Part 31 (1/2)
”We can make shi+ft to stable the horses between some of the walls outside, and ourselves in the tower,” said Ellerey ”It ht be worse, Stefan, and with fortune our stay will be short”
”It e,” Stefan answered
Meanwhile theon the old hearth There was prorumble While some looked to the horses, others ht earlier in the day suggested a feast Others, finding a broken door,a table, on which they set out the wine flasks and the food they carried with thee of the plateau watching the mountains opposite and the pass beneath
Kid's flesh, even when roasted over a wood fire, may not be to the taste of all who can choose their viands, but it is honest food for all that, and no one round that is had been piled on the fire, and the blaze threw dancing shadows on the stone walls and lit up the rough faces of the men They were silent for a while, their sharp set appetites fully occupying theain
”A song, Stefan: I've heard you roar a good stave ere this”
”Not a love song, surely?” said Grigosie
”No, of wine”
”In all the verse I ever heard love and wine strangely go together,”
said the boy
”Proving that the joys of both are transitory, perhaps,” said Ellerey, who sat beside hiosie, but Stefan heard hiers for love; but wine's the very heart of life There's wisdom and truth in wine, there's valor in it, and it's powerful enough to ood sound men fall in love
There's a stave I've heard which you may have if you will” And with
It was a tavern ditty, and not too nice in its sentiments, as, indeed, why should it be, to please its hearers? There was a lilt in its chorus which even Stefan's unmusical voice could not hide, and it set the ether, waking the echoes with the declaration that--”The eye of a maid may sparkle, And the fools oes That the best of life's gifts is wine”
”That isn't true, is it, Captain?” whispered Grigosie ”We know better than that”
Ellerey laughed, but he was not displeased to keep the lad in low conversation The song had let loose a flood of jest and anecdote which lost none of their ribaldry in the telling They were ill suited for a boy to hear and batten on
”Yes, lad; we know better, you and I,” he said ”Let them talk, we need not listen”
”I suppose it is natural in youth to shudder at sos they talk of, and norance you will be the happier And do not drink osie; you must take your turn at sentry duty It is share and share alike in an enterprise like this”
”Grant, then, there be stars to-night I never feel lonely under the stars,” the lad answered ”It was good wine that was poured into ; I have hardly tasted it until now Is yours good?”
”It ht be worse, and I was never a heavy drinker”
”Taste mine”
”No, lad; why should I rob you?”
”Indeed, it will be no robbery If you do not take it I shall offer it to Stefan presently It is too strong for me”
”I'll taste it before I sleep, if you will The air is close here Let us go and fill our lungs withto his feet at once, careful to take his wine flask with him, and followed Ellerey on to the plateau