`` Be it so , Hugh , '' answered Dick . `` Look ye , then , '' pursued Hugh . `` Sith it shall so be , unsling me your cross-bow -- so : now make it ready -- good ; place me a quarrel . Ay , keep it so , and look upon me grimly . '' `` What meaneth this ? '' asked Dick . `` Why , my master , if I steal you across , it must be under force or fear , '' replied the ferryman ; `` for else , if John Fenne got wind of it , he were like to prove my most distressful neighbour . '' `` Do these churls ride so roughly ? '' Dick inquired . `` Do they command Sir Daniel 's own ferry ? '' `` Nay , '' whispered the ferryman , winking . `` Mark me ! Sir Daniel shall down . His time is out . He shall down . Mum ! '' And he bent over his oars . They pulled a long way up the river , turned the tail of an island , and came softly down a narrow channel next the opposite bank . Then Hugh held water in midstream . `` I must land you here among the willows , '' he said .
`` Here is no path but willow swamps and quagmires , '' answered XXXXX .
Ay Daniel Dick Fenne Hugh churls cross-bow ferryman neighbour oars