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206 till I lost all patience, and swore that I would not stand there in the street any longer gaping at them.

"Do you think I am here to serenade you?" I cried. "Let the women stay up there, to take care of your houses, they are quite equal to that. But if there are any men among you, come down and fight, or, by the God that made me, I will set fire to you myself with my own hands!"

At last one braver than the rest stuck his nose out of the door, half laughing, and then they all came out one after the other, and stood round me in a circle.

"Are you quite cured of the plague?"

"As right as a trivet."

"And has no one attacked you?"

"Only a lot of geese, but who cares for their hissing? Listen, my friends, you see I am here all safe and sound; don't you think that there has been enough of all this nonsense? It is time to go to work, and now, some of you tell me where we can go to plan for what must be done."

"You can come to my forge, if you like," said Gangnot, and led the way; soon we were all gathered there in the darkness, with the door tight shut. The place smelt of burnt horn and horses, and a lantern standing on the rough floor threw our monstrous shadows on the smoky beams of the