QUANTOCKS.
It would be long for me to tell how presently Owen called me in to
speak with the king, and how he owned me as his foster son in such
wise that Gerent smiled on him, and spoke most kindly to me as
though I had indeed been a kinsman of his own. And then, after we
had spoken long together, Thorgils was sent for, and he told the
tale of the end of Morgan plainly and in few words, yet in such
skilful wise that as he spoke I could seem to see once more our
hall and myself and Elfrida at the dais, even as though I were an
onlooker.
"You are a skilful tale teller," the king said when he ended. "You
are one of the Norsemen from Watchet, as I am told."
"I am Thorgils the shipmaster, who came to speak with you two years
ago, when we first came here. Men say that I am no bad sagaman."
"This is a good day for me," Gerent said, "and I will reward you
for your tale. Free shall the ship of Thorgils be from toil or
harbourage in all ports of our land from henceforward. I will see
that it is known."
"That is a good gift, Lord King," said the Norseman, and he thanked
Gerent well and heartily, and so went his way back to the guest
chambers with a glad heart.
Then Gerent said gravely:
"I suppose that there are men who would call all these things the
work of chance or fate. But it is fitting that vengeance on him who
wronged you should come from the hand of one whom you have cared
for. That has not come by chance; but I think it will be well that
it is not known here just at first whose was the hand that slew
Morgan."
"For fear of his friends?" asked Owen thoughtfully.
"Ay, for that reason. Overbearing and proud was he, but for all
that there are some who thought him the more princely because he
was so. And there are few who know that he did indeed try to end my
life, for I would not spread abroad the full shame of a prince of
our line. Men have thought that I would surely take him into favour
again, but that was not possible. Only, I would that he had met a
better ending."
The old king sighed, and was silent. Presently Owen said that I
must see to the men and horses, and I rose up to leave the chamber,
and then the king said:
"We shall see you again at the feast I am making for you all. Then
tomorrow you must take back as kingly a letter to Ina as he wrote
to me, and so return to Owen for as long as your king will suffer
you to bide with us."
So I went to the stables first of all, and there was Thorgils
bidding a Welsh groom to get out his horse while he took off the
arms that had been lent him from our armoury, for he was but half
armed when he came.
"There is no need to do that," I said; "for if Ina arms a man, it
is as a gift for service done, if he is not too proud to take it.
But are you not biding for the feast?"
"First of all," he said, laughing, "none ever knew a Norseman too
proud to accept good arms from a king. Thank Ina for me in all
form. And as to my going, seeing that tide waits for no man, if I
do not get home shortly I shall lose the tide I want for a bit of a
winter voyage I have on hand; wherefore I must go. Farewell, and
good luck to you. This business has turned out well, after all, and
a great man you will be in this land before long. Don't forget us
Norsemen when that comes about, and if ever you need a man at your
back, send for me. You might have a worse fence than my axe, and I
have a liking for you; farewell again."
I laughed and shook hands with him, and he swung himself into the
saddle and rode away.
There was high feasting that night in the guest hall of Norton, as
may be supposed. I sat on the left of the king, and Owen on his
right, while all the great men who could be summoned in the time
were present, and it was plain enough that the homecoming of their
lost prince was welcome to every one in all the hall. Not one dark
look was there as I scanned the bright company, and presently not
one refused to join in the great shout of welcome that rose when
Owen pledged them all.
It was a good welcome, and the face of the old king grew bright as
he heard it.
Then the harpers sang; I did not think their ways here so pleasant
as our own, where the harp goes round the hall, and every man takes
his turn to sing, or if he has no turn for song, tells tale or asks
riddle that shall please the guests. Certainly, these Welsh folk
were readier to talk than we, and maybe the meats were more dainty
and the wines finer than ours, and in truth the Welsh mead was good
and the Welsh ale mighty, but men seemed to care little for the
sport that should come after the meal was over. Yet these harpers
sang well, and from them I learnt more about my foster father than
he had ever cared to tell me, for they sang of old deeds of his.
Doubtless they made the most of them, for it would seem from their
songs that he had fought with Cornish giants as an everyday thing,
and that he had been the bane of more than one dragon. But one
knows how to sift the words of the gleeman's song, and they told me
at least that Owen had been a great champion ere he left his home.
