n.

"and here are five more," added alleyne. "holy father, i hand

you twelve florins, which is all that we can give, though we well

know how poor a pay it is for the wondrous things which you sell

us."

"down, pride, down!" cried the pilgrim, still beating upon his

chest. "can i not bend myself then to take this sorry sum which

is offered me for that which has cost me the labors of a life.

give me the dross! here are the precious relics, and, oh, i pray

you that you will handle them softly and with reverence, else had

i rather left my unworthy bones here by the wayside."

with doffed caps and eager hands, the comrades took their new and

precious possessions, and pressed onwards upon their journey,

leaving the aged palmer still seated under the cherry-tree. they

rode in silence, each with his treasure in his hand, glancing at

it from time to time, and scarce able to believe that chance had

made them sole owners of relics of such holiness and worth that

every abbey and church in christendom would have bid eagerly for

their possession. so they journeyed, full of this good fortune,

until opposite the town of le mas, where john's horse cast a

shoe, and they were glad to find a wayside smith who might set

the matter to rights. to him aylward narrated the good hap which

had befallen them; but the smith, when his eyes lit upon the

relics, leaned up against his anvil and laughed, with his hand to

his side, until the tears hopped down his sooty cheeks.

"why, masters," quoth he, "this man is a coquillart, or seller of

false relics, and was here in the smithy not two hours ago. this

nail that he hath sold you was taken from my nail-box, and as to

the wood and the stones, you will see a heap of both outside from

which he hath filled his scrip."

"nay, nay," cried alleyne, "this was a holy man who had journeyed

to jerusalem, and acquired a dropsy by running from the house of

pilate to the mount of olives,"

"i know not about that," said the smith; "but i know that a man

with a gray palmer's hat and gown was here no very long time ago,

and that he sat on yonder stump and ate a cold pullet and drank a

flask of wine. then he begged from me one of my nails, and

filling his scrip with stones, he went upon his way. look at

these nails, and see if they are not the same as that which he

has sold you."

"now may god save us!" cried alleyne, all aghast. "is there no

end then to the wickedness of humankind? he so humble, so aged,

so loth to take our money--and yet a villain and a cheat. whom

can we trust or believe in?"

"i will after him," said aylward, flinging himself into the

saddle. "come, alleyne, we may catch him ere john's horse be

shod."

away they galloped together, and ere long they saw the old gray

palmer walking slowly along in front of them. he turned,

however, at the sound of their hoofs, and it was clear that his

blindness was a cheat like all the rest of him, for he ran

swiftly through a field and so into a wood, where none could

follow him. they hurled their relics after him, and so rode back

to the blacksmith's the poorer both in pocket and in faith.

chapter xxvii.

how rodger club-foot was passed into paradise.

it was evening before the three comrades came into aiguillon,

there they found sir nigel loring and ford safely lodged at the

sign of the "baton rouge," where they supped on good fare and

slept between lavender-scented sheets. it chanced, however, that

a knight of poitou, sir gaston d'estelle, was staying there on

his way back from lithuania, where he had served a term with the

teutonic knights under the land-master of the presbytery of

marienberg. he and sir nigel sat late in high converse as to

bushments, outfalls, and the intaking of cities, with many tales

of warlike men and valiant deeds. then their talk turned to

minstrelsy, and the stranger knight drew forth a cittern, upon

which he played the minne-lieder of the north, singing the while

in a high cracked voice of hildebrand and brunhild and siegfried,

and all the strength and beauty of the land of almain. to this

sir nigel answered with the romances of sir eglamour, and of sir

isumbras, and so through the long winter night they sat by the

crackling wood-fire answering each other's songs until the

crowing cocks joined in their concert. yet, with scarce an hour

of rest, sir nigel was as blithe and bright as ever as they set

forth after breakfast upon their way.

"this sir gaston is a very worthy man," said he to his squires as

they rode from the "baton rouge." "he hath a very strong desire

to advance himself, and would have entered upon some small

knightly debate with me, had he not chanced to have his arm-bone

broken by the kick of a horse. i have conceived a great love for

him, and i have promised him that when his bone is mended i wil