"Hullo, Sir thief! what are you doing there?"
"He who steals is a thief," answered the voice. "Come down at once, or you will spend the night in gaol."
Sten thought it belter to descend and try to explain himself. He found himself before a man of authoritative appearance, who was accompanied by a large dog.
"In the first place," said the man, "you have committed an outrage on a fruit-bearing tree; punishment--three marks and forfeiture of the axe--chapter seventeen of the forest laws."
"I thought one had a right to plunder wild trees," said Sten in a shamefaced way, for he had never been addressed in this manner.
"There are no wild trees now, though it was certainly so in Adam and Eve's time. Besides, I was purposely keeping the apples to flavour cabbages with. Secondly, you have cut and extracted the sap from my fine carriage-pole."
"Yes, I intended to make a carriage-pole of the birch tree. Then you have peeled off birch bark in a wood that did not belong to you; fine --three shillings, according to the same chapter in King Christopher's land-law."
"I thought I was in God's free world and had a right to support my life," answered Sten mildly.
"God's free world? Where is that? I only know tax-free land, land that is assessed, and crown lands. Thirdly, probably--I have no testimony to that effect, but probably it is your horse which is feeding in my meadow?"
"It is my horse, and I suppose it could not die of hunger while the grass was growing round it."
"No one need die of hunger. Any animal can graze by the way-side, everyone can pluck a handful of nuts, and every traveller can cut an axle for his wheel when necessary. You are therefore convicted of fourfold robbery, and I keep the horse."
"And leave me alone in the wood, where perhaps I cannot even kindle a fire for the night."
"Whoever cuts dry wood on other people's land is liable to a fine of three shillings each time. If it were not so, one could never be sure of possessing anything."
"It never was so on my property. There we knew nothing of such laws and paragraphs, and my manorial rights were never so niggardly as yours."
Here a great alteration took place in the bearing of the man of authority. He took the horse by the rein, led it to Sten, held the stirrup for him, bent one of his knees, and said: