WOODS.
I thought Pembroke a very pleasant place when I came to see it in
the fair winter's morning. The gale had passed, but it had brought
a thaw with it, and there was a softness in the air again, and the
light covering of snow had gone when I first looked abroad. There
had been no such heavy fall here as we had in Wessex beyond the
sea.
Maybe pleasant companionship had something to do with my thought of
the place, for none can deny that a good deal does depend on who is
with one. And, seeing that after the morning meal her father was
busy with his counsellors for a time, Nona the princess would shew
me all that was to be seen while we waited the coming of Thorgils.
Whoever chose the place for the building of this palace stronghold
chose well, for it is set on a rocky tongue of land that divides
the waters of an inland branch of the winding Milford Haven, so
that nought but an easily defended ridge of hill gives access to
the fortress. All the tongue itself has sheer rock faces to the
water, and none might hope to scale them. They and the wall across
the one way from the mainland, as one may call it, make Howel's
home sure, and since the coming of the Danes into the land he had
strengthened what had fallen somewhat into decay in the long years
of peace that had passed.
We had never reached Dyfed, either from land or sea. So I saw hawks
and hounds, stables and guardrooms and all else, and at last we
walked on the terraced edge of the cliffs in the southern sun, and
there a man came and said that Thorgils the Norseman had come.
"Oh," said Nona with a little laugh, "he knows not that you are
here! Let us see his face when he meets you!"
"The prince is busy," said the servant. "Is it your will that the
stranger should be brought here?"
"Yes, bring him. Tell him that I would speak with him, but say
nought of any other."
The man bowed and went his way, and the princess turned to me with
a new look of amusement on her face.
"Pull that cloak round you, Thane, and pay no heed to him when he
comes; we may have sport."
They had given me a long Welsh cloak of crimson, fur bordered, and
a cap to wear with it instead of my helm. And of course I had not
on my mail, though Ina's sword was at my side, and Gerent's
bracelet on my arm, setting off a strange medley of black-and-blue
bruises and red chafed places from the cords, moreover. So I
laughed, and did as she bade me, even as I saw Thorgils brought
round the palace toward us from the courtyard where they had taken
charge of his horse. There were two other men with him, tall, wiry
looking warriors, and all three were well armed, but in a fashion
which was neither Welsh nor Saxon, but more like the latter than
the former.
"Danes from Tenby," said Nona; "I know them both, and like them.
See what wondrous mail they have, and look at the sword hilt of the
elder man. That is Eric, the chief, and I think he comes to speak
with my father."
The two Danes hung back as they saw that Howel was not present, but
Thorgils unhelmed and came forward quickly, with the courtly bow he
knew how to make when he chose, as he saluted the princess. Then he
turned slightly to me with his stiff salute, and as I nodded to him
I saw him start and look keenly at me. Then he looked away again,
and tried to seem unheeding, but it was of no use; his eyes came
back to me.
"You seem to have met our friend before, Shipmaster," said Nona,
whose eyes were dancing.
"I cannot have done so, Princess," he answered. "But on my word, I
never saw so strange a likeness to one I do know."
"I trust that is a compliment to my friend," she said.
"Saving the presence of the one who is like the man I know, I may
say for certain that it is nought else to him."
I turned away somewhat smartly, for I wanted to laugh, and this was
getting personal. The princess was not unwilling, I think, that it
should be more so.
"Now you have offended the present, and I shall have to say that
the absent need not be so."
"Nor the present either, Princess. See here, Lord, the man you are
so wondrous like in face did the bravest deed I have seen for many
a day. Moreover, he saved the life of a king thereby. Shall I tell
thereof?"
Now this was a new tale to Nona, for, as may be supposed, I had not
said that it was myself who handled Morgan so roughly, as I told
the tale of his end. It would have seemed like boasting myself
somewhat, as I thought, so I did but say that he was dragged away
from the king in time. Nor had I spoken of Elfrida. The tale was
told hurriedly, and when it was done there had been no thought but
of Owen. It was greater news here that he lived than that Ina had
narrowly escaped.
