hedge interposed. Then he threw them into the water-carrier. The best
tobacco, indeed the only real tobacco, came from the warm Devon land,
but little of it reached so far, on account of the distance, the
difficulties of intercourse, the rare occasions on which the merchant
succeeded in escaping the vexatious interference, the downright robbery
of the way. Intercourse was often entirely closed by war.

These cigars, therefore, were worth their weight in silver, and such
tobacco could be obtained only by those about the Court, as a matter of
favour, too, rather than by purchase. Lord John would, indeed, have
stared aghast had he seen the rustic to whom he had given so valuable a
present cast them into a ditch. He rode towards the Maple Gate, excusing
his haste volubly to Sir Constans, who was on foot, and walked beside
him a little way, pressing him to take some refreshment.

His sons overtook the Baron as he walked towards home, and walked by his
side in silence. Sir Constans was full of his fruit.

"The wall cherry," said he, "will soon have a few ripe."

Oliver swore a deep but soundless oath in his chest. Sir Constans
continued talking about his fruit and flowers, entirely oblivious of the
silent anger of the pair beside him. As they approached the house, the
warder blew his horn thrice for noon. It was also the signal for dinner.

CHAPTER VI

THE FOREST TRACK

When the canoe was finished, Oliver came to help Felix launch it, and
they rolled it on logs down to the place where the stream formed a pool.
But when it was afloat, as Oliver had foretold, it did not swim upright
in the water. It had not been shaped accurately, and one side was higher
out of the water than the other.

Felix was so disgusted at this failure that he would not listen to
anything Oliver could suggest. He walked back to the spot where he had
worked so many weeks, and sat down with his face turned from the pool.
It was not so much the actual circumstance which depressed him, as the
long train of untoward incidents which had preceded it for years past.
These seemed to have accumulated, till now this comparatively little
annoyance was like the last straw.

Oliver followed him, and said that the defect could be remedied by
placing ballast on the more buoyant side of the canoe to bring it down
to the level of the other; or, perhaps, if some more wood were cut away
on the heavier side, that it would cause it to rise. He offered to do