the Lost Brother . 247

when ships sailed the seas with crews of dead
men, and when on land there was burying
without sorrow and flight without safety, for
though many fled they could not escape the
evil, and so many died that the wells of sor-
row ran dry. And because of the horror of
so many deaths, it was forbidden to toll the
bells any longer lest men should go mad.
Often no hand could be got for love or for
gold to touch the sick or to carry the departed
to their graves. When the graveyards were
filled, thousands were buried, without a
prayer or a last look, in deep trenches salted
with quicklime, on the commons or in an
open field. Many a street in many a town
fell suddenly silent and deserted, and grass
grew between the stones of the causeway.
Here and there fires were kept burning night
and day to purify the air, but this availed
little. In many a thorpe and village all the
inhabitants were swept away, and even rob-
bers and desperate vagrants were too greatly
in fear of infection to enter the ownerless
houses. Sometimes in the fields one saw
little children, and perchance an aged wo-
man, trying to manage a plough or to lead a
waggon.