RIKCE OF 
 
 CORNWALL 
 
 CHARUES -W WHISTLED 
 
 ILLUSTRATED
 
 
 
 

 
 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL
 
 "THERE CAME A NEW LIGHT INTO HIS EYES AS HE SAW ME." 
 
 Frontispiece. 
 
 see p. 277.
 
 A STORY OF GLASTONBURY AND THE WEST 
 IN THE DAYS OF INA OF WESSEX 
 
 CHAS. W. WHISTLER, M.R.C.S. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "KING ALFRED'S VIKING" "A THANE OF WESSEX' 
 "HAVEI.OK THE DANE" ETC. ETC. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY LANCELOT SPEED 
 
 LONDON 
 
 FREDERICK WARNE & CO. 
 
 AND NEW YORK 
 
 1904 
 
 [All Rights Rtsewe<l\
 
 DEDICATED 
 TO 
 
 ALBANY AND MARGIT 
 MAJOR 
 
 2138992
 
 PREFACE 
 
 A FEW words of preface may save footnotes to a 
 story which deals with the half-forgotten days when 
 the power of a British prince had yet to be reckoned 
 with by the Wessex kings as they slowly and 
 steadily pushed their frontier westward. 
 
 The authority for the historical basis of the story 
 is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which gives A.D. 710 
 as the year of the defeat of Cerent, king of the 
 West Welsh, by Ina of Wessex and his kinsman 
 Nunna. This date is therefore approximately that 
 of the events of the tale. 
 
 With regard to the topography of the Wessex 
 frontier involved, although it practically explains 
 itself in the course of the story, it may be as well 
 to remind a reader that West Wales was the last 
 British kingdom south of the Severn Sea, the name 
 being, of course, given by Wessex men to distinguish 
 it from the Welsh principalities in what we now call 
 Wales, to their north. In the days of Ina it com- 
 prised Cornwall and the present Devon, and also the 
 half of Somerset westward of the north and south
 
 6 PREFACE 
 
 line of the river Parrett and Quantock Hills. Practi- 
 cally this old British " Dyvnaint " represented the 
 ancient Roman province of Damnonia, shrinking as 
 it was under successive advances of the Saxons from 
 the boundary which it once had along the Mendips 
 and Selwood Forest. Ina's victory over Cerent set 
 the Dyvnaint frontier yet westward, to the line of 
 the present county of Somerset, which represents 
 the limit of his conquest, the new addition to the 
 territory of the clan of the Sumorsaetas long being 
 named as " Devon in Wessex " by the chroniclers 
 rather than as Somerset. 
 
 The terms " Devon " or " Dyvnaint," as they are 
 respectively used by Saxon or Briton in the course 
 of the story, will therefore be understood to imply 
 the ancient territory before its limitation by the 
 boundaries of the modern counties, which practically 
 took their rise from the wars of Ina. 
 
 With regard to names, I have not thought it 
 worth while to use the archaic, if more correct, forms 
 for those of well-known places. It seems unnecessary 
 to write, for instance, " Glaestin gaby rig " for Glaston- 
 bury, or " Penbroch " for Pembroke. I have treated 
 proper names in the same way, keeping, for example, 
 the more familiar latinised " Ina " rather than the 
 Saxon " Ine," as being more nearly the correct 
 pronunciation than might otherwise be used without 
 the hint given by a footnote. 
 
 The exact spot where Wessex and West Wales
 
 PREFACE 7 
 
 met in the battle between Ina and Cerent is not 
 certain, though it is known to have been on the line 
 of the hills to the west of the Parrett, and possibly, 
 according to an identification deduced from the 
 Welsh " Llywarch Hen," in the neighbourhood of 
 Langport. Local tradition and legend place a battle 
 also at the ancient Roman fortress of Norton Fitz- 
 warren, which Ina certainly superseded by his own 
 stronghold at Taunton after the victory. As Nunna 
 is named as leader of the Saxons, together with the 
 king himself, it seems most likely that there were two 
 columns acting against the Welsh advance on the 
 north and south of the Tone River, and that there- 
 fore there were battles at each place. On the Black- 
 down Hills beyond Langport a barrow was known 
 until quite lately as " Noon's barrow," and it would 
 mark at least the line of flight of the Welsh ; and if 
 not the burial-place of the Saxon leader, who is 
 supposed to have fallen, must have been raised by 
 him over his comrades. 
 
 The line taken by the story will not be far wrong, 
 therefore, as in any case the Blackdown and Quan- 
 tock strongholds must have been taken by the 
 Saxons to guard against flank attacks, from which- 
 ever side of the Tone the British advance was 
 made. 
 
 The course of the story hangs to some extent on 
 the influence of the old feud between the British 
 and Saxon Churches, which dated from the days of
 
 8 PREFACE 
 
 Augustine and his attempt to compel the adoption 
 of Western customs by the followers of the Church 
 which had its rise from the East. There is no 
 doubt that the death of the wise and peace-making 
 Aldhelm of Sherborne let the smouldering enmity 
 loose afresh, with the result of setting Gerent in 
 motion against his powerful neighbour. Ina's victory 
 was decisive, Gerent being the last king of the West 
 Welsh named in the chronicles, and we hear of little 
 further trouble from the West until A.D. 835, when 
 the Cornish joined with a new-come fleet of Danes 
 in an unsuccessful raid on Wessex. 
 
 Ina's new policy with the conquered Welsh is 
 historic and well known. Even in the will of King 
 Alfred, two hundred years later, some of the best 
 towns in west Somerset and Dorset are spoken of as 
 " Among the Welsh kin," and there is yet full evi- 
 dence, in both dialect and physique, of strongly 
 marked British descent among the population west of 
 the Parrett. 
 
 There is growing evidence that very early settle- 
 ments of Northmen, either Norse or Danish, or both, 
 contemporary with the well-known occupation of 
 towns, and even districts, on the opposite shores of 
 South Wales, existed on the northern coast of 
 Somerset and Devon. Both races are named by 
 the Welsh and Irish chroniclers in their accounts 
 of the expulsion of these settlers from Wales in 
 A.D. 795, and the name of the old west country
 
 PREFACE 9 
 
 port of Watchet being claimed as of Norse origin, 
 I have not hesitated to place the Norsemen there. 
 
 Owen and Oswald, Howel and Thorgils, and those 
 others of their friends and foes beyond the few whose 
 names have already been mentioned as given in the 
 chronicles, are of course only historic in so far as 
 they may find their counterparts in the men of the 
 older records of our forefathers. If I have too early 
 or late introduced Govan the hermit, whose rock-hewn 
 cell yet remains near the old Danish landing-place on 
 the wild Pembrokeshire coast between Tenby and the 
 mouth of Milford Haven, perhaps I may be forgiven. 
 I have not been able to verify his date, but a saint 
 is of all time, and if Govan himself had passed 
 thence, one would surely have taken his place to 
 welcome a wanderer in the way and in the name of 
 the man who made the refuge. 
 
 CHAS. W. WHISTLER. 
 
 STOCKLAND, 1904.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 HOW OWEN OF CORNWALL WANDERED TO SUSSEX, 
 
 AND WHY HE BIDED THERE . . -15 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 HOW ALDRED THE THANE KEPT HIS FAITH, AND 
 
 OWEN FLED WITH OSWALD . . . .36 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 HOW KING INA'S FEAST WAS MARRED, AND OF A 
 
 VOW, TAKEN BY OSWALD . . . -59 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 HOW THE LADY ELFRIDA SPOKE WITH OSWALD, AND 
 
 OF THE MEETING WITH CERENT . 85 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 HOW OSWALD FELL INTO BAD HANDS, AND FARED 
 
 EVILLY, ON THE QUANTOCKS . . .104 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 HOW OSWALD HAD AN UNEASY VOYAGE AND A PER- 
 ILOUS LANDING AT ITS END . . . 126 
 11
 
 12 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 FAGF. 
 
 HOW OSWALD CROSSED THE DYFED CLIFFS, AND MET 
 
 WITH FRIENDS . . . . -153 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HOW OSWALD LOST A HUNT, AND FOUND SOMEWHAT 
 
 STRANGE IN THE CAERAU WOODS . . -177 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 WHY IT WAS NOT GOOD FOR OWEN TO SLEEP IN THE 
 
 MOONLIGHT ...... 203 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 HOW THE EASTDEAN MANORS AND SOMEWHAT MORE 
 
 PASSED FROM OSWALD TO ERPWALD . . 224 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 HOW ERPWALD FELL FROM CHEDDAR CLIFFS ; AND 
 
 OF ANOTHER WARNING .... 247 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 OF THE MESSAGE BROUGHT BY JAGO, AND A MEETING 
 
 IN DARTMOOR . . . . .272 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 HOW OSWALD AND HOWEL DARED THE SECRET OF 
 
 THE MENHIR, AND MET A WIZARD . . 294 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 HOW OSWALD FOUND WHAT HE SOUGHT, AND RODE 
 
 HOMEWARD WITH NONA THE PRINCESS . -321
 
 CONTENTS 13 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 HOW ERPVVALD SAW HIS FIRST FIGHT ON HIS WED- 
 DING DAY ...... 342 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 OF MATTERS OF RANSOM, AND OF FORGIVENESS ASKED 
 
 AND GRANTED ..... 363 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 HOW OSWALD FOUND A HOME, AND OF THE LAST 
 
 PERIL OF OWEN THE PRINCE . . .383
 
 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 HOW OWEN OF CORNWALL WANDERED TO SUSSEX, 
 AND WHY HE BIDED THERE 
 
 THE title which stands at the head of this story 
 is not my own. It belongs to one whose name 
 must come very often into that which I have to tell, 
 for it is through him that I am what I may be, and 
 it is because of him that there is anything worth 
 telling, of my doings at all. Hereafter it will be 
 seen, as I think, that I could do no less than set 
 his name in the first place in some way, if indeed 
 the story must be mostly concerning myself. May- 
 be it will seem strange that I, a South Saxon of 
 the line of Ella, had aught at all to do with a West 
 Welshman a Cornishman, that is of the race and 
 line of Arthur, in the days when the yet unforgotten 
 hatred between our peoples was at its highest ; and 
 so it was in truth, at first Not so much so was 
 it after the beginning, however. It would be 
 stranger yet if I were not at the very outset to own 
 all that is due from me to him. Lonely was I
 
 16 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 when he first came to me, and lonely together, in 
 a way, have he and I been for long years that for 
 me, at least, have had no unhappiness in them, 
 for we have been all to each other. 
 
 I have said that I was lonely when he first came 
 to me, and I must tell how that was. I suppose 
 that the most lonesome place in the world is the 
 wide sea, and after that a bare hilltop ; but next 
 to these in loneliness I would set the glades of a 
 beech forest in midwinter silence, when the snow 
 lies deep on the ground under boughs that are too 
 stiff to rustle in the wind, and the birds are dumb, 
 and the ice has stilled the brooks. Set a lost child 
 amid the bare grey tree trunks of such a winter 
 forest, in the dead silence of a great frost, with no 
 track near him but that which his own random 
 feet have made across the snow, and I think that 
 there can be nought lonelier than he to be thought 
 of: and in the depth of the forest there is peril to 
 the lonely. 
 
 I had no fear of the forest till that day when I 
 was lost therein, for the nearer glades round our 
 village had been my playground ever since I could 
 remember, and before I knew that fear therein 
 might be. That was not so long a time, however, 
 save that the years of a child are long years ; for 
 at this time, when I first learned the full wildness 
 of the woods of the great Andredsweald and knew 
 what loneliness was, I was only ten years old. 
 Since I could run alone my old nurse had tried 
 to fray me from wandering out of sight of those 
 who tended me, with tales of wolf and bear and 
 pixy, lest I should stray and be lost, but I had not
 
 IN THE FOREST 17 
 
 heeded her much. Maybe I had proved so many 
 of her tales to be but pretence that, as I began to 
 think for myself, I deemed them all to be so. 
 
 But now I was lost in the forest, and what had 
 been a playground was become a vast and desolate 
 land for me, and all the things that I had ever 
 heard of what dangers lurked within it, came back 
 to my mind. I remembered that the grey wolf's 
 skin on which I slept had come hence, and I minded 
 the calf that the pack had slain close to the village 
 a year ago, and I thought of the girl who went 
 mazed and useless about the place, having lost her 
 wits through being pixy-led, as they said, long ago. 
 The warnings seemed to me to be true enough, 
 now that all the old landmarks were lost to me, and 
 all the tracks were buried under the crisp snow. I 
 did not know when I had left the road from the 
 village to the hilltop, or in which direction it lay. 
 
 It was very silent in the aisles of the great beech 
 trunks, for the herds were in shelter. There was 
 no sound of the swine-herds' horn, though the 
 evening was coming on, and but for the frost it was 
 time for their charges to be taken homeward, and 
 the woodmen's axes were idle. Even the scream 
 of some hawk high overhead had been welcome to 
 me, and the harsh cry of a jay that I scared was 
 like the voice of a friend. 
 
 It was the fault of none but myself that I was 
 lost. I had planned to go hunting alone in the 
 woods while the old nurse, whose care I was far 
 beyond, slept after her midday meal before the 
 fire. So, over my warm woollen clothing I had 
 donned the deerskin short cloak that was made
 
 i8 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 like my father's own hunting gear, and I had taken 
 my bow and arrows, and the little seax l that a 
 thane's son may always wear, and had crept away 
 from the warm hall without a soul seeing me. I 
 had thought myself lucky in this, but by this time 
 I began to change my mind in all truth. Well 
 it was for me that there was no wind, so that I 
 was spared the worst of the cold. 
 
 I went up the hill to the north of the village 
 by the track which the timber sleds make, climbing 
 until I was on the crest, and there I began to 
 wander as the tracks of rabbit and squirrel led me 
 on. Sometimes I was set aside from the path by 
 deep drifts that had gathered in its hollows with 
 the wind of yesterday, and so I left it altogether 
 in time. Overhead the sky was bright and clear 
 as the low sun of the month after Yule, the wolf- 
 month, can make it. I wandered on for an hour 
 or two without meeting with anything at which to 
 loose an arrow, and my ardour began to cool 
 somewhat, so that I thought of turning homewards. 
 But then, what was to me a wondrous quarry crossed 
 my way as I stood for a moment on the edge of 
 a wide aisle of beech trees looking down it, and 
 wondering if I would not go even to its end and 
 so return. Then at once the wild longing for the 
 chase woke again in me, and I forgot cold and time 
 and place and aught else in it. 
 
 Across the glade came slowly and lightly over 
 the snow a great red hare, looking against the 
 white background bigger than any I had ever set 
 
 1 Seax the national weapon. A heavy blade between sword and 
 dagger, with curved back and straight edge, fitted for almost any use.
 
 WOODLAND QUARRY 19 
 
 eyes on before. It paid no heed at all to me, even 
 when I raised my bow to set an arrow on the string 
 with fingers which trembled with eagerness and 
 haste. Now and again it stopped and seemed to 
 listen for somewhat, and then loped on again and 
 stopped, seeming hardly to know which way it 
 wished to go. Now it came toward me, and then 
 across, and yet again went from me, and all as 
 if I were not there. 
 
 It was thirty paces from me when I shot, and 
 I was a fair marksman, for a boy, at fifty paces. 
 However, the arrow skimmed just over its back, 
 and it crouched for a second as it heard the whistle 
 of the feathers, and then leapt aside and on again 
 in the same way. But now it crossed the glade 
 and passed behind some trees before I was ready 
 with a second arrow, and I ran forward to recover 
 the first, which was in the snow where it struck, 
 hoping thence to see the hare again. 
 
 When I turned with the arrow in my hand I 
 saw what made the hare pay no heed to me. 
 There was a more terrible enemy than even man 
 on its track. Sniffing at my footprints where they 
 had just crossed those of the hare was a stoat, long 
 and lithe and cruel. I knew it would not leave 
 its quarry until it had it fast by the throat, and 
 the hare knew it also by some instinct that is not 
 to be fathomed, for I suppose that no hare, save 
 by the merest chance, ever escaped that pursuer. 
 The creature seemed puzzled by my footprint, and 
 sat up, turning its sharp eyes right and left until 
 it spied me ; but when it did so it was not feared 
 of me, but took up the trail of the hare again. And
 
 2O 
 
 by that time I was ready, and my hand was steady, 
 and the shaft sped and smote it fairly, and the 
 hare's one chance had come to it. I sprang 
 forward with the whoop of the Saxon hunter, and 
 took up and admired my prey, not heeding its 
 scent at all. It was in good condition, and I 
 would get Stuf, the house-carle, who was a sworn 
 ally of mine, to make me a pouch of it, I thought. 
 I mind that this was the third wild thing that I 
 had slain. One of the others was a squirrel who 
 stayed motionless on a bough to stare at me, in 
 summer time, and the second was a rabbit which 
 Stuf had shown me in its seat. This was quite 
 a different business, and I was proud of my skill 
 with some little reason. I should have some real 
 wild hunting to talk of over the fire to-night. 
 
 Then I must follow up the hare, of course, and 
 I thrust the long body of the stoat through my 
 girdle, so that its head hung one way and its tail 
 the other, and took up the trail of the hare where 
 my prey had left it. Now, I cannot tell how the 
 mazed creature learned that its worst foe was no 
 longer after it, but so it must have been, else it had 
 circled slowly in lessening rings until the stoat 
 had it, and presently it would have begun to scream 
 dolefully. But I only saw it once again, and then 
 it seemed to be listening at longer spaces. Yet 
 it took me a long way before it suddenly fled 
 altogether, as its footmarks told me. A forest- 
 bred lad learns those signs soon enough, if he 
 is about with the woodmen in snow time. Then 
 I turned to make my way home, following my own 
 track for a little way. That was crooked, and I
 
 AT SUNSET 21 
 
 went to take a straighter path, and after that I 
 was fairly lost. 
 
 Yet I held on, hoping every minute to come 
 into some known glade or sight, some familiar 
 landmark, before the sun set. But I found nought 
 but new trees, and new views over unknown white 
 country all round me as I turned my steps hither 
 and thither as one mark after another drew me. 
 Then the sun set and the short day was over, and 
 the grey twilight of snow weather came after the 
 passing of the warm red glow from the west, 
 shadowless and still. 
 
 That was about the time when I was missed at 
 home, for my father came back from Chichester 
 town, and straightway asked for me. And when 
 I came not for calling, nor yet for the short notes 
 of the horn which my father had always used to 
 bring me to him, one ran here and another there, 
 seeking me in wonted places about the village, 
 until one minded that he had seen a boy, who must 
 have 'been myself, go up the hill track forestwards. 
 
 Then was fear enough for me, seeing that from 
 our village more than one child has wandered forth 
 thus and been seen no more, and I was the only son 
 of the long-widowed thane, and the last of the 
 ancient line that went back to Ella, and beyond 
 him even to Woden. So in half an hour there was 
 not a man left in the village, and all the woods and 
 hillsides rang with their calls to me, while in the 
 hall itself bided only the old nurse, who wept and 
 wailed by the hearth, and my father, whose tall 
 form came and went across the doorway, restless ; 
 for he waited here lest he should miss my coming
 
 22 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 homeward. Up the steep street of the village the 
 wives stood in the doorways silent, and forgetting 
 their ailments for once in listening for the cries 
 that should tell that I was found. If they spoke 
 at all, they said that I should not be seen again, for 
 the cold had driven the wolves close to the villages. 
 
 But I was by this time far beyond the reach of 
 friendly voices, on the edge of the great hill that 
 falls sheer down through many a score feet of 
 hanging woods and thicket to the Lavington valley 
 far below, and there at last I knew for certain that 
 I was lost utterly, for this place or its like I had 
 never seen before. Then I stayed my feet, 
 bewildered, for the sun was gone, and I had 
 nothing to tell me in which direction I was heading, 
 for at that time the stars told me nought, though 
 there were enough out now to direct any man who 
 was used to the night. When I stood still I found 
 that I was growing deadly cold, and the weariness 
 that I had so far staved off began to creep over me, 
 so that I longed to sleep. And I suppose that I 
 should have done so, and thereby met my death 
 shortly, but for a thing that roused me in an 
 instant, and set the warm blood coursing through 
 me again. 
 
 There came a rustling in the undergrowth of the 
 hillside below me, and that was the most homely 
 sound that I had heard since the wild geese flew 
 over me seaward with swish and whistle of broad 
 wings and call that I knew well. The silence of 
 the great brown owls that circled swiftly over me 
 now and then was uncanny. 
 
 The rustling drew nearer, and then out into the
 
 THE GREY BEAST 23 
 
 open place under the tall bare tree trunks where 
 I stood trotted a grey beast that was surely a 
 shepherd's dog, for he stayed and looked back 
 and whined a little as if his master must be waited 
 for. I thought that I could hear the cracking of 
 more branches once farther down the hill. 
 
 Then I called to the dog, knowing that he and 
 the shepherd would not be far apart, and at the call 
 the dog turned quickly toward me and leaped back 
 a yard, cowering a little with drooping tail. So I 
 called him again, and more loudly. 
 
 " Hither, lad ! Hither, good dog ! " 
 
 But the beast backed yet more from me, and I 
 saw the dull gleam of yellow teeth and heard him 
 snarl as he did so, and then he growled fiercely, so 
 that I thought him sorely ill-tempered. But I had 
 no fear of dogs, and I called him again cheerily, and 
 at that he sank on his haunches and set back his 
 head and howled and yelled as I had never heard 
 any dog give tongue before. And presently from 
 a long way off I heard the like howls, as if all the 
 dogs of some village answered him, and I thought 
 their tongue was strange also. Then came the 
 shout of a man, even as I expected, and there was 
 the noise of one who tears his way through briars 
 and brambles in haste ; but at that shout the dog 
 turned and fled like a grey shadow into the farther 
 thickets, and was gone. 
 
 " Who calls ? " one said loudly, and from the 
 hillside climbed hastily into the open a tall man, 
 bearded and strong, and with a pleasant-looking, 
 anxious face. He was dressed in leather like our 
 shepherds, and like them carried but quarter staff
 
 24 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 and seax for weapons. I suppose that I was in 
 some shadow, for at first he did not see me. 
 
 " Surely I heard a child's voice," he said out loud, 
 " or was it some pixy playing with the grey beast 
 of the wood ? " 
 
 " Here I am," I cried, running to him ; " take me 
 home, shepherd, for I think that I am lost." 
 
 He caught me up in haste, looking round him 
 the while. 
 
 "Child," he said, "how came you here and to 
 what were you calling ? " 
 
 " I was calling your dog," I answered, " but he is 
 not friendly. Does he look for a beating? for he 
 ran away yonder when he heard you coming." 
 
 " Ay, sorely beaten will that dog be if he comes 
 near me just now," the man said grimly. " Never 
 mind him, but tell me how you came here, and 
 where you belong." 
 
 So I told him that I was Oswald, the son of 
 Aldred, the thane of Eastdean, thinking, of course, 
 that all men would know of us, and so I bade him 
 take me home quickly. 
 
 " I have been hunting," I said, showing him my 
 unsavoury prey, which by this time was frozen stiff 
 in my belt. " Then I followed the hare this was 
 after, and I cannot tell how far I have come." 
 
 All this while the man had me in his strong 
 arms, and he had looked at the track of the dog 
 in the snow, and now was walking swiftly from it, 
 through the beech trees, looking up at their branches 
 as if wondering at the way the great trunks shot up 
 smooth and bare from the snow at their roots before 
 they reached the first forking, fathoms skyward.
 
 THE CALL OF THE PACK 25 
 
 " I am a stranger, Oswald, the thane's son," he 
 said. " I do not rightly know in which direction 
 your home may lie." 
 
 I know now that he was himself as lost as I, 
 but that he did not tell me, for my sake. It is an 
 easy thing for a stranger to go astray in the 
 Andredsweald. But I could not tell him more 
 than that I knew that I had left the sea always 
 behind me so long as I knew where it lay. So 
 he turned southwards at once when he heard that, 
 and went on swiftly. Then I heard the howl of 
 his dog again, and I laughed, for the other howls 
 that answered him were nearer. 
 
 " Listen, shepherd," I said. " Your dog is making 
 his comrades howl for him, and the beating that is 
 to come. Are you cold ? " 
 
 For he had shivered suddenly, and his pace 
 quickened. He had heard the howl of the single 
 wolf that has found its quarry, and calls the 
 answering pack to follow. But he did not tell 
 me of 'my mistake. 
 
 " I am not cold overmuch," he answered. " Let 
 us run and warm me." 
 
 Then he ran until we came to the top of a hill 
 whence the last glimmer of the sea over Selsea was 
 plain before him, and there I asked him to set me 
 down lest I tired him. 
 
 " Nay, but you keep me warm," he said. " Tell 
 me, are there oak trees as one goes seaward ? " 
 
 " Ay, many and great ones in some places." 
 
 Then he ran down the hill, and the sway of his 
 even stride lulled me so that I dozed a little. I 
 roused when he stayed suddenly.
 
 26 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " Sit here, Oswald, for a moment, and fear nought 
 while I rest me," he said in a strange voice. We 
 were half-way up a long slope and among fresh 
 trees. Then he lifted me and set me on the curved 
 arm of a great oak tree, some eight feet from the 
 ground, asking me if I was safe there. And when 
 I laughed and answered that I was, he set his back 
 against the trunk, and drew his heavy seax, putting 
 his staff alongside him, where he could reach it at 
 once if it was needed. It was light enough, with 
 the clear frosty starlight on the snow. 
 
 Then I heard the swift patter of feet over the 
 crisp surface, and the grey beast came and halted 
 suddenly not three yards from us, and on his 
 haunches he sat up and howled, and I heard the 
 answering yells in no long space of time coming 
 whence we had come. His eyes glowed green with 
 a strange light of their own as he stared at my 
 friend, and for a moment I looked to see him come 
 fawning to his master's feet. 
 
 Suddenly he gathered himself together, and 
 sprung silently at the throat of the man who waited 
 him, and there was a flash of the keen steel, and a 
 sound as of the cleaving of soft wood, and the beast 
 was in a twitching heap at the man's feet. I knew 
 what it was at last, yet I could say nothing. The 
 wolf was quite dead, with its head cleft. 
 
 Swiftly my friend hewed the great head from the 
 trunk and tore one of the leather cross garterings 
 from his leg, and so leapt at a branch which hung 
 above him and pulled it down. Then he bound the 
 head to its end with the thong and let it go, so 
 that it dangled a fathom and a half above him, and
 
 " HE BOUND THE HEAD TO THE BRANCH WITH THE THONG. 
 
 p. 26.
 
 ACROSS THE WOODLAND 27 
 
 then he lifted me from my place and ran as I had 
 not thought any man could run, until he stayed at 
 the brow of the hill for sheer want of breath. 
 
 Behind us at that moment rose the sound as 
 of hungry dogs that fight over the food in their 
 kennels, and my friend laughed under his breath 
 strangely. 
 
 " That will be a wild dance beneath the tree 
 anon," he said, as if to himself. 
 
 Then he said to me, " Are you frayed, bairn ? " as 
 he ran on again. 
 
 " No," I answered. " You can smite well, 
 shepherd." 
 
