silent figures look to the brave squire for i fear that he will never see the rise again chapter of thb to it was a bright july after thai fatal fight in the spanish a heaven a green rolling plain below with and with sheep the sun was yet low in the heaven and the red cows stood in the long shadow of the elms the and gazing with great vacant eyes at two who were it down the long white road which dipped and curved away back to where the towers and beneath the flat hill marked the old town of of the one was young graceful and fair clad in plain and of blue doth which served to show his active and well knit figure a velvet cap was drawn forward to keep the glare from his eyes and he rode with lips compressed and anxious face as one who has much care upon his mind as he was and peaceful as was his dress the dainty golden spurs which upon his heels proclaimed his while a long upon his brow and a upon his temple gave a manly grace to bis refined and delicate countenance his comrade was a large red headed man upon a great black horse with a huge canvas bag from his which and with every movement of his his broad brown face was lighted up by a continual smile and he looked slowly from side to side with eyes which and shone with delight well might john rejoice for was he not back in his native had he not don s five thousand crowns against his knee and s all was he himself s ss now to sir the young of lately by the sword of the black prince himself and esteemed by the whole army as one of the most rising of the soldiers of england for the last stand of the company had been told throughout wherever a brave deed of arms was loved and honors had flowed in upon the few who had survived it for two months had wavered death and life with a broken and a shattered head yet youth and strength and a life were all his side and he awoke from his long delirium to find that the war was over that the and their had been crushed at and that the prince had himself heard the tale of his ride for and had come in person to his bedside to touch his shoulder with his sword and to that so brave and true a man should die if he could not live in the order of chivalry the instant that he could set foot to ground had started in search of his lord but no word could he hear of bim dead or alive and he had come home now sad hearted in the hope of raising money upon his estates and so start ing upon his quest once more landing at london he had hurried on with a mind full of care for he had heard no word from since the note which had announced bis brother s death by the cried john looking around him where have we seen since we left such noble cows such sheep grass so green or a man so drunk as yonder rogue who lies in the gap of the hedge ah john answered wearily it is well for you but i never thought that my home coming would be so a one my heart is heavy for my dear lord and for and i know not how i may break the news to the lady mary and to the lady if they have not yet ba of it john gave a groan which made the horses shy it is indeed a black business said he but be not sad for i sh l give half these crowns to my old mother and half m will i add to the money yoa have and so we shall buy that yellow wherein we sailed to and in it we shall go forth and seek sir smiled but shook his head were he alive we have had word of him ere now but what is this town before us why it is cried john see the tower of the old gray church and the long stretch of the but here sits a very holy man and i shall give him a crown for his prayers three large stones formed a rough cot by the roadside and beside it in the sun sat the with clay colored face dull eyes and long withered hands with crossed ankles and sunken head he sat as though all his life had passed out of him with the beads slipping slowly through his thin yellow fingers behind him lay the narrow cell clay and damp and sordid beyond it there lay amid the trees the and hut of a the door open and the single room exposed to the view the man ruddy and yellow haired stood leaning upon the wherewith he had been at work upon the garden patch from behind him came the ripple of a happy woman s laughter and two young darted forth from the hut bare legged and while the mother stepping out laid her hand upon her husband s arm and watched the of the children the frowned at the noise which broke upon his prayers but his brow relaxed as be looked upon the broad silver piece which john held out to him there lies the image of our past and of our future cried as they rode on upon their way now which is better to till god s earth to have happy faces round one s knee and to and be loved or to sit forever moaning over one s own soul like a mother over a sick babe i know not about that said john for it casts a great cloud over me when i 