In the coming week, after I had thus taken leave of Owen, my friend
Herewald, the ealdorman, would have a hunting party before we all
left him and Glastonbury for Winchester, and so it came to pass
that on the appointed day a dozen of us rode with a train of men
and hounds after us along the westward slopes of the Mendips in the
direction of Cheddar, rousing the red deer from the warm woodlands
of the combes where they love to hide. We had the slow-hounds with
us, and that, as it seems to me, is better sport than with the
swift gaze-hounds I rode after on the Welsh hills with Eric. It is
good to hear the deep notes of them as they light on the scent of
the quarry in the covers, and to see them puzzle out a lost line in
the open, and to ride with the crash and music of the full pack
ahead of one in the ears, as the deer doubles no longer, but trusts
to speed for escape.
Those who were with us were friends of mine and of the ealdorman,
and there were three ladies in the party--one of these being, of
course, Elfrida.
Erpwald was in close attendance on her, a matter which was taken
for granted by every one at this time. He was to go with the court
to Winchester, and thence he and I would ride to Eastdean.
So we hunted through the forenoon, taking one deer, and then rode
onward until we came to the place where the great Cheddar gorge
cleaves the Mendips across from summit to base, sheer and terrible.
The village lies at the foot of the gorge on the western side of
the hills, half sheltered between the first cliffs of the vast
chasm, but on the hillside above is a deep cover that climbs upward
to the summit, and it was said that a good deer had been harboured
there.
So presently, while the hounds were drawing this wood below us, I
and Elfrida and Erpwald found ourselves together and waiting on the
hilltop at the edge of the gorge. I was almost sorry to make a
third in that little party, but Erpwald knew nothing of the
country, and Elfrida had no more skill in matters of time and place
and distance than most ladies, which is not saying much, in all
truth, though I hardly should dare to set it down, save by way of
giving a reason for my presence with so well contented a party of
two.
Now, if there is one who has not seen this Cheddar gorge, I will
say that it is as if the mighty hills had been broken across as a
boy breaks a long loaf, or as if some giant had hewn a narrow gap
with the roughest pick that ever was handled. Our forefathers held
that Woden had indeed hewn it so, and we have tales that the evil
one himself cleft it in a night, and that the rocky islands of
Steep and Flat Holme, yonder in the mid channel, are the rubbish
which he hewed thence and cast there. Maybe the overhanging cliffs
are full four hundred feet high from the little white track which
winds at their foot, and from cliff top to cliff top is but a short
bow shot.
From where we waited one could look sheer down on the track below
us, and a man who was coming slowly along it seemed like a rat in
its run, so far off did he appear. At least, so said Erpwald, who
looked over, riding to the very edge. I had no wish to do so,
having been there before, and not altogether liking it.
Then he wanted Elfrida to look over also, and that frightened her,
and so we rode back and forth a little, for the wind was keen on
the hill, listening for sound of horn or hound in the cover.
One reason why we were so near the edge of the cliffs was that
Erpwald had not seen the place before, and had heard much of it;
and another was that as no deer could cross the gorge we should be
sure to have the hunt before us when one broke. There are tales of
hunted deer, ay, and of huntsmen also, going over the cliffs at
full speed, but that is likely only when the pace has been hot and
the danger is forgotten. I had no mind, either, to see some of
Herewald's young hounds cast themselves over in eagerness if they
chose to follow, as young ones will, the scent of some hill fox who
had his lair among the rocks and knew paths to safety on the face
of the cliffs, so that was yet another reason why we were in that
place, and I tell this because it is likely that some one may ask
how it was that I suffered my friends to bide in so perilous a
spot, seeing what happened presently.
It was not long before those two forgot me, and rode side by side
talking. Maybe I forgot them, for the last time I was on the cliff
tops was across the channel, and I minded the two with whom I rode
then--Howel and Nona.
Then suddenly the ringing of the horn roused us, and Erpwald came
toward me, thinking that, of course, Elfrida was close after him,
but with his eyes too intently watching the place where I had said
a deer was most likely to break cover to notice much else. I was
some twenty paces farther from the edge than they. The horses
pricked up their ears at the well-known sound, and stood with
lifted heads watching as eagerly as we.