 " Needs must, sometime," he said. " Now, little 
 one, have you a mother waiting you at home ? " 
 
 " No. Only father and old nurse." 
 
 " Nor brother or sister ? " 
 
 " None at all," I said. 
 
 " An only child, and his father lonely," the man 
 said. "Well, I will chance it while the trees last. 
 The head will stay them awhile, maybe." 
 
 Now he went swiftly across the rolling woodlands, 
 and again I slept in his arms, but uneasily and with 
 a haunting fear in my dreaming that I should wake 
 to see the wild eyes of the wolf glaring across the 
 snow on us again. So it happens that all I know 
 of the rest of that flight from Woden's pack has 
 been told me by others, so that I can say little 
 thereof. 
 
 The howls of the pack as they stayed to fall on 
 the carcass of their fellow, after their wont, died 
 away behind us, and before they were heard again 
 my friend had come across a half-frozen brook, and
 
 28 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 for a furlong or more had crashed and waded 
 through its ice and water that our trail might be 
 lost in it. Then he lit on the path that a sounder 
 of wild swine had made through the snow on either 
 side of it as they crossed it, and that he followed, 
 in hopes that the foe would leave us to chase 
 the more accustomed quarry. From that he leapt 
 aside presently with a wondrous leap and struck off 
 away from it. He would leave nothing untried, 
 though indeed by this time he had reason to think 
 that the pack had lost us at the brook, for he heard 
 no more of them. 
 
 So at last he came within sound of some far-off 
 shouts of those who were seeking me, and he 
 guessed well what those shouts meant, and turned in 
 their direction. Had he not heard them I do not 
 know what place of refuge, save the trees, he would 
 have found that night, for he was then passing across 
 the valley that winds down to our home. 
 
 So it happened that when at last he saw the red 
 light from the door of our hall gleaming across the 
 snow, for it had been left open that perchance I 
 might see it, he was close to the place, and he came 
 into the courtyard inside the stockading without 
 meeting any one, for he came from the side on which 
 the village is not. 
 
 There I woke as the house-dogs barked, and at 
 first it was with a cry of fear lest the wolves were 
 on us again ; but the fear passed as I saw my father 
 come quickly into the light of the doorway, and 
 heard his voice as he stilled the dogs and cried to 
 ask if the boy was found. 
 
 " Ay, Thane, he is here, and safe," my friend
 
 THE THANE'S HALL 29 
 
 answered, and he set me down in the midst of the 
 court, while the dogs leapt and fawned round me. 
 
 Then I ran to the arms that were held out for me, 
 forgetting for the moment the one who had brought 
 me back to them, and left him standing there. 
 
 Then the man who had saved me turned after one 
 long look at that meeting, and I think that he was 
 going his way in silence, content with that he had 
 done, but my father saw it and called to him 
 
 " Friend, stay, for I have not thanked you, and I 
 hold that there is reward due to you for what you 
 have brought back to me." 
 
 " It was a chance meeting, Thane, and I am glad to 
 have been of use. No need to speak of reward, for it 
 is indeed enough to have seen the boy home safely."' 
 
 "Why, then," said my father, "I cannot have a 
 stranger pass my hall at this time in the evening, when 
 it is too late to reach the town in safety. Here you 
 must at least lodge for the night, or Eastdean will 
 be shamed. Your voice tells me that you are a 
 stranger, but maybe you have your men waiting for 
 you at hand ? There will be room for them also." 
 
 For there was that in the tones of the voice of 
 this man which told my father that here he had no 
 common wanderer. 
 
 " I am alone," my friend said. " But your men 
 seek the little one even yet in the forest. Will you 
 not call them in ? " 
 
 My father looked at the man for a moment, 
 and smiled. " Ay, I forgot in my joy. They are 
 well-nigh as anxious as I have been." 
 
 Then he took down the great horn that hung by 
 the door, and wound the homing call that brings all
 
 30 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 within its hearing back to the hall, and its hoarse 
 echoes went across the silent woods until it was 
 answered by the other horns that passed on the 
 message until the last sounds came but faintly to us. 
 I heard men cheering also, for they knew by the 
 token that all was well. My father had me in his 
 arms all this time, standing in the door. 
 
 " There would have been sorrow enough had he 
 been lost indeed," my father said. " He is the last 
 of the old line, and the fathers of those men whom 
 you hear have followed his fathers since the days of 
 Ella. Come in, and they will thank you also. 
 Where did you find him ? " 
 
 Then as he turned and went into the hall the light 
 flashed red on my jerkin suddenly, and he cried, 
 " Here is blood on his clothing ! Is he hurt ? " 
 
 " No," I said stoutly ; " maybe it is the blood of 
 the stoat I slew, or else it has come off the shepherd's 
 sleeves. He hewed off the wolf's head and hung it 
 on the tree." 
 
 Then my father understood what my peril had 
 been even that which he and all the village had 
 feared for me, and his face paled, and he held out 
 his hand to the man, drawing in his breath sharply. 
 
 " Woden ! " he cried, " what is this, friend ? Are 
 you hurt, yourself? For the wolf must be slain ere 
 his head can be hefted, as we say." 
 
 " No hurt to any but the wolf," the man said, smil- 
 ing a little. " We did but meet with one who called 
 the pack on us. So I even hung his head on a tree, 
 that the pack when it came might stay to leap at 
 it. They were all we had to fear, and maybe that 
 saved us."
 
 OWEN OF WEST WALES 31 
 
 " I marvel that you are not even now in the tree, 
 yourself with the boy." 
 
 "Nay, but the frost is cruel, and he would have been 
 sorely feared with the leaping and howls of the beasts. 
 There were always trees at hand as we fled, if needs 
 were to take to them. It was in my mind that it 
 were best to try to get him home, or near it." 
 
 Then said my father, gripping the hand that met 
 his : " There is more that I would say, but I cannot 
 set thoughts into words well. Only, I know that I 
 have a man before me. Tell me your name, that 
 neither I nor the boy may ever forget it." 
 
 " Here, in the Saxon lands, men call me Owen the 
 Briton," he answered simply. 
 
 " I thought your voice had somewhat of the Welsh 
 tone," my father said. " And your English is of 
 Mercia. I have heard that there are Britons in the 
 fenland there." 
 
 " I am of West Wales, Thane, but I have bided 
 long in Mercia." 
 
 Then came my old nurse, and there were words 
 enough for the time. Her eyes were red with 
 weeping, but it was all that my father could do to 
 prevent her scolding me soundly then and there for 
 the fright I had given her. But she set a great 
 bowl of bread and milk before me, and the men 
 began to come in at that time, and they stood in a 
 ring round me and watched me eat it as if they had 
 never seen me before, while my father spoke aside of 
 the flight to Owen on the high place. But concern- 
 ing his own story my father asked the stranger no 
 more until he chose to open the matter himself. 
 
 After supper there was all the tale to be told, and 
 3
 
 3 2 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 when that was done the Welshman slept before the 
 hall fire with the house-carles, but my father had me 
 with him in the closed chamber beyond the high 
 seat, for it seemed that he would not let me go 
 beyond his sight again yet. 
 
 Now, that is how Owen came to me at first, and 
 the first thing therefore that I owe to him is nothing 
 less than life itself. And from that time we have 
 been, as I have said, together in all things. 
 
 On the next morning my father made his guest 
 take him back over the ground we had crossed 
 together, for no fresh snow had fallen, and the foot- 
 prints were plain to be followed almost from the gate 
 of the hall stockade. So they came at last to the 
 tree, and on it the head hung yet, but the body was 
 clean gone. All round the tree the snow was 
 reddened and trampled by the fierce beasts who 
 leapt to reach the head, and the marks of their 
 clawing was on the trunk, where they had tried to 
 climb it. From the footmarks it seemed that there 
 were eight or nine of them. Three great ones had 
 left the head and followed us presently as far as the 
 brook, half a mile away. 
 
 After that the two men went on to the place 
 where Owen had found me, and there my father, 
 judging from the dress and loneliness of the Briton 
 that he might be able to help him somewhat, said : 
 " I do not know what your plans may be, but is 
 there any reason why you should not bide here and 
 help me tend the life you have kept for me ? " 
 
 Then answered Owen : " You know nought of me, 
 Thane. For all you ken, I may be but an outlaw 
 who is fleeing from justice."
 
 THANE AND WANDERER 33 
 
 " Do I know nought about you ? I think that 
 last night and what I have seen to-day have told 
 me much, and I have been held as a good judge of 
 a man. If so be that you were an outlaw, which I 
 do not think, what you have done is enough to inlaw 
 you again with any honest man even had you 
 taken a life, for you have saved one. Did I know 
 you were an outlaw I would see to your pardon. 
 But maybe you are on a journey that may not be 
 hindered ? " 
 
 Now Owen was silent for a little, and there came 
 a shadow over his face as he answered, slowly and 
 with his eyes on the far sea 
 
 " No man's man am I, and I am but drifting west- 
 ward again at random. Yet I can say in all truth, 
 that I am no wanderer for ill reason in any wise. I 
 will tell you, Thane, here and alone, that there are 
 foes in my home for whose passing, in one way or 
 another, I must needs wait. Even now I was on 
 my way to Bosham, where they tell me are Western 
 monks with whom I might bide for a time, if not 
 altogether. I was lost in the forest last night." 
 
 Now my father saw that some heavy sorrow of no 
 common sort lay beneath the quiet words of the man 
 before him, and he forbore to ask him more. Also, 
 he deemed that in the Welsh land he would surely 
 rank as a thane, for his ways and words bespoke more 
 than his dress would tell. Therefore he said 
 
 " Wait here with us for a while at least. There 
 will be no more welcome guest." 
 
 " Let me be of some use, rather," Owen answered. 
 " If I bide with you, Thane, and I thank you for 
 the offer, let it be as I have bided elsewhere from
 
 34 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 time to time as one of the household, not as an 
 idle guest, if it were but to help the woodmen in the 
 forest." 
 
 " Why, that will be well. I need a forester, and 
 it is plain that you are a master of woodcraft. Let 
 it be so. Yet I must tell you one thing fairly, and 
 that is, that I am what you would call a heathen. 
 I know that you are a good Christian man, for I 
 saw you sign your holy sign before you ate last night 
 and this morning. Yet I do not hate Christians." 
 
 " I had heard that all Sussex was turned to the 
 faith," Owen said. 
 
 "If one says that all the men have gone to 
 market, one knows that here and there one is 
 excepted for good reason. It is not for a thane 
 of the line of Woden to give up the faith of his 
 fathers idly. I do not know what may be in the 
 days to come, but here in the Andredsweald some 
 dozen of us will not leave the old gods. It was 
 the bidding of Ethelwalch the king that we should 
 do so, but that is not a matter wherein a king may 
 meddle, as it seems to us." 
 
 " I do not know why I should not bide with you, 
 Thane, if so be that there is no hindrance to my 
 faith." 
 
 "That there will be none. Why, the most of 
 my folk are Christian enough. And if a man of 
 the Britons did not honour his old faith it would 
 be as strange as if I honoured not that of my 
 fathers. I have no quarrel with the faith of any 
 man, either king or thrall." 
 
 "Then I will be your forester, Thane, for such 
 time as I may, and I thank you."
 
 THE FORESTER 35 
 
 " Nay, but the thanks are all on my side," 
 answered my father. " Now I shall know that the 
 boy will have one with whom he may live all day 
 in the woods if he will, and I shall be content." 
 
 So Owen bided with us, half as honoured guest 
 and half as forester, and as time went on he was 
 well loved by all who knew him, for he was ever 
 the same to each man about the place. As for me, 
 it was the best day that could have dawned when 
 he found me in the woods as a lost child. And 
 that my father said also.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 HOW ALDRED THE THANE KEPT HIS FAITH, 
 AND OWEN FLED WITH OSWALD 
 
 OUR Sussex was the last land in all England that 
 was heathen. I suppose that the last heathen 
 thanes in Sussex were those whose manors lay in 
 the Andredsweald, as did ours. Most of these 
 thanes had held aloof from the faith because at the 
 first coming of good Bishop Wilfrith, some twelve 
 years ago, those who had hearkened to him were 
 mostly thralls and freemen of the lower ranks, and 
 they would not follow their lead. Yet of these 
 there were some, like my father, who had no hatred, 
 to say the least, of the Christian and his creed, and 
 did but need the words of one who could speak 
 rightly to them to turn altogether from the Asir. 
 
 Maybe the only man who was at this time really 
 fierce against the faith was Erpwald, the thane of 
 Wisborough, some half-score miles from us north- 
 wards across the forest. He had been the priest 
 of Woden in the old days, and indeed held himself 
 so even now, though secretly, for fear of Ina the 
 Wessex king, who ruled our land well and strongly. 
 This Erpwald was no very good neighbour of ours, 
 as it happened, for he and my father had some old 
 
 36
 
 HEATHEN AND CHRISTIAN 37 
 
 feud concerning forest rights and the like which he 
 had taken to heart more than there was any 
 occasion for, seeing that it was but such a matter as 
 most thanes have, unless they are unusually lucky, 
 in a place where boundaries are none. It is likely 
 enough that but for the easy ways of my father, 
 who gave in to him so far as he could, this feud 
 would have been of trouble some time ago, for as 
 the power of Erpwald, as priest, waned he seemed to 
 look more for power in other ways. Yet in the end 
 both the matter of the faith and the matter of the 
 feud seemed to work together in some way that 
 brought trouble enough on our house, which must 
 be told ; for it set Owen and me out into the 
 world together for a time, and because of it there 
 befell many happenings thereafter which have not 
 all been sad in their ending. Owen had been with 
 us for a year and a half when what I am going to 
 tell came to pass, and in that time my father had 
 come to look on him rather as a brother than as a 
 guest, and the thought that he might leave him at 
 any time was one which he did not like to keep in 
 his mind. 
 
 That being so, it was not at all surprising that in 
 this summer my father had at last borne witness 
 that he wished to become a Christian altogether, 
 and so it had come to pass that he and Owen and I 
 used to ride to Bosham, the little seacoast village 
 beyond Chichester town, to speak with Dicul, the 
 good old Irish priest, who yet bided there rather 
 than in the new monastery which Wilfrith built at 
 Selsea, until we were taught all that was needful, 
 and the time came when we should be baptized.
 
 38 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 That my father would have done here at East- 
 dean, that all his people, who were Christians before 
 him, should see and rejoice. Yet it was not an easy 
 matter for him as it had been for them, for now he 
 would stand alone among his fellows, the heathen 
 thanes ; and most of all Erpwald the priest would be 
 wrath with him for leaving that which he had held 
 so long. He must meet these men often enough, 
 and he knew that they would have biting words to 
 hurl at him, but that thought did not stay him for 
 a moment. It was more than likely that one or 
 two more would follow him when once the old 
 circle was broken. 
 
 So on a certain day Dicul rode over from 
 Bosham on his mule, and early on the next morning 
 he set up a little wooden cross by the spring above 
 the hall, and there my father and I and Stuf, the 
 head man of the house-carles, who had bided in the 
 old faith for love of my father, were baptized, Owen 
 and one of the village freemen standing sponsors 
 for us, and that was a wondrous day to us all, as I 
 think. For when all was done my father gave 
 their freedom to all our thralls, for the sake of the 
 freedom that had been given him, and he promised 
 that here, where he and they had been freed, a 
 church should be built of good forest oak, after 
 the woodcutting of the winter to come. 
 
 Then Dicul went his way homewards, with one 
 of our men to lead his mule and carry some few 
 presents for his people to Bosham, and after he was 
 gone we had a quiet feasting in our hall until the 
 light was gone. And even as our feasting ended 
 there came in a swineherd from the forest with word
 
 A ROUGH AWAKING 39 
 
 that from the northward there came a strong band 
 of armed men through the forest, and he held it 
 right that my father should be warned thereof, for 
 he feared they were some banded outlaws, seeing 
 that there was peace in the land. That was no 
 unlikely thing at all, for our forests shelter many, 
 and game being plentiful they live there well enough, 
 if not altogether at ease. As a rule they gave little 
 trouble to us, and at times in the winter we would 
 even have men who were said to be outlaws from 
 far off working in the woods for us. Yet now and 
 then some leader would rise among them and gather 
 them into bands which waxed bold to harry cattle 
 and even houses, so that there might be^ truth in 
 what the swineherd told. Nevertheless my father 
 thought of little danger but to the herds, and so had 
 them driven into the sheds from the home fields, 
 and set the men their watches as he had more than 
 once done before in like alarms. 
 
 Presently I was awakened, for I had gone to rest 
 before ,the message came, by the hoarse call of a 
 horn and the savage barking of the dogs. I heard 
 the hall doors shut and open once or twice as 
 men passed in and out, and in the hall was the 
 rattle of weapons as the men took them from their 
 places on the walls, but I heard no voices raised 
 more than usual. Then I got out of my bed and 
 tried to open the sliding doors that would let me 
 out on the high place from my father's chamber, 
 where I always slept now, but I could not move 
 them. So I went back to my place and listened. 
 
 What was happening I must tell, therefore, as 
 Owen has told me, for I saw nothing to speak of.
 
 4 o A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 As the horn was blown, one of the men who had 
 been on guard came into the hall hastily and spoke 
 to my father. 
 
 " The house is beset, Lord. Stuf blew the horn 
 and bade me tell you. There are men all round 
 the stockade." 
 
 " Outlaws ? " 
 
 The man shook his head. 
 
 " We think not, Lord. But it is dark, and we 
 cannot fairly see them. We heard them call one 
 ' Thane.' Nor are there any outland voices among 
 them, as there would be were they outlaws." 
 
 Then my father armed himself in haste and went 
 out. The night was very dark, and it was raining 
 a little. Stuf had shut the stockade gates, which 
 were strong enough, and had reared a ladder 
 against the timbers that he might look over. 
 
 Close to the ladder stood Owen, armed also, for 
 he had been out to see that all was quiet and that 
 the men were on guard. 
 
 " There are men everywhere," he said. " I would 
 we had some light." 
 
 " Heave a torch on the strawstack," my father 
 answered ; " there will be enough then." 
 
 The stack was outside the stockade, and some 
 twenty yards from its corner. One of the men ran 
 to the hall and brought a torch from its socket on 
 the wall, and handed it to Stuf, who threw it fairly 
 on the stack top, from the ladder. It blazed up 
 fiercely as it went through the air, and from the 
 men who beset us there rose a howl as they saw it. 
 Several ran and tried to reach it with their spears, 
 but they were not in time. The first damp straws
 
 ERPWALD THE PRIEST 41 
 
 of the thatch hissed for a moment, dried, and 
 burst into flame, and then nought could stop the 
 burning. The red flames gathered brightness every 
 moment, lighting up two sides of the stockading, 
 in the midst of which the hall stood. Then an 
 arrow clicked on Stufs helm, and he came down 
 into shelter. 
 
 " This is a strange affair, Master," he said. " I 
 have seen three men whom I know well among 
 them." 
 
 ' Who are they ? " 
 
 " Wisborough men freemen of Erpwald's." 
 
 My father and Owen looked at one another. 
 Words my father knew he should have to put up 
 with, after to-day, from Erpwald, but this seemed 
 token of more than words only. 
 
 Then came the blast of a horn from outside, and 
 a strange voice shouted that the thane must come 
 and speak with those who called him. So my 
 father went to the gate and answered from 
 within ,it 
 
 " Here am I. What is all the trouble ? " 
 
 " Open the gate, and you shall know." 
 
 " Not so, Thane," cried one of our men, who was 
 peering through the timbers of the stockade. " Now 
 that I can see, I have counted full fifty men, and 
 they are waiting as if to rush in." 
 
 Then said my father : " Maybe we will open the 
 gate when we are sure you are friends. One may 
 be forgiven for doubting that when you come thus 
 at midnight to a peaceful house." 
 
 " We are friends or not, as you choose, Aldred," 
 the voice answered. " I am Erpwald, Woden's
 
 42 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 priest, and I am here to stay wrong to the Asir of 
 which I have heard." 
 
 " I will not pretend not to know what you mean, 
 Erpwald," answered my father. "But this, as it 
 seems to me, is a matter that concerns me most 
 of all." 
 
 " If it concerns not Woden's priest, whom shall it 
 concern ? " answered Erpwald. " It is true, then, 
 that you have left the Asir to follow the way of the 
 thralls, led aside by that Welshman you have with 
 you ? " 
 
 " It is true enough that I am a Christian," said 
 my father steadily. " As for leaving the Asir, that 
 is not to be said of one whose line goes back to 
 Woden, his forefather. But I cannot worship him 
 any longer. Forefather of mine he may be, but not 
 a god." 
 
 " Ho ! that is all I needed to hear. Now, I will 
 not mince matters with you, Aldred. Either you 
 give up this foolishness, or I am here to make you 
 do so." 
 
 Now, my father looked round at the men and 
 saw that all the house-carles and one or two from 
 the village were in the courtyard, fifteen of them 
 altogether, besides himself and Owen. They were 
 all Christian men, and they stood in a sort of line 
 behind him across the closed gate with their faces 
 set, listening. 
 
 " Don't suppose that there is any help coming 
 to you from the village," said the hard voice from 
 outside. " There is a guard over every house." 
 
 " Erpwald," said my father, " it is a new thing 
 that any man should be forced to quit his faith here
 
 FOR THE FAITH 43 
 
 in Sussex. Nor is it the way of a thane to fall on 
 a house at night in outlaw fashion. Ina the king 
 will have somewhat to say of this." 
 
 " If there is one left to tell him, that is," came 
 back the reply. " There will not be shortly, unless 
 I have your word that to-morrow you come to me 
 at Wisborough and make such atonement to the 
 Asir as you may, quitting your new craze." 
 
 Then said Stuf, the leader of the house-carles, 
 growling : " That is out of the question, and he 
 knows it. He means to fall on us, else had he 
 spoken to you elsewhere first, Thane. It seems to 
 me that here we shall die." 
 
 He looked round on his fellows, and they nodded, 
 and one set his helm more firmly on his head, and 
 another tightened his belt, and one or two signed 
 the cross on their broad chests, but not one paled, 
 though they knew there was small hope for them if 
 Erpwald chose to storm the house. The court was 
 light as day with the flames of the stack by this 
 time. . 
 
 " What think you of this, Owen," my father said. 
 
 " That it is likely that we must seal our faith 
 with our blood, brother," he answered. " Yet I 
 think that there is more in this than heathenism, in 
 some way." 
 
 " There is an old feud of no account," said my 
 father, " but I would not think hardly of Erpwald. 
 After all, he was Woden's priest, and is wrath, as I 
 myself might have been. It is good to die thus, 
 and but for the boy I would be glad." 
 
 " I do not think that he will be harmed," said 
 Owen, " even if the worst comes to the worst."
 
 44 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " Well, if I fall, try to get him hence. After that 
 maybe Erpwald will be satisfied. I set him in your 
 charge, brother, for once you have saved him 
 already. Fail me not." 
 
 Owen held out his hand and took his. " I will 
 not fail you," he said, " if I live after you." 
 
 Now from outside the voices began to be 
 impatient, and Erpwald had been crying to my 
 father to be speedy, unheeded. But in the midst of 
 the growing shouts of the heathen my father turned 
 to the men and asked them if they were content to 
 die with him for the faith. And with one accord 
 they said that they would. 
 
 Then with a thundering crash a great timber 
 beam was hurled against the gate, shaking its very 
 posts with the force of the six men who wielded it 
 at a run, and in the silence that fell as they drew 
 back Erpwald cried : " For the last time, Aldred, 
 will you yield ? " 
 
 But he had no answer, and after a short space 
 the timber crashed against the gate again and 
 again. And across it waited our few, silent and 
 ready for its falling. 
 
 I heard all this in the closed chamber, and the 
 red light of the fire shone across the slit whence the 
 light and fresh air came into it, but it was too high 
 for me to look out of. I got up and dressed myself 
 then, for no reason but that I must be doing some- 
 thing. I waxed excited with the noise and 
 flickering light, and no one came near me. My old 
 nurse was the only woman in the house, for the 
 married house-carles lived in the village, and I 
 daresay she slept through it all in her own loft.
 
 THE RING OF WODEN 45 
 
 There was no thunderstorm that could ever wake 
 her. 
 
 At this time my father sent a few of the men 
 to the back of the house, that they might try at 
 least to keep off the foe from climbing the stock- 
 ade and so falling on them in the rear. But the 
 timbers were high, and the ditch outside them full 
 of water, and as it happened there was no attack 
 thence. 
 
 Erpwald watched the back indeed, but all his 
 force was bent on the gate. 
 
 It was not long before that fell, crashing inwards, 
 and across it strode the heathen priest into the gap. 
 He was fully armed, and wore the great golden ring 
 of the temple all that was left him of his old 
 surroundings since Ethelwalch the king, who sent 
 Wilfrith to us, had destroyed the building that 
 stood with the image of Woden in it hard by his 
 house. Men used to take oath on that ring, as do 
 we on the Book of the Gospels, and they held it 
 holier than the oaken image of the god itself. I do 
 not think that any man had seen it since that time 
 until this night. 
 
 Now Erpwald stood for a moment in the gate, 
 with his men hard behind him, expecting a rush at 
 him, as it would seem. But our folk stood firm in 
 the line across the courtyard, shoulder to shoulder, 
 with my father and Owen before them. So they 
 looked at one another. 
 
 Then Erpwald slipped the golden ring from his 
 arm and held it up. There may have been some 
 thought in his mind that my father was hesitating 
 yet.
 
 46 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " By the holy ring I adjure you, Aldred, 
 for the last time, to return to the Asir," he said 
 loudly. 
 
 My father shook his head only, but Stuf the 
 house-carle, who had stood beside him at the font 
 this morning, had another answer which was strange 
 enough. 
 
 "This for the ring!" he said. And with that 
 he hurled a throwing spear at it as it shone in 
 the firelight, with a true aim. The spear went 
 through the ring itself without harming the hand 
 of the holder, and coming a little slantwise, twitched 
 it away from him and stuck in the timber of the 
 stockade whence the gatepost had been riven. The 
 ring hung spinning on the shaft safely enough, but 
 to Erpwald it seemed that his treasure had gone 
 altogether, and he yelled with rage and sprang 
 forward. After him came his men, and in a 
 moment the two parties were hand to hand. 
 
 Then was fighting such as the gleemen sing of, 
 with the light of the red fire waxing and waning 
 across the courtyard the while. The strange lights 
 and shadows it cast were to the advantage of our 
 men for a little while, but the numbers were too 
 great against them for that to be of much avail. 
 Soon they who had not fallen were borne back to 
 the hall door, and there stood again, but my father 
 was not with them. He fell at the first, as Owen 
 tells me. Another has told me that Owen stood 
 across his body and would have fallen with him, but 
 that Stuf drew him away, calling on him to mind 
 his promise concerning me, and so he went back, 
 still fighting, until he stood in the door of the hall.
 
