‘Do what?’ he said, and climbed the stile by the pollard oak.

‘Pretend to be Tom Shoesmith,’ said Dan, and they ducked to avoid the two little ashes that grow by the bridge over the brook.  Tom was almost running.

‘Yes.  That’s my name, Mus’ Dan,’ he said, hurrying over the silent shining lawn, where a rabbit sat by the big white-thorn near the croquet ground.  ‘Here you be.’  He strode into the old kitchen yard, and slid them down as Ellen came to ask questions.

‘I’m helping in Mus’ Spray’s oast-house,’ he said to her.  ’No, I’m no foreigner.  I knowed this country ’fore your mother was born; an’—­yes, it’s dry work oastin’, Miss.  Thank you.’

Ellen went to get a jug, and the children went in—­magicked once more by Oak, Ash, and Thorn!

A THREE-PART SONG

I’m just in love with all these three,
The Weald an’ the Marsh an’ the Down countrie;
Nor I don’t know which I love the most,
The Weald or the Marsh or the white chalk coast!

I’ve buried my heart in a ferny hill,
Twix’ a liddle low shaw an’ a great high gill. 
Oh, hop-bine yaller an’ woodsmoke blue,
I reckon you’ll keep her middling true!

I’ve loosed my mind for to out an’ run
On a Marsh that was old when Kings begun: 
Oh, Romney level an’ Brenzett reeds,
I reckon you know what my mind needs!

I’ve given my soul to the Southdown grass,
An’ sheep-bells tinkled where you pass. 
Oh, Firle an’ Ditchling an’ sails at sea,
I reckon you keep my soul for me!

THE TREASURE AND THE LAW

SONG OF THE FIFTH RIVER

When first by Eden Tree
The Four Great Rivers ran,
To each was appointed a Man
Her Prince and Ruler to be.

But after this was ordained,
(The ancient legends tell),
There came dark Israel,
For whom no River remained.

Then He That is Wholly Just
Said to him:  ’Fling on the ground
A handful of yellow dust,
And a Fifth Great River shall run,
Mightier than these four,
In secret the Earth around;
And Her secret evermore
Shall be shown to thee and thy Race.

So it was said and done. 
And, deep in the veins of Earth,
And, fed by a thousand springs
That comfort the market-place,
Or sap the power of Kings,
The Fifth Great River had birth,
Even as it was foretold—­
The Secret River of Gold!

And Israel laid down
His sceptre and his crown,
To brood on that River bank,
Where the waters flashed and sank,
And burrowed in earth and fell,
And bided a season below;
For reason that none might know,
Save only Israel.