'
'Bear me up, bear me up, sweet sir, my legs do fail me! Be thou
merciful- spare me this doom, and I will turn my back and see naught
that shall happen.'
'Good! now thou'rt wise and reasonable. And thou'lt restore the
pig?'
'I will, I will, indeed- nor ever touch another, though heaven
send it and archangel fetch it. Go- I am blind for thy sake- I see
nothing. I will say thou didst break in and wrest the prisoner from my
hands by force. It is but a crazy, ancient door- I will batter it down
myself betwixt midnight and the morning.'
'Do it, good soul, no harm will come of it; the judge hath a
loving charity for this poor lad, and will shed no tears and break
no jailer's bones for his escape.'
CHAPTER XXV
Hendon Hall
AS soon as Hendon and the king were out of sight of the constable,
his majesty was instructed to hurry to a certain place outside the
town, and wait there, whilst Hendon should go to the inn and settle
his account. Half an hour later the two friends were blithely
jogging eastward on Hendon's sorry steeds. The king was warm and
comfortable now, for he had cast his rags and clothed himself in the
second-hand suit which Hendon had bought on London Bridge.
Hendon wished to guard against over-fatiguing the boy; he judged
that hard journeys, irregular meals, and illiberal measures of sleep
would be bad for his crazed mind, while rest, regularity, and moderate
exercise would be pretty sure to hasten its cure; he longed to see the
stricken intellect made well again and its diseased visions driven out
of the tormented little head; therefore he resolved to move by easy
stages toward the home whence he had so long been banished, instead of
obeying the impulse of his impatience and hurrying along night and
day.
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