 AT THE HALL DOOR 47 
 
 There Erpwald and his men stayed their hands, like 
 a ring of dogs that bay a boar. There was a little 
 porch, so that they could not get at him sideways, 
 and needs must that they fell on him one at a time. 
 It seemed that not one cared to be the first to go 
 near the terrible Briton as he stood, in the plain 
 arms and with the heavy sword my father had 
 given him, waiting for them. Well do I know what 
 he was like at that time, and I do not blame them. 
 There is no man better able to wield weapons than 
 he, and they had learnt it. 
 
 Then the light of the straw stack went out 
 suddenly, as a stack fire will, and the darkness 
 seemed great. Yet from the well-lit hall a path 
 of light came past Owen and fell on his foes, so 
 that he could well see any man who was bold 
 enough to come, and they held back the more. 
 There were but six men of ours in the house behind 
 Owen. 
 
 Then came Erpwald, leaning, sorely wounded, 
 on one of his men, and Owen spoke to him. 
 
 " You have wrought enough harm, Erpwald, for 
 this once. Let the rest of the household go in 
 peace." 
 
 " Harm ? " groaned the heathen. K Whose fault 
 is it? How could I think that the fool would 
 have resisted ? " 
 
 "As there are fifty men in the yard at this 
 moment, it seems that you were sure of it," 
 answered Owen in a still voice. " If you knew it 
 not before, now at least you know that a Christian 
 thinks his faith worth dying for." 
 
 Now, whether it was his wound, or whether he 
 4
 
 48 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 saw that he had gone too far, Erpwald bethought 
 himself, and seemed minded to make terms. 
 
 " I wish to slay no more," he said. " Yield 
 yourselves quietly, and no harm shall come to 
 you." 
 
 " Let them not go, Thane," said one of his men, 
 " else will they be off to Ina, and there will be 
 trouble. You mind what you promised us." 
 
 Now, Owen heard this, and the words told him 
 that he was right in thinking that there was more 
 than heathenry in the affair. It seemed to him that 
 the first thing was to save me, and that if he could 
 do that in any way nought else mattered much. 
 It was plain that no man was to be left to bring 
 Ina on the priest for his ill deeds. 
 
 " If that is all the trouble now," he said, therefore, 
 " as we are in your power you can make us promise 
 what you like. Give us terms at least ; if not, come 
 and end us and the matter at once." 
 
 One of the men flew at him on that, and bided 
 where he fell, across the doorway of the porch ; none 
 stirred to follow him. 
 
 " Swear that you will not go to Ina for a month's 
 time with any tales, and you and all shall go free," 
 Erpwald said. 
 
 The man who had spoken before put in at once 
 
 " What of the blood feud, Erpwald ? There is 
 Aldred's son yet." 
 
 At that the priest lost temper with his follower, 
 and turned on him savagely 
 
 " Is it for men to war with children ? What 
 care I for a blood feud. Can I not fend for myself? 
 Hold your peace."
 
 FOR THE BOY'S SAKE 49 
 
 Then he said to Owen : " They say that you 
 are the child's foster-father now. If I give him 
 to you, will you swear that you or he shall cross 
 my path no more? You need not trouble to go 
 to Ina, for he will not hearken to a Briton in 
 any case." 
 
 Owen reddened under the last, but for my sake 
 he did not answer, save to the first part of the 
 saying. 
 
 " I will swear to take the child hence and let 
 this matter be for us as if it had not been," he said, 
 seeing that it was the best he could win for me. 
 What other thoughts were in his mind will be seen 
 hereafter, but I will say now that it was not all so 
 hopeless as it seemed to Erpwald. 
 
 " What of the other men," asked one or two of 
 Erpwald's following. 
 
 " They shall bide here, where we can keep an 
 eye on them," the priest answered. " They will 
 not hurt us, nor we them, save only if they try to 
 make trouble." 
 
 Then some of our house-carles said in a low tone 
 to Owen : " Better to die with the master. Let us 
 out and fall on them." 
 
 But he said : " This is for the boy's sake. Let 
 me be, my brothers; I have the thane's word to 
 carry out." 
 
 Then they knew that he was right, but they 
 bade him make Erpwald swear to keep faith with 
 them all. 
 
 So he spoke again with the priest, asking for 
 honest pledges in return for his own oath. Whereon 
 from across the courtyard, where a few wounded
 
 So A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 men lay a voice weak with pain cried, with a 
 strange laugh 
 
 " Get him the holy ring, that he may be well 
 bound. It hangs yonder where I put it, in the 
 gateside timbers." 
 
 Erpwald glowered into the darkness, but he could 
 see nothing of the man who had spoken. But 
 one of his men had seen the spear cast, and knew 
 what was meant, though the fight had set it out 
 of his mind. So he ran, and found the shaft easily 
 in the darkness, and took the ring from it, bringing 
 it back to Erpwald. 
 
 " It is luck," he said. " Spear and ring alike 
 have marked the place for Woden." 
 
 " Hold your peace, fool," snarled Erpwald, with 
 a sharp look at Owen. And at that Stuf laughed 
 again, unheeded. 
 
 Then Owen swore as he had promised, on the 
 cross hilt of his sword, and Erpwald swore faith 
 on the ring, and so the swords were sheathed at 
 last ; and when they had disarmed all our men but 
 Owen, Erpwald's men took torches from the hall 
 and went to tend the wounded, who lay scattered 
 everywhere inside the gate, and most thickly where 
 my father fell. 
 
 Owen went to that place, with a little hope yet 
 that his friend might live, but it was not so. There- 
 fore he knelt beside him for a little while, none 
 hindering him, and so bade him farewell. Then 
 he went to Stuf, who was sorely hurt, but not in 
 such wise that he might not recover. 
 
 " What will you do with the child ? " the man 
 asked.
 
 FLIGHT FROM HOME 51 
 
 " Have no fear for him. I shall take him westward, 
 where my own people are. He shall be my son, 
 and I think that all will be well with him here- 
 after." 
 
 " I wit that you are not what you have seemed, 
 Master," Stuf said. "It will be well if you say so." 
 
 Then Owen bade him farewell also, and went to 
 find me and get me hence before the ale and mead 
 of the house was broached by the spoilers. And, 
 as I have said, I was already dressed, and I ran 
 to his arms and asked what all the trouble was, 
 and where my father had gone, and the like. I 
 think that last question was the hardest that Owen 
 ever had put to him, and he did not try to answer 
 it then. He told me that he and I must go to 
 Chichester at once, at my father's bidding ; and I, 
 being used to obey without question, was pleased 
 with the thought of the unaccustomed night journey. 
 And then Owen bethought him, and left me for a 
 moment, going to the chest where my father had 
 his stpre of money. It was mine now, and he took 
 it for me. 
 
 It seemed strange to him that there was no ran- 
 sacking of the house, as one might have expected. 
 Had the foe fired it he would not have been surprised 
 at all, but all was quiet in the hall, and the voices 
 of the men came mostly from the storehouses, whence 
 he could hear them rolling the casks into the court- 
 yard ; so he told me to bide quietly here in the 
 chamber for a few minutes, and went out on the 
 high place swiftly, closing the door after him, that 
 I might see nothing in the hall. 
 
 There he found Erpwald himself close at hand,
 
 52 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 sitting in my father's own chair while the wound 
 that Owen himself had given him was being dressed. 
 At the side of the great room sat the rest of our 
 men, downcast and wondering, and half a dozen of 
 the foe stood on guard at the door. It was plain 
 that nought in the house was to be meddled 
 with. 
 
 Erpwald turned as he heard the sliding door 
 open. 
 
 " Get you gone as soon as you may," he said 
 sullenly. 
 
 " There is one thing that I must ask you, Erp- 
 wald," Owen said. "It is what one may ask of 
 one brave man concerning another. Let Aldred's 
 people bury him in all honour, as they will." 
 
 " There you ask too much, Welshman. But I 
 will bury him myself in all honour in the way that 
 I think best. He shall have the burial of a son 
 of Woden for all his foolishness." 
 
 At least, there would be no dishonour to his 
 
 friend in that, and Owen thought it best to say no 
 
 more, but he had one more boon, as it were, to ask. 
 
 " Let me take a horse from the stable for the 
 
 child," he said. " We may have far to go." 
 
 He thought that he would have been met with 
 rage at this, but it was worth asking. However, 
 Erpwald answered somewhat wearily, and not 
 looking at him 
 
 " Take them all, if you will. I am no common 
 reiver, and they are not mine. The farther you 
 go the better. But let me tell you, that it will be 
 safer for you not to make for Winchester and the 
 king. I shall have you watched."
 
 DICUL OF BOSHAM 53 
 
 " A plain warning not to be disregarded," answered 
 Owen. " We shall not need it." 
 
 Erpwald said no more, and Owen came back to 
 me, closing the door after him again. There was 
 another door, seldom used, from this chamber to 
 the back of the house where the servants had their 
 quarters, and through that he took me, wrapped 
 in such warm furs as he could find. Then he went 
 to the stables, and in the dark, for he would not 
 attract the notice of Erpwald's men, who were round 
 the ale in the courtyard, he saddled my forest 
 pony, and another good horse which he was wont 
 to ride with my father at times. He did not take 
 the thane's own horse, as it would be known, and he 
 would risk no questions as to how he came by it. 
 
 Then we rode away by the back gate, and when 
 the darkness closed on us as we passed along the 
 well-known road towards Chichester the voices of 
 the foe who revelled in our courtyard came loudly 
 to us. And I did but think it part of the rejoicing 
 of that day as I listened. 
 
 Through the warm summer rain we came before 
 daylight had fully broken to Bosham, not passing 
 through Chichester, for the gates would be closed. 
 And just before the sun rose, Dicul the priest came 
 from his house to the little church and saw us sitting 
 in the porch, waiting him, while the horses cropped 
 the grass on the little green outside the churchyard, 
 hobbled in forest fashion. 
 
 He bade us back to his house, and there I fell 
 asleep straightway, with the tiredness that comes 
 suddenly to a child. And Owen and he talked, and 
 I know that he told him all that had happened and
 
 54 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 what his own plans for me were, under the seal of 
 secrecy. And then he begged the good priest to 
 tell me of my loss. 
 
 So it came to pass that presently Dicul took me 
 on his knee and told me wonderful stories of the 
 martyrs of old time, and of his own land in times 
 that are not so far off; and when it seemed to me 
 that indeed there is nought more wonderful and 
 blessed than to give life for the faith, he told me 
 how my father had fallen at the hands of heathen 
 men, and was indeed a martyr himself. I do not 
 know that he could have done it more wisely or 
 sweetly, for half the sting was lost in the wonder 
 of it all. 
 
 But he did not tell me who it was had slain my 
 father, and that I did not know for many a long 
 day. 
 
 After that we ate with him, and he gave us some 
 little store for a journey, and so Owen and I rode 
 on again, westward, homeless indeed, but in no evil 
 case. 
 
 Now, as one may suppose, Owen's first thought 
 was to get me beyond the reach of Erpwald, whose 
 mood might change again, from that in which he 
 let us go with what we would, to that in which he 
 came on us. So all that day we went on steadily, 
 sleeping the night in a little wayside inn, and 
 pushing on again in the early morning, until Owen 
 deemed it safe for us to draw rein somewhat, and 
 for my sake to travel slowly. 
 
 At this time he had no clear plan in his head 
 for the ending of our journey, nor was there need 
 to make one at once. We had store of money to
 
 ALDHELM THE ABBOT 55 
 
 last us for many a long day, what with my father's 
 and that which Owen had of his own, and we were 
 well mounted, and what few things we needed to 
 seem but travellers indeed Owen bought in some little 
 town we passed through on the third day. After 
 that we went easily, seeing things that had nought 
 in them but wonder and delight for me. 
 
 Then at last we came in sight of the ancient 
 town of Sarum on its hill, and there we drew up 
 on the wayside grass to let a little train of church- 
 men pass us, and though I did not know it, that 
 little halt ended our wandering. In the midst of 
 the train rode a quiet looking priest, who sang 
 softly to himself as his mule ambled easily along, 
 and he turned to give us his blessing as Owen 
 unhelmed when he passed abreast of us. Then his 
 hand stayed as he raised it, and I saw his face 
 lighten suddenly, and he pulled up the mule in 
 haste, crying to Owen by name, and in the Welsh 
 tongue. And I saw the face of my foster-father 
 flush red, and he leapt from his horse and went 
 to the side of the priest, setting his finger on his 
 lip for a moment as he did so. 
 
 Then the priest signed that his people should 
 go on, and at once they left him with us, and 
 Owen bade me do reverence to Aldhelm, the abbot 
 of Malmesbury, before whom we stood. And after 
 that they talked long in Welsh, and that I could 
 not follow, though indeed I knew a fair smattering 
 of it by this time, seeing that Owen would have me 
 learn from him, and we had used it a good deal 
 in these few days as we rode. It seemed to me 
 that Aldhelm was overjoyed to see Owen, and I
 
 S 6 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 know now that those two were old friends of the 
 closest at one time, when they met in Owen's own 
 land. 
 
 So from that meeting it came to pass that we 
 found a home with the good abbot at Malmesbury 
 for a time, and there I learned much, as one may 
 suppose, while Owen trained me in arms, and the 
 monks taught me book-learning, which I liked not 
 at all, and only suffered for love of Owen, who 
 wished me to know all I might. 
 
 Then one day, after two years in quiet here, came 
 Ina the king with all his court to see the place and 
 the new buildings that were rising under the hand 
 of Aldhelm and Owen, who had skill in such matters, 
 and then again was a change for us. It seems that 
 Ethelburga the queen took a fancy to me, and 
 asked that I might be with her as a page in the 
 court, and that was so good a place for the son 
 of any thane in the land that Owen could not 
 refuse, though at first it seemed that we must be 
 parted for a time. 
 
 But it was needful that the king should hear my 
 story, that he might have some surety as to who I 
 was, and if I were worthy by birth to be of his 
 household, and Owen hardly knew how to tell him 
 without breaking his oath to Erpwald. Yet it was 
 true that the heathen thane had scoffed at him, 
 rather than forbidden him to seek Ina, though 
 indeed it was plain that he meant to bind us from 
 making trouble for him in any way. But at last 
 Owen said that if the king would forbear to take 
 revenge for a wrong done to me, he might speak, 
 and so after promise given he told all. Very
 
 A RECOGNITION 57 
 
 black grew the handsome face of the king as he 
 heard. 
 
 " Am I often deceived thus ? " he said. " I will 
 even send some to ask of all the ins and outs of 
 such another case hereafter. This Erpwald sent 
 to me to say that Aldred and all his house had 
 been slain by outlaws, and that he himself had 
 driven them off, and I believed him. After that 
 I made over the Eastdean lands to him, and I take 
 it that they were what he wanted. Well, he has 
 not lived long to enjoy them, for he died not long 
 ago, and now his brother holds the lands after him, 
 and I know that he at least is a worthy man. Let 
 it be. The child is my ward now, as an orphan, 
 and I should have had to set his estate in the hands 
 of some one to hold till he can take them. There 
 will be no loss to him in the end." 
 
 Then he smiled and looked Owen in the face. 
 
 " I know you well, Owen, though it is plain that 
 you would not have it so. Mind you the day when 
 I met .Gerent at the Parrett bridge ? I do not often 
 forget a face, and I saw you then, and asked who 
 you were. Now there is good and, as I hope, lasting 
 peace between our lands, thanks to the wisdom of 
 our good Aldhelm here, and I will ask you somewhat, 
 for I know that you also wrought for that peace 
 while you might. Come to me, and be of the nobles 
 who guard me and mine, and so wait in honour until 
 the time comes when you may return to your place. 
 Then you will be with the boy also." 
 
 So it came to pass that we took leave of that 
 good friend the abbot, and went from Malmesbury 
 in the train of Ina of Wessex. Thereafter for six
 
 5 8 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 years I served Ethelburga the queen, being trained 
 in all wise as her own child, and after that I was 
 one of the athelings of the court in one post or 
 another, but always with the king when there was 
 war on the long frontier of the Wessex land.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 HOW KING INA'S FEAST WAS MARRED, AND OF 
 A VOW TAKEN BY OSWALD 
 
 AT this time, when I take up my story again, I was 
 two and twenty, not very tall indeed, but square in 
 the shoulder, and well able to hold my own, at the 
 least, with the athelings who were my comrades, at 
 the weapon-play or any of our sports. It would 
 have been my own fault if I were not so, for there 
 was no better warrior in all Ina's following than 
 Owen, and he taught me all I knew. And that 
 knowledge I had tested on the field more than once, 
 for Ina had no less trouble with his neighbours 
 than any other king in England, whether in matters 
 of raiding to be stopped or tribute to be enforced. 
 Since I was too old to serve the queen as page 
 any longer I had been of his bodyguard, and where 
 he went was not always the safest place on a field for 
 us who shielded him. 
 
 A court is always changing, as men come and 
 go again to their own places after some little service 
 there, but Owen and I were of those to whom the 
 court was home altogether. Owen was the king's 
 marshal now, and I was in command of the house- 
 carles, and had been so for a year or more. It was 
 
 59
 
 60 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 no very heavy post, nor responsible after all, for 
 Ina's guard was the love of his people, and beyond 
 these warriors from the freemen who served as 
 palace guard and watch, were the athelings of the 
 household, from whose number I had been chosen 
 for this post by right of longest service more than 
 for any other reason, as I think. I knew all the ins 
 and outs of every house where Ina went, and had 
 nothing fresh to learn in the matter. Still, if the 
 men under me were few, the post had its own 
 privileges, and was always held to lead to somewhat 
 higher, and I was more than content therewith, for 
 it kept me near Owen and the king, whom I loved 
 next to my foster-father. 
 
 I do not think that by this time any one knew, 
 save the king, that I was not Owen's own son. I 
 was wont to call him father always, and I cannot 
 be blamed, for he was foster-father and god-father 
 to me, and well did he take the father's place to 
 the orphan whom he had saved. And I had 
 forgotten Eastdean, save as one keeps a memory 
 of the home where one was a child. I never 
 thought of it as a place that should have been 
 mine, for neither the king nor Owen ever spoke 
 to me concerning it. Sometimes, in remembrances 
 of my father, I would wonder into whose hands the 
 manors had passed, but rather in hopes that some 
 day those who owned them now would suffer me to 
 see that the grave where he lay was honoured, rather 
 than as a matter which at all concerned me in any 
 closer way. 
 
 For, since I was but a child, the court had been 
 my home, with Owen as my father, and Ina the
 
 THE ISLAND VALLEY 61 
 
 king as the loved guardian for whom I would gladly 
 give my life in need. All my training and thoughts 
 were centred here, not as what one calls a courtier 
 at all, but as one of the household who feared the 
 king and queen no more than Owen himself, and yet 
 reverenced all three as those to whom all homage 
 was due since he could remember. 
 
 Thus things were with us at the end of the tenth 
 year after we left Aldhelm at Malmesbury, and now 
 the court was at Glastonbury in fair Somerset, 
 keeping the Christmas-tide there in the place that is 
 the holiest in all England by reason of the coming 
 thither of Joseph of Arimathea, and the first preach- 
 ing of the Gospel in our land by him. It was not 
 by any means the first time I had been in the place, 
 and here I had some good friends indeed ; for Ina 
 loved the vale of Avalon well, and often came 
 hither with a few of us, or with the whole court, to 
 the house which he had made that he might watch 
 the building of the wondrous church which he was 
 raising- over the very spot where the little chapel of 
 the saint had been in the old days. 
 
 Fair is the place indeed, for it lies deep among 
 green hills, and from the westward slope where the 
 church stands, at their foot stretch great meres to 
 lesser hills toward the sunset beyond. Very 
 pleasant are the trees and flowers of the rich 
 meadows of the island-valley, and the wind comes 
 but gently here even at Yuletide, hardly ruffling the 
 clear waters that have given the place its name, 
 " Inys Vitryn," and " Avalon " men called the place 
 before we Saxons came, by reason of those still 
 meres and the wondrous orchards which fear no
 
 62 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 frost among the hills that shelter them. The 
 summer seems to linger here after it has fled from 
 the uplands. 
 
 There was a goodly company gathered in Ina's 
 hall for the twelfth night feasting. Truly, the 
 hall was not so great as that in the palace at 
 Winchester, but it was all the brighter for that 
 reason. It was hard to get that great space well 
 lighted and warmed at times, when the wind blew 
 cold under eaves and through narrow windows ; but 
 here all was well lit and comfortable to look on and 
 to feel also, as one sat and feasted with the sweet 
 sedges of the mere banks deep under foot on the 
 floor and the great fire in the hall centre near 
 enough to every one. I think that this hall in 
 Glastonbury was as pleasant as any that I know in 
 all Wessex. 
 
 There was a great door midway in the southern 
 side of the hall, and as one entered, to right and 
 left along that wall ran the tables for the house- 
 carles and other men of the lower ranks, and for 
 strangers who might come in to share the king's 
 hospitality and had no right to a higher place. 
 Then at either end of the hall were cross tables, 
 where the thanes and their ladies had their places 
 in due order, above the franklins whose cross tables 
 were next to those of the house-carles. And then, 
 right over against the south wall and across the fire 
 on the hearth, was the longest table of all, and in 
 the midst of that was the high place for the king 
 and queen and a few others. That dais was the 
 only place where the guests did not sit on both 
 sides of the tables, for the king's board stood open
 
 THANES OF SOMERSET 63 
 
 to the midst of the hall on its three low steps that 
 he might see and be seen by all his guests, and be 
 fitly served from in front. 
 
 On the hearth a great yule log burnt brightly, 
 and all round the wall were set torches in their 
 sconces, so that the hall was very bright. On the 
 walls were the costly hangings that we took every- 
 where with us, and above them shone the spare 
 arms and helms and shields of the house-carles, 
 mixed with heads of boar and stag and wolf from 
 the Mendips and Quantocks where Ina hunted, each 
 head with its story. Up and down in the spaces 
 between the tables hurried the servants who tended 
 the guests, so that the hall was full of life and 
 brightness from end to end. There was peace in 
 all Wessex at this time, and so here was a full 
 gathering of guests to the little town. Ina and 
 Ethelburga the queen were on the high place, and 
 to their left was Herewald, the Somerset ealdorman, 
 who lived in Glastonbury, and was a good friend of 
 mine, as will be seen, with his fair daughter Elfrida, 
 and on the right of the king was Nunna, his cousin, 
 and his wife. Owen was next to Herewald, at one 
 end of the high place, and at the other end was 
 Sigebald, the Dorset ealdorman, under whom I had 
 fought not so long ago. There were many others 
 of high rank in the west to the right and left of 
 these again at the long tables. Indeed, there was 
 but one whom I missed in all the gathering. My 
 old friend Aldhelm was gone. He died in the last 
 year, after having been Bishop of Sherborne for a 
 little while. I missed him sorely, as did every man 
 who knew him.
 
 64 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 I do not think that if one searched all England 
 through there could have been found a more noble 
 looking group than that at Ina's high table. It is 
 well known that our king and queen were beyond 
 all others for royalty of look and ways, and I will 
 venture to say that neither of the ealdormen had 
 their equals, save in Nunna, anywhere. But it is 
 not my word only, for it was a common saying, that 
 Owen seemed most royal next to the king himself. 
 Grave he always was, but with a ready smile and 
 pleasant, in the right place, and though he was now 
 about five-and-forty he had changed little to my 
 eyes from what he was twelve years ago, when he 
 saved me from the wolves. He was one of those 
 men who age but slowly. 
 
 One other on the high place I have not mentioned 
 in this way. That was Elfrida, the Somerset 
 ealdorman's daughter, of whom it was said that she 
 was the fairest maiden in all Wessex. Certainly at 
 this time I for one would have agreed in that 
 saying. She was two years younger than I, if I 
 dare say it, and it seemed to me that in the last 
 three years she had suddenly grown from the child 
 that I used to play with to a very stately lady, well 
 fitted to take the place of her mother, who used to 
 be kind to me when I first came here as the queen's 
 somewhat mischievous page, and had but died a 
 year or so ago. I think that this feast was the first 
 Elfrida and her father had been present at since 
 then, and at least, that was the reason I heard given 
 for her presence on the high place. 
 
 Now I must say where my place was in the hall, 
 for it may make more plain what happened here-
 
 THE KING'S GUESTS 65 
 
 after. The young nobles of the court who had no 
 relatives present sat at one of the cross tables 
 at the king's right hand, and at the head of 
 these tables was my seat by reason of my post as 
 captain of the house-carles. So I sat with my back 
 to the long chief table, with its occupants just 
 behind me, and to my left was the open space in 
 the centre of the hall, so that if I was needed, or 
 had to go out for the change of guard or other 
 house-carle business, all that I had to do, being at 
 one end of the bench, was to get up and go my 
 way without disturbing any one. At the same 
 time I could see all the hall before me, and a half 
 turn of the head would set my eyes on the king 
 himself. 
 
 The door of the hall was closed when the king 
 entered from his own chambers and took his place, 
 so that the cold, and the draughts which might eddy 
 the smoke of fire and torches about the guests too 
 much, was kept out. But it was closed against 
 weather only, for any man might crave admittance 
 to the king's hall at the great feast, whether as 
 wayfarer or messenger or suppliant, so that he had 
 good reason for asking hospitality. Several men 
 had come in thus as the feast went on, but none 
 heeded the little bustle their coming made, nor so 
 much as turned to see where they were set at the 
 lower tables, except myself and perhaps Owen. 
 There was merriment enough in the hall, and room 
 and plenty for all comers, even as Ina loved to 
 have it. 
 
 Now there is no need to tell aught of that feast, 
 until the meat was done and the tables were cleared
 
 66 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 for the most pleasant part of the evening, when the 
 servants, whether men or women, sat down at their 
 tables also, and the harp went round, with the cups, 
 and men sang in turn or told tales, each as he was 
 best able to amuse the rest. There was a little 
 bustle while this clearance went on, and men 
 changed their seats to be nearer friends and the like, 
 for the careful state of the beginning of the feast 
 was over in some degree ; but at last all was ready, 
 and the great door, which had been open for a few 
 minutes as the servants took out into the courtyard 
 the great cauldrons and spits, was closed, and then 
 there fell a silence, for we waited for a custom of 
 the king's. 
 
 Here at Ina's court we kept up the old custom 
 of drinking the first cup with all solemnity, and 
 making some vows thereover. This cup was, of 
 course, to be drunk by the host, and after him by any 
 whom he would name, or would take a vow on him. 
 In the old heathen days this cup was called the 
 " Bragi bowl," and the vows were made in the 
 names of the Asir, and mostly ended in fighting 
 before the year was over. We kept the old name 
 yet, but now the vows were made in the name of all 
 the Saints, and if Ina or any other made one it was 
 sure to be of such sort that it would lead to some 
 worthy deed before long, wrought in all Christian 
 wise. Maybe the last of the old pattern of vow was 
 made when Kentwine our king swore to clear the 
 Welsh from the Parrett River to the sea, and 
 did it. 
 
 So when the time came we sat waiting, each with 
 his horn or cup before him, brimming with ale or
 
 THE BRAGI BOWL 67 
 
 cider or mead, as he chose, and men turned in their 
 seats that they might see the pleasant little 
 ceremony at the high place the better. As for me, 
 I just turned in my bench end so that my feet were 
 clear of the table, on which my arm and cup rested, 
 and faced right down the hall, with, of course, no one 
 at all between me and the steps of the high place. 
 For now all had taken their seats except one 
 cupbearer, who waited at the lowest step with the 
 king's golden cup in one hand, and in the other a 
 silver flagon of good Welsh wine to fill it withal. 
 One would say that this was but a matter of chance, 
 but as it happened presently it was well that I 
 moved. 
 
