for this time, but take service with
the lord abbot, and be one of his men of war; thou may'st then become
his captain if thou shouldest live; which would be no bad adventure for
one who cometh from Upmeads."

Ralph looked no brighter for this word, and he answered nought to it:
but said presently:

"And what is to be looked for beyond Higham if one goeth further? Dost
thou know the land any further?"

The carle smiled: "Yea forsooth, and down to the Wood Perilous, and
beyond it, and the lands beyond the Wood; and far away through them. I
say not that I have been to the Dry Tree; but I have spoken to one who
hath heard of him who hath seen it; though he might not come by a
draught of the Well at the World's End."

Ralph's eyes flashed, and his cheeks reddened as he listened hereto;
but he spake quietly:

"Master Clement, how far dost thou make it to Higham-on-the-Way?"

"A matter of forty miles," said the Chapman; "because, as thou wottest,
if ye ride south from hence, ye shall presently bring your nose up
against the big downs, and must needs climb them at once; and when ye
are at the top of Bear Hill, and look south away ye shall see nought
but downs on downs with never a road to call a road, and never a
castle, or church, or homestead: nought but some shepherd's hut; or at
the most the little house of a holy man with a little chapel thereby in
some swelly of the chalk, where the water hath trickled into a pool;
for otherwise the place is waterless." Therewith he took a long pull at
the tankard by his side, and went on:

"Higham is beyond all that, and out into the fertile plain; and a
little river hight Coldlake windeth about the meadows there; and it is
a fair land; though look you the wool of the downs is good, good, good!
I have foison of this year's fleeces with me. Ye shall raise none such
in Upmeads."

Ralph sat silent a little, as if pondering, and then he started up and
said: "Good master Clement, we have eaten thy meat and thank thee for
that and other matters. Wilt thou now be kinder, and bid thy boy bring
round Falcon our horse; for we have far to go, and must begone
straight-away."

"Yea, lord," said Clement, "even so will I do." And he muttered under
his breath; "Thou talkest big, my lad, with thy 'we'; but thou art
pressed lest Nicholas be here presently to fetch thee back; and to say
sooth I would his hand were on thy shoulder even now."

Then he spake aloud again, and said:

"I