&&000 Knight's Castle p3 &&111 It happened just the other day, to a boy named =Roger. Most of it happened to his sister =Ann, too, but she was a girl and didn't count, or at least that's what =Roger thought, or at least he thought that in the beginning. Part of it happened to his cousins =Jack and =Eliza, too, but they didn't come into it till later. =Roger and =Ann lived with their mother and father in a pleasant small house in a pleasant small city, and until the blow fell life was very pleasant. Their father was an understanding parent, often quite helpful and willing about such important things as building a rabbit hutch in the backyard or hanging the swing from the biggest oak tree. &&000 p24 &&111 Aunt =Katherine shook her head. "I thought =Ivanhoe," she said. =Roger's eyes glowed, for his father had read him the book last year. And everyone else had to admit that =Ivanhoe sounded just dandy. And it was. It was in glorious Technicolor, and it was just about as yeomanly as a movie could be. =Roger and =Ann sat enthralled, and so, surprisingly enough, did Aunt =Katherine. =Jack quite approved of the photography, and as for =Eliza, during the final combat between =Ivanhoe and the wicked Knight Templar she bounced up and down in her seat and muttered, "=Pow! =Zowie! =Wham" till everybody sitting around said, "=Shush," and Aunt =Katherine said, "Really, =Eliza!" &&000 p43 &&111 "Form bucket brigades," =Bois-Guilbert was saying! "Some in the dungeon and some in the fuel magazine. Observe fire prevention rules. Watch out for flying sparks! Put out any flames thou seest!" Some of the guards scurried off to do his bidding. "You can't do this; it's not in the book," cried =Roger, running up to =Bois-Guilbert! "What is this talk of books," said the Templar? "Out of my way!" He gave =Roger a push to one side, and turned to some of the others. "Fetch me hither the wounded knight =Rebecca hath been tending," he said grimly. "Stay not to be over-gentle with him, neither." &&000 p64 &&111 "What do you hope happens," she whispered? "I hope there's a battle and a siege and we get to rescue somebody from durance vile. Maybe we can fix it so =Ivanhoe marries =Rebecca, too." "=Shush," said =Ann. I wouldn't mind having a deadly combat with that =Brian, either," =Eliza went on, thoughtfully. "Move over. Your elbow's in my back." =Ann sighed, and squashed herself against the wall. But at long last sleep came up and knitted =Eliza's raveled sleeve of care, and after that =Ann was still awake for a while, and then all of a sudden she wasn't. When she woke up she knew it had begun. It was still dark in her room, and her bed hadn't turned into a plateau and was still just a bed, but somehow she knew it was time. She shook =Eliza. "Wake up," she said. &&000 p83 &&111 "Golly," said =Eliza! This adventure was getting better and better, after all. =Ann didn't think it was. She thought it was getting worse and worse. But before she could say so, there was an interruption. "That settles it," said =Rowena to =Ivanhoe! "You're not going gallivanting off into Outer Space after any old =Rebecca! Why, you might never come back!" "That's true," said =Ivanhoe, brightening and sounding as though he rather liked the idea. "I might never! Besides," he went on, "this giveth me a good chance to try out my Flying Saucer. I've always wanted to." "Flying Saucer," cried =Ann in utter alarm? "You don't mean one of those, do you? Don't look at me," she said quickly to =Roger! "I didn't put that in!" &&000 p104 &&111 "He striketh thrice," cried the first voice, in loud offical-sounding tones! "Out upon him!" Other voices interrupted angrily. "Nay," they cried! "A pox on thee! Twas a ball! Slay the Umpire!" And all the figures surged together in a quarreling knot. =Roger and =Ann and =Eliza came to a halt near some varlets who were looking on. "What's happening," =Roger asked one of them? "It be ye sport of Base Ball," said the Varlet. "The Norman team claimeth a ball but the Umpire saith them may. It be ye olde Rhubarb." "Good grief," said =Roger. "Has the siege come to this? This is worse than last time." &&000 p123 &&111 And he and =Roger and =Eliza and =Ann started walking across the lawn. But as they drew nearer the house it kept looking bigger and bigger, and the four children felt smaller and smaller in the middle of the vast grassy expanse. There were no fierce cries from within and nothing pounced at them out of the front door. But they felt better when they gained the shelter of a hedge at the side of the house. And beyond the hedge they saw a cellar window. The window was open what probably seemed only a crack to it, but to small =Ann and =Roger and =Jack and =Eliza it was a great yawning cavern. They slithered through the hedge, ran forward stealthily, crouched on the vast sill and looked into the room below. &&000 p144 &&111 The Old One gave him a rather sharp look. "Dost thou," he said? "Art thou sure?" Then his eyes grew dreamy and his voice seemed to come from farther away. "Meseemeth I remember an ancient rune for just such cases as thine," he murmured. "How didst it run? Ah yes." And he recited slowly: "Sword from stone the hero taketh -- Then the snowbound sleepers waketh! Wisdom then the hero learneth! Wishes then the hero earneth!" And after that he wouldn't say another word, and he grew cold and heavy as lead (which he was) in =Ann's hand. &&000 p163 &&111 And at that moment the portcullis went up, and =Ann and =Jack appeared in the opening. "Hi," said =Jack to =RobinHood. "Come on in. The battle was fine." And the gallant army trooped over the bridge, and the four cousins were reunited, and the voice of =Eliza rang loud on the courtyard air, as she boasted of her prowess upon the field. In the castle keep =Rowena came smiling up to them, carrying a banner she had hastily embroidered that said, "Victory!" She tried to fling herself into =Ivanhoe's arms, but =Rebecca was already there, and repulsed her. So then she came swarming up to =RobinHood and =Roger, but to no avail. She was roundly snubbed by everybody. &&000 p179 &&111 She hadn't done anything with them. She had cut them off, and then forgotten about them, and put them down somewhere. They finally turned up in the scullery, where the kitchenmaid had cut them up for dishcloths. King =Richard had them laundered, and =Rebecca tied them up in a neat package with =DeBracy's beard and the roses, which were sadly wilted by now. And then the four children said a fond good-by to =Ivanhoe and =Rebecca, who were anxious to depart on their honeymoon. "Now we'll never know what finally became of =Bois-Guilbert," said =Ann. "He's probably so reformed by now he probably won't be fit for normal life," said =Eliza. "He'll probably go enter a monastery." And I believe that is probably exactly what he did.