Then there came a little cry from Elfrida as she bade her horse
stand, and I heard it trampling sharply, as if restive, behind us.
I turned in my saddle to see what was amiss, and what I saw made my
blood run cold, and the sweat broke out on my forehead in a moment.
With the sound of the horn and the moving away of Erpwald the horse
had waxed restive, as horses will at a cover side when the time to
move on seems near. I think that it had probably reared a little
and that she had tried to check it, for now it was backing slowly
and uneasily toward the edge of that awesome cliff that was but ten
paces from its heels. Even now the girl was backing him yet more in
her efforts to make him stand still, and I dared not make a move to
catch the bridle lest he should swing round at once from me and go
over.
"Spur him, Elfrida. Let his head go, and spur him," I said as
quietly as I could, but so that she must needs hear.
It was all that I could do.
She spurred him, and then as he made a little leap forward, checked
him, and that was yet worse. Then I saw Erpwald, with an ashy face,
dismount and go hastily toward the edge behind her, sidelong, and I
swung my horse away from him, so that by chance hers might follow
me out of danger.
But that was useless. The brute was yet backing, and his heels were
almost on the brink. It seemed that his rider did not know how near
she was.
"Get off!" I said hoarsely. "Get off at once!"
Then she knew, but could only turn and look. The hinder hoofs lost
hold on the rocky edge as the horse made its first slip backward,
and even as the loosened stones rattled down, and it lurched with
one leg hanging over the gulf, Erpwald leapt forward and tore
Elfrida from the saddle, and half threw her toward me. I do not
remember when I dismounted, but I was there and grasped her hand
and dragged her back out of the way of the lashing fore feet.
Then Erpwald was gone. The horse struggled wildly in one last
effort to save itself, and swept my friend over with it. There was
a rattle of stones, a silence, and then a dull crash in the depths
below.
One moment later and all three would have gone. I heard the shout
of the man on the track below, and I wondered in a dull way if he
had been killed also.
And now I had Elfrida to tend, for she had fainted. What she had
seen I could not tell, but I hoped that at least she knew nought
before Erpwald went. It was as if she had lost consciousness when
he reached her, for I saw the hand on the rein loosen helplessly. I
carried her back from the cliff and tried to bring her to herself,
vainly, though indeed I almost wished that she might remain as she
was until we were back in Glastonbury.
Then I wound my horn again and again to bring some to my help, and
I tried not to think of that which surely lay crushed on the road
below. There could be no hope for either man or horse.
Then came the sound of swift hoofs, and there was the ealdorman and
one or two others, coming in all haste to know what the urgent call
betokened, but by the time that he had dismounted and asked if
there was any hurt to his daughter I could only gasp and point
downward. My mouth was dry and parched, and I did not know how to
put into words the thing that had happened; but he saw that
Elfrida's horse was not there, and that Erpwald's ran loose with
mine, and he guessed.
"Over the cliff?" he said, whispering, and I nodded.
"Go and look," he gasped, and he knelt down and took Elfrida from
me.
The two who were with him were trying to catch the loose horses,
and we were alone for the moment. So I crept to the edge and looked
over, fearing what I should see. But I saw nothing but the bare
track winding there, and I remembered that the cliff overhung.
Then, as I scanned every rock and cranny below me a man came out
from under the overhang at the foot of the cliff and looked up. For
a moment my heart leapt, for I thought it was Erpwald. But it was
only the traveller we had seen, and he must have been looking at
what had rolled into the hollow that hid it from me. He glanced up
and caught sight of me.
"How did it happen?" he called up to me.
"Dead?" I called back, with a terror of what I knew would be his
answer.
Then he laughed at me.
"Do you expect a horse to be leather all through, Master? Of course
he is.--Saddle and all smashed to bits."
Then a dull anger took me that he thought of the horse only, as it
seemed, unless he was mazed as I was with it all.
"The man--the man," I said.
"There is no man here, Master. Did one fall?" he said in a new
voice, and he crossed to the other side of the gorge and scanned
the face of the cliff.
"He is not to be seen," he said. "Maybe he has caught yonder."
He pointed to a ledge that was plain enough to me, but nowhere near
the place whence the fall was. There were no ledges to be seen as I
looked straight down, and I knew that this place was the most sheer
fall along all the length of the gorge.
