + +"God forbid!" said la Garda. + +They dismounted and opened a gate that was gilded all over, in a low +wall of round boulders. They went up a narrow path between thick ilices +and came to the green door. They pulled a bell whose handle was a +symbol carved in copper, one of the Priest's mysteries. The bell boomed +through the house, a tiny musical boom, and the Priest opened the door; +and Rodriguez addressed him in Latin. And the Priest answered him. + +At first la Garda had not realised what had happened. And then the +Priest beckoned and they all entered his house, for Rodriguez had asked +him for ink. Into a room they came where a silver ink-pot was, and the +grey plume of the goose. Picture no such ink-pot, my reader, as they +sell to-day in shops, the silver no thicker than paper, and perhaps a +pattern all over it guaranteed artistic. It was molten silver well +wrought, and hollowed for ink. And in the hollow there was the magical +fluid, the stuff that rules the world and hinders time; that in which +flows the will of a king, to establish his laws for ever; that which +gives valleys unto new possessors; that whereby towers are held by +their lawful owners; that which, used grimly by the King's judge, is +death; that which, when poets play, is mirth for ever and ever. + +No wonder la Garda looked at it in awe, no wonder they crossed +themselves again: and then Rodriguez wrote. In the silence that +followed the jaws of la Garda dropped, while the old Priest slightly +smiled, for he somewhat divined the situation already; and, being the +people's friend, he loved not la Garda more than he was bound by the +rules of his duty to man. + +Then one of la Garda spoke, bringing back his confidence with a +bluster. "Morano has sold his soul to Satan," he said, "in exchange for +Satan's aid, and Satan has taught his tongue Latin and guides his +fingers in the affairs of the pen." And so said all la Garda, rejoicing +at finding an explanation where a moment ago there was none, as all men +at such times do: little it matters what the explanation be: does a man +in Sahara, who finds water suddenly, inquire with precision what its +qualities are? + +And then the Priest said a word and made a sign, against which Satan +himself can only prevail with difficulty, and in presence of which his +spells can never endure. And after this Rodriguez wrote again. Then +were la Garda silent. + +And at length the leader said, and he called on them all to testify, +that he had made no charge whatever against this traveller; moreover, +they had escorted him on his way out of respect for him, because the +roads were dangerous, and must now depart because they had higher +duties. So la Garda departed, looking before them with stern, +preoccupied faces and urging their horses on, as men who go on an +errand of great urgency. And Rodriguez, having thanked them for their +protection upon the road, turned back into the house and the two sat +down together, and Rodriguez told his rescuer the story of the +hospitality of the Inn of the Dragon and Knight. + +Not as confession he told it, but as a pleasant tale, for he looked on +the swift demise of la Garda's friend, in the night, in the spidery +room, as a fair blessing for Spain, a thing most suited to the sweet +days of Spring. The spiritual man rejoiced to hear such a tale, as do +all men of peace to hear talk of violent deeds in which they may not +share. And when the tale was ended he reproved Rodriguez exceedingly, +explaining to him the nature of the sin of blood, and telling him that +absolution could be come by now, though hardly, but how on some future +occasion there might be none to be had. And Rodriguez listened with all +the gravity of expression that youth knows well how to wear while its +thoughts are nimbly dancing far away in fair fields of adventure or +love. + +And darkness came down and lamps were carried in: and the reverend +father asked Rodriguez in what other affairs of violence his sword had +unhappily been. And Rodriguez knew well the history of that sword, +having gathered all that concerned it out of spoken legend or song. And +although the reverend man frowned minatorily whenever he heard of its +passings through the ribs of the faithful, and nodded as though his +head gave benediction when he heard of the destruction of God's most +vile enemy the infidel, and though he gasped a little through his lips +when he heard of certain tarryings of that sword, in scented gardens, +while Christian knights should sleep and their swords hang on the wall, +though sometimes even a little he raised his hands, yet he leaned +forward always, listening well, and picturing clearly as though his +gleaming eyes could see them, each doleful tale of violence or sin. And +so night came, and began to wear away, and neither knew how late the +hour was. And then as Rodriguez spoke of an evening in a garden, of +which some old song told well, a night in early summer under the +evening star, and that sword there as always; as he told of his +grandfather as poets had loved to tell, going among the scents of the +huge flowers, familiar with the dark garden as the moths that drifted +by him; as he spoke of a sigh heard faintly, as he spoke of danger +near, whether to body or soul; as the reverend father was about to +raise both his hands; there came a thunder of knockings upon the locked +green door. + + + + +THE THIRD CHRONICLE + +HOW HE CAME TO THE HOUSE OF WONDER + + +It was the gross Morano. Here he had tracked Rodriguez, for where la +Garda goes is always known, and rumour of it remains long behind them, +like the scent of a fox. He told no tale of his escape more than a dog +does who comes home some hours late; a dog comes back to his master, +that is all, panting a little perhaps; someone perhaps had caught him +and he escaped and came home, a thing too natural to attempt to speak +of by any of the signs that a dog knows. + +Part of Morano's method seems to have resembled Rodriguez', for just as +Rodriguez spoke Latin, so Morano fell back upon his own natural speech, +that he as it were unbridled and allowed to run free, the coarseness of +which had at first astounded, and then delighted, la Garda. + +"And did they not suspect that you were yourself?" said Rodriguez. + +"No, master," Morano answered, "for I said that I was the brother of +the King of Aragon." + +"The King of Aragon!" Rodriguez said, going to the length of showing +surprise. "Yes, indeed, master." said Morano, "and they recognised me." + +"Recognised you!" exclaimed the Priest. + +"Indeed so," said Morano, "for they said that they were themselves the +Kings of Aragon; and so, father, they recognised me for their brother." + +"That you should not have said," the Priest told Morano. + +"Reverend father," replied Morano, "as Heaven shines, I believed that +what I said was true." And Morano sighed deeply. "And now," he said, "I +know it is true no more." + +Whether he sighed for the loss of his belief in that exalted +relationship, or whether for the loss of that state of mind in which +such beliefs come easily, there was nothing in his sigh to show. They +questioned him further, but he said no more: he was here, there was no +more to say: he was here and la Garda was gone. + +And then the reverend man brought for them a great supper, even at that +late hour, for many an hour had slipped softly by as he heard the sins +of the sword; and wine he set out, too, of a certain golden vintage, +long lost--I fear--my reader: but this he gave not to Morano lest he +should be once more, what the reverend father feared to entertain, that +dread hidalgo, the King of Aragon's brother. And after that, the stars +having then gone far on their ways, the old Priest rose and offered a +bed to Rodriguez; and even as he eyed Morano, wondering where to put +him, and was about to speak, for he had no other bed, Morano went to a +corner of the room and curled up and lay down. And by the time his host +had walked over to him and spoken, asking anxiously if he needed +nothing more, he was almost already asleep, and muttered in answer, +after having been spoken to twice, no more than "Straw, reverend +father, straw." + +An armful of this the good man brought him, and then showed Rodriguez +to his room; and they can scarcely have reached it before Morano was +back in Aragon again, walking on golden shoes (which were sometimes +wings), proud among lesser princes. + +As precaution for the night Rodriguez took one more glance at his +host's kind face; and then, with sword out of reach and an unlocked +door, he slept till the songs of birds out of the deeps of the ilices +made sleep any longer impossible. + +The third morning of Rodriguez' wandering blazed over Spain like brass; +flowers and grass and sky were twinkling all together. + +When Rodriguez greeted his host Morano was long astir, having awakened +with dawn, for the simpler and humbler the creature the nearer it is +akin to the earth and the sun. The forces that woke the birds and +opened the flowers stirred the gross lump of Morano, ending his sleep +as they ended the nightingale's song. + +They breakfasted hurriedly and Rodriguez rose to depart, feeling that +he had taken hospitality that had not been offered. But against his +departure was the barrier of all the politeness of Spain. The house was +his, said his host, and even the small grove of ilices. + +If I told you half of the things that the reverend man said, you would +say: "This writer is affected. I do not like all this flowery mush." I +think it safer, my reader, not to tell you any of it. Let us suppose +that he merely said, "Quite all right," and that when Rodriguez thanked +him on one knee he answered, "Not at all;" and that so Rodriguez and +Morano left. If here it miss some flash of the fair form of Truth it is +the fault of the age I write for. + +The road again, dust again, birds and the blaze of leaves, these were +the background of my wanderers, until the eye had gone as far as the +eye can roam, and there were the tips of some far pale-blue mountains +that now came into view. + +They were still in each other's clothes; but the village was not behind +them very far when Morano explained, for he knew the ways of la Garda, +that having arrested two men upon this road, they would now arrest two +men each on all the other roads, in order to show the impartiality of +the Law, which constantly needs to be exhibited; and that therefore all +men were safe on the road they were on for a long while to come. + +Now there seemed to Rodriguez to be much good sense in what Morano had +said; and so indeed there was for they had good laws in Spain, and they +differed little, though so long ago, from our own excellent system. +Therefore they changed once more, giving back to each other everything +but, alas, those delicate black moustachios; and these to Rodriguez +seemed gone for ever, for the growth of new ones seemed so far ahead to +the long days of youth that his hopes could scarce reach to them. + +When Morano found himself once more in those clothes that had been with +him night and day for so many years he seemed to expand; I mean no +metaphor here; he grew visibly fatter. + +"Ah," said Morano after a huge breath, "last night I dreamed, in your +illustrious clothes, that I was in lofty station. And now, master, I am +comfortable." + +"Which were best, think you," said Rodriguez, "if you could have but +one, a lofty place or comfort?" Even in those days such a question was +trite, but Rodriguez uttered it only thinking to dip in the store of +Morano's simple wisdom, as one may throw a mere worm to catch a worthy +fish. But in this he was disappointed; for Morano made no neat +comparison nor even gave an opinion, saying only, "Master, while I have +comfort how shall I judge the case of any who have not?" And no more +would he say. His new found comfort, lost for a day and night, seemed +so to have soothed his body that it closed the gates of the mind, as +too much luxury may, even with poets. + +And now Rodriguez thought of his quest again, and the two of them +pushed on briskly to find the wars. + +For an hour they walked in silence an empty road. And then they came +upon a row of donkeys; piled high with the bark of the cork-tree, that +men were bringing slowly from far woods. Some of the men were singing +as they went. They passed slow in the sunshine. + +"Oh, master," said Morano when they were gone, "I like not that +lascivious loitering." + +"Why, Morano?" said Rodriguez. "It was not God that made hurry." + +"Master," answered Morano, "I know well who made hurry. And may he not +overtake my soul at the last. Yet it is bad for our fortunes that these +men should loiter thus. You want your castle, master; and I, I want not +always to wander roads, with la Garda perhaps behind and no certain +place to curl up and sleep in front. I look for a heap of straw in the +cellar of your great castle." + +"Yes, yes, you shall have it," his master said, "but how do these folks +hinder you?" For Morano was scowling at them over his shoulder in a way +that was somehow spoiling the gladness of Spring. + +"The air is full of their singing," Morano said. "It is as though their +souls were already flying to Hell, and cawing hoarse with sin all the +way as they go. And they loiter, and they linger..." Oh, but Morano was +angry. + +"But," said Rodriguez, "how does their lingering harm you?" + +"Where are the wars, master? Where are the wars?" blurted Morano, his +round face turning redder. "The donkeys would be dead, the men would be +running, there would be shouts, cries, and confusion, if the wars were +anywhere near. There would be all things but this." + +The men strolled on singing and so passed slow into distance. Morano +was right, though I know not how he knew. + +And now the men and the donkeys were nearly out of sight, but had not +yet at all emerged from the wrath of Morano. "Lascivious knaves," +muttered that disappointed man. And whenever he faintly heard dim +snatches of their far song that a breeze here, and another there, +brought over the plain as it ran on the errands of Spring, he cursed +their sins under his breath. Though it seemed not so much their sins +that moved his wrath as the leisure they had for committing them. + +"Peace, peace, Morano," said Rodriguez. + +"It is that," said Morano, "that is troubling me." + +"What?" + +"This same peace." + +"Morano," said Rodriguez, "I had when young to study the affairs of +men; and this is put into books, and so they make history. Now I +learned that there is no thing in which men have taken delight, that is +ever put away from them; for it seems that time, which altereth every +custom, hath altered none of our likings: and in every chapter they +taught me there were these wars to be found." + +"Master, the times are altered," said Morano sadly. "It is not now as +in old days." + +And this was not the wisdom of Morano, for anger had clouded his +judgment. And a faint song came yet from the donkey-drivers, wavering +over the flowers. + +"Master," Morano said, "there are men like those vile sin-mongers, who +have taken delight in peace. It may be that peace has been brought upon +the world by one of these lousy likings." + +"The delight of peace," said Rodriguez, "is in its contrast to war. If +war were banished this delight were gone. And man lost none of his +delights in any chapter I read." + +The word and the meaning of CONTRAST were such as is understood by +reflective minds, the product of education. Morano felt rather than +reflected; and the word CONTRAST meant nothing to him. This ended their +conversation. And the songs of the donkey-drivers, light though they +were, being too heavy to be carried farther by the idle air of Spring, +Morano ceased cursing their sins. + +And now the mountains rose up taller, seeming to stretch themselves and +raise their heads. In a while they seemed to be peering over the plain. +They that were as pale ghosts, far off, dim like Fate, in the early +part of the morning, now appeared darker, more furrowed, more sinister, +more careworn; more immediately concerned with the affairs of Earth, +and so more menacing to earthly things. + +Still they went on and still the mountains grew. And noon came, when +Spain sleeps. + +And now the plain was altering, as though cool winds from the mountains +brought other growths to birth, so that they met with bushes straggling +wild; free, careless and mysterious, as they do, where there is none to +teach great Nature how to be tidy. + +The wanderers chose a clump of these that were gathered near the way, +like gypsies camped awhile midway on a wonderful journey, who at dawn +will rise and go, leaving but a bare trace of their resting and no +guess of their destiny; so fairy-like, so free, so phantasmal those +dark shrubs seemed. + +Morano lay down on the very edge of the shade of one, and Rodriguez lay +fair in the midst of the shade of another, whereby anyone passing that +way would have known which was the older traveller. Morano, according +to his custom, was asleep almost immediately; but Rodriguez, with +wonder and speculation each toying with novelty and pulling it +different ways between them, stayed awhile wakeful. Then he too slept, +and a bird thought it safe to return to an azalea of its own; which it +lately fled from troubled by the arrival of these two. + +And Rodriguez the last to sleep was the first awake, for the shade of +the shrub left him, and he awoke in the blaze of the sun to see Morano +still sheltered, well in the middle now of the shadow he chose. The +gross sleep of Morano I will not describe to you, reader. I have chosen +a pleasant tale for you in a happy land, in the fairest time of year, +in a golden age: I have youth to show you and an ancient sword, birds, +flowers and sunlight, in a plain unharmed by any dream of commerce: why +should I show you the sleep of that inelegant man whose bulk lay +cumbering the earth like a low, unseemly mountain? + +Rodriguez overtook the shade he had lost and lay there resting until +Morano awoke, driven all at once from sleep by a dream or by mere +choking. Then from the intricacies of his clothing, which to him after +those two days was what home is to some far wanderer, Morano drew out +once more a lump of bacon. Then came the fry-pan and then a fire: it +was the Wanderers' Mess. That mess-room has stood in many lands and has +only one roof. We are proud of that roof, all we who belong to that +Mess. We boast of it when we show it to our friends when it is all set +out at night. It has Aldebaran in it, the Bear and Orion, and at the +other end the Southern Cross. Yes we are proud of our roof when it is +at its best. + +What am I saying? I should be talking of bacon. Yes, but there is a way +of cooking it in our Mess that I want to tell you and cannot. I've +tasted bacon there that isn't the same as what you get at the Ritz. And +I want to tell you how that bacon tastes; and I can't so I talk about +stars. But perhaps you are one of us, reader, and then you will +understand. Only why the hell don't we get back there again where the +Evening Star swings low on the wall of the Mess? + +When they rose from table, when they got up from the earth, and the +frying-pan was slung on Morano's back, adding grease to the mere +surface of his coat whose texture could hold no more, they pushed on +briskly for they saw no sign of houses, unless what Rodriguez saw now +dimly above a ravine were indeed a house in the mountains. + +They had walked from eight till noon without any loitering. They must +have done fifteen miles since the mountains were pale blue. And now, +every mile they went, on the most awful of the dark ridges the object +Rodriguez saw seemed more and more like a house. Yet neither then, nor +as they drew still nearer, nor when they saw it close, nor looking back +on it after years, did it somehow seem quite right. And Morano +sometimes crossed himself as he looked at it, and said nothing. + +Rodriguez, as they walked ceaselessly through the afternoon, seeing his +servant show some sign of weariness, which comes not to youth, pointed +out the house looking nearer than it really was on the mountain, and +told him that he should find there straw, and they would sup and stay +the night. Afterwards, when the strange appearance of the house, +varying with different angles, filled him with curious forebodings, +Rodriguez would make no admission to his servant, but held to the plan +he had announced, and so approached the queer roofs, neglecting the +friendly stars. + +Through the afternoon the two travellers pushed on mostly in silence, +for the glances that house seemed to give him from the edge of its +perilous ridge, had driven the mirth from Rodriguez and had even +checked the garrulity on the lips of the tougher Morano, if garrulity +can be ascribed to him whose words seldom welled up unless some simple +philosophy troubled his deeps. The house seemed indeed to glance at +him, for as their road wound on, the house showed different aspects, +different walls and edges of walls, and different curious roofs; all +these walls seemed to peer at him. One after another they peered, new +ones glided imperceptibly into sight as though to say, We see too. + +The mountains were not before them but a little to the right of their +path, until new ones appeared ahead of them like giants arising from +sleep, and then their path seemed blocked as though by a mighty wall +against which its feeble wanderings went in vain. In the end it turned +a bit to its right and went straight for a dark mountain, where a wild +track seemed to come down out of the rocks to meet it, and upon this +track looked down that sinister house. Had you been there, my reader, +you would have said, any of us had said, Why not choose some other +house? There were no other houses. He who dwelt on the edge of the +ravine that ran into that dark mountain was wholly without neighbours. + +And evening came, and still they were far from the mountain. + +The sun set on their left. But it was in the eastern sky that the +greater splendour was; for the low rays streaming across lit up some +stormy clouds that were brooding behind the mountain and turned their +gloomy forms to an astounding purple. + +And after this their road began to rise toward the ridges. The +mountains darkened and the sinister house was about to merge with +their shadows, when he who dwelt there lit candles. + +The act astonished the wayfarers. All through half the day they had +seen the house, until it seemed part of the mountains; evil it seemed +like their ridges, that were black and bleak and forbidding, and +strange it seemed with a strangeness that moved no fears they could +name, yet it seemed inactive as night. + +Now lights appeared showing that someone moved. Window after window +showed to the bare dark mountain its gleaming yellow glare; there in +the night the house forsook the dark rocks that seemed kin to it, by +glowing as they could never glow, by doing what the beasts that haunted +them could not do: this was the lair of man. Here was the light of +flame but the rocks remained dark and cold as the wind of night that +went over them, he who dwelt now with the lights had forsaken the +rocks, his neighbours. + +And, when all were lit, one light high in a tower shone green. These +lights appearing out of the mountain thus seemed to speak to Rodriguez +and to tell him nothing. And Morano wondered, as he seldom troubled to +do. + +They pushed on up the steepening path. + +"Like you the looks of it?" said Rodriguez once. + +"Aye, master," answered Morano, "so there be straw." + +"You see nothing strange there, then?" Rodriguez said. + +"Master," Morano said, "there be saints for all requirements." + +Any fears he had felt about that house before, now as he neared it were +gone; it was time to put away fears and face the event; thus worked +Morano's philosophy. And he turned his thoughts to the achievements +upon earth of a certain Saint who met Satan, and showed to the +sovereign of Hell a discourtesy alien to the ways of the Church. + +It was dark now, and the yellow lights got larger as they drew nearer +the windows, till they saw large shadows obscurely passing from room to +room. The ascent was steep now and the pathway stopped. No track of any +kind approached the house. It stood on a precipice-edge as though one +of the rocks of the mountain: they climbed over rocks to reach it. The +windows flickered and blinked at them. + +Nothing invited them there in the look of that house, but they were now +in such a forbidding waste that shelter had to be found; they were all +among edges of rock as black as the night and hard as the material of +which Cosmos was formed, at first upon Chaos' brink. The sound of their +climbing ran noisily up the mountain but no sound came from the house: +only the shadows moved more swiftly across a room, passed into other +rooms and came hurrying back. Sometimes the shadows stayed and seemed +to peer; and when the travellers stood and watched to see what they +were they would disappear and there were no shadows at all, and the +rooms were filled instead with their wondering speculation. Then they +pushed on over rocks that seemed never trodden by man, so sharp were +they and slanting, all piled together: it seemed the last waste, to +which all shapeless rocks had been thrown. + +Morano and these black rocks seemed shaped by a different scheme; +indeed the rocks had never been shaped at all, they were just raw +pieces of Chaos. Morano climbed over their edges with moans and +discomfort. Rodriguez heard him behind him and knew by his moans when +he came to the top of each sharp rock. + +The rocks became savager, huger, even more sharp and more angular. They +were there in the dark in multitudes. Over these Rodriguez staggered, +and Morano clambered and tumbled; and so they came, breathing hard, to +the lonely house. + +In the wall that their hands had reached there was no door, so they +felt along it till they came to the corner, and beyond the corner was +the front wall of the house. In it was the front door. But so nearly +did this door open upon the abyss that the bats that fled from their +coming, from where they hung above the door of oak, had little more to +do than fall from their crannies, slanting ever so slightly, to find +themselves safe from man in the velvet darkness, that lay between +cliffs so lonely they were almost strangers to Echo. And here they +floated upon errands far from our knowledge; while the travellers +coming along the rocky ledge between destruction and shelter, knocked +on the oaken door. + +The sound of their knocking boomed huge and slow through the house as +though they had struck the door of the very mountain. And no one came. +And then Rodriguez saw dimly in the darkness the great handle of a +bell, carved like a dragon running down the wall: he pulled it and a +cry of pain arose from the basement of the house. + +Even Morano wondered. It was like a terrible spirit in distress. It was +long before Rodriguez dare touch the handle again. Could it have been +the bell? He felt the iron handle and the iron chain that went up from +it. How could it have been the bell! The bell had not sounded: he had +not pulled hard enough: that scream was fortuitous. The night on that +rocky ledge had jangled his nerves. He pulled again and more firmly. +The answering scream was more terrible. Rodriguez could doubt no +longer, as he sprang back from the bell-handle, that with the chain he +had pulled he inflicted some unknown agony. + +The scream had awakened slow steps that now came towards the +travellers, down corridors, as it sounded, of stone. And then chains +fell on stone and the door of oak was opened by some one older than +what man hopes to come to, with small, peaked lips as those of some +woodland thing. + +"Senores," the old one said, "the Professor welcomes you." + +They stood and stared at his age, and Morano blurted uncouthly what +both of them felt. "You are old, grandfather," he said. + +"Ah, Senores," the old man sighed, "the Professor does not allow me to +be young. I have been here years and years but he never allowed it. I +have served him well but it is still the same. I say to him, 'Master, I +have served you long ...' but he interrupts me for he will have none of +youth. Young servants go among the villages, he says. And so, and so..." + +"You do not think your master can give you youth!" said Rodriguez. + +The old man knew that he had talked too much, voicing that grievance +again of which even the rocks were weary. "Yes," he said briefly, and +bowed and led the way into the house. In one of the corridors running +out of the hall down which he was leading silently, Rodriguez overtook +that old man and questioned him to his face. + +"Who is this professor?" he said. + +By the light of a torch that spluttered in an iron clamp on the wall +Rodriguez questioned him with these words, and Morano with his +wondering, wistful eyes. The old man halted and turned half round, and +lifted his head and answered. "In the University of Saragossa," he said +with pride, "he holds the Chair of Magic." + +Even the names of Oxford or Cambridge, Harvard or Yale or Princeton, +move some respect, and even yet in these unlearned days. What wonder +then that the name of Saragossa heard on that lonely mountain awoke in +Rodriguez some emotion of reverence and even awed Morano. As for the +Chair of Magic, it was of all the royal endowments of that illustrious +University the most honoured and dreaded. + +"At Saragossa!" Rodriguez muttered. + +"At Saragossa," the old man affirmed. + +Between that ancient citadel of learning and this most savage mountain +appeared a gulf scarce to be bridged by thought. + +"The Professor rests in his mountain," the old man said, "because of a +conjunction of the stars unfavourable to study, and his class have gone +to their homes for many weeks." He bowed again and led on along that +corridor of dismal stone. The others followed, and still as Rodriguez +went that famous name Saragossa echoed within his mind. + +And then they came to a door set deep in the stone, and their guide +opened it and they went in; and there was the Professor in a mystical +hat and a robe of dim purple, seated with his back to them at a table, +studying the ways of the stars. "Welcome, Don Rodriguez," said the +Professor before he turned round; and then he rose, and with small +steps backwards and sideways and many bows, he displayed all those +formulae of politeness that Saragossa knew in the golden age and which +her professors loved to execute. In later years they became more +elaborate still, and afterwards were lost. + +Rodriguez replied rather by instinct than knowledge; he came of a house +whose bows had never missed graceful ease and which had in some +generations been a joy to the Court of Spain. Morano followed behind +him; but his servile presence intruded upon that elaborate ceremony, +and the Professor held up his hand, and Morano was held in mid stride +as though the air had gripped him. There he stood motionless, having +never felt magic before. And when the Professor had welcomed Rodriguez +in a manner worthy of the dignity of the Chair that he held at +Saragossa, he made an easy gesture and Morano was free again. + +"Master," said Morano to the Professor, as soon as he found he could +move, "master, it looks like magic." Picture to yourself some yokel +shown into the library of a professor of Greek at Oxford, taking down +from a shelf one of the books of the Odyssey, and saying to the +Professor, "It looks like Greek"! + +Rodriguez felt grieved by Morano's boorish ignorance. Neither he nor +his host answered him. + +The Professor explained that he followed the mysteries dimly, owing to +a certain aspect of Orion, and that therefore his class were gone to +their homes and were hunting; and so he studied alone under +unfavourable auspices. And once more he welcomed Rodriguez to his roof, +and would command straw to be laid down for the man that Rodriguez had +brought from the Inn of the Dragon and Knight; for he, the Professor, +saw all things, though certain stars would hide everything. + +And when Rodriguez had appropriately uttered his thanks, he added with +all humility and delicate choice of phrase a petition that he might be +shown some mere rudiment of the studies for which that illustrious +chair in Saragossa was famous. The Professor bowed again and, in +accepting the well-rounded compliments that Rodriguez paid to the +honoured post he occupied, he introduced himself by name. He had been +once, he said, the Count of the Mountain, but when his astral studies +had made him eminent and he had mastered the ways of the planet nearest +the sun he took the title Magister Mercurii, and by this had long been +known; but had now forsaken this title, great as it was, for a more +glorious nomenclature, and was called in the Arabic language the Slave +of Orion. When Rodriguez heard this he bowed very low. + +And now the Professor asked Rodriguez in which of the activities of +life his interest lay; for the Chair of Magic at Saragossa, he said, +was concerned with them all. + +"In war," said Rodriguez. + +And Morano unostentatiously rubbed his hands; for here was one, he +thought, who would soon put his master on the right way, and matters +would come to a head and they would find the wars. But far from +concerning himself with the wars of that age, the Slave of Orion +explained that as events came nearer they became grosser or more +material, and that their grossness did not leave them until they were +some while passed away; so that to one whose studies were with +aetherial things, near events were opaque and dim. He had a window, he +explained, through which Rodriguez should see clearly the ancient wars, +while another window beside it looked on all wars of the future except +those which were planned already or were coming soon to earth, and +which were either invisible or seen dim as through mist. + +Rodriguez said that to be privileged to see so classical an example of +magic would be to him both a delight and honour. Yet, as is the way of +youth, he more desired to have a sight of the wars than he cared for +all the learning of the Professor. + +And to him who held the Chair of Magic at Saragossa it was a precious +thing that his windows could be made to show these marvels, while the +guest to whom he was about to display these two gems of his learning +was thinking of little but what he should see through the windows, and +not at all of what spells, what midnight oil, what incantations, what +witchcrafts, what lonely hours among bats, had gone to the +gratification of his young curiosity. It is usually thus. + +The Professor rose: his cloak floated out from him as he left the +chamber, and Rodriguez following where he guided saw, by the torchlight +in the corridors, upon the dim purple border signs that, to his +untutored ignorance of magic, were no more than hints of the affairs of +the Zodiac. And if these signs were obscure it were better they were +obscurer, for they dealt with powers that man needs not to possess, who +has the whole earth to regulate and control; why then should he seek to +govern the course of any star? + +And Morano followed behind them, hoping to be allowed to get a sight of +the wars. + +They came to a room where two round windows were; each of them larger +than the very largest plate, and of very thick glass indeed, and of a +wonderful blue. The blue was like the blue of the Mediterranean at +evening, when lights are in it both of ships and of sunset, and lights +of harbours being lit one by one, and the light of Venus perhaps and +about two other stars, so deeply did it stare and so twinkled, near its +edges, with lights that were strange to that room, and so triumphed +with its clear beauty over the night outside. No, it was more magical +than the Mediterranean at evening, even though the peaks of the +Esterels be purple and their bases melting in gold and the blue sea +lying below them smiling at early stars: these windows were more +mysterious than that; it was a more triumphant blue; it was like the +Mediterranean seen with the eyes of Shelley, on a happy day in his +youth, or like the sea round Western islands of fable seen by the fancy +of Keats. They were no windows for any need of ours, unless our dreams +be needs, unless our cries for the moon be urged by the same Necessity +as makes us cry for bread. They were clearly concerned only with magic +or poetry; though the Professor claimed that poetry was but a branch of +his subject; and it was so regarded at Saragossa, where it was taught +by the name of theoretical magic, while by the name of practical magic +they taught dooms, brews, hauntings, and spells. + +The Professor stood before the left-hand window and pointed to its +deep-blue centre. "Through this," he said, "we see the wars that were." + +Rodriguez looked into the deep-blue centre where the great bulge of the +glass came out towards him; it was near to the edges where the glass +seemed thinner that the little strange lights were dancing; Morano +dared to tiptoe a little nearer. Rodriguez looked and saw no night +outside. Just below and near to the window was white mist, and the dim +lines and smoke of what may have been recent wars; but farther away on +a plain of strangely vast dimensions he saw old wars that were. War +after war he saw. Battles that long ago had passed into history and had +been for many ages skilled, glorious and pleasant encounters he saw +even now tumbling before him in their savage confusion and dirt. He saw +a leader, long glorious in histories he had read, looking round +puzzled, to see what was happening, and in a very famous fight that he +had planned very well. He saw retreats that History called routs, and +routs that he had seen History calling retreats. He saw men winning +victories without knowing they had won. Never had man pried before so +shamelessly upon History, or found her such a liar. With his eyes on +the great blue glass Rodriguez forgot the room, forgot time, forgot his +host and poor excited Morano, as he watched those famous fights. + +And now my reader wishes to know what he saw and how it was that he was +able to see it. + +As regards the second, my reader will readily understand that the +secrets of magic are very carefully guarded, and any smatterings of it +that I may ever have come by I possess, for what they are worth, +subjects to oaths and penalties at which even bad men shudder. My +reader will be satisfied that even those intimate bonds between reader +and writer are of no use to him here. I say him as though I had only +male readers, but if my reader be a lady I leave the situation +confidently to her intuition. As for the things he saw, of all of these +I am at full liberty to write, and yet, my reader, they would differ +from History's version: never a battle that Rodriguez saw on all the +plain that swept away from that circular window, but History wrote +differently. And now, my reader, the situation is this: who am I? +History was a goddess among the Greeks, or is at least a distinguished +personage, perhaps with a well-earned knighthood, and certainly with +widespread recognition amongst the Right Kind of People. I have none of +these things. Whom, then, would you believe? + +Yet I would lay my story confidently before you, my reader, trusting in +the justice of my case and in your judicial discernment, but for one +other thing. What will the Goddess Clio say, or the well-deserving +knight, if I offend History? She has stated her case, Sir Bartimeus has +written it, and then so late in the day I come with a different story, +a truer but different story. What will they do? Reader, the future is +dark, uncertain and long; I dare not trust myself to it if I offend +History. Clio and Sir Bartimeus will make hay of my reputation; an +innuendo here, a foolish fact there, they know how to do it, and not a +soul will suspect the goddess of personal malice or the great historian +of pique. Rodriguez gazed then through the deep blue window, forgetful +of all around, on battles that had not all the elegance or neatness of +which our histories so tidily tell. And as he gazed upon a merry +encounter between two men on the fringe of an ancient fight he felt a +touch on his shoulder and then almost a tug, and turning round beheld +the room he was in. How long he had been absent from it in thought he +did not know, but the Professor was still standing with folded arms +where he had left him, probably well satisfied with the wonder that his +most secret art had awakened in his guest. It was Morano who touched +his shoulder, unable to hold back any longer his impatience to see the +wars; his eyes as Rodriguez turned round were gazing at his master with +dog-like wistfulness. + +The absurd eagerness of Morano, his uncouth touch on his shoulder, +seemed only pathetic to Rodriguez. He looked at the Professor's face, +the nose like a hawk's beak, the small eyes deep down beside it, dark +of hue and dreadfully bright, the silent lips. He stood there uttering +no actual prohibition, concerning which Rodriguez's eyes had sought; +so, stepping aside from his window, Rodriguez beckoned Morano, who at +once ran forward delighted to see those ancient wars. + +A slight look of scorn showed faint upon the Professor's face such as +you may see anywhere when a master-craftsman perceives the gaze of the +ignorant turned towards his particular subject. But he said no word, +and soon speech would have been difficult, for the loud clamour of +Morano filled the room: he had seen the wars and his ecstasies were +ungoverned. As soon as he saw those fights he looked for the Infidels, +for his religious mind most loved to see the Infidel slain. And if my +reader discern or suppose some gulf between religion and the recent +business of the Inn of the Dragon and Knight, Morano, if driven to +admit any connection between murder and his daily bread, would have +said, "All the more need then for God's mercy through the intercession +of His most blessed Saints." But these words had never passed Morano's +lips, for shrewd as he was in enquiry into any matter that he desired +to know, his shrewdness was no less in avoiding enquiry where there +might be something that he desired not to know, such as the origin of +his wages as servant of the Inn of the Dragon and Knight, those +delicate gold rings with settings empty of jewels. + +Morano soon recognized the Infidel by his dress, and after that no +other wars concerned him. He slapped his thigh, he shouted +encouragement, he howled vile words of abuse, partly because he +believed that this foul abuse was rightly the due of the Infidel, and +partly because he believed it delighted God. + +Rodriguez stood and watched, pleased at the huge joy of the simple man. +The Slave of Orion stood watching in silence too, but who knows if he +felt pleasure or any other emotion? Perhaps his mind was simply like +ours; perhaps, as has been claimed by learned men of the best-informed +period, that mind had some control upon the comet, even when farthest +out from the paths we know. Morano turned round for a moment to +Rodriguez: + +"Good wars, master, good wars," he said with a vast zest, and at