Page:The Children Who Followed the Piper.djvu/169

WHO FOLLOWED THE PIPER ing for their coming. But John Ball was listening to what Baldwin, the old mill horse, said.

"My life is all but over," said Baldwin, the horse that had the gift of speech, "and I am about to lay my bones down forever. But do not be troubled on that account, master dear. It is no grief for me to lay down my tired bones.

"And now that I am at the end of life's tether I have come to know things that you, my master, should know. The Hag of the Deep Wood has been busy and she has plotted ways to separate Valentine and Golden Hood or to separate you and Valentine.

"As you three go into the city in the morning's dawn you will be met by a welcoming cavalcade. A groom will lead up a high roan horse for Valentine to ride on. But if he mounts upon this horse it will bear him away, and thus he and Golden Hood will be separated. You must kill this roan horse before Valentine mounts it. Snatch the sword out of his belt and plunge it into the horse. If you do this Valen-