Page:The Children Who Followed the Piper.djvu/132

THE CHILDREN the one who had seemed a wild being of the wood went to Baldwin and the horse whinnied and put his head down on him.

Then did Valentine know that this was indeed John Ball, his friend. He put his arms around him and he kissed him. He wept, too, knowing that John had come into the Dark Forest to seek him, and that the evil of the forest had changed him into this beast-like form. He wept over his comrade. But Baldwin was calling to them in human words, and speaking to them of Golden Hood. The horse turned and hurried away, and Valentine and John Ball hurried after him. They came out of the Dark Forest, and they came in sight of the tree that Golden Hood had made grow green. And as they did they saw two great eagles swoop down, and they saw them take Golden Hood up and go flying with her, away and away, and across the Valley of Stones.

Over the Valley of Stones the eagles flew and away toward the Dark Mountains. Away the