.
But here below him lay the harbour and the town, save for these evidences of joy surprisingly unchanged.
Why were the church bells ringing; the people shouting?
Could word have been carried to them?
He could not conceive how the news had managed to outstrip him.
He had left the people cheering; they were cheering still.

.

.

.

Were these ten years, then, but a grotesque and hideous dream?
He gazed down upon his wooden leg, stiffly protruding before him and pointing, as it were ironically, at the scene of which it shared no memories.
A moment later he lifted his head at the sound of hoofs galloping up the road towards him.