They called unto the maidens, as they sprang upon the beach:
“Whither so fast are you fleeing, fair washers, we beseech?
We are far-off wanderers, as well our looks are showing;
Your linen may be stolen, if you leave it here, and from us in haste are going.”
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They kept their way still swiftly, as if they heard it not:
But yet the boisterous shouting had reached their ears, I wot.
The bold and knightly Herwic too roughly bade them hear him,
For he not yet mistrusted ’twas his betrothed that now he saw so near him.
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