eat as many as you liked without feeling as if you
were taking food out of the mouths of fourteen
people.
Every beautiful morning the Magic was worked
by the mystic circle under the plum-tree which
provided a canopy of thickening green leaves after
its brief blossom-time was ended. After the ceremony
Colin always took his walking exercise and
throughout the day he exercised his newly found
power at intervals. Each day he grew stronger
and could walk more steadily and cover more
ground. And each day his belief in the Magic
grew stronger -- as well it might. He tried one
experiment after another as he felt himself gaining
strength and it was Dickon who showed him the
best things of all.
"Yesterday," he said one morning after an absence,
"I went to Thwaite for mother an' near th'
Blue Cow Inn I seed Bob Haworth. He's the
strongest chap on th' moor. He's the champion
wrestler an' he can jump higher than any other
chap an' throw th' hammer farther. He's gone
all th' way to Scotland for th' sports some years.
He's knowed me ever since I was a little 'un an'
he's a friendly sort an' I axed him some questions.
Th' gentry calls him a athlete and I thought o'
thee, Mester Colin, and I says, 'How did tha'
make tha' muscles stick out that way, Bob? Did
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