Ay, it has a long trot before it as it goes singing over our weir, bless its heart!' 'And what is the sea ?' asked Will.
'The sea!' cried the miller.

'Lord help us all, it is the greatest thing God made! That is where all the water in the world runs down into a great salt lake.

There it lies, as flat as my hand and as innocent-like as a child; but they do say when the wind blows it gets up into water- mountains bigger than any of ours, and swallows down great ships bigger than our mill, and makes such a roaring that you can hear it miles away upon the land.

There are great fish in it five times bigger than a bull, and one old serpent as lone as our river and as old as all the world, with whiskers like a man, and a crown of silver on her head.' Will thought he had never heard anything like this, and he kept on asking question after question about the world that lay away down the river, with all its perils and marvels, until the old miller became quite interested himself, and at last took him by the hand and led him to the hilltop that overlooks the valley and the plain.

The sun was near setting, and hung low down in a cloudless sky.