There was once the most wonderful Knight in Sussex, which is as much as
to say in the world. He came of a race of knights, as a man might come
of a race of farmers, or of fools. And as of such a one you would say,
“He is a born farmer” or “He is a born fool,” so of my hero you would
say, “He is a born knight.”
His name was Sir John-o'-Dreams, and he was such a great knight that he
spent his life in dreaming of the greatest adventure in the world, an
adventure which should be the very top of all that is meant by
knighthood. Several times a day he polished his shield for the adventure
to come; for he would never, he said, undertake it until his shield was
bright enough. He knew that this adventure, when it came, would claim
not only the strength of his arm and the swiftness of his eye: it would
be a call upon his life, which was the lamp of honour, and on his
spirit, which was the light in the lamp.
One morning in May Sir John walked forth to see the world, and to see it
the better he walked on the top of a wall. As he walked he looked up at
the sun till the air was bedazzled. Through the dazzle he presently
heard the flutiest whistle that ever came from a blackbird in Spring.
Suddenly the whistle stopped, and a voice said, “Take care, sir, you'll
fall.” Even as it was said, Sir John stumbled, and kicked over a bucket
of mortar that was on the top of the wall; and if his ankle had not been
gripped at the same moment he would have fallen after it. But by a great
effort he righted himself, and then he saw that his foot was held by a
boy who was straddling the wall.
The fall of the bucket had caused some commotion on the ground, where a
little black pig with a belly like a ball and a tail like a corkscrew,
and a handsome young pullet of the Light Sussex breed, had been
wallowing and picking in the earth at great peace. The boy himself had
carroty hair and blue eyes.
Sir John recovered his balance, and said kindly, “I've disturbed you.”
“That's all right, sir,” said the boy, “I can get on with my job when
you're by.”
“What are you doing?” asked Sir John.
“Holding your foot, begging your pardon, sir.”
“What _were_ you doing?” asked Sir John.
“Mending the wall, sir, and shall be again.”
“What is your name?” asked Sir John.
“Dick Dowett,” said the boy.
“And what is your business?”
“I clean out the pigs and the chickens.”
“It is good work,” said Sir John.
“Well, it's got to be done,” said Dick. And he began once more to
out-whistle the blackbirds.
“You're happy,” said the Knight.
“As the day is long, sir,” said the boy.
“You sleep at night?”
“Like a top.”
“And dream?”
“Never a wink.”
“I wonder,” said Sir John musingly, “whether I would change my state for
yours?”
“Mine, sir!” said Dick. “What for?”
“I don't know,” said the Knight. And he walked on.
He soon reached the end of the wall, and while he was considering
whether to stay up or to jump down, he heard the ringing of a bell in
the countryside. At the sound of it, the folk came running with all
their might from every quarter, and by the time a great crowd had
gathered the Town-Crier had come up. With his right hand he swung his
big bell to and fro, with his left he led by the wrist a girl in tears.
She was a splendid lass in a blue cotton frock, sixteen years old, but
tall for her age. She had a thick plait of brown hair, and the eyes
which she constantly wiped with her apron were browner still.
The Town-Crier stood the girl in full view of the crowd, rang his bell
three times, and cried:
“Oyez! oyez! oyez! This is Audrey of Picketty, who has lost her ball. To
him who will recover it, she offers all she has.”
“And what is that?” cried the crowd in one breath.
“Herself in the gown she stands up in,” said the Town-Crier.
Then the women in the crowd tossed their heads, and said with one
accord, “We must get back to our duties!” And they turned on their heels
and went to where they had come from.
But the men stayed where they were, and looked at Audrey of Picketty in
her faded blue gown, and thought she was no bad reward for a ball. So
they asked:
“What is her ball like?”
The Town-Crier rang his bell again, and said to Audrey:
“What is your ball like?”
Audrey wiped her eyes once more with her apron, and said: “My ball is a
blue-and-green ball with pictures on it—stars and flowers, and cherubs,
and children, as pretty as life. It was given me in my cradle by my
godmother; I grew up playing with it, and it is the only toy I ever
had.”