once +his head was back again at that calm blue window. In that flash of the +head Rodriguez had seen his eyes, blue, round and bulging; the round +man was like a boy who in some shop window has seen, unexpected, huge +forbidden sweets. Clearly, in the war he watched things were going well +for the Cross, for such cries came from Morano as "A pretty stroke," +"There now, the dirty Infidel," "Now see God's power shown," "Spare him +not, good knight; spare him not," and many more, till, uttered faster +and faster, they merged into mere clamorous rejoicing. + +But the battles beyond the blue window seemed to move fast, and now a +change was passing across Morano's rejoicings. It was not that he swore +more for the cause of the Cross, but brief, impatient, meaningless +oaths slipped from him now; he was becoming irritable; a puzzled look, +so far as Rodriguez could see, was settling down on his features. For a +while he was silent except for the little, meaningless oaths. Then he +turned round from the glass, his hands stretched out, his face full of +urgent appeal. + +"Masters," he said, "God's enemy wins!" + +In answer to Morano's pitiful look Rodriguez' hand went to his +sword-hilt; the Slave of Orion merely smiled with his lips; Morano +stood there with his hands still stretched out, his face still all +appeal, and something more for there was reproach in his eyes that men +could tarry while the Cross was in danger and the Infidel lived. He did +not know that it was all finished and over hundreds of years ago, a +page of history upon which many pages were turned, and which lay as +unalterable as the fate of some warm swift creature of early Eocene +days over whose fossil today the strata lie long and silent. + +"But can nothing be done, master?" he said when Rodriguez told him +this. And when Rodriguez failed him here, he turned away from the +window. To him the Infidel were game, but to see them defeating +Christian knights violated the deeps of his feelings. + +Morano sulky excited little more notice from his host and his master +who had watched his rejoicings, and they seem to have forgotten this +humble champion of Christendom. The Professor slightly bowed to +Rodriguez and extended a graceful hand. He pointed to the other window. + +Reader, your friend shows you his collection of stamps, his fossils, +his poems, or his luggage labels. One of them interests you, you look +at it awhile, you are ready to go away: then your friend shows you +another. This also must be seen; for your friend's collection is a +precious thing; it is that point upon huge Earth on which his spirit +has lit, on which it rests, on which it shelters even (who knows from +what storms?). To slight it were to weaken such hold as his spirit has, +in its allotted time, upon this sphere. It were like breaking the twig +of a plant upon which a butterfly rests, and on some stormy day and +late in the year. + +Rodriguez felt all this dimly, but no less surely; and went to the +other window. + +Below the window were those wars that were soon coming to Spain, hooded +in mist and invisible. In the centre of the window swam as profound a +blue, dwindling to paler splendour at the edge, the wandering lights +were as lovely, as in the other window just to the left; but in the +view from the right-hand window how sombre a difference. A bare yard +separated the two. Through the window to the left was colour, courtesy, +splendour; there was Death at least disguising himself, well cloaked, +taking mincing steps, bowing, wearing a plume in his hat and a decent +mask. In the right-hand window all the colours were fading, war after +war they grew dimmer; and as the colours paled Death's sole purpose +showed clearer. Through the beautiful left-hand window were killings to +be seen, and less mercy than History supposes, yet some of the fighters +were merciful, and mercy was sometimes a part of Death's courtly pose, +which went with the cloak and the plume. But in the other window +through that deep, beautiful blue Rodriguez saw Man make a new ally, an +ally who was only cruel and strong and had no purpose but killing, who +had no pretences or pose, no mask and no manner, but was only the slave +of Death and had no care but for his business. He saw it grow bigger +and stronger. Heart it had none, but he saw its cold steel core +scheming methodical plans and dreaming always destruction. Before it +faded men and their fields and their houses. Rodriguez saw the machine. + +Many a proud invention of ours that Rodriguez saw raging on that +ruinous plain he might have anticipated, but not for all Spain would he +have done so: it was for the sake of Spain that he was silent about +much that he saw through that window. As he looked from war to war he +saw almost the same men fighting, men with always the same attitude to +the moment and with similar dim conception of larger, vaguer things; +grandson differed imperceptibly from grandfather; he saw them fight +sometimes mercifully, sometimes murderously, but in all the wars beyond +that twinkling window he saw the machine spare nothing. + +Then he looked farther, for the wars that were farthest from him in +time were farther away from the window. He looked farther and saw the +ruins of Peronne. He saw them all alone with their doom at night, all +drenched in white moonlight, sheltering huge darkness in their stricken +hollows. Down the white street, past darkness after darkness as he went +by the gaping rooms that the moon left mourning alone, Rodriguez saw a +captain going back to the wars in that far-future time, who turned his +head a moment as he passed, looking Rodriguez in the face, and so went +on through the ruins to find a floor on which to lie down for the +night. When he was gone the street was all alone with disaster, and +moonlight pouring down, and the black gloom in the houses. + +Rodriguez lifted his eyes and glanced from city to city, to Albert, +Bapaume, and Arras, his gaze moved over a plain with its harvest of +desolation lying forlorn and ungathered, lit by the flashing clouds and +the moon and peering rockets. He turned from the window and wept. + +The deep round window glowed with serene blue glory. It seemed a +foolish thing to weep by that beautiful glass. Morano tried to comfort +him. That calm, deep blue, he felt, and those little lights, surely, +could hurt no one. + +What had Rodriguez seen? Morano asked. But that Rodriguez would not +answer, and told no man ever after what he had seen through that window. + +The Professor stood silent still: he had no comfort to offer; indeed +his magical wisdom had found none for the world. + +You wonder perhaps why the Professor did not give long ago to the world +some of these marvels that are the pride of our age. Reader, let us put +aside my tale for a moment to answer this. For all the darkness of his +sinister art there may well have been some good in the Slave of Orion; +and any good there was, and mere particle even, would surely have +spared the world many of those inventions that our age has not spared +it. Blame not the age, it is now too late to stop; it is in the grip of +inventions now, and has to go on; we cannot stop content with +mustard-gas; it is the age of Progress, and our motto is Onwards. And +if there was no good in this magical man, then may it not have been he +who in due course, long after he himself was safe from life, caused our +inventions to be so deadly divulged? Some evil spirit has done it, then +why not he? + +He stood there silent: let us return to our story. + +Perhaps the efforts of poor clumsy Morano to comfort him cheered +Rodriguez and sent him back to the window, perhaps he turned from them +to find comfort of his own; but, however he came by it, he had a hope +that this was a passing curse that had come on the world, whose welfare +he cared for whether he lived or died, and that looking a little +farther into the future he would see Mother Earth smiling and her +children happy again. So he looked through the deep-blue luminous +window once more, beyond the battles we know. From this he turned back +shuddering. + +Again he saw the Professor smile with his lips, though whether at his +own weakness, or whether with cynical mirth at the fate of the world, +Rodriguez could not say. + + + + +THE FOURTH CHRONICLE + +HOW HE CAME TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE SUN + + +The Professor said that in curiosity alone had been found the seeds of +all that is needful for our damnation. Nevertheless, he said, if +Rodriguez cared to see more of his mighty art the mysteries of +Saragossa were all at his guest's disposal. + +Rodriguez, sad and horrified though he was, forgot none of his +courtesy. He thanked the Professor and praised the art of Saragossa, +but his faith in man and his hope for the world having been newly +disappointed, he cared little enough for the things we should care to +see or for any of the amusements that are usually dear to youth. + +"I shall be happy to see anything, senor," he said to the Slave of +Orion, "that is further from our poor Earth, and to study therein and +admire your famous art." + +The Professor bowed. He drew small curtains over the windows, matching +his cloak. Morano sought a glimpse through the right-hand window before +the curtains covered it. Rodriguez held him back. Enough had been seen +already, he thought, through that window for the peace of mind of the +world: but he said no word to Morano. He held him by the arm, and the +Professor covered the windows. When the little mauve curtains were +drawn it seemed to Rodriguez that the windows behind them disappeared +and were there no more; but this he only guessed from uncertain +indications. + +Then the Professor drew forth his wand and went to his cupboard of +wonder. Thence he brought condiments, oils, and dews of amazement. +These he poured into a vessel that was in the midst of the room, a bowl +of agate standing alone on a table. He lit it and it all welled up in +flame, a low broad flame of the colour of pale emerald. Over this he +waved his wand, which was of exceeding blackness. Morano watched as +children watch the dancer, who goes from village to village when spring +is come, with some new dance out of Asia or some new song.[Footnote: He +doesn't, but why shouldn't he?] Rodriguez sat and waited. The Professor +explained that to leave this Earth alive, or even dead, was prohibited +to our bodies, unless to a very few, whose names were hidden. Yet the +spirits of men could by incantation be liberated, and being liberated, +could be directed on journeys by such minds as had that power passed +down to them from of old. Such journeys, he said, were by no means +confined by the hills of Earth. "The Saints," exclaimed Morano, "guard +us utterly!" But Rodriguez smiled a little. His faith was given to the +Saints of Heaven. He wondered at their wonders, he admired their +miracles, he had little faith to spare for other marvels; in fact he +did not believe the Slave of Orion. + +"Do you desire such a journey?" said the Professor. + +"It will delight me," answered Rodriguez, "to see this example of your +art." + +"And you?" he said to Morano. + +The question seemed to alarm the placid Morano, but "I follow my +master," he said. + +At once the Professor stretched out his ebony wand, calling the green +flame higher. Then he put out his hands over the flame, without the +wand, moving them slowly with constantly tremulous fingers. And all at +once they heard him begin to speak. His deep voice flowed musically +while he scarcely seemed to be speaking but seemed only to be concerned +with moving his hands. It came soft, as though blown faint from +fabulous valleys, illimitably far from the land of Spain. It seemed +full not so much of magic as mere sleep, either sleep in an unknown +country of alien men, or sleep in a land dreamed sleeping a long while +since. As the travellers heard it they thought of things far away, of +mythical journeys and their own earliest years. + +They did not know what he said or what language he used. At first +Rodriguez thought Moorish, then he deemed it some secret language come +down from magicians of old, while Morano merely wondered; and then they +were lulled by the rhythm of those strange words, and so enquired no +more. Rodriguez pictured some sad wandering angel, upon some +mountain-peak of African lands, resting a moment and talking to the +solitudes, telling the lonely valley the mysteries of his home. While +lulled though Morano was he gave up his alertness uneasily. All the +while the green flame flooded upwards: all the while the tremulous +fingers made curious shadows. The shadow seemed to run to Rodriguez and +beckon him thence: even Morano felt them calling. Rodriguez closed his +eyes. The voice and the Moorish spells made now a more haunting melody: +they were now like a golden organ on undiscoverable mountains. Fear +came on Morano at the thought: who had power to speak like this? He +grasped Rodriguez by the wrist. "Master!" he said, but at that moment +on one of those golden spells the spirit of Rodriguez drifted away from +his body, and out of the greenish light of the curious room; unhampered +by weight, or fatigue, or pain, or sleep; and it rose above the rocks +and over the mountain, an unencumbered spirit: and the spirit of Morano +followed. + +The mountain dwindled at once; the Earth swept out all round them and +grew larger, and larger still, and then began to dwindle. They saw then +that they were launched upon some astounding journey. Does my reader +wonder they saw when they had no eyes? They saw as they had never seen +before, with sight beyond what they had ever thought to be possible. +Our eyes gather in light, and with the little rays of light that they +bring us we gather a few images of things as we suppose them to be. +Pardon me, reader, if I call them things as we suppose them to be; call +them by all means Things As They Really Are, if you wish. These images +then, this tiny little brainful that we gather from the immensities, +are all brought in by our eyesight upside-down, and the brain corrects +them again; and so, and so we know something. An oculist will tell you +how it all works. He may admit it is all a little clumsy, or for the +dignity of his profession he may say it is not at all. But be this as +it may, our eyes are but barriers between us and the immensities. All +our five senses that grope a little here and touch a little there, and +seize, and compare notes, and get a little knowledge sometimes, they +are only barriers between us and what there is to know. Rodriguez and +Morano were outside these barriers. They saw without the imperfections +of eyesight; they heard on that journey what would have deafened ears; +they went through our atmosphere unburned by speed, and were unchilled +in the bleak of the outer spaces. Thus freed of the imperfections of +the body they sped, no less upon a terrible journey, whose direction as +yet Rodriguez only began to fear. + +They had seen the stars pale rapidly and then the flash of dawn. The +Sun rushed up and at once began to grow larger. Earth, with her curved +sides still diminishing violently, was soon a small round garden in +blue and filmy space, in which mountains were planted. And still the +Sun was growing wider and wider. And now Rodriguez, though he knew +nothing of Sun or planets, perceived the obvious truth of their +terrible journey: they were heading straight for the Sun. But the +spirit of Morano was merely astounded; yet, being free of the body he +suffered none of those inconveniences that perturbation may bring to +us: spirits do not gasp, or palpitate, or weaken, or sicken. + +The dwindling Earth seemed now no more than the size of some unmapped +island seen from a mountain-top, an island a hundred yards or so +across, looking like a big table. + +Speed is comparative: compared to sound, their pace was beyond +comparison; nor could any modern projectile attain any velocity +comparable to it; even the speed of explosion was slow to it. And yet +for spirits they were moving slowly, who being independent of all +material things, travel with such velocities as that, for instance, of +thought. But they were controlled by one still dwelling on Earth, who +used material things, and the material that the Professor was using to +hurl them upon their journey was light, the adaptation of which to this +purpose he had learned at Saragossa. At the pace of light they were +travelling towards the Sun. + +They crossed the path of Venus, far from where Venus then was, so that +she scarcely seemed larger to them; Earth was but little bigger than +the Evening Star, looking dim in that monstrous daylight. + +Crossing the path of Mercury, Mercury appeared huger than our Moon, an +object weirdly unnatural; and they saw ahead of them the terrific glare +in which Mercury basks, from a Sun whose withering orb had more than +doubled its width since they came from the hills of Earth. And after +this the Sun grew terribly larger, filling the centre of the sky, and +spreading and spreading and spreading. It was now that they saw what +would have dazzled eyes, would have burned up flesh and would have +shrivelled every protection that our scientists' ingenuity could have +devised even today. To speak of time there is meaningless. There is +nothing in the empty space between the Sun and Mercury with which time +is at all concerned. Far less is there meaning in time wherever the +spirits of men are under stress. A few minutes' bombardment in a +trench, a few hours in a battle, a few weeks' travelling in a trackless +country; these minutes, these hours, these weeks can never be few. + +Rodriguez and Morano had been travelling about six or seven minutes, +but it seems idle to say so. + +And then the Sun began to fill the whole sky in front of them. And in +another minute, if minutes had any meaning, they were heading for a +boundless region of flame that, left and right, was everywhere, and now +towered above them, and went below them into a flaming abyss. + +And now Morano spoke to Rodriguez. He thought towards him, and +Rodriguez was aware of his thinking: it is thus that spirits +communicate. + +"Master," he said, "when it was all spring in Spain, years ago when I +was thin and young, twenty years gone at least; and the butterflies +were come, and song was everywhere; there came a maid bare-footed over +a stream, walking through flowers, and all to pluck the anemones." How +fair she seemed even now, how bright that far spring day. Morano told +Rodriguez not with his blundering lips: they were closed and resting +deeply millions of miles away: he told him as spirits tell. And in that +clear communication Rodriguez saw all that shone in Morano's memory, +the grace of the young girl's ankles, the thrill of Spring, the +anemones larger and brighter than anemones ever were, the hawks still +in clear sky; earth happy and heaven blue, and the dreams of youth +between. You would not have said, had you seen Morano's coarse fat +body, asleep in a chair in the Professor's room, that his spirit +treasured such delicate, nymph-like, pastoral memories as now shone +clear to Rodriguez. No words the blunt man had ever been able to utter +had ever hinted that he sometimes thought like a dream of pictures by +Watteau. And now in that awful space before the power of the terrible +Sun, spirit communed with spirit, and Rodriguez saw the beauty of that +far day, framed all about the beauty of one young girl, just as it had +been for years in Morano's memory. How shall I tell with words what +spirit sang wordless to spirit? We poets may compete with each other in +words; but when spirits give up the purest gold of their store, that +has shone far down the road of their earthly journey, cheering tired +hearts and guiding mortal feet, our words shall barely interpret. + +Love, coming long ago over flowers in Spain, found Morano; words did +not tell the story, words cannot tell it; as a lake reflects a cloud in +the blue of heaven, so Rodriguez understood and felt and knew this +memory out of the days of Morano's youth. "And so, master," said +Morano, "I sinned, and would indeed repent, and yet even now at this +last dread hour I cannot abjure that day; and this is indeed Hell, as +the good father said." + +Rodriguez tried to comfort Morano with such knowledge as he had of +astronomy, if knowledge it could be called. Indeed, if he had known +anything he would have perplexed Morano more, and his little pieces of +ignorance were well adapted for comfort. But Morano had given up hope, +having long been taught to expect this very fire: his spirit was no +wiser than it had been on Earth, it was merely freed of the +imperfections of the five senses and so had observation and expression +beyond those of any artist the world has known. This was the natural +result of being freed of the body; but he was not suddenly wiser; and +so, as he moved towards this boundless flame, he expected every moment +to see Satan charge out to meet him: and having no hope for the future +he turned to the past and fondled the memory of that one spring day. +His was a backsliding, unrepentant spirit. + +As that monstrous sea of flame grew ruthlessly larger Rodriguez felt no +fear, for spirits have no fear of material things: but Morano feared. +He feared as spirits fear spiritual things; he thought he neared the +home of vast spirits of evil and that the arena of conflict was +eternity. He feared with a fear too great to be borne by bodies. +Perhaps the fat body that slept on a chair on earth was troubled in +dreams by some echo of that fear that gripped the spirit so sorely. And +it may be from such far fears that all our nightmares come. + +When they had travelled nearly ten minutes from Earth and were about to +pass into the midst of the flame, that magician who controlled their +journey halted them suddenly in Space, among the upper mountain-peaks +of the Sun. There they hovered as the clouds hover that leave their +companions and drift among crags of the Alps: below them those awful +mountains heaved and thundered. All Atlas, and Teneriffe, and lonely +Kenia might have lain amongst them unnoticed. As often as the +earthquake rocked their bases it loosened from near their summits wild +avalanches of gold that swept down their flaming slopes with +unthinkable tumult. As they watched, new mountains rode past them, +crowned with their frightful flames; for, whether man knew it or not, +the Sun was rotating, but the force of its gravity that swung the +planets had no grip upon spirits, who were held by the power of that +tremendous spell that the Professor had learned one midnight at +Saragossa from one of that dread line who have their secrets from a +source that we do not know in a distant age. + +There is always something tremendous in the form of great mountains; +but these swept by, not only huger than anything Earth knows, but +troubled by horrible commotions, as though overtaken in flight by some +ceaseless calamity. + +Rodriguez and Morano, as they looked at them, forgetting the gardens of +Earth, forgetting Spring and Summer and the sweet beneficence of +sunshine, felt that the purpose of Creation was evil! So shocking a +thought may well astound us here, where green hills slope to lawns or +peer at a peaceful sea; but there among the flames of those dreadful +peaks the Sun seemed not the giver of joy and colour and life, but only +a catastrophe huger than everlasting war, a centre of hideous violence +and ruin and anger and terror. There came by mountains of copper +burning everlasting, hurling up to unthinkable heights their mass of +emerald flame. And mountains of iron raged by and mountains of salt, +quaking and thundering and clothed with their colours, the iron always +scarlet and the salt blue. And sometimes there came by pinnacles a +thousand miles high that from base to summit were fire, mountains of +pure flame that had no other substance. And these explosive mountains, +born of thunder and earthquake, hurling down avalanches the size of our +continents, and drawing upward out of the deeps of the Sun new material +for splendour and horror, this roaring waste, this extravagant +destruction, were necessary for every tint that our butterflies wear on +their wings. Without those flaming ranges of mountains of iron they +would have no red to show; even the poppy could have no red for her +petals: without the flames that were blasting the mountains of salt +there could be no answering blue in any wing, or one blue flower for +all the bees of Earth: without the nightmare light of those frightful +canyons of copper that awed the two spirits watching their ceaseless +ruin, the very leaves of the woods we love would be without their green +with which to welcome Spring; for from the flames of the various metals +and wonders that for ever blaze in the Sun, our sunshine gets all its +colours that it conveys to us almost unseen, and thence the wise little +insects and patient flowers softly draw the gay tints that they glory +in; there is nowhere else to get them. + +And yet to Rodriguez and Morano all that they saw seemed wholly and +hideously evil. + +How long they may have watched there they tried to guess afterwards, +but as they looked on those terrific scenes they had no way to separate +days from minutes: nothing about them seemed to escape destruction, and +time itself seemed no calmer than were those shuddering mountains. + +Then the thundering ranges passed; and afterwards there came a gleaming +mountain, one huge and lonely peak, seemingly all of gold. Had our +whole world been set beside it and shaped as it was shaped, that golden +mountain would yet have towered above it: it would have taken our moon +as well to reach that flashing peak. It rode on toward them in its +golden majesty, higher than all the flames, save now and then when some +wild gas seemed to flee from the dread earthquakes of the Sun, and was +overtaken in the height by fire, even above that mountain. + +As that mass of gold that was higher than all the world drew near to +Rodriguez and Morano they felt its unearthly menace; and though it +could not overcome their spirits they knew there was a hideous terror +about it. It was in its awful scale that its terror lurked for any +creature of our planet. Though they could not quake or tremble they +felt that terror. The mountain dwarfed Earth. + +Man knows his littleness, his own mountains remind him; many countries +are small, and some nations: but the dreams of Man make up for our +faults and failings, for the brevity of our lives, for the narrowness +of our scope; they leap over boundaries and are away and away. But this +great mountain belittled the world and all: who gazed on it knew all +his dreams to be puny. Before this mountain Man seemed a trivial thing, +and Earth, and all the dreams Man had of himself and his home. + +The golden mass drew opposite those two watchers and seemed to +challenge with its towering head the pettiness of the tiny world they +knew. And then the whole gleaming mountain gave one shudder and fell +into the awful plains of the Sun. Straight down before Rodriguez and +Morano it slipped roaring, till the golden peak was gone, and the +molten plain closed over it; and only ripples remained, the size of +Europe, as when a tumbling river strikes the rocks of its bed and on +its surface heaving circles widen and disappear. And then, as though +this horror left nothing more to be shown, they felt the Professor +beckon to them from Earth. + +Over the plains of the Sun a storm was sweeping in gusts of howling +flame as they felt the Professor's spell drawing them home. For the +magnitude of that storm there are no words in use among us; its +velocity, if expressed in figures, would have no meaning; its heat was +immeasurable. Suffice it to say that if such a tempest could have swept +over Earth for a second, both the poles would have boiled. The +travellers left it galloping over that plain, rippled from underneath +by the restless earthquake and whipped into flaming foam by the force +of the storm. The Sun already was receding from them, already growing +smaller. Soon the storm seemed but a cloud of light sweeping over the +empty plain, like a murderous mourner rushing swiftly away from the +grave of that mighty mountain. + +And now the Professor's spell gripped them in earnest: rapidly the Sun +grew smaller. As swiftly as he had sent them upon that journey he was +now drawing them home. They overtook thunders that they had heard +already, and passed them, and came again to the silent spaces which the +thunders of the Sun are unable to cross, so that even Mercury is +undisturbed by them. + +I have said that spirits neither fade nor weary. But a great sadness +was on them; they felt as men feel who come whole away from periods of +peril. They had seen cataclysms too vast for our imagination, and a +mournfulness and a satiety were upon them. They could have gazed at one +flower for days and needed no other experience, as a wounded man may be +happy staring at the flame of a candle. + +Crossing the paths of Mercury and Venus, they saw that these planets +had not appreciably moved, and Rodriguez, who knew that planets wander +in the night, guessed thereby that they had not been absent from Earth +for many hours. + +They rejoiced to see the Sun diminishing steadily. Only for a moment as +they started their journey had they seen that solar storm rushing over +the plains of the Sun; but now it appeared to hang halted in its mid +anger, as though blasting one region eternally. + +Moving on with the pace of light, they saw Earth, soon after crossing +the path of Venus, beginning to grow larger than a star. Never had home +appeared more welcome to wanderers, who see their house far off, +returning home. + +And as Earth grew larger, and they began to see forms that seemed like +seas and mountains, they looked for their own country, but could not +find it: for, travelling straight from the Sun, they approached that +part of the world that was then turned towards it, and were heading +straight for China, while Spain lay still in darkness. + +But when they came near Earth and its mountains were clear, then the +Professor drew them across the world, into the darkness and over Spain; +so that those two spirits ended their marvellous journey much as the +snipe ends his, a drop out of heaven and a swoop low over marshes. So +they came home, while Earth seemed calling to them with all her voices; +with memories, sights and scents, and little sounds; calling anxiously, +as though they had been too long away and must be home soon. They heard +a cock crow on the edge of the night; they heard more little sounds +than words can say; only the organ can hint at them. It was Earth +calling. For, talk as we may of our dreams that transcend this sphere, +or our hopes that build beyond it, Mother Earth has yet a mighty hold +upon us; and her myriad sounds were blending in one cry now, knowing +that it was late and that these two children of hers were nearly lost. +For our spirits that sometimes cross the path of the angels, and on +rare evenings hear a word of their talk, and have brief equality with +the Powers of Light, have the duty also of moving fingers and toes, +which freeze if our proud spirits forget their task for too long. + +And just as Earth was despairing they reached the Professor's mountain +and entered the room in which their bodies were. + +Blue and cold and ugly looked the body of Morano, but for all its +pallor there was beauty in the young face of Rodriguez. + +The Professor stood before them as he had stood when their spirits +left, with the table between him and the bodies, and the bowl on the +table which held the green flame, now low and flickering desperately, +which the Professor watched as it leaped and failed, with an air of +anxiety that seemed to pinch his thin features. + +With an impatience strange to him he waved a swift hand towards each of +the two bodies where they sat stiff, illumined by the last of the green +light; and at those rapid gestures the travellers returned to their +habitations. + +They seemed to be just awakening out of deep sleep. Again they saw the +Professor standing before them. But they saw him only with blinking +eyes, they saw him only as eyes can see, guessing at his mind from the +lines of his face, at his thoughts from the movements of his hands, +guessing as men guess, blindly: only a moment before they had known him +utterly. Now they were dazed and forgetting: slow blood began to creep +again to their toes and to come again to its place under fingernails: +it came with intense pain: they forgot their spirits. Then all the woes +of Earth crowded their minds at once, so that they wished to weep, as +infants weep. + +The Professor gave this mood time to change, as change it presently +did. For the warm blood came back and lit their cheeks, and a tingling +succeeded the pain in their fingers and toes, and a mild warmth +succeeded the tingling: their thoughts came back to the things of every +day, to mundane things and the affairs of the body. Therein they +rejoiced, and Morano no less than Rodriguez; though it was a coarse and +common body that Morano's spirit inhabited. And when the Professor saw +that the first sorrow of Earth, which all spirits feel when they land +here, had passed away, and that they were feeling again the joy of +mundane things, only then did he speak. + +"Senor," he said, "beyond the path of Mars run many worlds that I would +have you know. The greatest of these is Jupiter, towards whom all that +follow my most sacred art show reverent affection. The smallest are +those that sometimes strike our world, flaming all green upon November +nights, and are even as small as apples." He spoke of our world with a +certain air and a pride, as though, through virtue of his transcendent +art, the world were only his. "The world that we name Argola," he said, +"is far smaller than Spain and, being invisible from Earth, is only +known to the few who have spoken to spirits whose wanderings have +surpassed the path of Mars. Nearly half of Argola you shall find +covered with forests, which though very dense are no deeper than moss, +and the elephants in them are not larger than beetles. You shall see +many wonders of smallness in this world of Argola, which I desire in +especial to show you, since it is the orb with which we who study the +Art are most familiar, of all the worlds that the vulgar have not +known. It is indeed the prize of our traffic in those things that far +transcend the laws that have forbidden them." + +And as he said this the green flame in the bowl before him died, and he +moved towards his cupboard of wonder. Rodriguez hastily thanked the +Professor for his great courtesy in laying bare before him secrets that +the centuries hid, and then he referred to his own great unworthiness, +to the lateness of the hour, to the fatigue of the Professor, and to +the importance to Learning of adequate rest to refresh his illustrious +mind. And all that he said the Professor parried with bows, and drew +enchantments from his cupboard of wonder to replenish the bowl on the +table. And Rodriguez saw that he was in the clutch of a collector, one +who having devoted all his days to a hobby will exhibit his treasures +to the uttermost, and that the stars that magic knows were no less to +the Professor than all the whatnots that a man collects and insists on +showing to whomsoever enters his house. He feared some terrible +journey, perhaps some bare escape; for though no material thing can +quite encompass a spirit, he knew not what wanderers he might not meet +in lonely spaces beyond the path of Mars. So when his last polite +remonstrance failed, being turned aside with a pleasant phrase and a +smile from the grim lips, and looking at Morano he saw that he shared +his fears, then he determined to show whatever resistance were needed +to keep himself and Morano in this old world that we know, or that +youth at least believes that it knows. + +He watched the Professor return with his packets of wonder; dust from a +fallen star, phials of tears of lost lovers, poison and gold out of +elf-land, and all manner of things. But the moment that he put them +into the bowl Rodriguez' hand flew to his sword-hilt. He heaved up his +elbow, but no sword came forth, for it lay magnetised to its scabbard +by the grip of a current of magic. When Rodriguez saw this he knew not +what to do. + +The Professor went on pouring into the bowl. He added an odour +distilled out of dream-roses, three drops from the gall-bladder of a +fabulous beast, and a little dust that had been man. More too he added, +so that my reader might wonder were I to tell him all; yet it is not so +easy to free our spirits from the gross grip of our bodies. Wonder not +then, my reader, if the Professor exerted strange powers. And all the +while Morano was picking at a nail that fastened on the handle to his +frying-pan. + +And just as the last few mysteries were shaken into the bowl,--and +there were two among them of which even Asia is ignorant,--just as the +dews were blended with the powers in a grey-green sinister harmony, +Morano untwisted his nail and got the handle loose. + +The Professor kindled the mixture in the bowl; again green flame arose, +again that voice of his began to call to their spirits, and its beauty +and the power of its spell were as of some fallen angel. The spirit of +Rodriguez was nearly passing helplessly forth again on some frightful +journey, when Morano losed his scabbard and sword from its girdle and +tied the handle of his frying-pan across it a little below the hilt +with a piece of string. Across the table the Professor intoned his +spell, across a narrow table, but it seemed to come from the far side +of the twilight, a twilight red and golden in long layers, of an +evening wonderfully long ago. It seemed to take its music out of the +lights that it flowed through and to call Rodriguez from immediately +far away, with a call which it were sacrilege to refuse, and anguish +even, and hard toil such as there was no strength to do. And then +Morano held up the sword in its scabbard with the handle of the +frying-pan tied across. Rodriguez, disturbed by a stammer in the spell, +looked up and saw the Professor staring at the sword where Morano held +it up before his face in the green light of the flame from the bowl. He +did not seem like a fallen angel now. His spell had stopped. He seemed +like a professor who had forgotten the theme of his lecture, while the +class waits. For Morano was holding up the sign of the cross. + +"You have betrayed me!" shouted the Slave of Orion: the green flame +died, and he strode out of the room, his purple cloak floating behind +him. + +"Master," Morano said, "it was always good against magic." + +The sword was loose in the scabbard as Rodriguez took it back; there +was no longer a current of magic gripping the steel. + +A little uneasily Rodriguez thanked Morano: he was not sure if Morano +had behaved as a guest's servant should. But when he thought of the +Professor's terrible spells, which had driven them to the awful crags +of the sun, and might send them who knows where to hob-nob with who +knows what, his second thoughts perceived that Morano was right to cut +short those arts that the Slave of Orion loved, even by so extreme a +step: and he praised Morano as his ready shrewdness deserved. + +"We were very nearly too late back from that outing, master," remarked +Morano. + +"How know you that?" said Rodriguez. + +"This old body knew," said Morano. "Those heart-thumpings, this +warmness, and all the things that make a fat body comfortable, they +were stopping, master, they were spoiling, they were getting cold and +strange: I go no more errands for that senor." + +A certain diffidence about criticising his host even now; and a very +practical vein that ran through his nature, now showing itself in +anxiety for a bed at so late an hour, led Rodriguez to change the +subject. He wanted that aged butler, yet dare not ring the bell; for he +feared lest with all the bells there might be in use that frightful +practice that he had met by the outer door, a chain connected with some +hideous hook that gave anguish to something in the basement whenever +one touched the handle, so that the menials of that grim Professor were +shrilly summoned by screams. And therefore Rodriguez sought counsel of +Morano, who straightway volunteered to find the butler's quarters, by a +certain sense that he had of the fitness of things: and forth he went, +but would not leave the room without the scabbard and the handle of the +frying-pan lashed to it, which he bore high before him in both his +hands as though he were leading some austere procession. And even so he +returned with that aged man the butler, who led them down dim corridors +of stone; but, though he showed the way, Morano would go in front, +still holding up that scabbard and handle before him, while Rodriguez +held the bare sword. And so they came to a room lit by the flare of one +candle, which their guide told them the Professor had prepared for his +guest. In the vastness of it was a great bed. Shadows and a whir as of +wings passed out of the door as they entered. "Bats," said the ancient +guide. But Morano believed he had routed powers of evil with the handle +of his frying-pan and his master's scabbard. Who could say what they +were in such a house, where bats and evil spirits sheltered perennially +from the brooms of the just? Then that ancient man with the lips of +some woodland thing departed, and Rodriguez went to the great bed. On a +pile of straw that had been cast into the room Morano lay down across +the door, setting the scabbard upright in a rat-hole near his head, +while Rodriguez lay down with the bare sword in his hand. There was +only one door in the room, and this Morano guarded. Windows there were, +but they were shuttered with raw oak of enormous thickness. He had +already enquired with his sword behind the velvet curtains. He felt +secure in the bulk of Morano across the only door, at least from +creatures of this world: and Morano feared no longer either spirit or +spell, believing that he had vanquished the Professor with his symbol, +and all such allies as he may have had here or elsewhere. But not thus +easily do we overcome the powers of evil. + +A step was heard such as man walks with at the close of his later +years, coming along the corridor of stone; and they knew it for the +Professor's butler returning. The latch of the door trembled and +lifted, and the great oak door bumped slowly against Morano, who arose +grumbling, and the old man appeared. + +"The Professor," he said, while Morano watched him grudgingly, "returns +with all his household to Saragossa at once, to resume those studies +for which his name resounds, a certain conjunction of the stars having +come favourably." + +Even Morano doubted that so suddenly the courses of the stars, which he +deemed to be gradual, should have altered from antagonism towards the +Professor's art into a favourable aspect. Rodriguez sleepily +acknowledged the news and settled himself to sleep, still sword in +hand, when the servitor repeated with as much emphasis as his aged +voice