arly
the horse-hoofs drawing nigh, till they came very nigh, and then
stopped.

Then came a man's voice that said: "Is there a man anigh in the wood?"

Ralph held his peace till he should know more; and the voice spake
again in a little while: "If there be a man anigh let him be sure that
I will do him no hurt; nay, I may do him good, for I have meat with
me." Clear was the voice, and as sweet as the April blackbird sings.
It spake again: "Naught answereth, yet meseemeth I know surely that a
man is anigh; and I am aweary of the waste, and long for fellowship."

Ralph hearkened, and called to mind tales of way-farers entrapped by
wood-wives and evil things; but he thought: "At least this is no
sending of the Lord of Utterbol, and, St. Nicholas to aid, I have
little fear of wood-wights. Withal I shall be but a dastard if I answer
not one man, for fear of I know not what." So he spake in a loud and
cheerful voice: "Yea, there is a man anigh, and I desire thy
fellowship, if we might but meet. But how shall we see each other in
the blackness of the wildwood night?"

The other laughed, and the laugh sounded merry and sweet, and the voice
said: "Hast thou no flint and fire-steel?" "No," said Ralph. "But I
have," said the voice, "and I am fain to see thee, for thy voice
soundeth pleasant to me. Abide till I grope about for a stick or two."

Ralph laughed in turn, as he heard the new-comer moving about; then he
heard the click of the steel on the flint, and saw the sparks showering
down, so that a little piece of the wood grew green again to his eyes.
Then a little clear flame sprang up, and therewith he saw the
tree-stems clearly, and some twenty yards from him a horse, and a man
stooping down over the fire, who sprang up now and cried out: "It is a
knight-at-arms! Come hither, fellow of the waste; it is five days since
I have spoken to a child of Adam; so come nigh and speak to me, and as
a reward of thy speech thou shalt have both meat and firelight."

"That will be well paid," said Ralph laughing, and he stepped forward
leading his horse, for now the wood was light all about, as the fire
waxed and burned clear; so that Ralph could see that the new-comer was
clad in quaintly-fashioned armour after the fashion of that land, with
a bright steel sallet on the head, and a long green surcoat over the
body armour. Slender of make was the new-comer, not big nor tall of
stature.

Ralph went up to him hastily, and mer