"But do you know what they did to Peachey between two pine trees? They
crucified him, Sir, as Peachey's hand will show. They used wooden pegs for his
hands and feet; but he didn't die. He hung there and screamed, and they took
him down next day, and said it was a miracle that he wasn't dead. They took
him down--poor old Peachey that hadn't done them any harm--that hadn't done
them any--"
He rocked to and fro and wept bitterly, wiping his eyes with the back of his
scarred hands and moaning like a child for some ten minutes.
"They was cruel enough to feed him up in the temple, because they said he was
more of a God than old Daniel that was a man. Then they turned him out on the
snow, and told him to go home, and Peachey came home in about a year, begging
along the roads quite safe; for Daniel Dravot he walked before and said, 'Come
along, Peachey. It's a big thing we're doing.' The mountains they danced at
night, and the mountains they tried to fall on Peachey's head, but Dan he held
up his hand, and Peachey came along bent double. He never let go of Dan's
hand, and he never let go of Dan's head. They gave it to him as a present in
the temple, to remind him not to come again; and though the crown was pure
gold and Peachey was starving, never would Peachey sell the same.
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