could utter, "With all his household, senor." + +"Yes," muttered Rodriguez. "Farewell." + +And repeating again, "He takes his household with him," the old man +shuffled back from the room and hesitatingly closed the door. Before +the sound of his slow footsteps had failed to reach the room Morano was +asleep under his cross. Rodriguez still watched for a while the shadows +leaping and shuddering away from the candle, riding over the ceiling, +striding hugely along the walls, towards him and from him, as draughts +swayed the ruddy flame; then, gripping his sword still firmer in his +hand, as though that could avail against magic, he fell into the sleep +of tired men. + +No sound disturbed Rodriguez or Morano till both awoke in late morning +upon the rocks of the mountain. The sun had climbed over the crags and +now shone on their faces. Rodriguez was still lying with his sword +gripped in his hand, but the cross had fallen by Morano and now lay on +the rocks beside him with the handle of the frying-pan still tied in +its place by string. A young, wild, woodland squirrel gambolled near, +though there were no woods for it anywhere within sight: it leaped and +played as though rejoicing in youth, with such merriment as though +youth had but come to it newly or been lost and restored again. + +All over the mountain they looked but there was no house, nor any sign +of dwelling of man or spirit. + + + + +THE FIFTH CHRONICLE + +HOW HE RODE IN THE TWILIGHT AND SAW SERAFINA + + +Rodriguez, who loved philosophy, turned his mind at once to the journey +that lay before him, deciding which was the north; for he knew that it +was by the north that he must leave Spain, which he still desired to +leave since there were no wars in that country. + +Morano knew not clearly what philosophy was, yet he wasted no thoughts +upon the night that was gone; and, fitting up his frying-pan +immediately, he brought out what was left of his bacon and began to +look for material to make a fire. The bacon lay waiting in the +frying-pan for some while before this material was gathered, for +nothing grew on the mountain but a heath; and of that there were few +bushes, scattered here and there. + +Rodriguez, far from ruminating upon the events of the previous night, +realised as he watched these preparations that he was enormously +hungry. And when Morano had kindled a fire and the smell of cooking +arose, he who had held the chair of magic at Saragossa was banished +from both their minds, although upon this very spot they had spent so +strange a night; but where bacon is, and there be hungry men, the +things of yesterday are often forgotten. + +"Morano," said Rodriguez, "we must walk far to-day." + +"Indeed, master," said Morano, "we must push on to these wars; for you +have no castle, master, no lands, no fortune ..." + +"Come," said Rodriguez. + +Morano slung his frying-pan behind him: they had eaten up the last of +his bacon: he stood up, and they were ready for the journey. The smoke +from their meagre fire went thinly into the air, the small grey clouds +of it went slowly up: nothing beside remained to bid them farewell, or +for them to thank for their strange night's hospitality. They climbed +till they reached the rugged crest of the mountain; thence they saw a +wide plain and the morning: the day was waiting for them. + +The northern slope of the mountain was wholly different from that black +congregation of angry rocks through which they had climbed by night to +the House of Wonder. + +The slope that now lay before them was smooth and grassy, flowing +before them far, a gentle slope that was soon to lend speed to +Rodriguez' feet, adding nimbleness even to youth. Soon, too, it was to +lift onward the dull weight of Morano as he followed his master towards +unknown wars, youth going before him like a spirit and the good slope +helping behind. But before they gave themselves to that waiting journey +they stood a moment and looked at the shining plain that lay before +them like an open page, on which was the whole chronicle of that day's +wayfaring. There was the road they should travel by, there were the +streams it crossed and narrow woods they might rest in, and dim on the +farthest edge was the place they must spend that night. It was all, as +it were written, upon the plain they watched, but in a writing not +intended for them, and, clear although it be, never to be interpreted +by one of our race. Thus they saw clear, from a height, the road they +would go by, but not one of all the events to which it would lead them. + +"Master," said Morano, "shall we have more adventures to-day?" + +"I trust so," said Rodriguez. "We have far to go, and it will be dull +journeying without them." + +Morano turned his eyes from his master's face and looked back to the +plain. "There, master," he said, "where our road runs through a wood, +will our adventure be there, think you? Or there, perhaps," and he +waved his hand widely farther. + +"No," said Rodriguez, "we pass that in bright daylight." + +"Is that not good for adventure?" said Morano. + +"The romances teach," said Rodriguez, "that twilight or night are +better. The shade of deep woods is favourable, but there are no such +woods on this plain. When we come to evening we shall doubtless meet +some adventure, far over there." And he pointed to the grey rim of the +plain where it started climbing towards hills. + +"These are good days," said Morano. He forgot how short a time ago he +had said regretfully that these days were not as the old days. But our +race, speaking generally, is rarely satisfied with the present, and +Morano's cheerfulness had not come from his having risen suddenly +superior to this everyday trouble of ours; it came from his having +shifted his gaze to the future. Two things are highly tolerable to us, +and even alluring, the past and the future. It was only with the +present that Morano was ever dissatisfied. + +When Morano said that the days were good Rodriguez set out to find +them, or at least that one that for some while now lay waiting for them +on the plain. He strode down the slope at once and, endowing nature +with his own impatience, he felt that he heard the morning call to him +wistfully. Morano followed. + +For an hour these refugees escaping from peace went down the slope; and +in that hour they did five swift miles, miles that seemed to run by +them as they walked, and so they came lightly to the level plain. And +in the next hour they did four miles more. Words were few, either +because Morano brooded mainly upon one thought, the theme of which was +his lack of bacon, or because he kept his breath to follow his master +who, with youth and the morning, was coming out of the hills at a pace +not tuned to Morano's forty years or so. And at the end of these nine +miles Morano perceived a house, a little way from the road, on the +left, upon rising ground. A mile or so ahead they saw the narrow wood +that they had viewed in the morning from the mountain running across +the plain. They saw now by the lie of the ground that it probably +followed a stream, a pleasant place in which to take the rest demanded +by Spain at noon. It was just an hour to noon; so Rodriguez, keeping +the road, told Morano to join him where it entered the wood when he had +acquired his bacon. And then as they parted a thought occurred to +Rodriguez, which was that bacon cost money. It was purely an +afterthought, an accidental fancy, such as inspirations are, for he had +never had to buy bacon. So he gave Morano a fifth part of his money, a +large gold coin the size of one of our five-shilling pieces, engraved +of course upon one side with the glories and honours of that golden +period of Spain, and upon the other with the head of the lord the King. +It was only by chance he had brought any at all; he was not what our +newspapers will call, if they ever care to notice him, a level-headed +business man. At the sight of the gold piece Morano bowed, for he felt +this gift of gold to be an occasion; but he trusted more for the +purchase of the bacon to some few small silver coins of his own that he +kept among lumps of lard and pieces of string. + +And so they parted for a while, Rodriguez looking for some great +shadowy oak with moss under it near a stream, Morano in quest of bacon. + +When Rodriguez entered the wood he found his oak, but it was not such +an oak as he cared to rest beneath during the heat of the day, nor +would you have done so, my reader, even though you have been to the +wars and seen many a pretty mess; for four of la Garda were by it and +were arranging to hang a man from the best of the branches. + +"La Garda again," said Rodriguez nearly aloud. + +His eye drooped, his look was listless, he gazed at other things; while +a glance that you had not noticed, flashed slantingly at la Garda, +satisfied Rodriguez that all four were strangers: then he walked +straight towards them merrily. The man they proposed to hang was a +stranger too. He appeared at first to be as stout as Morano, and he was +nearly half a foot taller, but his stoutness turned out to be sheer +muscle. The broad man was clothed in old brown leather and had blue +eyes. + +Now there was something about the poise of Rodriguez' young head which +gave him an air not unlike that which the King himself sometimes wore +when he went courting. It suited his noble sword and his merry plume. +When la Garda saw him they were all politeness at once, and invited him +to see the hanging, for which Rodriguez thanked them with amplest +courtesy. + +"It is not a bull-fight," said the chief of la Garda almost +apologetically. But Rodriguez waved aside his deprecations and declared +himself charmed at the prospect of a hanging. + +Bear with me, reader, while I champion a bad cause and seek to palliate +what is inexcusable. As we travel about the world on our way through +life we meet and pass here and there, in peace or in war, other men, +fellow-travellers: and sometimes there is no more than time for a +glance, eye to eye. And in that glance you see the sort of man: and +chiefly there are two sorts. The one sort always brooding, always +planning; mean, silent men, collecting properties and money; keeping +the law on their side, keeping everything on their side; except women +and heaven, and the late, leisurely judgment of simple people: and the +others merry folk, whose eyes twinkle, whose money flies, who will +sooner laugh than plan, who seem to inherit rightfully the happiness +that the others plot for, and fail to come by with all their schemes. +In the man who was to provide the entertainment Rodriguez recognised +the second kind. + +Now even though the law had caught a saint that had strayed too far +outside the boundary of Heaven, and desired to hang him, Rodriguez knew +that it was his duty to help the law while help was needed, and to +applaud after the thing was done. The law to Rodriguez was the most +sacred thing man had made, if indeed it were not divine; but since the +privilege that two days ago had afforded him of studying it more +closely, it appeared to him the blindest, silliest thing with which he +had had to do since the kittens were drowned that his cat Tabitharina +had had at Arguento Harez. + +It was in this deplorable state of mind that Rodriguez' glance fell on +the merry eyes and the solemn predicament of the man in the leather +coat, standing pinioned under a long branch of the oak-tree: and he +determined from that moment to disappoint la Garda and, I fear also, my +reader, perhaps to disappoint you, of the hanging that they at least +had promised themselves. + +"Think you," said Rodriguez, "that for so stout a knave this branch of +yours suffices?" + +Now it was an excellent branch. But it was not so much Rodriguez' words +as the anxious way in which he looked at the branch that aroused the +anxieties of la Garda: and soon they were looking about to find a +better tree; and when four men start doing this in a wood time quickly +passes. Meanwhile Morano drew near, and Rodriguez went to meet him. + +"Master," said Morano, all out of breath, "they had no bacon. But I got +these two bottles of wine. It is strong wine, which is a rare deluder +of the senses, which will need to be deluded if we are to go hungry." + +Rodriguez was about to cut short Morano's chatter when he thought of a +use for the wine, and was silent a moment. And as he pondered Morano +looked up and saw la Garda and at the same time perceived the +situation, for he had as quick an eye for a bad business as any man. + +"No one with the horses," was his comment; for they were tethered a +little apart. But Rodriguez' mind had already explored a surer method +than the one that Morano seemed to be contemplating. This method he +told Morano. And now, from little tugs that they were giving to the +doubled rope that hung over the branch of the oak-tree, it was clear +enough that the men of the law were returning to their confidence in +that very sufficient branch. + +They looked up with questions ripe to drop from their lips when they +saw Rodriguez returning with Morano. But before one of them spoke +Morano flung to them from far off a little piece of his wisdom: for +cast a truth into an occasion and it will always trouble the waters, +usually stirring up contradiction, but always bringing something to the +surface. + +"Senores," he said, "no man can enjoy a hanging with a dry throat." + +Thus he turned their attention a while from the business in hand, +changing their thoughts from the stout neck of the prisoner to their +own throats, wondering were they dry; and you do not wonder long about +this in the south without finding that what you feared is true. And +then he let them see the two great bottles, all full of wine, for the +invention of the false bottom that gives to our champagne-bottles the +place they rightly hold among famous deceptions had not as yet been +discovered. + +"It is true," said la Garda. And Rodriguez made Morano put one of the +bottles away in a piece of a sack that he carried: and when la Garda +saw one of the two bottles disappear it somehow decided them to have +the other, though how this came to be so there is no saying; and thus +the hanging was postponed again. + +Now the drink was a yellow wine, sweet and heavy and stronger than our +port; only our whisky could out-triumph it, but there in the warm south +it answered its purpose. Rodriguez beckoned Morano up and offered the +bottle to one of la Garda; but scarcely had he put it to his lips when +Rodriguez bade him stop, saying that he had had his share. And he did +the same with the next man. + +Now there be few things indeed which la Garda resent more than meagre +hospitality in the matter of drink, and with all their wits striving to +cope with this vicious defect in Rodriguez, as they rightly or wrongly +regarded it, how should they have any to spare for obvious precautions? +As the third man drank, Rodriguez turned to speak to Morano; and the +representative of the law took such advantage of an opportunity that he +feared to be fleeting, that when Rodriguez turned round again the +bottle was just half empty. Rodriguez had timed it very nicely. + +Next Rodriguez put the bottle to his lips and held it there a little +time, while the fourth man of the law, who was guarding the prisoner, +watched Rodriguez wistfully, and afterwards Morano, who took the bottle +next. Yet neither Rodriguez nor Morano drank. + +"You can finish the bottle," said Rodriguez to this anxious watcher, +who came forward eagerly though full of doubts, which changed to warm +feelings of exuberant gratitude when he found how much remained. Thus +he obtained not much less than two tumblerfuls of wine that, as I have +said, was stronger than port; and noon was nearing and it was spring in +Spain. And then he returned to guard his prisoner under the oak-tree +and lay down there on the moss, remembering that it was his duty to +keep awake. And afterwards with one hand he took hold of a rope that +bound the prisoner's ankles, so that he might still guard his prisoner +even though he should fall asleep. + +Now two of the men had had little more than the full of a sherry glass +each. To these Morano made signs that there was another bottle, and, +coming round behind his master, he covertly uncorked it and gave them +their heart's desire; and a little was left over for the man who drank +third on the first occasion. And presently the spirits of all four of +la Garda grew haughty and forgot their humble bodies, and would fain +have gone forth to dwell with the sons of light, while their bodies lay +on the moss and the sun grew warmer and warmer, shining dappled in +amongst the small green leaves. All seemed still but for the winged +insects flashing through shafts of the sunlight out of the gloom of the +trees and disappearing again like infinitesimal meteors. But our +concern is with the thoughts of man, of which deeds are but the +shadows: wherever these are active it is wrong to say all is still; for +whether they cast their shadows, which are actions, or whether they +remain a force not visibly stirring matter, they are the source of the +tales we write and the lives we lead; it is they that gave History her +material and they that bade her work it up into books. + +And thoughts were very active about that oak-tree. For while the +thoughts of la Garda arose like dawn, and disappeared into mists, their +prisoner was silently living through the sunny days of his life, which +are at no time quite lost to us, and which flash vivid and bright and +near when memory touches them, herself awakened by the nearness of +death. He lived again days far from the day that had brought him where +he stood. He drew from those days (that is to say) that delight, that +essence of hours, that something which we call life. The sun, the wind, +the rough sand, the splash of the sea, on the star-fish, and all the +things that it feels during its span, are stored in something like its +memory, and are what we call its life: it is the same with all of us. +Life is feeling. The prisoner from the store of his memory was taking +all he had. His head was lifted, he was gazing northwards, far further +than his eyes could see, to shining spaces in great woods; and there +his threatened being walked in youth, with steps such as spirits take, +over immortal flowers, which were dim and faint but unfading because +they lived on in memory. In memory he walked with some who were now far +from his footsteps. And, seen through the gloaming of that perilous +day, how bright did those far days appear! Did they not seem sunnier +than they really were? No, reader; for all the radiance that glittered +so late in his mind was drawn from those very days; it was their own +brightness that was shining now: we are not done with the days that +were as soon as their sunsets have faded, but a light remains from them +and grows fairer and fairer, like an afterglow lingering among +tremendous peaks above immeasurable slopes of snow. + +The prisoner had scarcely noticed Rodriguez or his servant, any more +than he noticed his captors; for there come an intensity to those who +walk near death that makes them a little alien from other men, life +flaring up in them at the last into so grand a flame that the lives of +the others seem a little cold and dim where they dwell remote from that +sunset that we call mortality. So he looked silently at the days that +were as they came dancing back again to him from where they had long +lain lost in chasms of time, to which they had slipped over dark edges +of years. Smiling they came, but all wistfully anxious, as though their +errand were paramount and their span short: he saw them cluster about +him, running now, bringing their tiny gifts, and scarcely heard the +heavy sigh of his guard as Rodriguez gagged him and Morano tied him up. + +Had Rodriguez now released the prisoner they could have been three to +three, in the event of things going wrong with the sleep of la Garda; +but, since in the same time they could gag and bind another, the odds +would be the same at two to two, and Rodriguez preferred this to the +slight uncertainties that would be connected with the entry of another +partner. They accordingly gagged the next man and bound his wrists and +ankles. And that Spanish wine held good with the other two and bound +them far down among the deeps of dreams: and so it should, for it was +of a vine that grew in the vales of Spain and had ripened in one of the +years of the golden age. + +They bound one as easily as they had bound the other two; and the last +Rodriguez watched while Morano cut the ropes off the prisoner, for he +had run out of bits of twine and all other improvisations. With these +ropes he ran back to his master, and they tied up the last prisoner but +did not gag him. + +"Shall we gag him, master, like the rest?" said Morano. + +"No," said Rodriguez. "He has nothing to say." + +And though this remark turned out to be strictly untrue, it well enough +answered its purpose. + +And then they saw standing before them the man they had freed. And he +bowed to Rodriguez like one that had never bowed before. I do not mean +that he bowed with awkwardness, like imitative men unused to +politeness, but he bowed as the oak bows to the woodman; he stood +straight, looking Rodriguez in the eyes, then he bowed as though he had +let his spirit break, which allowed him to bow to never a man before. +Thus, if my pen has been able dimly to tell of it, thus bowed the man +in the old leathern jacket. And Rodriguez bowed to him in answer with +the elegance that they that had dwelt at Arguento Harez had slowly +drawn from the ages. + +"Senor, your name," said the stranger. + +"Lord of Arguento Harez," said Rodriguez. + +"Senor," he said, "being a busy man, I have seldom time to pray. And +the blessed Saints, being more busy than I, I think seldom hear my +prayers: yet your name shall go up to them. I will often tell it them +quietly in the forest, and not on their holy days when bells are +ringing and loud prayers fill Heaven. It may be ..." + +"Senor," Rodriguez said, "I profoundly thank you." + +Even in these days, when bullets are often thicker than prayers, we are +not quite thankless for the prayers of others: in those days they were +what "closing quotations" are on the Stock Exchange, ink in Fleet +Street, machinery in the Midlands; common but valued; and Rodriguez' +thanks were sincere. + +And now that the curses of the ungagged one of la Garda were growing +monotonous, Rodriguez turned to Morano. + +"Ungag the rest," he said, "and let them talk to each other." + +"Master," Morano muttered, feeling that there was enough noise already +for a small wood, but he went and did as he was ordered. And Rodriguez +was justified of his humane decision, for the pent thoughts of all +three found expression together and, all four now talking at once, +mitigated any bitterness there may have been in those solitary curses. +And now Rodriguez could talk undisturbed. + +"Whither?" said the stranger. + +"To the wars," said Rodriguez, "if wars there be." + +"Aye," said the stranger, "there be always wars somewhere. By which +road go you?" + +"North," said Rodriguez, and he pointed. The stranger turned his eyes +to the way Rodriguez pointed. + +"That brings you to the forest," he said, "unless you go far around, as +many do." + +"What forest?" said Rodriguez. + +"The great forest named Shadow Valley," said the stranger. + +"How far?" said Rodriguez. + +"Forty miles," said the stranger. + +Rodriguez looked at la Garda and then at their horses, and thought. He +must be far from la Garda by nightfall. + +"It is not easy to pass through Shadow Valley," said the stranger. + +"Is it not?" said Rodriguez. + +"Have you a gold great piece?" the stranger said. + +Rodriguez held out one of his remaining four: the stranger took it. And +then he began to rub it on a stone, and continued to rub while +Rodriguez watched in silence, until the image of the lord the King was +gone and the face of the coin was scratchy and shiny and flat. And then +he produced from a pocket or pouch in his jacket a graving tool with a +round wooden handle, which he took in the palm of his hand, and the +edge of the steel came out between his forefinger and thumb: and with +this he cut at the coin. And Morano rejoined them from his merciful +mission and stood and wondered at the cutting. And while he cut they +talked. + +They did not ask him how he came to be chosen for hanging, because in +every country there are about a hundred individualists, varying to +perhaps half a hundred in poor ages. They go their hundred ways, or +their half-dozen ways; and there is a hundred and first way, or a +seventh way, which is the way that is cut for the rest: and if some of +the rest catch one of the hundred, or one of the six, they naturally +hang him, if they have a rope, and if hanging is the custom of the +country, for different countries use different methods. And you saw by +this man's eyes that he was one of the hundred. Rodriguez therefore +only sought to know how he came to be caught. + +"La Garda found you, senor?" he said. + +"As you see," said the stranger. "I came too far from my home." + +"You were travelling?" said Rodriguez. + +"Shopping," he said. + +At this word Morano's interest awakened wide. "Senor," he said, "what +is the right price for a bottle of this wine that la Garda drink?" + +"I know not," said the man in the brown jacket; "they give me these +things." + +"Where is your home, senor?" Rodriguez asked. + +"It is Shadow Valley," he said. + +One never saw Rodriguez fail to understand anything: if he could not +clear a situation up he did not struggle with it. Morano rubbed his +chin: he had heard of Shadow Valley only dimly, for all the travellers +he had known out of the north had gone round it. Rodriguez and Morano +bent their heads and watched a design that was growing out of the gold. +And as the design grew under the hand of the strange worker he began to +talk of the horses. He spoke as though his plans had been clearly +established by edict, and as though no others could be. + +"When I have gone with two horses," he said, "ride hard with the other +two till you reach the village named Lowlight, and take them to the +forge of Fernandez the smith, where one will shoe them who is not +Fernandez." + +And he waved his hand northwards. There was only one road. Then all his +attention fell back again to his work on the gold coin; and when those +blue eyes were turned away there seemed nothing left to question. And +now Rodriguez saw the design was a crown, a plain gold circlet with oak +leaves rising up from it. And this woodland emblem stood up out of the +gold, for the worker had hollowed the coin away all around it, and was +sloping it up to the edge. Little was said by the watchers in the +wonder of seeing the work, for no craft is very far from the line +beyond which is magic, and the man in the leather coat was clearly a +craftsman: and he said nothing for he worked at a craft. And when the +arboreal crown was finished, and its edges were straight and sharp, an +hour had passed since he began near noon. Then he drilled a hole near +the rim and, drawing a thin green ribbon from his pocket, he passed it +through the hole and, rising, he suddenly hung it round Rodriguez' neck. + +"Wear it thus," he said, "while you go through Shadow Valley." + +As he said this he stepped back among the trees, and Rodriguez followed +to thank him. Not finding him behind the tree where he thought to find +him, he walked round several others, and Morano joined his search; but +the stranger had vanished. When they returned again to the little +clearing they heard sounds of movement in the wood, and a little way +off where the four horses had grazed there were now only two, which +were standing there with their heads up. + +"We must ride, Morano," said Rodriguez. + +"Ride, master?" said Morano dolefully. + +"If we walk away," said Rodriguez, "they will walk after us." + +"They" meant la Garda. It was unnecessary for him to tell Morano what I +thus tell the reader, for in the wood it was hard to hear anyone else, +while to think of anyone else was out of the question. + +"What shall I do to them, master?" said Morano. + +They were now standing close to their captives and this simple question +calmed the four men's curses, all of a sudden, like shutting the door +on a storm. + +"Leave them," Rodriguez said. And la Garda's spirits rose and they +cursed again. + +"Ah. To die in the wood," said Morano. "No," said Rodriguez; and he +walked towards the horses. And something in that "No" sounding almost +contemptuous, Morano's feelings were hurt, and he blurted out to his +master "But how can they get away to get their food? It is good knots +that I tie, master." + +"Morano," Rodriguez said, "I remember ten ways in the books of romance +whereby bound men untie themselves; and doubtless one or two more I +have read and forgot; and there may be other ways in the books that I +have not read, besides any way that there be of which no books tell. +And in addition to these ways, one of them may draw a comrade's sword +with his teeth and thus ..." + +"Shall I pull out their teeth?" said Morano. + +"Ride," said Rodriguez, for they were now come to the horses. And +sorrowfully Morano looked at the horse that was to be his, as a man +might look at a small, uncomfortable boat that is to carry him far upon +a stormy day. And then Rodriguez helped him into the saddle. + +"Can you stay there?" Rodriguez said. "We have far to go." + +"Master," Morano answered, "these hands can hold till evening." + +And then Rodriguez mounted, leaving Morano gripping the high front of +the saddle with his large brown hands. But as soon as the horses +started he got a grip with his heels as well, and later on with his +knees. Rodriguez led the way on to the straggling road and was soon +galloping northwards, while Morano's heels kept his horse up close to +his master's. Morano rode as though trained in the same school that +some while later taught Macaulay's equestrian, who rode with "loose +rein and bloody spur." Yet the miles went swiftly by as they galloped +on soft white dust, which lifted and settled, some of it, back on the +lazy road, while some of it was breathed by Morano. The gold coin on +the green silk ribbon flapped up and down as Rodriguez rode, till he +stuffed it inside his clothing and remembered no more about it. Once +they saw before them the man they had snatched from the noose: he was +going hard and leading a loose horse. And then where the road bent +round a low hill he galloped out of sight and they saw him no more. He +had the loose horse to change on to as soon as the other was tired: +they had no prospect of overtaking him. And so he passed out of their +minds as their host had done who went away with his household to +Saragossa. + +At first Rodriguez' mandolin, that was always slung on his back, bumped +up and down uncomfortably; but he eased it by altering the strap: small +things like this bring contentment. And then he settled down to ride. +But no contentment came near Morano nor did he look for it. On the +first day of his wanderings he had worn his master's clothes, which has +been an experience standing somewhat where toothache does, which is +somewhere about half-way between discomfort and agony. On the second +day he had climbed at the end of a weary journey over those sharp rocks +whose shape was adapted so ill to his body. On the third day he was +riding. He did not look for comfort. But he met discomfort with an easy +resignation that almost defeated the intention of Satan who sends it, +unless--as is very likely--it be from Heaven. And in spite of all +discomforts he gaily followed Rodriguez. In a thousand days at the Inn +of the Dragon and Knight no two were so different to Morano that one +stood out from the other, or any from the rest. It was all as though +one day were repeated again and again; and at some point in this +monotonous repetition, like a milestone shaped as the rest on a +perfectly featureless road, life would end and the meaningless +repetition stop: and looking back on it there would only be one day to +see, or, if he could not look back, it would be all gone for nothing. +And then, into that one day that he was living on in the gloaming of +that grim inn, Rodriguez had appeared, and Morano had known him for one +of those wandering lights that sometimes make sudden day among the +stars. He knew--no, he felt--that by following him, yesterday today and +tomorrow would be three separate possessions in memory. Morano gladly +gave up that one dull day he was living for the new strange days +through which Rodriguez was sure to lead him. Gladly he left it: if +this be not true how then has a man with a dream led thousands to +follow his fancy, from the Crusades to whatever gay madness be the +fashion when this is read? As they galloped the scent of the flowers +rushed into Rodriguez' nostrils, while Morano mainly breathed the dust +from the hooves of his master's horse. But the quest was favoured the +more by the scent of the flowers inspiring its leader's fancies. So +Morano gained even from this. + +In the first hour they shortened by fifteen miles the length of their +rambling quest. In the next hour they did five miles; and in the third +hour ten. After this they rode slowly. The sun was setting. Morano +regarded the sunset with delight, for it seemed to promise jovially the +end of his sufferings, which except for brief periods when they went on +foot, to rest--as Rodriguez said--the horses, had been continuous and +even increasing since they started. Rodriguez, perhaps a little weary +too, drew from the sunset a more sombre feeling, as sensitive minds do: +he responded to its farewell, he felt its beauty, and as little winds +turned cool and the shine of blades of grass faded, making all the +plain dimmer, he heard, or believed he heard, further off than he could +see, sounds on the plain beyond ridges, in hollows, behind clumps of +bushes; as though small creatures all unknown to his learning played +instruments cut from reeds upon unmapped streams. In this hour, among +these fancies, Rodriguez saw clear on a hill the white walls of the +village of Lowlight. And now they began to notice that a great round +moon was shining. The sunset grew dimmer and the moonlight stole in +softly, as a cat might walk through great doors on her silent feet into +a throne-room just as the king had gone: and they entered the village +slowly in the perfect moment of twilight. + +The round horizon was brimming with a pale but magical colour, welling +up to the tips of trees and the battlements of white towers. Earth +seemed a mysterious cup overfull of this pigment of wonder. Clouds +wandering low, straying far from their azure fields, were dipped in it. +The towers of Lowlight turned slowly rose in that light, and glowed +together with the infinite gloaming, so that for this brief hour the +things of man were wed with the things of eternity. It was into this +wide, pale flame of aetherial rose that the moon came stealing like a +magician on tip-toe, to enchant the tips of the trees, low clouds and +the towers of Lowlight. A blue light from beyond our world touched the +pink that is Earth's at evening: and what was strange and a matter for +hushed voices, marvellous but yet of our earth, became at that touch +unearthly. All in a moment it was, and Rodriguez gasped to see it. Even +Morano's eyes grew round with the coming of wonder, or with some dim +feeling that an unnoticed moment had made all things strange and new. + +For some moments the spell of moonlight on sunlight hovered: the air +was brimming and quivering with it: magic touched earth. For some +moments, some thirty beats of a heron's wing, had the angels sung to +men, had their songs gone earthward into that rosy glow, gliding past +layers of faintly tinted cloud, like moths at dusk towards a +briar-rose; in those few moments men would have known their language. +Rodriguez reined in his horse in the heavy silence and waited. For what +he waited he knew not: some unearthly answer perhaps to his questioning +thoughts that had wandered far from earth, though no words came to him +with which to ask their question and he did not know what question they +would ask. He was all vibrating with the human longing: I know not what +it is, but perhaps philosophers know. He sat there waiting while a late +bird sailed homeward, sat while Morano wondered. And nothing spake from +anywhere. + +And now a dog began to notice the moon: now a child cried suddenly that +had been dragged back from the street, where it had wandered at +bedtime: an old dog rose from where it had lain in the sun and feebly +yet confidently scratched at a door: a cat peered round a corner: a man +spoke: Rodriguez knew there would be no answer now. + +Rodriguez hit his horse, the tired animal went forward, and he and +Morano rode slowly up the street. + +Dona Serafina of the Valley of Dawnlight had left the heat of the room +that looked on the fields, and into which the sun had all day been +streaming, and had gone at sunset to sit in the balcony that looked +along the street. Often she would do this at sunset; but she rather +dreamed as she sat there than watched the street, for all that it had +to show she knew without glancing. Evening after evening as soon as +winter was over the neighbour would come from next door and stretch +himself and yawn and sit on a chair by his doorway, and the neighbour +from opposite would saunter across the way to him, and they would talk +with eagerness of the sale of cattle, and sometimes, but more coldly, +of the affairs of kings. She knew, but cared not to know, just when the +two old men would begin their talk. She knew who owned every dog that +stretched itself in the dust until chilly winds blew in the dusk and +they rose up dissatisfied. She knew the affairs of that street like an +old, old lesson taught drearily, and her thoughts went far away to +vales of an imagination where they met with many another maiden fancy, +and they all danced there together through the long twilight in Spring. +And then her mother would come and warn her that the evening grew cold, +and Serafina would turn from the mystery of evening into the house and +the candle-light. This was so evening after evening all through spring +and summer for two long years of her youth. And then, this evening, +just as the two old neighbours began to discuss whether or not the +subjugation of the entire world by Spain would be for its benefit, just +as one of the dogs in the road was rising slowly to shake itself, +neighbours and dogs all raised their heads to look, and there was +Rodriguez riding down the street and Morano coming behind him. When +Serafina saw this she brought her eyes back from dreams, for she +dreamed not so deeply but that the cloak and plume of Rodriguez found +some place upon the boundaries of her day-dream. When she saw the way +he sat his horse and how he carried his head she let her eyes flash for +a little moment along the street from her balcony. And if some critical +reader ask how she did it I answer, "My good sir, I can't tell you, +because I don't know," or "My dear lady, what a question to ask!" And +where she learned to do it I cannot think, but nothing was easier. And +then she smiled to think that she had done the very thing that her +mother had warned her there was danger in doing. + +"Serafina," her mother said in that moment at the large window, "the +evening grows cold. It might be dangerous to stay there longer." And +Serafina entered the house, as she had done at the coming of dusk on +many an evening. + +Rodriguez missed as much of that flash of her eyes, shot from below the +darkness of her hair, as youth in its first glory and freedom misses. +For at the point on the road called life at which Rodriguez was then, +one is high on a crag above the promontories of watchmen, lower only +than the peaks of the prophets, from which to see such things. Yet it +did not need youth to notice Serafina. Beggars had blessed her for the +poise of her head. + +She turned that head a little as she went between the windows, till +Rodriguez gazing up to her saw the fair shape of her neck: and almost +in that moment the last of the daylight died. The windows shut; and +Rodriguez rode on with Morano to find the forge that was kept by +Fernandez the smith. And presently they came to the village forge, a +cottage with huge, high roof whose beams were safe from sparks; and its +fire was glowing redly into the moonlight through the wide door made +for horses, although there seemed no work to be done, and a man with a +swart moustache was piling more logs on. Over the door was burned on +oak in ungainly great letters-- + +"FERNANDEZ" + +"For whom do you seek, senor?" he said to Rodriguez, who had halted +before him with his horse's nose inside the doorway sniffing. + +"I look," he said, "for him who is not Fernandez." + +"I am he," said the man by the fire. + +Rodriguez questioned no further but dismounted, and bade Morano lead +the horses in. And then he saw in the dark at the back of the forge the +other two horses that he had seen in the wood. And they were shod as he +had never seen horses shod before. For the front pair of shoes were +joined by a chain riveted stoutly to each, and the hind pair also; and +both horses were shod alike. The method was equally new to Morano. And +now the man with the swart moustache picked up another bunch of +horseshoes hanging in pairs on chains. And Rodriguez was not far out +when he guessed that whenever la Garda overtook their horses they would +find that Fernandez was far away making holiday, while he who shod them +now would be gone upon other business. And all this work seemed to +Rodriguez not to be his affair. + +"Farewell," he said to the smith that was not Fernandez; and with a pat +for his horse he left it, having obtained a promise of oats. And so +Rodriguez and Morano went on foot again, Morano elated in spite of +fatigue and pain, rejoicing to feel the earth once more, flat under the +soles of his feet; Rodriguez a little humbled. + + + + +THE SIXTH CHRONICLE + +HOW HE SANG TO HIS MANDOLIN AND WHAT CAME OF HIS SINGING + + +They walked back slowly in silence up the street down which they had +ridden. Earth darkened, the moon grew brighter: and Rodriguez gazing at +the pale golden disk began to wonder who dwelt in the lunar valleys; +and what message, if folk were there, they had for our peoples; and in +what language such message could ever be, and how it could fare across +that limpid remoteness that wafted light on to the coasts of Earth and +lapped in silence on the lunar shores. And as he wondered he thought of +his mandolin. + +"Morano," he said, "buy bacon." + +Morano's eyes brightened: they were forty-five miles from the hills on +which he had last tasted bacon. He selected his house with a glance, +and then he was gone. And Rodriguez reflected too late that he had +forgotten to tell Morano where he should find him, and this with night +coming on in a strange village. Scarcely, Rodriguez reflected, he knew +where he was going himself. Yet if old tunes lurking in its hollows, +echoing though imperceptibly from long-faded