“‘I seek a set of teeth!’ he screamed as he ran. Up flew the windows, all the good folk roused from bed, rushing to see who could possibly be making such a racket. All along his way the people stared at him. They saw him take a torch from out of his pocket. They watched him set it aflame. They saw him touch it, hot and sputtering, to the tops of the fields of grain, to the hedges and trees.... He was setting fire to their valley! They rushed down, seized him, and stamped out the fearful blaze in just the nick of time.
“As for the toothless villain, he screamed with merry laughter when they caught him.
“‘Hee, hee, my Bright Eyes!’ he cried. ‘You have been spying on me all this while, eh? Your eyes are too bright. You have been watching my revenge upon my enemy, the King! Too bright, too bright! From now you shall be blind—fast blind—you and your wives and your sons and daughters and your neighbors. From the Vale of Bright Eyes you shall now become the Vale of the Blind. And yours shall henceforth be a valley of ruin and decay. Blind, blind—and never again shall you see the gold of the day or the silver of the moon until I come to give you back your eyes—your bright eyes—hee, hee, hee!’
“And thus he fled from us. For the dark of the blind had come over the valley many years ago ... and there is nothing left for us but tears.”
XVII
PETERKIN PROMISES
“AND so our valley has gone to rack and ruin,” concluded the blind man.
Peterkin was silent for some minutes after he had finished. Then he shook his head wisely, sadly.
“Can you wait four days until I rescue you?” he asked.