the bridge, who had been very busy about the dark
object, struck a match.

"Whatever is it?" said the old man, much puzzled. "It looks like huge
wax candles."

They went nearer to examine it more closely.

"It looks like a frame for drying fishes," said the old woman, who had
been born on the coast.

Ratsh! It-sh! Si-si-si-si! it said, and the old people were instantly
surrounded by fire and flames.

Great fiery globes rose up to the skies and, bursting, lit up the night
with a shower of stars; an astronomer, observing the heavens with a
telescope, might have come to the conclusion that new stars had been
born. And he would not have been altogether wrong, for in the year
1880 new thoughts were kindled in new hearts, and new light and new
discoveries vouchsafed to mankind. Doubtless, there were weeds, too,
growing up together with the splendid wheat; but weeds have their uses,
also; shade and moisture depend on their presence, and they will be
separated from the wheat at harvest time. But there must be weeds, they
are as inseparable from wheat as chaff is from corn.

What had puzzled the old couple, however, was a rocket frame, and when
all the smoke had cleared away--for there is no fire without smoke--not
a trace of all the magnificence was left.

"It would have been jolly to have been in town with them to-night," said
the old woman.

"Oh, no!" replied the man. "We should have been in the way, poor people
like we ought never to push themselves to the front. And there's plenty
of time to-morrow for seeing the boy, after he has left his sweetheart,
who is dearer to him than we are."

It was a very sensible speech for the old man to make; but who in the
world is to have sense, if old people have not?

And then they continued their way to the town.

***

Now, let us see what happened to the son.

He was the leadsman, that is to say, it was his business to sound the
depths of the sea; he had plumbed the profound abysses of the ocean,
calculated the elevation of the land and the apparent motion of the sky;
he knew the exact time by looking at the sun, and he could tell from
the stars how far they had travelled. He was a man of importance; he
believed that he held heaven and earth in his hand, measured time and
regulated the clock of eternity. And after he had been the king's guest
and received an order to wear on his breast, he fancied that he was made
of finer stuff than most men; he was not exactly haught