Page:The queen's museum, and other fanciful tales.djvu/31

 a little before daylight. They came slowly toiling along, each man carrying an enormous bundle upon his back. Near the end of the line was the Hermit's Pupil, bearing a load as heavy as any of the others. The Stranger offered to relieve him for a time of his burden, but the Pupil would not allow it.

'I don't wish these men to think I can't do as much as they can,' he said. 'You ought to have been along. We had a fine time! We swept that museum clean, I tell you! We didn't leave a thing on a shelf or in a case.'

'What sort of things are they,' asked the Stranger.

'I don't know,' replied the Pupil, 'we didn't have any light for fear people would notice it, but the moon shone in bright enough for us to see all the shelves and the cases; and our orders were not to