d
foul; a thing whose shrunken nakedness showed a multitude of small
wounds, slow-bleeding, that spoke of teeth little yet vicious, bold
with hunger in the dark; a miserable, tottering thing, haggard and
pinched, that shivered and shook and stared upon all things with eyes
vacant and wide.

And thus it was that Beltane beheld again Friar Martin, the white friar
that had been a man once, a strong man and a gentle. They brought him
to the great post, they clasped him fast within the iron band and so
left him, shivering in his chains with head a-droop. Came the sound of
muffled weeping from the crowd, while high above, in sky deepening to
evening, a star twinkled. Now in a while the white friar raised his
heavy head and looked round about, and lo! his eyes were vacant no
longer, and as folk strove to come more nigh, he spake, hoarse-voiced
and feeble.

"O children, grieve not for me, for though this body suffer a little,
my soul doth sit serene. What though I stand in bonds, yet doth my soul
go free. Though they burn my flesh to ashes yet doth my soul live on
forever. So grieve not your hearts for me, my children, and, for
yourselves, though ye be afflicted even as I--fear ye nothing--since I,
that ye all do know for a truthful man, do tell ye 'tis none so hard to
die if that our hearts be clean. What though ye suffer the grievous
horror of a prison? Within the dark ye shall find God. Thus I amid the
dreadful gloom of my deep dungeon did lie within the arms of God,
nothing fearing. So, when the fire shall sear me, though this my flesh
may groan, God shall reach down to me through smoke and flame and lift
my soul beyond. O be ye therefore comforted, my children: though each
must die, yet to the pure in heart death is none so hard--"

Thus spake Friar Martin, shivering in his bonds, what time the crowd
rocked and swayed, sobbing aloud and groaning; whereat Sir Gui's
pikemen made lusty play with their spear-shafts.

Then spake Beltane, whispering, to Roger, who, sweating with
impatience, groaned and stared and gnawed upon his fingers:

"Away, Roger!" And on the instant Roger had turned, and with brawny
shoulders stooped, drove through the swaying press and was gone.

Now with every moment the temper of the crowd grew more threatening;
voices shouted, fists were clenched, and the scowling pike-men, plying
vicious spear-butts, cursed, and questioned each other aloud: "Why
tarries Sir Gui?"

Hereupon a country fellow ha