 Now, in the hush was a little talk and laughter 
 among those who were nearest the king, and then 
 I saw the queen smile and speak to Elfrida, who 
 blushed and looked well pleased, and then rose and 
 came daintily round the end of the king's board. 
 There a thane who sat at the table at the foot of the 
 steps rose and handed her down them to where the 
 servant waited. Ina had asked her to hand him the 
 cup after the old fashion, she being the lady of the 
 chief house in Glastonbury next his own. There she 
 took the cup from the man's hand, and held it while 
 he filled it needfully. A little murmur that was all 
 of praise went round the hall, and her colour rose 
 again as she heard it, for it was not to be mistaken, 
 and from the lower tables the voices were outspoken 
 enough in all honesty. 
 
 Then she went up the steps holding the cup, and 
 the king smiled on her as she came, and so she stood 
 on the dais before the table and held out the wine,
 
 68 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 and begged the king to drink the " Bragi bowl " from 
 her hands in her father's town. 
 
 The king bowed and smiled again, and rose up 
 to take the cup from this fair bearer, and at that 
 moment there was a sort of scuffle, unseemly enough, 
 at the lower end of the hall near the door, and gruff 
 voices seemed to be hushed as Ina glanced up with 
 the cup yet untouched by his hand. 
 
 Then a man leapt from the hands of some who 
 tried to hold him back, and he strode across the hall 
 past the fire and to the very foot of the high place 
 as rough and unkempt a figure as ever begged for 
 food at a king's table, unarmed, and a thrall to all 
 seeming. And as he came he cried 
 
 " Justice, Ina the king ! Justice ! " 
 
 At that I and my men, who had sprung to our 
 feet to hinder him, sat down again, for a suppliant 
 none of us might hinder at any time. I did not 
 remember seeing this man come in, but that was the 
 business of the hall steward, unless there was trouble 
 that needed the house-carles. 
 
 Ina frowned at this unmannerly coming at first, 
 but his brow cleared as he heard the cry of the man. 
 He signed to Elfrida to wait for a moment, and looked 
 kindly at the thrall before him. 
 
 " Justice, Lord," the man said again. 
 
 " Justice you shall have, my poor churl," answered 
 the king gently. " But this is not quite the time 
 to go into the matter. Sit you down again, and 
 presently you shall tell all to Owen the marshal, and 
 thus it will come to me, and you shall see me again 
 in the morning." 
 
 " Nay, but I will have justice here and now," the
 
 THKRE FLASHED FROM UNDER THE JERKIN A LONG KNIFE." 
 
 P. 69.
 
 THE KING'S JUSTICE 69 
 
 man said doggedly, and yet with some sort of 
 appeal in his voice. 
 
 " Is it so pressing ? Well, then, speak on. May- 
 be the vow that I shall make will be to see you 
 righted." 
 
 And so the king sat down again, and the lady 
 Elfrida waited, resting one hand on the table at the 
 end of the dais farthest from me, and holding the 
 golden cup yet in the other. 
 
 " What shall be done to the man who slays my 
 brother ? " the thrall cried. 
 
 And the king answered 
 
 " If he has slain him by craft, he shall die ; but if 
 in fair fight and for what men deem reason, then he 
 shall pay the full weregild that is due according to 
 my dooms." 
 
 Then said the man, and his voice minded me of 
 Owen's in some way 
 
 " But and if he slew him openly in cold blood, for 
 no wrong done to himself? " 
 
 " A, strange doing," said the king, " but he should 
 die therefor." 
 
 The king leant forward, with his elbow on the 
 table to hear the better, and the man was close to 
 the lowest step to be near him. It seemed that he 
 was very wrath, for his right hand clutched the front 
 of his rough jerkin fiercely, and his voice was harsh 
 and shaking. 
 
 "It is your own word, Ina of Wessex, that the 
 man who has slain my brother in this wise shall die. 
 Lo, you ! I am Morgan of Dyvnaint and thus " 
 
 There flashed from under the jerkin a long knife 
 in the man's hand, and at the king he leapt up the
 
 70 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 low steps. But two of us had seen what was coming, 
 and even as the brave maiden on his left dashed 
 the full cup of wine in the man's face, blinding him, 
 I was on him, so that the wine covered him and my 
 tunic at once. I had him by the neck, and he 
 gripped the table, and his knife flashed back at me 
 wildly once, but I jerked him round and hurled him 
 from the dais with a mighty crash, and so followed 
 him and held him pinioned, while the cups and platters 
 of the overturned table rolled and clattered round us. 
 
 Then rose uproar enough, and the hall was full of 
 flashing swords. I mind that I heard the leathern 
 peace-thongs of one snap as the thane who tried to 
 draw it tugged at the hilt, forgetting them. Soon 
 I was in the midst of a half ring of men as I held 
 the man close to the great fire on the hearth with his 
 face downward and his right arm doubled under him. 
 He never stirred, and I thought he waited for me to 
 loose my hold on him. 
 
 Then came the steady voice of Ina 
 
 " Let none go forth from the hall. To your seats, 
 my friends, for there can be no more danger; and 
 let the house-carles see to the man." 
 
 Two of my men took charge of my captive, even 
 as he lay, and I stood up. Owen was close to me. 
 
 " The man is dead," he said in a strange voice. 
 
 " I doubt it," I answered, looking at him quickly, 
 for the voice startled me. Then I saw that my 
 foster-father's face was white and drawn as with some 
 trouble, and he was gazing in a still way at the man 
 whom the warriors yet held on the floor. 
 
 " His foot has been in the fire since you hove him 
 there, yet he has not stirred," he said.
 
 THE FALL OF MORGAN 71 
 
 Then I minded that I had indeed smelt the sharp 
 smell of burning leather, and had not heeded it. So 
 I told the two men to draw the thrall away and 
 turn him over. As they did so we knew that he 
 was indeed dead, for the long knife was deep in his 
 side, driven home as he fell on it. And I saw that 
 in the hilt of it was a wonderful purple jewel set in 
 gold. It was not the weapon of a thrall. 
 
 That Ina saw also, and he came down from the 
 high place, and stood and looked in the face of this 
 one who would have slain him, fixedly for a minute. 
 Then he said, speaking to Owen in a low voice 
 
 "Justice has been done, as it seems to me. 
 Justice from a higher hand than mine, moreover." 
 
 Then he went back to his place, and standing 
 there said in the dead hush that was on us all 
 
 " It would seem that this man thought that he had 
 somewhat against me indeed, but I do not know him, 
 or who his brother may have been. Nor have I slain 
 any man save in open field of battle at any time, as 
 all men know, save and except that I may be said 
 to have done so by the arm of the law. Yet even 
 so, our Wessex dooms are not such as take life but 
 for the most plain cause, and that seldom as may be. 
 Is there any one here who has knowledge of this 
 man who calls himself Morgan of Dyvnaint? It 
 seems to me that I have heard the name before." 
 
 Now Owen had gone back to his place, and while 
 one or two thanes came forward and looked in the 
 face of the man, whom they had not yet seen plainly, 
 he spoke to the king, and Ina seemed to wonder 
 at what he heard. Then Herewald the ealdorman 
 said
 
 72 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " That is the name of one of the two Devon princes 
 of the West Welsh, cousins of Gerent the king. We 
 have trouble with their men, who raid our homesteads 
 now and then.' 
 
 At that a big man with a yellow moustache and 
 long curling hair rose from among the franklins and 
 said loudly, in a voice which was neither like that of 
 a Briton nor a Saxon at all 
 
 " Let me get a nearer look at him, and I will soon 
 tell you if he is what he claimed to be." 
 
 And with no more ceremony he came to where I 
 and the two house-carles yet stood, and looked and 
 laughed a little to himself as he did so. 
 
 " He is Morgan the prince, right enough," he said. 
 " And I can tell you all the trouble. Your sheriff 
 hung his brother, Dewi, three months since for cattle 
 lifting and herdsman slaying on this side Parrett 
 River, somewhere by Puriton, where no Welshman 
 should be. I helped hunt the knaves at the time. 
 The sheriff took him for a common outlaw like his 
 comrades, and it was in my mind that there would 
 be trouble. So I told the sheriff, and he said that 
 if the king himself got mixed up with outlaws and 
 cattle thieves he must even take his chance with the 
 rest. And thereon I said " 
 
 " Thanks, friend," said Ina. " The rest shall be 
 for to-morrow. Bide here to-night, that you may tell 
 all at the morning." 
 
 The man made a courtly bow enough, and went 
 back to his seat, and then Ina bade Owen see to his 
 lodgment, and after that the thralls carried out the 
 body. I went quietly and walked along the lower 
 tables, bidding my men see if more Welshmen were
 
 AN UNINVITED GUEST 73 
 
 present, but finding none, and then I found the hall 
 steward wringing his hands, with an ashy face, at 
 the far end of the hall. 
 
 " Master Oswald," he said, almost weeping, " how 
 that man came in here I do not know. I saw him 
 not until he rose up. None seem to have seen him 
 enter, but men have so shifted their places that it 
 seemed not strange to any near him that they had 
 not seen him before." 
 
 " Had you seen him you could not have turned 
 him away," I said. " He came as a suppliant, and 
 the king's word is strict concerning such at these 
 times. Good Saxon enough he spoke too, in the 
 way of many of our half -Welsh border thralls. 
 I do not think that you will be blamed. Most 
 likely he slipped in as the tables were cleared just 
 now. There was coming and going enough, and we 
 have many strangers here. Who is the yellow- 
 haired man ? " 
 
 " A chapman from the town. Some shipmaster 
 whom the ealdorman knows." 
 
 Now, after I was back in my place and the bustle 
 was ended, there fell an uneasy silence, for men 
 knew not if the feast was to go on. Many of the 
 ladies had gone, with the queen, and Elfrida was 
 there no longer. But Ina stood up with a fresh 
 cup in his hand, and he smiled and said, while the 
 eyes of all were on him 
 
 " Friends, we have seen a strange thing, but 
 you have also seen the deeds of a brave maiden 
 and a ready warrior to whom I am beholden for 
 my life, as is plain enough. Yet we will not let 
 the wild ways of our western neighbours mar the
 
 74 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 keeping of our holy tide. Maybe there is more to 
 be learnt of the matter, but if so that can rest. 
 Think now only of these two brave ones, I pray 
 you, for I have yet the Bragi bowl to drink, and 
 it is not hard to say whom I should pledge 
 therein." 
 
 Then he looked round for Elfrida, not having 
 noticed that she had gone with the queen. 
 
 " Why," he said, " it was in my mind to pledge 
 the lady first, but I fear she has been fain to leave 
 us. So I do not think that I can do better 
 than pledge both my helpers together, and then 
 Oswald can answer for the lady and himself at 
 once." 
 
 He rose and held the cup high, and I rose also, 
 not quite sure if I were myself or some one else, with 
 all the hall looking at me. 
 
 " Drinc hael to the lady Elfrida, bravest and 
 fairest in all the land of Somerset ! " he cried. 
 " Drinc hael, Oswald the king's thane thane by 
 right of ready and brave service just rendered ! " 
 
 Then he drank with his eyes on me, and there 
 went up a sort of cheer at his words, for men love 
 to see any service rewarded on the spot if it may 
 be so. Now I was at a loss what to say, and the 
 lady should have been here to bring the cup to me 
 in all formality. Maybe I should have stood there 
 silent and somewhat foolish, but that the ealdorman, 
 her father, helped me out. " Come and do homage 
 for the new rank, lad," he said in a low voice. He 
 was at the lower table near me now, for the high 
 table had been broken and the king stood alone 
 on the dais.
 
 HONOUR FROM THE KING 75 
 
 So I went to the steps, and bent one knee at 
 their top, and kissed the hand of the king, and 
 then held out the hilt of my sword, that he might 
 seem to take it and give it me again. But he 
 bade me rise, and so he took off his own sword, 
 which was a wondrous one, and the token of the 
 submission of some chief on the Welsh border 
 beyond Avon, and he girt it on me with his own 
 hands. 
 
 " You nigh gave your life for me, my thane," he 
 said. " That man's knife was perilously near 
 you." 
 
 He touched my tunic with his hand, and I looked. 
 Across it where my heart beat was a long slit 
 that I had not found out yet, where the knife 
 flew at me. That stroke must have been the 
 man's bane, because to reach me thus he had 
 thrown his arm across his chest, and so had fallen 
 on his weapon. 
 
 Then I was going, I think, though indeed I 
 hardly know what I did at that moment, but the 
 king stayed me, laughing. 
 
 " Do not think that I am going to let you off the 
 cup, though. Now you shall pledge me, and if 
 you have any vow to make which is fitting for a 
 thane, make it and let us all hear it. But you have 
 also the lady to think of in your words." 
 
 Then there was a little rustle at the door which 
 was on the high place, and the queen returned with 
 some of her ladies, hearing that all was seemly 
 again, and she stood smiling at these last words. 
 But Elfrida was not with her, and I was glad, else 
 I had been more mazed yet. So I plucked up
 
 76 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 heart and took the cup from the hand of the king, 
 trying to collect my thoughts into some sort of 
 fitting words. 
 
 " Drinc hael Cyning" I said, while my voice 
 shook. " Here do I vow before all the Saints and 
 before this company that I will do my best to 
 prove myself worthy of this honour that has been 
 set on me ! " 
 
 " Why, Oswald," said the queen, " that is no sort 
 of vow such as you should make, for we know that 
 already, and you have proved it now if never before. 
 And you have forgotten Elfrida." 
 
 Now, I thought to myself that the last thing 
 that I was ever likely to do was to forget that 
 maiden, and with that a thought came into my 
 head, and as the queen was smiling at me, and 
 every one was waiting, I grew desperate, and must 
 needs out with it. 
 
 " Now, I cannot do better than this," I said, 
 finding my courage all of a sudden. " Here do 
 I add to my vow that so long as my life shall last 
 I will not again forget the Lady Elfrida. Nor 
 will I be content until I am held worthy by her 
 to to guard her all the rest of my days." 
 
 With that I drained the cup, and while the 
 thanes laughed and cheered all round me, and Ina 
 smiled as if well pleased enough, the queen set her 
 hand on my arm, smiling also, and said 
 
 " That was well said, my thane, but for one turn 
 of the words. Why did you not tell us plainly 
 that you mean to win her? We all know what 
 you mean." 
 
 Then I went to my place, and I glanced at
 
 THE EALDORMAN'S JEST 77 
 
 Herewald, to see how he would take all this. 
 Somewhat seemed to have amused him mightily, 
 and his eyes brimmed with a jest as he looked at 
 me. Presently, when men forgot me in listening to 
 the vow Ina made, that he would add somewhat to 
 the new Church in thankfulness for this escape, the 
 ealdorman came near me and whispered 
 
 " You are a cautious youth, Oswald , for I never 
 heard a man turn a hint from a lady better in my 
 life. Nevertheless, if you are not careful, Ethel- 
 burga will wed you to Elfrida for all your 
 craft." 
 
 He laughed again, and said no more. But I was 
 looking at Owen, who seemed to have some thoughts 
 of his own that were troubling him sorely. He 
 smiled and nodded, indeed, when he caught my eye, 
 but then he grew grave again directly, and after- 
 wards his horn stood before him on the table 
 untasted, and his look seemed far away, though 
 round him men sang and all was merry. 
 
 However, as one may suppose, the merriment was 
 not what it should have been, and none wondered 
 much when Ina rose and left the table with a few 
 pleasant parting words. He was never one to bide 
 long at a feast, and he knew, maybe, that the 
 house-carles and younger men would be more at 
 ease when his presence was no longer felt by them. 
 With him went Owen and the ealdorman, and 
 Nunna, at some sign of his, and after they went 
 I had to stand no little banter concerning my vow, 
 as may be supposed. I was not sorry when a page 
 came and bade me join the king in his own 
 chamber, though it was all good-natured and in no
 
 78 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 sort of unkindness. I will not say that I did not 
 enjoy it either. So I went as I was bidden, and 
 found that some sort of council was being held, 
 and that those four were looking grave over it. 
 I supposed they had some errand for me at first, 
 but in no long time I knew that what was on hand 
 was nought more or less than the beginning of 
 parting between Owen and me. 
 
 I will make little of all that was said, though it 
 was a long matter, and heavy in the telling, and 
 maybe tangled here and there to me as I listened. 
 1 think that Ina understood that trouble fell on me 
 as I heard all, for he looked kindly on me from 
 his great chair, while Nunna sat on the table and 
 was silent, stroking his beard, as if thinking. But 
 Owen drew me to the settle by him, and bade me 
 hearken while the king told me the tale I had to 
 learn. 
 
 Then I heard how Owen, my foster-father, was 
 indeed a prince of the old Cornish line that came 
 from Arthur, and how his cousins, Morgan and 
 Dewi, had plotted to oust him from his place 
 at the right hand of Cerent the king, and had 
 succeeded only too well, so that he had had to 
 fly. It matters not what their lies concerning him 
 had been, nor do I think that Owen knew all that 
 had been said against him, but Cerent had banished 
 him, and so he had wandered to Mercia, and thence 
 after a year or two to Sussex, having heard of the 
 Irish monks of the old Western Church at Bosham. 
 So he had met with me, and thus he and I had 
 come to Ina's court together. 
 
 And as I heard all, I knew that it had been for
 
 THORGILS THE AXEMAN 79 
 
 my sake that he was content to serve as a simple 
 forester at Eastdean, for Ina told me that across 
 the Severn among the other princes of the old 
 Welsh lands he would have been more than 
 welcome. I could say nothing, but I set my hand 
 on his and left it there, and he smiled at me, and 
 grasped it. 
 
 " And now," said Ina, " your hand has in some 
 sort avenged the old wrong, for you have brought 
 about the end of Morgan, who was Owen's foe. 
 But this is a matter we need to hear more con- 
 cerning. Do you bring us that stranger that he 
 may tell us what he knows." 
 
 I went to the hall again, and found him easily 
 enough, for all men were looking at him. He was 
 in the midst of the hall, juggling in marvellous 
 wise with a heavy woodman's axe, which he played 
 with as if it were a straw for lightness. Even as I 
 entered from the door on the high place he was 
 whirling it for a mighty stroke which seemed meant 
 to cleave a horn cup which he had set on a stool 
 before him, and I wondered. But he stayed the 
 stroke as suddenly as if his great arms had been 
 turned to steel, so that the axe edge rested on the 
 rim of the vessel without so much as notching it, 
 and at that all the onlookers cheered him. 
 
 " Now it may be known," said he, smiling 
 broadly, " why men call me Thorgils the axeman." 
 
 Then he threw the unhandy weapon into the air 
 whirling, and caught it as it came to hand again, so 
 that it balanced on his palm, and so he held it as I 
 went to him, and told him the king would speak 
 with him. 
 6
 
 8o A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 Whereon he threw the axe at the doorpost, so 
 that it stuck there, and laughed at the new shout 
 of applause, and so turned down his sleeves and 
 bade me lead him where I would. 
 
 He made a stiff, outlandish salute as he stood 
 before Ina, and the king returned it. 
 
 " I have sent for you now, friend, rather than 
 wait for morning," he said, " for it seems to me that 
 we have business that must be seen to with the first 
 light. Will you tell us what you know of this man 
 who has been slain ? I think you are no Welshman 
 of Cornwall." 
 
 " I am Thorgils the Norseman of Watchet, king," 
 he answered. " Thorgils the axeman, men call me, 
 by reason of some skill with that weapon which 
 your folk seem to hold in no repute, which is a pity. 
 Shipmaster am I by trade, and I am here to seek 
 for cargo, that I may make one more voyage this 
 winter with the more profit, having to cross to 
 Dyfed, beyond the narrow sea, though it is late in 
 the year." 
 
 " I thought you might be a Dane from Tenby." 
 
 " The Welsh folk know the difference between us 
 by this time," Thorgils said, with a little laugh. 
 " They call them ' black heathen ' and us ' white 
 heathen,' though I don't know that they love us 
 better than they do them. By grace of Gerent 
 the king, to be politic, or by grace of axeplay, to 
 speak the truth, we have a little port of our own 
 here on this side the water, at the end of the 
 Quantocks, where we seek to bide peaceably with all 
 men as traders." 
 
 " Ay ! I have heard of your town," said Ina.
 
 THORGILS EXPLAINS 81 
 
 " Now, can tell us how Morgan and his brother came 
 to be in company with outlaws ? " 
 
 " He fell out with Cerent over us, to begin with. 
 I went with our chiefs to Exeter when we first came 
 seeking a home, to promise tribute if we were left 
 in peace in the place we had chosen. Cerent was 
 willing enough, but Morgan, who claims some sort 
 of right over the Devon end of the kingdom, was 
 against our biding at all, and there were words. 
 However, Cerent and we had our way, and so we 
 thought to hear no more of the matter. But the 
 next thing was that Morgan gathered a force and 
 tried to turn us out on his own account, and had 
 the worst of the affair. That angered Cerent, for 
 he lost some good men outside our stockades. And 
 then other things cropped up between them. I 
 have heard that the old king found out old lies told 
 by Morgan concerning Owen the prince, whom men 
 hope to see again, but I know little of that. Any- 
 way, Morgan and his brother fled, and this is the 
 end thereof. We heard too that he plotted to take 
 the throne, and it is likely." 
 
 " Thanks, friend," Ina said. " That is a plain 
 tale, and all we need to know. But what say men 
 of Owen, whom you spoke of? Is it known that he 
 lives ? " 
 
 " Oh ay. They say that you know more of 
 him than any one. Men have seen him here at 
 Glastonbury. Moreover, Cerent came to Norton, 
 just across the Quantocks, yesterday, and it is 
 thought that he wants to send a message to you 
 asking after him. There will be joy in West Wales 
 if he goes back to the right hand of the king, for
 
 82 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 one would think that he was a fairy prince by the 
 way he is spoken of." 
 
 Thereat Ina smiled at Owen, and Thorgils saw 
 it, and knew what was meant in a moment. He 
 turned to Owen with a quick look, and said 
 frankly 
 
 " True enough, Prince, but I did not know that I 
 spoke of a listener. On my word, if you do go back, 
 you will have hard work to live up to what is 
 expected of you. Maybe what is more to the point 
 is this, that Morgan has more friends than enough, 
 and it is likely that they will stick at little to 
 avenge him. Howbeit," he added with a quaint 
 smile, " it shall not be said that Thorgils missed a 
 chance. Prince, if you do go back to Cerent you will 
 be his right hand, as they say. Therefore I will 
 ask you at once to have us Norsemen in favour, so 
 far as we need any. Somewhat is due to the 
 bearer of tidings, by all custom." 
 
 Ina laughed, and even Owen smiled at the ready 
 Norseman, but Herewald the ealdorman and I 
 wondered at him, for he spoke as to equals, with 
 no sort of fear of the king on him, which was 
 not altogether the way of men who stood before 
 Ina. 
 
 Then said Owen quietly 
 
 " Friend, I think there is a favour I may ask you, 
 rather. I have bided away from my uncle, King 
 Gerent, because I would not return to him unasked, 
 being somewhat proud, maybe. But now it seems 
 to King Ina and myself that needs must I go to 
 him to take the news of this death of Morgan 
 myself. It is a matter that might easily turn to a
 
 MATTERS OF POLICY 83 
 
 cause of war between Wessex and West Wales, 
 for if the man tried to slay our king in his own 
 court, it may also be told that here was slain 
 a prince of Dyvnaint. There is full need that 
 the truth should reach the king before rumour 
 makes the matter over great. You have seen all, 
 and are known to the Welsh court as a friend. 
 Come with me, therefore, to-morrow and tell the 
 tale." 
 
 " That I will, Prince," Thorgils said. " You will 
 be welcome ; but as I warn you, there will be need 
 for care." 
 
 " You know somewhat of the ways of the Welsh 
 court," said Ina. 
 
 " Needs must, Lord King. I am a shipmaster, 
 and every trader I carry across the sea, sometimes 
 to South Wales, and sometimes to Bristol, and 
 betimes so far as to Ireland, tells me all he has 
 learned. It were churlish not to listen, and then 
 we need warning against such attacks as that of 
 Morgan. Moreover, one likes somewhat to talk 
 of." 
 
 " That is plain enough," said Nunna, laughing. 
 
 " Maybe I do talk too much," answered the 
 Norseman. " It is a failing in my family. But my 
 sister is worse than I." 
 
 Then the king laughed again, and so dismissed 
 the shipman, and presently Owen bade me make 
 all preparation for riding to Norton on the morrow 
 early. Ina would have us take a strong guard, and 
 I should bring them back, either with or without 
 Owen, as things went. 
 
 But little sleep had I that night, for I knew too
 
 84 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 well that from henceforth my life and that of my 
 foster-father must lie apart, and how far sundered we 
 might be I could not tell. There was no love of 
 the Saxon in West Wales, nor of the Welshman in 
 Wessex.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 HOW THE LADY ELFRIDA SPOKE WITH OSWALD, 
 AND OF THE MEETING WITH CERENT 
 
 GERE NT, the king of the West Welsh, as we called 
 him, ruled over all the land of Devon and Cornwall, 
 from the fens of the Tone and Parrett Rivers to the 
 Land's End. Only those wide fens, across which he 
 could not go, had kept our great King Kenwalch 
 from pushing Wessex yet westward, and along their 
 line had been our frontier since his days until, not 
 long before Ina came to the throne, Kentwine 
 crossed them to the north and cleared the 
 marauding Welsh of the Quantock hills and forests 
 from the river to the sea, setting honest Saxon 
 franklins here and there in the new-won land, to 
 keep it for him. It was out of those deep wooded 
 hills that Morgan had come on the raid that ended 
 so badly for his brother and himself, for the wasted 
 country was yet a sort of no-man's land, where out- 
 laws found easy harbourage, coming mostly from 
 the Welsh side. It would not need much to set the 
 tide of war moving westward again, now that our 
 men knew the fenland as well as ever the British 
 learned the secrets of the paths. 
 
 Now that the time seemed to have come for him 
 
 86
 
 86 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 to leave Ina, Owen feared most of all that the long 
 peace would end, for that would mean the rending 
 of old friendships and certain parting from me. 
 How much longer the peace would last was very 
 doubtful, and men said that it was only the wisdom 
 of Aldhelm that had kept it so well, and now he 
 was dead. It was not so long since that a west 
 Welshman would not so much as eat with a Saxon, 
 so great was the hatred they had for us, though that 
 had worn off more or less. Maybe it would have 
 passed altogether but that there were the differences 
 between the ways of the two Churches which were 
 always cropping up and making things bitter again, 
 and those were the troubles that Aldhelm, whom 
 Gerent honoured, had most tried to smooth away 
 with some sort of success. Yet it was well known 
 that many of the Welsh priests and people were 
 sorely against peace with the men who followed the 
 way of Austin of Canterbury. 
 