evenings, gave the +mandolin any knowledge of human affairs that other inanimate things +cannot possess, the mandolin knew. + +Let us in fancy call up the shade of Morano from that far generation. +Let us ask him where Rodriguez is going. Those blue eyes, dim with the +distance over which our fancy has called them, look in our eyes with +wonder. + +"I do not know," he says, "where Don Rodriguez is going. My master did +not tell me." + +Did he notice nothing as they rode by that balcony? + +"Nothing," Morano answers, "except my master riding." + +We may let Morano's shade drift hence again, for we shall discover +nothing: nor is this an age to which to call back spirits. + +Rodriguez strolled slowly on the deep dust of that street as though +wondering all the while where he should go; and soon he and his +mandolin were below that very balcony whereon he had seen the white +neck of Serafina gleam with the last of the daylight. And now the +spells of the moon charmed Earth with their full power. + +The balcony was empty. How should it have been otherwise? And yet +Rodriguez grieved. For between the vision that had drawn his footsteps +and that bare balcony below shuttered windows was the difference +between a haven, sought over leagues of sea, and sheer, uncharted +cliff. It brought a wistfulness into the music he played, and a +melancholy that was all new to Rodriguez, yet often and often before +had that mandolin sent up through evening against unheeding Space that +cry that man cannot utter; for the spirit of man needs a mandolin as a +comrade to face the verdict of the chilly stars as he needs a bulldog +for more mundane things. + +Soon out of the depth of that stout old mandolin, in which so many +human sorrows had spun tunes out of themselves, as the spiders spin +misty grey webs, till it was all haunted with music, soon the old cry +went up to the stars again, a thread of supplication spun of the matter +which else were distilled in tears, beseeching it knew not what. And, +but that Fate is deaf, all that man asks in music had been granted then. + +What sorrows had Rodriguez known in his life that he made so sad a +melody? I know not. It was the mandolin. When the mandolin was made it +knew at once all the sorrows of man, and all the old unnamed longings +that none defines. It knew them as the dog knows the alliance that its +forefathers made with man. A mandolin weeps the tears that its master +cannot shed, or utters the prayers that are deeper than its master's +lips can draw, as a dog will fight for his master with teeth that are +longer than man's. And if the moonlight streamed on untroubled, and +though Fate was deaf, yet beauty of those fresh strains going starward +from under his fingers touched at least the heart of Rodriguez and +gilded his dreams and gave to his thoughts a mournful autumnal glory, +until he sang all newly as he never had sung before, with limpid voice +along the edge of tears, a love-song old as the woods of his father's +valleys at whose edge he had heard it once drift through the evening. +And as he played and sang with his young soul in the music he fancied +(and why not, if they care aught for our souls in Heaven?) he fancied +the angles putting their hands each one on a star and leaning out of +Heaven through the constellations to listen. + +"A vile song, senor, and a vile tune with it," said a voice quite close. + +However much the words hurt his pride in his mandolin Rodriguez +recognised in the voice the hidalgo's accent and knew that it was an +equal that now approached him in the moonlight round a corner of the +house with the balcony; and he knew that the request he courteously +made would be as courteously granted. + +"Senor," he said, "I pray you to permit me to lean my mandolin against +the wall securely before we speak of my song." + +"Most surely, senor," the stranger replied, "for there is no fault with +the mandolin." + +"Senor," Rodriguez said, "I thank you profoundly." And he bowed to the +gallant, whom he now perceived to be young, a youth tall and lithe like +himself, one whom we might have chosen for these chronicles had we not +found Rodriguez. + +Then Rodriguez stepped back a short way and placed his kerchief on the +ground; and upon this he put his mandolin and leaned it against the +wall. When the mandolin was safe from dust or accident he approached +the stranger and drew his sword. + +"Senor," he said, "we will now discuss music." + +"Right gladly, senor," said the young man, who now drew his sword also. +There were no clouds; the moon was full; the evening promised well. + +Scarcely had the flash of thin rapiers crossing each other by moonlight +begun to gleam in the street when Morano appeared beside them and stood +there watching. He had bought his bacon and gone straight to the house +with the balcony. For though he knew no Latin he had not missed the +silent greeting that had welcomed his master to that village, or failed +to interpret the gist of the words that Rodriguez' dumb glance would +have said. He stood there watching while each combatant stood his +ground. + +And Rodriguez remembered all those passes and feints that he had had +from his father, and which Sevastiani, a master of arms in Madrid, had +taught in his father's youth: and some were famous and some were little +known. And all these passes, as he tried them one by one, his unknown +antagonist parried. And for a moment Rodriguez feared that Morano would +see those passes in which he trusted foiled by that unknown sword, and +then he reflected that Morano knew nothing of the craft of the rapier, +and with more content at that thought he parried thrusts that were +strange to him. But something told Morano that in this fight the +stranger was master and that along that pale-blue, moonlit, unknown +sword lurked a sure death for Rodriguez. He moved from his place of +vantage and was soon lost in large shadows; while the rapiers played +and blade rippled on blade with a sound as though Death were gently +sharpening his scythe in the dark. And now Rodriguez was giving ground, +now his antagonist pressed him; thrusts that he believed invincible had +failed; now he parried wearily and had at once to parry again; the +unknown pressed on, was upon him, was scattering his weakening parries; +drew back his rapier for a deadlier pass, learned in a secret school, +in a hut on mountains he knew, and practised surely; and fell in a heap +upon Rodriguez' feet, struck full on the back of the head by Morano's +frying-pan. + +"Most vile knave," shouted Rodriguez as he saw Morano before him with +his frying-pan in his hand, and with something of the stupid expression +that you see on the face of a dog that has done some foolish thing +which it thinks will delight its master. + +"Master! I am your servant," said Morano. + +"Vile, miserable knave," replied Rodriguez. + +"Master," Morano said plaintively, "shall I see to your comforts, your +food, and not to your life?" + +"Silence," thundered Rodriguez as he stooped anxiously to his +antagonist, who was not unconscious but only very giddy and who now +rose to his feet with the help of Rodriguez. + +"Alas, senor," said Rodriguez, "the foul knave is my servant. He shall +be flogged. He shall be flayed. His vile flesh shall be cut off him. +Does the hurt pain you, senor? Sit and rest while I beat the knave, and +then we will continue our meeting." + +And he ran to his kerchief on which rested his mandolin and laid it +upon the dust for the stranger. + +"No, no," said he. "My head clears again. It is nothing." + +"But rest, senor, rest," said Rodriguez. "It is always well to rest +before an encounter. Rest while I punish the knave." + +And he led him to where the kerchief lay on the ground. "Let me see the +hurt, senor," he continued. And the stranger removed his plumed hat as +Rodriguez compelled him to sit down. He straightened out the hat as he +sat, and the hurt was shown to be of no great consequence. + +"The blessed Saints be praised," Rodriguez said. "It need not stop our +encounter. But rest awhile, senor." + +"Indeed, it is nothing," he answered. + +"But the indignity is immeasurable," sighed Rodriguez. "Would you care, +senor, when you are well rested to give the chastisement yourself?" + +"As far as that goes," said the stranger, "I can chastise him now." + +"If you are fully recovered, senor," Rodriguez said, "my own sword is +at your disposal to beat him sore with the flat of it, or how you will. +Thus no dishonour shall touch your sword from the skin of so vile a +knave." + +The stranger smiled: the idea appealed to him. + +"You make a noble amend, senor," he said as he bowed over Rodriguez' +proffered sword. + +Morano had not moved far, but stood near, wondering. "What should a +servant do if not work for his master?" he wondered. And how work for +him when dead? And dead, as it seemed to Morano, through his own fault +if he allowed any man to kill him when he perceived him about to do so. +He stood there puzzled. And suddenly he saw the stranger coming angrily +towards him in the clear moonlight with a sword. Morano was frightened. + +As the hidalgo came up to him he stretched out his left hand to seize +Morano by the shoulder. Up went the frying-pan, the stranger parried, +but against a stroke that no school taught or knew, and for the second +time he went down in the dust with a reeling head. Rodriguez turned +toward Morano and said to him ... No, realism is all very well, and I +know that my duty as author is to tell all that happened, and I could +win mighty praise as a bold, unconventional writer; at the same time, +some young lady will be reading all this next year in some far country, +or in twenty years in England, and I would sooner she should not read +what Rodriguez said. I do not, I trust, disappoint her. But the gist of +it was that he should leave that place now and depart from his service +for ever. And hearing those words Morano turned mournfully away and was +at once lost in the darkness. While Rodriguez ran once more to help his +fallen antagonist. "Senor, senor," he said with an emotion that some +wearing centuries and a cold climate have taught us not to show, and +beyond those words he could find no more to say. + +"Giddy, only giddy," said the stranger. + +A tear fell on his forehead as Rodriguez helped him to his feet. + +"Senor," Rodriguez said fervently, "we will finish our encounter come +what may. The knave is gone and ..." + +"But I am somewhat giddy," said the other. + +"I will take off one of my shoes," said Rodriguez, "leaving the other +on. It will equalise our unsteadiness, and you shall not be +disappointed in our encounter. Come," he added kindly. + +"I cannot see so clearly as before," the young hidalgo murmured. + +"I will bandage my right eye also," said Rodriguez, "and if this cannot +equalise it ..." + +"It is a most fair offer," said the young man. + +"I could not bear that you should be disappointed of your encounter," +Rodriguez said, "by this spirit of Hell that has got itself clothed in +fat and dares to usurp the dignity of man." + +"It is a right fair offer," the young man said again. + +"Rest yourself, senor," said Rodriguez, "while I take off my shoe," and +he indicated his kerchief which was still on the ground. + +The stranger sat down a little wearily, and Rodriguez sitting upon the +dust took off his left shoe. And now he began to think a little +wistfully of the face that had shone from that balcony, where all was +dark now in black shadow unlit by the moon. The emptiness of the +balcony and its darkness oppressed him; for he could scarcely hope to +survive an encounter with that swordsman, whose skill he now recognised +as being of a different class from his own, a class of which he knew +nothing. All his own feints and passes were known, while those of his +antagonist had been strange and new, and he might well have even +others. The stranger's giddiness did not alter the situation, for +Rodriguez knew that his handicap was fair and even generous. He +believed he was near his grave, and could see no spark of light to +banish that dark belief; yet more chances than we can see often guard +us on such occasions. The absence of Serafina saddened him like a +sorrowful sunset. + +Rodriguez rose and limped with his one shoe off to the stranger, who +was sitting upon his kerchief. + +"I will bandage my right eye now, senor," he said. + +The young man rose and shook the dust from the kerchief and gave it to +Rodriguez with a renewed expression of his gratitude at the fairness of +the strange handicap. When Rodriguez had bandaged his eye the stranger +returned his sword to him, which he had held in his hand since his +effort to beat Morano, and drawing his own stepped back a few paces +from him. Rodriguez took one hopeless look at the balcony, saw it as +empty and as black as ever, then he faced his antagonist, waiting. + +"Bandage one eye, indeed!" muttered Morano as he stepped up behind the +stranger and knocked him down for the third time with a blow over the +head from his frying-pan. + +The young hidalgo dropped silently. + +Rodriguez uttered one scream of anger and rushed at Morano with his +sword. Morano had already started to run; and, knowing well that he was +running for his life, he kept for awhile the start that he had of the +rapier. Rodriguez knew that no plump man of over forty could last +against his lithe speed long. He saw Morano clearly before him, then +lost sight of him for a moment and ran confidently on pursuing. He ran +on and on. And at last he recognised that Morano had slipped into the +darkness, which lies always so near to the moonlight, and was not in +front of him at all. So he returned to his fallen antagonist and found +him breathing heavily where he fell, scarcely conscious. The third +stroke of the frying-pan had done its work surely. Rodriguez' fury died +down, only because it is difficult to feel two emotions at once: it +died down as pity took its place, though every now and then it would +suddenly flare and fall again. He returned his sword and lifted the +young hidalgo and carried him to the door of the house under which they +had fought. + +With one fist he beat on the door without putting the hurt man down, +and continued to hit it until steps were heard, and bolts began to +grumble, as though disturbed too early from their rusty sleep in stone +sockets. + +The door of the house with the balcony was opened by a servant who, +when he saw who it was that Rodriguez carried, fled into the house in +alarm, as one who runs with bad news. He carried one candle and, when +he had disappeared with the steaming flame, Rodriguez found himself in +a long hall lit by the moonlight only, which was looking in through the +small contorted panes of the upper part of a high window. Alone with +echoes and shadows Rodriguez carried the hurt man through the hall, who +was muttering now as he came back to consciousness. And, as he went, +there came to Rodriguez thoughts between wonder and hope, for he had +had no thought at all when he beat on the door except to get shelter +and help for the hurt man. At the end of the hall they came to an open +door that led into a chamber partly shining with moonlight. + +"In there," said the man that he carried. + +Rodriguez carried him in and laid him on a long couch at the end of the +room. Large pictures of men in the blackness, out of the moon's rays, +frowned at Rodriguez mysteriously. He could not see their faces in the +darkness, but he somehow knew they frowned. Two portraits that were +clear in the moonlight eyed him with absolute apathy. So cold a welcome +from that house's past generations boded no good to him from those that +dwelt there today. Rodriguez knew that in carrying the hurt man there +he helped at a Christian deed; and yet there was no putting the merits +of the case against the omens that crowded the chamber, lurking along +the edge of moonlight and darkness, disappearing and reappearing till +the gloom was heavy with portent. The omens knew. In a weak voice and +few words the hurt man thanked him, but the apathetic faces seemed to +say What of that? And the frowning faces that he could not see still +filled the darkness with anger. + +And then from the end of the chamber, dressed in white, and all shining +with moonlight, came Serafina. + +Rodriguez in awed silence watched her come. He saw her pass through the +moonlight and grow dimmer, and glide to the moonlight again that +streamed through another window. A great dim golden circle appeared at +the far end of the chamber whence she had come, as the servant returned +with his candle and held it high to give light for Dona Serafina. But +that one flame seemed to make the darkness only blacker; and for any +cheerfulness it brought to the gloom it had better never have +challenged those masses of darkness at all in that high chamber among +the brooding portraits it seemed trivial, ephemeral, modern, ill able +to cope with the power of ancient things, dead days and forgotten +voices, which make their home in the darkness because the days that +have usurped them have stolen the light of the sun. + +And there the man stood holding his candle high, and the rays of the +moon became more magical still beside that little mundane, flickering +thing. And Serafina was moving through the moonlight as though its rays +were her sisters, which she met noiselessly and brightly upon some +island, as it seemed to Rodriguez, beyond the coasts of Earth, so +quietly and so brightly did her slender figure move and so aloof from +him appeared her eyes. And there came on Rodriguez that feeling that +some deride and that others explain away, the feeling of which romance +is mainly made and which is the aim and goal of all the earth. And his +love for Serafina seemed to him not only to be an event in his life but +to have some part in veiled and shadowy destinies and to have the +blessing of most distant days: grey beards seemed to look out of graves +in forgotten places to wag approval: hands seemed to beckon to him out +of far-future times, where faces were smiling quietly: and, dreaming on +further still, this vast approval that gave benediction to his heart's +youthful fancy seemed to widen and widen like the gold of a summer's +evening or, the humming of bees in summer in endless rows of limes, +until it became a part of the story of man. Spring days of his earliest +memory seemed to have their part in it, as well as wonderful evenings +of days that were yet to be, till his love for Serafina was one with +the fate of earth; and, wandering far on their courses, he knew that +the stars blessed it. But Serafina went up to the man on the couch with +no look for Rodriguez. + +With no look for Rodriguez she bent over the stricken hidalgo. He +raised himself a little on one elbow. "It is nothing," he said, +"Serafina." + +Still she bent over him. He laid his head down again, but now with open +and undimmed eyes. She put her hand to his forehead, she spoke in a low +voice to him; she lavished upon him sympathy for which Rodriguez would +have offered his head to swords; and all, thought Rodriguez for three +blows from a knave's frying-pan: and his anger against Morano flared up +again fiercely. Then there came another thought to him out of the +shadows, where Serafina was standing all white, a figure of solace. Who +was this man who so mysteriously blended with the other unknown things +that haunted the gloom of that chamber? Why had he fought him at night? +What was he to Serafina? Thoughts crowded up to him from the interior +of the darkness, sombre and foreboding as the shadows that nursed them. +He stood there never daring to speak to Serafina; looking for +permission to speak, such as a glance might give. And no glance came. + +And now, as though soothed by her beauty, the hurt man closed his eyes. +Serafina stood beside him anxious and silent, gleaming in that dim +place. The servant at the far end of the chamber still held his one +candle high, as though some light of earth were needed against the +fantastic moon, which if unopposed would give everything over to magic. +Rodriguez stood there, scarcely breathing. All was silent. And then +through the door by which Serafina had come, past that lonely, golden, +moon-defying candle, all down the long room across moonlight and +blackness, came the lady of the house, Serafina's mother. She came, as +Serafina came, straight toward the man on the couch, giving no look to +Rodriguez, walking something as Serafina walked, with the same poise, +the same dignity, though the years had carried away from her the grace +Serafina had: so that, though you saw that they were mother and +daughter, the elder lady called to mind the lovely things of earth, +large gardens at evening, statues dim in the dusk, summer and +whatsoever binds us to earthly things; but Serafina turned Rodriguez' +thoughts to the twilight in which he first saw her, and he pictured her +native place as far from here, in mellow fields near the moon, wherein +she had walked on twilight outlasting any we know, with all delicate +things of our fancy, too fair for the rugged earth. + +As the lady approached the couch upon which the young man was lying, +and still no look was turned towards Rodriguez, his young dreams fled +as butterflies sailing high in the heat of June that are suddenly +plunged in night by a total eclipse of the sun. He had never spoken to +Serafina, or seen before her mother, and they did not know his name; he +knew that he, Rodriguez, had no claim to a welcome. But his dreams had +flocked so much about Serafina's face, basking so much in her beauty, +that they now fell back dying; and when a man's dreams die what +remains, if he lingers awhile behind them? + +Rodriguez suddenly felt that his left shoe was off and his right eye +still bandaged, things that he had not noticed while his only thought +was for the man he carried to shelter, but torturing his consciousness +now that he thought of himself. He opened his lips to explain; but +before words came to him, looking at the face of Serafina's mother, +standing now by the couch, he felt that, not knowing how, he had +somehow wronged the Penates of this house, or whatever was hid in the +dimness of that long chamber, by carrying in this young man there to +rest from his hurt. + +Rodriguez' depression arose from these causes, but having arisen, it +grew of its own might: he had had nothing to eat since morning, and in +the favouring atmosphere of hunger his depression grew gigantic. He +opened his lips once more to say farewell, was oppressed by all manner +of thoughts that held him dumb, and turned away in silence and left the +house. Outside he recovered his mandolin and his shoe. He was tired +with the weariness of defeated dreams that slept in his spirit +exhausted, rather than with any fatigue his young muscles had from the +journey. He needed sleep; he looked at the shuttered houses; then at +the soft dust of the road in which dogs lay during the daylight. But +the dust was near to his mood, so he lay down where he had fought the +unknown hidalgo. A light wind wandered the street like a visitor come +to the village out of a friendly valley, but Rodriguez' four days on +the roads had made him familiar with all wandering things, and the +breeze on his forehead troubled him not at all: before it had wearied +of wandering in the night Rodriguez had fallen asleep. Just by the edge +of sleep, upon which side he knew not, he heard the window of the +balcony creak, and looked up wide awake all in a moment. But nothing +stirred in the darkness of the balcony and the window was fast shut. So +whatever sound came from the window came not from its opening but +shutting: for a while he wondered; and then his tired thoughts rested, +and that was sleep. + +A light rain woke Rodriguez, drizzling upon his face; the first light +rain that had fallen in a romantic tale. Storms there had been, lashing +oaks to terrific shapes seen at night by flashes of lightning, through +which villains rode abroad or heroes sought shelter at midnight; +hurricanes there had been, flapping huge cloaks, fierce hail and +copious snow; but until now no drizzle. It was morning; dawn was old; +and pale and grey and unhappy. + +The balcony above him, still empty, scarcely even held romance now. +Rain dripped from it sadly. Its cheerless bareness seemed worse than +the most sinister shadows of night. + +And then Rodriguez saw a rose lying on the ground beside him. And for +all the dreams, fancies, and hopes that leaped up in Rodriguez' mind, +rising and falling and fading, one thing alone he knew and all the rest +was mystery: the rose had lain there before the rain had fallen. +Beneath the rose was white dust, while all around it the dust was +turning grey with rain. + +Rodriguez tried to guess how long the rain had fallen. The rose may +have lain beside him all night long. But the shadows of mystery receded +no farther than this one fact that the rose was there before the rain +began. No sign of any kind came from the house. + +Rodriguez put the rose safe under his coat, wrapped in the kerchief +that had guarded the mandolin, to carry it far from Lowlight, through +places familiar with roses and places strange to them; but it remained +for him a thing of mystery until a day far from then. + +Sadly he left the house in the sad rain, marching away alone to look +for his wars. + + + + +THE SEVENTH CHRONICLE + +HOW HE CAME TO SHADOW VALLEY + + +Rodriguez still believed it to be the duty of any Christian man to kill +Morano. Yet, more than comfort, more than dryness, he missed Morano's +cheerful chatter, and his philosophy into which all occasions so easily +slipped. Upon his first day's journey all was new; the very anemones +kept him company; but now he made the discovery that lonely roads are +long. + +When he had suggested food or rest Morano had fallen in with his +wishes; when he had suggested winning a castle in vague wars Morano had +agreed with him. Now he had dismissed Morano and had driven him away at +the rapier's point. There was no one now either to cook his food or to +believe in the schemes his ambition made. There was no one now to speak +of the wars as the natural end of the journey. Alone in the rain the +wars seemed far away and castles hard to come by. The unromantic rain +in which no dreams thrive fell on and on. + +The village of Lowlight was some way behind him, as he went with +mournful thoughts through the drizzling rain, when he caught the smell +of bacon. He looked for a house but the plain was bare except for small +bushes. He looked up wind, which was blowing from the west, whence came +the unmistakable smell of bacon: and there was a small fire smoking +greyly against a bush; and the fat figure crouching beside it, although +the face was averted, was clearly none but Morano. And when Rodriguez +saw that he was tenderly holding the infamous frying-pan, the very +weapon that had done the accursed deed, then he almost felt righteous +anger; but that frying-pan held other memories too, and Rodriguez felt +less fury than what he thought he felt. As for killing Morano, +Rodriguez believed, or thought he believed, that he was too far from +the road for it to be possible to overtake him to mete out his just +punishment. As for the bacon, Rodriguez scorned it and marched on down +the road. Now one side of the frying-pan was very hot, for it was +tilted a little and the lard had run sideways. By tilting it back again +slowly Morano could make the fat run back bit by bit over the heated +metal, and whenever it did so it sizzled. He now picked up the +frying-pan and one log that was burning well and walked parallel with +Rodriguez. He was up-wind of him, and whenever the bacon-fat sizzled +Rodriguez caught the smell of it. A small matter to inspire thoughts; +but Rodriguez had eaten nothing since the morning before, and ideas +surged through his head; and though they began with moral indignation +they adapted themselves more and more to hunger, until there came the +idea that since his money had bought the bacon the food was rightfully +his, and he had every right to eat it wherever he found it. So much can +slaves sometimes control the master, and the body rule the brain. + +So Rodriguez suddenly turned and strode up to Morano. "My bacon," he +said. + +"Master," Morano said, for it was beginning to cool, "let me make +another small fire." + +"Knave, call me not master," said Rodriguez. + +Morano, who knew when speech was good, was silent now, and blew on the +smouldering end of the log he carried and gathered a handful of twigs +and shook the rain off them; and soon had a small fire again, warming +the bacon. He had nothing to say which bacon could not say better. And +when Rodriguez had finished up the bacon he carefully reconsidered the +case of Morano, and there were points in it which he had not thought of +before. He reflected that for the execution of knaves a suitable person +was provided. He should perhaps give Morano up to la Garda. His next +thought was where to find la Garda. And easily enough another thought +followed that one, which was that although on foot and still some way +behind four of la Garda were trying to find him. Rodriguez' mind, which +was looking at life from the point of view of a judge, changed somewhat +at this thought. He reflected next that, for the prevention of crime, +to make Morano see the true nature of his enormity so that he should +never commit it again might after all be as good as killing him. So +what we call his better nature, his calmer judgment, decided him now to +talk to Morano and not to kill him: but Morano, looking back upon this +merciful change, always attributed it to fried bacon. + +"Morano," said Rodriguez' better nature, "to offend the laws of +Chivalry is to have against you the swords of all true men." + +"Master," Morano said, "that were dreadful odds." + +"And rightly," said Rodriguez. + +"Master," said Morano, "I will keep those laws henceforth. I may cook +bacon for you when you are hungry, I may brush the dust from your +cloak, I may see to your comforts. This Chivalry forbids none of that. +But when I see anyone trying to kill you, master; why, kill you he +must, and welcome." + +"Not always," said Rodriguez somewhat curtly, for it struck him that +Morano spoke somehow too lightly of sacred things. + +"Not always?" asked Morano. + +"No," said Rodriguez. + +"Master, I implore you tell me," said Morano, "when they may kill you +and when they may not, so that I may never offend again." + +Rodriguez cast a swift glance at him but found his face so full of +puzzled anxiety that he condescended to do what Morano had asked, and +began to explain to him the rudiments of the laws of Chivalry. + +"In the wars," he said, "you may defend me whoever assails me, or if +robbers or any common persons attack me, but if I arrange a meeting +with a gentleman, and any knave basely interferes, then is he damned +hereafter as well as accursed now; for, the laws of Chivalry being +founded on true religion, the penalty for their breach is by no means +confined to this world." + +"Master," replied Morano thoughtfully, "if I be not damned already I +will avoid those fires of Hell; and none shall kill you that you have +not chosen to kill you, and those that you choose shall kill you +whenever you have a mind." + +Rodriguez opened his lips to correct Morano but reflected that, though +in his crude and base-born way, he had correctly interpreted the law so +far as his mind was able. + +So he briefly said "Yes," and rose and returned to the road, giving +Morano no order to follow him; and this was the last concession he made +to the needs of Chivalry on account of the sin of Morano. Morano +gathered up the frying-pan and followed Rodriguez, and when they came +to the road he walked behind him in silence. + +For three or four miles they walked thus, Morano knowing that he +followed on sufferance and calling no attention to himself with his +garrulous tongue. But at the end of an hour the rain lifted; and with +the coming out of the sun Morano talked again. + +"Master," he said, "the next man that you choose to kill you, let him +be one too base-born to know the tricks of the rapier, too ignorant to +do aught but wish you well, some poor fat fool over forty who shall be +too heavy to elude your rapier's point and too elderly for it to matter +when you kill him at your Chivalry, the best of life being gone already +at forty-five." + +"There is timber here," said Rodriguez. "We will have some more bacon +while you dry my cloak over a fire." + +Thus he acknowledged Morano again for his servant but never +acknowledged that in Morano's words he had understood any poor sketch +of Morano's self, or that the words went to his heart. + +"Timber, Master?" said Morano, though it did not need Rodriguez to +point out the great oaks that now began to stand beside their journey, +but he saw that the other matter was well and thus he left well alone. + +Rodriguez waved an arm towards the great trees. "Yes, indeed," said +Morano, and began to polish up the frying-pan as he walked. + +Rodriguez, who missed little, caught a glimpse of tears in Morano's +eyes, for all that his head was turned downward over the frying-pan; +yet he said nothing, for he knew that forgiveness was all that Morano +needed, and that he had now given him: and it was much to give, +reflected Rodriguez, for so great a crime, and dismissed the matter +from his mind. + +And now their road dipped downhill, and they passed a huge oak and then +another. More and more often now they met these solitary giants, till +their view began to be obscured by them. The road dwindled till it was +no better than a track, the earth beside it was wild and rocky; +Rodriguez wondered to what manner of land he was coming. But +continually the branches of some tree obscured his view and the only +indication he had of it was from the road he trod, which seemed to tell +him that men came here seldom. Beyond every huge tree that they passed +as they went downhill Rodriguez hoped to get a better view, but always +there stood another to close the vista. It was some while before he +realised that he had entered a forest. They were come to Shadow Valley. + +The grandeur of this place, penetrated by shafts of sunlight, coloured +by flashes of floating butterflies, filled by the chaunt of birds +rising over the long hum of insects, lifted the fallen spirits of +Rodriguez as he walked on through the morning. + +He still would not have exchanged his rose for the whole forest; but in +the mighty solemnity of the forest his mourning for the lady that he +feared he had lost no longer seemed the only solemn thing: indeed, the +sombre forest seemed well attuned to his mood; and what complaint have +we against Fate wherever this is so. His mood was one of tragic loss, +the defeat of an enterprise that his hopes had undertaken, to seize +victory on the apex of the world, to walk all his days only just +outside the edge of Paradise, for no less than that his hopes and his +first love promised each other; and then he walked despairing in small +rain. In this mood Fate had led him to solemn old oaks standing huge +among shadows; and the grandeur of their grey grip on the earth that +had been theirs for centuries was akin to the grandeur of the high +hopes he had had, and his despair was somehow soothed by the shadows. +And then the impudent birds seemed to say "Hope again." + +They walked for miles into the forest and lit a fire before noon, for +Rodriguez had left Lowlight very early. And by it Morano cooked bacon +again and dried his master's cloak. They ate the bacon and sat by the +fire till all their clothes were dry, and when the flames from the +great logs fell and only embers glowed they sat there still, with hands +spread to the warmth of the embers; for to those who wander a fire is +food and rest and comfort. Only as the embers turned grey did they +throw earth over their fire and continue their journey. Their road grew +smaller and the forest denser. + +They had walked some miles from the place where they lit their fire, +when a somewhat unmistakable sound made Rodriguez look ahead of him. An +arrow had struck a birch tree on the right side, ten or twelve paces in +front of him; and as he looked up another struck it from the opposite +side just level with the first; the two were sticking in it ten feet or +so from the ground. Rodriguez drew his sword. But when a third arrow +went over his head from behind and struck the birch tree, whut! just +between the other two, he perceived, as duller minds could have done, +that it was a hint, and he returned his sword and stood still. Morano +questioned his master with his eyes, which were asking what was to be +done next. But Rodriguez shrugged his shoulders: there was no fighting +with an invisible foe that could shoot like that. That much Morano +knew, but he did not know that there might not be some law of Chivalry +that would demand that Rodriguez should wave his sword in the air or +thrust at the birch tree until someone shot him. When there seemed to +be no such rule Morano was well content. And presently men came quietly +on to the road from different parts of the wood. They were dressed in +brown leather and wore leaf-green hats, and round each one's neck hung +a disk of engraved copper. They came up to the travellers carrying +bows, and the leader said to Rodriguez: + +"Senor, all travellers here bring tribute to the King of Shadow +Valley," at the mention of whom all touched hats and bowed their heads. +"What do you bring us?" + +Rodriguez thought of no answer; but after a moment he said, for the +sake of loyalty: "I know one king only." + +"There is only one king in Shadow Valley," said the bowman. + +"He brings a tribute of emeralds," said another, looking at Rodriguez' +scabbard. And then they searched him and others search Morano. There +were eight or nine of them, all in their leaf-green hats, with ribbons +round their necks of the same colour to hold the copper disks. They +took a gold coin from Morano and grey greasy pieces of silver. One of +them took his frying-pan; but he looked so pitifully at them as he said +simply, "I starve," that the frying-pan was restored to him. + +They unbuckled Rodriguez' belt and took from him sword and scabbard and +three gold pieces from his purse. Next they found the gold piece that +was hanging round his neck, still stuffed inside his clothes where he +had put it when he was riding. Having examined it they put it back +inside his clothes, while the leader rebuckled his sword-belt about his +waist and returned him his three gold-pieces. + +Others returned his money to Morano. "Master," said the leader, bowing +to Rodriguez, his green hat in hand, "under our King, the forest is +yours." + +Morano was pleased to hear this respect paid to his master, but +Rodriguez was so surprised that he who was never curt without reason +found no more to say than "Why?" + +"Because we are your servants," said the other. + +"Who are you?" asked Rodriguez. + +"We are the green bowmen, master," he said, "who hold this forest +against all men for our King." + +"And who is he?" said Rodriguez. + +And the bowman answered: "The King of Shadow Valley," at which the +others all touched hats and bowed heads again. And Rodriguez seeing +that the mystery would grow no clearer for any information to be had +from them said: "Conduct me to your king." + +"That, master, we cannot do," said the chief of the bowmen. "There be +many trees in this forest, and behind any one of them he holds his +court. When he needs us there is his clear horn. But when men need him +who knows which shadow is his of all that lie in the forest?" Whether +or not there was anything interesting in the mystery, to Rodriguez it +was merely annoying; and finding it grew no clearer he turned his +attention to shelter for the night, to which all travellers give a +thought at least once, between noon and sunset. + +"Is there any house on this road, senor," he said, "in which we could +rest the night?" + +"Ten miles from here," said he, "and not far from the road you take is +the best house we have in the forest. It is yours, master, for as long +as you honour it." + +"Come then," said Rodriguez, "and I thank you, senor." + +So they all started together, Rodriguez with the leader going in front +and Morano following with all the bowmen. And soon the bowmen were +singing songs of the forest, hunting songs, songs of the winter; and +songs of the long summer evenings, songs of love. Cheered by this +merriment, the miles slipped by. + +And Rodriguez gathered from the songs they sang something of what they +were and of how they lived in the forest, living amongst the woodland +creatures till these men's ways were almost as their ways; killing what +they needed for food but protecting the woodland things against all +others; straying out amongst the villages in summer evenings, and +always welcome; and owning no allegiance but to the King of the Shadow +Valley. + +And the leader told Rodriguez that his name was Miguel Threegeese, +given him on account of an exploit in his youth when he lay one night +with his bow by one of the great pools in the forest, where the geese +come in winter. He said the forest was a hundred miles long, lying +mostly along a great valley, which they were crossing. And once they +had owned allegiance to kings of Spain, but now to none but the King of +the Shadow Valley, for the King of Spain's men had once tried to cut +some of the forest down, and the forest was sacred. + +Behind him the men sang on of woodland things, and of cottage gardens +in the villages: with singing and laughter they came to their journey's +end. A cottage as though built by peasants with boundless material +stood in the forest. It was a thatched cottage built in the peasant's +way but of enormous size. The leader entered first and whispered to +those within, who rose and bowed to Rodriguez as he entered, twenty +more bowmen who had been sitting at a table. One does not speak of the +banqueting-hall of a cottage, but such it appeared, for it occupied +more than half of the cottage and was as large as the banqueting-hall +of any castle. It was made of great beams of oak, and high at either +end just under the thatch were windows with their little square panes +of bulging bluish glass, which at that time was rare in Spain. A table +of oak ran down the length of it, cut from a single tree, polished and +dark from the hands of many men that had sat at it. Boar spears hung on +the wall, great antlers and boar's tusks and, carved in the oak of the +wall and again on a high, dark chair that stood at the end of the long +table empty, a crown with oak leaves that Rodriguez recognised. It was +the same as the one that was cut on his gold coin, which he had given +no further thought to, riding to Lowlight, and which the face of +Serafina had driven from his mind altogether. "But," he said, and then +was silent, thinking to learn more by watching than by talking. And his +companions of the road came in and all sat down on the benches beside +the ample table, and a brew was brought, a kind of pale mead, that they +called forest water. And all drank; and, sitting at the table, watching +them more closely than he