Four of my lazy varlets strove this day to
carry it hence. I would that you two could put them to shame by
budging it, though I fear that I overtask you, for it is of a
grievous weight."
He pointed as he spoke to a huge rough-hewn block which lay by
the roadside, deep sunken from its own weight in the reddish
earth. The archer approached it, rolling back the sleeves of his
jerkin, but with no very hopeful countenance, for indeed it was a
mighty rock. John, however, put him aside with his left hand,
and, stooping over the stone, he plucked it single-handed from
its soft bed and swung it far into the stream. There it fell
with mighty splash, one jagged end peaking out above the surface,
while the waters bubbled and foamed with far-circling eddy.
"Good lack!" cried Sir Nigel, and "Good lack!" cried his lady,
while John stood laughing and wiping the caked dirt from his
fingers.
"I have felt his arms round my ribs," said the bowman, "and they
crackle yet at the thought of it. This other comrade of mine is
a right learned clerk, for all that he is so young, hight
Alleyne, the son of Edric, brother to the Socman of Minstead.
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