try walling up and down
before the door. And it goes under bridges with stone men upon them,
looking down and smiling so curious it the water, and living folks
leaning their elbows on the wall and looking over too. And then it goes
on and on, and down through marshes and sands, until at last it falls
into the sea, where the ships are that bring parrots and tobacco from the
Indies. Ay, it has a long trot before it as it goes singing over our
weir, bless its heart!'

'And what is the sea?' asked Will.

'The sea!' cried the miller. 'Lord help us all, it is the greatest thing
God made! That is where all the water in the world runs down into a
great salt lake. There it lies, as flat as my hand and as innocent-like
as a child; but they do say when the wind blows it gets up into water-
mountains bigger than any of ours, and swallows down great ships bigger
than our mill, and makes such a roaring that you can hear it miles away
upon the land. There are great fish in it five times bigger than a bull,
and one old serpent as lone as our river and as old as all the world,
with whiskers like a man, and a crown of silver on her head.'

Will thought he had never heard anything like this, and he kept on asking
question after question about the world that lay away down the river,
with all its perils and marvels, until the old miller became quite
interested himself, and at last took him by the hand and led him to the
hilltop that overlooks the valley and the plain. The sun was near
setting, and hung low down in a cloudless sky. Everything was defined
and glorified in golden light. Will had never seen so great an expanse
of country in his life; he stood and gazed with all his eyes. He could
see the cities, and the woods and fields, and the bright curves of the
river, and far away to where the rim of the plain trenched along the
shining heavens. An over-mastering emotion seized upon the boy, soul and
body; his heart beat so thickly that he could not breathe; the scene swam
before his eyes; the sun seemed to wheel round and round, and throw off,
as it turned, strange shapes which disappeared with the rapidity of
thought, and were succeeded by others. Will covered his face with his
hands, and burst into a violent fit of tears; and the poor miller, sadly
disappointed and perplexed, saw nothing better for it than to take him up
in his arms and carry him home in silence.

From that day forward Will was full of new hopes and long