The First Sir Percy, Baroness Orczy [most important books to read TXT] 📗

not be afraid. I could not afford to waste such precious stuff on you.”

Then he turned to Jan.

“Remain outside,” he commanded; “well wrapped in your blanket, and when the traveler hails you pretend to be wakened from pleasant dreams. Then leave the rest to chance.”

Jan at once obeyed. He went out of the molen, closing the door carefully behind him.

Five minutes later, the hapless traveler had put his horse to a trot. He had perceived the molen looming at the top of the rising ground, dense and dark against the sky, and looking upon it as a veritable God-sent haven of refuge for wearied tramps, was making good haste to reach it, fearing lest he himself dropped from sheer exhaustion out of his saddle ere he came to his happy goal.

That terrible contingency, however, did not occur, and presently he was able to draw rein and to drop gently if somewhat painfully to the ground without further mishap. Then he looked about him. The mill in truth appeared to be uninhabited, which was a vast pity, seeing that a glass of spiced ale would⁠—but no matter, ’twas best not to dwell on such blissful thoughts! A roof over one’s head for the night was the most urgent need.

He led his horse by the bridle, and tethered him to a heavy, supporting rafter under the overhanging platform; was on the point of ministering to the poor, half-frozen beast, when his ear caught a sound which caused him instantly to pause first and then start on a tour around the molen. He had not far to go. The very next moment he came upon a couple of horses tethered like his own, and upon Jan, who was snoring lustily, curled up in a horse-blanket in the angle of the porch.

To hail the sleeper with lusty shouts at first, and then with a vigorous kick, was but the work of a few seconds; after which Jan’s snores were merged in a series of comprehensive curses against the disturber of his happy dreams.

“Dondersteen!” he murmured, still apparently half asleep. “And who is this verfloekte plepshurk who ventures a weary traveler from his sleep?”

“Another weary traveler, verfloekte plepshurk yourself,” the other cried aloud. Nor were it possible to render with any degree of accuracy the language which he subsequently used when Jan persistently refused to move.

“Then, dondersteen,” retorted Jan thickly, “do as I do⁠—wrap yourself up in a blanket and go to sleep.”

“Not until I have discovered how it comes that one wearied traveler happens to be abroad with two equally wearied and saddled horses. And I am not mistaken, plepshurk, thou are but a varlet left on guard outside, whilst thy master feasts and sleeps within.”

Whereupon, without further parley, he strode across Jan’s outstretched body and, with a vigorous kick of his heavy boot, thrust open the door which gave on the interior of the mill.

Here he paused, just beneath the lintel, took off his hat, and stood at respectful attention; for he had realized at once that he was in the presence of his betters⁠—of two gentlemen, in fact, one of whom had a mug of wine in his hand and the other a bottle. These were the two points which, as it were, jumped most directly to the eye of the weary, frozen, and thirsty traveler: two gentlemen who haply were now satiated, and would spare a drop even to a humble varlet if he stood before them in his full, pitiable plight.

“Who are you man? And what do you want?” one of these gentlemen queried peremptorily. It was the one who had a bottle of wine⁠—a whole bottle⁠—in his hand; but he looked peculiarly stern and forbidding, with his close-cropped, grizzled head and hard, birdlike features.

“Only a poor tramp, my lord,” replied the unfortunate wayfarer, in high-pitched, flute-like tones, “who hath lost his way, and has been wandering on this verdommte plain since midnight.”

“What do you want?” reiterated Stoutenburg sternly.

“Only shelter for the rest of the night, my lord, and⁠—and⁠—a little drink⁠—a very little drink⁠—for I am mightily weary, and my throat is dry as tinder.”

“What is your name?”

At this very simple question the man’s round, florid face with the tiny, upturned nose, slightly tinged with pink, and the small, round eyes, bright and shiny like new crowns, took on an expression of comical puzzlement. He scratched his head, pursed up his lips, emitted a prolonged and dubious whistle.

“I haven’t a name, so please your lordship,” he said, after a while. “That is, not a name such as other people have. I have a name, in truth, a name by which I am known to my friends; a name⁠—”

“Thy name, plepshurk,” command Stoutenburg roughly, “ere I throw thee out again into the night.”

“So please your lordship.” replied the man, “I am called Pythagoras⁠—a name which I believe belongs by right to a philosopher of ancient times, but to which I will always answer, so please your High and Mightiness.”

But this time his High and Mightiness did not break in upon the worthy philosopher’s volubility. Indeed, at the sound of that highly ludicrous name⁠—ludicrous, that is, when applied to its present bearer⁠—he had deliberately put mug and bottle down, and then become strangely self-absorbed, even whilst his friend had given an involuntary start.

“H’m! Pythagoras!” his lordship resumed, after a while. “Have I ever seen thine ugly face before?”

“Not to my knowledge, my lord,” replied the other, marvelling when it would please these noble gentlemen to give him something wherewith to moisten his gullet.

“Ah! Methought I had once met another who bore an equally strange name. Was it Demosthenes, or Euripides, or⁠—”

“Diogenes, no doubt, my lord,” replied the thirsty philosopher glibly. “The most gallant gentleman in the whole wide world, one who honours me with his friendship, was pleased at one time to answer to that name.”

Now, when Pythagoras made his announcement