Puck of Pook's Hill Part 21

'"Give me three years' peace on the Wall," cried Maximus, "and I will show you and all the ravens how they lie!"

'"Ah, I wish it too! I wish to save what is left of the corn from the millstones. But you shoot us Picts when we come to borrow a little iron from the Iron Ditch; you burn our heather, which is all our crop; you trouble us with your great catapults. Then you hide behind the Wall, and scorch us with Greek fire. How can I keep my young men from listening to the Winged Hats-in winter especially, when we are hungry? My young men will say, 'Rome can neither fight nor rule. She is taking her men out of Britain. The Winged Hats will help us to push down the Wall. Let us show them the secret roads across the bogs.' Do _I_ want that? No!" He spat like an adder. "_I_ would keep the secrets of my people though I were burned alive. My two children here have spoken truth. Leave us Picts alone. Comfort us, and cherish us, and feed us from far off-with the hand behind your back. Parnesius understands us. Let _him_ have rule on the Wall, and I will hold my young men quiet for"-he ticked it off on his fingers-"one year easily: the next year not so easily: the third year, perhaps! See, I give you three years. If then you do not show us that Rome is strong in men and terrible in arms, the Winged Hats, I tell you, will sweep down the Wall from either sea till they meet in the middle, and you will go. _I_ shall not grieve over that, but well I know tribe never helps tribe except for one price. We Picts will go too. The Winged Hats will grind us to this!" He tossed a handful of dust in the air.

'"Oh, Roma Dea!" said Maximus, half aloud. "It is always one man's work-always and everywhere!"

'"And one man's life," said Allo. "You are Emperor, but not a G.o.d. You may die."

'"I have thought of that, too," said he. "Very good. If this wind holds, I shall be at the East end of the Wall by morning. To-morrow, then, I shall see you two when I inspect; and I will make you Captains of the Wall for this work."

'"One instant, Caesar," said Pertinax. "All men have their price. I am not bought yet."

'"Do _you_ also begin to bargain so early?" said Maximus. "Well?"

'"Give me justice against my uncle Icenus, the Duumvir of Divio in Gaul,"

he said.

'"Only a life? I thought it would be money or an office. Certainly you shall have him. Write his name on these tablets-on the red side; the other is for the living!" And Maximus held out his tablets.

'"He is of no use to me dead," said Pertinax. "My mother is a widow. I am far off. I am not sure he pays her all her dowry."

'"No matter. My arm is reasonably long. We will look through your uncle's accounts in due time. Now, farewell till to-morrow, O Captains of the Wall!"

'We saw him grow small across the heather as he walked to the galley.

There were Picts, scores, each side of him, hidden behind stones. He never looked left or right. He sailed away Southerly, full spread before the evening breeze, and when we had watched him out to sea, we were silent. We understood Earth bred few men like to this man.

'Presently Allo brought the ponies and held them for us to mount-a thing he had never done before.

'"Wait awhile," said Pertinax, and he made a little altar of cut turf, and strewed heather-bloom atop, and laid upon it a letter from a girl in Gaul.

'"What do you do, O my friend?" I said.

'"I sacrifice to my dead youth," he answered, and, when the flames had consumed the letter, he ground them out with his heel. Then we rode back to that Wall of which we were to be Captains.'

Parnesius stopped. The children sat still, not even asking if that were all the tale. Puck beckoned, and pointed the way out of the wood. 'Sorry,'

he whispered, 'but you must go now.'

'We haven't made him angry, have we?' said Una. 'He looks so far off, and-and-thinky.'

'Bless your heart, no. Wait till to-morrow. It won't be long. Remember, you've been playing "_Lays of Ancient Rome_."'

And as soon as they had scrambled through their gap, where Oak, Ash and Thorn grow, that was all they remembered.

A SONG TO MITHRAS

_Mithras, G.o.d of the Morning, our trumpets waken the Wall!_ _'Rome is above the Nations, but Thou art over all!'_ _Now as the names are answered and the guards are marched away,_ _Mithras, also a soldier, give us strength for the day!_

_Mithras, G.o.d of the Noontide, the heather swims in the heat,_ _Our helmets scorch our foreheads; our sandals burn our feet!_ _Now in the ungirt hour; now ere we blink and drowse,_ _Mithras, also a soldier, keep us true to our vows!_

_Mithras, G.o.d of the Sunset, low on the Western main,_ _Thou descending immortal, immortal to rise again!_ _Now when the watch is ended, now when the wine is drawn,_ _Mithras, also a soldier, keep us pure till the dawn!_

_Mithras, G.o.d of the Midnight, here where the great bull lies,_ _Look on thy children in darkness. Oh take our sacrifice!_ _Many roads Thou hast fas.h.i.+oned: all of them lead to the Light,_ _Mithras, also a soldier, teach us to die aright!_

THE WINGED HATS

THE WINGED HATS

The next day happened to be what they called a Wild Afternoon. Father and Mother went out to pay calls; Miss Blake went for a ride on her bicycle, and they were left all alone till eight o'clock.

When they had seen their dear parents and their dear preceptress politely off the premises they got a cabbage-leaf full of raspberries from the gardener, and a Wild Tea from Ellen. They ate the raspberries to prevent their squas.h.i.+ng, and they meant to divide the cabbage-leaf with Three Cows down at the Theatre, but they came across a dead hedgehog which they simply _had_ to bury, and the leaf was too useful to waste.

Then they went on to the Forge and found old Hobden the hedger at home with his son the Bee Boy who is not quite right in his head, but who can pick up swarms of bees in his naked hands; and the Bee Boy told them the rhyme about the slow-worm:-

'If I had eyes _as_ I could see, No mortal man would trouble me.'

They all had tea together by the hives, and Hobden said the loaf-cake which Ellen had given them was almost as good as what his wife used to make, and he showed them how to set a wire at the right height for hares.

They knew about rabbits already.

Then they climbed up Long Ditch into the lower end of Far Wood. This is sadder and darker than the 'Volaterrae' end because of an old marlpit full of black water, where weepy, hairy moss hangs round the stumps of the willows and alders. But the birds come to perch on the dead branches, and Hobden says that the bitter willow-water is a sort of medicine for sick animals.

They sat down on a felled oak-trunk in the shadows of the beech undergrowth, and were looping the wires Hobden had given them, when they saw Parnesius.

'How quietly you came!' said Una, moving up to make room. 'Where's Puck?'

'The Faun and I have disputed whether it is better that I should tell you all my tale, or leave it untold,' he replied.

'I only said that if he told it as it happened you wouldn't understand it,' said Puck, jumping up like a squirrel from behind the log.

'I don't understand all of it,' said Una, 'but I like hearing about the little Picts.'

'What _I_ can't understand,' said Dan, 'is how Maximus knew all about the Picts when he was over in Gaul.'

'He who makes himself Emperor anywhere must know everything, everywhere,'

said Parnesius. 'We had this much from Maximus' mouth after the Games.'

'Games? What games?' said Dan.

Parnesius stretched his arm out stiffly, thumb pointed to the ground.