Puck of Pook's Hill Part 17

'Hai!' said Puck. 'That sets one thinking!'

'We went out fully armed,' said Parnesius, sitting down; 'but as soon as the road entered the Great Forest, my men expected the pack-horses to hang their s.h.i.+elds on. "No!" I said; "you can dress like women in Anderida, but while you're with me you will carry your own weapons and armour."

'"But it's hot," said one of them, "and we haven't a doctor. Suppose we get sunstroke, or a fever?"

'"Then die," I said, "and a good riddance to Rome! Up s.h.i.+eld-up spears, and tighten your foot-wear!"

'"Don't think yourself Emperor of Britain already," a fellow shouted. I knocked him over with the b.u.t.t of my spear, and explained to these Roman-born Romans that, if there were any further trouble, we should go on with one man short. And, by the Light of the Sun, I meant it too! My raw Gauls at Clausentum had never treated me so.

'Then, quietly as a cloud, Maximus rode out of the fern (my Father behind him), and reined up across the road. He wore the Purple, as though he were already Emperor; his leggings were of white buckskin laced with gold.

'My men dropped like-like partridges.

'He said nothing for some time, only looked, with his eyes puckered. Then he crooked his forefinger, and my men walked-crawled, I mean-to one side.

'"Stand in the sun, children," he said, and they formed up on the hard road.

'"What would you have done?" he said to me, "If I had not been here?"

'"I should have killed that man," I answered.

'"Kill him now," he said. "He will not move a limb."

'"No," I said. "You've taken my men out of my command. I should only be your butcher if I killed him now." Do you see what I meant?' Parnesius turned to Dan.

'Yes,' said Dan. 'It wouldn't have been fair, somehow.'

'That was what I thought,' said Parnesius. 'But Maximus frowned. "You'll never be an Emperor," he said. "Not even a General will you be."

'I was silent, but my Father seemed pleased.

'"I came here to see the last of you," he said.

'"You have seen it," said Maximus. "I shall never need your son any more.

He will live and he will die an officer of a Legion-and he might have been Prefect of one of my Provinces. Now eat and drink with us," he said. "Your men will wait till you have finished."

'My miserable thirty stood like wine-skins glistening in the hot sun, and Maximus led us to where his people had set a meal. Himself he mixed the wine.

'"A year from now," he said, "you will remember that you have sat with the Emperor of Britain-and Gaul."

'"Yes," said the Pater, "you can drive two mules-Gaul and Britain."

'"Five years hence you will remember that you have drunk"-he pa.s.sed me the cup and there was blue borage in it-"with the Emperor of Rome!"

'"No; you can't drive three mules; they will tear you in pieces," said my Father.

'"And you on the Wall, among the heather, will weep because your notion of justice was more to you than the favour of the Emperor of Rome."

'I sat quite still. One does not answer a General who wears the Purple.

'"I am not angry with you," he went on; "I owe too much to your Father--"

'"You owe me nothing but advice that you never took," said the Pater.

'"--to be unjust to any of your family. Indeed, I say you will make a good officer, but, so far as I am concerned, on the Wall you will live, and on the Wall you will die," said Maximus.

'"Very like," said my Father. "But we shall have the Picts _and_ their friends breaking through before long. You cannot move all troops out of Britain to make you Emperor, and expect the North to sit quiet."

'"I follow my destiny," said Maximus.

'"Follow it, then," said my Father pulling up a fern root; "and die as Theodosius died."

'"Ah!" said Maximus. "My old General was killed because he served the Empire too well. _I_ may be killed, but not for that reason," and he smiled a little pale grey smile that made my blood run cold.

'"Then I had better follow my destiny," I said, "and take my men to the Wall."

'He looked at me a long time, and bowed his head slanting like a Spaniard.

"Follow it, boy," he said. That was all. I was only too glad to get away, though I had many messages for home. I found my men standing as they had been put-they had not even s.h.i.+fted their feet in the dust,-and off I marched, still feeling that terrific smile like an east wind up my back. I never halted them till sunset, and'-he turned about and looked at Pook's Hill below him-'then I halted yonder.' He pointed to the broken, bracken-covered shoulder of the Forge Hill behind old Hobden's cottage.

'There? Why, that's only the old Forge-where they made iron once,' said Dan.

'Very good stuff it was too,' said Parnesius, calmly. 'We mended three shoulder-straps here and had a spear-head riveted. The forge was rented from the Government by a one-eyed smith from Carthage. I remember we called him Cyclops. He sold me a beaver-skin rug for my sister's room.'

'But it couldn't have been here,' Dan insisted.

'But it was! From the Altar of Victory at Anderida to the First Forge in the Forest here is twelve miles seven hundred paces. It is all in the Road Book. A man doesn't forget his first march. I think I could tell you every station between this and--' He leaned forward, but his eye was caught by the setting sun.

It had come down to the top of Cherry Clack Hill, and the light poured in between the tree trunks so that you could see red and gold and black deep into the heart of Far Wood; and Parnesius in his armour shone as though he had been afire.

'Wait,' he said, lifting a hand, and the sunlight jinked on his gla.s.s bracelet. 'Wait! I pray to Mithras!'

He rose and stretched his arms westward, with deep, splendid-sounding words.

Then Puck began to sing too, in a voice like bells tolling, and as he sang he slipped from 'Volaterrae' to the ground, and beckoned the children to follow. They obeyed; it seemed as though the voices were pus.h.i.+ng them along; and through the goldy-brown light on the beech leaves they walked, while Puck between them chanted something like this:-

Cur mundus militat sub vana gloria Cujus prosperitas est transitoria?

Tam cito labitur ejus potentia Quam vasa figuli quae sunt fragilia.

They found themselves at the little locked gates of the wood.

Quo Caesar abiit celsus imperio?

Vel Dives splendidus totus in prandio?

Dic ubi Tullius--

Still singing, he took Dan's hand and wheeled him round to face Una as she came out of the gate. It shut behind her, at the same time as Puck threw the memory-magicking Oak, Ash, and Thorn leaves over their heads.

'Well, you _are_ jolly late,' said Una. 'Couldn't you get away before?'