could as he walked in the forest, Rodriguez +saw by the sunlight that streamed in low through one window that on the +copper disks they wore round their necks on green ribbon the design was +again the same. It was much smaller than his on the gold coin but the +same strange leafy crown. "Wear it as you go through Shadow Valley," he +now seemed to remember the man saying to him who put it round his neck. +But why? Clearly because it was the badge of this band of men. And this +other man was one of them. + +His eyes strayed back to the great design on the wall. "The crown of +the forest," said Miguel as he saw his eyes wondering at it, "as you +doubtless know, senor." + +Why should he know? Of course because he bore the design himself. "Who +wears it?" said Rodriguez. + +"The King of Shadow Valley." + +Morano was without curiosity; he did not question good drink; he sat at +the table with a cup of horn in his hand, as happy as though he had +come to his master's castle, though that had not yet been won. + +The sun sank under the oaks, filling the hall with a ruddy glow, +turning the boar spears scarlet and reddening the red faces of the +merry men of the bow. + +A dozen of the men went out; to relieve the guard in the forest, Miguel +explained. And Rodriguez learned that he had come through a line of +sentries without ever seeing one. Presently a dozen others came in from +their posts and unslung their bows and laid them on pegs on the wall +and sat down at the table. Whereat there were whispered words and they +all rose and bowed to Rodriguez. And Rodriguez had caught the words "A +prince of the forest." What did it mean? + +Soon the long hall grew dim, and his love for the light drew Rodriguez +out to watch the sunset. And there was the sun under indescribable +clouds, turning huge and yellow among the trunks of the trees and +casting glory munificently down glades. It set, and the western sky +became blood-red and lilac: from the other end of the sky the moon +peeped out of night. A hush came and a chill, and a glory of colour, +and a dying away of light; and in the hush the mystery of the great +oaks became magical. A blackbird blew a tune less of this earth than of +fairy-land. + +Rodriguez wished that he could have had a less ambition than to win a +castle in the wars, for in those glades and among those oaks he felt +that happiness might be found under roofs of thatch. But having come by +his ambition he would not desert it. + +Now rushlights were lit in the great cottage and the window of the long +room glowed yellow. A fountain fell in the stillness that he had not +heard before. An early nightingale tuned a tentative note. "The forest +is fair, is it not?" said Miguel. + +Rodriguez had no words to say. To turn into words the beauty that was +now shining in his thoughts, reflected from the evening there, was no +easier than for wood to reflect all that is seen in the mirror. + +"You love the forest," he said at last. + +"Master," said Miguel, "it is the only land in which we should live our +days. There are cities and roads but man is not meant for them. I know +not, master, what God intends about us; but in cities we are against +the intention at every step, while here, why, we drift along with it." + +"I, too, would live here always," said Rodriguez. + +"The house is yours," said Miguel. And Rodriguez answered: "I go +tomorrow to the wars." + +They turned round then and walked slowly back to the cottage, and +entered the candlelight and the loud talk of many men out of the hush +of the twilight. But they passed from the room at once by a door on the +left, and came thus to a large bedroom, the only other room in the +cottage. + +"Your room, master," said Miguel Threegeese. + +It was not so big as the hall where the bowmen sat, but it was a goodly +room. The bed was made of carved wood, for there were craftsmen in the +forest, and a hunt went all the way round it with dogs and deer. Four +great posts held a canopy over it: they were four young birch-trees +seemingly still wearing their bright bark, but this had been painted on +their bare timber by some woodland artist. The chairs had not the +beauty of the great ages of furniture, but they had a dignity that the +age of commerce has not dreamed of. Each one was carved out of a single +block of wood: there was no join in them anywhere. One of them lasts to +this day. + +The skins of deer covered the long walls. There were great basins and +jugs of earthenware. All was forest-made. The very shadows whispering +among themselves in corners spoke of the forest. The room was rude; but +being without ornament, except for the work of simple craftsmen, it had +nothing there to offend the sense of right of anyone entering its door, +by any jarring conflict with the purposes and traditions of the land in +which it stood. All the woodland spirits might have entered there, and +slept--if spirits sleep--in the great bed, and left at dawn unoffended. +In fact that age had not yet learned vulgarity. + +When Miguel Threegeese left Morano entered. + +"Master," he said, "they are making a banquet for you." + +"Good," said Rodriguez. "We will eat it." And he waited to hear what +Morano had come to say, for he could see that it was more than this. + +"Master," said Morano, "I have been talking with the bowman. And they +will give you whatever you ask. They are good people, master, and they +will give you all things, whatever you asked of them." + +Rodriguez would not show to his servant that it all still puzzled him. + +"They are very amiable men," he said. + +"Master," said Morano, coming to the point, "that Garda, they will have +walked after us. They must be now in Lowlight. They have all to-night +to get new shoes on their horses. And to-morrow, master, to-morrow, if +we be still on foot..." + +Rodriguez was thinking. Morano seemed to him to be talking sense. + +"You would like another ride?" he said to Morano. + +"Master," he answered, "riding is horrible. But the public garrotter, +he is a bad thing too." And he meditatively stroked the bristles under +his chin. + +"They would give us horses?" said Rodriguez. + +"Anything, master, I am sure of it. They are good people." + +"They'll have news of the road by which they left Lowlight," said +Rodriguez reflectively. "They say la Garda dare not enter the forest," +Morano continued, "but thirty miles from here the forest ends. They +could ride round while we go through." + +"They would give us horses?" said Rodriguez again. + +"Surely," said Morano. + +And then Rodriguez asked where they cooked the banquet, since he saw +that there were only two rooms in the great cottage and his inquiring +eye saw no preparations for cooking about the fireplace of either. And +Morano pointed through a window at the back of the room to another +cottage among the trees, fifty paces away. A red glow streamed from its +windows, growing strong in the darkening forest. + +"That is their kitchen, master," he said. "The whole house is kitchen." +His eyes looked eagerly at it, for, though he loved bacon, he welcomed +the many signs of a dinner of boundless variety. + +As he and his master returned to the long hall great plates of polished +wood were being laid on the table. They gave Rodriguez a place on the +right of the great chair that had the crown of the forest carved on the +back. + +"Whose chair is that?" said Rodriguez. + +"The King of Shadow Valley," they said. + +"He is not here then," said Rodriguez. + +"Who knows?" said a bowman. + +"It is his chair," said another; "his place is ready. None knows the +ways of the King of Shadow Valley." + +"He comes sometimes at this hour," said a third, "as the boar comes to +Heather Pool at sunset. But not always. None knows his ways." + +"If they caught the King," said another, "the forest would perish. None +loves it as he, none knows its ways as he, no other could so defend it." + +"Alas," said Miguel, "some day when he be not here they will enter the +forest." All knew whom he meant by they. "And the goodly trees will +go." He spoke as a man foretelling the end of the world; and, as men to +whom no less was announced, the others listened to him. They all loved +Shadow Valley. + +In this man's time, so they told Rodriguez, none entered the forest to +hurt it, no tree was cut except by his command, and venturous men +claiming rights from others than him seldom laid axe long to tree +before he stood near, stepping noiselessly from among shadows of trees +as though he were one of their spirits coming for vengeance on man. + +All this they told Rodriguez, but nothing definite they told of their +king, where he was yesterday, where he might be now; and any questions +he asked of such things seemed to offend a law of the forest. + +And then the dishes were carried in, to Morano's great delight: with +wide blue eyes he watched the produce of that mighty estate coming in +through the doorway cooked. Boars' heads, woodcock, herons, plates full +of fishes, all manner of small eggs, a roe-deer and some rabbits, were +carried in by procession. And the men set to with their ivory-handled +knives, each handle being the whole tusk of a boar. And with their +eating came merriment and tales of past huntings and talk of the forest +and stories of the King of Shadow Valley. + +And always they spoke of him not only with respect but also with the +discretion, Rodriguez thought, of men that spoke of one who might be +behind them at that moment, and one who tolerated no trifling with his +authority. Then they sang songs again, such as Rodriguez had heard on +the road, and their merry lives passed clearly before his mind again, +for we live in our songs as no men live in histories. And again +Rodriguez lamented his hard ambition and his long, vague journey, +turning away twice from happiness; once in the village of Lowlight +where happiness deserted him, and here in the goodly forest where he +jilted happiness. How well could he and Morano live as two of this +band, he thought; leaving all cares in cities: for there dwelt cares in +cities even then. Then he put the thought away. And as the evening wore +away with merry talk and with song, Rodriguez turned to Miguel and told +him how it was with la Garda and broached the matter of horses. And +while the others sang Miguel spoke sadly to him. "Master," he said, "la +Garda shall never take you in Shadow Valley, yet if you must leave us +to make your fortune in the wars, though your fortune waits you here, +there be many horses in the forest, and you and your servant shall have +the best." + +"Tomorrow morning, senor?" said Rodriguez. + +"Even so," said Miguel. + +"And how shall I send them to you again?" said Rodriguez. + +"Master, they are yours," said Miguel. + +But this Rodriguez would not have, for as yet he only guessed what +claim at all he had upon Shadow Valley, his speculations being far more +concerned with the identity of the hidalgo that he had fought the night +before, how he concerned Serafina, who had owned the rose that he +carried: in fact his mind was busy with such studies as were proper to +his age. And at last they decided between them on the house of a +lowland smith, who was the furthest man that the bowmen knew who was +secretly true to their king. At his house Rodriguez and Morano should +leave the horses. He dwelt sixty miles from the northern edge of the +forest, and would surely give Rodriguez fresh horses if he possessed +them, for he was a true man to the bowman. His name was Gonzalez and he +dwelt in a queer green house. + +They turned then to listen a moment to a hunting song that all the +bowmen were singing about the death of a boar. Its sheer merriment +constrained them. Then Miguel spoke again. "You should not leave the +forest," he said sadly. + +Rodriguez sighed: it was decided. Then Miguel told him of his road, +which ran north-eastward and would one day bring him out of Spain. He +told him how towns on the way, and the river Ebro, and with awe and +reverence he spoke of the mighty Pyrenees. And then Rodriguez rose, for +the start was to be at dawn, and walked quietly through the singing out +of the hall to the room where the great bed was. And soon he slept, and +his dreams joined in the endless hunt through Shadow Valley that was +carved all round the timbers of his bed. + +All too soon he heard voices, voices far off at first, to which he drew +nearer and nearer; thus he woke grudgingly out of the deeps of sleep. +It was Miguel and Morano calling him. + +When at length he reached the hall all the merriment of the evening was +gone from it but the sober beauty of the forest flooded in through both +windows with early sunlight and bird-song; so that it had not the sad +appearance of places in which we have rejoiced, when we revisit them +next day or next generation and find them all deserted by dance and +song. + +Rodriguez ate his breakfast while the bowmen waited with their bows all +strung by the door. When he was ready they all set off in the early +light through the forest. + +Rodriguez did not criticise his ambition; it sailed too high above his +logic for that; but he regretted it, as he went through the beauty of +the forest among these happy men. But we must all have an ambition, and +Rodriguez stuck to the one he had. He had another, but it was an +ambition with weak wings that could not come to hope. It depended upon +the first. If he could win a castle in the wars he felt that he might +even yet hope towards Lowlight. + +Little was said, and Rodriguez was all alone with his thoughts. In two +hours they met a bowman holding two horses. They had gone eight miles. + +"Farewell to the forest," said Miguel to Rodriguez. There was almost a +query in his voice. Would Rodriguez really leave them? it seemed to say. + +"Farewell," he answered. + +Morano too had looked sideways towards his master, seeming almost to +wonder what his answer would be: when it came he accepted it and walked +to the horses. Rodriguez mounted: willing hands helped up Morano. +"Farewell," said Miguel once more. And all the bowmen shouted +"Farewell." + +"Make my farewell," said Rodriguez, "to the King of Shadow Valley." + +A twig cracked in the forest. + +"Hark," said Miguel. "Maybe that was a boar." + +"I cannot wait to hunt," said Rodriguez, "for I have far to go." + +"Maybe," said Miguel, "it was the King's farewell to you." + +Rodriguez looked into the forest and saw nothing. + +"Farewell," he said again. The horses were fresh and he let his go. +Morano lumbered behind him. In two miles they came to the edge of the +forest and up a rocky hill, and so to the plains again, and one more +adventure lay behind them. Rodriguez turned round once on the high +ground and took a long look back on the green undulations of peace. The +forest slept there as though empty of men. + +Then they rode. In the first hour, easily cantering, they did ten +miles. Then they settled down to what those of our age and country and +occupation know as a hound-jog, which is seven miles an hour. And after +two hours they let the horses rest. It was the hour of the frying-pan. +Morano, having dismounted, stretched himself dolefully; then he brought +out all manner of meats. Rodriguez looked wonderingly at them. + +"For the wars, master," said Morano. To whatever wars they went, the +green bowmen seemed to have supplied an ample commissariat. + +They ate. And Rodriguez thought of the wars, for the thought of +Serafina made him sad, and his rejection of the life of the forest +saddened him too; so he sought to draw from the future the comfort that +he could not get from the past. + +They mounted again and rode again for three hours, till they saw very +far off on a hill a village that Miguel had told them was fifty miles +from the forest. + +"We rest the night there," said Rodriguez pointing, though it was yet +seven or eight miles away. + +"All the Saints be praised," said Morano. + +They dismounted then and went on foot, for the horses were weary. At +evening they rode slowly into the village. At an inn whose hospitable +looks were as cheerfully unlike the Inn of the Dragon and Knight as +possible, they demanded lodging for all four. They went first to the +stable, and when the horses had been handed over to the care of a groom +they returned to the inn, and mine host and Rodriguez had to help +Morano up the three steps to the door, for he had walked nine miles +that day and ridden fifty and he was too weary to climb the steps. + +And later Rodriguez sat down alone to his supper at a table well and +variously laden, for the doors of mine hosts' larder were opened wide +in his honour; but Rodriguez ate sparingly, as do weary men. + +And soon he sought his bed. And on the old echoing stairs as he and +mine host ascended they met Morano leaning against the wall. What shall +I say of Morano? Reader, your sympathy is all ready to go out to the +poor, weary man. He does not entirely deserve it, and shall not cheat +you of it. Reader, Morano was drunk. I tell you this sorry truth rather +than that the knave should have falsely come by your pity. And yet he +is dead now over three hundred years, having had his good time to the +full. Does he deserve your pity on that account? Or your envy? And to +whom or what would you give it? Well, anyhow, he deserved no pity for +being drunk. And yet he was thirsty, and too tired to eat, and sore in +need of refreshment, and had had no more cause to learn to shun good +wine than he had had to shun the smiles of princesses; and there the +good wine had been, sparkling beside him merrily. + +And now, why now, fatigued as he had been an hour or so ago (but time +had lost its tiresome, restless meaning), now he stood firm while all +things and all men staggered. + +"Morano," said Rodriguez as he passed that foolish figure, "we go sixty +miles to-morrow." + +"Sixty, master?" said Morano. "A hundred: two hundred." + +"It is best to rest now," said his master. + +"Two hundred, master, two hundred," Morano replied. + +And then Rodriguez left him, and heard him muttering his challenge to +distance still, "Two hundred, two hundred," till the old stairway +echoed with it. + +And so he came to his chamber, of which he remembered little, for sleep +lurked there and he was soon with dreams, faring further with them than +my pen can follow. + + + + +THE EIGHTH CHRONICLE + +HOW HE TRAVELLED FAR + + +One blackbird on a twig near Rodriguez' window sang, then there were +fifty singing, and morning arose over Spain all golden and wonderful. + +Rodriguez descended and found mine host rubbing his hands by his good +table, with a look on his face that seemed to welcome the day and to +find good auguries concerning it. But Morano looked as one that, having +fallen from some far better place, is ill-content with earth and the +mundane way. + +He had scorned breakfast; but Rodriguez breakfasted. And soon the two +were bidding mine host farewell. They found their horses saddled, they +mounted at once, and rode off slowly in the early day. The horses were +tired and, slowly trotting and walking, and sometimes dismounting and +dragging the horses on, it was nearly two hours before they had done +ten miles and come to the house of the smith in a rocky village: the +street was cobbled and the houses were all of stone. + +The early sparkle had gone from the dew, but it was still morning, and +many a man but now sat down to his breakfast, as they arrived and beat +on the door. + +Gonzalez the smith opened it, a round and ruddy man past fifty, a +citizen following a reputable trade, but once, ah once, a bowman. + +"Senor," said Rodriguez, "our horses are weary. We have been told you +will change them for us." + +"Who told you that?" said Gonzalez. + +"The green bowmen in Shadow Valley," the young man answered. + +As a meteor at night lights up with its greenish glare flowers and +blades of grass, twisting long shadows behind them, lights up lawns and +bushes and the deep places of woods, scattering quiet night for a +moment, so the unexpected answer of Rodriguez lit memories in the mind +of the smith all down the long years; and a twinkle and a sparkle of +those memories dancing in woods long forsaken flashed from his eyes. + +"The green bowmen, senor," said Gonzalez. "Ah, Shadow Valley!" + +"We left it yesterday," said Rodriguez. + +When Gonzalez heard this he poured forth questions. "The forest, senor; +how is it now with the forest? Do the boars still drink at Heather +Pool? Do the geese go still to Greatmarsh? They should have come early +this year. How is it with Larios, Raphael, Migada? Who shoots woodcock +now?" + +The questions flowed on past answering, past remembering: he had not +spoken of the forest for years. And Rodriguez answered as such +questions are always answered, saying that all was well, and giving +Gonzalez some little detail of some trifling affair of the forest, +which he treasured as small shells are treasured in inland places when +travellers bring them from the sea; but all that he heard of the forest +seemed to the smith like something gathered on a far shore of time. +Yes, he had been a bowman once. + +But he had no horses. One horse that drew a cart, but no horses for +riding at all. And Rodriguez thought of the immense miles lying between +him and the foreign land, keeping him back from his ambition; they all +pressed on his mind at once. The smith was sorry, but he could not make +horses. + +"Show him your coin, master," said Morano. + +"Ah, a small token," said Rodriguez, drawing it forth still on its +green ribbon under his clothing. "The bowman's badge, is it not?" + +Gonzalez looked at it, then looked at Rodriguez. + +"Master," he said, "you shall have your horses. Give me time: you shall +have them. Enter, master." And he bowed and widely opened the door. "If +you will breakfast in my house while I go to the neighbours you shall +have some horses, master." + +So they entered the house, and the smith with many bows gave the +travellers over to the care of his wife, who saw from her husband's +manner that these were persons of importance and as such she treated +them both, and as such entertained them to their second breakfast. And +this meant they ate heartily, as travellers can, who can go without a +breakfast or eat two; and those who dwell in cities can do neither. + +And while the plump dame did them honour they spoke no word of the +forest, for they knew not what place her husband's early years had in +her imagination. + +They had barely finished their meal when the sound of hooves on cobbles +was heard and Gonzalez beat on the door. They all went to the door and +found him there with two horses. The horses were saddled and bridled. +They fixed the stirrups to please them, then the travellers mounted at +once. Rodriguez made his grateful farewell to the wife of the smith: +then, turning to Gonzalez, he pointed to the two tired horses which had +waited all the while with their reins thrown over a hook on the wall. + +"Let the owner of these have them till his own come back," he said, and +added: "How far may I take these?" + +"They are good horses," said the smith. + +"Yes," said Rodriguez. + +"They could do fifty miles to-day," Gonzalez continued, "and to-morrow, +why, forty, or a little more." + +"And where will that bring me?" said Rodriguez, pointing to the +straight road which was going his way, north-eastward. + +"That," said Gonzalez, "that should bring you some ten or twenty miles +short of Saspe." + +"And where shall I leave the horses?" Rodriguez asked. + +"Master," Gonzalez said, "in any village where there be a smith, if you +say 'these are the horses of the smith Gonzalez, who will come for them +one day from here,' they will take them in for you, master." + +"But," and Gonzalez walked a little away from his wife, and the horses +walked and he went beside them, "north of here none knows the bowmen. +You will get no fresh horses, master. What will you do?" + +"Walk," said Rodriguez. + +Then they said farewell, and there was a look on the face of the smith +almost such as the sons of men might have worn in Genesis when angels +visited them briefly. + +They settled down into a steady trot and trotted thus for three hours. +Noon came, and still there was no rest for Morano, but only dust and +the monotonous sight of the road, on which his eyes were fixed: nearly +an hour more passed, and at last he saw his master halt and turn round +in his saddle. + +"Dinner," Rodriguez said. + +All Morano's weariness vanished: it was the hour of the frying-pan once +more. + +They had done more than twenty-one miles from the house of Gonzalez. +Nimbly enough, in his joy at feeling the ground again, Morano ran and +gathered sticks from the bushes. And soon he had a fire, and a thin +column of grey smoke going up from it that to him was always home. + +When the frying-pan warmed and lard sizzled, when the smell of bacon +mingled with the smoke, then Morano was where all wise men and all +unwise try to be, and where some of one or the other some times come +for awhile, by unthought paths and are gone again; for that smoky, +mixed odour was happiness. + +Not for long men and horses rested, for soon Rodriguez' ambition was +drawing him down the road again, of which he knew that there remained +to be travelled over two hundred miles in Spain, and how much beyond +that he knew not, nor greatly cared, for beyond the frontier of Spain +he believed there lay the dim, desired country of romance where roads +were long no more and no rain fell. They mounted again and pushed on +for this country. Not a village they saw but that Morano hoped that +here his affliction would end and that he would dismount and rest; and +always Rodriguez rode on and Morano followed, and with a barking of +dogs they were gone and the village rested behind them. For many an +hour their slow trot carried them on; and Morano, clutching the saddle +with worn arms, already was close to despair, when Rodriguez halted in +a little village at evening before an inn. They had done their fifty +miles from the house of Gonzalez, and even a little more. + +Morano rolled from his horse and beat on the small green door. Mine +host came out and eyed them, preening the point of his beard; and +Rodriguez sat his horse and looked at him. They had not the welcome +here that Gonzalez gave them; but there was a room to spare for +Rodriguez, and Morano was promised what he asked for, straw; and there +was shelter to be had for the horses. It was all the travellers needed. + +Children peered at the strangers, gossips peeped out of doors to gather +material concerning them, dogs noted their coming, the eyes of the +little village watched them curiously, but Rodriguez and Morano passed +into the house unheeding; and past those two tired men the mellow +evening glided by like a dream. Tired though Rodriguez was he noticed a +certain politeness in mine host while he waited at supper, which had +not been noticeable when he had first received him, and rightly put +this down to some talk of Morano's; but he did not guess that Morano +had opened wide blue eyes and, babbling to his host, had guilelessly +told him that his master a week ago had killed an uncivil inn-keeper. + +Scarcely were late birds home before Rodriguez sought his bed, and not +all of them were sleeping before he slept. + +Another morning shone, and appeared to Spain, and all at once Rodriguez +was wide awake. It was the eighth day of his wanderings. + +When he had breakfasted and paid his due in silver he and Morano +departed, leaving mine host upon his doorstep bowing with an almost +perplexed look on his shrewd face as he took the points of moustachios +and beard lightly in turn between finger and thumb: for we of our day +enter vague details about ourselves in the book downstairs when we stay +at inns, but it was mine host's custom to gather all that with his +sharp eyes. Whatever he gathered, Rodriguez and Morano were gone. + +But soon their pace dwindled, the trot slackening and falling to a +walk; soon Rodriguez learned what it is to travel with tired horses. To +Morano riding was merely riding, and the discomforts of that were so +great that he noticed no difference. But to Rodriguez, his continual +hitting and kicking his horse's sides, his dislike of doing it, the +uselessness of it when done, his ambition before and the tired beast +underneath, the body always some yards behind the beckoning spirit, +were as great vexation as a traveller knows. It came to dismounting and +walking miles on foot; even then the horses hung back. They halted an +hour over dinner while the horses grazed and rested, and they returned +to their road refreshed by the magic that was in the frying-pan, but +the horses were no fresher. + +When our bodies are slothful and lie heavy, never responding to the +spirit's bright promptings, then we know dullness: and the burden of it +is the graver for hearing our spirits call faintly, as the chains of a +buccaneer in some deep prison, who hears a snatch of his comrades' +singing as they ride free by the coast, would grow more unbearable than +ever before. But the weight of his tired horse seemed to hang heavier +on the fanciful hopes that Rodriguez' dreams had made. Farther than +ever seemed the Pyrenees, huger than ever their barrier, dimmer and +dimmer grew the lands of romance. + +If the hopes of Rodriguez were low, if his fancies were faint, what +material have I left with which to make a story with glitter enough to +hold my readers' eyes to the page: for know that mere dreams and idle +fancies, and all amorous, lyrical, unsubstantial things, are all that +we writers have of which to make a tale, as they are all that the Dim +Ones have to make the story of man. + +Sometimes riding, sometimes going on foot, with the thought of the +long, long miles always crowding upon Rodriguez, overwhelming his +hopes; till even the castle he was to win in the wars grew too pale for +his fancy to see, tired and without illusions, they came at last by +starlight to the glow of a smith's forge. He must have done forty-five +miles and he knew they were near Caspe. + +The smith was working late, and looked up when Rodriguez halted. Yes, +he knew Gonzalez, a master in the trade: there was a welcome for his +horses. + +But for the two human travellers there were excuses, even apologies, +but no spare beds. It was the same in the next three or four houses +that stood together by the road. And the fever of Rodriguez' ambition +drove him on, though Morano would have lain down and slept where they +stood, though he himself was weary. The smith had received his horses; +after that he cared not whether they gave him shelter or not, the +alternative being the road, and that bringing nearer his wars and the +castle he was to win. And that fancy that led his master Morano allowed +always to lead him too, though a few more miles and he would have +fallen asleep as he walked and dropped by the roadside and slept on. +Luckily they had gone barely two miles from the forge where the horses +rested, when they saw a high, dark house by the road and knocked on the +door and found shelter. It was an old woman who let them in, a farmer's +wife, and she had room for them and one mattress, but no bed. They were +too tired to eat and did not ask for food, but at once followed her up +the booming stairs of her house, which were all dark but for her +candle, and so came among huge minuetting shadows to the long loft at +the top. There was a mattress there which the old woman laid out for +Rodriguez, and a heap of hay for Morano. Just for a moment, as +Rodriguez climbed the last step of the stair and entered the loft where +the huge shadows twirled between the one candle's light and the +unbeaten darkness in corners, just for a moment romance seemed to +beckon to him; for a moment, in spite of his fatigue and dejection, in +spite of the possibility of his quest being crazy, for a moment he felt +that great shadows and echoing boards, the very cobwebs even that hung +from the black rafters, were all romantic things; he felt that his was +a glorious adventure and that all these things that filled the loft in +the night were such as should fitly attend on youth and glory. In a +moment that feeling was gone he knew not why it had come. And though he +remembered it till grey old age, when he came to know the causes of +many things, he never knew what romance might have to do with shadows +or echoes at night in an empty room, and only knew of such fancies that +they came from beyond his understanding, whether from wisdom or folly. + +Morano was first asleep, as enormous snores testified, almost before +the echoes had died away of the footsteps of the old woman descending +the stairs; but soon Rodriguez followed him into the region of dreams, +where fantastic ambitions can live with less of a struggle than in the +broad light of day: he dreamed he walked at night down a street of +castles strangely colossal in an awful starlight, with doors too vast +for any human need, whose battlements were far in the heights of night; +and chose, it being in time of war, the one that should be his; but the +gargoyles on it were angry and spoiled the dream. + +Dream followed dream with furious rapidity, as the dreams of tired men +do, racing each other, jostling and mingling and dancing, an +ill-assorted company: myriads went by, a wild, grey, cloudy multitude; +and with the last walked dawn. + +Rodriguez rose more relieved to quit so tumultuous a rest than +refreshed by having had it. + +He descended, leaving Morano to sleep on, and not till the old dame had +made a breakfast ready did he return to interrupt his snores. + +Even as he awoke upon his heap of hay Morano remained as true to his +master's fantastic quest as the camel is true to the pilgrimage to +Mecca. He awoke grumbling, as the camel grumbles at dawn when the packs +are put on him where he lies, but never did he doubt that they went to +victorious wars where his master would win a castle splendid with +towers. + +Breakfast cheered both the travellers. And then the old lady told +Rodriguez that Caspe was but a three hours' walk, and that cheered them +even more, for Caspe is on the Ebro, which seemed to mark for Rodriguez +a stage in his journey, being carried easily in his imagination, like +the Pyrenees. What road he would take when he reached Caspe he had not +planned. And soon Rodriguez expressed his gratitude, full of fervour, +with many a flowery phrase which lived long in the old dame's mind; and +the visit of those two travellers became one of the strange events of +that house and was chief of the memories that faintly haunted the +rafters of the loft for years. + +They did not reach Caspe in three hours, but went lazily, being weary; +for however long a man defies fatigue the hour comes when it claims +him. The knowledge that Caspe lay near with sure lodging for the night, +soothed Rodriguez' impatience. And as they loitered they talked, and +they decided that la Garda must now be too far behind to pursue any +longer. They came in four hours to the bank of the Ebro and there saw +Caspe near them; but they dined once more on the grass, sitting beside +the river, rather than enter the town at once, for there had grown in +both travellers a liking for the wanderers' green table of earth. + +It was a time to make plans. The country of romance was far away and +they were without horses. + +"Will you buy horses, master?" said Morano. + +"We might not get them over the Pyrenees," said Rodriguez, though he +had a better reason, which was that three gold pieces did not buy two +saddled horses. There were no more friends to hire from. Morano grew +thoughtful. He sat with his feet dangling over the bank of the Ebro. + +"Master," he said after a while, "this river goes our way. Let us come +by boat, master, and drift down to France at our ease." + +To get a river over a range of mountains is harder than to get horses. +Some such difficulty Rodriguez implied to him; but Morano, having come +slowly by an idea, parted not so easily with it. + +"It goes our way, master," he repeated, and pointed a finger at the +Ebro. + +At this moment a certain song that boatmen sing on that river, when the +current is with them and they have nothing to do but be idle and their +lazy thoughts run to lascivious things, came to the ears of Rodriguez +and Morano; and a man with a bright blue sash steered down the Ebro. He +had been fishing and was returning home. + +"Master," Morano said, "that knave shall row us there." + +Rodriguez seeing that the idea was fixed in Morano's mind determined +that events would move it sooner than argument, and so made no reply. + +"Shall I tell him, master?" asked Morano. + +"Yes," said Rodriguez, "if he can row us over the Pyrenees." + +This was the permission that Morano sought, and a hideous yell broke +from his throat hailing the boatman. The boatman looked up lazily, a +young man with strong brown arms, turning black moustaches towards +Morano. Again Morano hailed him and ran along the bank, while the boat +drifted down and the boatman steered in towards Morano. Somehow Morano +persuaded him to come in to see what he wanted; and in a creek he ran +his boat aground, and there he and Morano argued and bargained. But +Rodriguez remained where he was, wondering why it took so long to turn +his servant's mind from that curious fancy. At last Morano returned. + +"Well?" said Rodriguez. + +"Master," said Morano, "he will row us to the Pyrenees." + +"The Pyrenees!" said Rodriguez. "The Ebro runs into the sea." For they +had taught him this at the college of San Josephus. + +"He will row us there," said Morano, "for a gold piece a day, rowing +five hours each day." + +Now between them they had but four gold pieces; but that did not make +the Ebro run northward. It seemed that the Ebro, after going their way, +as Morano had said, for twenty or thirty miles, was joined by the river +Segre, and that where the Ebro left them, turning eastwards, the course +of the Segre took them on their way: but it would be rowing against the +current. + +"How far is it?" said Rodriguez. + +"A hundred miles, he says," answered Morano. "He knows it well." + +Rodriguez calculated swiftly. First he added thirty miles; for he knew +that his countrymen took a cheerful view of distance, seldom allowing +any distance to oppress them under its true name at the out set of a +journey; then he guessed that the boatman might row five miles an hour +for the first thirty miles with the stream of the Ebro, and he hoped +that he might row three against the Segre until they came near the +mountains, where the current might grow too strong. + +"Morano," he said, "we shall have to row too." + +"Row, master?" said Morano. + +"We can pay him for four days," said Rodriguez. "If we all row we may +go far on our way." + +"It is better than riding," replied Morano with entire resignation. + +And so they walked to the creek and Rodriguez greeted the boatman, +whose name was Perez; and they entered the boat and he rowed them down +to Caspe. And, in the house of Perez, Rodriguez slept that night in a +large dim room, untidy with diverse wares: they slept on heaps of +things that pertained to the river and fishing. Yet it was late before +Rodriguez slept, for in sight of his mind came glimpses at last of the +end of his journey; and, when he slept at last, he saw the Pyrenees. +Through the long night their mighty heads rejected him, staring +immeasurably beyond him in silence, and then in happier dreams they +beckoned him for a moment. Till at last a bird that had entered the +city of Caspe sang clear and it was dawn. With that first light +Rodriguez arose and awoke Morano. Together they left that long haven of +lumber and found Perez already stirring. They ate hastily and all went +down to the boat, the unknown that waits at the end of all strange +journeys quickening their steps as they went through the early light. + +Perez rowed first and the others took their turns and so they went all +the morning down the broad flood of the Ebro, and came in the afternoon +to its meeting place with the Segre. And there they landed and +stretched their limbs on shore and lit a fire and feasted, before they +faced the current that would be henceforth against them. Then they +rowed on. + +When they landed by starlight and unrolled a sheet of canvas that Perez +had put in the boat, and found what a bad time starlight is for +pitching a tent, Rodriguez and Morano had rowed for four hours each and +Perez had rowed for five. They carried no timber in the boat but used +the oars for tent-poles and cut tent-pegs with a small hatchet that +Perez had brought. + +They stumbled on rocks, tore the canvas on bushes, lost the same thing +over and over again; in fact they were learning the craft of wandering. +Yet at last their tent was up and a good fire comforting them outside, +and Morano had cooked the food and they had supped and talked, and +after that they slept. And over them sleeping the starlight faded away, +and in the greyness that none of them dreamed was dawn five clear notes +were heard so shrill in the night that Rodriguez half waking wondered +what bird of the darkness called, and learned from the answering chorus +that it was day. + +He woke Morano who rose in that chilly hour and, striking sparks among +last night's embers, soon had a fire: they hastily made a meal and +wrapped up their tent and soon they were going onward against the tide +of the Segre. And that day Morano rowed more skilfully; and Rodriguez +unwrapped his mandolin and played, reclining in the boat while he +rested from rowing. And the mandolin told them all, what the words of +none could say, that they fared to adventure in the land of Romance, to +the overthrow of dullness and the sameness of all drear schemes and the +conquest of discontent in the spirit of man; and perhaps it sang of a +time that has not yet come, or the mandolin lied. + +That evening three wiser men made their camp before starlight. They +were now far up the Segre. + +For thirteen hours next day they toiled at the oars or lay languid. And +while Rodriguez rested he played on his mandolin. The Segre slipped by +them. + +They seemed like no men on their way to war, but seemed to loiter as +the bright river loitered, which slid seaward in careless ease and was +wholly freed from time. + +On this day they heard men speak of the Pyrenees, two men and a woman +walking by the river; their voices came to the boat across the water, +and they spoke of the Pyrenees. And on the next day they heard men +speak of war. War that some farmers had fled from on the other side of +the mountain. When Rodriguez heard these chance words his dreams came +nearer till they almost touched the edges of reality. + +It was the last day of Perez' rowing. He rowed well although they +neared the cradle of the Segre and he struggled against them in his +youth. Grey peaks began to peer that had nursed that river. Grey faces +of stone began to look over green hills. They were the Pyrenees. + +When Rodriguez saw at last the Pyrenees he drew a breath and was unable +to speak. Soon they were gone again below the hills: they had but +peered for a moment to see who troubled the Segre. + +And the sun set and still they did not camp, but Perez rowed on into +the starlight. That day he rowed six hours. + +They pitched