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Show 85 The sack I carried wasn't heavy but the stones must have been, yet Gast stayed ahead of me with no effort. I was panting just trying to keep up to him, but Gast was not even breathing hard. How could a man with such a slight build be so strong, I wondered. We reached the bridge in good time. "Come underneath the arch with me and I will show you what it is we have taken," Gast said. "If you are a bit late getting back to the bake shop, you can tell Master Hermann that you delayed after mass to try to persuade me to attend church next Sunday, now that I am to be a citizen of Hamelin. He will never suspect that you were not there - don't you always stand in back with the servants while he is in front with the important people?" Had I told Gast that? I couldn't remember, but he always seemed to know everything. We sat cross-legged in the shadow of the arch. "First, the stones," Gast said. "Look closely at the larger one- what do you see?" "It's hollowed out in the middle." "And do you notice that the smaller stone fits perfectly into the hollow of the larger one?" "Yes. What are they for?" "These are grinding stones, the kind people used to grind their own grain before there came to be a mill beside each village." "Gast, if you want to grind this grain, why don't you just take it to the miller?" "Because the miller might mix this with his other flour," he |