[begin page 250]

The pilgrims Ⓐtextual note were human beings. Otherwise they would have acted differently. They had come a long and difficult journey, and now when the journey was nearly finished, and they learned that the main thing they had come for had ceased to exist, they didn’t do as horses or cats or angle-worms would probably have done—turn back and get at something profitable—no, anxious as they had beforeⒶalteration in the MS been to see the miraculous fountain, they were as much as forty times as anxious now to see the place where it had used to be. There is no accounting for human beings.

We made good time; and a couple of hours before sunset we stood upon the high confines of the Valley of Holiness and our eyes swept it from end to end and noted its features. That [begin page 251] is, its large features. These were the three masses of buildings. They were distant and isolatedⒶalteration in the MS temporalities shrunken to toy constructions in the lonely wastesⒶrejected substantive of what seemed a desert—and was. Such a scene is always mournful, it is so impressively still, and looks so steeped in death. But there was a sound here which interrupted the stillness only to add to its mournfulness; this was the faint far sound of tolling bells which floatedⒶalteration in the MS fitfully to us on the passing breeze, and so faintly, so softly, that we hardly knew whether we heard it with our ears or with our spirits.Ⓐalteration in the MS

We reached the monastery before dark, and there the males were given lodging, but the women were sent over to the nunneryⒶalteration in the MS. The bells were close at hand, now, and their solemn booming smote upon the ear like a message of doom. A superstitious despair possessed the heart of every monk and published itself in his ghastly face. Everywhere, these black-robed, soft-sandaledⒶemendation, tallow-visaged spectres appeared, flitted about, and disappeared, noiseless as the creatures of a troubled dream, and as uncanny.

The old Abbot’s joy to see me was pathetic. Even to tears; but he did the shedding himself. He said:

“Delay not, son, but get to thy saving work. An we bring not the water back again, and soon, we are ruined, and the good work of two hundred years must end. And see thou do it with enchantments that be holy, for the ChurchⒶalteration in the MS will not endure that work in her cause be done by devil’s magic.”

“When I work, Father, be sure there will be no devil’s workⒶemendation connected with it. I shall use no arts that come of the devil, and no elements not created by the hand of God. But is Merlin working strictly on pious lines?”

“Ah, he said he would, my son, he said he would, and took oath to make his promise good.”

“Well, in that case, let him proceed.”

“But surely you will not sit idle by, but help?”

“It will not answer to mix methods, Father; neither would it be professional courtesy. Two of a trade must not under-bidⒶemendation Ⓐrejected substantive each other. WeⒶalteration in the MS might as well cut rates and be done with it; it would arrive at that in the end. Merlin has the contract; no other magician can touch it till he throws it up.”

“But I will take it from him; it is a terrible emergency and the act [begin page 252] is thereby justified. And if it were not so, who will give law to the Church? The Church giveth law to all; and what she wills to do, that she may do, hurt whom it may. I will take it from him; you shall begin upon the moment.”

“It may not be, Father. No doubt, as you say, where power is supreme, one can do as one likes and suffer no injury; but we poor magicians are not so situated. Merlin is a very good magician in a small way, and has a quiteⒶrejected substantive neat provincial reputation. He is struggling along, doing the best he can, and it would not be etiquette for me to take his job until he himself abandons it.”

The Abbot’s face lighted.

“Ah, that is simple. There are ways to persuade him to abandon it.”

“No-no, Father, it skills not, as these people say. If he were persuaded against his will, he would load that well with a malicious enchantment which would balk me until I found out its secret. It might take a month. I could set up a little enchantment of mine which I call the telephone, and he could not find out its secret in a hundred years. Yes, you perceive,Ⓐalteration in the MS he might block me for a month. Would you like to risk a month in a dry time like this?”

“A month! The mereⒶalteration in the MS thought of it maketh me to shudder. Have it thy way, my son. But my heart is heavy with this disappointment. Leave me, and let me wear my spiritⒶalteration in the MS with weariness and waiting, even as I have done these ten long days, counterfeiting thus the thing that is called rest, the prone body making outward sign of repose where inwardly is none.”