Now three more of our party came up, and at once they rode down to
the village and so round to where the man stood. It seemed a long
time before they were there and talking to him.
"Ho, Oswald!"
Their voices came cheerfully enough, and I looked down at them.
"There seem to be clefts here and there, and in one of those he
must needs be," they said. "We are going to the village to get a
cragsman with a rope, and will be with you anon."
There was at least hope in that, and I watched them ride swiftly
away. The ravens were gathering fast now, knowing that what fell
from above must needs be their prey, and two great eagles were
wheeling high overhead, waiting. I heard the kites screaming to one
another from above the eagles, and from the woods came the call of
the buzzards. They knew more than I.
Now the ealdorman could not bring Elfrida round, and he thought it
best to take her hence. So he had her lifted to him on his horse,
and went slowly and carefully down the hill toward the village with
her. I had told him all that had happened by this time, and I was
to bring word presently to him of how the search went.
So I and those two friends who had first come sat there on the
cliff top waiting in silence for the coming of the man with his
ropes. All that could be said had been said.
Here and there on the face of the cliff some yew trees had managed
to find a holding, and their boughs were broken by the passage of
the horse at least through them. But there were no shreds of
clothing on them, as if Erpwald had reached them. That might be
because the weightier horse fell first. It seemed to me in that
moment of the fall that he was between the horse and the cliff as
he went over the edge, for the forefeet of the horse struck his
legs and threw him backward, and the last thing that I minded was
seeing his head against the horse's mane in some way. That last
glimpse will bide with me until I forget all things.
It seemed very long before our friends came back with the ropes.
Backwards and forwards in front of us flew untiringly two ravens,
now flying across the gorge, and then again almost brushing us with
their wings as they swept up the face of the cliff from below. We
thought they had a nest somewhere close at hand, for it was their
time.
"If Erpwald were dead," I said presently, "those birds would not be
so restless. It is hard to think that they know where he is and how
he fares; but at least they tell us that he is not yet prey for
them."
Backward and forward they swept, until my eyes grew dazed with
watching them, and then suddenly they both croaked their alarm
note, wheeled quickly away from the cliff's face, and fled across
the gorge and were gone.
Then was a rattle of stones, and a shout from some one in the track
below, and I started and saw a head slowly rising above the edge of
the cliff as if its owner had climbed up to us. White and streaked
with blood was the face, but it was not crushed or marred, and it
was Erpwald's.
"Lend me a hand," he said, as we stared at him, as one needs must
stare at one who comes back as it were from the grave. "My head
swims even yet."
I grasped his hand and helped him to the grass, and once there he
stood upright and shook himself, looking round in an astonished way
as he did so.
"No broken bones," he said. "Where is Elfrida? Is she all right? I
was rough with her, I fear, but I could not help it. Could I have
managed otherwise?"
"In no way better," I said, finding my tongue at length. "She has
gone to the village. But where have you been!"
"In a long hole just over here," he answered. "But how long has she
been gone?"
"How long do you think that you have been in your hole?"
"A few minutes. It cannot be long. Yet it must have been longer
than I thought, for the shadows are changed."
It was a full hour and a half since he fell, but I did not say so,
lest it should be some sort of shock to him. So I bade him sit down
while I saw to a cut there was on his head--the only sign of hurt
that he had.
"I thought that I was done for at first," he said.
"So thought I, until we found that you were not at the bottom. Even
now some of us have gone for ropes that we might search the cliff
for you. We could not see you anywhere, and there does not seem to
be any ledge here that could catch you."
"Why, you could have touched me with a spear all the time, if you
had known where to thrust it. I think I fainted, or somewhat
foolish of the sort. My head hit the rock as I went over. Also the
horse ground me between it and the cliff, so that all my breath
went. But that pushed me into the hole, and I will not grumble. At
least, I think that was it, but I cannot be sure. My senses went."
He began to laugh, but suddenly turned to me with a new look on his
face.
"Oh, but was Elfrida feared for me?--What did she think?"
"She saw nought of it," I said. "I believe that she had fainted
with terror when you laid hold of her. The ealdorman came and took
her to the village, and I do not suppose she knows that you have
been lost."
"That is well," he said, with his great sigh. "Look over and see my
hole."