So she glanced round at me in some surprise, and then turned again
to Thorgils.
"Some time you shall, for I love your songs. Not now, for we have
not time."
"Thanks, Lady. It will be a good song, and is shaping well in my
mind. There is a brave lady therein also."
"Well, you have not told us who the brave man is.
"Did I not know that Oswald, son of Owen the Cornish prince, was by
this time in Glastonbury, I should have said he was here, so great
is the likeness. It is a marvel.
"Now, Lord, you will forgive me, no doubt."
"Ay, freely," I said, turning round sharply. "That is, if your
friend has a sword as good as this," and I shewed him the gemmed
hilt of Ina's gift from beneath the folds of my great cloak.
He stared at it, and then at my face again, and I took off my cap
to him with a bow.
"It is strange that a shipmaster knows not his own passenger," I
said.
But he was dumb for a moment, and his mouth opened. Nona laughed at
him and clapped her hands with glee, and I must laugh also.
"By Baldur," he gasped, "if it is not Oswald, in the flesh! What
witchcraft brought you here? To my certain knowledge there is no
ship but mine afloat now in the Severn Sea."
"Why, then, I crossed with you, friend," I said.
"That you did not--" he began, but stopped short.
"Thorgils, Thorgils--the sick man!" cried Nona.
"Oh!" said Thorgils, "can you have been Evan's charge?"
"Ay. Mind you that it was your own word that there might be danger
from the friends of Morgan?"
Then I told him all, and he heard with growls and head shakings,
which but for the presence of the lady might have been hard sayings
concerning my captors.
But when I ended he said:
"If ever I catch the said Evan there will be a reckoning. All the
worse it will be for him that for these five years past I have
known him, and deemed him a decent and trustworthy man, for a Welsh
trader. I have fetched him back and forth with his goods twice or
thrice a year for all that time, and now I suppose he has made me a
carrier of stolen wares! Plague on him. I mind me now that betimes
I have thought he dealt in cast-off garments somewhat, but that was
not my affair. Now one knows how that was."
"I liked the man well, also," said the princess, with a sigh. "He
has come here every year, and betimes as he shewed me his
goods--not those you spoke of, Thorgils--it has seemed to me that
he was downcast, and as one who had sorrow in his heart. Maybe he
had, for his ill doings. He deserves to be punished, but yet I
would ask that--that if you lay hands on him you will be merciful."
"He shewed little mercy to Oswald the thane," growled Thorgils.
"However, Princess, I think that you may be easy. He will not risk
aught, and we shall see him no more. But the knave would beguile
Loki. Never a word did I hear of any trouble, but he came and spoke
to me as I sat with your men yonder, and paid me his passage money,
and said he had asked for a guard for the ship as he wanted to be
away with the sick man. Also he said he would borrow the boat for
his easier passage ashore. I supposed she was smashed in the gale,
as she came not back, and Howel paid me for her when I grumbled."
"I wonder he went near you," I said.
"Therein was craft. If he had not paid passage I would have let
every shipmaster beware of him, and he would have fared ill. He
thought you done for, no doubt, and so fell back on certainty, as
one may say. It is a marvel you escaped the great rifts in yon
cliffs in the storm. Now he will hear that you are none the worse,
and he will be sorry he paid me."
Thorgils laughed grimly, but Nona sighed at the downfall of the man
she had liked. As for myself, it mattered little what became of
him, so far as I was concerned. Howel's men were hunting him as I
knew, and I only hoped they might catch him, for then we might
learn more of the plotting that was on hand from him. He would tell
all to save his skin, no doubt.
But now I told Thorgils how I needed to be back in Norton with all
speed, and it sent a sort of chill through me to see him shake his
head.