Of course it would have been best, all round, for Merlin to waiveⒶalteration in the MS etiquette, and quit and call it half a day, sinceⒶalteration in the MS he would never be able to start that water, for he was a true magician of the time: which is to say, the big miracles, the ones that gave him his reputation, always had the luckⒶemendation to be performed when nobody but Merlin was present; he couldn’t start this well with all this crowd around to see; a crowd was as bad for a magician’sⒶalteration in the MS miracle in that day as it wasⒶalteration in the MS for a spiritualist’s miracle in mine:Ⓐalteration in the MS there wasⒶalteration in the MS sure to be some skeptic on hand to turn up the gas at the crucialⒶalteration in the MS moment and spoil everything. But I did not want Merlin to retireⒶalteration in the MS from the job until I was ready to take hold of it effectively myself; and I could not do that until I got my things from Camelot, and that would take two or three days.

My presence gaveⒶalteration in the MS the monks hope, and cheered them up a good [begin page 253]

deal; insomuch that they ate a square meal that night for the first time in ten days. As soon as their stomachs had been properly reinforcedⒶemendation with food, their spirits began to rise fast; when the mead began to go round, they rose faster. By the time everybody was half-seas over, the holy community was in good shape to make a night of it; so we stayed [begin page 254] by the board and put it through on that line. Matters got to be very jolly. Good old questionable stories were told that made the tears run down and cavernous mouths stand wideⒶalteration in the MS and the round bellies shake with laughter; and questionable songs were bellowed out in a mighty chorus that drowned the boom of the tolling bells.

At last I ventured a story myself;Ⓐemendation and vast was the success of it. Not right off, of course, for the native of those islands does not as a ruleⒶemendation dissolve upon the early applications of a humorous thing; but the fifth time I told it, they began to crack in places; the eighth time I told it, they began to crumble; at the twelfth repetition they fell apart in chunks; and at the fifteenth they disintegrated, and I got a broom and swept them up. This language is figurative. Those islanders—well, they are slow pay, at first, in the matter of return for your investment of effort, but in the end they make the pay of all other nations poorⒶalteration in the MS and small by contrast.Ⓐemendation Ⓐalteration in the MS

I was at the well next day betimesⒶemendation. Merlin was there, enchanting away like a beaver, but not raising the moisture. He was not in a pleasant humor; and every time I hinted that perhaps this contract was a shade too hefty for a noviceⒶemendation he unlimbered his tongue and cursed like a bishop—French bishop of the Regency days, I mean.

Matters were about as I expectedⒶemendation Ⓐtextual note to find them. The “fountain” was an ordinary well, it had been dug in the ordinary way, and stoned up in the ordinary way. There was no miracle about it. Even the lieⒶalteration in the MS that had created its reputation was not miraculous; I could have told it myself, with one hand tied behind me. The well was in a dark chamber which [begin page 255] stood inⒶalteration in the MS the centre of a cut stone chapel, whose walls were hung with pious pictures, of a workmanship that would have made a chromo feel good; pictures historically commemorative of curative miracles which had been achieved by the watersⒶalteration in the MS when nobody was looking. That is, nobody but angels: theyⒶemendation areⒶalteration in the MS always on deck when there is a miracle to the fore—so as to get put inⒶemendation the picture, perhaps. Angels areⒶemendation as fond of that as a fire companyⒶemendation; look at the oldⒶalteration in the MS masters.Ⓐalteration in the MS The well-chamberⒶtextual note was dimlyⒶalteration in the MS lighted by lamps; theⒶalteration in the MS water was drawn with a windlassⒶalteration in the MS and chain, by monks, andⒶalteration in the MS poured into troughs which delivered it into stone reservoirs outside, in the chapel—when there was water to draw, I mean—and none but monksⒶalteration in the MS could enter the well-chamber. I entered it, for I hadⒶalteration in the MS temporary authority to do so, by courtesy of my professional brother and subordinate. But he hadn’t entered it himself. He did everything by incantations; he never worked his intellect. If he had stepped in there and used his eyes, instead of his disordered mind, he could have cured the well by natural means, and then turned it into a miracle in the customary way; but no, he was an old numskull;Ⓐalteration in the MS a magician who believed in his own magic; and no magician can thrive who is handicappedⒶemendation with a superstition like that.

