nife such as Danish
fisher-folk use.

She grasped the branch above her and swung in the air; but she could not
swing forever thus.

"I can wait," said the Great Beast beneath, laughing dreadfully.

Then there came the sound of a man singing some kind of boating-song.

The voice was deep and drawing nearer.

"_Then we'll all swing together,
Steady from stroke to bow._"

It was Silver strolling home through the wood.

Boy heard him; so did Joses, and withdrew into the dusk.

The girl slipped down from the tree.

The young man dawdled up, and looked at her with some surprise.

"Anything up?" he asked.

"Yes," said Boy. "Up a tree."

She limped coldly away.

He followed her.

"Are you lul-lame?" he asked, shy and anxious.

"Sprained my off-hind fetlock," she replied.

BOOK II

THE WATCHER

CHAPTER IX

Patience Longstaffe

Patience Longstaffe was the only child of Preacher Joe, of God-First
Farm, on the way to Lewes; and she was very like her father.

He had been brought up a Primitive Methodist and had first heard the
Word at Rehoboth, the little red brick place of worship of the sect on
the outskirts of Polefax; but being strong as he was original he had
seceded from the church of his fathers early in life to the Foundation
Methodists and started a little chapel of his own, which bore on its red
side the inscription that gave the popular name to its founder's farm.

The chapel was hidden away down a lane; but as you drove in to Lewes
along the old coach-road, with the Downs bearing on your left shoulder,
you could not mistake Mr. Longstaffe's farm: for a black barn on the
roadside carried in huge letters the text,

_Seek ye first the Kingdom of God._

To the cultivated and academic mind there might be something blatant and
vulgar about so loud an invitation.

But if its character estranged the carriage-folk, the man who had put it
up had sought the Kingdom himself, and had, if all was true, found it.
Joe Longstaffe was by common consent a Christian man, and not of that
too general kind which excuses its foolishness and fatuity on the ground
of its religion. The Duke's agent disliked him for political reasons,
but he would admit that the dissenter was the best farmer in the
countryside; and the labourers would have added that he was also the
best employer.

The curious who walked over from Lewes to attend the little chapel in
which he held forth, fou