30 
THE PIGEONS. 
strip of paper, and inclosed in a tiny gold box, 
as thin and light as the paper itself, which 
was hung round the neck of the bird. The 
hour of its coming and going was marked at 
each of the towers ; and, to avoid any mishap, 
a second pigeon was always despatched an 
hour or two after the first, and bearing a copy 
of the letter. This winged post was very 
swift, and very punctual; the bird flew at the 
rate of forty miles an hour, and if it had young 
ones to return to, it would fly swifter still. 
I might tell you many stories of the carrier 
pigeon ; * how, in a besieged city, every 
avenue might be blocked up, and sentinels 
keep guard round it, day and night ; but in 
some unlucky moment, a carrier pigeon would 
hover over it, and then suddenly drop down, 
and bear to its ^imaster the glad tidings of 
relief; and high born dames, in the olden 
days of chivalry, when fighting was always 
going on, used to look from their lattices for 
the return of the pigeon that was to bring 
them tidings of their knights ; and the poet, 
who never fought except in verse, delighted 
* Coluuiba Turcica Vulgaris. 
