Page:The Children Who Followed the Piper.djvu/107

 Golden Hood, but no answer came back to them. And then John Ball knew that both had strayed into the Dark Forest, and that he would have to go search for them. Baldwin, the horse that could speak, said: "Fill your cup with water from the spring and bring it with you, without spilling from it. It is the Well of Good Luck, and the water you take from it will be of use to you."

The children filled the carved wooden cup for him—the cup that Philemon had given him. They put the cup of water into his hands while he sat upon Baldwin, his horse. Dorothy and Ursula brought him bread and fruit from the never-emptied basket. Then John Ball rode from where the great ash trees grew and the bushy white-thorn trees, and he went into the Dark Forest.

"Oh, where have we come to, Baldwin, my horse?" cried John Ball.

Tremors went through Baldwin's skin as they went on. The horse stopped. "On, Baldwin,