d swept away raging and
foaming. And as he went he shouted, "Yet will I put thee to the worse,
and mar the Mill, and have the Maid!"'

Then Martimor cried, "Never while I live shalt thou mar the Mill or have
the Maid, thou foul, black, misbegotten churl!" So he returned to the
Mill, and there the damsel Lirette made him to understand that these
three churls were long time enemies of the Mill, and sought ever to
destroy it and to do despite to her and her father. One of them was
Ignis, and another was Ventus, and these were the twain that he had
smitten. But the third, that fled down the river (and he was ever the
fiercest and the most outrageous), his name was Flumen, for he dwelt in
the caves of the stream, and was the master of it before the Mill was
built.

"And now," wept the Maid, "he must have had his will with me and with
the Mill, but for God's mercy, thanked be our Lord Jesus!"

"Thank me too," said Mlartimor.

"So I do," said Lirette, and she kissed him. "Yet am I heavy at heart
and fearful, for my father is sorely mishandled and his arm is broken,
so that he cannot tend the Mill nor guard it. And Flumen is escaped;
surely he will harm us again. Now I know not, where I shall look for
help."

"Why not here?" said Martimor.

Then Lirette looked him in the face, smiling a little sorrily. "But thou
ridest in a quest," quoth she, "thou mayst not stay from thy adventures."

"A month," said he.

"Till my father be well?" said she.

"A month," said he.

"Till thou hast put Flumen to the worse?" said she.

"Right willingly would I have to do with that base, slippery knave
again," said he, "but more than a month I may not stay, for my quest
calls me and I must win worship of men or ever I become a knight."

So they bound up the miller's wounds and set the Mill in order. But
Martimor had much to do to learn the working of the Mill; and they were
busied with the grinding of wheat and rye and barley and divers kinds of
grain; and the millers hurts were mended every day; and at night there
was merry rest and good cheer; and Martimor talked with the Maid of
the great adventure that he must find; and thus the delay endured in
pleasant wise.

THE MILL

V

Yet More of the Mill, and of the Same Delay, also of the Maid

Now at the end of the third month, which was November, Martimor made
Lirette to understand that it was high time he should ride farther to
follow his quest. For the miller was now recover