Still, I missed the bright fire on the hearth, and the ways of the
court were too stately for me here. Men seemed not to like the
cheerful noise of my honest house-carles, who jested and laughed as
they would have done in the hall of Ina, who loved to see and hear
that his men were merry. We should have thought that there was
something wrong if there had not been plenty of noise at the end of
the long tables below the salt.
Now, I will not say that there was not something very pleasant in
sitting here at the side of the king as the most honoured guest
next to my foster father, but there was a sadness at the back of it
all in the knowledge that it was likely that from henceforth our
ways must needs go apart more or less, and that I might see him
only from time to time. For I was Ina's man, and a Saxon, and it
could not be supposed that I should be welcome here. I knew that I
must go back to my place, and he must bide in his that he had found
again, and so there was the sorrow of parting to spoil what might
else have made me a trifle over proud.
Gerent did not stay long at the feast, nor did the ladies who were
present, and Owen and I stayed for but a little while after they
had gone. Then we were taken in all state to the room where we
should sleep, and so for the first time I was housed within stone
walls. There were a sort of wide benches along the walls covered
with skins and bright rugs for us to sleep on, but after I had
helped Owen to his night gear I took the coverings that were meant
for me and set them across the door on the floor and so slept. For
I had a fear of treachery and the friends of Morgan.
It was in my mind to talk for a while before rest came, but Owen
would not suffer me to do so, saying that it was best to sleep on
all the many things that happened before we thought much of what
was to be done next. So I wrapt myself in my rugs on the strangely
warm floor and went to sleep at once, being, as may be supposed,
fairly tired out with the long day and its doings. More than that
little space of time it seemed since we left Glastonbury, and even
my meeting with Elfrida was like a matter of long ago to me.
There was a bronze lamp burning with some scented oil, hanging from
the ceiling, which seemed so low after our open roofs, and we had
left it alight, as I thought it better to have even its glimmer
than darkness, here in this strange house. And presently I woke
with a feeling that this lamp had flared up in some way, shining
across my eyes, so that I sat up with a great start, grasping my
sword hastily. But the lamp burned quietly, and all that woke me
was the light of a square patch of bright moonlight from a high
window that was creeping across the broad chest of Owen as he
slept, and had come within range of my eyelids, for my face was
turned to him. The room was bright with it, and for a little I
watched the quiet sleeper, and then I too slept, and woke not again
until Owen roused me with the daylight from the same window falling
on his face.
"That is where I should have slept," I said, "for it is my place to
wake you, father."
He laughed, and said that it was his place in the old days, and
there was a sigh at the back of the laugh as he thought of those
times, and then we forgot the whole thing. Yet though it seems a
little matter in the telling, in no long time I was to mind that
waking in a strange way enough, and then I remembered.
We must part presently, as I found, at least for a little while.
There was no question but that Owen would stay at the court here,
and so Gerent had ready for me a letter which I should carry back
to Ina at once. He spoke very kindly to me at that time, giving me
a great golden bracelet from his own arm, that I might remember to
come back to bide for a time with him ere long. And then we broke
our fast, and my men were ready, and I parted from my foster father
in the bright morning light that made the white walls of the old
palace seem more wonderful to me than ever.
"Farewell, then, for a while," he said to me; "come back as soon as
Ina will spare you. There will be peace between him and Gerent now,
as I think."
Then came a man in haste from out of the gateway where we stood
yet, and he bore a last gift from Gerent to me. It was a beautiful
wide-winged falcon from the cliffs of Tintagel in the far west,
hooded and with the golden jesses that a king's bird may wear on
her talons.
"It is the word of the king," said the falconer, "that a thane
should ride with hawk on wrist if he bears a peaceful message.
Moreover, there will be full time on the homeward way for a flight
or two. Well trained she is, Master, and there is no better passage
hawk between here and Land's End."
That was a gift such as any man might be proud of, and I asked Owen
to thank the king for me. And so we parted with little sorrow after
all, for it was quite likely that I should be back here in a day or
two for yet a little while longer with him.
So I and my men were blithe as we rode in the still frosty air
across the Quantocks by the way we had come, and by and by, when we
gained the wilder crests, I began to look about me for some chance
of proving the good hawk that sat waiting my will on my wrist.
Soon I saw that the rattle and noise of men and horses spoiled a
good chance or two for me, for the black game fled to cover, and
once a roe sprang from its resting in the bushes by the side of the
track and was gone before I could unhood the bird.
"Ho, Wulf!" I cried to one of the men who was wont to act as
forester when Ina hunted, "let us ride aside for a space, and then
we will see what sort of training a Welshman can give a hawk."
