So,—"This gray place was famous once," said he—

And he began that legend of the place

As if in answer to the unspoken fear,

And told me all about a brave man dead,

Which lifted me and let my soul go on!

How did he know too—at that town's approach

By the rock-side—that in coming near the signs

Of life, the house-roofs and the church and tower,

I saw the old boundary and wall o' the world

Rise plain as ever round me, hard and cold,