"Oh—ah—ugh!" spluttered the priest. "Alack! I have broken my bones, I sink in deep waters! And that accursed brute hath torn my new gown." "He meant no harm," said Jack. "He only wished to pull you out of the water and mud, which is deep enough to smother you." "Eh—oh—the tender mercies of the wicked! I am wet through—I shall catch my death." "You had best go home to my cottage and send for dry clothes, or go to bed while these are dried, good father," said the shepherd, who had just arrived at the scene of action. "Jack, run and tell Margery to have the bed ready and warmed, and then come back, and bring with you the bottle of strong waters your father brought me. It will revive his spirit, and keep him from taking cold. How is it with you now, Sir John? I trust you have no bones broken by your fall." [Illustration: "Oh—ah—ugh!" spluttered the priest. "Alack! I have broken my bones."] With many a sigh and many a dolorous groan, the unlucky father raised himself on his feet and ascertained, by stretching himself, that he had sustained no serious injury. "How did you fall?" asked the shepherd. "Ah—eh! It was the clod of earth that unlucky lad threw at me." "Were you behind the bush, then, father?" asked Jack, who had returned with the bottle and a cup, into which he was pouring a goodly portion of strong waters, alias brandy. "I humbly crave your pardon, but I took you for an owl." "An owl, indeed! An owl in the desert, a sparrow on the housetop," said the priest, quoting at random. "Do I look like an owl?" "Verily, I think you do, and a drowned owl at that," said Jack to himself. "I crave your pardon once more, father," said he aloud. "Pray you, drink this. It is good of its kind, for my father gets it of one of his cousins who trades with the Low Countries." The priest drank off the contents of the cup with a readiness and gusto which seemed to show that he was not altogether unaccustomed to such medicines. "Verily, thy father knows what is good," said he in a mollified tone, returning the cup and smacking his lips. "I would I could have to do with that same merchant, for the trader in Bridgewater sells villainous stuff, and wofully dear. Ah, alt that warms one's heart, certainly." "Take another portion, an't please you," said Jack, replenishing the cup once more. "When I return home, or have a chance of sending, I will ask my father to send your reverence a bottle, and I am sure he will do so with pleasure." "Thou art a good lad after all," said the priest, whom the second cup of spirits put into high good humor. "Only beware thou meddle not with things too high for thee, lest thou fall into the snare of the wicked; and the next time you throw a stone, see where it is going to light. Oh, I am marvellously restored. I think with the help of your arm, I could walk to the tree yonder where I left my mule."