So we put spurs to our horses and went on until they were a mile
behind us, and then we were on a ridge of hill whence a long wooded
combe sank northward to the dense forest land at the foot of the
hills, and there we rode slowly, questing for what might give us a
fair flight. Bustard there were on these hills, and herons also,
for below me I could see the bare branches of the tree tops on
which the broad-winged birds light at nesting time, twigless and
skeleton-like. For a while we saw nothing, however, and so rode
wide of the track, across the heather, until we found the woodland
before us, and had to make our way back to the road, which passed
through it. But before we came in sight of the road, from almost
under my feet, a hare bolted from a clump of long grass, and made
for the coverts. I cast off the hawk and shouted, but we were too
near the underwood, and it seemed that the hare would win to cover
in time to save herself.
Yet in a moment the hare was back again out of the cover, and
running along its edge in the open as though she had met with
somewhat that she feared even more than the winged terror which she
had so nearly baffled. And that was strange, for it is hard to get
a hare to stir from her seat if there is a hawk overhead, so that
sometimes men have even picked up the timid beast from her place.
"There is a fox in the underwood, and she has seen him," I cried,
and then forgot all about the strangeness of the matter in watching
the stoop of the ready hawk, who waited only for one more chance.
Not far did the hare win this time. The hawk swooped and took her
close to the edge of the wood, and I rode quickly to take the bird
again and give her her share of the quarry. And then, while my eyes
were fixed on her, and I was just about to dismount, I was aware of
something like a streak of light that flew from the underwood
toward me, and suddenly my horse reared wildly, and fell back on
me, pinning me to the ground.
At the same moment I heard Wulf roaring somewhat, and then he was
between me and the cover, and I saw him, through the dazedness of
my eyes with the fall, dismount and unsling his shield from his
back, with his eyes ever on the wood. Then an arrow struck the
ground close to me, and I heard another smite Wulf's shield with
the clap that no warrior can mistake. At that his steed took fright
and left us.
"Get my horn and wind it," I said, struggling to get free from the
horse. It was no mean bowman who had sent that first arrow, for the
poor beast never moved after it fell, and had spent its last
strength in rearing.
"That is crushed flat, Master," Wulf said between his teeth, and he
tried to lift the weight that was on me.
Then the arrows came thickly again, and he crouched over me with
the shield, behind the horse. It was lucky that I was almost
covered by it as I lay, for it was between me and the wood. I
writhed and struggled and at last I was free again, and Wulf helped
me to get my own shield from my back as I rose, and then we stood
back to back and looked for our foes.
"Morgan's people, I suppose," I said. "We should not have left the
men, for I knew that he was leagued with Quantock outlaws."
"A nidring set, too," said Wulf savagely. "Can't they show
themselves?"
As if the men had heard him, they came from the cover even as he
spoke. There were more than I could count after a few moments, for
they poured out in twos and threes from all along the edge of the
wood, and came cautiously toward us, in such wise as to surround
us. Wild looking men they were, with never a helm or mail shirt
among them, but they were all well armed enough with bow and spear
and seax, and more than one had swords.
Then I looked round to see if I could see my men coming, and my
heart sank. We were hidden from the road by the crest of the hill,
and I knew that the flight of the hawk had led us some way from it.
We could not be less than a full mile from them at the rate we had
ridden, and I did not think it likely that they had hurried after
us, for they would not spoil sport.
Now the men were round us in a ring that was closing quickly, and
Wulf and I had our swords out and were back to back facing them.
Not a word had been said on either side, and I was not going to
begin to talk to outlaws. If they had anything to say they might
say it. But they had not, and I knew that they would make a rush on
us directly.
One who seemed to be the leader whistled sharply, and the rush came
with a wild howl and flight of ill-aimed spears that were of no
harm. The circle was too close for a fair throw at us, lest the
weapon should go too far. I had time to catch one as it passed me,
and send it back with the Wessex war shout, and there was one man
less against us.
I think that I cut down one or two after that, and then I felt Wulf
reel and prop himself against me. Then I had a score of men
crowding on me, and they clogged my sword arm and gripped my shield
and tore it aside, and then from behind or at the side one smote me
on the head with a club or a stone hammer, and I went down. I heard
one cry that I was not to be slain, as I fell.
