Zigzag Journeys in Europe Part 19

"'What are you doing?' demanded the sheriff of one of the old men who was tugging away at a stone.

"'We are rolling stones up hill for day.'

"'You old fool!' said the sheriff. 'Go home and go to bed, and day will come itself.'

"'Why,' returned the man, as though greatly astonished, 'I never thought of that. How wise you be! You are the wisest man I ever did see!'

"'And what are _you_ doing?' asked the sheriff, of one of the young men.

"'We do the _grunting_,' was the prompt reply.

"'The old men do the lifting, and the young men do the grunting!'

exclaimed the sheriff. 'Well,' he added, in sudden good-humor, 'that is the way the world goes everywhere!' And he galloped away, leaving the men unharmed.

"The sheriff next met four old women, with brooms on their shoulders.

"'Whither away?' asked the sheriff.

"'To the priest's, to be married,' said they all.

"'To the priest's, to be married?'

"'We go every morning to be married,' answered one of the old crones, 'and we have been for the last forty years!'

"'Then why are you not married?'

"'The priest says that we do not bring the right thing. We carry something new every morning.'

"'But why do you not take a _man_?'

"'A MAN!' exclaimed the old woman, leaping straight into the air. 'A MAN? I never thought of that! How wise you be! Why, you are the wisest man that I ever did see!'

[Ill.u.s.tration: LIMESTONE DWELLINGS.]

"The sheriff next met some men who had started on a journey, each of whom carried on his back a door.

"'Why do you carry that door?' asked the sheriff of one of the travellers.

"'Left my money at home.'

"'Then why not leave the door at home too?'

"'Afraid of thieves.'

"'Afraid of thieves? Then leave your door at home to protect your money.'

"'They can't break in, because, you see, I've got the door.'

"'Leave your door at home, and take your money with you.'

"'I never thought of that. How wise you be! You are the wisest man that I ever did see!'

"The sheriff let the travellers pa.s.s on unmolested.

"'The people are all fools here,' he said.

"'It would be too bad to harm such simple people,' said his comrades.

"'Fools all,' said the sheriff.

"'Fools all,' said the hors.e.m.e.n.

"'Let us go back,' said the sheriff, 'and report to the king that the people in Gotham are fools.'

"'Right,' said the men.

"So they returned to the king, and reported that Gotham was a place of fools. And from these circ.u.mstances, or incidents like these, if I may believe an old tale, the men of that place were called, in derision, 'The Wise Men of Gotham,' from that day."

CHAPTER IX.

A SERIES OF MEMORABLE VISITS.

Tommy goes hunting.--"Peveril of the Peak."--The Boy at the Wheel.--Leamington.--Stratford-on-Avon.--Shakspeare's Birthplace, Garden, and Tomb.--Queer Relics.--Kenilworth.--Ernest's Alb.u.m of Leaves and Flowers.--Warwick Castle.--The Mighty Guy.--The Antique Portress.

Master Lewis gave the boys a couple of days in Nottingham to enjoy themselves as they liked.

Tommy Toby went _hunting_.

"I want to be able to tell people," he said, "that I have hunted in Sherwood Forest, the royal hunting-ground of English kings."

"In midsummer?" asked Master Lewis. "I fancy if you were to use a gun in the Forest of Sherwood, you might make a longer vacation abroad than you intended."

"I do not intend to use a gun. I have bought me a bow and some arrows."

"Let me see them," said Master Lewis. "They look very harmless, certainly." Master Lewis seemed to hesitate about making further objections.

Just what came of Tommy's hunting we cannot state at this stage of our narrative. He left the boys at the hotel, bow and arrows in hand, and saying as a word of parting,--

"'Let's go to the wood, said Richard to Robin.'"

He evidently went outside of the city into the wooded district, that was a part of old Sherwood Forest. When Master Lewis found that he had really gone out of the place he looked troubled, and said:--

"I should have prevented it."

Tommy returned late on the evening of the same day after a ten hours'