All the hand-workers did
their work out of doors. In one place they were boiling crude oil; in
another tanning hides; in a third there was a long rope-walk.
If only the boy had had time enough he could have learned how to make
all sorts of things. Here he saw how armourers hammered out thin
breast-plates; how turners tended their irons; how the shoemakers soled
soft, red shoes; how the gold-wire drawers twisted gold thread, and how
the weavers inserted silver and gold into their weaving.
But the boy did not have the time to stay. He just rushed on, so that he
could manage to see as much as possible before it would all vanish
again.
The high wall ran all around the city and shut it in, as a hedge shuts
in a field. He saw it at the end of every street--gable-ornamented and
crenelated. On the top of the wall walked warriors in shining armour;
and when he had run from one end of the city to the other, he came to
still another gate in the wall. Outside of this lay the sea and
harbour. The boy saw olden-time ships, with rowing-benches straight
across, and high structures fore and aft. Some lay and took on cargo,
others were just casting anchor. Carriers and merchants hurried around
each other. All over, it was life and bustle.
But not even here did he seem to have the time to linger. He rushed into
the city again; and now he came up to the big square.
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