I hadⒶalteration in the MS an idea that the well had sprung a leak; that some of the wall stones near the bottom had fallen inⒶrejected substantive and exposed fissures that allowed the water to escape. I measuredⒶalteration in the MS the chain—98 feet. Then I called in a couple of monks, locked the door, took a candle,Ⓐalteration in the MS and made them lower me in the bucket. When the chain was all paid out, the candle confirmed my suspicion; a considerable section of the wall was gone, exposing a good big fissure.

I almost regretted that my theory about the well’s trouble was correct, because I had another oneⒶalteration in the MS that had a showy point or two about it for a miracle. I remembered that in America, many centuries later, when an oil well ceased to flow, they used to blast it out with a dynamite torpedo. If I should findⒶalteration in the MS this well dry, and no explanation of it, I could astonish these people most nobly by having a person of no especial value drop a dynamiteⒶemendation bomb into it. It was my idea to appoint Merlin. However, it was plain that there was no occasion for the bomb. One cannot have everything the way he would like it. A man has no business to be depressed by a disappointment, anyway; he ought to make up his mind to get even. That is what I did. I said to myself, I amⒶemendation in no hurry, I can wait; that bomb will come good, yet. And it did, too.Ⓐalteration in the MS

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WhenⒶalteration in the MS I was above ground again, I turned out the monks, and let down a fish-line: the well was a hundred and fifty feet deep, and there was forty-one feet of water in it! I called in a monk and asked:

“How deep is the well?”

“That, sir, I wit not, having never been told.”

“How does the water usually stand in it?”

“Near to the top, these two centuries, as the testimony goeth, brought down to us through our predecessors.”

It was true—as to recent times at least—for there was witness to it, and better witness than a monk: only about twenty or thirtyⒶalteration in the MS feet of the chain showed wearⒶalteration in the MS and use, the rest of it was unworn and rusty.Ⓐalteration in the MS What had happened whenⒶalteration in the MS the well gave out that other time?Ⓐalteration in the MS Without doubt some practical person had come along and mended the leak, and then had come up and told the Abbot he had discovered by divination that if the sinful bath were destroyed the well would flow again. The leak had befallen again, now, and these children would haveⒶalteration in the MS prayed, and processioned,Ⓐalteration in the MS and tolled their bellsⒶalteration in the MS for heavenly succor till they all dried up andⒶalteration in the MS blew away, and no innocent of them all would ever have thought to drop a fish-line into the well or go down in it and find out what was reallyⒶalteration in the MS the matter. Old habit of mind is one of the toughest things to get away from in the world. It transmits itself like physical form and feature; and for a man, in those days, to have had anⒶemendation Ⓐalteration in the MS idea that his ancestors hadn’t had, would have brought him under suspicion of being illegitimate. I said to the monkⒶalteration in the MS:

“It is a difficult miracleⒶalteration in the MS to restore water in a dry well, but we will try, if my brother Merlin fails. Brother Merlin is a very passable artist, but onlyⒶalteration in the MS in the parlor-magic lineⒶemendation, and he mayⒶalteration in the MS not succeed; in fact is not likely to succeed. But that should be nothing to his discredit; the man that can do this Ⓐalteration in the MS kind of miracle knows enough to keep hotel.”

“Hotel? I mind not to have heard—”

“Of hotel? It’s what you call hostel. The man that can do this miracle can keep hostel. I can do this miracle; I shall do this miracle; yet I do not try to conceal from you that it is a miracle to tax the occultⒶalteration in the MS powers to the last strain.”

“None knowethⒶalteration in the MS that truth better than the brotherhood, indeed; for it is of record that aforetime it was parlous difficult,Ⓐalteration in the MS and took a year. Natheless, God send you good success, and to that end will we pray.”

As a matter of business it was a good idea to get the notionⒶalteration in the MS around that the thing was difficult. Many a small thing has been made large by [begin page 257]

the right kind of advertising. That monk was filled up with the difficulty of this enterprise; he would fill up the others. In two days the solicitude would be booming.

On my way home atⒶalteration in the MS noon, I met Sandy. She had been sampling the hermits. I said:

“I would like to do that myself. This is Wednesday. Is there a matinéeⒶemendation?”

“A which, please you sir?”

