"A pretty maid," murmured Symme. "'T made mine eyes water to see her sorrow."
The beggar said nothing till he saw the peddler coming up the road; then he laughed and grumbled out:--
The peddler came on smiling, and they caught him about the neck and looked covetous in his eyes, and thrust their fingers in his breast and his girdle, with:--
He pushed them away, and "Let 's sit," he said, "wh-where 's shade. Th-the sun 's hot as s-summer to-day."
So they sat down under a half-naked tree, and when he had taken the pouch out of his tabard, he undid the mouth and let flow out the gold and silver stream.
After a little the beggar thrust a dirty hand into the pile and let the moneys slip between his fingers. Symme began to cry for joy, and the soldier to laugh.
"We 'll give each his share, and then to Chester," cried Nicholas, shoving the beggar's greedy hand aside. "Come, count!"
"W-what for a t-tale have ye to t-tell the maid of her horn?" asked the peddler, scanning them each in turn.
"Ho, ho!" laughed Nicholas, "'t is already told. Hearken, brother! 'T is a merry gest; thou art saved a sad hour;--and I 'll keep mine old love. I 'm a constant man."
"The white-faced sister o' the lad must needs see the horn," Nicholas continued. "Symme here would have hindered; but no, Calote put her hand in the bag and plucked out--ha, ha!"
They laughed, all three, and the peddler knit his brows.
"'T was plain the horn was stolen, but who cared lay claim to be a thief?" went on Nicholas. "Thou wert away,--we fixed the theft o' thee."
"I thank ye of your courtesy," said the peddler.
"Nay, naught 's to fear," Symme assured him; "she 's gone."
"Gone!" cried the peddler, leaping to his feet.
"Nay, trust to us; we set her o' the wrong track. She went eastward and north on the highway."
But ere Symme had said the last word, the peddler was off; and those others sat agape. Then Symme's eye caught the glitter of the gold.
"Come back,--come back!" he bawled. "Wilt have thy share?"
But the beggar choked him and the soldier dealt him a knock in the paunch. And whether the peddler heard or no, he did not turn back.
He took a short way through the wood and came out on the road not so far behind Calote, and she, looking backward, saw him. In the first moment she began to run away, but presently she bethought her how 't was silly to flee from a thief she had set out to take; and because he still came on at a good pace, she sat down on a stone to wait for him. So, at last, he came up panting and wiping the sweat from his face.