 As for me, I almost wondered that Ina seemed so 
 ready to part with Owen, but presently I saw that 
 if Gerent owned him again, my foster-father would 
 be a link between the two kingdoms, which would 
 make for peace in every way. But for all that, in 
 my own heart was a sort of half hope that in spite 
 of what the Norseman had heard, Owen would not 
 be welcomed back to the west, else I should lose 
 him altogether. There was no intercourse between 
 our courts, now that Aldhelm was gone. 
 
 But in the morning, when I came to say some of 
 this to Owen, he smiled at me, and said 
 
 " Wait, Oswald. Time enough for trouble when 
 it comes. Maybe you and I will be back here this
 
 MORNING GREETINGS 87 
 
 evening, and if not, I hope that my staying with my 
 uncle will mean peace between our lands. Let it 
 be so till we have seen what may be our fortune at 
 Norton." 
 
 So I tried to let the trouble pass, and indeed at 
 the morning meal I had my new rank to think of, 
 for my comrades would not forget it, nor would they 
 let me do so. The first man to greet me as thane 
 was Thorgils the Norseman, too, and he went with 
 me to see to choosing men and horses for our 
 journey, and I was glad of his gossip, for it kept me 
 from thinking overmuch of the heavier things that 
 had kept me waking. 
 
 He would guide us across the hills to Norton, 
 where Gerent was ; for though we knew somewhat of 
 the Quantocks, beyond them we did not go. The 
 palace where the king lay was an ancient Roman 
 stronghold, and had belonged to Morgan, who was 
 dead ; and though Thorgils had heard that Gerent 
 was there to seek Owen, it was more likely that he 
 had come to see that the outlawed brothers did not 
 gather any force against him in their own place. It 
 was many a year since he had been so near our 
 border. 
 
 Presently Thorgils would go down the town to the 
 inn where he had bestowed his horse, and I went 
 with him, having an hour left before we started, 
 rather than face any more banter concerning my 
 thanedom. It was almost in my mind to go 
 to the ealdorman's house to ask after Elfrida, but 
 I forbore, being shy, I suppose, and so left the 
 Norseman to join us presently, and went back 
 to the king's hall by a short cut from the village,
 
 88 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 whereby I had a meeting which was unlocked for 
 altogether. 
 
 That way was a sort of stolen short cut across 
 the king's orchard, which some of us used at times 
 in coming from village to hall, for it lay between the 
 two on the south side of the hall where the ground 
 sloped sunwards. And as I leapt over the fence I 
 was aware of a lady who was gathering some of the 
 ruddy crab apples from the ground under their bare 
 tree, for the hot ale of the wassail bowl, doubtless, 
 for we leave them out to mellow with the frost thus. 
 She did not heed me as I came over the soft snow, 
 and when she did at last look up I saw that she 
 was Elfrida. Just for a moment I wished that I 
 had gone round by the road, but there was no 
 escape for me now, for she had seen me. So I 
 unbonneted and went to meet her. 
 
 There was a little flush on her face when she saw 
 me, but it was not altogether one of pleasure, for 
 when I wished her good-morrow, all that I had in 
 return was a cold little bow and the few words that 
 needs must be spoken in answer. Whereat I felt 
 somewhat foolish ; but it did not seem to me that I 
 had done aught to deserve quite so much coldness, 
 not being a stranger by any means. So I would 
 even try to find the way to a better understanding, 
 and I thought that maybe the sight of me had 
 brought back some of the terror of last night. 
 
 " Now, I hope that the rough doings of the feast 
 have not been troublous to you, Lady Elfrida," I 
 said, trying with as good a grace as I could not to 
 see her cold looks. 
 
 I saw that she did indeed shrink a little from
 
 IN THE ORCHARD 89 
 
 them as I spoke, even in the passing thought. But 
 she answered 
 
 " Such things are best forgotten as soon as may 
 be. I do not wish to hear more of them." 
 
 " Nevertheless," I answered, " there are some who 
 will not forget them, and I fear that you must needs 
 be ready to hear of your part in them pretty often." 
 
 " Ay," she said somewhat bitterly, " I suppose 
 that I am the talk of the whole place now." 
 
 "If so, there would be many who would be glad 
 to be spoken of as you must needs be. There is 
 nought but praise for you." 
 
 Then she turned on me, and the trouble was plain 
 enough in a moment. 
 
 " But for yourself, Thane, there would have been 
 nought that I could not have put up with. But 
 little thought for me was there when you made me 
 the jest of your idle comrades over that foolish cup 
 of the king's." 
 
 That was a new way of looking at the matter, in 
 all truth. I supposed that a vow of fealty to any 
 lady would have been taken by her as somewhat on 
 which to pride herself maybe, from whomsoever it 
 came. Which seemed to be foolishness in this fresh 
 light. Still, it came to me that her anger was not 
 altogether fair, for I was the one who had to stand 
 the jesting, and not one of my honest comrades 
 so much as mentioned her name lightly in any 
 wise. 
 
 " That was no jest ol mine, Elfrida," I said gravely 
 enough. "If there is any jest at all that will come 
 from my oath, it will be that I have been foolish 
 enough to vow fealty to one who despises me. The
 
 go A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 last thing that I would do is anything that might 
 hurt you. And my vow stands fast, whether you 
 scorn me or not, for if it was made in a moment, it 
 is not as if I had not had long years to think on in 
 which we have been good friends enough." 
 
 " Ay," she said, turning from me and reaching 
 some apples that yet hung on a sheltered bough, 
 " I have heard the terms of that vow from my 
 father, more than once. You can keep it without 
 trouble." 
 
 " Have I your leave to try to keep it ? " 
 
 "You have had full leave to be a good friend of 
 ours all these years, as you say, and I do not see 
 that the vow binds you to more. No one thinks 
 that you are likely to forget last night, or any one 
 who took part in that cruel business. And if a 
 friend will not help to guard a lady well, he would 
 be just nidring, no more or less." 
 
 Then she took up her basket, which was pretty 
 full and no burden for a lady, for she had picked 
 fast and heedlessly as she spoke to me, and so turned 
 away. 
 
 " Nay, but surely you know that there was more 
 than that meant," I said lamely. 
 
 " No need to have haled my name into the matter 
 at all," she said. And then, seeing that my eyes 
 went to the basket, she smiled a little, and held it to 
 me with both hands. 
 
 " Well, if you meant some new sort of service, 
 you can begin by carrying this for me. I am going 
 to the queen's bower." 
 
 I took it without a word, and we went silently 
 together to the door that led to the queen's end of
 
 ELFRIDA'S GIFT 91 
 
 the hall. There she stayed for a moment with her 
 hand on the latch. But she had only a question to 
 ask me 
 
 " Do you go with your father to the Welsh king's 
 court, as it is said that he will go shortly ? " 
 
 " We start together in an hour's time or there- 
 about," I answered, wondering. 
 
 " Well then, take this to mind you of your vow," 
 she said, and threw a little bronze brooch, gilt and 
 set with bright enamel, into the basket, and so fled 
 into the house, leaving me on the doorstep with the 
 apples. 
 
 I set them down there, and had a mind to leave 
 the brooch also. However, on second thoughts I 
 took it, and went my way in a puzzled state of mind. 
 It certainly seemed that Elfrida was desperately 
 angry with me for reasons which were not easy to 
 fathom, and yet she had given me this that is, if 
 to have a thing thrown at one is to have it given. 
 But I was not going to quarrel with the manner of 
 a gift from Elfrida, and so I went on with it in my 
 hand, and as I turned the corner into a fresh path 
 I also ran into the abbot of the new minster, who 
 was on his way to speak with Owen before he set 
 out. He had been a great friend of Bishop 
 Aldhelm's, and I had known him well since the old 
 days of Malmesbury. 
 
 " So Oswald," he cried, M I have been looking for 
 you, that I might wish you all good in your thane- 
 ship. Why, some of us are proud of you. And I, 
 having known you since you were a child, feel as if 
 I had some sort of a share in your honours. But 
 what is amiss? One would look to see you the
 
 92 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 gayest of the gay, and it seems as if the world had 
 gone awry with you." 
 
 Now, the abbot was just the friend to whom I 
 could tell my present trouble without fear of being 
 mocked, for he was wont to stand to us boys of the 
 court as the good friend who would help us out of 
 a scrape if he could, and make us feel ashamed 
 thereof in private afterward, in all kindliness. So I 
 told him what was on my mind, for he was at the 
 feast last night. 
 
 " It is all that vow of mine," I said. " I have just 
 met Elfrida, and she is angry with me for naming 
 her at all." 
 
 " Unfair," said the abbot. " You could not have 
 helped it, seeing that you were bidden to do so." 
 
 I had forgotten that, and it was possible that 
 Elfrida did not know it. So I said that I did not 
 look 'for quite the scorn I had met with, at all 
 events. Whereon the abbot stayed in his walk and 
 asked more, trying to look grave as he heard me, 
 and soon he had all the story. 
 
 " So you carried the basket like any thrall, and 
 had my Yuletide gift to her in payment," he said, 
 with his eyes twinkling ; " I will ask if she has lost 
 it presently, and you will be avenged." 
 
 He laughed again, and then said more gravely, 
 but with a smile not far off: " Go to, Oswald, don't 
 ask me to make the ways of a damsel plain to you, 
 for that was more than Solomon himself could 
 compass. But I think I know what is wrong. Her 
 father has been making a jest to her of the way you 
 worded your vow, laughing mightily after his manner, 
 and she is revenging herself on you. Never mind.
 
 FRIENDLY COUNSEL 93 
 
 Wait till you come back from this journey, and then 
 see how things are with her. Now let us talk of 
 your errand, for it is important." 
 
 Then we went slowly together, and he told me 
 how that he had foreseen for a long time, that 
 Owen would return to his uncle and take his 
 right place again. Also he told me that Morgan 
 had a strong party on his side, and that we might 
 have trouble with them if Owen was taken into 
 favour again. 
 
 " As I hope he may be," he added with a sigh ; 
 " for I have seen the war-cloud drifting nearer every 
 year under the guidance of Morgan and his fellows." 
 Then we turned into the courtyard, and he went 
 to speak to Owen in the hall, turning with a last 
 smile to bid me hide the brooch, lest Elfrida should 
 hear some jesting about that next. So I pinned 
 it under my cloak, and then went and donned 
 my arms, and saw to all things for the journey, 
 both for Owen and myself; and so at last the 
 hour came when I led the men round to the 
 great door of the hall, and sent one to say that 
 all was ready. 
 
 Now the king came forth, and with him was Owen. 
 Ina wore his everyday dress, but my foster-father was 
 fully armed, and as those two stood there I thought 
 that I had never seen a more kingly looking pair, 
 silent and thoughtful both, and with lines of care 
 on their foreheads, and both in their prime of 
 life. 
 
 Behind me I heard Thorgils say to Godred, the 
 chief house-carle : " If there were choice, I would take 
 the king that wears the war-gear. That is the only
 
 94 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 dress that to my mind fits a man who shall lead 
 warriors." 
 
 Now the king came and spoke with me, bidding 
 me be on my guard against any attack while we 
 were at Norton, telling me plainly also that he 
 deemed that there was danger to both of us at the 
 first, somewhat in the way in which the abbot had 
 already spoken to me. I daresay the words were 
 his, for he had been counselling Owen. 
 
 Then the queen came forth with her ladies, and 
 there was an honour for us, for she herself brought 
 the stirrup-cup to Owen, bidding him farewell, at the 
 same time that the king must needs send Elfrida 
 with another cup to me, saying that it was my due 
 for last night's omission. But there was no smile 
 as she set it in my hand, and she waited with 
 head turned away until I gave it back to her, as 
 if she looked at Owen rather than any one else. 
 Then it was only a short word of farewell that 
 she said to me, and yet it did seem that her eyes 
 were less grave than she would seem in face as 
 she turned back to the other ladies on the hall 
 steps. 
 
 Then Owen unhelmed and turned his horse to the 
 gates, and after him we went clattering down the street. 
 In a minute or two Thorgils came alongside me. 
 
 " So that was the lady of the vow, surely. Well, 
 you may be excused for making it, though indeed it 
 is rash to bind oneself nay, but it seems that this 
 is one of those matters whereon I must hold my 
 tongue ! " 
 
 For I had spurred my horse a little impatiently, 
 and he understood well enough. I did not altogether
 
 ACROSS THE POLDENS 95 
 
 care that this stranger should talk of my affairs 
 more particularly as they did not seem to be going 
 at all rightly. So he said no more of them, but 
 began to talk of himself gaily, while Owen rode alone 
 at our head, as he would sometimes if his thoughts 
 were busy. 
 
 Presently he reined up and came alongside us, 
 taking his part in our talk in all cheerfulness. And 
 from that time I had little thought but of the 
 pleasantness of the ride in the sharp winter air and 
 under the bright sun with him toward the new court 
 which I had often longed to see, with its strange 
 ways, in the ancient British-Roman palace that 
 he had so often told me of. 
 
 So we rode along the ancient and grass-grown 
 Roman road that lies on the Polden ridge, hardly 
 travelled save by a few chapmen, since the old town 
 they called Uxella was lost in the days of my fore- 
 fathers. The road had no ending now, as one may 
 say, for beyond the turning to the bridge across the 
 Parrett for which we were making it passed to 
 nought but fen and mere where once had been the 
 city. All the wide waters on either side of the hills 
 were hard frozen, and southward, across to where we 
 could see the blue hill of ancient Camelot, the ice 
 flashed black and steelly under the red low sun 
 of midwinter. Before us the Quantocks lay purple 
 and deepest brown where the woods hid the snow 
 that covered them. Over us, too, went the long 
 strings of wild geese, clanging in their flight in search 
 of open water, and it was the wolf-month again, 
 and even so had they fled on that day when Owen 
 found me in the snow.
 
 96 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 And therewith we fell into talk of Eastdean, and 
 dimly enough I recalled it all. I knew that an Erpwald 
 held the place even yet, but I cared not. It was but 
 a pleasant memory by reason of the coming of Owen, 
 and I had no thought even to see the place again. 
 Only, as we talked it did seem to me that I would 
 that I knew that the grave of my father was 
 honoured. 
 
 Then we left the old road, and crossed the ancient 
 Parrett bridge, where the Roman earthworks yet stood 
 frowning as if they would stay us. They were last 
 held against Kenwalch, and now we were in that no- 
 man's land which he had won and wasted. Then 
 we climbed the long slope of the Quantocks, whence 
 we might look back over the land we had left, to see 
 the Tor at Glastonbury shouldering higher and higher 
 above the lower Poldens, until the height was reached 
 and the swift descent toward Norton began. There 
 we could see all the wild Exmoor hills before us, 
 with the sea away to our right, and Thorgils shewed 
 us where lay, under the very headlands of the hills 
 we were crossing, the place where his folk had their 
 haven. He said that he could see the very smoke 
 from the hearths, but maybe that was only because 
 he knew where it ought to be, and we laughed at 
 him. 
 
 So we came to the outskirts of Norton, and all 
 the way we had seen no man. The hills were 
 deserted, save by wild things, and of them there was 
 plenty. And now for the first time I saw men 
 living in houses built of stone from ground to roof, 
 and that was strange to me. We Saxons cannot 
 abide aught but good timber. Here none of us had
 
 NORTON STRONGHOLD 97 
 
 ever come, and still some of the houses built after 
 the Roman fashion remained, surrounded, it is true, 
 by mud hovels of yesterday, as one might say, but 
 yet very wonderful to me. Many a time I had 
 seen the ruined foundations of the like before, but 
 one does not care to go near them. The wastes 
 our forefathers made of the old towns they found 
 here, and had no use for, lie deserted, for they are 
 haunted by all things uncanny, as any one knows. 
 Maybe that is because the old Roman gods have 
 come back to their old places, now that the churches 
 are no longer standing. 
 
 Through the village we went, and then came to 
 the walls of the ancient stronghold, and they seemed 
 as if they were but lately raised, so strong were they 
 and high. The gates were in their places, and at 
 them was a guard, and through them, for they stood 
 open, I could see the white walls and flat roof of the 
 house, or rather palace, which was either that of 
 the Roman governor > of the place, or else had been 
 rebuilt or restored from time to time in exactly the 
 same wise, so that it stood fair and lordly and fit 
 for a king's dwelling even yet. Maybe the wattled 
 hovels of the thralls that clustered round it inside 
 the great earthworks were not what would have been 
 suffered in the days of those terrible men who made 
 the fortress, but I doubt not that they stood on the 
 foundations of the quarters of the soldiers who had 
 held it for Rome. 
 
 The guard turned out in orderly wise as we came 
 to the gates, and they wore the Roman helm and 
 corselet, and bore the heavy Roman spear and short 
 heavy sword. But that war-gear I had seen before
 
 98 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 on the other Welsh border, and I had a scar, moreover, 
 that would tell that I had been within reach of one 
 weapon or the other. I knew their tongue too, 
 almost as well as my own, for Owen had taught it 
 me, saying that I might need it at some time. It 
 had already been of use to the king in the frontier 
 troubles, for I could interpret for him, but I think 
 that Owen had in his mind the coming of some 
 such day as this. 
 
 Now, Owen would have me speak to the guard 
 and tell them our errand, and I rode forward and 
 did so. The short day was almost over by this 
 time, and the captain who came to meet me did not 
 seem to notice my Saxon arms in the shadow of the 
 high rampart. Hearing that we bore a message for 
 the king, he sent a man to ask for directions, and 
 meanwhile we waited. I asked him if there was 
 any news, thinking it well to know for certain if 
 aught had been heard yet of the end of Morgan. 
 News of that sort flies fast. 
 
 " No news at all," he answered. " What did you 
 expect ? " 
 
 " I had heard of the death of a prince, and do not 
 know the rights thereof." 
 
 " Why, where have you been ? That is old news. 
 It was only Dewi, and he is no loss. The Saxon 
 sheriff hung him, even as the king said he would do 
 to him an he caught him, so maybe it is the same 
 in the end. I have not heard that any one is sorry 
 to lose him." 
 
 He laughed, and if it was plain that Morgan's 
 brother was not loved, it was also plain that nought 
 was known of the end of the other prince yet. We
 
 IN CERENT'S PALACE 99 
 
 were first with the tidings here, and that might be 
 as well. 
 
 Now a message came to bid us enter, and the 
 steward who brought it told us that we were to be 
 lodged in some great guest chamber, and that we 
 should speak with the king shortly. 
 
 The men bided outside the walls, the captain 
 leading them to a long row of timber built stables 
 which stood close at hand by the gate. Presently, 
 when the horses were bestowed, they would be 
 brought to the guest hall ; so Thorgils went with 
 them, while the steward led Owen and myself 
 through the gate, and to the palace, which stood 
 squarely in the midst of the fortress, with a space 
 between it and the other buildings which filled the 
 area. 
 
 By daylight I knew afterwards that it was un- 
 cared for, and somewhat dilapidated without, but in 
 the falling dusk it looked all that it should. We 
 entered through a wide door, and passed a guard-room 
 where many men lounged, armed and unarmed, and 
 then were in a courtyard formed by the four sides 
 of the building, wonderfully paved, and with a frozen 
 fountain in its midst. There were windows all 
 round the walls which bounded this court, and the 
 light shone red from them, very cheerfully, and 
 already there was bustle of men who crossed and 
 passed through the palace making ready for our 
 reception. The steward led us to the northern 
 wing of the house across this court, and so took us 
 into an antechamber, as it seemed, warm and bright, 
 with hanging lamps, and with painted walls and 
 many patterned tiled floor, but for all its warmth
 
 ioo A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 with no fire to be seen, which was strange enough 
 to me. 
 
 And so soon as the bright light shone on Owen 
 I saw the steward start and gaze at him fixedly, 
 and then as Owen smiled a little at him he fell on 
 his knees and cried softly some words of welcome, 
 with tears starting in his eyes 
 
 " Oh my Lord," he said, " is it indeed you ? This 
 is a good day. A thousand welcomes ! " 
 
 Owen raised him kindly, and set his finger on his 
 lip. 
 
 " It is well that you have been the first to know 
 me, friend," he said. " Now hold your peace for a 
 little while till we see what says my uncle. I must 
 have word with him at once, if it can be managed, 
 before others know me. It will be best." 
 
 " He waits you, Lord. It was his word that he 
 would see the Saxon alone." 
 
 Then he led us into another room like to that we 
 left, but larger, and with rich carpets on the tiled 
 floor, and there sat Gerent alone to wait us. I 
 thought him a wonderful looking old man, and most 
 kingly, as he rose and bowed in return when we 
 greeted him. His hair was white, and his long 
 beard even whiter, but his eyes were bright. Purple 
 and gold he wore, and those robes and the golden 
 circlet on his head shewed that he had put on the 
 kingly dress to meet with the messenger of a 
 king. 
 
 Almost had Owen sprung toward him, but he 
 forbore, and when the king had taken his seat he 
 went slowly to him, holding out a letter which Ina 
 had written for him, saying nothing. And Gerent
 
 RECOGNITION 101 
 
 took it without a word or so much as a glance at 
 the bearer from under his heavy brows, and opened 
 it. 
 
 Owen stood back by me, and we watched the 
 face of the king as he read. We saw his brows 
 knit themselves fiercely at first, and then as he went 
 on they cleared until he seemed as calm as when he 
 first met us. But the flush that had come with the 
 frown had not faded when at last he looked keenly 
 at us. " Come nearer," he said in a harsh voice, 
 speaking in fair Saxon. " Know you what is 
 written herein?" 
 
 " I know it," Owen said. 
 
 " Here Ina says that this is borne by one whom 
 I know. Is it you or this young warrior ? " 
 
 Then Owen went forward and fell on one knee 
 before the king, and said in his own tongue the 
 tongue of Cornwall and of Devon 
 
 " I am that one of whom Ina has spoken. Yet 
 it is for Cerent to say whether he will own that he 
 knows me even yet." 
 
 I saw the king start as the voice of Owen came 
 to him in the familiar language, and he knitted his 
 brows as one who tries to recall somewhat forgotten, 
 and he looked searchingly in the face of the man 
 who knelt before him, scanning every feature. And 
 at last he said in a hushed voice, not like the harsh 
 tones of but now 
 
 " Can it be Owen ? Owen, the son of my sister. 
 They said that one like him served the Saxon, but 
 I did not believe it. That is no service for one of 
 our line." 
 
 " What shall an exile do but serve whom he may,
 
 102 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 if the service be an honoured one ? Yet I will say 
 that I wandered long, seeing and learning, before 
 there came to me a reason that I should serve Ina. 
 To you I might not return." 
 
 But the king was silent, and I thought that he was 
 wrath, while Owen bided yet there on his knee 
 before him, waiting his word. And when that came 
 at last, it was not as I feared. 
 
 Slowly the king set forth his hand, and it shook 
 as he did so. He laid it on Owen's head, while the 
 letter that was on his knees fluttered unheeded to the 
 floor as he bent forward and spoke softly 
 
 " Owen, Owen," he said, " I have forgotten nought. 
 Forgive the old blindness, and come and take your 
 place again beside me." 
 
 And as Owen took the hand that would have 
 raised him and kissed it, the old king added in the 
 voice of one from whom tears are not so far 
 
 " I have wearied for you, Owen, my nephew. 
 Sorely did I wrong you in my haste in the old days, 
 and bitterly have I been punished. I pray you 
 forgive." 
 
 Then Owen rose, and it seemed to me that on 
 the king the weight of years had fallen suddenly, so 
 that he had grown weak and needful of the strong 
 arm of the steadfast prince who stood before him, 
 and I took the arm of the steward and pulled him 
 unresisting through the doorway, so that what 
 greeting those two might have for one another 
 should be their own. 
 
 Then said the steward to me as we looked at one 
 another 
 
 " This is the best day for us all that has been
 
 PARTING TO COME 103 
 
 since the prince who has come back left us. There 
 will be joy through all Cornwall." 
 
 But I knew that what I dreaded had come to pass, 
 and that from henceforth the way of the prince of 
 Cornwall and of the house-carle captain of Ina's 
 court must lie apart, and I had no answer for him.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 HOW OSWALD FELL INTO BAD HANDS, AND FARED 
 EVILLY, ON THE 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 to- 
 gether, 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." 
 
 104
 
 CERENT'S COUNSEL 105 
 
 " 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 thought- 
 fully. 
 
 " 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 to-morrow 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
 
 io6 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 home-coming 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.
 
 A DEVON FEASTING 107 
 
 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
 
 io8 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 hence- 
 forth 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 hapt 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
 
 IN OWEN'S CHAMBER 109 
 
 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
 
 no A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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-faster 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 Cerent now, as I 
 think." 
 
 Then came a man in haste from out of the gate- 
 way where we stood yet, and he bore a last gift 
 from Cerent 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
 
 WAYSIDE SPORT in 
 
 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 
 8
 
 H2 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 some- 
 what, 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 Wulfs 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,
 
 THE QUANTOCK OUTLAWS 113 
 
 " 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.
 
 ii4 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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.
 
 IN EVIL CASE 115 
 
 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 off-hand as it 
 seemed, but the leader would not hear of that. 
 
 " Search him first, and let us see who he is," he
 
 n6 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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
 
 AN OUTLAW LEADER 117 
 
 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 if?" 
 
 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
 
 n8 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 THE QUANTOCKS 119 
 
 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 eame 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
 
 120 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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,
 
 QUESTION OF PAROLE 121 
 
 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
 
 122 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 
 leechcraft. 
 
 " 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
 
 FOREST SURGERY 123 
 
 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 Cerent gave me. There was some 
 argument about this, but the leader said that it was
 
 124 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 boarspears, 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
 
 WATCHET PORT 125 
 
 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.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 I THOUGHT that Evan had forgotten to gag me, but 
 before we went to the gate of the stockade he came 
 and did it well. I could not see a soul near but 
 my captors, and it would have been little or no 
 good to shout. So I bore it as well as I might, 
 being helpless. Then, within arrow-shot of the 
 gate, one of the men blew a harsh horn, and we 
 waited for a moment until a man, armed with an 
 axe and sword, lounged through the stockade and 
 looked at us, and so made a gesture that bid us 
 enter, and went his way within. I hope that I may 
 never feel so helpless again as I did at the time 
 when I passed this man, who stared at me in silence, 
 unable to call to him for help. 
 
 Then we crossed the green without any one pay- 
 ing much heed to us, though I saw the women at 
 the doors pitying me, and so we came to the wharf, 
 alongside which a ship was lying. There were 
 several men at work on her decks, and it was plain 
 that she was to sail on this tide, for her red-and- 
 brown striped sail was ready for hoisting, and there 
 was nothing left alongside to be stowed. She was 
 
 12C
 
 IN SIGHT OF HELP 127 
 
 not yet afloat however, though the tide was fast 
 rising. 
 
 Evan hailed one of the men, and he came ashore 
 to him. The bearers set down my litter and waited. 
 
 " Where is the shipmaster ? " Evan asked. 
 
 The man jerked his thumb over his shoulder, and 
 lifted his voice and shouted : " Ho Thorgils, here is 
 the Welsh chapman." 
 