Then Wulf stood over me for a little while and fought all that
crowd, until he was on his knees at my side, and my senses were
coming back to me. Then he fell over me, and the men threw
themselves on me and pinioned me and thrust something into my mouth
and then bound me.
I knew that Wulf was slain at that time, and that he had given his
life for me. That was what he would have wished to do, but in my
heart there grew a wild rage with these men and with myself for my
carelessness that had led us into their hands.
Now they dragged me into the cover, and thither also they brought
Wulf and the fallen men, and for a little while all sat silent, and
soon I knew what they were waiting for. I heard the voices of my
men and the very click and rattle of their arms as they trotted
slowly through the wood along the road, and I tried to shout to
them, but the gag would not let me. So their sounds died away
beyond the hill, and after them crept some of the foe, to see that
they did not halt or turn back, as one may suppose. I thought how
that they had at least three miles to ride before they could come
to any place whence they could see that I and Wulf were not before
them, and then, when they missed us, how were they to begin to seek
us?
I suppose that my wits were sharpened with my danger, for I saw one
thing that might help them even while I was thinking this. My hawk
had gorged herself with her prey when the fight had turned aside
from her, and so she was sitting sleepily and contented on the high
bough of one of the trees that stood at the wood's edge. And she
still had her jesses on, so that my men would know her if they
caught sight of her by any chance.
Now the men who had me, being sure that all fear was past, began to
talk of what was to be done next, and they spoke in Welsh, plainly
thinking that I could not understand them. There were three or four
who seemed to take the lead under the one who had given the signal
for attack, and the rest gathered round them.
At first they were for killing me offhand as it seemed, but the
leader would not hear of that.
"Search him first, and let us see who he is," he said. "We may have
caught the wrong man, after all."
So they came to me and searched my pouch and thrust their grimy
hands into the front of my byrnie, and there they found the king's
letter, which they seized with a shout of delight. Then they took
my arms, wondering at the sword with its wondrous hilt. Only my
ring mail byrnie they could not take from me, as they feared to
untie my arms.
"Not much would I give for your life if this warrior got loose,"
said one of them to that one who had the letter. "See how he glares
at you."
And true enough that was, moreover. I should surely have gone
berserk, like the men Thorgils told me of as we rode yesterday, had
I been able to get free for a moment.
They took my belongings to the leaders, and they asked for some one
who could read the letter, and there was none, even as I had
expected, so that I was glad.
"It does not matter much," the leader said; "doubtless it has a
deal of talk in it which would mean nought to us. We will have it
read the next time one of us goes to the church," and with that he
grinned, and the others laughed as at a good jest. "Let me look at
the sword he wore."
He looked and his eyes grew wide, and then he whistled a little to
himself. The others asked him what was amiss.
"If we have got Owen's son, we have taken Ina's own sword as well,"
he said. "Many a time have I seen the king wear it before the law
got the best of me. It is not to be mistaken. Now, if we are not
careful we have a hornets' nest on us in good truth. Ina does not
give swords like this to men he cares nought for, and there will be
hue and cry enough after him, and that from Saxon and Welsh alike."
"Kill him and have done. That is what we meant to do when we laid
up for him."
So said many growling voices, and I certainly thought that the end
was very near.
"Ay, and have ourselves hung in a row that will reach from here to
the bridge," the leader said coolly. "Mind you this, that with the
Welsh up against us we cannot get to Exmoor, and with the Saxons
out also we cannot win to the Mendips, as we have done before now."
"There is the fen."
"And all the fenmen Owen's own men. Little safety is there in
that."
"But he slew Morgan, as they say."
"Worse luck for Morgan therefore. What is that to you and me, when
one comes to think of it?"
Now I began to understand the matter more or less. It seemed to me
that these were Morgan's outlaws, and that somehow they had heard
all the story. No doubt that was easy enough, for it would be all
over Norton before the night was very old after our coming. And
these outlaws have friends everywhere. So they had laid up for me,
and now the leader was frightened, as it would seem, or else he had
some other plan in his head. It did not seem that he had wished me
to be slain, from the first, if it could be helped. Maybe the
others had forced him to waylay me. A leader of outlaws has little
hold on his men.
"Let him swear to say nought of us, and let him go then," one of
the other leaders said in a surly way.
Then the chief got up and laughed at them all.
"There are six of us slain and a dozen with wounds, and we will
make him pay for that and for Morgan as well before we have done
with him. Now we must not bide here, or we shall have his men back
on us, seeking him. Let us get away, and I will think of somewhat
as we go. There is profit to be made out of this business, if I am
not mistaken."