Then the men asked:
“Where did she lose her ball?”
And the Town-Crier rang his bell, and said to Audrey:
“Where did you lose your ball?”
And Audrey said: “I was playing with it in Picketty, and I tossed it
higher and higher, till the wind took it, and I couldn't see where it
fell. It may have blown a hundred miles, and rolled another hundred.”
Then the men asked:
“When did she lose her ball?”
The Town-Crier rang his bell, and said:
“When did you lose your ball?”
And Audrey said, “Ten years ago, when I was six years old.”
“Bless me!” cried Sir John, from the top of the wall, “and have you been
weeping for it ever since?”
“Oh no, sir,” said Audrey, curtseying. “I forgot all about it till a
week ago, and then for seven nights running I dreamed that it had fallen
in the Murray River.”
“What river is that?” asked Sir John.
“I do not know, sir. But I dreamed it was the biggest river in Sussex,
and full of dangers from beginning to end, and haunted by a sprite.”
Sir John looked down from left to right on the crowd in the meadows, but
no man said a word. Then Sir John cried so clearly that every man could
hear him: “I undertake this adventure. Go home, good folk.”
When the meadow was empty, Audrey of Picketty looked lovingly at Sir
John, and said, “Sir, if you will let me, I will follow you to the
Murray River, and through all the dangers too.”
She spoke with such sweetness and courage that Sir John reached down his
hand to her, saying, “Come, you brave child.” With one nimble leap she
stood beside him on the wall. Then Sir John flung up his head, like a
spirited horse, and strode back along the middle of the wall, looking
neither to the right nor the left, but only at the bright blue sky.
Suddenly he felt his shoulders seized by two soft hands, and his ankle
gripped by one strong one, and looking first behind him and then before
him he saw both Audrey and Dick holding him fast, and regarding him with
affection and anxiety. The mortar-bucket was on the ground again.
“What's the matter with you, children?” said the Knight.
“What's the matter with _you_, sir?” said Dick; for Sir John's cheeks
were wet with tears. “Are you hurt or in trouble?”
“I am well and in joy, Dick,” said the Knight, “for I am about to follow
my heart through a wonderful adventure.”
“Then why do you weep, sir?”
“With looking on the sun,” said the Knight.
“What did you see, sir?”
“I saw danger, and myself going to meet it.”
“Danger, Sir John?”
“Yes, Dick.”
Dick looked bothered, whistled a note or two, and then said, “If you
please, sir, might I go too?”
The Knight's eye kindled, and he laid his hand on the boy's head. “Do
you also hanker for danger?” he asked.
“Not a bit, sir,” said Dick.
“Then why do you wish to come?”
Dick got rather red, cleared his throat once or twice, and said, “To
catch hold of your foot, sir.”
“Yes?” said Sir John inquiringly.
“Yes, if you please, sir. I've finished my job, and I expect we'll be
home in time to feed the pigs and coop up the hens.”
[Illustration: _He strode back along the middle of the wall._]
“I do not know when we shall be home,” said Sir John. “Perhaps never.”
“Just as you please, sir,” said Dick. “Mind where you step.”
“Yes,” said Audrey from the rear, “do be careful, dear Knight.”
“Come, children,” said Sir John.
And he stepped over the boy and passed along the wall, leaving Dick and
Audrey face to face. And Dick, who had not been aware of her until he
heard her clear voice and almost immediately after beheld her rosy face,
scratched his head and said, “Oh dear me!” But Audrey looked after her
Knight with something of the happy care which a young mother feels for
her baby the first time it toddles, and said:
“Will he fall?”
“Not if I can help it,” said Dick.
“Thank you, you good boy,” said she.
Then Dick picked up his bucket and went after Sir John, and Audrey went
after Dick; and the round black pig, whose name was Paul, and the Light
Sussex pullet, whose name was Emily, ran below them beside the wall
until they reached the end of it and had to jump off.
Now here follows the tale of their adventures, hour by hour.