"There is need, truly," he said, "and all that may be done I will
do. But yestermorn we found that we had sprung a plank or two just
above the waterline, as we were in a bad berth for shelter. I made
shift to get the ship to Tenby, but on one tack she leaks like a
basket, and she must be repaired. It will take all today, and maybe
tomorrow; but it shall be done, if we have to work double tides, or
to make a cobbler's job of it in haste. I must be off therefore to
see to it. But I hope, if wind will serve us we may sail for home
tomorrow night. Tide serves about midnight, and waits for no man.
You had better be with us betimes."
He saw that I seemed downcast, and added thoughtfully enough: "It
is in my mind that you need have little care yet. Gerent will not
let Owen out of his sight for some time, as I think, and danger
begins when he is abroad alone, and carelessly. Maybe not till he
is at Exeter."
Then he beckoned to the two Danes who were waiting him, and made
them known to me after they had saluted the princess. Eric the
chief was a fine old warrior, iron grey and strong, and the other
was his son, who bade fair to be like his father in time. He was a
sturdy young man, and wore his arms well. They shook hands with me
frankly, and from their words it was plain that Thorgils had told
my story at Tenby already.
"This is the sick man I told you of," he said now. "He turns out to
be a Thane of Glastonbury, and Evan had a hand in some plot of the
friends of Morgan. Took him by craft and brought him here for
ransom, doubtless. I had not thought that man such a knave, and
shall distrust my judgment of men sorely in future."
Then Nona asked them what they would with the prince, and Eric told
her.
"The deer are in the valleys, Lady, and we came to tell the prince
that we have harboured the great stag of twelve points in the woods
beyond Caerau. Will it please him to join our hunt?"
"Doubtless," she said. "Now there is no time to be lost, for the
day is high already."
"None the worse, Princess," said Eric. "The last snow is passing
hourly."
So we went round to the front of the palace toward the gates, and
there waited half a dozen more men and horses by a gathering of men
on foot with a pack of great hounds, the like of which I had never
seen. They were the Danish hounds, which had come hither with their
masters, and were big and strong enough for any quarry, even were
it the bear that yet lurked in the Welsh mountain wilds.
Then Howel came, and would have me mounted well, and in less than
half an hour we were riding eastward along the ancient way they
call the Ridgeway, which crowns the long hill between the sea and
the valleys where lie the windings of Milford Haven. And so we went
till we could see Tenby itself far off on its rocky ness, and at
that point left Thorgils to go his way, while we turned northward
into the inland valleys, and sought the deep combe where they had
harboured the stag.
The snow lay here and there yet, but it was almost gone, and the
going was somewhat heavy, but overhead the sky was soft and grey,
and the wind was pleasant if chill. North and west it was, and that
would be fair for our crossing, if only it would hold, as Thorgils
deemed that it surely would.
Now it was good to hear the horn and the cheer of the hunters as
they drew the deep cover for the deer, and the half-dozen couple of
hounds that were held back in leash while the rest were at their
work strained and whimpered to be with them. And at last the great
stag broke from the cover, in no haste, but in a sort of disdain of
those who had disturbed him, and after him came a few scurrying
hinds who huddled to him for safely. They trotted to another cover,
and after them streamed the hounds, and then the great stag was
driven alone from his hiding, and so the pack was laid on and we
were away.
He headed for the far waters of the haven I had seen glittering
from the hilltop, even as Howel told me was likely, and the pace
was fast at the first. So I settled myself to the work and rode as
one should ride on another man's horse, and a good one, moreover,
carefully enough. But these hills were easier than ours, for
heather was none, and the loose stones that trouble us on Mendips
and Quantocks were not to be seen. It was fair grass land mostly.
So I let my horse go, and in a little while had forgotten aught but
the sheer joy of the pace, and the cry of the great hounds, and the
full delight of such a run as one dreams of. Whereby I have little
more to tell thereof.