their tent as well as they could in the darkness; and, +breathing a clear new air all crisp from the Pyrenees, they slept +outside the threshold of adventure. + +Rodriguez awoke cold. Once more he heard the first blackbird who sings +clear at the edge of night all alone in the greyness, the nightingale's +only rival; a rival like some unknown in the midst of a crowd who for a +moment leads some well-loved song, in notes more liquid than a +master-singer's; and all the crowd joins in and his voice is lost, and +no one learns his name. At once a host of birds answered him out of dim +bushes, whose shapes had barely as yet emerged from night. And in this +chorus Perez awoke, and even Morano. + +They all three breakfasted together, and then the wanderers said +good-bye to Perez. And soon he was gone with his bright blue sash, +drifting homewards with the Segre, well paid yet singing a little sadly +as he drifted; for he had been one of a quest, and now he left it at +the edge of adventure, near solemn mountains and, beyond them, +romantic, near-unknown lands. So Perez left and Rodriguez and Morano +turned again to the road, all the more lightly because they had not +done a full day's march for so long, and now a great one unrolled its +leagues before them. + +The heads of the mountains showed themselves again. They tramped as in +the early days of their quest. And as they went the mountains, +unveiling themselves slowly, dropping film after film of distance that +hid their mighty forms, gradually revealed to the wanderers the +magnificence of their beauty. Till at evening Rodriguez and Morano +stood on a low hill, looking at that tremendous range, which lifted far +above the fields of Earth, as though its mountains were no earthly +things but sat with Fate and watched us and did not care. + +Rodriguez and Morano stood and gazed in silence. They had come twenty +miles since morning, they were tired and hungry, but the mountains held +them: they stood there looking neither for rest nor food. Beyond them, +sheltering under the low hills, they saw a little village. Smoke +straggled up from it high into the evening: beyond the village woods +sloped away upwards. But far above smoke or woods the bare peaks +brooded. Rodriguez gazed on their austere solemnity, wondering what +secret they guarded there for so long, guessing what message they held +and hid from man; until he learned that the mystery they guarded among +them was of things that he knew not and could never know. + +Tinkle-ting said the bells of a church, invisible among the houses of +that far village. Tinkle-ting said the crescent of hills that sheltered +it. And after a while, speaking out of their grim and enormous silences +with all the gravity of their hundred ages, Tinkle-ting said the +mountains. With this trivial message Echo returned from among the homes +of the mighty, where she had run with the small bell's tiny cry to +trouble their crowned aloofness. + +Rodriguez and Morano pressed on, and the mountains cloaked themselves +as they went, in air of many colours; till the stars came out and the +lights of the village gleamed. In darkness, with surprise in the tones +of the barking dogs, the two wanderers came to the village where so few +ever came, for it lay at the end of Spain, cut off by those mighty +rocks, and they knew not much of what lands lay beyond. + +They beat on a door below a hanging board, on which was written "The +Inn of the World's End": a wandering scholar had written it and had +been well paid for his work, for in those days writing was rare. The +door was opened for them by the host of the inn, and they entered a +room in which men who had supped were sitting at a table. They were all +of them men from the Spanish side of the mountains, farmers come into +the village on the affairs of Mother Earth; next day they would be back +at their farms again; and of the land the other side of the mountains +that was so near now they knew nothing, so that it still remained for +the wanderers a thing of mystery wherein romance could dwell: and +because they knew nothing of that land the men at the inn treasured all +the more the rumours that sometimes came from it, and of these they +talked, and mine host listened eagerly, to whom all tales were brought +soon or late; and most he loved to hear tales from beyond the mountains. + +Rodriguez and Morano sat still and listened, and the talk was all of +war. It was faint and vague like fable, but rumour clearly said War, +and the other side of the mountains. It may be that no man has a crazy +ambition without at moments suspecting it; but prove it by the +touchstone of fact and he becomes at once as a woman whose invalid son, +after years of seclusion indoors, wins unexpectedly some athletic +prize. When Rodriguez heard all this talk of wars quite near he thought +of his castle as already won; his thoughts went further even, floating +through Lowlight in the glowing evening, and drifting up and down past +Serafina's house below the balcony where she sat for ever. + +Some said the Duke would never attack the Prince because the Duke's +aunt was a princess from the Troubadour's country. Another said that +there would surely be war. Others said that there was war already, and +too late for man to stop it. All said it would soon be over. + +And one man said that it was the last war that would come, because +gunpowder made fighting impossible. It could smite a man down, he said, +at two hundred paces, and a man be slain not knowing whom he fought. +Some loved fighting and some loved peace, he said, but gunpowder suited +none. + +"I like not the sound of that gunpowder, master," said Morano to +Rodriguez. + +"Nobody likes it," said the man at the table. "It is the end of war." +And some sighed and some were glad. But Rodriguez determined to push on +before the last war was over. + +Next morning Rodriguez paid the last of his silver pieces and set off +with Morano before any but mine host were astir. There was nothing but +the mountains in front of them. + +They climbed all the morning and they came to the fir woods. There they +lit a good fire and Morano brought out his frying-pan. Over the meal +they took stock of their provisions and found that, for all the store +Morano had brought from the forest, they had now only food for three +days; and they were quite without money. Money in those uplifted wastes +seemed trivial, but the dwindling food told Rodriguez that he must +press on; for man came among those rocky monsters supplied with all his +needs, or perished unnoticed before their stony faces. All the +afternoon they passed through the fir woods, and as shadows began to +grow long they passed the last tree. The village and all the fields +about it and the road by which they had come were all spread out below +them like little trivial things dimly remembered from very long ago by +one whose memory weakens. Distance had dwarfed them, and the cold +regard of those mighty peaks ignored them. And then a shadow fell on +the village, then tiny lights shone out. It was night down there. Still +the two wanderers climbed on in the daylight. With their faces to the +rocks they scarce saw night climb up behind them. But when Rodriguez +looked up at the sky to see how much light was left, and met the calm +gaze of the evening star, he saw that Night and the peaks were met +together, and understood all at once how puny an intruder is man. + +"Morano," said Rodriguez, "we must rest here for the night." + +Morano looked round him with an air of discontent, not with his +master's words but with the rocks' angular hardness. There was scarce a +plant of any kind near them now. They were near the snow, which had +flushed like a wild rose at sunset but was now all grey. Grey cliffs +seemed to be gazing sheer at eternity; and here was man, the creature +of a moment, who had strayed in the cold all homeless among his +betters. There was no welcome for them there: whatever feeling great +mountains evoke, THAT feeling was clear in Rodriguez and Morano. They +were all amongst those that have other aims, other ends, and know +naught of man. A bitter chill from the snow and from starry space drove +this thought home. + +They walked on looking for a better place, as men will, but found none. +And at last they lay down on the cold earth under a rock that seemed to +give shelter from the wind, and there sought sleep; but cold came +instead, and sleep kept far from the tremendous presences of the peaks +of the Pyrenees that gazed on things far from here. + +An ageing moon arose, and Rodriguez touched Morano and rose up; and the +two went slowly on, tired though they were. Picture the two tiny +figures, bent, shivering and weary, walking with clumsy sticks cut in +the wood, amongst the scorn of those tremendous peaks, which the moon +showed all too clearly. + +They got little warmth from walking, they were too weary to run; and +after a while they halted and burned their sticks, and got a little +warmth for some moments from their fire, which burned feebly and +strangely in those inhuman solitudes. + +Then they went on again and their track grew steeper. They rested again +for fatigue, and rose and climbed again because of the cold; and all +the while the peaks stared over them to spaces far beyond the thought +of man. + +Long before Spain knew anything of dawn a monster high in heaven smiled +at the sun, a peak out-towering all its aged children. It greeted the +sun as though this lonely thing, that scorned the race of man since +ever it came, had met a mighty equal out in Space. The vast peak +glowed, and the rest of its grey race took up the greeting leisurely +one by one. Still it was night in all Spanish houses. + +Rodriguez and Morano were warmed by that cold peak's glow, though no +warmth came from it at all; but the sight of it cheered them and their +pulses rallied, and so they grew warmer in that bitter hour. + +And then dawn came, and showed them that they were near the top of the +pass. They had come to the snow that gleams there everlastingly. + +There was no material for a fire but they ate cold meats, and went +wearily on. They passed through that awful assemblage of peaks. By noon +they were walking upon level ground. + +In the afternoon Rodriguez, tired with the journey and with the heat of +the sun, decided that it was possible to sleep, and, wrapping his cloak +around him, he lay down, doing what Morano would have done, by +instinct. Morano was asleep at once and Rodriguez soon after. They +awoke with the cold at sunset. + +Refreshed amazingly they ate some food and started their walk again to +keep themselves warm for the night. They were still on level ground and +set out with a good stride in their relief at being done with climbing. +Later they slowed down and wandered just to keep warm. And some time in +the starlight they felt their path dip, and knew that they were going +downward now to the land of Rodriguez' dreams. + +When the peaks glowed again, first meeting day in her earliest +dancing-grounds of filmy air, they stood now behind the wanderers. +Below them still in darkness lay the land of their dream, but hitherto +it had always faded at dawn. Now hills put up their heads one by one +through films of mist; woods showed, then hedges, and afterwards +fields, greyly at first and then, in the cold hard light of morning, +becoming more and more real. The sight of the land so long sought, at +moments believed by Morano not to exist on earth, perhaps to have faded +away when fables died, swept their fatigue from the wanderers, and they +stepped out helped by the slope of the Pyrenees and cheered by the +rising sun. They came at last to things that welcome man, little shrubs +flowering, and--at noon--to the edge of a fir wood. They entered the +wood and lit a merry fire, and heard birds singing, at which they both +rejoiced, for the great peaks had said nothing. + +They ate the food that Morano cooked, and drew warmth and cheer from +the fire, and then they slept a little: and, rising from sleep, they +pushed on through the wood, downward and downward toward the land of +their dreams, to see if it was true. + +They passed the wood and came to curious paths, and little hills, and +heath, and rocky places, and wandering vales that twisted all awry. +They passed through them all with the slope of the mountain behind +them. When level rays from the sunset mellowed the fields of France the +wanderers were walking still, but the peaks were far behind them, +austerely gazing on the remotest things, forgetting the footsteps of +man. And walking on past soft fields in the evening, all tilted a +little about the mountain's feet, they had scarcely welcomed the sight +of the evening star, when they saw before them the mild glow of a +window and knew they were come again to the earth that is mother to +man. In their cold savagery the inhuman mountains decked themselves out +like gods with colours they took from the sunset; then darkened, all +those peaks, in brooding conclave and disappeared in the night. And the +hushed night heard the tiny rap of Morano's hands on the door of the +house that had the glowing window. + + + + +THE NINTH CHRONICLE + +HOW HE WON A CASTLE IN SPAIN + + +The woman that came to the door had on her face a look that pleased +Morano. + +"Are you soldiers?" she said. And her scared look portended war. + +"My master is a traveller looking for the wars," said Morano. "Are the +wars near?" + +"Oh, no, not near," said the woman; "not near." + +And something in the anxious way she said "not near" pleased Morano +also. + +"We shall find those wars, master," he said. + +And then they both questioned her. It seemed the wars were but twenty +miles away. "But they will move northward," she said. "Surely they will +move farther off?" + +Before the next night was passed Rodriguez' dream might come true! + +And then the man came to the door anxious at hearing strange voices; +and Morano questioned him too, but he understood never a word. He was a +French farmer that had married a Spanish girl, out of the wonderful +land beyond the mountains: but whether he understood her or not he +never understood Spanish. But both Rodriguez and the farmer's wife knew +the two languages, and he had no difficulty in asking for lodging for +the night; and she looked wistfully at him going to the wars, for in +those days wars were small and not every man went. The night went by +with dreams that were all on the verge of waking, which passed like +ghosts along the edge of night almost touched by the light of day. It +was Rodriguez whom these dreams visited. The farmer and his wife +wondered awhile and then slept; Morano slept with all his wonted +lethargy; but Rodriguez with his long quest now on the eve of +fulfilment slept a tumultuous sleep. Sometimes his dreams raced over +the Pyrenees, running south as far as Lowlight; and sometimes they +rushed forward and clung like bats to the towers of the great castle +that he should win in the war. And always he lay so near the edge of +sleep that he never distinguished quite between thought and dream. + +Dawn came and he put by all the dreams but the one that guided him +always, and went and woke Morano. They ate hurriedly and left the +house, and again the farmer's wife looked curiously at Rodriguez, as +though there were something strange in a man that went to wars: for +those days were not as these days. They followed the direction that had +been given them, and never had the two men walked so fast. By the end +of four hours they had done sixteen miles. They halted then, and Morano +drew out his frying-pan with a haughty flourish, and cooked in the +grand manner, every movement he made was a triumphant gesture; for they +had passed refugees! War was now obviously close: they had but to take +the way that the refugees were not taking. The dream was true: Morano +saw himself walking slowly in splendid dress along the tapestried +corridors of his master's castle. He would have slept after eating and +would have dreamed more of this, but Rodriguez commanded him to put the +things together: so what remained of the food disappeared again in a +sack, the frying-pan was slung over his shoulders, and Morano stood +ready again for the road. + +They passed more refugees: their haste was unmistakable, and told more +than their lips could have told had they tarried to speak: the wars +were near now, and the wanderers went leisurely. + +As they strolled through the twilight they came over the brow of a +hill, a little fold of the earth disturbed eras ago by the awful +rushing up of the Pyrenees; and they saw the evening darkening over the +fields below them and a white mist rising only just clear of the grass, +and two level rows of tents greyish-white like the mist, with a few +more tents scattered near them. The tents had come up that evening with +the mist, for there were men still hammering pegs. They were lighting +fires now as evening settled in. Two hundred paces or so separated each +row. It was two armies facing each other. + +The gloaming faded: mist and the tents grew greyer: camp-fires blinked +out of the dimness and grew redder and redder, and candles began to be +lit beside the tents till all were glowing pale golden: Rodriguez and +Morano stood there wondering awhile as they looked on the beautiful +aura that surrounds the horrors of war. + +They came by starlight to that tented field, by twinkling starlight to +the place of Rodriguez' dream. + +"For which side will you fight, master?" said Morano in his ear. + +"For the right," said Rodriguez and strode on towards the nearest +tents, never doubting that he would be guided, though not trying to +comprehend how this could be. + +They met with an officer going among his tents. "Where do you go?" he +shouted. + +"Senor," Rodriguez said, "I come with my mandolin to sing songs to you." + +And at this the officer called out and others came from their tents; +and Rodriguez repeated his offer to them not without confidence, for he +knew that he had a way with the mandolin. And they said that they +fought a battle on the morrow and could not listen to song: they heaped +scorn on singing for they said they must needs prepare for the fight: +and all of them looked with scorn on the mandolin. So Rodriguez bowed +low to them with doffed hat and left them; and Morano bowed also, +seeing his master bow; and the men of that camp returned to their +preparations. A short walk brought Rodriguez and his servant to the +other camp, over a flat field convenient for battle. He went up to a +large tent well lit, the door being open towards him; and, having +explained his errand to a sentry that stood outside, he entered and saw +three persons of quality that were sitting at a table. To them he bowed +low in the tent door, saying: "Senors, I am come to sing songs to you, +playing the while upon my mandolin." + +And they welcomed him gladly, saying: "We fight tomorrow and will +gladly cheer our hearts with the sound of song and strengthen our men +thereby." + +And so Rodriguez sang among the tents, standing by a great fire to +which they led him; and men came from the tents and into the circle of +light, and in the darkness outside it were more than Rodriguez saw. And +he sang to the circle of men and the vague glimmer of faces. Songs of +their homes he sang them, not in their language, but songs that were +made by old poets about the homes of their infancy, in valleys under +far mountains remote from the Pyrenees. And in the song the yearnings +of dead poets lived again, all streaming homeward like swallows when +the last of the storms is gone: and those yearnings echoed in the +hearts that beat in the night around the campfire, and they saw their +own homes. And then he began to touch his mandolin; and he played them +the tunes that draw men from their homes and that march them away to +war. The tunes flowed up from the firelight: the mandolin knew. And the +men heard the mandolin saying what they would say. + +In the late night he ended, and a hush came down on the camp while the +music floated away, going up from the dark ring of men and the fire-lit +faces, touching perhaps the knees of the Pyrenees and drifting thence +wherever echoes go. And the sparks of the camp-fire went straight +upwards as they had done for hours, and the men that sat around it saw +them go: for long they had not seen the sparks stream upwards, for +their thoughts were far away with the mandolin. And all at once they +cheered. And Rodriguez bowed to the one whose tent he had entered, and +sought permission to fight for them in the morning. + +With good grace this was accorded him, and while he bowed and well +expressed his thanks he felt Morano touching his elbow. And as soon as +he had gone aside with Morano that fat man's words bubbled over and +were said. + +"Master, fight not for these men," he exclaimed, "for they listen to +song till midnight while the others prepare for battle. The others will +win the fight, master, and where will your castle be?" + +"Morano," said Rodriguez, "there seems to be truth in that. Yet must we +fight for the right. For how would it be if those that have denied song +should win and thrive? The arm of every good man must be against them. +They have denied song, Morano! We must fight against them, you and I, +while we can lay sword to head." + +"Yes, indeed, master," said Morano. "But how shall you come by your +castle?" + +"As for that," said Rodriguez, "it must some day be won, yet not by +denying song. These have given a welcome to song, and the others have +driven it forth. And what would life be if those that deny song are to +be permitted to thrive unmolested by all good men?" + +"I know not, master," said Morano, "but I would have that castle." + +"Enough," said Rodriguez. "We must fight for the right." + +And so Rodriguez remained true to those that had heard him sing. And +they gave him a casque and breast-plate, proof, they said, against any +sword, and offered a sword that they said would surely cleave any +breast-plate. For they fought not in battle with the nimble rapier. But +Rodriguez did not forsake that famous exultant sword whose deeds he +knew from many an ancient song; which he had brought so far to give it +its old rich drink of blood. He believed it the bright key of the +castle he was to win. + +And they gave Rodriguez a good bed on the ground in the tent of the +three leaders, the tent to which he first came; for they honoured him +for the gift of song that he had, and because he was a stranger, and +because he had asked permission to fight for them in their battle. And +Rodriguez took one look by the light of a lantern at the rose he had +carried from Lowlight, then slept a sleep through whose dreams loomed +up the towers of castles. + +Dawn came and he slept on still; but by seven all the camp was loudly +astir, for they had promised the enemy to begin the battle at eight. +Rodriguez breakfasted lightly; for, now that the day of his dreams was +come at last and all his hopes depended on the day, an anxiety for many +things oppressed him. It was as though his castle, rosy and fair in +dreams, chilled with its huge cold rocks all the air near it: it was as +though Rodriguez touched it at last with his hands and felt a dankness +of which he had never dreamed. + +Then it came to the hour of eight and his anxieties passed. + +The army was now drawn up before its tents in line, but the enemy was +not yet ready and so they had to wait. + +When the signal at length was given and the cannoniers fired their +pieces, and the musketoons were shot off, many men fell. Now Rodriguez, +with Morano, was placed on the right, and either through a slight +difference in numbers or because of an unevenness in the array of +battle they a little overlapped the enemy's left. When a few men fell +wounded there by the discharge of the musketoons this overlapping was +even more pronounced. + +Now the leaders of that fair army scorned all unknightly devices, and +would never have descended to any vile ruse de guerre. The reproach can +therefore never be made against them that they ever intended to +outflank their enemy. Yet, when both armies advanced after the +discharge of the musketoons and the merry noise of the cannon, this +occurred as the result of chance, which no leader can be held +accountable for; so that those that speak of treachery in this battle, +and deliberate outflanking, lie. + +Now Rodriguez as he advanced with his sword, when the musketoons were +empty, had already chosen his adversary. For he had carefully watched +those opposite to him, before any smoke should obscure them, and had +selected the one who from the splendour of his dress might be expected +to possess the finest castle. Certainly this adversary outshone those +amongst whom he stood, and gave fair promise of owning goodly +possessions, for he wore a fine green cloak over a dress of lilac, and +his helm and cuirass had a look of crafty workmanship. Towards him +Rodriguez marched. + +Then began fighting foot to foot, and there was a pretty laying on of +swords. And had there been a poet there that day then the story of +their fight had come down to you, my reader, all that way from the +Pyrenees, down all those hundreds of years, and this tale of mine had +been useless, the lame repetition in prose of songs that your nurses +had sung to you. But they fought unseen by those that see for the Muses. + +Rodriguez advanced upon his chosen adversary and, having briefly bowed, +they engaged at once. And Rodriguez belaboured his helm till dints +appeared, and beat it with swift strokes yet till the dints were +cracks, and beat the cracks till hair began to appear: and all the +while his adversary's strokes grew weaker and wilder, until he tottered +to earth and Rodriguez had won. Swift then as cats, while Morano kept +off others, Rodriguez leaped to his throat, and, holding up the +stiletto that he had long ago taken as his legacy from the host of the +Dragon and Knight, he demanded the fallen man's castle as ransom for +his life. + +"My castle, senor?" said his prisoner weakly. + +"Yes," said Rodriguez impatiently. + +"Yes, senor," said his adversary and closed his eyes for awhile. + +"Does he surrender his castle, master?" asked Morano. + +"Yes, indeed," said Rodriguez. They looked at each other: all at last +was well. + +The battle was rolling away from them and was now well within the +enemy's tents. + +History says of that day that the good men won. And, sitting, a Muse +upon her mythical mountain, her decision must needs be one from which +we may not appeal: and yet I wonder if she is ever bribed. Certainly +the shrewd sense of Morano erred for once; for those for whom he had +predicted victory, because they prepared so ostentatiously upon the +field, were defeated; while the others, having made their preparations +long before, were able to cheer themselves with song before the battle +and to win it when it came. + +And so Rodriguez was left undisturbed in possession of his prisoner and +with the promise of his castle as a ransom. The battle was swiftly +over, as must needs be where little armies meet so close. The enemy's +camp was occupied, his army routed, and within an hour of beginning the +battle the last of the fighting ceased. + +The army returned to its tents to rejoice and to make a banquet, +bringing with them captives and horses and other spoils of war. And +Rodriguez had honour among them because he had fought on the right and +so was one of those that had broken the enemy's left, from which +direction victory had come. And they would have feasted him and done +him honour, both for his work with the sword and for his songs to the +mandolin; and they would have marched away soon to their own country +and would have taken him with them and advanced him to honour there. +But Rodriguez would not stay with them for he had his castle at last, +and must needs march off at once with his captive and Morano to see the +fulfilment of his dream. And therefore he thanked the leaders of that +host with many a courtesy and many a well-bent bow, and explained to +them how it was about his castle, and felicitated them on the victory +of their good cause, and so wished them farewell. And they said +farewell sorrowfully: but when they saw he would go, they gave him +horses for himself and Morano, and another for his captive; and they +heaped them with sacks of provender and blankets and all things that +could give him comfort upon a journey: all this they brought him out of +their spoils of war, and they would give him no less that the most that +the horses could carry. And then Rodriguez turned to his captive again, +who now stood on his feet. + +"Senor," he said, "pray tell us all of your castle wherewith you ransom +your life." + +"Senor," he answered, "I have a castle in Spain." + +"Master," broke in Morano, his eyes lighting up with delight, "there +are no castles like the Spanish ones." + +They got to horse then, all three; the captive on a horse of far poorer +build than the other two and well-laden with sacks, for Rodriguez took +no chance of his castle cantering, as it were, away from him on four +hooves through the dust. + +And when they heard that his journey was by way of the Pyrenees four +knights of that army swore they would ride with him as far as the +frontier of Spain, to bear him company and bring him fuel in the lonely +cold of the mountains. They all set off and the merry army cheered. He +left them making ready for their banquet, and never knew the cause for +which he had fought. + +They came by evening again to the house to which Rodriguez had come two +nights before, when he had slept there with his castle yet to win. They +all halted before it, and the man and the woman came to the door +terrified. "The wars!" they said. + +"The wars," said one of the riders, "are over, and the just cause has +won." + +"The Saints be praised!" said the woman. "But will there be no more +fighting?" + +"Never again," said the horseman, "for men are sick of gunpowder." + +"The Saints be thanked," she said. + +"Say not that," said the horseman, "for Satan invented gunpowder." + +And she was silent; but, had none been there, she had secretly thanked +Satan. + +They demanded the food and shelter that armed men have the right to +demand. + +In the morning they were gone. They became a memory, which lingered +like a vision, made partly of sunset and partly of the splendour of +their cloaks, and so went down the years that those two folk had, a +thing of romance, magnificence and fear. And now the slope of the +mountain began to lift against them, and they rode slowly towards those +unearthly peaks that had deserted the level fields before ever man came +to them, and that sat there now familiar with stars and dawn with the +air of never having known of man. And as they rode they talked. And +Rodriguez talked with the four knights that rode with him, and they +told tales of war and told of the ways of fighting of many men: and +Morano rode behind them beside the captive and questioned him all the +morning about his castle in Spain. And at first the captive answered +his questions slowly, as if he were weary, or as though he were long +from home and remembered its features dimly; but memory soon returned +and he answered clearly, telling of such a castle as Morano had not +dreamed; and the eyes of the fat man bulged as he rode beside him, +growing rounder and rounder as they rode. + +They came by sunset to that wood of firs in which Rodriguez had rested. +In the midst of the wood they halted and tethered their horses to +trees; they tied blankets to branches and made an encampment; and in +the midst of it they made a fire, at first, with pine-needles and the +dead lower twigs and then with great logs. And there they feasted +together, all seven, around the fire. And when the feast was over and +the great logs burning well, and red sparks went up slowly towards the +silver stars, Morano turned to the prisoner seated beside him and "Tell +the senors," he said, "of my master's castle." + +And in the silence, that was rather lulled than broken by the +whispering wind from the snow that sighed through the wood, the captive +slowly lifted up his head and spoke in his queer accent. + +"Senors, in Aragon, across the Ebro, are many goodly towers." And as he +spoke they all leaned forward to listen, dark faces bright with +firelight. "On the Ebro's southern bank stands," he went on, "my home." + +He told of strange rocks rising from the Ebro; of buttresses built +among them in unremembered times; of the great towers lifting up in +multitudes from the buttresses; and of the mighty wall, windowless +until it came to incredible heights, where the windows shone all safe +from any ladder of war. + +At first they felt in his story his pride in his lost home, and +wondered, when he told of the height of his towers, how much he added +in pride. And then the force of that story gripped them all and they +doubted never a battlement, but each man's fancy saw between firelight +and starlight every tower clear in the air. And at great height upon +those marvellous towers the turrets of arches were; queer carvings +grinned down from above inaccessible windows; and the towers gathered +in light from the lonely air where nothing stood but they, and flashed +it far over Aragon; and the Ebro floated by them always new, always +amazed by their beauty. + +He spoke to the six listeners on the lonely mountain, slowly, +remembering mournfully; and never a story that Romance has known and +told of castles in Spain has held men more than he held his listeners, +while the sparks flew up toward the peaks of the Pyrenees and did not +reach to them but failed in the night, giving place to the white stars. + +And when he faltered through sorrow, or memory weakening, Morano +always, watching with glittering eyes, would touch his arm, sitting +beside him, and ask some question, and the captive would answer the +question and so talk sadly on. + +He told of the upper terraces, where heliotrope and aloe and oleander +took sunlight far above their native earth: and though but rare winds +carried the butterflies there, such as came to those fragrant terraces +lingered for ever. + +And after a while he spoke on carelessly, and Morano's questions ended, +and none of the men in the firelight said a word; but he spoke on +uninterrupted, holding them as by a spell, with his eyes fixed far away +on black crags of the Pyrenees, telling of his great towers: almost it +might have seemed he was speaking of mountains. And when the fire was +only a deep red glow and white ash showed all round it, and he ceased +speaking, having told of a castle marvellous even amongst the towers of +Spain: all sitting round the embers felt sad with his sadness, for his +sad voice drifted into their very spirits as white mists enter houses, +and all were glad when Rodriguez said to him that one of his ten tall +towers the captive should keep and should live in it for ever. And the +sad man thanked him sadly and showed no joy. + +When the tale of the castle and those great towers was done, the wind +that blew from the snow touched all the hearers; they had seemed to be +away by the bank of the Ebro in the heat and light of Spain, and now +the vast night stripped them and the peaks seemed to close round on +them. They wrapped themselves in blankets and lay down in their +shelters. For a while they heard the wind waving branches and the thump +of a horse's hoof restless at night; then they all slept except one +that guarded the captive, and the captive himself who long lay thinking +and thinking. + +Dawn stole through the wood and waked none of the sleepers; the birds +all shouted at them, still they slept on; and then the captive's guard +wakened Morano and he stirred up the sparks of the fire and cooked, and +they breakfasted late. And soon they left the wood and faced the bleak +slope, all of them going on foot and leading their horses. + +And the track crawled on till it came to the scorn of the peaks, +winding over a shoulder of the Pyrenees, where the peaks gaze cold and +contemptuous away from the things of man. + +In the presence of those that bore them company Rodriguez and Morano +felt none of the deadly majesty of those peaks that regard so awfully +over the solitudes. They passed through them telling cheerfully of wars +the four knights had known: and descended and came by sunset to the +lower edge of the snow. They pushed on a little farther and then +camped; and with branches from the last camp that they had heaped on +their horses they made another great fire and, huddling round it in the +blankets that they had brought, found warmth even there so far from the +hearths of men. + +And dawn and the cold woke them all on that treeless slope by barely +warm embers. Morano cooked again and they ate in silence. And then the +four knights rose sadly and one bowed and told Rodriguez how they must +now go back to their own country. And grief seized on Rodriguez at his +words, seeing that he was to lose four old friends at once and perhaps +for ever, for when men have fought under the same banner in war they +become old friends on that morning. + +"Senors," said Rodriguez, "we may never meet again!" + +And the other looked back to the peaks beyond which the far lands lay, +and made a gesture with his hands. + +"Senor, at least," said Rodriguez, "let us camp once more together." + +And even Morano babbled a supplication. + +"Methinks, senor," he answered, "we are already across the frontier, +and when we men of the sword cross frontiers misunderstandings arise, +so that it is our custom never to pass across them save when we push +the frontier with us, adding the lands over which we march to those of +our liege lord." + +"Senors," said Rodriguez, "the whole mountain is the frontier. Come +with us one day further." But they would not stay. + +All the good things that could be carried they loaded on to the three +horses whose heads were turned towards Spain; then turned, all four, +and said farewell to the three. And long looked each in the face of +Rodriguez as he took his hand in fare well, for they had fought under +the same banner and, as wayfaring was in those days, it was not likely +that they would ever meet again. They turned and went with their horses +back towards the land they had fought for. + +Rodriguez and his captive and Morano went sadly down the mountain. They +came to the fir woods, and rested, and Morano cooked their dinner. And +after a while they were able to ride their horses. + +They came to the foot of the mountains, and rode on past the Inn of the +World's End. They camped in the open; and all night long Rodriguez or +Morano guarded the captive. + +For two days and part of the third they followed their old course, +catching sight again and again of the river Segre; and then they turned +further west ward to come to Aragon further up the Ebro. All the way +they avoided houses and camped in the open, for they kept their captive +to themselves: and they slept warm with their ample store of blankets. +And all the while the captive seemed morose or ill at ease, speaking +seldom and, when he did, in nervous jerks. + +Morano, as they rode, or by the camp fire at evening, still questioned +him now and then about his castle; and sometimes he almost seemed to +contradict himself, but in so vast a castle may have been many styles +of architecture, and it was difficult to trace a contradiction among +all those towers and turrets. His name was Don +Alvidar-of-the-Rose-pink-Castle on-Ebro. + +One night while all three sat and gazed at the camp-fire as men will, +when the chilly stars are still and the merry flames are leaping, +Rodriguez, seeking to cheer his captive's mood, told him some of his +strange adventures. The captive listened with his sombre air. But when +Rodriguez told how they woke on the mountain after their journey to the +sun; and the sun was shining on their faces in the open, but the +magician and his whole house were gone; then there came another look +into Alvidar's eyes. And Rodriguez ended his tale and silence fell, +broken only by Morano saying across the fire, "It is true," and the +captive's thoughtful eyes gazed into the darkness. And then he also +spoke. + +"Senor," he said, "near to my rose-pink castle which looks into the +Ebro dwells a magician also." + +"Is it so?" said Rodriguez. + +"Indeed so, senor," said Don Alvidar. "He is my enemy but dwells in awe +of me, and so durst never molest me except by minor wonders." + +"How know you that he is a magician?" said Rodriguez. + +"By those wonders," answered his captive. "He afflicts small dogs and +my poultry. And he wears a thin, high hat: his beard is also +extraordinary." + +"Long?" said Morano. + +"Green," answered Don Alvidar. + +"Is he very near the castle?" said Rodriguez and Morano together. + +"Too near," said Don Alvidar. + +"Is his house wonderful?" Rodriguez asked. + +"It is a common house," was the answer. "A mean, long house of one +story. The walls are white and it is well thatched. The windows are +painted green; there are two doors in it and by one of them grows a +rose tree." + +"A rose tree?" exclaimed Rodriguez. + +"It seemed a rose tree," said Don Alvidar. + +"A captive lady chained to the wall perhaps, changed by magic," +suggested Morano. + +"Perhaps," said Don Alvidar. + +"A strange house for a magician," said Rodriguez, for it sounded like +any small farmhouse in Spain. + +"He much affects mortal ways," replied Don Alvidar. + +Little more was then said, the fire being low: and Rodriguez lay down +to sleep while Morano guarded the captive. + +And the day after that they came to Aragon, and in one day more they +were across the Ebro; and then they rode west for a day along its +southern bank looking all the while as they rode for Rodriguez' castle. +And more and more silent and aloof, as they rode, grew Don +Alvidar-of-the-Rose-pink-Castle-on-Ebro. + +And just before sunset a cry broke from the captive. "He has taken it!" +he said. And he pointed to just such a house as he had described, a +jolly Spanish farmhouse with white walls and thatch and green shutters, +and a rose tree by one of the doors just as he had told. + +"The magician's house. But the castle is gone," he said. + +Rodriguez looked at his face and saw real alarm in it. He said nothing +but rode on in haste, a dim hope in his mind that explanations at the +white cottage might do something for his lost castle. + +And when the hooves were heard a woman came out of the cottage door by +the rose tree leading a small child by the hand. And the captive called +to the woman, "Maria, we are lost. And I gave my great castle with +rose-pink towers that stood just here as ransom to this senor for my +life. But now, alas, I see that that magician who dwelt in the house +where you are now has taken it whither we know not." + +"Yes, Pedro," said the woman, "he took it yesterday." And she turned +blue eyes upon Rodriguez. + +And then Morano would be silent no longer. He had thought vaguely for +some days and intensely for the last few hundreds yards, and now he +blurted out the thoughts that boiled in him. + +"Master," he shouted, "he has sold his cattle and bought this raiment +of his, and that helmet that you opened up for