 I saw the head of my friend rise from under the 
 gunwale amidships, and when he saw who was waiting 
 he also came ashore. Evan met him at the gangway. 
 
 " I thought you were not coming, master chap- 
 man," he said. " A little later and you had lost 
 your voyage. Tide waits for no man, and Thorgils 
 sails with the tide he waits. Therefore Thorgils 
 waits for no man." 
 
 Just for a moment a thought came to me that 
 Thorgils was in league with the outlaws, and that 
 was hard. But Evan's next words told me that in 
 this I was wrong. It would seem that the taking 
 of his ill-gotten goods across the channel had been 
 planned by Evan before he fell in with me, and 
 maybe that already made plan was the saving of 
 my life, by putting the thought of an easy way to 
 dispose of me to some profit into the outlaw's head. 
 
 " I had been here earlier," he said, " but for a 
 mischance to my friend here. I want to take him 
 with me, if you will suffer it." 
 
 He pointed to me as he spoke, and Thorgils 
 turned and looked at me idly. I was some twenty 
 yards from him as I lay, and I tried to cry out to 
 him as his eyes fell on me, but I could only fetch a 
 sort of groan, and I could not move at all. 
 9
 
 128 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " He seems pretty bad," said Thorgils, when he 
 heard me. " What is amiss with him ? I can have 
 no fevers or aught of that sort aboard, with the 
 young lady as passenger, moreover." 
 
 " There is nothing of that," Evan answered hastily. 
 " It is but the doing of a fall from his horse. The 
 beast rolled on him, and he has a broken thigh, 
 slipped shoulder, and broken jaw, so that it will be 
 long before he is fit for aught again, as I fear. 
 Now he wants to get back to his wife and children 
 at Lanphey, hard by Pembroke, and our leech said 
 that he would take no harm from the voyage. It 
 is calm enough, and not so cold but that we may 
 hap him up against it. If I may take him, I will 
 pay well for his passage." 
 
 Thorgils looked at me again for a moment. 
 
 " Well," he said, " if that is all, I do not mind. It 
 would be better if the after-cabin was empty, but 
 of course the princess has that. There is room for 
 him to be stowed comfortably enough under the 
 fore-deck with your bales, however, and it will be 
 warm there. Ay, we will take the poor soul home, 
 for his mind will be easier, and that will help his 
 healing. It is ill to be laid up in a strange land. 
 Get him on board as soon as you can, for there is 
 but an hour to wait for tide. I will ask no pay for 
 his passage, for he is but another bale of goods, as 
 it were, swaddled up in that wise, and I told you 
 that I would take all you liked to bring for what we 
 agreed on." 
 
 Evan thanked him, and Thorgils laughed, turning 
 away to go up the town, and saying that he would 
 be back anon. I groaned again as he passed me,
 
 THE NORSE TRADER 129 
 
 and he looked straight in my eyes, which were all 
 that he could see of me. 
 
 " Better on board than in that litter, poor fellow," 
 he said kindly ; " it is a smooth sea, and we shall 
 see Tenby in no long time if this breeze holds." 
 He passed on with a nod and smile, and I could 
 almost have wept in my rage and despair. I could 
 not have thought of anything more cruel than this, 
 and there was a sour grin on Evan's face, as if he 
 knew what was passing in my mind. 
 
 Now they lifted me once more and carried me to 
 the ship, setting me down amidships while they got 
 the (bales of goods on board. She was a stout 
 trading vessel, built for burden more than speed, but 
 she seemed light in the water, as though she had 
 little cargo for this voyage. She had raised decks 
 fore and aft, and there were low doors in the bulk- 
 heads below them that seemed to lead to some sort 
 of cabins. Under the forward of these decks the 
 outlaws began to stow their bales, the man who had 
 called 'Thorgils ashore directing them. 
 
 I lay just at the gangway, and a little on one 
 side so as not to block it, and I watched all that 
 went on, helplessly. There was no one near me, or I 
 think that I should have made some desperate effort 
 to call a Norseman to my help. Maybe Evan 
 thought me safer here than nearer the place where 
 all were busy, as yet, but presently I heard voices 
 on the wharf as if some new-comers were drawing 
 near, and Evan heard them also, and left his cargo 
 to hasten to my side. I saw that he looked anxious, 
 and a little hope of some fresh chance of escape 
 stirred in me, though, as they had carried me on
 
 130 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 board feet foremost, I could not see who came. 
 When they were close at hand their voices told me 
 that one at least was a lady, and that she and her 
 companions were Welsh. I supposed that this was 
 the princess of whom I had heard Thorgils speak 
 just now. I should know in a moment, for the first 
 footsteps were on the long gang-plank and patter- 
 ing across it, while Evan began to smile and bow 
 profoundly. 
 
 Then there came past my litter, stepping daintily 
 across the planks, a most fair and noble lady, tall 
 and black haired and graceful, wrapped against the 
 sea air in the rare beaver skins of the Teifi River, 
 and wonderful stuffs that the traders from the 
 east bring to Marazion, such as we Saxons seldom 
 see but as priceless booty, paid for with lives of 
 men in war with West Wales in days not long 
 gone by. 
 
 She half turned as she saw me, and it gave me 
 a little pang, as it were, to see her draw her dress 
 aside that it might by no means touch me, no doubt 
 with the same fear of fever that had been in the 
 mind of my friend at the first. But then she stayed 
 and looked at me and at Evan, who was yet cringing 
 in some Welsh way of respect as she passed. Her 
 companions stopped on the gang-plank, and they 
 were silent 
 
 " Why is this sick man on the ship," she said to 
 my captor, with some little touch of haughtiness. 
 " And why is he swathed thus ? What is wrong 
 with him ? " Evan bowed again, and at once began 
 his tale as he had told it to Thorgils. But he did 
 not say that I came from near Pembroke at all.
 
 ; THE EYES OF THE PRINCESS HAD GROWN SOFT AS SHE 
 HEARD THE TALE."
 
 A WELSH PRINCESS 131 
 
 Now he named some other place whose name began 
 with "Llan -" as my home. 
 
 " The good shipmaster has suffered me to take 
 him home, Lady, subject to your consent," he ended. 
 " I pray you let it be so." 
 
 Now the eyes of the princess had grown soft as 
 she heard the tale, and when Evan ended it there 
 was pity in her voice as she answered 
 
 " Surely he may come, and if there is no fitting 
 place for him he shall even have the cabin to him- 
 self. I can be well content in these warm things of 
 mine on deck in this calm air, and he must have all 
 shelter." 
 
 " Nay, Lady, but there is the fore-cabin, where he 
 will be well bestowed," Evan said hastily, beckoning 
 at the same time to his comrades that they might 
 take me from this too unsafe place at once. 
 
 He kept himself between me and her as much as 
 he could all this time, and I made no sign. It 
 seemed to me that I could not, even in my trouble, 
 bring' more pain to this soft-eyed princess by raising 
 the groan which was all that I could compass. 
 What good would it do ? I could tell her nothing, 
 and she could not dream of the true reason that 
 made me try to cry out. Maybe she would listen 
 through all the long hours to come to hear if the 
 poor wretch she felt for was yet in that dire pain 
 that made him moan so terribly. 
 
 " Is he well bandaged ? " she said, then. " It is ill 
 if broken bones are not closely set and splinted, and 
 the ship will plunge and rock presently." Evan 
 assured her with many words that all was well done, 
 and yet she lingered.
 
 132 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " I must see him well and softly bestowed in his 
 place," she said, half laughing, and turning to some 
 who stood yet beyond my range of sight. " Else I 
 shall have no peace at all till we come to land 
 again." 
 
 Evan turned to me at that saying, to hide his 
 face. He was growing ashy pale, and the sweat was 
 breaking out on his forehead. And that made me 
 glad to see, for he was being punished. Even yet the 
 princess might wish to see that my swathings were 
 comfortable, and if I once had my mouth freed for a 
 moment all was lost to him. He signed to his 
 comrades to lift me carefully, and then put a bold 
 face on the matter, and thanked the princess for her 
 kindness. 
 
 " Lady, I may be glad to beg a warm wrap or 
 two from your store," he said. "If it pleases you, 
 we will shew you where he is to lie." 
 
 So they went forward, I on my litter first, and 
 the lady and her people following. Evan knew well 
 enough that little fault could be found with the 
 warm place that was ready for me among the bales 
 under the deck, and he was eager to get me out of 
 sight before Thorgils returned. They had made a 
 place ready with some of the softer bales for me to 
 lie on, and there they lifted me from the litter, very 
 carefully indeed, that they might not have to re- 
 arrange any of my bonds. Then the princess looked 
 in through the low doorway and seemed content. 
 
 " It is as well as one can expect on board a ship, 
 I suppose," she said, with a little sigh. " But I will 
 send him somewhat to cover him well." 
 
 And then she bade me farewell, bidding me be
 
 IN THE FORE-PEAK 133 
 
 patient for the little while of the voyage, and also 
 adding that presently, when she was at home, she 
 would ask Govan the hermit to pray for me ; and so 
 went her way, with the two maidens who were with 
 her, and followed by a couple of well-armed warriors, 
 all of whom I could see now for the first time. 
 Then Evan drew his hand over his forehead and 
 cursed. As for the other Welshmen, they looked at 
 one another, saying nothing, but I could see that 
 they also had been fairly terrified. One of the men 
 of the princess came with a warm blanket to cover 
 me, and he stayed to see it put over me. It was 
 as well that he did so, for Evan had no time to see 
 that my arm was yet loose, unless he had forgotten 
 that it ever had been so. Then they all went out, 
 shutting the door after them, and I was left to my 
 thoughts, which were not happy. I began to blame 
 myself as a fool for not trying to let the princess 
 see that all was not right. But still I could not 
 lose hope, for Thorgils might yet wish to see me, 
 or the princess might send her men to look in on 
 me. There were more chances now than a little 
 while ago, as I thought. 
 
 I began to think over all that were possible, pre- 
 sently, and I tried to get the gag from my mouth. 
 I could not reach it with my free hand, however, my 
 elbows being too tightly fastened back even after all 
 the shaking of the journey. Then I thrust that free 
 hand and forearm well among the bandages across 
 my chest, so that either of my captors who thought 
 of it might think that the other had bound it, for I 
 dared not try to loosen myself more yet. There 
 would be time for that when we were fairly at sea.
 
 134 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 After that I lay still, and so spied the bale in which 
 my sword had been put, and that gave me some sort 
 of hope by its nearness to me, though indeed it did 
 not seem likely that I should ever get it. 
 
 I heard Thorgils come on board before very long, 
 and I could hear also the voice of the princess as 
 she talked to him, though with the length of the 
 vessel between us, and the wash of the ripples along- 
 side in my ears, I did not make out if they spoke 
 of me. Evan spoke with them also, and it is likely 
 that they did so. 
 
 Presently I could tell by the sway of the ship 
 that she was afloat, and the men began to bustle 
 about the deck overhead, while Thorgils shouted 
 some orders now and then. Soon the sides of the 
 ship grated along the wharf as she was hauled out, 
 and then the shore warps were hove on board with 
 a thud above me. I felt the lift of a little wave and 
 heard the rattle of the halliards as the sail was 
 hoisted and the ship heeled a little, and then began 
 the cheerful wash and bubble of the wave at her bows 
 as she went to sea. The men hailed friends on 
 shore with last jests and farewells, and then fell to 
 clearing up the shore litter from the decks. Then 
 Evan came and looked at me. Through the door 
 I could see the hills and the harbour beyond the 
 high stern, and on that Thorgils was steering, with 
 his eyes on the vane at the masthead. His men 
 were coiling down ropes, and Evan's two men were 
 sitting under the weather gunwale aft, talking with 
 the guards of the princess. She was in the after- 
 cabin, I suppose, out of the way of the wind, with 
 her maidens. I could not see her.
 
 ON THE VOYAGE 135 
 
 " Art all well, friend ? " said Evan, loudly enough 
 for the nearest Norseman to hear. " Well, that is 
 good." Then he sunk his voice to a whisper, and 
 said : " That gag bides in your mouth, let me tell 
 you. I will risk no more calling to the shipmaster." 
 
 He cast his eyes over me and grunted, and went 
 out, leaving the low door open so that he could see 
 me at any time. It was plain that he thought his 
 men had fastened my arm. 
 
 Now I tried to get rid of the gag again, and 
 I will say that the outlaw knew how to manage that 
 business. It filled my mouth, and the bandage 
 round the jaw held it firmly. In no way could I 
 get it out, or so much as loosen it enough to speak. 
 And then I was worn out, and the little heave of 
 the ship lulled me, and I forgot my troubles in 
 sleep that came suddenly. 
 
 I was waked by the clapping to of the cabin 
 door and the thunder of the wind in the great 
 square sail as the ship went on the other tack. 
 We had a fair breeze from the south-west over our 
 quarter as the tide set up channel, but now it had 
 turned and Thorgils was wearing ship. The new 
 list of the deck flung the door to, and none noticed 
 it, for it was dark now except for the light of the 
 rising moon, and I suppose that the other noises 
 of the ship prevented Evan hearing that the door 
 had closed. I felt rested with the short sleep, 
 and now seemed the time to try to get free if 
 ever. I got my left, hand out of the bandages 
 where I had hidden it, and began to claw at my 
 chin to try to free it from the swathings that kept 
 my mouth closed, but I could hardly get at them,
 
 136 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 so tightly were my elbows lashed behind my back, 
 and it became plain that I must get them loose 
 first if I could. It was easy to get the bandages 
 loose, but the knotted cord was a different matter, 
 for the men who tied it knew something of the 
 work, and the cord was not a new one and would 
 not stretch. 
 
 Then I heard two of the Norseman talking close 
 to the cabin bulkhead. 
 
 " This is as good a passage as we shall ever 
 make in the old keel," one said ; " but we shall not 
 fetch Tenby on this tide. Will Thorgils put in 
 elsewhere, I wonder ? " 
 
 " We could make the old landing-place in an 
 hour," was the answer, " and we had better wait 
 for tide there than box about in the open channel 
 in this cold. There is snow coming, I think." 
 
 I heard the man flap his arms across his chest, 
 and the other said 
 
 " Where do these merchants want to get ashore ? 
 I expect that Thorgils will do as they think best. 
 He is pretty good-natured." 
 
 They went away, and it seemed that I might 
 have an hour before me. I was sure that if he 
 had a chance Evan would land as soon as he could, 
 and at some other place than at the Danes' town 
 if possible, so that he might get me away without 
 questions that might be hard to answer. 
 
 So I strained at the cords which bound my 
 elbows with all my might, but I only hurt myself 
 as the lashings drew tighter. I twisted from side 
 to side as I did this, and presently hit my elbow 
 hard against some metal fitting of the ship that
 
 THE ONLY CHANCE 137 
 
 seemed very sharp. Just at first I did not heed 
 this, but by and by, when I had fairly tired myself 
 with struggling, I minded it again, and so turned on 
 my side and set my free hand to work to find 
 out what it was. There was a stout post which 
 came from beneath and through the rough flooring 
 of the cabin on which I lay, and went upward 
 to the deck. I daresay it was to make the cable 
 fast to, but I could not see that, nor did it matter 
 to me what it might be for. But what I had felt 
 was a heavy angle-iron that was bolted by one arm 
 to the post and by the other to a thick beam that 
 crossed the ship from side to side, so as to bind 
 the two together. It had a sharp edge on the 
 part which crossed the floor, and it seemed to me 
 as if it had been set there on purpose, for if I 
 could manage to reach it rightly I might chafe 
 through the cords at my back. Of course, there 
 was the chance of Evan coming in and seeing what 
 I was at, but I could keep my covering on me, 
 maybe, and if Thorgils came, so much the better. 
 He would see that something was amiss. 
 
 It was no easy task to get myself in such wise 
 that the cord was fairly on the edge of the iron, 
 but I did it at last, and, moreover, I got the thick 
 blanket that was over me to cover me afresh. 
 Then I started to try to chafe the cord through, 
 and of course I could only move a little at a time, 
 and I could not be sure that I was always rubbing 
 it on the same place. And the great post was 
 sorely in my way, over my shoulder more or less, 
 so that I must needs hurt myself now and then 
 against it. But as this seemed my one chance
 
 i 3 8 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 I would not give up until I must. Every now and 
 then I stayed my sawing and had a great tug 
 at the cords, in hopes that they would give way, 
 but at last I knew I must saw them through almost 
 to the last strand. It would have been easy if 
 I could keep at work on the same spot, but that 
 was impossible, for I could not see behind me, and 
 the post kept shifting me as I struck it. 
 
 I wondered now that I had seen nothing of Evan 
 for so long. Maybe if I had not been so busy 
 the wonder would have passed, for I should have 
 been sea- sick as he was. There was some sea 
 over on this coast, and quite enough to upset a 
 landsman. However, I was content that he did not 
 come, without caring to know why. 
 
 Then I became aware that the movement of 
 the ship had changed in some way. There was less 
 of it, and the roll was longer. Soon I heard 
 Thorgils calling to his men, and then the creak 
 of the blocks and the thud of folds of canvas on 
 deck told me that the sail was lowered. After 
 that the long oars rattled as they were run out, and 
 their even roll and click in the rowlocks seemed to 
 say that they were making up to some anchorage 
 or wharf. The end of the voyage was at hand, 
 and I worked harder than ever at my bonds. I 
 began to fear that the cords would never chafe 
 through enough for me to snap them, and my 
 heart fell terribly. 
 
 Now there was a shout from Thorgils, and 
 his men stopped rowing. I heard another shout 
 from on shore, as it seemed, and the sound of 
 breakers on rocks was not so very distant as we
 
 IN HAVEN 139 
 
 slipped into smooth water. The men trampled 
 across the deck over my head and cast the mooring 
 ropes ashore, and then the ship scraped along a 
 landing stage of some sort and came to rest. I 
 worked wildly at the rope. 
 
 Judging from the voices I heard, there seemed 
 to be a number of people on shore, and soon I 
 heard steps coming along the deck towards the 
 cabin door. Hastily I straightened myself, and got 
 a fold of my blanket over my free forearm just as 
 it opened, and Evan peered in. Past his shoulder 
 I could see that it was bright moonlight, and I had 
 a glimpse of tall snow-covered cliffs that towered 
 over us. 
 
 " How goes it, friend ? " he cried in a loud voice. 
 " Hast slept well ? We are in your own land, 
 and will be ashore soon." 
 
 That was for others to hear. Then he stood 
 aside to let a little more light into the cabin, and 
 it seemed that he had no suspicions that all was 
 not -as he would have it. He came inside and felt 
 me carelessly enough. 
 
 " Well," he said. " You are warm in here, and no 
 mistake. If I mistake not, you have been trying 
 to wriggle out of these bonds." 
 
 He set his hand under some of the lashings and 
 pulled them without uncovering me much, though 
 it would not have mattered if he had done so, as it 
 was very dark in here. As I knew only too well, 
 they were fast as ever, and he said 
 
 " Well, we can tie a knot fairly. Presently we 
 will loosen you a bit in the morning maybe." 
 
 He went and closed the door, and I fell to
 
 I 4 o A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 work again. He would leave me now for a 
 while. 
 
 There was a long talk from ship to shore before 
 the gang-plank was run out, and presently Thorgils 
 spoke to Evan, seemingly close to the cabin door 
 
 " Here's a bit of luck for your princess," he said. 
 " Her father is up in the camp yonder, with his 
 guards behind him. Maybe there is trouble with 
 the Tenby Danefolk, or going to be some. It is 
 as well that we put in here. Now he bids us take 
 the lady up to him and bide to feast with him. 
 Will you come with me ? " 
 
 " I stay by my goods," answered Evan, with a 
 laugh. " If there is a levy in the camp there will 
 be men who will need watching among them." 
 
 " Why, then, we six Norsemen can go, and leave 
 you to tend the ship." 
 
 " That will be all right," said Evan, somewhat 
 gladly, as I thought ; " so long as we are here you 
 need have no fear. Every one knows that a chap- 
 man will fight for his goods if need be. But a Welsh- 
 man will not meddle with a Welshman's goods." 
 
 " So long as he is there to mind them," laughed 
 Thorgils. " Then we can go. I do not know how 
 soon we can be back, though." 
 
 " That is no matter. We are used to keeping 
 watch." 
 
 M Ay. How is that hurt friend of yours after 
 the voyage ? " 
 
 " Well as one could expect," answered Evan. 
 " He says he has slept almost all the way. He is 
 comfortable where he is." 
 
 They went aft, and soon I heard the princess
 
 FREE AT LAST 141 
 
 speaking with them. Then the well-known click 
 and clash of armed men marching in order came 
 to me, as the chief sent a guard for his daughter. 
 It was terrible to hear the voices of honest men so 
 close to me and to be helpless, and I worked at 
 the rope feverishly. 
 
 I heard the princess and her party leave the 
 ship, and almost as the last footstep left the deck 
 one strand of the cord went. I worked harder 
 yet, with a great hope on me. 
 
 " Presently the Norsemen will be full of Howel's 
 mead," I heard Evan say to one of his men. 
 " Then we will get ashore and leave swiftly. I think 
 we need not stay to pay Thorgils for the voyage." 
 
 " Let us tell some of the shore men to bide here 
 to help us," said the other, " we have the Saxon 
 to carry." 
 
 " That is a good thought." 
 
 They clattered over the plank ashore, and another 
 strand of the rope went at that time. I thought 
 it was but one of another turn of the line, however. 
 Five minutes more of painful sawing and straining 
 and I felt another strand give way. That made 
 three, and now one of the two turns of line that 
 held my arms could have but one strand left, and 
 that ought to be no more than I could break by 
 force. Then I wrestled with it with little care if 
 my struggles as I bent and strove made noise that 
 might call attention to me, for it was my last 
 chance. The lines bruised and cut me sorely, even 
 through my mail, but I heeded that no more than 
 I did the hardness of the timbers against which I 
 rolled ; and at last it did snap, with a suddenness
 
 142 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 that let my elbow fly against the iron that had been 
 my saving, almost forcing a cry from me. 
 
 I was yet bound to my splints, but with my arms 
 free it was but the work of a few seconds to cast off 
 the last of my bonds, and within five minutes after 
 the strand had parted I was on my feet, and rubbing 
 and stretching my bruised and cramped limbs into 
 life again. Then I felt in the darkness for the bale 
 that held my gear, and found it and tore it open. 
 
 How good it was to gird the sword on me again, 
 and to feel the cold rim of the good helm round my 
 hot forehead ! I was myself again, and as I slipped 
 Cerent's gold ring on my arm I thought that it was 
 almost worth the bondage to know what pleasure 
 can be in the winning of freedom. I forgot that I 
 was troubled with thirst and hunger, having touched 
 nothing since I broke my fast with Owen ; though, 
 indeed, there was little matter in that, for I had 
 done well at that meal with the long ride before me, 
 and one ought to be able to go for a day and a 
 night without food if need be, as a warrior. 
 
 Still, I was not yet out of the trouble. Thorgils 
 had gone to some place that I knew nothing of, and 
 I had yet to learn if there was any hope from 
 Evan's shore going, which might make things easier 
 or might not. I could hear no one moving about 
 the ship, so I pushed the door open for an inch or 
 two, and looked out into the moonlight, with my 
 drawn sword ready in my hand. 
 
 We were in a strange place. The ship's bows 
 were landward, so that as I looked aft I could see 
 that we lay just inside the mouth of a little cove, 
 whose guarding cliffs towered on either side of the
 
 THE DANISH LANDING 143 
 
 water for not less than ten-score feet above the 
 fringe of breakers, falling sheer to the water with 
 hardly so much as a jutting rock at their feet. 
 There was no sign of house or man at the hilltop, 
 so that it was plain that we were not at Tenby. 
 
 Then I was able to see that we were alongside a 
 sort of landing-place that was partly natural and 
 partly hewn and smoothed from the living rock 
 into a sort of wharf at the foot of the cliff. From 
 this landing-place a steep road, hewn with untold 
 labour at some ancient day, slanted sharply upward 
 and toward the head of the cove along the face of 
 the rocks, which were somewhat less steep on this 
 side than across the water. I could not see the top 
 of this road, but no doubt it was that along which 
 Thorgils and the princess had gone, and no doubt 
 also Evan thought to carry me up it before 
 long. I had a hope that my friend would return 
 too soon for that, but it was a slender one. It 
 was plain that he had gone too far for me to call 
 to him. Yet could I win clear of the ship I might 
 find or fight my way up after him, and that seemed 
 easy with only these three Welshmen against me, 
 and they expecting no attack. 
 
 I looked for the two who were left if I slew 
 Evan. One sat under the weather gunwale, 
 wrapped in a great cloak, and seemed to be 
 sleeping. The other was not far off on the landing- 
 place, watching Evan, who was speaking with a 
 dozen men at the foot of the rock-hewn road. I 
 suppose that the coming in of the ship had drawn 
 idlers from the camp I had heard of to see her, for 
 they all had arms of some sort. 
 10
 
 i 4 4 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 This was bad, for it seemed certain that the 
 whole crowd would join with Evan in falling on 
 me if he called on them. If I came forth now I 
 had full twenty yards to cover before I reached 
 them from the ship's side after I had settled with 
 the men on watch. In that space all would be 
 ready for me, and they were too many for me to 
 cut through to the roadway. I thought too that I 
 heard the voices of more who came downward 
 toward the ship, though I could not see them 
 whence I was. 
 
 Then it came into my mind that if there was any 
 place where I could hide myself on deck I would 
 try to creep to it while none had their eyes on the 
 ship. Then Evan, as he went to the cabin to seek 
 me, would have to deal with me from the rear. 
 But that I soon saw was hopeless. The deck was 
 clear of lumber big enough to shelter me, and the 
 moonlight was almost as bright as day on every- 
 thing, and all the clearer for the snow that covered 
 all the land. So I began to turn over many other 
 plans in my mind, and at last it seemed that the 
 only thing was to wait in the cabin for the best 
 chance that offered. Most likely Evan would do 
 even as he had said, and try and get away at once, 
 with all he could lay hands on. If so, I thought 
 it would be certain that in his hurry he would bring 
 all these men on board in order to get his goods, 
 and maybe those belonging to Thorgils also, out 
 and away with all haste, and so I could cut through 
 them with a rush that must take them unawares, 
 and so win to the camp with none to hinder me. 
 There might be sentries who would stay me, but I
 
 EVAN IS SURPRISED 145 
 
 should be within calling distance of my friend. 
 Moreover, a sentry would see that I was some sort 
 of a leader of men, and might help me. So I 
 began to wish for Evan to act, for my fingers 
 itched to get one downward blow at him. 
 
 I had not long to wait. He finished his talk 
 with the men, and they all came to the ship, even 
 as I had hoped. But only half of them came on 
 board, leaving the rest alongside on the rock so 
 that they might help the goods over the side. 
 That was not all that I could have wished, but I 
 thought that I might get through them in the 
 surprise that was waiting for them. So I drew 
 my sword, and for want of shield wrapped the 
 blanket from the floor round my left arm, and stood 
 by for the rush. 
 
 Evan walked in a leisurely way toward the door, 
 talking to one of the new-comers as he came. The 
 rest straggled behind him. 
 
