is
first love promised each other; and then he walked despairing in small
rain. In this mood Fate had led him to solemn old oaks standing huge
among shadows; and the grandeur of their grey grip on the earth that
had been theirs for centuries was akin to the grandeur of the high
hopes he had had, and his despair was somehow soothed by the shadows.
And then the impudent birds seemed to say "Hope again."

They walked for miles into the forest and lit a fire before noon, for
Rodriguez had left Lowlight very early. And by it Morano cooked bacon
again and dried his master's cloak. They ate the bacon and sat by the
fire till all their clothes were dry, and when the flames from the
great logs fell and only embers glowed they sat there still, with hands
spread to the warmth of the embers; for to those who wander a fire is
food and rest and comfort. Only as the embers turned grey did they
throw earth over their fire and continue their journey. Their road grew
smaller and the forest denser.

They had walked some miles from the place where they lit their fire,
when a somewhat unmistakable sound made Rodriguez look ahead of him. An
arrow had struck a birch tree on the right side, ten or twelve paces in
front of him; and as he looked up another struck it from the opposite
side just level with the first; the two were sticking in it ten feet or
so from the ground. Rodriguez drew his sword. But when a third arrow
went over his head from behind and struck the birch tree, whut! just
between the other two, he perceived, as duller minds could have done,
that it was a hint, and he returned his sword and stood still. Morano
questioned his master with his eyes, which were asking what was to be
done next. But Rodriguez shrugged his shoulders: there was no fighting
with an invisible foe that could shoot like that. That much Morano
knew, but he did not know that there might not be some law of Chivalry
that would demand that Rodriguez should wave his sword in the air or
thrust at the birch tree until someone shot him. When there seemed to
be no such rule Morano was well content. And presently men came quietly
on to the road from different parts of the wood. They were dressed in
brown leather and wore leaf-green hats, and round each one's neck hung
a disk of engraved copper. They came up to the travellers carrying
bows, and the leader said to Rodriguez:

"Senor, all travellers here bring tribute to the King of Shadow
Valley," at the mention of w