There was silence for a time; then the stranger said, "Peter Simon Halket,
take a message to England"--Peter Halket started--"Go to that great people
and cry aloud to it: 'Where is the sword was given into your hand, that
with it you might enforce justice and deal out mercy? How came you to give
it up into the hands of men whose search is gold, whose thirst is wealth,
to whom men's souls and bodies are counters in a game? How came you to
give up the folk that were given into your hands, into the hand of the
speculator and the gamester; as though they were dumb beasts who might be
bought or sold?

"'Take back your sword, Great People--but wipe it first, lest some of the
gold and blood stick to your hand.

"'What is this, I see!--the sword of the Great People, transformed to
burrow earth for gold, as the snouts of swine for earth nuts! Have you no
other use for it, Great Folk?

"'Take back your sword; and, when you have thoroughly cleansed it and wiped
it of the blood and mire, then raise it to set free the oppressed of other
climes.

"'Great Prince's Daughter, take heed! You put your sword into the hands of
recreant knights; they will dull its edge and mar its brightness, and, when
your hour of need comes and you would put it into other hands, you will
find its edge chipped and its point broken. Take heed! Take heed!'

"Cry to the wise men of England: 'You, who in peace and calm in shaded
chambers ponder on all things in heaven and earth, and take all knowledge
for your province, have you no time to think of this? To whom has England
given her power? How do the men wield it who have filched it from her?