him, and never had any +castle on the Ebro with any towers to it, and never knew any magician, +but lived in this house himself, and now your castle is gone, master, +and as for his life ..." + +"Be silent a moment, Morano," said Rodriguez, and he turned to the +woman whose eyes were on him still. + +"Was there a castle in this place?" he said. + +"Yes, senor. I swear it," she said. "And my husband, though a poor man, +always spoke the truth." + +"She lies," said Morano, and Rodriguez silenced him with a gesture. + +"I will get neighbours who will swear it too," she said. + +"A lousy neighbourhood," said Morano. + +Again Rodriguez silenced him. And then the child spoke in a frightened +voice, holding up a small cross that it had been taught to revere. "I +swear it too," it said. + +Rodriguez heaved a sigh and turned away. "Master," Morano cried in +pained astonishment, "you will not believe their swearings." + +"The child swore by the cross," he answered. + +"But, master!" Morano exclaimed. + +But Rodriguez would say no more. And they rode away aimless in silence. + +Galloping hooves were heard and Pedro was there. He had come to give up +his horse. He gave its reins to the scowling Morano but Rodriguez said +never a word. Then he ran round and kissed Rodriguez' hand, who still +was silent, for his hopes were lost with the castle; but he nodded his +head and so parted for ever from the man whom his wife called Pedro, +who called himself Don Alvidar-of-the-Rose-pink-Castle-on-Ebro. + + + + +THE TENTH CHRONICLE + +HOW HE CAME BACK TO LOWLIGHT + + +"Master," Morano said. But Rodriguez rode ahead and would not speak. + +They were riding vaguely southward. They had ample provisions on the +horse that Morano led, as well as blankets, which gave them comfort at +night. That night they both got the sleep they needed, now that there +was no captive to guard. All the next day they rode slowly in the April +weather by roads that wandered among tended fields; but a little way +off from the fields there shone low hills in the sunlight, so wild, so +free of man, that Rodriguez remembering them in later years, wondered +if their wild shrubs just hid the frontiers of fairyland. + +For two days they rode by the edge of unguessable regions. Had Pan +piped there no one had marvelled, nor though fauns had scurried past +sheltering clumps of azaleas. In the twilight no tiny queens had court +within rings of toadstools: yet almost, almost they appeared. + +And on the third day all at once they came to a road they knew. It was +the road by which they had ridden when Rodriguez still had his dream, +the way from Shadow Valley to the Ebro. And so they turned into the +road they knew, as wanderers always will; and, still without aim or +plan, they faced towards Shadow Valley. And in the evening of the day +that followed that, as they looked about for a camping-ground, there +came in sight the village on the hill which Rodriguez knew to be fifty +miles from the forest: it was the village in which they had rested the +first night after leaving Shadow Valley. They did not camp but went on +to the village and knocked at the door of the inn. Habit guides us all +at times, even kings are the slaves of it (though in their presence it +takes the prouder name of precedent); and here were two wanderers +without any plans at all; they were therefore defenceless in the grip +of habit and, seeing an inn they knew, they loitered up to it. Mine +host came again to the door. He cheerfully asked Rodriguez how he had +fared on his journey, but Rodriguez would say nothing. He asked for +lodging for himself and Morano and stabling for the horses: he ate and +slept and paid his due, and in the morning was gone. + +Whatever impulses guided Rodriguez as he rode and Morano followed, he +knew not what they were or even that there could be any. He followed +the road without hope and only travelled to change his camping-grounds. +And that night he was half-way between the village and Shadow Valley. + +Morano never spoke, for he saw that his master's disappointment was +still raw; but it pleased him to notice, as he had done all day, that +they were heading for the great forest. He cooked their evening meal in +their camp by the wayside and they both ate it in silence. For awhile +Rodriguez sat and gazed at the might-have-beens in the camp-fire: and +when these began to be hidden by white ash he went to his blankets and +slept. And Morano went quietly about the little camp, doing all that +needed to be done, with never a word. When the horses were seen to and +fed, when the knives were cleaned, when everything was ready for the +start next morning, Morano went to his blankets and slept too. And in +the morning again they wandered on. + +That evening they saw the low gold rays of the sun enchanting the tops +of a forest. It almost surprised Rodriguez, travelling without an aim, +to recognise Shadow Valley. They quickened their slow pace and, before +twilight faded, they were under the great oaks; but the last of the +twilight could not pierce the dimness of Shadow Valley, and it seemed +as if night had entered the forest with them. + +They chose a camping-ground as well as they could in the darkness and +Morano tied the horses to trees a little way off from the camp. Then he +returned to Rodriguez and tied a blanket to the windward side of two +trees to make a kind of bedroom for his master, for they had all the +blankets they needed. And when this was done he set the emblem and +banner of camps, anywhere all over the world in any time, for he +gathered sticks and branches and lit a camp-fire. The first red flames +went up and waved and proclaimed a camp: the light made a little +circle, shadows ran away to the forest, and the circle of light on the +ground and on the trees that stood round it became for that one night +home. + +They heard the horses stamp as they always did in the early part of the +night; and then Morano went to give them their fodder. Rodriguez sat +and gazed into the fire, his mind as full of thoughts as the fire was +full of pictures: one by one the pictures in the fire fell in; and all +his thoughts led nowhere. + +He heard Morano running back the thirty or forty yards he had gone from +the camp-fire "Master," Morano said, "the three horses are gone." + +"Gone?" said Rodriguez. There was little more to say; it was too dark +to track them and he knew that to find three horses in Shadow Valley +was a task that might take years. And after more thought than might +seem to have been needed he said; "We must go on foot." + +"Have we far to go, master?" said Morano, for the first time daring to +question him since they left the cottage in Spain. + +"I have nowhere to go," said Rodriguez. His head was downcast as he sat +by the fire: Morano stood and looked at him unhappily, full of a +sympathy that he found no words to express. A light wind slipped +through the branches and everything else was still. It was some while +before he lifted his head; and then he saw before him on the other side +of the fire, standing with folded arms, the man in the brown leather +jacket. + +"Nowhere to go!" said he. "Who needs go anywhere from Shadow Valley?" + +Rodriguez stared at him. "But I can't stay here!" he said. + +"There is no fairer forest known to man," said the other. "I know many +songs that prove it." + +Rodriguez made no answer but dropped his eyes, gazing with listless +glance once more at the ground. "Come, senor," said the man in the +leather jacket. "None are unhappy in Shadow Valley." + +"Who are you?" said Rodriguez. Both he and Morano were gazing curiously +at the man whom they had saved three weeks ago from the noose. + +"Your friend," answered the stranger. + +"No friend can help me," said Rodriguez. + +"Senor," said the stranger across the fire, still standing with folded +arms, "I remain under an obligation to no man. If you have an enemy or +love a lady, and if they dwell within a hundred miles, either shall be +before you within a week." + +Rodriguez shook his head, and silence fell by the camp-fire. And after +awhile Rodriguez, who was accustomed to dismiss a subject when it was +ended, saw the stranger's eyes on him yet, still waiting for him to say +more. And those clear blue eyes seemed to do more than wait, seemed +almost to command, till they overcame Rodriguez' will and he obeyed and +said, although he could feel each word struggling to stay unuttered, +"Senor, I went to the wars to win a castle and a piece of land thereby; +and might perchance have wed and ended my wanderings, with those of my +servant here; but the wars are over and no castle is won." + +And the stranger saw by his face in the firelight, and knew from the +tones of his voice in the still night, the trouble that his words had +not expressed. + +"I remain under an obligation to no man," said the stranger. "Be at +this place in four weeks' time, and you shall have a castle as large as +any that men win by war, and a goodly park thereby." + +"Your castle, master!" said Morano delighted, whose only thought up to +then was as to who had got his horses. But Rodriguez only stared: and +the stranger said no more but turned on his heel. And then Rodriguez +awoke out of his silence and wonder. "But where?" he said. "What +castle?" + +"That you will see," said the stranger. + +"But, but how ..." said Rodriguez. What he meant was, "How can I +believe you?" but he did not put it in words. + +"My word was never broken," said the other. And that is a good boast to +make, for those of us who can make it; if we need boast at all. + +"Whose word?" said Rodriguez, looking him in the eyes. + +The smoke from the fire between them was thickening greyly as though +something had been cast on it. "The word," he said, "of the King of +Shadow Valley." + +Rodriguez gazing through the increasing smoke saw not to the other +side. He rose and walked round the fire, but the strange man was gone. + +Rodriguez came back to his place by the fire and sat long there in +silence. Morano was bubbling over to speak, but respected his master's +silence: for Rodriguez was gazing into the deeps of the fire seeing +pictures there that were brighter than any that he had known. They were +so clear now that they seemed almost true. He saw Serafina's face there +looking full at him. He watched it long until other pictures hid it, +visions that had no meaning for Rodriguez. And not till then he spoke. +And when he spoke his face was almost smiling. + +"Well, Morano," he said, "have we come by that castle at last?" + +"That man does not lie, master," he answered: and his eyes were +glittering with shrewd conviction. + +"What shall we do then?" said Rodriguez. + +"Let us go to some village, master," said Morano, "until the time he +said." + +"What village?" Rodriguez asked. + +"I know not, master," answered Morano, his face a puzzle of innocence +and wonder; and Rodriguez fell back into thought again. And the dancing +flames calmed down to a deep, quiet glow; and soon Rodriguez stepped +back a yard or two from the fire to where Morano had prepared his bed; +and, watching the fire still, and turning over thoughts that flashed +and changed as fast as the embers, he went to wonderful dreams that +were no more strange or elusive than that valley's wonderful king. + +When he spoke in the morning the camp-fire was newly lit and there was +a smell of bacon; and Morano, out of breath and puzzled, was calling to +him. + +"Master," he said, "I was mistaken about those horses." + +"Mistaken?" said Rodriguez. + +"They were just as I left them, master, all tied to the tree with my +knots." + +Rodriguez left it at that. Morano could make mistakes and the forest +was full of wonders: anything might happen. "We will ride," he said. + +Morano's breakfast was as good as ever; and, when he had packed up +those few belongings that make a dwelling-place of any chance spot in +the wilderness, they mounted the horses, which were surely there, and +rode away through sunlight and green leaves. They rode slow, for the +branches were low over the path, and whoever canters in a forest and +closes his eyes against a branch has to consider whether he will open +them to be whipped by the next branch or close them till he bumps his +head into a tree. And it suited Rodriguez to loiter, for he thought +thus to meet the King of Shadow Valley again or his green bowmen and +learn the answers to innumerable questions about his castle which were +wandering through his mind. + +They ate and slept at noon in the forest's glittering greenness. + +They passed afterwards by the old house in the wood, in which the +bowmen feasted, for they followed the track that they had taken before. +They knocked loud on the door as they passed but the house was empty. +They heard the sound of a multitude felling trees, but whenever they +approached the sound of chopping ceased. Again and again they left the +track and rode towards the sound of chopping, and every time the +chopping died away just as they drew close. They saw many a tree half +felled, but never a green bowman. And at last they left it as one of +the wonders of the forest and returned to the track lest they lose it, +for the track was more important to them than curiosity, and evening +had come and was filling the forest with dimness, and shadows stealing +across the track were beginning to hide it away. In the distance they +heard the invisible woodmen chopping. + +And then they camped again and lit their fire; and night came down and +the two wanderers slept. + +The nightingale sang until he woke the cuckoo: and the cuckoo filled +the leafy air so full of his two limpid notes that the dreams of +Rodriguez heard them and went away, back over their border to +dreamland. Rodriguez awoke Morano, who lit his fire: and soon they had +struck their camp and were riding on. + +By noon they saw that if they hurried on they could come to Lowlight by +nightfall. But this was not Rodriguez' plan, for he had planned to ride +into Lowlight, as he had done once before, at the hour when Serafina +sat in her balcony in the cool of the evening, as Spanish ladies in +those days sometimes did. So they tarried long by their resting-place +at noon and then rode slowly on. And when they camped that night they +were still in the forest. + +"Morano," said Rodriguez over the camp-fire, "tomorrow brings me to +Lowlight." + +"Aye, master," said Morano, "we shall be there tomorrow." + +"That senor with whom I had a meeting there," said Rodriguez, "he ..." + +"He loves me not," said Morano. + +"He would surely kill you," replied Rodriguez. + +Morano looked sideways at his frying-pan. + +"It would therefore be better," continued Rodriguez, "that you should +stay in this camp while I give such greetings of ceremony in Lowlight +as courtesy demands." + +"I will stay, master," said Morano. + +Rodriguez was glad that this was settled, for he felt that to follow +his dreams of so many nights to that balconied house in Lowlight with +Morano would be no better than visiting a house accompanied by a dog +that had bitten one of the family. + +"I will stay," repeated Morano. "But, master ..." The fat man's eyes +were all supplication. + +"Yes?" said Rodriguez. + +"Leave me your mandolin," implored Morano. + +"My mandolin?" said Rodriguez. + +"Master," said Morano, "that senor who likes my fat body so ill he +would kill me, he ..." + +"Well?" said Rodriguez, for Morano was hesitating. + +"He likes your mandolin no better, master." + +Rodriguez resented a slight to his mandolin as much as a slight to his +sword, but he smiled as he looked at Morano's anxious face. + +"He would kill you for your mandolin," Morano went on eagerly, "as he +would kill me for my frying-pan." + +And at the mention of that frying-pan Rodriguez frowned, although it +had given him many a good meal since the night it offended in Lowlight. +And he would sooner have gone to the wars without a sword than under +the balcony of his heart's desire without a mandolin. + +So Rodriguez would hear no more of Morano's request; and soon he left +the fire and went to lie down; but Morano sighed and sat gazing on into +the embers unhappily; while thoughts plodded slow through his mind, +leading to nothing. Late that night he threw fresh logs on the +camp-fire, so that when they awoke there was still fire in the embers +And when they had eaten their breakfast Rodriguez said farewell to +Morano, saying that he had business in Lowlight that might keep him a +few days. But Morano said not farewell then, for he would follow his +master as far as the midday halt to cook his next meal. And when noon +came they were beyond the forest. + +Once more Morano cooked bacon. Then while Rodriguez slept Morano took +his cloak and did all that could be done by brushing and smoothing to +give back to it that air that it some time had, before it had flapped +upon so many winds and wrapped Rodriguez on such various beds, and met +the vicissitudes that make this story. + +For the plume he could do little. + +And his master awoke, late in the afternoon, and went to his horse and +gave Morano his orders. He was to go back with two of the horses to +their last camp in the forest and take with him all their kit except +one blanket and make himself comfortable there and wait till Rodriguez +came. + +And then Rodriguez rode slowly away, and Morano stood gazing mournfully +and warningly at the mandolin; and the warnings were not lost upon +Rodriguez, though he would never admit that he saw in Morano's staring +eyes any wise hint that he heeded. + +And Morano sighed, and went and untethered his horses; and soon he was +riding lonely back to the forest. And Rodriguez taking the other way +saw at once the towers of Lowlight. + +Does my reader think that he then set spurs to his horse, galloping +towards that house about whose balcony his dreams flew every night? No, +it was far from evening; far yet from the colour and calm in which the +light with never a whisper says farewell to Earth, but with a gesture +that the horizon hides takes silent leave of the fields on which she +has danced with joy; far yet from the hour that shone for Serafina like +a great halo round her and round her mother's house. + +We cannot believe that one hour more than another shone upon Serafina, +or that the dim end of the evening was only hers: but these are the +Chronicles of Rodriguez, who of all the things that befell him +treasured most his memory of Serafina in the twilight, and who held +that this hour was hers as much as her raiment and her balcony: such +therefore it is in these chronicles. + +And so he loitered, waiting for the slow sun to set: and when at last a +tint on the walls of Lowlight came with the magic of Earth's most faery +hour he rode in slowly not perhaps wholly unwitting, for all his +anxious thoughts of Serafina, that a little air of romance from the +Spring and the evening followed this lonely rider. + +From some way off he saw that balcony that had drawn him back from the +other side of the far Pyrenees. Sometimes he knew that it drew him and +mostly he knew it not; yet always that curved balcony brought him +nearer, ever since he turned from the field of the false Don Alvidar: +the balcony held him with invisible threads, such as those with which +Earth draws in the birds at evening. And there was Serafina in her +balcony. + +When Rodriguez saw Serafina sitting there in the twilight, just as he +had often dreamed, he looked no more but lowered his head to the +withered rose that he carried now in his hand, the rose that he had +found by that very balcony under another moon. And, gazing still at the +rose, he rode on under the balcony, and passed it, until his hoof-beats +were heard no more in Lowlight and he and his horse were one dim shape +between the night and the twilight. And still he held on. + +He knew not yet, but only guessed, who had thrown that rose from the +balcony on the night when he slept on the dust: he knew not who it was +that he fought on the same night, and dared not guess what that unknown +hidalgo might be to Serafina. He had no claim to more from that house, +which once gave him so cold a welcome, than thus to ride by it in +silence. And he knew as he rode that the cloak and the plume that he +wore scarce seemed the same as those that had floated by when more than +a month ago he had ridden past that balcony; and the withered rose that +he carried added one more note of autumn. And yet he hoped. + +And so he rode into twilight and was hid from the sight of the village, +a worn, pathetic figure, trusting vaguely to vague powers of good +fortune that govern all men, but that favour youth. + +And, sure enough, it was not yet wholly moonlight when cantering hooves +came down the road behind him. It was once more that young hidalgo. And +as soon as he drew rein beside Rodriguez both reached out merry hands +as though their former meeting had been some errand of joy. And as +Rodriguez looked him in the eyes, while the two men leaned over +clasping hands, in light still clear though faded, he could not doubt +Serafina was his sister. + +"Senor," said his old enemy, "will you tarry with us, in our house a +few days, if your journey is not urgent?" + +Rodriguez gasped for joy; for the messenger from Lowlight, the +certainty that here was no rival, the summons to the house of his +dreams' pilgrimage, came all together: his hand still clasped the +stranger's. Yet he answered with the due ceremony that that age and +land demanded: then they turned and rode together towards Lowlight. And +first the young men told each other their names; and the stranger told +how he dwelt with his mother and sister in the house that Rodriguez +knew, and his name was Don Alderon of the Valley of Dawnlight. His +house had dwelt in that valley since times out of knowledge; but then +the Moors had come and his forbears had fled to Lowlight: the Moors +were gone now, for which Saint Michael and all fighting Saints be +praised; but there were certain difficulties about his right to the +Valley of Dawnlight. So they dwelt in Lowlight still. + +And Rodriguez told of the war that there was beyond the Pyrenees and +how the just cause had won, but little more than that he was able to +tell, for he knew scarce more of the cause for which he had fought than +History knows of it, who chooses her incidents and seems to forget so +much. And as they talked they came to the house with the balcony. A +waning moon cast light over it that was now no longer twilight; but was +the light of wild things of the woods, and birds of prey, and men in +mountains outlawed by the King, and magic, and mystery, and the quests +of love. Serafina had left her place: lights gleamed now in the +windows. And when the door was opened the hall seemed to Rodriguez so +much less hugely hollow, so much less full of ominous whispered echoes, +that his courage rose high as he went through it with Alderon, and they +entered the room together that they had entered together before. In the +long room beyond many candles he saw Dona Serafina and her mother +rising up to greet him. Neither the ceremonies of that age nor +Rodriguez' natural calm would have entirely concealed his emotion had +not his face been hidden as he bowed. They spoke to him; they asked him +of his travels; Rodriguez answered with effort. He saw by their manner +that Don Alderon must have explained much in his favour. He had this +time, to cheer him, a very different greeting; and yet he felt little +more at ease than when he had stood there late at night before, with +one eye bandaged and wearing only one shoe, suspected of he knew not +what brawling and violence. + +It was not until Dona Mirana, the mother of Serafina, asked him to play +to them on his mandolin that Rodriguez' ease returned. He bowed then +and brought round his mandolin, which had been slung behind him; and +knew a triumphant champion was by him now, one old in the ways of love +and wise in the sorrows of man, a slender but potent voice, +well-skilled to tell what there were not words to say; a voice +unhindered by language, unlimited even by thought, whose universal +meaning was heard and understood, sometimes perhaps by wandering +spirits of light, beaten far by some evil thought for their heavenly +courses and passing close along the coasts of Earth. + +And Rodriguez played no tune he had ever known, nor any airs that he +had heard men play in lanes in Andalusia; but he told of things that he +knew not, of sadnesses that he had scarcely felt and undreamed +exaltations. It was the hour of need, and the mandolin knew. + +And when all was told that the mandolin can tell of whatever is +wistfulest in the spirit of man, a mood of merriment entered its old +curved sides and there came from its hollows a measure such as they +dance to when laughter goes over the greens in Spain. Never a song sang +Rodriguez; the mandolin said all. + +And what message did Serafina receive from those notes that were +strange even to Rodriguez? Were they not stranger to her? I have said +that spirits blown far out of their course and nearing the mundane +coasts hear mortal music sometimes, and hearing understand. And if they +cannot understand those snatches of song, all about mortal things and +human needs, that are wafted rarely to them by chance passions, how +much more surely a young mortal heart, so near Rodriguez, heard what he +would say and understood the message however strange. + +When Dona Mirana and her daughter rose, exchanging their little +curtsies for the low bows of Rodriguez, and so retired for the night, +the long room seemed to Rodriguez now empty of threatening omens. The +great portraits that the moon had lit, and that had frowned at him in +the moonlight when he came here before, frowned at him now no longer. +The anger that he had known to lurk in the darkness on pictured faces +of dead generations had gone with the gloom that it haunted: they were +all passionless now in the quiet light of the candles. He looked again +at the portraits eye to eye, remembering looks they had given him in +the moonlight, and all looked back at him with ages of apathy; and he +knew that whatever glimmer of former selves there lurks about portraits +of the dead and gone was thinking only of their own past days in years +remote from Rodriguez. Whether their anger had flashed for a moment +over the ages on that night a month from now, or whether it was only +the moonlight, he never knew. Their spirits were back now surely +amongst their own days, whence they deigned not to look on the days +that make these chronicles. + +Not till then did Rodriguez admit, or even know, that he had not eaten +since his noonday meal. But now he admitted this to Don Alderon's +questions; and Don Alderon led him to another chamber and there regaled +him with all the hospitality for which that time was famous. And when +Rodriguez had eaten, Don Alderon sent for wine, and the butler brought +it in an olden flagon, dark wine of a precious vintage: and soon the +two young men were drinking together and talking of the wickedness of +the Moors. And while they talked the night grew late and chilly and +still, and the hour came when moths are fewer and young men think of +bed. Then Don Alderon showed his guest to an upper room, a long room +dim with red hangings, and carvings in walnut and oak, which the one +candle he carried barely lit but only set queer shadows scampering. And +here he left Rodriguez, who was soon in bed, with the great red +hangings round him. And awhile he wondered at the huge silence of the +house all round him, with never a murmur, never an echo, never a sigh; +for he missed the passing of winds, branches waving, the stirring of +small beasts, birds of prey calling, and the hundred sounds of the +night; but soon through the silence came sleep. + +He did not need to dream, for here in the home of Serafina he had come +to his dreams' end. + +Another day shone on another scene; for the sunlight that went in a +narrow stream of gold and silver between the huge red curtains had sent +away the shadows that had stalked overnight through the room, and had +scattered the eeriness that had lurked on the far side of furniture, +and all the dimness was gone that the long red room had harboured. And +for a while Rodriguez did not know where he was; and for a while, when +he remembered, he could not believe it true. He dressed with care, +almost with fear, and preened his small moustachios, which at last had +grown again just when he would have despaired. Then he descended, and +found that he had slept late, though the three of that ancient house +were seated yet at the table, and Serafina all dressed in white seemed +to Rodriguez to be shining in rivalry with the morning. Ah dreams and +fancies of youth! + + + + +THE ELEVENTH CHRONICLE + +HOW HE TURNED TO GARDENING AND HIS SWORD RESTED + + +These were the days that Rodriguez always remembered; and, side by side +with them, there lodged in his memory, and went down with them into his +latter years, the days and nights when he went through the Pyrenees and +walked when he would have slept but had to walk or freeze: and by some +queer rule that guides us he treasured them both in his memory, these +happy days in this garden and the frozen nights on the peaks. + +For Serafina showed Rodriguez the garden that behind the house ran +narrow and long to the wild. There were rocks with heliotrope pouring +over them and flowers peeping behind them, and great azaleas all in +triumphant bloom, and ropes of flowering creepers coming down from +trees, and oleanders, and a plant named popularly Joy of the South, and +small paths went along it edged with shells brought from the far sea. + +There was only one street in the village, and you did not go far among +the great azaleas before you lost sight of the gables; and you did not +go far before the small paths ended with their shells from the distant +sea, and there was the mistress of all gardeners facing you, Mother +Nature nursing her children, the things of the wild. She too had +azaleas and oleanders, but they stood more solitary in their greater +garden than those that grew in the garden of Dona Mirana; and she too +had little paths, only they were without borders and without end. Yet +looking from the long and narrow garden at the back of that house in +Lowlight to the wider garden that sweeps round the world, and is fenced +by Space from the garden in Venus and by Space from the garden in Mars, +you scarce saw any difference or noticed where they met: the solitary +azaleas beyond were gathered together by distance, and from Lowlight to +the horizon seemed all one garden in bloom. And afterwards, all his +years, whenever Rodriguez heard the name of Spain, spoken by loyal men, +it was thus that he thought of it, as he saw it now. + +And here he used to walk with Serafina when she tended flowers in the +cool of the morning or went at evening to water favourite blooms. And +Rodriguez would bring with him his mandolin, and sometimes he touched +it lightly or even sang, as they rested on some carved seat at the +garden's end, looking out towards shadowy shrubs on the shining hill, +but mostly he heard her speak of the things she loved, of what moths +flew to their garden, and which birds sang, and how the flowers grew. +Serafina sat no longer in her balcony but, disguising idleness by other +names, they loitered along those paths that the seashells narrowed; yet +there was a grace in their loitering such as we have not in our dances +now. And evening stealing in from the wild places, from darkening +azaleas upon distant hills, still found them in the garden, found +Rodriguez singing in idleness undisguised, or anxiously helping in some +trivial task, tying up some tendril that had gone awry, helping some +magnolia that the wind had wounded. Almost unnoticed by him the +sunlight would disappear, and the coloured blaze of the sunset, and +then the gloaming; till the colours of all the flowers queerly changed +and they shone with that curious glow which they wear in the dusk. They +returned then to the house, the garden behind them with its dim hushed +air of a secret, before them the candlelight like a different land. And +after the evening meal Alderon and Rodriguez would sit late together +discussing the future of the world, Rodriguez holding that it was +intended that the earth should be ruled by Spain, and Alderon fearing +it would all go to the Moors. + +Days passed thus. + +And then one evening Rodriguez was in the garden with Serafina; the +flowers, dim and pale and more mysterious than ever, poured out their +scent towards the coming night, luring huge hawk-moths from the far +dusk that was gathering about the garden, to hover before each bloom on +myriad wingbeats too rapid for human eye: another inch and the fairies +had peeped out from behind azaleas, yet both of these late loiterers +felt fairies were surely there: it seemed to be Nature's own most +secret hour, upon which man trespasses if he venture forth from his +house: an owl from his hidden haunt flew nearer the garden and uttered +a clear call once to remind Rodriguez of this: and Rodriguez did not +heed, but walked in silence. + +He had played his mandolin. It had uttered to the solemn hush of the +understanding evening all it was able to tell; and after that cry, +grown piteous with so many human longings, for it was an old mandolin, +Rodriguez felt there was nothing left for his poor words to say. So he +went dumb and mournful. + +Serafina would have heard him had he spoken, for her thoughts vibrated +yet with the voice of the mandolin, which had come to her hearing as an +ambassador from Rodriguez, but he found no words to match with the +mandolin's high mood. His eyes said, and his sighs told, what the +mandolin had uttered; but his tongue was silent. + +And then Serafina said, as he walked all heavy with silence past a +curving slope of dimly glowing azaleas, "You like flowers, senor?" + +"Senorita, I adore them," he replied. + +"Indeed?" said Dona Serafina. + +"Indeed I do," said Rodriguez. + +"And yet," asked Dona Serafina, "was it not a somewhat withered or +altogether faded flower that you carried, unless I fancied wrong, when +you rode past our balcony?" + +"It was indeed faded," said Rodriguez, "for the rose was some weeks +old." + +"One who loved flowers, I thought," said Serafina, "would perhaps care +more for them fresh." + +Half-dumb though Rodriguez was his shrewdness did not desert him. To +have said that he had the rose from Serafina would have been to claim +as though proven what was yet no more than a hope. + +"Senorita," he said, "I found the flower on holy ground." + +"I did not know," she said, "that you had travelled so far." + +"I found it here," he said, "under your balcony." + +"Perchance I let it fall," said she. "It was idle of me." + +"I guard it still," he said, and drew forth that worn brown rose. + +"It was idle of me," said Serafina. + +But then in that scented garden among the dim lights of late evening +the ghost of that rose introduced their spirits one to the other, so +that the listening flowers heard Rodriguez telling the story of his +heart, and, bending over the shell-bordered path, heard Serafina's +answer; and all they seemed to do was but to watch the evening, with +leaves uplifted in the hope of rain. + +Film after film of dusk dropped down from where twilight had been, like +an army of darkness slowly pitching their tents on ground that had been +lost to the children of light. Out of the wild lands all the owls flew +nearer: their long, clear cries and the huge hush between them warned +all those lands that this was not man's hour. And neither Rodriguez nor +Serafina heard them. + +In pale blue sky where none had thought to see it one smiling star +appeared. It was Venus watching lovers, as men of the crumbled +centuries had besought her to do, when they named her so long ago, +kneeling upon their hills with bended heads, and arms stretched out to +her sweet eternal scrutiny. Beneath her wandering rays as they danced +down to bless them Rodriguez and Serafina talked low in the sight of +the goddess, and their voices swayed through the flowers with whispers +and winds, not troubling the little wild creatures that steal out shy +in the dusk, and Nature forgave them for being abroad in that hour; +although, so near that a single azalea seemed to hide it, so near +seemed to beckon and whisper old Nature's eldest secret. + +When flowers glimmered and Venus smiled and all things else were dim, +they turned on one of those little paths hand in hand homeward. + +Dona Mirana glanced once at her daughter's eyes and said nothing. Don +Alderon renewed his talk with Rodriguez, giving reasons for his +apprehension of the conquest of the world by the Moors, which he had +thought of since last night; and Rodriguez agreed with all that Don +Alderon said, but understood little, being full of dreams that seemed +to dance on the further, side of the candlelight to a strange, new, +unheard tune that his heart was aware of. He gazed much at Serafina and +said little. + +He drank no wine that night with Don Alderon: what need had he of wine? +On wonderful journeys that my pen cannot follow, for all the swiftness +of the wing from which it came; on darting journeys outspeeding the +lithe swallow or that great wanderer the white-fronted goose, his young +thoughts raced by a myriad of golden evenings far down the future +years. And what of the days he saw? Did he see them truly? Enough that +he saw them in vision. Saw them as some lone shepherd on lifted downs +sees once go by with music a galleon out of the East, with windy sails, +and masts ablaze with pennants, and heroes in strange dress singing new +songs; and the galleon goes nameless by till the singing dies away. +What ship was it? Whither bound? Why there? Enough that he has seen it. +Thus do we glimpse the glory of rare days as we swing round the sun; +and youth is like some high headland from which to see. + +On the next day he spoke with Dona Mirano. There was little to say but +to observe the courtesies appropriate to this occasion, for Dona Mirana +and her daughter had spoken long together already; and of one thing he +could say little, and indeed was dumb when asked of it, and that was +the question of his home. And then he said that he had a castle; and +when Dona Mirana asked him where it was he said vaguely it was to the +North. He trusted the word of the King of Shadow Valley and so he spoke +of his castle as a man speaks the truth. And when she asked him of his +castle again, whether on rock or river or in leafy lands, he began to +describe how its ten towers stood, being builded of a rock that was +slightly pink, and how they glowed across a hundred fields, especially +at evening; and suddenly he ceased, perceiving all in a moment he was +speaking unwittingly in the words of Don Alvidar and describing to Dona +Mirana that rose-pink castle on Ebro. And Dona Mirana knew then that +there was some mystery about Rodriguez' home. + +She spoke kindly to Rodriguez, yet she neither gave her consent nor yet +withheld it, and he knew there was no immediate hope in her words. +Graceful as were his bows as he withdrew, he left with scarcely another +word to say. All day his castle hung over him like a cloud, not +nebulous and evanescent only, but brooding darkly, boding storms, such +as the orange blossoms dread. + +He walked again in the garden with Serafina, but Dona Mirana was never +far, and the glamour of the former evening, lit by one star, was driven +from the garden by his anxieties about that castle of which he could +not speak. Serafina asked him of his home. He would not parry her +question, and yet he could not tell her that all their future hung on +the promise of a man in an old leathern jacket calling himself a king. +So the mystery of his habitation deepened, spoiling the glamour of the +evening. He spoke, instead, of the forest, hoping she might know +something of that strange monarch to whom they dwelt so near; but she +glanced uneasily towards Shadow Valley and told him that none in +Lowlight went that way. Sorrow grew heavier round Rodriguez' heart at +this: believing in the promise of a man whose eyes he trusted he had +asked Serafina to marry him, and Serafina had said Yes; and now he +found she knew nothing of such a man, which seemed somehow to Rodriguez +to weaken his promise, and, worst of all, she feared the place where he +lived. He welcomed the approach of Dona Mirana, and all three returned +to the house. For the rest of that evening he spoke little; but he had +formed his project. + +When the two ladies retired Rodriguez, who had seemed tongue-tied for +many hours, turned to Don Alderon. His mother had told Don Alderon +nothing yet; for she was troubled by the mystery of Rodriguez' castle, +and would give him time to make it clear if he could; for there was +something about Rodriguez of which with many pages I have tried to +acquaint my reader but which was clear when first she saw him to Dona +Mirana. In fact she liked him at once, as I hope that perhaps by now my +reader may. He turned to Don Alderon, who was surprised to see the +vehemence with which his guest suddenly spoke after those hours of +silence, and Rodriguez told him the story of his love and the story of +both his castles, that which had vanished from the bank of the Ebro and +that which was promised him by the King of Shadow Valley. And often Don +Alderon interrupted. + +"Oh, Rodriguez," he said, "you are welcome to our ancient, unfortunate +house": and later he said, "I have met no man that had a prettier way +with the sword." + +But Rodriguez held on to the end, telling all he had to tell; and +especially that he was landless and penniless but for that one promise; +and as for the sword, he said, he was but as a child playing before the +sword of Don Alderon. And this Don Alderon said was in no wise so, +though there were a few cunning passes that he had learned, hoping that +the day might come for him to do God a service thereby by slaying some +of the Moors: and heartily he gave his consent and felicitation. But +this Rodriguez would not have: "Come with me," he said, "to the forest +to the place where I met this man, and if we find him not there we will +go to the house in which his bowmen feast and there have news of him, +and he shall show us the castle of his promise and, if it be such a +castle as you approve, then your consent shall be given, but if not ..." + +"Gladly indeed," said Don Alderon. "We will start tomorrow." + +And Rodriguez took his words literally, though his host had meant no +more than what we should call "one of these days," but Rodriguez was +being consumed with a great impatience. And so they arranged it, and +Don Alderon went to bed with a feeling, which is favourable to dreams, +that on the next day they went upon an adventure; for neither he nor +anyone in that village had entered Shadow Valley. + +Once more next morning Rodriguez walked with Serafina, with something +of the romance of the garden gone, for Dona Mirana walked there too; +and romance is like one of those sudden, wonderful colours that flash +for a moment out of a drop of dew; a passing shadow obscures them; and +ask another to see it, and the colour is not the same: move but a yard +and