Then they brought my man's horse, which they had caught, and set me
on it, making my feet fast under the girth. The men who had fallen
they hid in the bushes, and it troubled me more than aught to think
that Wulf should lie among them. My horse they dragged into a
hollow, and piled snow over him. Then they went swiftly down the
hillside into the deep combe, leaving only the trampled and
reddened snow to tell that there had been a fight.
I had a hope for a little while that the track they left would be
enough for my men to follow if they hit on it, but there was little
snow lying in the sheltered woodlands, and there the track was
lost. And these men scattered presently in all directions, so that
trace of them was none. Only the leader and some dozen men stayed
with me.
So they took me for many a long mile, always going seaward, until
we were in a deep valley that bent round among the hills until its
head was lost in their folds, and there was some sort of a camp of
these outlaws sheltered from any wind that ever blew, and with a
clear brook close at hand. All round on the hillsides was the
forest, but there was one landmark that I knew.
High over the valley's head rose a great hill, and on that was an
ancient camp. It was what they call the "Dinas," the refuge camp of
the Quantock side, which one can see from Glastonbury and all the
Mendips.
Here they took me from the horse and bound my feet afresh, and took
the gag from my mouth and set me against a tree, and so waited
until the band had gathered once more, lighting a great fire
meanwhile. Glad enough was I of its warmth, for it is cold work
riding bound through the frost.
When that was done the leader bade some of those with him fetch the
goods to this place, and catch some ponies ready against the
journey. I could not tell what this might mean, but I thought that
they had no intention of biding here, and I was sorry in a dull
way. It had yet been a hope that they might be tracked by my men
from the place of the fight.
After these men had gone hillward into the forest, others kept
coming in from one way or another until almost all seemed to have
returned.
One by one as these gathered, they came and looked at me, and
laughed, making rough jests at me, which I heeded not at all, if
they made my blood boil now and then. Once, indeed, their leader
shouted roughly to them to forbear, when some evil words came with
a hoarse gust of laughter to his ears, and they said under their
breath, chuckling as at a new jest:
"Evan has a mind to tell Tregoz that he treated the Saxon well,"
and so left me. It seemed to me that I had heard that name at
Norton.
When the best part of the band had gathered again they lit another
fire fifty yards from me, and round it they talked and wrangled for
a good half hour. It was plain that they were speaking about me and
my fate, but I could hear little of what they said.
The leader took not much part in the talk at first, but let the
rest have their say. And when they had talked themselves out, as it
were, he told them his plans. I could not hear them, but the rest
listened attentively enough, and at the end of his speech seemed to
agree, for they laughed and shouted and made not much comment.
Then the leaders got up and came and looked at me.
"Tell him what we are going to do with him, Evan," one said to the
chief.
So Evan spoke in the worst Saxon I had ever heard, and I thought
that it fitted his face well.
"No good glaring in that wise," he said; "if you are quiet no harm
will come to you. We are going to hold you as a hostage until your
Saxon master or your British father pay ransom for you, and inlaw
us again. That last is a notion of my own, for I am by way of being
an honest man. The rest do not care for anything but the money we
shall get for you from one side or the other, or maybe from both.
By and by, when we have you in a safe place, you shall write a
letter for us to use, and I will have you speak well of me in it,
so that it shall be plain that you owe your life to me, and then I
shall be safe. That is a matter between you and me, however. None
of these knaves ken a word of Saxon."
I suppose that I showed pretty plainly what I thought of this sort
of treachery to his comrades, for one of the others laughed at me,
and said:
"Speak him fair, Evan, speak him fair, else we shall have trouble
with him."
"I am just threatening him now," the villain said in Welsh--"after
that is time to give him a chance to behave himself," and then he
went on to me in Saxon: "Now, if you will give your word to keep
quiet and go with me as a friend I will trust you, but if
not--well, we must take you as we can. How do you prefer to go?"
He waited for an answer, but I gave him none. I would not even seem
to treat with them.
"Don't say that I did not give you a chance," he said; "but if you
will go as a captive, that is your own fault."
And as I said nothing he turned away, and said to the rest:
"We shall have to bind him. He will not go quietly."
"How shall we get him on board as a captive?" one asked.
"That would be foolishness," Evan said; "the next thing would be
that every one would know who the captive that was taken out of
Watchet was. I have a better plan than that. We will tie him up
like a sorely wounded man, and so get him shipped carefully and
quietly with no questions asked."