For a country may seem to be open enough as one looks down on it
from a height, but as one crosses it the difference in what has
seemed easy riding is soon plain. Long swells of rolling ground
rise as it were from nothing, and deep valleys that had been unseen
cross the path, and the clustered trees are found to be deep woods
as they are neared. Then the man who knows the country has the
advantage, and it is as well to follow him. But I was well mounted,
and the pace was good where the gale had thinned the snow, and it
came about that before I had time to think what Howel and Eric and
the Danes who were on horseback were doing I rode down one side of
a little cover, past which the deer had gone with the hounds close
on him, while the rest went on the other. I heard one shout, but it
did not come into my mind that it was to me, for I thought that
they needs must follow, and did not look round. Then I had to turn
off yet more to the right as the best way seemed to take me, and
meanwhile they were off to the left.
So when I was clear of the thicket and could see across the open
again I had lost them. Unless I could hear the hounds I had nothing
to guide me, and I drew rein and listened for them. As I heard
nothing I rode on until I had a stretch of open country before me,
but there I could see no more. Afterwards I learned that the deer
had turned and made for the hill again, but it did not seem likely
that he would do so with the waters of the haven so close at hand
as I could see them. It was more likely that he would head straight
for them, and so I spurred on once more in that direction. It was
certainly the best thing that I could do, and I had not far to go
before a mile of the open water was before me. But there was nought
on its banks but a row of patient herons, fishing or sleeping, and
the sight of them told me that no man had passed this way for many
a long hour.
I waited in that place for a few moments, to see if the deer made
for the refuge of the water from some cover that as yet hid him
from me, but he did not come. It was plain to me then that the hunt
had doubled back and that I was fairly thrown out, and I went no
farther. By this time Eric might be miles away, and I knew nothing
of the lie of the land, save that along the crest of the Ridgeway
ran the road from Tenby to Pembroke, and that once on that road I
could make my way back in no long time. That, as it seemed to me,
was the best thing that I could do, and I headed my horse at once
for the hill, going slowly, for it was no great distance, and it
was heavy going in the places where the snow had gathered in
drifts. I thought that maybe I should cross the track of the horses
and hounds, or hear Eric's horn before I had gone far, but I
reached the foot of the hill without doing either.
Then I came to a place where the land began to draw upward more
sharply, thickly timbered, with scattered rocks among the roots of
the trees. Fox and badger and wildcat had their hiding places here,
for I could trace them on all sides, and then I saw the track of a
wolf, and that minded me, as that track in snow ever must, of Owen
and the day when he came to my help at Eastdean. That is the
clearest memory I have of my childhood.
Then I thought that I heard the horn, and stopped to listen, nor
was it long before what I had heard came to my ears again. It was
not the sound of the horn, however, but somewhat strange to me, and
for a while I wondered what forest bird or beast had a note like
that.
For the third time I heard it, and now it was plainly like the
half-stifled cry of some one in pain among the trees to the right
of me, and not far distant either. So I rode toward the place
whence the cry seemed to come, and as I went I called. At that the
voice rose more often, with some sound of entreaty in its tone, and
it seemed to be trying to form words. I hastened then, crossing
more wolf tracks on the way, and then I struck the trail of many
men and a few horses; but these were not Eric's, for the hoof marks
were rather those of ponies than of his tall steeds. I followed
that track, for it seemed to lead toward the weary voice that I
heard, and so I came to a circle of great oaks with a clear space
of many paces wide between them, and there I found what I was
seeking. It was piteous enough.
A man was tied to the greatest of the trees, with knees to chin,
and bound ankles, while round his knees his hands were clasped and
fastened so that a stout stake was thrust through, under his knees
and over his elbows, trussing him helplessly. The cords that bound
him to the tree were round his body in such wise that he could by
no means fall on his side and so work himself free from the stake,
and round his mouth was a ragged cloth tied, but not closely enough
to prevent him from calling out as I heard him. I think that he
must have gnawed it from closer binding than I saw now. Across the
snow behind him the paws of some daring wolf had left marks as if
the beast had sniffed at his very back not so long since, and
surely but for the chance of my coming that way nought but his
bones had been left in that place by the pack before morning came
again.