“MatinéeⒶemendation. Do they keep open, afternoons?”

“Who?”

“The hermits, of course.”

“Keep open?”

“Yes—keep open. Isn’t that plain enough? Do they knock off at noon?”

“Knock off?”

“Knock off?—yes, knock off. What is the matter with knock off? I never saw such a dunderheadⒶemendation; can’t you understand anything at all? In plain terms, do they shut up shop, draw the game, bank the firesⒶalteration in the MS—”

[begin page 258]

“Shut up shop, draw—”

“There, never mind, let it go; you make me tired. You can’t seem to understand the simplest thing.”

“I would I might please thee, sir, and it is to me dole and sorrow that I fail, albeit sith I am but a simple damsel and taught of none, being from the cradle unbaptized in those deep waters of learning that do anointⒶalteration in the MS withⒶalteration in the MS a sovereignty him that partaketh of that most noble sacrament, investing him with reverend stateⒶalteration in the MS to the mental eye of the humble mortalⒶalteration in the MS who, by bar and lack of that great consecration seeth in his own unlearnedⒶalteration in the MS estate butⒶalteration in the MS a symbol of that other sort of lack and loss which men do publish to the pitying eye with sackcloth trappings whereon the ashes of grief do lie bepowdered and bestrewn, and so, when such shall in the darkness of his mind encounter these golden phrases of high mystery, these shut-up shops, and draw the game, and bank the fires, it is but by the grace of God that he burst not for envy of the mind that can beget, and tongue that can deliver so great and mellow-sounding miracles of speech, and if there do ensue confusion in that humbler mind, and failure to divine the meanings of these wonders, then if so be this miscomprehension is not vain but sooth and trueⒶtextual note, wit ye well it is the very substance of worshipful dearⒶalteration in the MS homage and may not lightly be misprized, nor had been, an ye had noted this complexion of my mood and mind and understood that that I would I could not, and thatⒶalteration in the MS I could not I might not, nor yet nor mightⒶalteration in the MS nor could, nor might-not nor could-not, might beⒶalteration in the MS by advantage turned to the desired would, and so I pray you mercy of my fault, and that ye will of your kindness and your charity forgive it, good my master and most dear lord.”

I couldn’t make it all out—that is, the details—but I got the general idea; and enough of it, too, to be ashamed. It was not fair to spring those nineteenth-century technicalities upon the untutored infant of the sixth, and then rail at her because sheⒶalteration in the MS couldn’t get their drift; and when she was making the honest best drive at it she could, too, and no fault of hers that she couldn’t fetch the home-plate; and so I apologized. Then we meandered pleasantly away toward the hermitholes in sociable converse together, and better friends than ever.

I was gradually coming to haveⒶalteration in the MS a mysterious and shuddery reverence for this girl; for nowadays, wheneverⒶalteration in the MS she pulled out from the station and got her train fairly started on one of those horizonless [begin page 259] trans-continental sentences of hers, it was borne in upon me that I was standing in the awful presence of the MotherⒶalteration in the MS of the GermanⒶalteration in the MS LanguageⒶemendation. I was so impressed with this, that sometimes when she began to empty one of theseⒶalteration in the MS sentences on me I unconsciously took the very attitude of reverence, and stood uncovered; and if words had been water, I had been drowned, sure. She had exactly the German way: whatever was in her mindⒶalteration in the MS to be delivered, whether a mere remark, or a sermon, or a cyclopedia, or the history of a war, she would get it into a single sentence or die. Whenever the literary German dives into a sentence,Ⓐalteration in the MS that is the last you are going to see of him till he emerges on the other side of his Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.Ⓐalteration in the MS

