re spake tall Orson, methinks!"

"Aye," cried another voice, loud and defiant, "and we be no soldiers,
master, to march 'gainst walled cities; look'ee. Foresters are we, to
live secure and free within the merry greenwood. Is't not so, good
fellows?"

"And there spake Jenkyn o' the Ford!" quoth Beltane. "Stand forth
Orson, and Jenkyn with thee--so. Now hearken again. Within Belsaye men
--aye, and women too! have endured the torment, Orson. To-day, at
sundown, a noble man doth burn, Jenkyn."

"Why, look'ee, master," spake Jenkyn, bold-voiced yet blenching from
Beltane's unswerving gaze, "look'ee, good master, here is no matter for
honest woodsmen, look'ee--"

"Aye," nodded tall Orson, "'tis no matter of ours, so wherefore should
us meddle?"

"And ye have swords, I see," quoth Beltane, "and thereto hands
wherewith to fight, yet do ye speak, forsooth, of booty, and fain would
lie hid secure within the green? So be it! Bring forth the record,
Giles, and strike me out the names of Orson and Jenkyn, the which,
being shaped like men, are yet no men. Give therefore unto each his
share of booty and let him go hence." So saying, Beltane turned and
looked upon the close-drawn ranks that murmured and muttered no more.
Quoth he:

"Now, and there be any here among us so faint-hearted--so unworthy as
this Orson and Jenkyn, that do hold treasure and safety above flesh and
blood--if there be any here, who, regarding his own base body, will
strike no blow for these distressed--why, let him now go forth of this
our company. O men! O men of Pentavalon, do ye not hear them, these
woeful ones--do ye not hear them crying to us from searing flame, from
dungeon and gibbet--do ye not hear? Is there one, that, remembering the
torments endured of groaning bodies, the dire wrongs of innocence
shamed and trampled in the mire--lives there a man that will not
adventure life and limb and all he doth possess that such things may be
smitten hence and made an end of for all time? But if such there be,
let him now stand forth with Orson here, and Jenkyn o' the Ford!"

Thus spake Beltane quick and passionate and thereafter paused, waiting
their answer; but no man spake or moved, only from their grim ranks a
growl went up ominous and deep, and eyes grown bright and fierce glared
upon tall Orson and Jenkyn o' the Ford, who shuffled with their feet
and fumbled with their hands and knew not where to look.

"'Tis well, 'tis well, good comrades all!" spa