I did not care to look over again, and, moreover, knew that I could
not see it. I mind every jutting stone and twisted yew that is on
the cliff there, to this day. However, one of the others went a
little to one side, where Erpwald had appeared, and swung himself
to the tiny ledge that had given him foothold as he came up, and so
looked at the place. There was a long cleft between two layers of
rock which went back into the cliff's face for some depth, with a
little backward slope that had saved the helpless man from rolling
out again, and there was a raven's nest at one end of it. One may
see that cleft from below and across the gorge if one knows where
to look, but not by any means from above, by reason of the overhang
of the brink. It was plain that, as he thought, the horse's body,
or maybe its shoulder, thrust him into the cleft, but it was well
that he was senseless and so could not struggle, or he would have
surely missed it. It is his saying that he had no trouble in
getting into the place, but more in climbing out.
Now we called the good news to some of our people and the villagers
who were on the road below, and they broke into cheers as they
heard it. They could hardly believe that the man they had seen on
the edge just now was Erpwald himself. Then we went down to the
village, meeting the men with the ropes halfway, and so came to the
first houses of the street, where the ealdorman was standing
outside one of the better sort. He came to meet us, and I never saw
anything like the look on his face when he saw Erpwald and heard
his cheerful greeting. I told him how things ended.
"I have given a lot of trouble, as it seems" Erpwald said humbly;
"but I could not help it."
"Trouble!" said the ealdorman. "Had it not been for you there would
have been nought but trouble for me all the rest of my life."
He took Erpwald's hand as he spoke and pressed it, but he would not
say more then. Maybe he could not. So he turned to me.
"It is all right, Oswald, for Elfrida is herself again, and she saw
nothing after she looked into the gulf below her. I have told her
nothing."
"Do not tell her anything, Ealdorman," Erpwald said. "No need to
say what a near thing it was, or that I handled her like a sack of
oats. She would never forgive me. But Oswald says it was all that I
could have done. It was a good thing that he was there to take
her."
"How are you going to account for the broken head, then?"
"Say I was thrown from my horse afterward, or somewhat of that
kind," he said. "Or, stay, these will do it. I have been birds'
nesting. I thought these would please her. One gets falls while
scrambling after the like."
He put his hand into his pouch as he spoke.
"Plague on it, one is broken," he said, bringing out a raven's egg.
"There were two in that place where I stopped falling."
The ealdorman and I stared at him in wonder. It amazed us that in
such a moment a man should think of this trifle. And now he was
turning his soiled pouch inside out and wiping it with a tuft of
grass, grumbling the while. It was plain that the danger had made
no impression on him.
"Were not you frightened when you found how nearly you had fallen
from the cliff?" I asked him.
"No; why should I be? I did not fall from it. I was feared enough
when I thought that I was going, and I thought I was at the bottom
when I came to myself. But as I had not gone so far, there was an
end."
I minded the story of the Huntsman's Leap, and how I had felt when
I knew my escape. It was plain that this forest-bred Erpwald, with
his cool head, and lack of power to picture what might have been,
would make a good warrior, so far as dogged fearlessness goes, and
that is a long way.
Now the ealdorman kept what else he might have to say until we were
at home, for it was time for us to be off. So we brushed Erpwald
down and hid his cut under a cap that the good franklin of the
house lent him, for his own was gone, as he said, to make a bird's
nest somewhere on the cliffs; and then Elfrida came from the
cottage, looking a little white and shaken with her fright, but
otherwise none the worse, and we started.
Erpwald kept out of her sight for a little while, but as we were
fairly on the way home it was not long before he found his way to
her side, and we let those two have their say out together.
One by one the friends who had joined us dropped out of the party
as their way led them aside, until by the time we reached the
ealdorman's house only half a dozen of us were left. Then Herewald
would have us come in for some cheer after the long day, but we
were tired and stained, and I must be back at the guardroom, and so
he bade his folk bring somewhat out here to us. There was a cask of
ale already set on the low wall by the gate for the men, and we sat
on our horses waiting, with a little crowd of thralls and children
round us, looking at the two good deer that we brought back. Then
the steward and some of the women of the house brought horns of ale
from the house for us.