We drifted from hermit to hermit all the afternoon. It was a most strange menagerie. The chief emulation among them seemed to be, to see whichⒶalteration in the MS could manage to beⒶalteration in the MS the uncleanestⒶemendation, and most prosperous with vermin. Their manner and attitudes were the last expression of complacent self-righteousness. It was one anchorite’sⒶemendation pride to lie naked in the mud and letⒶalteration in the MS the insects bite him and blister him unmolested; it was another’s to lean against a rock, all day long, conspicuous to the admiration of the throngⒶemendation of pilgrims, and prayⒶemendation; it was another’s to go nakedⒶemendation, and crawl around on all foursⒶemendation; it was another’s to dragⒶemendation about with him, year in and year out, eighty pounds of iron;Ⓐemendation itⒶalteration in the MS was another’s to never lie down when he slept, butⒶemendation to stand among the thorn-bushes and snoreⒶemendation when there were pilgrims around to look;Ⓐtextual note aⒶemendation woman, who had the white hair of age, and no other apparelⒶemendation Ⓐalteration in the MS, was black from crown to heel with forty-seven years of holy abstinence from waterⒶemendation. GroupsⒶalteration in the MS of gazing pilgrims stood around all and every of these strange objectsⒶemendation, lost in reverent wonder, and envious of the fleckless sanctity which these pious austerities had won for them from an exacting heaven.Ⓐemendation Ⓐtextual note Ⓐalteration in the MS

By and by we went to see one of the supremely great ones.Ⓐemendation He was a mighty celebrity; his fame had penetrated all ChristendomⒶalteration in the MS; the noble and the renowned journeyed from the remotest lands on the globe to pay him reverence.Ⓐemendation Ⓐalteration in the MS His stand was in the centre of the widest part of the valley; and itⒶemendation took all that space to hold his crowdsⒶemendation.

His stand was a pillar sixty feet high, with aⒶalteration in the MS broad platform on the top of it.Ⓔexplanatory note He was now doing what he had been doing every day for twenty years up there—bowing his body ceaselessly and rapidly almost to his feet. It was his way of praying. I timed him with a stopwatch, and he made 1244 revolutions in 24 minutes and 46 seconds. It [begin page 260] seemed a pity to have all this power going to waste. It was one of the most useful motions in mechanics, the pedal-movement; so I made a note in my memorandum-book, purposing some day to apply a system of elastic cords to him and run a sewing machineⒶemendation Ⓔexplanatory note with it. IⒶemendation afterwards carried out that scheme, and got five years’ good service out of him; in which time he turned out upwards of eighteenⒶalteration in the MS thousand first-rate tow-linen shirts, which was ten a day. I worked him Sundays and all; he was going, Sundays, the same as week-days, and it was no use to waste the power. These shirts cost me nothing but just the mere trifleⒶalteration in the MS for the materials—I furnished those myself,Ⓐalteration in the MS it would not have been right to make him do that—and they sold like smoke to pilgrims at a dollar and a half apiece, which was the price of fifty cows or a bloodedⒶalteration in the MS race-horse in Arthurdom. They were regarded as a perfect protection against sin, and advertised as such by my knights everywhere, with the paint-Ⓐalteration in the MSpotⒶemendation and stencil-plate; insomuch that there was not a cliffⒶalteration in the MS or a boulder or a dead-wall in England but you could read on it at a mile distance:

“ Buy Ⓐalteration in the MS the Only Genuine St. Stylite; patronized by all Ⓐrejected substantive Ⓐalteration in the MS the Nobility Ⓐemendation. Patent applied for.”

There was moreⒶalteration in the MS money in the business than one knew what to do with. As it extended, I brought out a line of goods suitable for kings, and a nobby thing for duchesses and that sort, with ruffles down the fore-hatch, and the running-gear clewed up with a feather-stitch to leeward, and then hauled aft with a backstay and triced up with a half-turn in the standing rigging forward of theⒶalteration in the MS weather gaskets. Yes, it was a daisy.

But about that time I noticed that the motive power had taken to standing on one leg, and I found that there was something the matter with the otherⒶemendation Ⓐalteration in the MS one; so I stocked the businessⒶalteration in the MS and unloaded, taking Sir Bors de Ganis into campⒶalteration in the MS financially along with certain of his friends:Ⓐalteration in the MS for the works stopped within a year, and the good saint got him to his rest. But he had earned it. I can say that for him.

When I saw him that first time—however, his personal condition will not quite bear description here.Ⓐtextual note Ⓐalteration in the MS You can read it in the Lives of the Saints.*

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*All the details concerning the hermits, in this chapter, are from Lecky—but greatly modified. This book not being a history but only a tale, the majority of the historian’s frank details were too strong for reproduction in it.—Editor.Ⓐemendation