s in front, and their
wagons behind, and they say they will find a land nearer the sun, and to
this land are they coming."

And the old King smiled; and he said to those that were left of the
hundred brave men who took the cross with him, "Now we will see if our
boys could have fought at Godfrey's side. For us it matters little. One
way or another way we shall come nearer to God."

And the armorers mended the old armor, and the young men girded on
swords which had never been tried in fight, and the pennons that they
bore were embroidered by their sweethearts and sisters as in the old
days of the Crusades, and with the same device of a sky-lark in
mid-heaven, and the motto, "Nearer, my God, to Thee."

And there came from the great Cathedral the wise men who had come from
all the lands. They found the King, and they said to him, "Your Grace,
we know how to build the new defences for the land, and we will guard
the river ways, that the barbarians shall never enter them."

And when the people knew that the Red Russians were on the way, they met
in the square and marched to the palace, and Robert the Smith mounted
the steps of the palace and called the King. And he said, "The people
are here to bid the King be of good heart. The people bid me say that
they will die for their King and for his land."

And the King took from his wife's neck the blue ribbon that she wore,
with a golden sky-lark on it, and bound it round the blacksmith's arm,
and he said, "If I die, it is nothing; if I live, it is nothing; that is
in God's hand. But whether we live or die, let us draw as near Him as we
may."

And the Blacksmith Robert turned to the people, and with his loud voice,
told what the King had said.

And the people answered in the shout which the Hungarians shout to this
day, "Let us die for our king! Let us die for our king!"

And the King called the Queen hastily, and they and their children led
the host to the great Cathedral.

And the old priest Stephen, who was ninety years old, stood at the
altar, and he read the gospel where it says, "Fear not, little flock, it
is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

And he read the other gospel where the Lord says, "And I, if I be lifted
up, will draw all men unto me." And he read the epistle where it says,
"No man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself." And he chanted
the psalm, "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer."

And fifty thousand men