They ate and talked, with between their words silences of deep content.

They were two comrade hunters of long ago, cavemen who had dispossessed bear or wolf, who might presently with a sharpened bone and some red pigment draw bison and deer in procession upon the cave wall .-- They were skin-clad hillmen, shag-haired, with strange, rude weapons, in hiding here after hard fighting with a disciplined, conquering foe who had swords and shining breastplates and crested helmets .-- They were fellow-soldiers of that conquering tide, Romans of a band that kept the Wall, proud, with talk of camps and Caesars .-- They were knights of Arthur's table sent by Merlin on some magic quest .-- They were Crusaders, and this cavern an Eastern, desert cave .-- They were men who rose with Wallace, must hide in caves from Edward Longshanks .-- They were outlaws .-- They were wizards--good wizards who caused flowers to bloom in winter for the unhappy, and made gold here for those who must be ransomed, and fed themselves with secret bread.

The fire roared--they were happy, Ian and Alexander.
At last the fagots were burned out.

The half-murk that at first was mystery and enchantment began to put on somberness and melancholy.
They rose from the rocky floor and extinguished the brands with their feet.

But now they had this cavern in common and must arrange it for their next coming.