“Come up hither!” said John Ball to Calote, and drew her after him to the top step of the cross. “Have a care, the stone 's slippery.”
So, when she was steadied at his side, he turned to the waiting villagers with:—
“Hark ye, good folk; I have no new thing to say. Hear this maid! 'T is Long Will's daughter of London; hath journeyed far and wide throughout England to learn men of fellowship. She shall speak.”
The people stared at him in wonder, and at her. Then he stepped down and left her alone.
She put the King's horn to her lips and blew a blast.
“My message is from the King,” she said. “He is on your side.”
There was a silence, and after, a shout.
“The King! God save the King!” they cried. “Speak!—speak!”
“The King is young, my brothers. He is a lad only; but he loveth his people. He knoweth what is to be bound; doth not he live in bondage likewise, and to these same nobles?”
“Death!—death!” they shouted, but she lifted up her hands to still them.