So they rose on the morrow and dight them in their armour; and Osberne
did on him Hardcastle's long byrny and gilded basnet, and girded
Boardcleaver to him, and took his spear in hand and hung his shield at
his back. But his bow and wonder-shafts he gave to Stephen to bear
with him; and Stephen and the other men were fairly well bedight; and
the captain said that if there was any lack of weapons or armour to
any of them it mattered but little, as they had good stores of gear at
the cheaping.
So they ate a morsel and drank one cup and then rode their ways down
the Dale. And the longest tale that need be told of them is that, by
the furtherance of Osberne, they sped their errand well at most of the
steads of the mid and lower Dales. And they made stay for the night at
a stead hight Woodneb, which was some little way up the river from the
place where the East and West Dales held the Cloven Mote, and by
consequence not over far from the trysting-place of those twain.
At the said house that evening they were of one mind to gather a mote
there the next morning, and they sent folk that same night to bear the
war-arrow to the steads above and below, and all seemed like to go
well; and ever Osberne spake his mind without fear or favour to the
boldest and wisest that were there. But as he was laying himself down
to sleep a pang shot into his heart, for he called to mind that the
morrow was the very day of tryst at the Bight of the Cloven Knoll, and
longer it was ere he got to sleep that night than was his wont. But
when day came he was awake and few were stirring. So he arose and clad
him in his war-gear, and went out of the house and out of the garth
when it was not yet sunrise, and came down to the river and went up it
till he and the sunbeams came together to his place over against the
ness, and there he abided. But he had been there a scant half hour ere
he saw Elfhild coming up the slope, and she clad in all that fair weed
he had given her, wherein this time of spring and early summer she
mostly came to the trysting-place, and about her shoulders was a
garland of white May blossom. And when she saw him in his shifting
grey hawberk and gleaming helm, and Boardcleaver girt to his side and
the spear in his hand, she stretched out her hands to him and cried
out: "O if thou mightest but be here and thine arms about me! for now
I see that some evil hath befallen, and that thou art arrayed to go
away from me out of the Dale. And O thy war-coat and thine helm! thou
art going into peril of death, and thou so young! But I had an inkling
hereof, for there were two carles in our house last night, and they
said that there were weaponed men riding amidst the Eastdalers. Tell
me, what is it? Will ye fight in the Dale or go far from it? and then
how long dost thou look to be away?"
He spake, and his face was writhen with the coming tears, so sore his
heart was stung by her sorrow: "It is indeed true that I am come to
bid thee farewell for a while, and this is the manner of it." And
therewith he told her all as it was, and said withal: "Now I can do
nought save to bid thee gather thy valiance to thee and not to wound
my heart with the wildness of thy grief. And look thou, my dear; e'en
now thou wert saying thy yearning that mine arms were round about thy
body: now we are no longer altogether children, and I will tell thee
that it is many a day since I have longed for this; and now I know
that thou longest that our bodies might meet. Belike thou wilt deem me
hard and self-seeking if I tell thee that there is more joy in me for
the gain of that knowledge than there is sorrow in my heart for thy
pain."
"Nay, nay," she said, "but for that I deem thee the dearer and the
dearer."
"See then, sweetheart," said he, "how might it ever come about that we
might meed bodily if I abode ever at Wethermel and the Dale in peace
and quietness, while thou dwelt still with thy carlines on the other
side of this fierce stream? Must I not take chancehap and war by the
hand and follow where they lead, that I may learn the wideness of the
world, and compass earth and sea till I have gone about the Sundering
Flood and found thy little body somewhere in the said wide world? And
maybe this is the beginning thereof."
Now was the maiden a little comforted, and she said, smiling as well
as she might: "And belike thou art for the cheaping again? Dost thou
remember what a joy it was to thee to bring me those things and shoot
and cast them over the water unto me? Now this time when thou comest
back to the Dale I will ask thee to bring me one thing more, and then
I shall be satisfied."
"Yea, sweetheart, and what shall that be?" And sooth to say it went
against the grain with him that at the very moment of their parting
she should crave something, like a very child, for a fairing. But she
said: "O my dear, and what should it be but thou thyself?" And
therewith she could refrain her passion no longer, but brake out
a-weeping sorely again, so that her eyes could no longer behold him.
But she heard many caressing words come across the water, and many
farewells and words of grief, and yet she could not master her tears
so that she could see him clearly, neither could she speak one word in
answer. But at last she looked up and saw that he was gone from before
her, and dimly she saw him yet a little way gone down the water, and
he turned toward her and raised his hand and waved it to her. And
nought else she saw of him for that time save the gleam of his scarlet
surcoat and a flash of his helm in the May sunlight.
But for Osberne, sick at heart at first he was, and he strode hurrying
along if that might ease him a little, and after a while he took some
deal of courage, but still hastened on leaving the waterside; and then
in a while himseemed to hear the voice of a great horn afar off, and
he called to mind that the Mote had been summoned; and his mind turned
toward what was to do.