 " I wonder how my sick man fares now," he said, 
 and set his hand to the latch. 
 
 Then he opened the door and I shouted and 
 sprung forth, aiming a blow at him as I came. But 
 I was not clear of the low deck, and my sword 
 smote the beam overhead so that I missed him, and 
 he threw himself on the deck out of reach of a 
 second blow, howling. I was sorry, but I could not 
 stop, for I had to win to the shore and to the road 
 yet. 
 
 The other men shrank from me, and I went 
 through them easily, and so reached the shoreward 
 gunwale. There I was stayed, for Evan had never 
 ceased to cry to his fellows to stop me, and there
 
 146 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 was a row of ready swords waiting for me. And 
 there were more men coming down the path, 
 Welshmen as I could see by their arms, and by 
 their white tunics which glimmered in the moon- 
 light. So that was closed to me, and it seemed 
 that here I must fight my last fight. Then as I 
 could not go over the side I went to the high stern 
 and leapt on it, half hoping that the men on shore 
 might not be quick enough to stay me from a leap 
 thence, but they were there alongside before me. 
 Evan was up now, and cheering on the men on deck 
 to attack me, but not seeming to care to lead 
 them. They gathered together and came aft to me 
 slowly, planning, as it would seem, how best to attack 
 me, for the steering deck on which I was raised me 
 four feet or so above them. The men on shore 
 could not reach me at all unless I got too near the 
 gunwale, when some of them who had spears might 
 easily end me. 
 
 Something alongside the ship caught my eyes, 
 and I glanced at it with a thought that here might 
 be fresh foes. But it was only the little boat that 
 belonged to the ship. The wind had caught her, 
 and was drifting her at the length of her painter 
 as if she wanted to cross the cove to its far side. 
 Perhaps the men saw that my eyes were not on 
 them for that moment, for they made a rush from 
 the deck to climb the steering platform. 
 
 Then I had a good fight for a few minutes, until 
 1 swept them back to their place. Two had won 
 to the deck beside me, and there they stayed. 
 Now I had a hope that the men on shore would 
 come round to the ship and leave the way clear for
 
 THE BERSERKER 147 
 
 me, but Evan called to them to bide where they 
 were. He had not faced me yet, and I bade him 
 do so, telling him that this was his affair, and 
 that it was nidring to risk other men's lives to save 
 his own skin. But even that would not bring him 
 on me. 
 
 Now the men whom I had seen coming down 
 from the cliffs' top had hurried to see what all the 
 shouting meant, and I saw that they were well- 
 armed warriors and mostly spearsmen. Evan cried 
 to them to come and help, and they ranged up 
 alongside. He told them that I was a Norseman 
 who had gone berserk, and must needs be slain. 
 
 " That is easily managed," said the leader. " Get 
 to your bows, men." 
 
 I saw half a dozen unslinging them, and I knew 
 that without shield I was done, and in that moment 
 a thought came to me. I suppose that danger 
 sharpens one's wits, for I saw that in the little boat 
 was my last chance. I had not time to draw her 
 to the side, and so I cut her painter, which was fast 
 to a cleat close to me, and as I did so the first 
 arrow missed my head. 
 
 Then I shouted and leapt from the high stern 
 straight among the crowd at Evan, felling one of 
 his outlaw comrades as I lit on the deck. But I 
 could not reach him, and in a few seconds I should 
 have been surrounded. So I cleared a way to the 
 seaward side and went overboard, amid a howl from 
 my foes. I thought that I should never stop sink- 
 ing, for I had forgotten my mail; but I came to 
 the surface close to the ship, and looked for the 
 boat. She was drifting gently away from me, and
 
 148 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 I knew that I should have all that I could do to 
 reach her before the bowmen got to work again 
 from the ship's deck. Some one threw an axe at 
 me as I swam, which was waste of a good weapon, 
 and I hoped that it was not Thorgils' best. Strange 
 what thoughts come to a man when in a strait. 
 
 The water struck icy cold to me, and I felt that 
 I could not stand it long, but I gained on the boat 
 with every stroke, though it was hard work swim- 
 ming in my mail and with a sword in my hand. 
 I got rid of the blanket that was hampering my left 
 arm, and by that time I was far enough from the 
 ship for my foes to be puzzled by it The moon- 
 light was bright on the water, but the little waves 
 tossed it so that it must have been hard for them 
 to know which was I and which the floating stuff. 
 Certainly, the first arrows that were shot when the 
 bowmen got a chance at me from the ship or over 
 her were aimed at the blanket, for I heard them strike 
 it. Then one leapt from wave to wave past me. 
 
 I won to the boat just in time, for I could not 
 have held on much longer. The cold was numbing 
 me, and if I stopped swimming I must have sunk 
 with the weight of mail. None of our old summer 
 tricks of floating and the like were of any use with 
 that weight on me. The arrows were coming 
 thickly by that time, and I was glad to get to the 
 far side of the boat and rest my hand on the gun- 
 wale, while I managed to sheathe my sword. The 
 men could not see plainly where I was, and the 
 arrows pattered on the planks of the boat and hissed 
 into the water still, on the chance of hitting me. 
 So I thought it well to get out of range before I
 
 BAFFLED PURSUIT 149 
 
 tried to get on board, and so held the gunwale 
 with one hand and paddled on with the other, until 
 the arrows began to fall short, and at last ceased. 
 A Welshman's bow has no long range, so that I 
 had not far to go thus. But all the while I feared 
 most of all to hear the plash of oars that would tell 
 me that they had put off another boat in chase 
 of me. 
 
 A little later and I should have been helpless, 
 as I found when I tried to get into the boat. The 
 cold was terrible, and it had hold of my limbs in 
 spite of the swimming. It was hard work climbing 
 over the bows, as I must needs do unless I wanted 
 to capsize the light craft as I had overset a fisher's 
 canoe more than once, by boarding her over the 
 side, as we sported in the Glastonbury meres in high 
 summer ; but I managed it, and was all the better 
 for the struggle, which set the blood coursing in my 
 veins again. Then I got out the oars and began 
 to pull away from the ship, with no care for direc- 
 tion' so long as I could get away from her. The foe 
 had no boat, for they were all clustered in the ship 
 or close to her on the rock, and there was a deal 
 of noise going on among them. When I was fairly 
 out of their way, and I could no longer make out 
 their forms, I began to plan where I had best go, 
 and at first I thought of a little beach that I had 
 seen on the far side of the cove, thinking that I 
 could get up what seemed a gorge to the cliff's top, 
 and so hide inland somewhere. But when I could 
 see right into the gorge, I found that it was steep 
 and higher than I thought. My foes would be 
 able to meet me by the time I was at the top.
 
 150 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 There was no other place that I could see, for none 
 could climb from the foot of the cliffs elsewhere, 
 since if he reached the rocks he would have to stay 
 where he leapt to them. So as there was no help 
 for it, I headed for the open sea. No doubt, I 
 thought, I should find some landing-place along the 
 coast before I had gone far, and meanwhile I was 
 getting a fair start of the enemy, who would have 
 to follow the windings of the cliffs if they cared to 
 come after me. 
 
 I pulled therefore for the eastern end of the cove, 
 opposite to the place where the ship lay, and so 
 rounded the point and was out in the open and 
 tossing on the waves in a way that tried my rowing 
 sorely, for I am but a fresh-water boatman. Lucky 
 it was for me that there was little sea on, or I 
 should have fared badly. Then I pulled eastward, 
 and against the tide also, but that was a thing that 
 I did not know. The boat was wonderfully light 
 and swift, and far less trouble to send along than 
 any other I had seen. There are no better ship- 
 wrights than the Norsemen, and we Saxons have 
 forgotten the craft. 
 
 The terrible numbness passed off as I worked, 
 but now the wind grew cold, and the clouds were 
 working up from the south-west quickly, with wind 
 overhead that was not felt here yet. I knew that 
 I must make some haven soon, or it was likely that 
 I should be frozen on the sea, but the great cliffs 
 were like walls, and at their feet was a fringe of 
 angry foam everywhere. I could see no hope as 
 yet. Far away to the east of me a great headland 
 seemed to bar my way, but I did not think that I
 
 ASHORE IN DYFED 151 
 
 should ever reach it. And all the while I looked 
 to see the black forms of men on the cliffs in the 
 moonlight, but they did not come. That was good 
 at least. 
 
 Then at last my heart leapt, for I saw, as a turn 
 of the cliffs opened out to me, another white beach 
 with a cleft of the rocks running up from it, and 
 I thought it best to take the chance it gave me, 
 for I feared the blinding snow that would be here 
 soon, and I felt that the sea was rising. If my foes 
 were after me they would have been seen before 
 now, as they came to the edge of the cliffs to spy 
 me out, and anyway I dreaded them less than the 
 growing cold. Moreover, I thought that Evan 
 would hardly get many men to follow him on a 
 chase of what he had told them was a madman, and 
 a dangerous one at that. He had his goods to see 
 to also. 
 
 So I ran the boat into the black mouth of the 
 gorge, and beached her well by good chance. I 
 had little time to lose, but I tied her painter to a 
 rock at the highest fringe of tide wrack, in hopes 
 that she might be safe. It was so dark here that 
 I did not think that Evan would see her from above. 
 And then I began to climb up the rugged path that 
 led out of the gorge to the hilltops. 
 
 There were bones everywhere in it. Bones and 
 skulls of droves of cattle on all the strand above the 
 tide mark for many score yards. Their ribs stuck 
 out from the snow everywhere, and the sightless 
 eye-sockets grinned at me as I stumbled over them. 
 But I had no time to wonder how they came there, 
 for I must get to the summit before Evan and his
 
 152 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 men reached it by their way along the cliff. I 
 ate handfuls of the snow and quenched my thirst 
 that was growing on me again, and my strength 
 began to come back to me as I hurried upward. 
 I was a better man when at last I reached the top 
 of the gorge than when I came ashore.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 HOW OSWALD CROSSED THE DYFED CLIFFS, AND 
 MET WITH FRIENDS 
 
 Now I halted before I lifted my head above the 
 skyline, and listened with a fear on me lest I should 
 hear the sound of running feet, and I was the more 
 careful because I knew that the snow which lay 
 white and deep on all the open land might deaden 
 any sounds thereof. But I heard nothing save the 
 wail of the wind overhead as it rose in gusts. I 
 wondered if Thorgils would be able to bide in this 
 little cove, or must needs put out to seek some 
 other haven. There seemed to be a swell setting 
 into it. 
 
 So I crept yet farther up the path, crouching 
 behind a point of rock, and thence I saw a dark 
 line on the snow that seemed to promise a road, 
 and that must surely lead to some house or village. 
 I went forward to it with all caution, and with my 
 head over my shoulder, as they say, but I saw no 
 man. This track led east and west, and was well 
 trodden by cattle, but there were few footprints of 
 men on it, so far as I could see. So I turned into 
 it, going ever away from the ship, and hurrying. 
 I had a thought that I heard shouts behind me, 
 
 153
 
 154 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 but there was more wind here on the heights than 
 I had felt on the sea, or it was rising, and it sung 
 strangely round the bare points of rock that jutted 
 up everywhere. Maybe it was but that. Inland 
 I could see no sign of house or hut where I might 
 find food at least, but the cloud wrack had drifted 
 across the moon, and I could not see far now. It 
 was a desolate coast, all unlike our own. 
 
 Then I came to a place where the track crossed 
 stony ground and was lost in gathered snow. When 
 I was across that I had lost the road altogether, 
 and had only the line of the cliffs to guide me to 
 what shelter I could not tell. And now a few flakes 
 of snow fluttered round me, and I held on hopelessly, 
 thinking that surely I should come to some place 
 that would give me a lee of rock that I could creep 
 under. 
 
 Then the snow swooped down on me heavily, 
 with a whirl and rush of wind from the sea, and I 
 tried to hurry yet more from the chill. Then I 
 was sure that I heard voices calling after me, and I 
 ran, not rightly knowing where to go, but judging 
 that the coast-line would lead me to some fishers' 
 village in the end. There seemed no hope from 
 the land I had seen. 
 
 Again the voices came nay, but there was one 
 voice only, and it called me by my name : " Oswald, 
 Oswald ! " 
 
 I stopped and listened, for I thought of Thorgils. 
 But the voice was silent, and again I pressed on in 
 the blinding snow, and at once it came, wailing : 
 " Oswald, Oswald ! " 
 
 It was behind me now and close at hand, and I
 
 VOICES IN THE STORM 155 
 
 turned with my hand on my sword hilt. But there 
 was nothing. Only the snow whirled round me, and 
 the wind sung in the rocks. I called softly, but 
 there was no answer, and I was called no more as I 
 stood still. 
 
 " Oswald, Oswald ! " 
 
 I had turned to go on my way when it came 
 this time, and now I could have sworn that I 
 knew the voice, though whose it was I could not 
 say. 
 
 " Who calls me," I cried, facing round. 
 
 Then a chill that was not of cold wind and snow 
 fell on me, for there was silence, and into my mind 
 crept the knowledge of where I had last heard that 
 voice. It was long years ago at Eastdean in half- 
 forgotten Sussex. 
 
 " Father ! " I cried," Father ! " 
 
 There was no reply, and I stood there for what 
 seemed a long time waiting one. I called again 
 and again in vain. 
 
 " It is weakness," I said to myself at last, and 
 turned. 
 
 At once the voice was wailing, with some wild 
 terror as it seemed, at my very shoulder, with its cry 
 of my name, and I must needs turn once more 
 sharply 
 
 " Oswald, Oswald ! " 
 
 My foot struck a stone as I wheeled round, and 
 it grated on others and seemed to stop. But as I 
 listened for the voice I heard a crash, and yet 
 another, and at last a far-off rumble that was below 
 my very feet, and I sprang with a cry away from 
 the sound, for I knew that I stood on the very brink
 
 156 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 of some gulf. And then the snow ceased for a 
 moment and the moon shone out from the break in 
 the clouds, and I saw that my last footprint whence 
 the voice had made me turn was on the edge of an 
 awesome rift that cleft the level surface on the 
 downland, clean cut as by a sword stroke, right 
 athwart my path. Even in clear daylight I had 
 hardly seen that gulf until I was on its very brink, 
 for I could almost have leapt it, and nought marked 
 its edge. And in its depths I heard the crash and 
 thunder of prisoned waves. 
 
 I do not know that I ever felt such terror as fell 
 on me then. It was the terror that comes of think- 
 ing what might have been, after the danger is past, 
 and that is the worst of all. I sank down on the 
 snow with my knees trembling, and I clutched at 
 the grass that I might not feel that I must even yet 
 slip into that gulf that was so close, though there 
 was no slope of the ground toward it. Sheer and 
 sudden it gaped with sharp edges, as the mouth of 
 some monster that waited for prey. 
 
 There on the snow I believe that I should have 
 bided to sleep the sleep of the frozen, for I hardly 
 dared to move. The snow whirled round me again, 
 but I did not heed it, and with a great roar the 
 wind rose and swept up the rift with a sound as of 
 mighty harps, but it did not rouse me. Only my 
 father's voice came to me again and called me, and 
 I rose up shaking and followed it as it came from 
 time to time, until I was once more on the track 
 that I had lost. 
 
 There it left me, but the sadness that had been 
 in its tones was gone when it last came. And
 
 THE UNSEEN BELL 157 
 
 surely that was the touch of no snowflake that lit on 
 my hand for a moment and was gone. 
 
 Now I grew stronger, and the fear of the unseen 
 was no longer on me, and I battled onward with 
 wind and snow for a long way. Thanks to the 
 wind, the track was kept clear of the snow, and I 
 did not lose it again until it led me to help that was 
 unlocked for. 
 
 There came the sound of a bell to me, strange 
 sounding indeed, but a bell nevertheless, and I knew 
 that somewhere close at hand was surely some home 
 of monks who would take me in with all kindness. 
 And presently the track led me nearer to the sound 
 of the sea, and at last bent sharply to the right and 
 began to go downhill, while the sound of the bell 
 grew plainer above the roar of nearer breakers yet. 
 I felt that I was passing down such a gorge as that 
 up which I had come from the boat, but far narrower, 
 for I had not gone far before I could touch the 
 rocky walls with either hand. Then I came to 
 steps, and they were steep, but below me still 
 sounded the bell, and the hoarse breakers were very 
 near at hand. I expected to see the lights of some 
 little fishing village every moment, but the wind that 
 rushed up the narrow space between the cliff walls 
 and brought the salt spray with it almost blinded me. 
 
 Suddenly the stairway turned so sharply that I 
 almost fell, and then I found my way downward 
 barred by what seemed a great rough-faced rock 
 that was right across the gorge, if one may call a 
 mere cleft in the cliffs so, and barred my way, while 
 the strange bell sounded from beyond it. But it 
 was sheltered under this barrier, and I felt along it
 
 158 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 to find out where I had to climb over, thinking that 
 the stairway must lead up its face. But there was 
 no stair, and as I groped my hand came on cut 
 stone, and when I felt it I knew that I had come to 
 a doorway, for I found the woodwork, but in no way 
 could I find how it opened. 
 
 I kicked on it, therefore, and shouted, but it 
 seemed that none heard. The bell went on and 
 then stopped, and I thought I heard footsteps on 
 the far side of the barrier. They came nearer, and 
 then were almost at the door, paused for a moment, 
 and then the door was opened and the red light 
 from a fire flashed out on me, showing the tall form 
 of a man in monk's dress in its opening. 
 
 " Come in, my son," said a grave voice, speaking 
 Welsh, that had no wonder in it, though one could 
 hardly have expected to see an armed and gold- 
 bedecked Saxon here in the storm. 
 
 I stumbled into what I had thought a rock, and 
 found when my eyes grew used to the light that I 
 was in a house built of great stones, uncemented but 
 wonderfully fitted together, and warm and bright 
 with the driftwood fire, though I heard the spray 
 rattle on the roof of flat stones, and the wind howled 
 strangely around the walls. Both ends of this house 
 were of the living rock of the sides of the gorge, and 
 at one end seemed to be a sort of cave with a 
 narrow entrance. 
 
 The man who had bidden me in stood yet at the 
 open door looking out on his staircase, but he did 
 not bide there long. With a sigh he turned and 
 closed the door and came in, hardly looking at me, 
 but turning toward the cave I had just noticed. He
 
 SANCTUARY 159 
 
 was an old man, very old indeed, with a long white 
 beard and pale face lined with countless wrinkles, 
 and he stooped a little as he walked. But his face 
 was calm and kind, though he did not smile at me, 
 and I felt that here I was safe with one of no 
 common sort. 
 
 " Come, my son," he said, " it is the hour of prime. 
 Glad am I to have one with me after many days." 
 
 He waited for no answer, and I followed him 
 for the few steps that led to the rock cavern ; and 
 there was a tiny oratory with its altar and cross, 
 and wax lights already burning. 
 
 The old man knelt in his place and I knelt with 
 him, and as he began the office straightway I knew 
 how worn out I was, and of a sudden the lights 
 danced before me and I reeled and fell with a 
 clatter and clash of arms on the rocky floor. I 
 seemed to know that the old man turned and looked 
 and rose up from his knees hastily, and I tried to 
 say that I was sorry that I had broken the peace of 
 this holy place ; but he answered in his soft voice : 
 " Why, poor lad, I should have seen that you were 
 spent ere this. The fault is mine." 
 
 He raised me gently, and seemed to search me 
 for some wound. And as he did so I came more to 
 myself, and begged him to go on with his office. 
 
 " First comes care of the afflicted, my son, and 
 after that may be prayer. In truth, to help the 
 fainting is in itself a prayer, as I think. Come to 
 the fireside and tell me what is amiss." 
 
 " Fasting and fighting and freezing, father," I said, 
 trying to laugh. 
 
 " Are you wounded ? " he asked quickly. 
 ii
 
 160 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " No, not at all." 
 
 " That is well. It is a brave heart that will jest 
 in such a case as yours, for you are ice from head to 
 foot. Well, I had better hear your story, if you will 
 tell it me, in the daylight. Now get those wet 
 garments off you and put on this. I will get you 
 food, and you shall sleep." 
 
 This was surely the last place where my foes 
 would think of looking for me, and the snow would 
 hide every trace of my path. So I made no delay, 
 but took off my byrnie and garments. There was a 
 pool on the floor where I stood, for it was true 
 enough that I had been ice covered. Then I put 
 on a rough warm brown frock with a cord round the 
 waist, so that I looked like a lay-brother at Glaston- 
 bury, and all the while I waxed more and more 
 sleepy with the comfort of the place. But I wiped 
 my arms carefully while the old priest was busy 
 with a cauldron over the fire, and we were ready at 
 the same time. Then I had a meal of some sort of 
 stew that seemed the best I ever tasted, and a long 
 draught of good mead, while the host looked on in 
 grave content. And then he spread a heap of dry 
 seaweed in a corner near the fire, and blessed me 
 and bid me sleep. Nor did I need a second bid- 
 ding, and I do not think that I can have stirred 
 from the time that I lay down to the moment when 
 I woke with a feeling on me that it was late in the 
 daylight. So it was, and I looked round for my 
 kind host, but he was not to be seen. Outside the 
 wind was still strong, but not what it had been, for 
 the gale was sinking suddenly as it rose, and into 
 the one little window the sun shone brightly enough
 
 GOVAN THE HERMIT 161 
 
 now and then as the clouds fled across it. There 
 was a bright fire on the hearth, and over it hung a 
 cauldron, whence steam rose merrily, and it was 
 plain that my friend of last night was not far off, so 
 I lay still and waited his return. Then my eyes 
 fell on my clothes and arms as they hung from pegs 
 in the walls over against me, and it seemed as if the 
 steel of mail and helm and sword had been newly 
 burnished. Then I saw also that a rent in my 
 tunic, made when my horse fell, had been carefully 
 mended, and that no speck of the dust and mire I 
 had gathered on my garments from collar to hose 
 was left. All had been tended as carefully as if I 
 had been at home, and I saw Elfrida's little brooch 
 shining where I had pinned it. 
 
 That took me back to Glastonbury in a moment, 
 but I had to count before I could be sure that it was 
 but a matter of hours since I took that gift in the 
 orchard, rather than of months. And I wondered 
 if Owen knew yet that I was lost, or if my men 
 sought me still. Then my mind went to Evan, 
 the chapman outlaw, and I thought that by this 
 time he would have given me up, and would be 
 far away by now, beyond the reach of Thorgils 
 and his wrath. 
 
 Now the seaward door opened, and a swirl of 
 spray from the breakers on the rocks came in with 
 my host, who set a great armful of drift wood on 
 the floor, closed it, and so turned to me. 
 
 " Good-morrow, my son," he said. " How fare 
 you after rest ? " 
 
 "Well as can be, father," I answered, sitting up. 
 " Stiff I am, and maybe somewhat black and blue,
 
 162 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 but that is all. I have no hurt. But surely I have 
 slept long ? " 
 
 " A matter of ten hours, my son, and that with- 
 out stirring. You needed it sorely, so I let you 
 be. Now it is time for food, but first you shall 
 have a bath, and that will do wonders with the 
 soreness." 
 
 Thankful enough was I of the great tub of hot 
 water he had ready for me, and after it and a good 
 meal I was a new man. My host said nought till 
 I had finished, and then it was I who broke the 
 silence between us. 
 
 " Father," I said, " I have much to thank you for. 
 What may I call you ? " 
 
 " They name me Govan the Hermit, my son." 
 
 " I do not know how to say all I would, Father 
 Govan," I went on, " but I was in a sore strait 
 last night, and but for your bell I think I must have 
 perished in the snow, or in some of the clefts of 
 these cliffs." 
 
 " I rang the bell for you, my son, though I knew 
 not why. It came on me that one was listening 
 for some sign of help in the storm." 
 
 " How could you know ? " I asked in wonder. 
 
 Govan shook his head. 
 
 " I cannot tell. Men who bide alone as I bide 
 have strange bodings in their solitude. I have 
 known the like come over me before, and it has 
 ever been a true warning." 
 
 Now it was my turn to be silent, for all this was 
 beyond me. I had heard of hermits before, but had 
 never seen one. If all were like this old man, too 
 much has not been said of their holiness and nearness
 
 THE HERMIT'S GUEST 163 
 
 to unseen things. So for a little while we sat and 
 looked into the fire, each on a three-legged stool, 
 opposite one another. Then at last he asked, almost 
 shyly, and as if he deemed himself overbold, how 
 it was that I had come to be on the cliffs. That 
 meant in the end that he heard all my story, of 
 course, but my Welsh halted somewhat for want 
 of use, and it was troublesome to tell it. However, 
 he heard me with something more than patience, 
 and when I ended he said : " Now I know how it 
 is that a Saxon speaks the tongue of Cornwall here 
 in Dyfed. You have had a noble fostering, Thane, 
 for even here we lamented for the loss of Owen the 
 prince. We have seen him in Pembroke in past 
 years. You will be most welcome there with this 
 news, for Howel, our prince, loved him well. They 
 are akin, moreover. It will be well that you should 
 go to him for help." 
 
 He rose up and went to the seaward door again, 
 and I followed him out. The sea was but just 
 below us, for the tide was full, and the breakers 
 were yet thundering at the foot of the cliffs on 
 either hand. But I did not note that at first, for 
 the thing which held my eyes at once was a ship 
 which was wallowing and plunging past us eastward, 
 under close reefed sail, and I knew her for the 
 vessel in which I had crossed. Thorgils had left 
 the cove, and was making for Tenby while he might. 
 I should have to seek him there. 
 
 " How far is it to the Danes' town, Father Go van ? " 
 I asked. "Yonder goes my friend's ship." 
 
 " Half a day's ride, my son, and with peril for 
 you all the way. Our poor folk would take you
 
 164 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 for a Dane in those arms, and you have no horse. 
 Needs must that you seek Howel, and he will 
 give you a guard willingly." 
 
 Then he turned toward a great rock that lay 
 on the beach, as if it had fallen from the cliffs 
 that towered above us. 
 
 " Here is the bell that you heard last night," 
 he said. 
 
 He took a rounded stone that lay on the rock 
 and struck it, and I knew that the clear bell-note 
 that it gave out was indeed that which had been 
 my saving. 
 
 " Once I had a bell in the cote on the roof 
 yonder," he said, " but the Danes caught sight of 
 it when they first passed this way, and took it 
 from me. Then as I sorrowed that the lonely 
 shepherds and fishers might no more hear its call, 
 I seemed to see a vision of an angel who bade me 
 see what had been sent me instead. And when I 
 went out as the vision bade me, I could see nought 
 but this rock newly fallen, and was downcast. And 
 so, from the cliff rolled a little stone and smote it, 
 and it rang, and I knew the gift. To my hearing 
 it has a sweeter voice than the bell made with 
 hands." 
 
 Then he showed me his well, roofed in with flat 
 stones because the birds would wash in it, and so 
 close to the sea salt that it seemed altogether 
 wonderful that the water was fresh and sweet. 
 And then I saw that the cell did indeed stretch 
 from side to side of the narrow cleft down which 
 I had come, so that each end of the building was 
 of living rock.
 