One of the women came to me, and without seeing who she was, or
thinking of doing so, I reached out my hand for the horn that she
held up, and at that moment some one from behind seemed to run
against my horse's flank, and he lashed out and reared as if he was
hurt. My rein was loose, and I was bending carelessly over to take
the horn, and it was all that I could do to keep my seat for the
moment. As for the girl, she dropped the horn and ran from the
plunging horse into the doorway for safety.
Then I heard the sharp crack of a whip, and the voice of the head
huntsman speaking angrily:
"Out on you for a silly oaf!--What mean you by going near the thane
at all?"
The whip cracked again, and the long lash curled round the
shoulders of a ragged thrall, who tried in vain to escape it.
"On my word, I believe you did it on purpose!" the huntsman cried,
with a third shrewd lash that found its lodgment rightly.
"Mercy, Master," mumbled the man, writhing; "it is this terrible
crossing of the eyes. I do not rightly see where I go."
I had quieted the horse by this time, and I held up my hand to stay
the lash from the thrall. Some one picked up the horn that the girl
had let fall.
"Let him be," I said. "It could but have been a chance, and he is
lucky not to have been kicked. See, he does squint most amazingly."
"Ay," growled the huntsman, "so he does; but I never knew a
cross-eyed man before who had any trouble in walking straight
enough."
The thrall slunk away among his fellows. He was a round-shouldered
man with hay-coloured hair and a stubby beard of the same, and he
rubbed his shoulders with his elbows lifted as he went. Then the
steward gave me a fresh horn, and we said farewell to our host and
hostess, and Erpwald and I went our way.
"I thought that the horse would have knocked the Welsh girl over,"
he said presently. "She was pretty nimble, however. That churl must
have kicked your horse sharply to make him plunge as he did."
"Trod on his fetlock most likely," I answered. "Clumsy knave."
"Well, that huntsman knows how to use a lash, at all events, and he
will have a care in future. But how my head does ache!"
"That is likely enough," I said, laughing. "It was a shrewd knock,
and it kept you in that hole for the longest hour and a half I have
ever known."
"It does take somewhat out of the common to hurt me much," he said
simply.
"Well, by tomorrow you will be famed all over Glastonbury as the
man who fell over Cheddar cliffs and escaped by reason of lighting
on the thickest part of him," I answered.
It was a poor jest enough, but it set him laughing. I did not wish
him to say more of what had just happened, for I was puzzled about
it, and wanted to get my thoughts to work. He had spoken of the
very thing that I had been warned of, for almost had I taken the
horn from the hand of a Briton--the Welsh girl of whom he spoke
once before. I had forgotten her, for I do not think that I had
ever seen her since she came here, until now. But at this moment I
seemed to have a feeling that her face was in some way familiar to
me, though only in that half-formed way that troubles one, and I
was trying to recall how this might be.
Erpwald went off to the guest chamber where he was lodged, and
presently I found our old leech and took him to see after him. He
went comfortably to sleep after his hurt had been dressed, and so I
left him. I will say at once that he felt no more trouble from it.
Then I went to the stables to see how fared my horse after the
day's work, and found him enjoying his feed after grooming. I
looked him over, but I could see no mark to show where the man
might have hurt him. But as I was running my hand along the smooth
hock to feel for any bruise, my groom said to me:
"Have you had a roll in a thorn bush, Master?"
"No.--What makes you think I might have had one?"
"I found this in his flank when I rubbed him down, and it was run
thus far into him."
He held out a long stiff blackthorn spine, marking a full inch on
its length with his thumbnail.
"Enough to set a horse wild for a moment," he went on. "And unless
you had fallen, I could not think how it got there."
"In which flank was it?" I asked, taking the thorn from him.
"The near flank, Master."
That was where the thrall ran against him, and surely the huntsman
was not so far wrong when he said that he did so on purpose. If so,
it was done at the right moment to give me a heavy fall, save for a
bit of luck, or maybe horsemanship. It was a strange business.
"I was through a thicket or two today," I said carelessly. "Maybe I
hit a branch in just the right way to drive it in. If we were
galloping he would not have noticed it. These little things happen
oddly sometimes."
Then the man began to tell me some other little mishaps to horses
that could not be explained, bustling about the while. And before
long I left the stables and went to my own quarters, with the thorn
yet in my hand. It had been cut from the bush, and not broken, just
as if it had been chosen. Now, if these hidden plotters wanted to
frighten me, I am bound to say that they succeeded more or less.
