"'Take back your sword; and, when you have thoroughly cleansed it and
wiped it of the blood and mire, then raise it to set free the oppressed
of other climes.

"'Great Prince's Daughter, take heed! You put your sword into the hands
of recreant knights; they will dull its edge and mar its brightness,
and, when your hour of need comes and you would put it into other hands,
you will find its edge chipped and its point broken. Take heed! Take
heed!'

"Cry to the wise men of England: 'You, who in peace and calm in
shaded chambers ponder on all things in heaven and earth, and take all
knowledge for your province, have you no time to think of this? To whom
has England given her power? How do the men wield it who have filched it
from her? Say not, What have we to do with folk across the waters; have
we not matter enough for thought in our own land? Where the brain of
a nation has no time to go, there should its hands never be sent to
labour: where the power of a people goes, there must its intellect and
knowledge go, to guide it. Oh, you who sit at ease, studying past and
future--and forget the present--you have no right to sit at ease knowing
nothing of the working of the powers you have armed and sent to work on
men afar. Where is your nation's sword--you men of thought?'

"Cry to the women of England: 'You, who repose in sumptuous houses, with
children on your knees; think not it is only the rustling of the soft
draped curtains, or the whistling of the wind, you hear. Listen! May it
not be the far off cry of those your sword governs, creeping towards
you across wide oceans till it pierces even into your inmost sanctuary?
Listen!

"For the womanhood of a dominant people has not accomplished all its
labour when it has borne its children and fed them at its breast: there
cries to it also from over seas and across continents the voice of the
child-peoples--'Mother-heart, stand for us!' It would be better for you
that your wombs should be barren and that your race should die out; than
that you should listen, and give no answer.'"

The stranger lifted his hands upwards as he spoke, and Peter saw there
were the marks of old wounds in both.

"Cry aloud to the working men and women of England: 'You, who for ages
cried out because the heel of your masters was heavy on you; and who
have said, 'We curse the kings that sit at ease, and care not who
oppresses the folk, so their coffers be full and their bellies
satisfied, and the