It was a strange cry that this man gave when he saw me, for in no
way could I take it for a cry of joy for rescue. I could rather
think that he had raised the same when the wolf came near him. And
when I dismounted and led my horse after me toward him he seemed to
try to shrink from me, as if I also meant him harm. I thought that
the poor soul had surely gone distracted with the fear of the
forest beasts on him, so that he no longer knew friend from foe,
and I wondered how long he had been bound here in this lonely
place. I had seen no house or trace of men between here and Tenby.
I hitched the bridle rein over a low bough, and leaving my horse
went toward him to set him loose, wondering who had left him here.
And as I drew my seax and went to cut the lashings he writhed
afresh and cried piteously for mercy in what sounded like bad Saxon
from behind the cloth across his face, as though he deemed that I
came to slay him. I did not notice the strangeness of his using my
own tongue here in the heart of a Welsh land at the time, but
thought he took me for one of those who had bound him.
"Fear not," I said, speaking in Welsh to comfort him.
And if anything, that seemed to terrify him yet more.
"Mercy, good Thane--mercy!" he mumbled from his half-stifled lips.
Then it seemed to me that it was strange that he knew what I was,
and before I cut the bonds I took the cloth from his face, and lo!
the man was Evan the outlaw, my enemy!
That told me why he feared me in good truth, for he had need to do
so, and I stood back and looked at him with the bright weapon still
in my hand, and he cried and begged for mercy unceasingly. It
seemed but right that he should be bound helplessly as he had bound
me, yet he had not the bitterness of seeing a friend look on him
without knowing him as had I. It was a foe whom he saw, and that a
righteous one.
Then I was minded to turn away and leave him where he was, until
the foe from the forest looked on him for the last time, for it was
all that he deserved, and I set my seax back in my belt and turned
away to my horse with a great loathing of the man in my mind; and
seeing that, he begged for mercy again most pitiably.
That is a hard thing to hear unmoved, and I stayed and looked at
him again. My first wrath was leaving me as I saw the fullness of
the end of his plans, and I do not think that it is in me to be
utterly revengeful.
"What mercy can you hope from me!" I said coldly.
"None, Thane--none. But let me go hence with you. Better the rope
than these wild beasts. Or slay me now, and swiftly."
"Who, of all your friends, tied you here?" I asked him.
"Howel's men," he answered. "They took my goods at the ford of
Caerau yonder, and so brought me here and left me. That was early
this morning."
"I marvel that you bided in reach of any who might speak with me,"
I said.
"My comrades left me, for fear of that same. I must hire ponies to
get the goods away. I thought you had died on the wild sea that
night."
"It seems to me that this is but justice on you. The goods you have
lost were stolen from honest men. And it were just if I left you
bound as you bound me."
Then the man said slowly: "Ay, it is justice. But will you treat me
even as I treated you, Thane?"
I looked at him in some wonder. The man's face had grown calm,
though it was yet grey and drawn, and this seemed as if he would
own his fault without excuse. I minded that Nona the princess and
her father, ay, and Thorgils, had said that they thought well of
Evan the merchant up till this time.
"Supposing I let you go--What then?" I said.
"First of all, I would tell you somewhat for which you will thank
me, Thane."
"Tell me that first," I said, not altogether believing that he had
anything which could be worth my hearing, but with a full mind now
to let him go.
Plainly, he had some sort of faith in me, or in the worth of what
he had to say, for he began eagerly:
"Thane, when we took you, it was Owen of Cornwall for whom we
waited. We were not minding you at all until we saw that we might
hurt him through you."
"That I suppose. I know that you laid wait for Owen the prince."
"Ay, for you know the Welsh and heard all that we said. But listen,
Thane, this is it. Eight of the friends of Morgan had sworn the
death of Owen that morning, and it was the leader of them who set
us on. He was not there, for he waited on another road."
"Were you one of the eight?"
"That I am not," he said. "I and my men were but hired, as Morgan
was wont to hire us now and then. When we took you methought that
it was well for me, for through you I might be inlawed again, even
as I told you."
