gentle tones what they would of them there.

"We have lost our way in these devilish Derby hills of thine, old man,"

replied Paul of Merely. "We seek the castle of Sir John de Stutevill."

"Ride down straight to the river road, keeping the first trail to the

right, and when thou hast come there, turn again to thy right and ride

north beside the river -- thou canst not miss the way -- it be plain as the

nose before thy face," and with that the old man turned to enter the

castle.

"Hold, old fellow !" cried the spokesman. "It be nigh onto sunset now, and

we care not to sleep out again this night as we did the last. We will

tarry with you then till morn that we may take up our journey refreshed,

upon rested steeds."

The old man grumbled, and it was with poor grace that he took them in to

feed and house them over night. But there was nothing else for it, since

they would have taken his hospitality by force had he refused to give it

voluntarily.

From their guests, the two learned something of the conditions outside

their Derby hills. The old man showed less interest than he felt, but to

the boy, notwithstanding that the names he heard meant nothing to him, it

was like unto a fairy tale to hear of the wondrous doings of earl and

baron, bishop and king.

"If the King does not mend his ways," said one of the knights, "we will

drive his whole accursed pack of foreign blood-suckers into the sea."

"De Montfort has told him as much a dozen times, and now that all of us,

both Norman and Saxon barons, have already met together and formed a pact

for our mutual protection, the King must surely realize that the time for

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