Gilpin observer., 1904-08-25
LORD, is it your wish that gst sAs

Lord, ID IL your wish that gSe No
horses?"
Yes; go bid them fetch the horses.
and we will have another day of blithe
wandering"
'Blithe they were, in truth. as they
cantered through shaded lanes and
daisied meadows, nothing too small to
be of interest or too slight to give
them pleasure. BY grassy commons
and rolling meadows sweet with clus-
tering haycocks, they came at last to
the crest of the hill that guarded the
eastern end of the dale. The whole
round sweep of the horizon lay about
them in an unbroken chain of ripen-
ing vineyards and rich timberland, of
grain-fields and laden orchards; not
one spot that did not make glorious
pledges to the harvest time. Drinking
its fairness with his eyes. the lord of
the manor sighed in full content.
When l see how fine a thing it is to
cause wealth to be where before was
nothing, l cannot understand how I
once thought to find my pleasure only
in destroying" he said. Next month.
when the barley beer is brewed, we
will have a harvest feast plentiful
enough to flesh even your bones, you
bodkin!"
The Danish page laughed az he
lodged the plaguing wand. ut is
true that you owe something to my
race, lord. He had great good sense,
the Wide-Fathomer, to stretch his
strips Of oxhide around this dale and
turn it into an odal."
NAY, now, it was Alfred who had
sense to take it away from him." the
Etheling teased.
But the boy shook back his long
tressss in airy defiance. Then will
Canute be foremost in wisdom, for
soon he will get it back, together with
all England. Remember who got the
victory last week at Brentford, lord"
In the midst Of his exulting. cloud
came over the young Englishman's
smile. 81 would knew the truth con-
cerning that" he said slowly. "The
man who passes to-day says one
thing; whose comes tomorrow tells
another story. Yet since Canute is
once more free to beset London"
He did not finish. and for a while 1t
appeared as though he did not see the
sunlit fields his eyes were resting on.
But suddenly the boy broke in upon
him with burst of stifled laughter.
Look. lord! In yonder field, behind
the third haycock!"
The moment that he had complied,
laughter banished the Etheling's
meditations. Cozily ensconced in the
soft side of haycock was Father In
gulph. a couple of jovial harvesters
sprawled beside him, fat skin of
ale in his hands on its way to his
mouth.
But l will make him squirm for
that!" the Etheling vowed. II will
tell him that your paganism has made
spells over me so that l cannot tell
a holy relique from an ale-skin;. and
bedridden woman looks to me like
two strapping yeomen. will. l swear
it,"
But presently Sebert's remarks be-
gan to take a new tone. by Saint
Swithin. lad. think they have more
sense than we, that linger a half
hours ride from food with a noon
day sun standing in the sky! 1t is
borne in upon me that l am starving"
Backing his horse out of the brush,
he was putting him about in great
haste, when the boy leaped in his stir
rups and clapped his hands.
Lord, we need not be a half hour
from food, Yonder. across the stub
BILE, is farmhouse. If you would con-
sent that l might use your name, then
would I ride thither and get their
best, and serve it to you here in the
elves own feast-hall."
The answer was slap on the
green shoulders that nearly tumbled
their owner from the saddle. Now,
I was right to call you elf. for you
have more than human cleverness!"
the Etheling cried gayly. do so. by
all means, dear lad; and / promise in
return that will tell every puffed-up
dolt at home that you are the blithest
comrade who ever fitted himself to
mans moods. There. if that contents
You. give wings to your heels!"
(To be continued.)