"Who was this leader?" I asked, heeding this last speech not at
all.
"Tregoz of the Dart, men call him, for he holds lands thereon. Also
there are these of the great men of Cornwall and Dyvnaint."
He called over the names of the other seven, and I repeated them
that I should not forget. The only one that I had heard before was
that of Tregoz. The outlaws had spoken of him, and now I remembered
him as one of those who had seemed loudest in welcome to Owen when
he came to Norton. So I told Evan, and he nodded.
"I heard him boast of the same," he said, and I believed him for
the way in which he said it.
"How do they think to slay Owen, and wherefore?" I asked, and my
blood ran cold at the thought of the treachery that was round him.
Doubtless this Tregoz was back at court.
"In any way that they may compass, and if in such a way as to stir
up war with Ina of Wessex so much the better, as they say. It is
revenge for the death of Morgan, and hatred of the Saxon, mixed."
"Is there any more that I should know?"
"None, Thane. But I have broken no oath in telling you this, as you
might think. We outlaws were not bound, for there seemed no need."
It was strange that he should care to tell me this, being what he
was. Once more I minded words of Thorgils--that the knave would
beguile Loki himself with fair words. Yet there was somewhat very
strange in all the looks and words of the man at this time. But I
would not talk longer with him, and I cut his bonds and freed him.
He tried to rise and stretch his cramped limbs, groaning with the
pain of them as he did so. And that grew on him so that of a sudden
he swooned and fell all his length at my feet, and then I found
myself kneeling and chafing the hands of this one who had bound me,
so that he should come round the sooner. At last he opened his
eyes, and I fetched the horn of strong mead that Howel had bidden
his folk hang on my saddle bow when we rode out, and that brought
him to himself again. He sat up on the snow and thanked me humbly.
"Now, what will you do?" I said. "Let me tell you that Thorgils is
after you, and that Howel has set a price on your head, or was
going to do so. And it is better that you cross the sea no more,
for if ever any one of the men of Gerent or Ina catch you your life
will be forfeit."
"I will get me to North Wales or Mercia, Thane, and there will I
live honestly, and that I will swear. Only, I will pray you not to
tell Howel that I am free."
"I am like to tell no man," I answered grimly. "For I should but be
called a soft-hearted fool for my pains."
"Yet shall you be glad that you freed me. Bid Owen the prince look
to the door before ever he opens it. Bid him wear his mail day and
night, and never ride unguarded. Let him have one whom he trusts to
sleep across his doorway, until Tregoz and his men are all
accounted for."
"Well, then," I said, "farewell--as well as you shall deserve
hereafter. You best know if you have one safe place left to you in
England or in Wales."
"I was not all so bad until the law hounded me forth from men," he
said. "I have yet places where I am held as an honest man."
Now I had enough of him, and I would not ask him more of himself
yet I will say that my heart softened somewhat toward him, for I
knew that here also he had been well thought of. Almost did I
forget how he had treated me, for now that seemed a grudge against
Tregoz. Maybe that was all foolishness on my part, but I am not
ashamed thereof today, as I was then.
"Stay, have you any weapon?" I said, as I was turning away. "There
are many ills that may befall an unarmed man in a wild country."
"There was a seax here," he said, rising stiffly. "They left it on
the ground, that I might see help out of my reach, as it were. Ay,
here it is."
He took it up, and I knew that after all he had felt somewhat as he
had made me feel when I saw help close to me and might not have it.
I pitied him, for I knew well what his torture had been. Ay, and I
will tell this, that men may know how this terror burnt into me.
Many a time have I let a trapped rat go, because I would not see
the agony of dumb helplessness in anything. It frays me. There is
no wonder that I set Evan free.
I said no more, but left him staring after me with the seax in his
hand, and rode on my way, thinking most of all of the peril that
was about Owen, and longing to be back with him that I might guard
him. It seemed likely now that Gerent could take all these men
whose names I had heard without the least trouble, for they could
not deem that their plans were known. Ina would surely let me bide
with my foster father till danger to him was past.
