Except for the click of a rod hitting a low willow , or a switch and tussle among the young ash-leaves as a line hung up for the minute , nobody in the hot pasture could have guessed what game was going on among the trouts below the banks . ` We 've got half-a-dozen , ' said Dan , after a warm , wet hour . ' I vote we go up to Stone Bay and try Long Pool . ' Una nodded -- most of her talk was by nods -- and they crept from the gloom of the tunnels towards the tiny weir that turns the brook into the mill-stream . Here the banks are low and bare , and the glare of the afternoon sun on the Long Pool below the weir makes your eyes ache . When they were in the open they nearly fell down with astonishment . A huge grey horse , whose tail-hairs crinkled the glassy water , was drinking in the pool , and the ripples about his muzzle flashed like melted gold . On his back sat an old , white-haired man dressed in a loose glimmery gown of chain-mail . He was bare-headed , and a nut-shaped iron helmet hung at his saddle-bow . His reins were of red leather five or six inches deep , scalloped at the edges , and his high padded saddle with its red girths was held fore and aft by a red leather breastband and crupper . ` Look ! ' said Una , as though Dan were not staring his very eyes out . ` It 's like the picture in your room -- `` Sir Isumbras at the Ford '' . ' The rider turned towards them , and his thin , long face was just as sweet and gentle as that of the knight who carries the children in that picture . ` They should be here now , Sir Richard , ' said Puck 's deep voice among the willow-herb . ` They are here , ' the knight said , and he smiled at Dan with the string of trouts in his hand . ` There seems no great change in boys since mine fished this water . ' ` If your horse has drunk , we shall be more at ease in the Ring , ' said Puck ; and he nodded to the children as though he had never magicked away their memories a week before . The great horse turned and hoisted himself into the pasture with a kick and a scramble that tore the clods down rattling . ` Your pardon ! '
XXXXX Sir Richard to Dan .
's go guessed hoisted makes nodded said scalloped seems vote