'This road is closed!' he said, and added: 'All the roads are closed!'"
"And then?"
"I argued with him a little. 'They are public roads!'" I said.
"'That's it,' said he. 'You spoil them for the public.'
"'Very well,' said I, 'I'll take the fields,' and then up leapt others from behind a hedge and said, 'These fields are private.'
"'Curse your public and private,' I said, 'I'm going to my Princess,' and I stooped down and picked him up very gently—kicking and shouting—and put him out of my way. In a minute all the fields about me seemed alive with running men. I saw one on horseback galloping beside me and reading something as he rode—shouting it. He finished and turned and galloped away from me—head down. I couldn't make it out. And then behind me I heard the crack of guns."
"Guns!"
"Guns—just as they shoot at the rats. The bullets came through the air with a sound like things tearing: one stung me in the leg."
"And you?"
"Came on to you here and left them shouting and running and shooting behind me. And now———"
"Now?"
"It is only the beginning. They mean that we shall part. Even now they are coming after me."
"We will not."
"No. But if we are not to part—then you must come with me to our Brothers."
244