"Well, then, there is no time to lose. We must be at the harbour in
four hours' time at the latest. Tide will serve shortly after
that," one of the others said. "What about the sword?--shall we
sell it to the Norsemen?"
"What! and so tell all the countryside what we have been doing?--it
is too well known a weapon. No, put it into one of the bales of
goods, and I can sell it safely to some prince on the other side.
No man dare wear it on this, but they will not know it there, or
will not care if they do. Now get a litter made, and bring me some
bandages."
It seemed to me to be plain that they would try to get me across
the channel into Wales, or maybe Ireland, and my heart sank. But
after all, Owen would gladly pay ransom for me, and that was the
one hope I had. And then I wondered what vessel they had ready, and
all of a sudden I minded that Thorgils had spoken of a winter
voyage that he was going to take on this tide, and my heart leapt.
It was likely that these men were going to sail with him, so I
might have a chance of swift rescue.
Now Evan went to work on me with the help of one of his men, who
seemed to know something of leech craft.
"This," said Evan, "is a poor friend of mine who has met with a bad
fall from his horse. His thigh is broken and his shoulder is out.
Also his jaw is broken, because the horse kicked him as he lay. For
the same reason he is stunned, and cannot move much. It is a bad
case altogether," and he grinned with glee at his own pleasantry.
Then they fitted a long splint to my right leg from hip to ankle,
so that I was helpless as a babe in its swaddlings, and made fast
the other leg to that. They did not do more than loosen the cords
that bound me just enough to suffer them to pass the bandages round
until the splint was on, and the other men stood in a ring and
gibed at me all the time. After that they bandaged my right arm
across my chest as if for a slipped shoulder, but under the
bandages were cords that pinioned my elbows to one another across
my back, so that I could only move my left forearm. Evan said that
he would tie that also if need was, but it might pass now. I could
not reach my mouth with this free hand, if I did try to take out a
gag.
Next they bandaged my head and chin carefully, so that only my eyes
were to be seen. I suppose that I might be thankful that they left
my mouth uncovered more or less. And Evan said that he would gag me
by and by.
"No need to discomfort him more than this now," he added. "Maybe he
will be ready to promise silence when he has gone some time in this
rig."
By this time some had caught half a dozen hill ponies, and on them
they loaded several bales of goods, which I thought looked like
those of some robbed chapman, and I have reason to think that they
were such. They opened one of these, and in it they stowed my sword
and helm and the great gold ring that Gerent gave me. There was
some argument about this, but the leader said that it was better to
sell it for silver coin which they could use anywhere.
Now Evan and two others dressed themselves afresh, and washed in
the brook. One would have taken them for decent traders when that
was done, for they were soberly clad in good blue cloth jerkins,
with clean white hose, and red garterings not too new. Good cloaks
they had also, and short seaxes in their belts. Only Evan had a
short Welsh sword, and the peace strings of that were tied round
the hilt. I wondered where the bodies of the honest men they had
taken these things from were hidden in the wild hills.
Half a dozen of the best clad of the other men took boar spears,
and so they were ready for a start, for all the world like the
chapmen they pretended to be. They put me into the litter they had
ready then, and four of the men were told off to bear me,
grumbling. It was only a length of sacking made fast to two stout
poles, and when they had hoisted me to their shoulders a blanket
was thrown over me, and a roll of cloth from one of the bales set
under my head, so that I might seem to be in comfort at least.
Then the band set out, and we went across the hills seaward and to
the west until we saw Watchet below us. There was a road somewhere
close at hand, as I gathered, for we stopped, and some of the
rabble crept onward to the crest of the hill and spied to see if it
was clear. It was so, and here all the band left us, and only Evan
and the other two seeming merchants went on with their followers,
who bore me and led the laden ponies. The road had no travellers on
it, as far as I could see, nor did we meet with a soul until we
were close into the little town that the Norsemen had made for
themselves at the mouth of a small river that runs between hills to
the sea.
Maybe there were two score houses in the place, wooden like ours,
but with strange carvings on the gable ends. And for fear, no
doubt, of the British, they had set a strong stockade all round the
place in a half circle from the stream to the harbour. There were
several long sheds for their ships at the edge of the water, and a
row of boats were lying on a sort of green round which the houses
stood with their ends and backs and fronts giving on it, as each
man had chosen to set his place.