Was the giving of the horn by the Welsh girl to be a signal to the
thrall in some way? If there is one thing that a man need not be
ashamed to say that he fears, it is treachery, and I seemed to be
surrounded by it. Hardly could a house-carle come to my door but it
seemed to me that he must needs bring one of these unlucky notes.
It was just as well that I had some unknown friend to write them to
me, though I cannot say that I had profited by them so far.
Now I sent two of my men to see if they could find the cross-eyed
thrall, but of course he was not to be laid hands on. Only the
people who had been at the ealdorman's door seemed to have seen
him, and they could not tell who or whence he was. He was so easily
known, however, that I thought I should be certain to have him
sooner or later. Such a squint as he had is not to be hidden, and
that made the wonder that he had dared to do this all the greater.
I slept on it all, and woke with fewer fears on me, for I was
overwrought yesterday after all the terrible waiting on the cliff
and what went before. It was Sunday, moreover, and the early
services in the new church helped mightily to set a new face on
things. So when I had seen to the few duties of the morning, I went
down the street to ask after Elfrida, being anxious to hear that
her fright had done her no hurt. Erpwald had been there before me,
but I had missed him since.
Elfrida was well, and glad to see me. We sat and talked of
yesterday, and I found that Erpwald had said nothing of how he
saved her, and it was pleasant to tell her of it, while she
listened with eyes that sparkled. It was plain that I could have
found nothing that would please her better than to talk of him. So
I even told her how he had gone over the edge into the cleft, but
without saying that we feared for his life for so long. Then her
father came in, and at once she asked after some sick person.
"How goes it with him now," she said.
"Well enough, says the leech; but he had well-nigh died in the
night."
"What is it that ails him?--Can the leech tell that yet?"
"He has taken somewhat that has poisoned him," the ealdorman
answered. "The leech asked if he had eaten of mushrooms, or rather
toadstools, by mistake."
"But there are none about as yet."
Now I asked who the sick man was, and Herewald told me that he was
such an one who was with us yesterday. I minded him as one who
stood near me at the door when my horse reared. I thought that he
was the man who picked up my dropped horn, and I was sorry for him.
However, that was not much concern of mine, so we passed to other
talk for a little, and then Elfrida said:
"Are there any tidings of my maiden? I fear for her."
"None at all," the ealdorman said. "Here is a strange thing,
Oswald; for that girl whom you so nearly rode over last evening is
as clean gone as if she had never been. None saw her go, but when
supper time came she was nowhere to be found. Nor is there any
trace of her now."
I felt as if I had expected to hear that the Welsh girl had gone as
well as the thrall, and I cannot say that I was surprised; though
as they had failed in whatever they meant to compass this time, I
could not see why they should not have tried again.
"Whence came she," I asked as carelessly as I could. "Maybe she has
only gone home, fearing blame for dropping that horn."
"She has no home to go to, that we ken. She came from Jago at
Norton only a little while ago, and she would hardly try to get
back there across the hills alone. She is an orphan serf of his,
and I fear that she has been stolen away."
"She has not been here long, then?"
"She came when you were with Owen. Jago sent to ask if Elfrida
would take her in, she being worth having as a maid. His wife had
no place for her, but would that she was well cared for. So she
came with the first chapman who travelled this way."
Now as I thought of this girl, in a moment it flashed across me
where I had seen her before. It was on board the ship at Tenby, and
she came with Dunwal and his daughter Mara. I was certain of it,
though I had only seen her that once, for there I was in a strange
land, and so noticed things and people at which I should hardly
have glanced elsewhere. The Danish and British dress over there was
strange to me also.
Then, as soon as I had a chance I asked the ealdorman for a few
moments of private speech, and we went into his own chamber that
opened on the high place of the hall where we had been sitting.
There I told him all the trouble, for surely I needed all help that
I could find, and at the last I said:
"Mara, the daughter of Dunwal, was at guest quarters with Jago."
Then I saw the face of my friend paling slowly under its ruddy tan,
and he rose and walked across the room once or twice, biting his
lip as though in wrath or sore trouble. I could not tell which it
was, but I thought that he was putting some new thought together in
his mind.