So I came into the road that runs along the top of the Ridgeway,
and then I knew where I was. I could see the great ness of Tenby
far before me across the hills, and presently at a turn in the road
I saw Howel and Eric and his men ahead of me. They had taken the
stag, and knew that I should make my way back, and so troubled not
at all for me.
There Howel and I parted from the Danes, they going back to Tenby,
while we returned slowly to Pembroke. And when we came to the
palace yard we found a little train of horses and men there, as
though some new guests had come in lately.
"I know who these will be," said Howel. "You will have company in
your homeward crossing. Here is Dunwal of Devon, and his daughter,
who have been on pilgrimage to St. Davids, for Christmastide. They
knew that Nona returned at this time, and have come hither on the
chance of a passage home in the ship which brought her. In good
time they are, after all."
Presently I met these folk, and very courteous they were. Dunwal
was a tall, very dark, man, who chose to hold that he was beholden
to myself for the passage home, when he heard why I was sailing so
soon. And his daughter was like him in many ways, being perhaps the
very darkest damsel I have ever seen, though she was handsome
withal. With them was a priest of the old Western Church, a
Cornishman, with his outlandish tonsure. He was somewhat advanced
in years, and strangely wild looking at times, though silent. He
seemed to be Dunwal's chaplain, or else was a friend who had made
the pilgrimage with him. His name was Morfed, they told me.
I do not think that I should have noted him much, but that when he
heard my Saxon name he scowled heavily, and drew away from me; and
presently, when it came to pass that Howel told Dunwal the news I
had brought, I saw his eyes fixed on me in no friendly way as he
listened. Nor did he join with his friends in the words of gladness
for Owen's return, though indeed I had some thought that theirs
might have been warmer. It was almost as if something was held back
by the Devon man and his daughter, though why I should think so I
could not tell. At all events, their way of receiving the news was
not like that of Howel and Nona.
By and by, when we came to sit down at table in the largest room of
the palace, bright with fair linen, and silver and gold and glass
vessels before us, and soft and warm under foot with rugs on the
tiled floor which hardly needed them, as I thought, there was a
guest I was pleased to see. Thorgils had ridden from Tenby at the
bidding of the princess, as it seemed, and his first words to me
were of assurance that all went well for our sailing. The good ship
would be ready for the tide of the morrow night. Pleased enough
also he was with the chance of new passengers, as may be supposed.
I do not think that I have ever sat at a feast whereat so few were
present at the high table, and there were no house-carles at all.
Truly, the room was not large enough for what we deem that a king's
board should be, but we seemed almost in private. There were not
more than thirty guests altogether, but it was pleasant for all
that. The princess was on the right of her father, and Mara, the
daughter of Dunwal, on his left, but I sat next to Nona, and Dunwal
to me again. On the other side of the prince were some of his own
nobles, and across the room sat Thorgils next to the Cornish
priest, among Welshmen of some lower rank. They seemed an
ill-assorted pair, but Thorgils was plainly trying to be friendly
with every one in reach of him, and soon I forgot him in the
pleasantness of all that went on at our table.
However, by and by Howel said to Nona suddenly, in a low voice:
"Look yonder at the Norseman. He must be talking heathenry to yon
priest, for the good man seems well-nigh wild. What can we do?"
Truly, the face of Morfed was black as thunder, while that of the
Norseman was shining with delight in some long-winded story he was
telling. The white-robed servants were clearing the tables at this
moment, and the prince's bard, a fine old harper with golden collar
and chain, was tuning his little gilded harp as if the time for
song had come.
"Make him sing," said Nona. "I bade him here tonight that he might
do so. He has some wondrous tale to tell us."
Howel beckoned to the harper, and signed to him, and the old man
rose at once and went to Thorgils. It was not the first time that
he had sung here, it was plain. Then I noted that the priest was
scowling fiercely at myself, and I wondered idly why. I supposed,
so far as I troubled to think thereof that he was one of those who
hated the very name of Saxon.
