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Toward this cheese house the Seneschal and the Apparitor walked

silently, each armed with an immense pole, as with a pike; after

them the housekeeper stole through the hemp, with the scullion, a

small but very strong lad. Arriving at the spot, they rested

their poles against the rotted top of the pillar, and, clinging

to the ends, pushed with all their might, as when boatmen with

long poles push from the bank into the deep water a barge that

has grounded on a reef.