the ray of enchantment is gone. Dona Mirana saw the romance of that +garden, but she saw it from thirty years away; it was all different +what she saw, all changed from a certain day (for love was love in the +old days): and to Rodriguez and Serafina it seemed that she could not +see romance at all, and somehow that dimmed it. Almost their eyes +seemed to search amongst the azaleas for the romance of that other +evening. + +And then Rodriguez told Serafina that he was riding away with her +brother to see about the affairs of his castle, and that they would +return in a few days. Scarcely a hint he gave that those affairs might +not prosper, for he trusted the word of the King of Shadow Valley. His +confidence had returned: and soon, with swords at side and cloaks +floating brilliant on light winds of April, Rodriguez and Alderon rode +away together. + +Soon in the distance they saw Shadow Valley. And then Rodriguez +bethought him of Morano and of the foul wrong he committed against Don +Alderon with his frying-pan, and how he was there in the camp to which +he was bringing his friend. And so he said: "That vile knave Morano +still lives and insists on serving me." + +"If he be near," said Don Alderon, "I pray you to disarm him of his +frying-pan for the sake of my honour, which does not suffer me to be +stricken with culinary weapons, but only with the sword, the lance, or +even bolts of cannon or arquebuss ..." He was thinking of yet more +weapons when Rodriguez put spurs to his horse. "He is near," he said; +"I will ride on and disarm him." + +So Rodriguez came cantering into the forest while Don Alderon ambled a +mile or so behind him. + +And there he found his old camp and saw Morano, sitting upon the ground +by a small fire. Morano sprang up at once with joy in his eyes, his +face wreathed with questions, which he did not put into words for he +did not pry openly into his master's affairs. + +"Morano," said Rodriguez, "give me your frying-pan." + +"My frying-pan?" said Morano. + +"Yes," said Rodriguez. And when he held in his hand that blackened, +greasy utensil he told Morano, "That senor you met in Lowlight rides +with me." + +The cheerfulness faded out of Morano's face as light fades at sunset. +"Master," he said, "he will surely slay me now." + +"He will not slay you," said Rodriguez. + +"Master," Morano said, "he hopes for my fat carcase as much as men hope +for the unicorn, when they wear their bright green coats and hunt him +with dogs in Spring." I know not what legend Morano stored in his mind, +nor how much of it was true. "And when he finds me without my +frying-pan he will surely slay me." + +"That senor," said Rodriguez emphatically, "must not be hit with the +frying-pan." + +"That is a hard rule, master," said Morano. + +And Rodriguez was indignant, when he heard that, that anyone should +thus blaspheme against an obvious law of chivalry: while Morano's only +thought was upon the injustice of giving up the sweets of life for the +sake of a frying-pan. Thus they were at cross-purposes. And for some +while they stood silent, while Rodriguez hung the reins of his horse +over the broken branch of a tree. And then Don Alderon rode into the +wood. + +All then that was most pathetic in Morano's sense of injustice looked +out of his eyes as he turned them upon his master. But Don Alderon +scarcely glanced at all at Morano, even when he handed to him the reins +of his horse as he walked on towards Rodriguez. + +And there in that leafy place they rested all through the evening, for +they had not started so early upon their journey as travellers should. +Eight days had gone since Rodriguez had left that small camp to ride to +Lowlight, and to the apex of his life towards which all his days had +ascended; and in that time Morano had collected good store of wood and, +in little ways unthought of by dwellers in cities, had made the place +like such homes as wanderers find. Don Alderon was charmed with their +roof of towering greenness, and with the choirs of those which +inhabited it and which were now all coming home to sing. And at some +moment in the twilight, neither Rodriguez nor Alderon noticed when, +Morano repossessed himself of his frying-pan, unbidden by Rodriguez, +but acting on a certain tacit permission that there seemed to be in the +twilight or in the mood of the two young men as they sat by the fire. +And soon he was cooking once more, at a fire of his own, with something +of the air that you see upon a Field Marshal's face who has lost his +baton and found it again. Have you ever noticed it, reader? + +And when the meal was ready Morano served it in silence, moving +unobtrusively in the gloom of the wood; for he knew that he was +forgiven, yet not so openly that he wished to insist on his presence or +even to imply his possession of the weapon that fried the bacon. So, +like a dryad he moved from tree to tree, and like any fabulous creature +was gone again. And the two young men supped well, and sat on and on, +watching the sparks go up on innumerable journeys from the fire at +which they sat, to be lost to sight in huge wastes of blackness and +stars, lost to sight utterly, lost like the spirit of man to the gaze +of our wonder when we try to follow its journey beyond the hearths that +we know. + +All the next day they rode on through the forest, till they came to the +black circle of the old fire of their next camp. And here Rodriguez +halted on account of the attraction that one of his old camps seems to +have for a wanderer. It drew his feet towards it, this blackened +circle, this hearth that for one night made one spot in the wilderness +home. Don Alderon did not care whether they tarried or hurried; he +loved his journey through this leafy land; the cool night-breeze +slipping round the tree-trunks was new to him, and new was the +comradeship of the abundant stars; the quest itself was a joy to him; +with his fancy he built Rodriguez' mysterious castle no less +magnificently than did Don Alvidar. Sometimes they talked of the +castle, each of the young men picturing it as he saw it; but in the +warmth of the camp-fire after Morano slept they talked of more than +these chronicles can tell. + +In the morning they pressed on as fast as the forest's low boughs would +allow them. They passed somewhere near the great cottage in which the +bowmen feasted; but they held on, as they had decided after discussion +to do, for the last place in which Rodriguez had seen the King of +Shadow Valley, which was the place of his promise. And before any +dimness came even to the forest, or golden shafts down colonnades which +were before all cathedrals, they found the old camp that they sought, +which still had a clear flavour of magic for Morano on account of the +moth-like coming and going of his three horses after he had tied them +to that tree. And here they looked for the King of Shadow Valley; and +then Rodriguez called him; and then all three of them called him, +shouting "King of Shadow Valley" all together. No answer came: the +woods were without echo: nothing stirred but fallen leaves. But before +those miles of silence could depress them Rodriguez hit upon a simple +plan, which was that he and Alderon should search all round, far from +the track, while Morano stayed in the camp and shouted frequently, and +they would not go out of hearing of his voice: for Shadow Valley had a +reputation of being a bad forest for travellers to find their way +there; indeed, few ever attempted to. So they did as he said, he and +Alderon searching in different directions, while Morano remained in the +camp, lifting a large and melancholy voice. And though rumour said it +was hard to find the way when twenty yards from the track in Shadow +Valley, it did not say it was hard to find the green bowmen: and +Rodriguez, knowing that they guarded the forest as the shadows of trees +guard the coolness, was assured he would meet with some of them even +though he should miss their master. So he and Alderon searched till the +forest darkness came and only birds on high branches still had light; +and they never saw the King of Shadow Valley or any trace whatever of +any man. And Alderon first returned to the encampment; but Rodriguez +searched on into the night, searching and calling through the darkness, +and feeling, as every minute went by and every faint call of Morano, +that his castle was fading away, slipping past oak-tree and thorn-bush, +to take its place among the unpitying stars. And when he returned at +last from his useless search he found Morano standing by a good fire, +and the sight of it a little cheered Rodriguez, and the sight of the +firelight on Morano's face, and the homely comfort of the camp, for +everything is comparative. + +And over their supper Rodriguez and Alderon agreed that they had come +to a part of the forest too remote from the home of the King of Shadow +Valley, and decided to go the next day to the house of the green +bowmen: and before he slept Rodriguez felt once more that all was well +with his castle. + +Yet when the next day came they searched again, for Rodriguez +remembered how it was to this very place that the King of Shadow Valley +had bidden him come in four weeks, and though this period was not yet +accomplished, he felt, and Alderon fully agreed, they had waited long +enough: so they searched all the morning, and then fulfilled their +decision of overnight by riding for the great cottage Rodriguez knew. +All the way they met no one. And Rodriguez' gaiety came back as they +rode, for he and Don Alderon recognised more and more clearly that the +bowmen's great cottage was the place they should have gone at first. + +In early evening they were just at their journey's end; but barely had +they left the track that they had ridden the day before, barely taken +the smaller path that led after a few hundred yards to the cottage when +they found themselves stopped by huge chains that hung from tree to +tree. High into the trees went the chains above their heads where they +sat their horses, and a chain ran every six inches down to the very +ground: the road was well blocked. + +Rodriguez and Alderon hastily consulted; then, leaving the horses with +Morano, they followed the chains through dense forest to find a place +where they could get the horses through. Finding the chains go on and +on and on, and as evening was drawing in, the two friends divided, +Alderon going back and Rodriguez on, agreeing to meet again on the path +where Morano was. + +It was darkening when they met there, Rodriguez having found nothing +but that iron barrier going on from trunk to trunk, and Alderon having +found a great gateway of iron; but it was shut. Through the silent +shadows stealing abroad at evening the three men crashed their way on +foot, leading their horses, towards this gate; but their way was slow +and difficult for no path at all led up to it. It was dark when they +reached it and they saw the high gate in the night, a black barrier +among the trees where no one would wish to come, and in forest that +seemed to these three to be nearly impenetrable. And what astonished +Rodriguez most of all was that the chains had not been across the path +when he had feasted with the green bowmen. + +They stood there gazing, all three, at the dark locked gate, and then +they saw two shields that met in the midst of it, and Rodriguez mounted +his horse and stretched up to feel what device there was on the beaten +iron; and both the shields were blank. + +There they camped as well as men can when darkness has fallen before +they reach their camping-ground; and Morano lit a great fire before the +gate, and the smooth blank shields touching shoulders there up above +them shone on Rodriguez and Alderon in the firelight. For a while they +wondered at that strange gate that stood there dividing the wilderness; +and then sleep came. + +As soon as they woke they called loudly, but no one guarded that gate, +no step but theirs stirred in the forest. Then, leaving Morano in the +camp with its great gate that led nowhere, the two young men climbed up +by branches and chains, and were soon on the other side of the gate and +pressing on through the silence of the forest to find the cottage in +which Rodriguez had slept. And almost at once the green bowmen +appeared, ten of them with their bows, in front of Rodriguez and +Alderon. "Stop," said the ten green bowmen. When the bowmen said that, +there was nothing else to do. + +"What do you seek?" said the bowmen. + +"The King of Shadow Valley," answered Rodriguez. + +"He is not here," they said. + +"Where is he?" asked Rodriguez. + +"He is nowhere," said one, "when he does not wish to be seen." + +"Then show me the castle that he promised me," said Rodriguez. + +"We know nothing of any castle," said one of the bowmen, and they all +shook their heads. + +"No castle?" said Rodriguez. + +"No," they said. + +"Has the King of Shadow Valley no castle?" he asked, beginning now to +despair. + +"We know of none," they said. "He lives in the forest." + +Before Rodriguez quite despaired he asked each one if they knew not of +any castle of which their King was possessed; and each of them said +that there was no castle in all Shadow Valley. The ten still stood in +front of them with their bows: and Rodriguez turned away then indeed in +despair, and walked slowly back to the camp, and Alderon walked behind +him. In silence they reached their camp by the great gate that led +nowhere, and there Rodriguez sat down on a log beside the dwindling +fire, gazing at the grey ashes and thinking of his dead hopes. He had +not the heart to speak to Alderon, and the silence was unbroken by +Morano who, for all his loquacity, knew when his words were not +welcome. Don Alderon tried to break that melancholy silence, saying +that these ten bowmen did not know the whole world; but he could not +cheer Rodriguez. For, sitting there in dejection on his log, thinking +of all the assurance with which he had often spoken of his castle, +there was one more thing to trouble him than Don Alderon knew. And this +was that when the bowmen had appeared he had hung once more round his +neck that golden badge that was worked for him by the King of Shadow +Valley; and they must have seen it, and they had paid no heed to it +whatever: its magic was wholly departed. And one thing troubled him +that Rodriguez did not know, a very potent factor in human sorrow: he +had left in the morning so eagerly that he had had no breakfast, and +this he entirely forgot and knew not how much of his dejection came +from this cause, thinking that the loss of his castle was of itself +enough. + +So with downcast head he sat empty and hopeless, and the little camp +was silent. + +In this mournful atmosphere while no one spoke, and no one seemed to +watch, stood, when at last Rodriguez raised his head, with folded arms +before the gate to nowhere, the King of Shadow Valley. His face was +surly, as though the face of a ghost, called from important work among +asteroids needing his care, by the trivial legerdemain of some foolish +novice. Rodriguez, looking into those angry eyes, wholly forgot it was +he that had a grievance. The silence continued. And then the King of +Shadow Valley spoke. + +"When have I broken my word?" he said. + +Rodriguez did not know. The man was still looking at him, still +standing there with folded arms before the great gate, confronting him, +demanding some kind of answer: and Rodriguez had nothing to say. + +"I came because you promised me the castle," he said at last. + +"I did not bid you come here," the man with the folded arms answered. + +"I went where you bade me," said Rodriguez, "and you were not there." + +"In four weeks, I said," answered the King angrily. + +And then Alderon spoke. "Have you any castle for my friend?" he said. + +"No," said the King of Shadow Valley. + +"You promised him one," said Don Alderon. + +The King of Shadow Valley raised with his left hand a horn that hung +below his elbow by a green cord round his body. He made no answer to +Don Alderon, but put the horn against his lips and blew. They watched +him all three in silence, till the silence was broken by many men +moving swiftly through covert, and the green bowmen appeared. + +When seven or eight were there he turned and looked at them. "When have +I broken my word?" he said to his men. + +And they all answered him, "Never!" + +More broke into sight through the bushes. + +"Ask them" he said. And Rodriguez did not speak. + +"Ask them," he said again, "when I have broken my word." + +Still Rodriguez and Alderon said nothing. And the bowmen answered them. +"He has never broken his word," every bowman said. + +"You promised me a castle," said Rodriguez, seeing that man's fierce +eyes upon him still. + +"Then do as I bid you," answered the King of Shadow Valley; and he +turned round and touched the lock of the gates with some key that he +had. The gates moved open and the King went through. + +Don Alderon ran forward after him, and caught up with him as he strode +away, and spoke to him, and the King answered. Rodriguez did not hear +what they said, and never afterwards knew. These words he heard only, +from the King of Shadow Valley as he and Don Alderon parted: ".... and +therefore, senor, it were better for some holy man to do his blessed +work before we come." And the King of Shadow Valley passed into the +deeps of the wood. + +As the great gates were slowly swinging to, Don Alderon came back +thoughtfully. The gates clanged, clicked, and were shut again. The King +of Shadow Valley and all his bowmen were gone. + +Don Alderon went to his horse, and Rodriguez and Morano did the same, +drawn by the act of the only man of the three that seemed to have made +up his mind. Don Alderon led his horse back toward the path, and +Rodriguez followed with his. When they came to the path they mounted in +silence; and presently Morano followed them, with his blankets rolled +up in front of him on his horse and his frying-pan slung behind him. + +"Which way?" said Rodriguez. + +"Home," said Don Alderon. + +"But I cannot go to your home," said Rodriguez. + +"Come," said Don Alderon, as one whose plans were made. Rodriguez +without a home, without plans, without hope, went with Don Alderon as +thistledown goes with the warm wind. They rode through the forest till +it grew all so dim that only a faint tinge of greenness lay on the dark +leaves: above were patches of bluish sky like broken pieces of steel. +And a star or two were out when they left the forest. And cantering on +they came to Lowlight when the Milky Way appeared. + +And there were Dona Mirana and Serafina in the hall to greet them as +they entered the door. + +"What news?" they asked. + +But Rodriguez hung back; he had no news to give. It was Don Alderon +that went forward, speaking cheerily to Serafina, and afterwards to his +mother, with whom he spoke long and anxiously, pointing toward the +forest sometimes, almost, as Rodriguez thought, in fear. + +And a little later, when the ladies had retired, Don Alderon told +Rodriguez over the wine, with which he had tried to cheer his forlorn +companion, that it was arranged that he should marry Serafina. And when +Rodriguez lamented that this was impossible he replied that the King of +Shadow Valley wished it. And when Rodriguez heard this his astonishment +equalled his happiness, for he marvelled that Don Alderon should not +only believe that strange man's unsupported promise, but that he should +even obey him as though he held him in awe. + +And on the next day Rodriguez spoke with Dona Mirana as they walked in +the glory of the garden. And Dona Mirana gave him her consent as Don +Alderon had done: and when Rodriguez spoke humbly of postponement she +glanced uneasily towards Shadow Valley, as though she too feared the +strange man who ruled over the forest which she had never entered. + +And so it was that Rodriguez walked with his lady, with the sweet +Serafina in that garden again. And walking there they forgot the need +of house or land, forgot Shadow Valley with its hopes and its doubts, +and all the anxieties of the thoughts that we take for the morrow: and +when evening came and the birds sang in azaleas, and the shadows grew +solemn and long, and winds blew cool from the blazing bed of the Sun, +into the garden now all strange and still, they forgot our Earth and, +beyond the mundane coasts, drifted on dreams of their own into aureate +regions of twilight, to wander in lands wherein lovers walk briefly and +only once. + + + + +THE TWELFTH CHRONICLE + +THE BUILDING OF CASTLE RODRIGUEZ AND THE ENDING OF THESE CHRONICLES + + +When the King of Shadow Valley met Rodriguez, for the first time in the +forest, and gave him his promise and left him by his camp-fire, he went +back some way towards the bowmen's cottage and blew his horn; and his +hundred bowmen were about him almost at once. To these he gave their +orders and they went back, whence they had come, into the forest's +darkness. But he went to the bowmen's cottage and paced before it, a +dark and lonely figure of the night; and wherever he paced the ground +he marked it with small sticks. And next morning the hundred bowmen +came with axes as soon as the earliest light had entered the forest, +and each of them chose out one of the giant trees that stood before the +cottage, and attacked it. All day they swung their axes against the +forest's elders, of which nearly a hundred were fallen when evening +came. And the stoutest of these, great trunks that were four feet +through, were dragged by horses to the bowmen's cottage and laid by the +little sticks that the King of Shadow Valley had put overnight in the +ground. The bowmen's cottage and the kitchen that was in the wood +behind it, and a few trees that still stood, were now all enclosed by +four lines of fallen trees which made a large rectangle on the ground +with a small square at each of its corners. And craftsmen came, and +smoothed and hollowed the inner sides of the four rows of trees, +working far into the night. So was the first day's work accomplished +and so was built the first layer of the walls of Castle Rodriguez. + +On the next day the bowmen again felled a hundred trees; the top of the +first layer was cut flat by carpenters; at evening the second layer was +hoisted up after their under sides had been flattened to fit the layer +below them; quantities more were cast in to make the floor when they +had been gradually smoothed and fitted: at the end of the second day a +man could not see over the walls of Castle Rodriguez. And on the third +day more craftsmen arrived, men from distant villages at the forest's +edge, whence the King of Shadow Valley had summoned them; and they +carved the walls as they grew. And a hundred trees fell that day, and +the castle was another layer higher. And all the while a park was +growing in the forest, as they felled the great trees; but the greatest +trees of all the bowmen spared, oaks that had stood there for ages and +ages of men; they left them to grip the earth for a while longer, for a +few more human generations. + +On the fourth day the two windows at the back of the bowmen's cottage +began to darken, and that evening Castle Rodriguez was fifteen feet +high. And still the hundred bowmen hewed at the forest, bringing +sunlight bright on to grass that was shadowed by oaks for ages. And at +the end of the fifth day they began to roof the lower rooms and make +their second floor: and still the castle grew a layer a day, though the +second storey they built with thinner trees that were only three feet +through, which were more easily carried to their place by the pulleys. +And now they began to heap up rocks in a mass of mortar against the +wall on the outside, till a steep slope guarded the whole of the lower +part of the castle against fire from any attacker if war should come +that way, in any of the centuries that were yet to be: and the deep +windows they guarded with bars of iron. + +The shape of the castle showed itself clearly now, rising on each side +of the bowmen's cottage and behind it, with a tower at each of its +corners. To the left of the old cottage the main doorway opened to the +great hall, in which a pile of a few huge oaks was being transformed +into a massive stair. Three figures of strange men held up this ceiling +with their heads and uplifted hands, when the castle was finished; but +as yet the carvers had only begun their work, so that only here and +there an eye peeped out, or a smile flickered, to give any expression +to the curious faces of these fabulous creatures of the wood, which +were slowly taking their shape out of three trees whose roots were +still in the earth below the floor. In an upper storey one of these +trees became a tall cupboard; and the shelves and the sides and the +back and the top of it were all one piece of oak. + +All the interior of the castle was of wood, hollowed into alcoves and +polished, or carved into figures leaning out from the walls. So vast +were the timbers that the walls, at a glance, seemed almost one piece +of wood. And the centuries that were coming to Spain darkened the walls +as they came, through autumnal shades until they were all black, as +though they all mourned in secret for lost generations; but they have +not yet crumbled. + +The fireplaces they made with great square red tiles, which they also +put in the chimneys amongst rude masses of mortar: and these great dark +holes remained always mysterious to those that looked for mystery in +the family that whiled away the ages in that castle. And by every +fireplace two queer carved creatures stood upholding the mantlepiece, +with mystery in their faces and curious limbs, uniting the hearth with +fable and with tales told in the wood. Years after the men that carved +them were all dust the shadows of these creatures would come out and +dance in the room, on wintry nights when all the lamps were gone and +flames stole out and flickered above the smouldering logs. + +In the second storey one great saloon ran all the length of the castle. +In it was a long table with eight legs that had carvings of roses +rambling along its edges: the table and its legs were all of one piece +with the floor. They would never have hollowed the great trunk in time +had they not used fire. The second storey was barely complete on the +day that Rodriguez and Don Alderon and Morano came to the chains that +guarded the park. And the King of Shadow Valley would not permit his +gift to be seen in anything less than its full magnificence, and had +commanded that no man in the world might enter to see the work of his +bowmen and craftsmen until it should frown at all comers a castle +formidable as any in Spain. + +And then they heaped up the mortar and rock to the top of the second +storey, but above that they let the timbers show, except where they +filled in plaster between the curving trunks: and the ages blackened +the timber in amongst the white plaster; but not a storm that blew in +all the years that came, nor the moss of so many Springs, ever rotted +away those beams that the forest had given and on which the bowmen had +laboured so long ago. But the castle weathered the ages and reached our +days, worn, battered even, by its journey through the long and +sometimes troubled years, but splendid with the traffic that it had +with history in many gorgeous periods. Here Valdar the Excellent came +once in his youth. And Charles the Magnificent stayed a night in this +castle when on a pilgrimage to a holy place of the South. + +It was here that Peter the Arrogant in his cups gave Africa, one Spring +night, to his sister's son. What grandeurs this castle has seen! What +chronicles could be writ of it! But not these chronicles, for they draw +near their close, and they have yet to tell how the castle was built. +Others shall tell what banners flew from all four of its towers, adding +a splendour to the wind, and for what cause they flew. I have yet to +tell of their building. + +The second storey was roofed, and Castle Rodriguez still rose one layer +day by day, with a hauling at pulleys and the work of a hundred men: +and all the while the park swept farther into the forest. + +And the trees that grew up through the building were worked by the +craftsmen in every chamber into which they grew: and a great branch of +the hugest of them made a little crooked stair in an upper storey. On +the floors they laid down skins of beasts that the bowmen slew in the +forest; and on the walls there hung all manner of leather, tooled and +dyed as they had the art to do in that far-away period in Spain. + +When the third storey was finished they roofed the castle over, laying +upon the huge rafters red tiles that they made of clay. But the towers +were not yet finished. + +At this time the King of Shadow Valley sent a runner into Lowlight to +shoot a blunt arrow with a message tied to it into Don Alderon's +garden, near to the door, at evening. + +And they went on building the towers above the height of the roof And +near the top of them they made homes for archers, little turrets that +leaned like swallows' nests out from each tower, high places where they +could see and shoot and not be seen from below. And little narrow +passages wound away behind perched battlements of stone, by which +archers could slip from place to place, and shoot from here or from +there and never be known. So were built in that distant age the towers +of Castle Rodriguez. + +And one day four weeks from the felling of the first oak, the period of +his promise being accomplished, the King of Shadow Valley blew his +horn. And standing by what had been the bowmen's cottage, now all shut +in by sheer walls of Castle Rodriguez, he gathered his bowmen to him. +And when they were all about him he gave them their orders. They were +to go by stealth to the village of Lowlight, and were to be by daylight +before the house of Don Alderon; and, whether wed or unwed, whether she +fled or folk defended the house, to bring Dona Serafina of the Valley +of Dawnlight to be the chatelaine of Castle Rodriguez. + +For this purpose he bade them take with them a chariot that he thought +magnificent, though the mighty timbers that gave grandeur to Castle +Rodriguez had a cumbrous look in the heavy vehicle that was to the +bowmen's eyes the triumphal car of the forest. So they took their bows +and obeyed, leaving the craftsmen at their work in the castle, which +was now quite roofed over, towers and all. They went through the forest +by little paths that they knew, going swiftly and warily in the +bowmen's way: and just before nightfall they were at the forest's edge, +though they went no farther from it than its shadows go in the evening. +And there they rested under the oak trees for the early part of the +night except those whose art it was to gather news for their king; and +three of those went into Lowlight and mixed with the villagers there. + +When white mists moved over the fields near dawn and wavered ghostly +about Lowlight, the green bowman moved with them. And just out of +hearing of the village, behind wild shrubs that hid them, the bowmen +that were coming from the forest met the three that had spent the night +in taverns of Lowlight. And the three told the hundred of the great +wedding that there was to be in the Church of the Renunciation that +morning in Lowlight: and of the preparations that were made, and how +holy men had come from far on mules, and had slept the night in the +village, and the Bishop of Toledo himself would bless the bridegroom's +sword. The bowmen therefore retired a little way and, moving through +the mists, came forward to points whence they could watch the church, +well concealed on the wild plain, which here and there gave up a field +to man but was mostly the playground of wild creatures whose ways were +the bowmen's ways. And here they waited. + +This was the wedding of Rodriguez and Serafina, of which gossips often +spoke at their doors in summer evenings, old women mumbling of fair +weddings that each had seen; and they had been children when they saw +this wedding; they were those that threw small handfuls of anemones on +the path before the porch. They told the tale of it till they could +tell no more. It is the account of the last two or three of them, old, +old women, that came at last to these chronicles, so that their tongues +may wag as it were a little longer through these pages although they +have been for so many centuries dead. And this is all that books are +able to do. + +First there was bell-ringing and many voices, and then the voices +hushed, and there came the procession of eight divines of Murcia, whose +vestments were strange to Lowlight. Then there came a priest from the +South, near the border of Andalusia, who overnight had sanctified the +ring. (It was he who had entertained Rodriguez when he first escaped +from la Garda, and Rodriguez had sent for him now.) Each note of the +bells came clear through the hush as they entered the church. And then +with suitable attendants the bishop strode by and they saw quite close +the blessed cope of Toledo. And the bridegroom followed him in, wearing +his sword, and Don Alderon went with him. And then the voices rose +again in the street: the bells rang on: they all saw Dona Mirana. The +little bunches of bright anemones grew sticky in their hands: the bells +seemed louder: cheering rose in the street and came all down it nearer. +Then Dona Serafina walked past them with all her maids: and that is +what the gossips chiefly remembered, telling how she smiled at them, +and praising her dress, through those distant summer evenings. Then +there was music in the church. And afterwards the forest-people had +come. And the people screamed, for none knew what they would do. But +they bowed so low to the bride and bridegroom, and showed their great +hunting bows so willingly to all who wished to see, that the people +lost their alarm and only feared lest the Bishop of Toledo should blast +the merry bowmen with one of his curses. + +And presently the bride and bridegroom entered the chariot, and the +people cheered; and there were farewells and the casting of flowers; +and the bishop blessed three of their bows; and a fat man sat beside +the driver with folded arms, wearing bright on his face a look of +foolish contentment; and the bowmen and bride and bridegroom all went +away to the forest. + +Four huge white horses drew that bridal chariot, the bowmen ran beside +it, and soon it was lost to sight of the girls that watched it from +Lowlight; but their memories held it close till their eyes could no +longer see to knit and they could only sit by their porches in fine +weather and talk of the days that were. + +So came Rodriguez and his bride to the forest; he silent, perplexed, +wondering always to what home and what future he brought her; she +knowing less than he and trusting more. And on the untended road that +the bowmen shared with stags and with rare, very venturous travellers, +the wheels of the woodland chariot sank so deep in the sandy earth that +the escort of bowmen needed seldom to run any more; and he who sat by +the driver climbed down and walked silent for once, perhaps awed by the +occasion, though he was none other than Morano. Serafina was delighted +with the forest, but between Rodriguez and its beautiful grandeur his +anxieties crowded thickly. He leaned over once from the chariot and +asked one of the bowmen again about that castle; but the bowman only +bowed and answered with a proverb of Spain, not easily carried so far +from its own soil to thrive in our language, but signifying that the +morrow showeth all things. He was silent then, for he knew that there +was no way to a direct answer through those proverbs, and after a while +perhaps there came to him some of Serafina's trustfulness. By evening +they came to a wide avenue leading to great gates. + +Rodriguez did not know the avenue, he knew no paths so wide in Shadow +Valley; but he knew those gates. They were the gates of iron that led +nowhere. But now an avenue went from them upon the other side, and +opened widely into a park dotted with clumps of trees. And the two +great iron shields, they too had changed with the changes that had +bewitched the forest, for their surfaces that had glowed so +unmistakably blank, side by side in the firelight, not many nights +before, blazoned now the armorial bearings of Rodriguez upon the one +and those of the house of Dawnlight upon the other. Through the opened +gates they entered the young park that seemed to wonder at its own +ancient trees, where wild deer drifted away from them like shadows +through the evening: for the bowmen had driven in deer for miles +through the forest. They passed a pool where water-lilies lay in +languid beauty for hundreds of summers, but as yet no flower peeped +into the water, for the pond was all hallowed newly. + +A clump of trees stood right ahead of their way; they passed round it; +and Castle Rodriguez came all at once into view. Serafina gasped +joyously. Rodriguez saw its towers, its turrets for archers, its +guarded windows deep in the mass of stone, its solemn row of +battlements, but he did not believe what he saw. He did not believe +that here at last was his castle, that here was his dream fulfilled and +his journey done. He expected to wake suddenly in the cold in some +lonely camp, he expected the Ebro to unfold its coils in the North and +to come and sweep it away. It was but another strayed hope, he thought, +taking the form of dream. But Castle Rodriguez still stood frowning +there, and none of its towers vanished, or changed as things change in +dreams; but the servants of the King of Shadow Valley opened the great +door, and Serafina and Rodriguez entered, and all the hundred bowmen +disappeared. + +Here we will leave them, and let these Chronicles end. For whoever +would tell more of Castle Rodriguez must wield one of those ponderous +pens that hangs on the study wall in the house of historians. Great +days in the story of Spain shone on those iron-barred windows, and +things were said in its banqueting chamber and planned in its inner +rooms that sometimes turned that story this way or that, as rocks turn +a young river. And as a traveller meets a mighty river at one of its +bends, and passes on his path, while the river sweeps on to its estuary +and the sea, so I leave the triumphs and troubles of that story which I +touched for one moment by the door of Castle Rodriguez. + +My concern is but with Rodriguez and Serafina and to tell that they +lived here in happiness; and to tell that the humble Morano found his +happiness too. For he became the magnificent steward of Castle +Rodriguez, the majordomo, and upon august occasions he wore as much red +plush as he had ever seen in his dreams, when he saw this very event, +sleeping by dying camp-fires. And he slept not upon straw but upon good +heaps of wolf-skins. But pining a little in the second year of his +somewhat lonely splendour, he married one of the maidens of the forest, +the child of a bowman that hunted boars with their king. And all the +green bowmen came and built him a house by the gates of the park, +whence he walked solemnly on proper occasions to wait upon his master. +Morano, good, faithful man, come forward for but a moment out of the +Golden Age and bow across all those centuries to the reader: say one +farewell to him in your Spanish tongue, though the sound of it be no +louder than the sound of shadows moving, and so back to the dim +splendour of the past, for the Senor or Senora shall hear your name no +more. + +For years Rodriguez lived a chieftain of the forest, owning the +overlordship of the King of Shadow Valley, whom he and Serafina would +entertain with all the magnificence of which their castle was capable +on such occasions as he appeared before the iron gates. They seldom saw +him. Sometimes they heard his horn as he went by. They heard his bowmen +follow. And all would pass and perhaps they would see none. But upon +occasions he came. He came to the christening of the eldest son of +Rodriguez and Serafina, for whom he was godfather. He came again to see +the boy shoot for the first time with a bow. And later he came to give +little presents, small treasures of the forest, to Rodriguez' +daughters; who treated him always, not as sole lord of that forest that +travellers dreaded, but as a friend of their very own that they had +found for themselves. He had his favourites among them and none quite +knew which they were. + +And one day he came in his old age to give Rodriguez a message. And he +spoke long and tenderly of the forest as though all its glades were +sacred. + +And soon after that day he died, and was buried with the mourning of +all his men in the deeps of Shadow Valley, where only Rodriguez and the +bowmen knew. And Rodriguez became, as the old king had commanded, the +ruler of Shadow Valley and all its faithful men. With them he hunted +and defended the forest, holding all its ways to be sacred, as the old +king had taught. It is told how Rodriguez ruled the forest well. + +And later he made a treaty with the Spanish King acknowledging him sole +Lord of Spain, including Shadow Valley, saving that certain right +should pertain to the foresters and should be theirs for ever. And +these rights are written on parchment and sealed with the seal of +Spain; and none may harm the forest without the bowmen's leave. + +Rodriguez was made Duke of Shadow Valley and a Magnifico of the first +degree; though little he went with other hidalgos to Court, but lived +with his family in Shadow Valley, travelling seldom beyond the +splendour of the forest farther than Lowlight. + +Thus he saw the glory of autumn turning the woods to fairyland: and +when the stags were roaring and winter coming on he would take a +boar-spear down from the wall and go hunting through the forest, whose +twigs were black and slender and still against the bright menace of +winter. Spring found him viewing the fields that his men had sown, +along the forest's edge, and finding in the chaunt of the myriad birds +a stirring of memories, a beckoning towards past days. In summer he +would see his boys and girls at play, running through shafts of +sunlight that made leaves and grass like pale emeralds. He gave his +days to the forest and the four seasons. Thus he dwelt amidst +splendours such as History has never seen in any visit of hers to the +courts of men. + +Of him and Serafina it has been written and sung that they lived +happily ever after; and though they are now so many centuries dead, may +they have in the memories of such of my readers as will let them linger +there, that afterglow of life that remembrance gives, which is all that +there is on earth for those that walked it once and that walk the paths +of their old haunts no more. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Don Rodriguez, by +Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Baron, Dunsany + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DON RODRIGUEZ *** + +***** This file should be named 4282.txt or 4282.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/8/4282/ + +Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. 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