n silk as well as in mail or in homespun. The voices and faces of
fair women make music and beauty for our ears and our eyes; we love the
harp and the lute as well as the mavis and throstle in the hedgerow,
and we pore as diligently over a sonnet as thou dost over a sea chart."

"And that to me is a strange thing," replied Drake musingly.
"Sometimes thou and I are so close in touch as to be almost one; yet,
again, we find ourselves a world's space asunder: our thoughts oft run
in couples like hounds, and 'tis because of such times that I love thee
as a very dear brother."

Raleigh laid his hand affectionately on the admiral's shoulder. "Thou,
Frank, art a man of action ever and always. When the battle is in my
blood I can fight on land and sea as whole-heartedly as thou, and cry
out that only such days are worth the living. Yet I am by nature a
dreamer of dreams and a weaver of fancies. The soft, the still, the
beautiful in the world and humankind, attract me. I would have
seclusion rather than bustle and turmoil, the pen rather than the
sword, the sweet whispers from a woman's lips and not the shouts of
warriors. Thou dost not understand me, but I understand thee, and love
thee for thy simplicity and directness. Thou art a better man than I,
Frank, and the world will honour thee more than me. But let us quit
this self-analysis. How art thou faring in thy mission to prevent the
destruction of the forest?"

"Slowly. The forest is one vast hiding-place, and I have to deal with
men who are very serpents for cunning. The leader is a Spanish priest
masquerading as a gentleman, and he hath with him some of a like sort.
They are for ever popping up in fresh places, but it is not easy to
tell them one from another. There may be a dozen of them, or only two."

"The lesser number is the more likely. The more in a plot, the greater
the danger of failure."

"So I have thought, and I put down their many appearances to the
expedition with which they move. At present they can only plan
mischief. There is little woody undergrowth, and the bracken is at its
greenest. Ere long, however, the foresters and miners will begin the
yearly cutting and drying of the bracken, which they take away and
stack for the winter as bedding for themselves and their cattle. Then
the danger is great indeed, and the firing of the forest an easy matter
to a number of determined men skilfully posted."

"Have the conspirators many adhere