Now Thorgils took the harp without demur, smiling at the bard in
thanks, and so came forward into the space round which the tables
were set, while a silence fell on the company.
"If my song goeth not smoothly in the British tongue, Prince,
forgive me. I can but do my best. Truly, I have even now asked my
neighbour, Father Morfed, if it is fairly rendered, but I have not
had his answer yet."
He ran his hand over the already tuned strings, and lifted his
voice and began. It was not the first time that he had handled a
British harp, by any means, but if he played well he sang better. I
do not think that one need want to hear a finer voice than his; and
though he had seen fit to doubt his powers, his Welsh was as good
as mine, and maybe, by reason of constant use, far more easy.
And next moment I knew that he was going to sing nothing more or
less than of King Ina's Yule feast, and what happened thereat. He
had promised to tell the princess the story, and this was her
doing, of course. I could not stop him, and there I must sit and
listen to as highly coloured a tale as a poet could make of it.
Once he saw that I was growing red, and he grinned gently at me
across the harp, and worked up the struggle still more terribly.
And all the while Morfed the priest glowered at me, until at length
he rose and left the room.
I was glad enough when Thorgils ended that song, but Nona must ask
him for yet another, and that pleased him, of course, and he began
once more. This time he sang, to my great confusion, of the
drinking of the bowl, and of my vow, and I wished that I was
anywhere but in Pembroke, or that I could reach the three-legged
stool on which he was perched from under him. I never knew a man
easy while the gleemen sang his deeds, save Ina, who was used to
it, and never listened; and I knew not where to look, though maybe
more than half the folk present did not understand that I was the
hero of the song. Nevertheless, I had to put up with it, till he
ended with a verse or two of praise of our host and of the princess
who loved the songs of the bard, and so took his applause with a
happy smile and went and sat down, while Nona bade her maidens bear
a golden cup and wine to him.
Then the princess turned to me with a quiet smile that had some
mischief in it.
"This last is more than I had thought to hear, Thane," she said;
"you told us nought of yourself and the lady Elfrida when we rode
from the hermit's."
And so she must ask me many questions, under cover of some chant
which the old bard began, and she drew my tale from me easily
enough, and maybe learnt more than I thought I told her, for before
long she said:
"Then it seems that, after all, you are not so sure that the lady
is pleased with you for your vow?"
And in all honesty I was forced to own that I was not. I suppose I
showed pretty plainly that I thought myself aggrieved in the
matter, for the princess smiled at me.
"Wait till you see how she meets you when you return, Thane. No
need to despair till then."
It came into my mind to say that I did not much care how I was met,
but I forbore. Maybe it was not true. And then the princess and the
three or four other ladies who were present rose and left the
table, and thereafter we spoke of nought but sport and war, and I
need not tell of all that. But when I went to my chamber presently,
and the two pages were about to leave me to myself some three hours
or so after the princess left the board, one of them lingered for a
moment behind the other, and so handed me a folded and sealed
paper.
"I pray you read this, Thane," he said, and was gone.
It was written in a fair hand, that did not seem as that of any
inky-fingered lay brother, but as I read the few words that were
written I knew whose it was, for none but Nona would have written
it.
"Have a care, Thane. I have spoken with Mara, and I fear trouble.
Dunwal her father is, with Tregoz his brother, at the right hand of
the men who follow Morgan. Morfed the priest is a hater of all that
may make for peace with the Saxon. He is well-nigh distraught with
hatred of your kin."
Then there were a few words crossed out, and that was all. And to
tell the truth, it was quite enough. But as I came to think over
the matter, it seemed to me that until Dunwal knew that it was his
brother who had tried to get rid of me I need not fear him. As for
the priest, his hatred would hardly lead him to harm the son of
Owen.
So I slept none the less easily, but from my heart I thanked the
princess for the warning. It should not be my fault if Dunwal had
much power for harm when once I met Gerent.