the corn._

"_Oh! merry to stoop over chasing hounds,
As they speed through field and wood,
When their bristles rise, and with flaming eyes
They yell for blood, for blood._

"_And merry to croak at the hunted fox,
When his brush trails draggling down,
And his strength is spent, and his back is bent,
And his tongue lolls parched and brown._

"_But merriest far to wheel o'er the fight
Of the blue coats and the red,
'Till the fire has ceased, and we swoop to the feast
Which the strife of men has spread._"

Dick's last vision before he fell asleep was of her strange figure bent
forward and watching, but he was a little startled when he woke in the
morning and remembered where he was; for he was not accustomed to sleep
in his clothes, still less in such a coat as the yellow one with the
red facings, which he found upon his back. Elsie also was much
astonished; and the sight of Dick in so strange a garment half
frightened her for a moment. But the old woman was so kind and gentle
that they were reassured, particularly when she told them that in a
very few hours she hoped they would be at home. There was indeed some
difficulty about washing, for there was no such thing as jug or basin
in the house; and, as to tubs, you would not have found them in those
days in any country-house in England. The woman told Dick that all her
own washing was done in the stream, so Dick went out to wash his face
in it; but the mist still hung thick over the moor, the air was sharp
and cold and the water colder still; so that both he and Elsie were
satisfied with very little washing. When they went back, they found
that the old woman had set the two stools close to the fire for them
and was making the porridge; so they breakfasted off porridge and
trout, as they had supped on them the day before; and then the old
woman gave Dick his own jacket and asked him to take off the yellow
one. Dick was a little reluctant to part with it, and asked what it
was and where it came from; but she only answered that it was a long
story. He followed it with his eyes to see the last of it as she
folded it up and put it away, and she smiled rather sadly as she saw
him. "I can't a let you have it yet, my dear," she said, guessing his
thoughts, "and maybe when I can spare it for 'ee you won't care for to
take it. But if ever it goes from me it shall go to you, that I
promise 'ee, if so be as I can get it to 'ee."