th and said, 'I am beat, and can carry thee no farther for this
present, though there is not now much farther to go. We have passed
Purbeck Gates, and these walls will screen us from prying eyes if any
chance comer pass along the down. And as for the soldiers, they are not
like to come this way so soon, and if they come I cannot help it; for
weariness and the sun's heat have made my feet like lead. A score of
years ago I would have laughed at such a task, but now 'tis different,
and I must take a little sleep and rest till the air is cooler. So sit
thee here and lean thy shoulder up against the wall, and thus thou canst
look through this broken place and watch both ways. Then, if thou see
aught moving, wake me up.--I wish I had a thimbleful of powder to make
this whistle sound'--and he took Maskew's silver-butted pistol again from
his bosom, and handled it lovingly,--'tis like my evil luck to carry
fire-arms thirty years, and leave them at home at a pinch like this.'
With that he flung himself down where there was a narrow shadow close
against the bottom of the wall, and in a minute I knew from his heavy
breathing that he was asleep.

The wind had freshened much, and was blowing strong from the west; and
now that I was under the lee of the wall I began to perceive that
drowsiness creeping upon me which overtakes a man who has been tousled
for an hour or two by the wind, and gets at length into shelter.
Moreover, though I was not tired by grievous toil like Elzevir, I had
passed a night without sleep, and felt besides the weariness of pain to
lull me to slumber. So it was, that before a quarter of an hour was past,
I had much ado to keep awake, for all I knew that I was left on guard.
Then I sought something to fix my thoughts, and looking on that side of
the wall where the sward was, fell to counting the mole-hills that were
cast up in numbers thereabout. And when I had exhausted them, and
reckoned up thirty little heaps of dry and powdery brown earth, that lay
at random on the green turf, I turned my eyes to the tillage field on the
other side of the wall, and saw the inch-high blades of corn coming up
between the stones. Then I fell to counting the blades, feeling glad to
have discovered a reckoning that would not be exhausted at thirty, but
would go on for millions, and millions, and millions; and before I had
reached ten in so heroic a numeration was fast asleep.

A sharp noise woke me with a start that set the pain