But now must I to
the way; for my heart tells me that there may have been tidings in
Burgstead this while I have been aloof.'
So they rose all three, and Bow-may said:
'Thou art a kind brother, and soon shall we meet again; and that will
be well.'
Then he put his hands on her shoulders and kissed both her cheeks;
and he kissed Wood-wise, and turned and went his ways, threading the
stony tangle about the Weltering Water, which was now at middle
height, and running clear and strong; so turning once he beheld Wood-
wise and Bow-may climbing the path up the side of the ghyll, and Bow-
may turned to him also and waved her bow as token of farewell. Then
he went upon his way, which was rough enough to follow by night,
though the moon was shining brightly high aloft. Yet as he knew his
road he made but little of it all, and in somewhat more than an hour
and a half was come out of the pass into the broken ground at the
head of the Dale, and began to make his way speedily under the bright
moonlight toward the Gate, still going close by the water. But as he
went he heard of a sudden cries and rumour not far from him, unwonted
in that place, where none dwelt, and where the only folk he might
look to see were those who cast an angle into the pools and eddies of
the Water.
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