"Here is to thee, lad, and may we be good comrades to
each other! But, hola! what is it that ails our friend of the
wrathful face?"
The unfortunate limner had been sitting up rubbing himself
ruefully and staring about with a vacant gaze, which showed that
he knew neither where he was nor what had occurred to him.
Suddenly, however, a flash of intelligence had come over his
sodden features, and he rose and staggered for the door. "'Ware
the ale!" he said in a hoarse whisper, shaking a warning finger
at the company. "Oh, holy Virgin, 'ware the ale!" and slapping
his hands to his injury, he flitted off into the darkness, amid a
shout of laughter, in which the vanquished joined as merrily as
the victor. The remaining forester and the two laborers were
also ready for the road, and the rest of the company turned to
the blankets which Dame Eliza and the maid had laid out for them
upon the floor. Alleyne, weary with the unwonted excitements of
the day, was soon in a deep slumber broken only by fleeting
visions of twittering legs, cursing beggars, black robbers, and
the many strange folk whom he had met at the "Pied Merlin.
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