"It is plain enough," he said at last, staying his walk at a side
table. "I saw my sick man pick up that horn the girl dropped, and
he looked into it and laughed and drank from it, saying that it was
a pity to waste good stuff. See, here it is. The curl of it may
have kept a fair draught in it for him."
There were several horns standing in their silver or gilded rests
on the table at his elbow, and he held up that one which had been
brought to me, and then dropped it.
It fell with its mouth upward, rocking on the bend in its midst, so
that it might well have had a gill or two left in it, for it had a
twist as well as the curve in its length, which was somewhat longer
than usual.
"Poison!" he said in a low voice. "That a friend should be thus
treated at my own door, by my own servant! What shall I say to
you?"
"It is hard on you as on any one, Ealdorman," I answered. "But the
girl did not come from Jago. Mara sent her in some way. I am sure
it was she whom I saw at Tenby."
"Ay," he said, "one could not dream that a message seeming to come
from honest Jago was not in truth from him. The trick was sure to
be found out, and that soon, though."
"Not until the deed was done, maybe. This is the first chance that
the Welsh girl has had to hand me aught."
The ealdorman held his peace for a moment, and then he broke out
suddenly:
"By all the relics in Glastonbury, that thrall saved your life! He
is no fool either, for he knew that the horn must be spilt in one
way or the other, and it was worth while for you to run the risk of
a fall rather than that you should drink it. How had he knowledge
of what was to be done?"
"Whoever wrote the warning told him. It was a chance, however, that
we did not come into the house."
"There is some friend watching these traitors," said Herewald. "I
did not know the thrall, but so often men from the hill who have
followed us come here for the ale that they know will be going,
that I thought nothing of a stranger more or less. But why choose
my house for this deed?"
I knew well enough, and it was plain when I minded the ealdorman
that my vow was well known, and told, moreover, by Thorgils in
Mara's hearing. This was a house where I should often be, and when
Mara found out that Jago was a friend of Herewald of Glastonbury
the rest was easy.
"Well, I will send to Jago today, and find out what he knows. That
Cornish damsel must be better watched. Come, let us go and tell the
king."
So we went, and when Ina heard what we had to say he grew very
grave, and asked many questions before he told us what his thoughts
were.
"They have struck at Owen through you, my Thane, even as I feared,"
he said. "I think that the matter of the land of Tregoz has saved
you, for I seem to see in this thrall one of his men who hates him
and will thwart his plans. There are yet men who will carry out
what he planned ere he died. Now I am glad that we soon shall be
gone from hence, and that is the first time that I have been ready
to leave Glastonbury."
Now I will say that when Herewald's messenger came back from Norton
it was even as we thought. Jago had no knowledge of the Welsh girl,
or her sending. But Mara was gone a fortnight or more since, for
Gerent had sent her father for safer keeping to the terrible old
castle of Tintagel on the wild shore, and she had followed to be as
near him as she might. Doubtless the girl might be found there also
in time.
So I had no more warnings, and in a few days the strain on my mind
wore off. I sent a message through Jago to Owen to tell him what
had happened, so that he should have less anxiety for his own
comfort, while he knew that I was shortly to be far hence.
Before that came about, however, Erpwald and Elfrida were betrothed
with all solemnity in the new church, for their wedding was to be
held here also in the summer, when all was ready for a new mistress
at Eastdean. So Erpwald rode with us to Winchester a proud man, and
by that time I thought I had forgotten that I ever held myself
entitled to the place he had won.
But I did not forget the plotting, and as the days wore on, and my
thoughts of it grew a little clearer, I began to wonder if the
thrall who saved me from the poisoned horn might not be the man who
slew Tregoz on the ramparts at Norton in the moonlight. I must say
that it went against the grain for me to believe that Mara had
aught to do with contriving my end through her maid, but unless
there was some crafty hand at work in the background, all
unsuspected, it seemed that there could be none else.
And then one day I found the little letter that Nona had sent me.
In that I was warned against Morfed the Cornish priest, and I had
forgotten him.
Now I will confess that two days after the Cheddar business I took
that little brooch that Elfrida had given me, and dropped it into
three fathoms of water as I rode by the mere one day. There are
foolishnesses one does not care to be reminded of.