doeth well in fellowship, and because of
fellowship, shall not fail though he seem to fail to-day, but in days
hereafter shall he and his work yet be alive, and men be holpen by them
to strive again and yet again; and yet indeed even that was little,
since, forsooth, to strive was my pleasure and my life.

"So I became a man once more, and I rose up to my feet and went up and
down my prison what I could for my hopples, and into my mouth came
words of good cheer, even such as we to-day have sung, and stoutly I
sang them, even as we now have sung them; and then did I rest me, and
once more thought of those pleasant fields where I would be, and all
the life of man and beast about them, and I said to myself that I
should see them once more before I died, if but once it were.

"Forsooth, this was strange, that whereas before I longed for them and
yet saw them not, now that my longing was slaked my vision was cleared,
and I saw them as though the prison walls opened to me and I was out of
Canterbury street and amidst the green meadows of April; and
therewithal along with me folk that I have known and who are dead, and
folk that are living; yea, and all those of the Fellowship on earth and
in heaven; yea, and all that are here this day. Overlong were the tale
to tell of them, and of the time that is gone.

"So thenceforward I wore through the days with no such faint heart,
until one day the prison opened verily and in the daylight, and there
were ye, my fellows, in the door--your faces glad, your hearts light
with hope, and your hands heavy with wrath; then I saw and understood
what was to do. Now, therefore, do ye understand it!"

His voice was changed, and grew louder than loud now, as he cast his
hands abroad towards that company with those last words of his; and I
could feel that all shame and fear was falling from those men, and that
mere fiery manhood was shining through their wonted English shamefast
stubbornness, and that they were moved indeed and saw the road before
them. Yet no man spoke, rather the silence of the men-folk deepened,
as the sun's rays grew more level and more golden, and the swifts
wheeled about shriller and louder than before.

Then again John Ball spoke and said, "In good sooth, I deem ye wot no
worse than I do what is to do--and first that somewhat we shall do--
since it is for him that is lonely or in prison to dream of fellowship,
but for him that is of a fellowship to do and not to drea