 HOWEL THE PRINCE 165 
 
 " I built it with my own hands, my son," he said. 
 " I cannot tell how long ago that was, for time is 
 nought to me, but it was many years. Once I 
 wore arms and had another name, but that also 
 I care not to recall." 
 
 Then there came footsteps from above us, and 
 looking up I saw a man in a rough fisher's dress 
 coming in haste down the long flight of rock-hewn 
 steps that led from the cliff top down the cleft to 
 the door that I had found last night, and soon we 
 heard him calling to the hermit. 
 
 Govan left me, and went through the cell to 
 speak with him, but was back very shortly. 
 
 " Howel the prince is coming hither," he said. 
 " The man you saw has seen him on the way, 
 and came to warn me to be at hand for him. It 
 is well for you, my son, as I am sure." 
 
 So we went together into the house, and I 
 thought to arm myself, but Govan smiled and asked 
 me not to do so, saying that hither even Howel 
 would come without his weapons, in all likelihood. 
 
 I understood him, and did but see that my sword 
 was in reach before I sat down and waited for the 
 coming of the Welsh prince, and I thought that all 
 I need ask him was for help to reach Tenby, whither 
 Thorgils must have gone. It was quite likely that 
 Evan might have raised the country against me in 
 hopes of taking me again. And maybe I would 
 ask for justice on the said Evan. Also I wanted 
 to hear what had happened after my going. It was 
 not long that I had to wait. There came the tramp 
 of horses at the top of the gorge, and the sound of 
 a voice or two, and then the tread of an armed man
 
 166 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 came slowly down the stair, and Govan went to meet 
 him. I rose and waited for his entry. 
 
 Now there came in, following Govan, unhelmed 
 as he had greeted the holy man, a handsome, 
 middle-aged warrior, black haired and eyed and 
 active looking. He wore the short heavy sword 
 of the Roman pattern, gold hiked and scabbarded, 
 at his side, and the helm he carried had a high 
 plumed crest and hanging side pieces that seemed 
 like those pictured on the walls of Cerent's palace. 
 He had no body armour on, and his dress was plain 
 enough, of white woollen stuff with broad crimson 
 borders, but round his neck was a wonderful twisted 
 collar of gold, and heavy golden bracelets rang as 
 his arms moved. I saw that his first glance went 
 to me, and that his face changed when he saw that 
 I was not one of his own people, but a foreigner, 
 as he would hold me. I saw too that he noted 
 my arms as they hung on the wall behind me. 
 Govan saw it also, and made haste to tell him 
 who I was. 
 
 " This is one who should be welcome to you, 
 Prince, for the sake of old days, for he has come 
 by mischance from Dyvnaint, being foster-son of 
 one of the princes of Gerent's court, though a 
 Saxon by birth. Nevertheless he speaks our 
 tongue well. He will tell you all that presently, 
 and I think that he needs your help." 
 
 " I thought you one of our troublesome neighbours, 
 the Danes," he said, with a smile now in place of 
 the look of doubt. " But if you are from Dyvnaint 
 there are many things that you can tell me. But 
 I have come here to see that all is well with Father
 
 FATHER AND DAUGHTER 167 
 
 Govan, for there is talk of a mad Norseman who is 
 roving the country, unless the cold has ended him 
 in the night. It is good to see that nought is wrong 
 here." 
 
 Now I stood apart, and Govan and his guest 
 spoke together for a few moments before my turn to 
 tell Howel of my plight should come, and almost the 
 next thing that the prince said made me wonder 
 that I had not thought who he was at once. Of 
 course, he was the father of the kindly princess 
 who had crossed the sea with Thorgils, and had so 
 nearly been the means of my earlier rescue. 
 
 " Nona, my daughter, is here at the clifftop, 
 Father Govan," Howel said. " She came home in 
 the Norse ship last night, as we planned ; but tide 
 failed for Tenby, and it chanced that the ship had 
 to put in at the old landing-place. Now she wants 
 to thank you for your prayers for her, and also to 
 beg them for some sick man about whom she is 
 troubling herself some poor hurt knave of a trader 
 who crossed in the ship with her." 
 
 " I will go out and speak with her," Govan said, 
 smiling. " It is ever her way to think of the 
 troubled." 
 
 " Tell her that I will not keep her long in the 
 cold," Howel said. " Bid her keep her horse 
 walking, lest he take chill, if I may ask as much, 
 Father." 
 
 Govan threw his cowl over his head, and answered 
 
 " I will tell her. Now, Prince, this friend of mine 
 has come here in a strange way, and I think he 
 needs help that you can give him." 
 
 He passed out of the cliffward door and went his
 
 168 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 way up the long stairway. Then Howel asked me 
 how he could help me. 
 
 " Tell me about Dyvnaint also, for when I was a 
 boy I was long at Cerent's court. Did not Govan 
 say that you were fostered by one of the princes ? 
 It is likely that I knew your foster-father well, if so ; 
 was he Morgan ? " 
 
 " Not Morgan, but Owen," I answered, and at that 
 Howel almost started to his feet. 
 
 " Owen ! " he cried. " Does he yet live ? Surely 
 we all thought him dead, or else he had come hither 
 to us when he was banished. I loved him well in 
 the old days, and glad I am that you are not 
 Morgan's charge. Tell me all about Owen. Is he 
 home again ? " 
 
 " Morgan is dead," I answered, feeling that here 
 I had met with a friend in all certainty. " And 
 because of that, Owen is in his place again, and I 
 am here. It has all happened in this week, and 
 to tell you of it is to tell you all my trouble." 
 
 Now he was all impatience to hear, and I told 
 him all that needed to be told, until I came to the 
 time when Owen was back at Norton with the old 
 king. Then he asked me some questions about 
 matters there, and in the midst of my answers 
 sprang up. 
 
 " Why," he cried, " here I have forgotten the girl, 
 and she ought to be hearing all this, instead of 
 sitting in the cold on the cliff. She is Owen's 
 god-daughter, moreover, and he was here only a 
 little time before he was banished. She can 
 remember him well." 
 
 " Stay, though," he said, sitting down again.
 
 THE WILES OF EVAN 169 
 
 " There is your own tale yet. Let us hear it. 
 Maybe that is not altogether so pleasant" 
 
 My own thought was that I was glad I might tell 
 it without the wondering eyes of the fair princess 
 on me, being afraid in a sort of way of having her 
 think of me as the helpless sick man she had pitied. 
 So I hastened to tell all that story. 
 
 And when I came to the way in which Evan 
 brought me, Howel's eyes flashed savagely, and a 
 black scowl came over his handsome face, sudden as 
 a thunderstorm in high summer. 
 
 "It will be a short shrift and a long rope for that 
 Evan when I catch him," he said. " He comes here 
 every year, and I suppose that the goods I have had 
 from him at times have been plunder. I would that 
 you had ended him last night. Now he has got 
 away in peace, and is out of my reach, maybe, by 
 this time. Well, how went it ? " 
 
 Then I told him the end of the tale, wondering 
 how it was that Thorgils had let him go. I asked 
 the prince if he could explain that for me. 
 
 " Not altogether," he said. " Evan sent to me to 
 ask me for men to guard the ship presently, after 
 we began the feast, saying that he was going ashore 
 with his goods, and was responsible to the shipmaster. 
 I told Thorgils, and he said it was well. So I sent 
 a guard, and presently Evan came and spoke with 
 Thorgils for a little while, and drank a cup of wine, 
 and so went his way. Next morning, before he 
 sailed, Thorgils came and grumbled about the loss 
 of his boat, saying that Evan had taken some sick 
 friend of his ashore in her, and that she had not 
 come back. I paid him for it too, because I like
 
 170 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 the man, and so does my daughter. He sailed, and 
 then I heard of the fight for the first time." 
 
 Howel laughed a little to himself. 
 
 " Master Evan must have paid my rascals well to 
 keep up the story of the sick man to Thorgils, for 
 he said nothing to me of any fight. Maybe, however, 
 he never spoke to any of them, and it is likely that 
 they would not say much to him. And now, by the 
 Round Table ! if you are not the mad Norseman 
 they prated of to me when I wanted to know 
 who slew the two men, and if you are not the sick 
 man that Nona is so anxious about ! Here, she 
 must come and see you ! " 
 
 With that he got up and went to the door before 
 I could stay him, and called gaily to the princess, 
 whose horse I could hear stamping high above 
 us. " Ho, Nona, here is a friend of yours whom 
 you will be glad to see. Ask Father Govan to 
 let you come hither, and bid the men take your 
 horse." 
 
 So I must make the best of it, and I will say 
 that I felt foolish enough. It was in my mind, 
 though, that I owed many thanks to the princess 
 for all her kind thought for me as sick man. I 
 had already said as much to Howel. So I began 
 to try to frame some sort of speech for her. One 
 never remembers how such speeches always fail at 
 the pinch. 
 
 The light footsteps came down the steps in no 
 long time, and then the princess entered, dressed 
 much as yesterday, with a bright colour from the 
 wind, and looking round to see the promised 
 friend.
 
 A DIFFERENT MEETING 171 
 
 " I have kept you long, daughter," Hovvel said, 
 taking her hand, " but I have been hearing good 
 news. Here is Oswald of VVessex, a king's thane, 
 but more than that to us, for he is the adopted son 
 of your own god-father, Owen of Cornwall, and he 
 brings the best of tidings of him." 
 
 Now the maiden's face flushed with pleasure, and 
 she held out her hand to me in frank welcome. 
 Yet I saw a little wondering look on her face as 
 she let her eyes linger on mine for a moment, and 
 that puzzled me. 
 
 " You are most welcome, Thane," she said. "It 
 is a wonderful thing that here I should learn that 
 my lost god-father yet lives. You will come to 
 Pembroke with us, and tell me of him there ? " 
 
 Then Howel laughed as if he had a jest that would 
 not keep, and he cried : " Why, Nona, that is a 
 mighty pretty speech, but surely one asks a sick 
 man of his health first." 
 
 She blushed a little, and glanced again at me. 
 
 " Surely the thane is not hurt ? " she said. 
 
 " Yesterday he was, and that sorely. What was 
 it, Thane? Slipped shoulder, broken thigh, and 
 broken jaw ? All of which a certain maiden pitied 
 most heartily, even to lending a blanket to the poor 
 man." 
 
 Then Nona blushed red, and I made haste to get 
 rid of some of the thanks that were heartfelt enough 
 if they came unreadily to my lips, and Howel laughed 
 at both of us. I think that the princess found her 
 way out of the little constraint first, for she began 
 to smile merrily. 
 
 " There must be a story for me to hear about all
 
 172 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 this," she said. " But I was sure that I had seen 
 your eyes before. I was wondering where it could 
 have been." 
 
 " Well," said Howel, " I have sat with the thane 
 for close on an hour, and now 1 do not know what 
 colour his eyes are." 
 
 " They were all that I could see of him, father," 
 laughed the princess, and then she put the matter 
 aside. " Now we have been here long enough, and 
 good Govan shivers on the hilltop. Surely the 
 thane will ride home with us, and we can talk on 
 the way." 
 
 Howel added at once that this was the best 
 plan for me, and what he was about to ask me 
 himself. 
 
 " I know you will want to get home again as 
 soon as may be," he said. " No doubt Thorgils 
 will take you at once. I will have word sent to 
 him at Tenby to stay for you." 
 
 " Father, you have forgotten," the princess said, 
 somewhat doubtfully, as I thought. 
 
 " Nay, but I have not," answered Howel grimly. 
 " But honest Thorgils is a white heathen, and those 
 Tenby men are black heathen. He does not come 
 into our quarrels, and will heed me, if they will 
 not." 
 
 I minded that I had heard of trouble between 
 the Tenby Danes and this prince, and it seemed 
 that he spoke of it again. However, that I might 
 hear by and by. So I thanked him, and said that I 
 could wish for nothing better than to be his guest 
 until I could go on my way hence. 
 
 Now the princess went to the clifftop and
 
 LEGENDS OF DYFED 173 
 
 called Govan, while I armed myself. The hermit 
 came back, and I bade him farewell, with many 
 thanks for his kindnesses during the hours I had 
 been with him ; and so I went from the little 
 cell with the blessing of Govan the Hermit on me, 
 and that was a bright ending to hours which had 
 been dark enough. Govan the Saint, men call 
 him, now that he has gone from among them, 
 and rightly do they give him that name, as I 
 think. 
 
 Howel dismounted one of his men, and set me 
 on the horse in his place, and then we rode to the 
 camp at the landing-place by the track which had 
 led me hither, passing the head of the rift from 
 which I had escaped, so that I saw its terrors in 
 full daylight. And they were even more awesome 
 to me than as I hung on the brink with the depths 
 unknown below me. Then Howel told me how 
 once a hunter had come suddenly on that gulf with 
 his horse at full gallop, and had been forced to leap 
 or court death by checking the steed. He had 
 cleared it in safety, but the terror of what he had 
 done bided with him, so that he died in no long 
 time ; I could well believe it. 
 
 Then the princess told me many things of 
 Govan, and among others that the poor folk 
 held that when the Danes came and stole the 
 bell from him he had been hidden from them 
 in the rock wall of the chapel, which had gaped 
 to take him in, closing on him and setting 
 him free when danger was past. Certainly there 
 was a cleft in the rock wall of the chapel wall that 
 had markings as of the ribs of a man in its sides,
 
 174 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 and was just the height and width for one to stand 
 in, but Govan said nought to me about it when he 
 told of the taking of the bell. Danes also slew 
 all these cattle whose bones I had passed among. 
 Then we came in sight of the camp, over which the 
 red dragon banner of Wales floated, and Howel 
 told me how it was that he had met us there with 
 his guards. " Men saw Thorgils' ship from the 
 lookout, and so I came here, for they said that she 
 could not make Tenby on this tide and must needs 
 come in here. Nona has been for three months 
 with her mother's folk in Cornwall ay, she is 
 half Cornish, and kin to Cerent and Owen. I was 
 married over there, at Isca, and Owen was at the 
 wedding as my best man, though he is ten years 
 younger than I. That is how he came to be the 
 girl's god-father, you see. Now I wanted her back, 
 for it is lonely at Pembroke without her, and I am apt 
 to wax testy with folk if she is not near to keep things 
 straight. So I sent word by Thorgils six weeks 
 ago that she was to come back, and he was to bring 
 her. I have had the men watching for the ship 
 ever since. Good it is to see her again, and she 
 has brought good news also, with yourself. I have 
 a mind to keep you with us awhile, and let the 
 Norseman take back word of your safety," 
 
 But I said that, however pleasant this would be, it 
 seemed plain that I must get back to Owen with 
 all speed, to warn him of this trouble that was 
 somewhat more than brewing. It could not be 
 thought that I would send word and yet never 
 move to his side to help. 
 
 " If I might say what comes into my mind,"
 
 AT PEMBROKE 175 
 
 said the fair princess, " it seems almost better that 
 none but Owen and yourself know that the plot 
 is found out, while you guard against it. The 
 traitors will be less careful if they deem that nought 
 is known. Thorgils is somewhat talkative, you 
 know." 
 
 " That is right," said Howel. " I have a good 
 counsellor here, Thane, as you see. However, 
 Thorgils will not sail to-day, for he has just put in, 
 and I know that he was complaining of some sort 
 of damage done, as the gale set a bit of a sea into 
 the cove, and he had some ado to keep clear of 
 the rocks for a time. We will even ride to 
 Pembroke, and I will send for Thorgils that he 
 may speak with you." And then he added grimly : 
 " Moreover, I will send men on the track of Evan, 
 the chapman, forthwith." 
 
 So we called out the guards from the camp, where 
 there were lines of huts with a greater building in 
 the midst as if it were often used thus, and so 
 rode across the rolling land northwards till we came 
 to Pembroke. Aad there Howel of Dyfed dwelt 
 in state in such a palace as that of Gerent, for here 
 again the hand of the Saxon had never come, 
 and the buildings bore the stamp of Imperial 
 Rome. 
 
 So once again I was lodged within stone walls, 
 and with a roof above me that I could touch with 
 my hand, and I need not say how I fared in all 
 princely wise as the son of Owen. I suppose there 
 could be no more frank and friendly host than 
 Howel of Dyfed. 
 
 Tired I was that night also, and I slept well. 
 
 12
 
 176 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 But once I woke with a fear for Oweti on me, for 
 I had dreamed that I saw some man creeping and 
 spying along the wide ramparts of Norton strong- 
 hold. And it seemed that the man had a bow 
 in his hand.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HOW OSWALD LOST A HUNT, AND FOUND SOME- 
 WHAT STRANGE IN CAERAU 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 
 
 177
 
 178 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 guard-rooms 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 amuse- 
 ment 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
 
 THE TENBY DANEFOLK 179 
 
 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 carne 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
 
 i8o A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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."
 
 AN UNKNOWN PASSENGER 181 
 
 " 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
 
 i8 2 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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
 
 TIME AND TIDE 183 
 
 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 yester-morn we found that 
 we had sprung a plank or two just above the water- 
 line, 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 to-day, and maybe to-morrow ; 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 to-morrow 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
 
 184 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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
 
 BY MILFORD HAVEN 185 
 
 r 
 
 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 east- 
 ward 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.
 
 186 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 for- 
 gotten 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
 
 THROWN OUT 187 
 
 right as the best way seemed to take me, and mean- 
 while 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
 
 i88 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 wild cat 
 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,
 
 IN CAERAU WOODS 189 
 
 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, whlie 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.
 
 igo A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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
 
 IlE CRIED AND BEGGED FOR MERCY UNCEASINGLY." 
 
 p. 190.
 
 THE JUSTICE OF HOWEL 191 
 
 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 fulness 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 
 morn;ng." 
 
 " 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 ? " 
 
 13
 
 i 9 2 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 believ- 
 ing 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."
 
 EVAN'S WARNING 193 
 
 " 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 re- 
 membered 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 where- 
 fore?" 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 him- 
 self 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,
 
 194 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 Cerent 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
 
 FORGIVENESS 195 
 
 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 to-day, 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 Cerent could take
 
 196 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 all these men whose names I had heard \vithout 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 Christmas- 
 tide. 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,
 
 THE GUESTS AT PEMBROKE 197 
 
 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 receiv- 
 ing 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
 
 198 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 
 to-night 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
 
 THE SONG OF THORGILS 199 
 
 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
 
 200 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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
 
 A WARNING LETTER 201 
 
 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
 
 202 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 Dunvval had much power 
 for harm when once I met GerenL
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 WHY IT WAS NOT GOOD FOR OWEN TO SLEEP 
 IN THE MOONLIGHT 
 
 IT needs not that I should tell of the farewell of 
 the next day. I went from Pembroke with many 
 messages for Owen, and a promise that if I might 
 ever come over with him I would do so. The 
 princess was busy with the lady who was to cross 
 with Thorgils, and I did not find one chance of 
 telling her that I thanked her for her warning, but 
 I found the page who gave me the letter, and bade 
 him tell his mistress when we had gone that she 
 had . taught me to look in the face of a fellow- 
 passenger, which would be token enough that I 
 understood. 
 
 Dunwal and his daughter had some few men and 
 pack-horses with them, and one Cornish maiden who 
 attended Mara, so that we were quite a little train 
 as we rode from Pembroke toward Tenby in the 
 late afternoon, with a score of Howel's guards to 
 care for us in all honour. Part of the way, too, 
 Howel rode, and when we came to the hill above 
 the Caerau woods, and looked down on the winding 
 waters again, he said to me 
 
 " I have forgotten to tell you that my men took 
 
 203
 
 204 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 Evan. By this time he has met his deserts. I 
 have done full justice on him." 
 
 " Thanks, Prince," I said with a shudder, as I 
 minded what I had saved the man from. " Did 
 your men question him ? " 
 
 Howel smote his thigh. " Overhaste again ! " he 
 cried in vexation. " That should have been done ; 
 but I bade them do justice on him straightway 
 if they laid hands on him. They did it." 
 
 I said no more, nor did the prince. It was in 
 my mind that he was blaming himself for somewhat 
 more than carelessness. So presently he must turn 
 and leave us, and we bade him farewell with all 
 thanks for hospitality, and he bade me not forget 
 Pembroke, and went his way. 
 
 Then I found Dunwal pleasant enough as a 
 companion, and so also was Mara, and the few 
 miles passed quickly, until we rode through the 
 gates of the strong stockade which bars the way 
 to the Danes' town across the narrow neck of the 
 long sea-beaten tongue of cliff they have chosen to 
 set their place on. The sea is on either side, and 
 at the end is an island that they hold as their last 
 refuge if need is, while their ships are safe under 
 one lee or the other from any wind that blows. 
 Far down below us at the cliff's foot, as we rode 
 through the town, where the houses had been set 
 anywise, like those at Watchet, and were like them 
 timber built, we could see to our left a little wharf, 
 and beside it the ship that waited us. And the 
 wind was fair, and the winter weather soft as one 
 might wish it for the crossing. 
 
 Now, so soon as Thorgils had seen the baggage
 
 BACK AT WATCH ET 205 
 
 of the Cornish folk safely bestowed I had time for 
 a word with him, taking him apart and walking up 
 the steep hill-path from the haven for a little way, 
 as if to go to the town. And so I told him who 
 this man was, and what possible danger might be. 
 He heard with a long whistle of dismay 
 
 "'Tis nigh as bad as crossing with Evan," he 
 said " but one is warned. Let them have the 
 after-cabin, and do you take the forward one; it 
 will be safer. Leave me to see to him when we 
 get to Watchet, for it is in my mind that Cerent 
 will want him. Moreover, so long as he thinks that 
 you fear him not he will be careless, and I will 
 watch him. He will want to learn more before he 
 meddles with you. As for the priest, I will tend him." 
 
 So we were content to leave the matter. Presently, 
 when we were at sea, I do not think that Dunwal 
 or Morfed had spirit left to care for aught. I know 
 that I had not. I need not speak of that voyage, 
 save to say that it was speedy, and fair to the mind 
 of Thorgils, at least. 
 
 At last I slept, nor did I wake till we had been 
 alongside the wharf at Watchet for two hours, being 
 worn out. Then I found that Dunwal and his party 
 had gone already, and I wondered, with a mind to 
 be angry, whereat Thorgils laughed. 
 
 " I have even sent them on to Norton with a 
 few of our men to help him, and they will see that 
 he goes there and nowhere else. You will find him 
 waiting. I did not want him to fall on you on the 
 road." 
 
 " What is the news ? " I asked. " Have you 
 heard aught?"
 
 206 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " The best, I think. Cerent is hunting Tregoz, 
 and Owen has swept up every outlaw from the 
 Quantocks. Our folk helped him. Some of them 
 told all they knew when they were taken." 
 
 " Then," I said gladly, " Owen knows that I am 
 safe." 
 
 " Not so certainly," Thorgils said. " None of our 
 folk can say that you crossed with me, and as this 
 is the only ship afloat at this time of the year there 
 is doubt as to where you are. It will be good 
 for Owen to see you again. What a tale you have 
 for him ! On my word, I envy you the telling." 
 
 " Well, then, ride with me to Norton straightway, 
 and you shall tell all and save me words. Owen 
 shall thank you also for your care for me." 
 
 " What, for letting you sit on my deck while the 
 wind blew ? Nay, but there are no thanks needed 
 between us. You and I have seen a strange voyage 
 together, and it has ended well. Maybe you and 
 I will see more sport yet side by side, for I think 
 that we are good comrades. Let us be going, then, 
 for it was in my mind that I could not rest until 
 I had seen you safe to your journey's end." 
 
 Then I found that he had his own horses ready 
 for us, and two more men, well armed and mounted 
 also, were waiting with them on the green where I 
 had been set down in the litter. So in a very short 
 time Thorgils had told his men all that he would 
 have done about the ship, and we were riding fast 
 along the road to Norton, while the thawing snow 
 told of the going of the frost at last 
 
 I had been gone but these few days, but each 
 of them seemed like a month to look back upon
 
 GERENT'S AUDIENCE HALL 207 
 
 as I rode under the shadow of the hills that I had 
 last seen as a hopeless captive. It grew warm and 
 soft as the midday sun shone on us, and the road 
 was muddy underfoot with the chill water that had 
 filled all the brooks again, but I hardly noticed 
 the change, so eager was I to be back. Glad enough 
 I was when we saw the village and the mighty 
 earthworks above it, and yet more glad when the 
 guards at the gate told us that Owen was even now 
 in the palace. I left Thorgils and his men to the 
 care of the guard for the time, while I went straight- 
 way to the entrance doors and asked for speech with 
 him. 
 
 " It is the word of the king that you shall have 
 free admittance into the palace and to himself at 
 any time, Thane," the captain of the guards said. 
 
 So I passed into the great chamber of the palace 
 that was used as audience-hall for all comers, and 
 also as the court of justice. 
 
 The place was full of people, and those mostly 
 nobles, so that I had to stand in the doorway for 
 a moment to see what was going on. It was 
 plainly somewhat out of the common, for there were 
 guards along one end of the room. It seemed as if 
 there were a trial. 
 
 Gerent sat in the great chair which one might 
 call his throne at the upper end of the room, and 
 beside him was Owen. I thought that my foster- 
 father seemed pale and troubled in that first glance, 
 but I had every reason to know why this was so. 
 Before these two stood a man, with his back to 
 me therefore, and for the moment I did not recognise 
 him. On either side of this man were guards, and 
 14
 
 2o8 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 it was plainly he who was in trouble, if any one. 
 Cerent was speaking to him. 
 
 " Well," he said, " hither you have come as a 
 guest, and as a guest you shall be treated. But 
 you must know that here within the walls of the 
 place you shall abide. If you will give your word 
 to do that I shall not have to keep you so 
 closely." 
 
 " This is not what I had looked for from you, 
 King Gerent," the man said. 
 
 I knew the voice at once, for it was that of 
 Dunwal, my fellow-passenger. So the treachery of 
 his brother must be known, and he was to be held 
 here as a hostage, as one might say. Cerent's next 
 words told me that it was so. 
 
 " If there is any fault to be found, it is in the 
 ways of your brother. Blame him that I must 
 needs have surety for his behaviour. It cannot be 
 suffered that he should go on plotting evil against 
 us, unchecked in some way." 
 
 Dunwal shrugged his shoulders, as if to say that 
 all this was no concern of his. 
 
 " Shall you hold my daughter as well ? " he said. 
 " I trust that your caution will not make you go so 
 far as that." 
 
 Cerent's eyes flashed at the tone and words, 
 but he answered very coldly 
 
 " She will bide here also, and in all honour." 
 
 Then he beckoned to a noble who stood near him, 
 and spoke to him for a moment. It chanced that 
 this was one of the very few whom I knew here. 
 His name was Jago, and I had often seen him at 
 Glastonbury, for he was a friend of our ealdorman,
 
 OUTLAW HUNTING 209 
 
 Elfrida's father, holding somewhat the same post in 
 Norton as my friend in our town. Owen liked him 
 well also, and he was certainly no friend to Morgan 
 and his party. 
 
 " Jago's wife will give your daughter all hospitality 
 in his house," Cerent said, turning again to Dunwal. 
 " Have I your word as to keeping within bounds 
 during my pleasure ? " 
 
 " Ay, you have it," answered Dunwal curtly. 
 
 Then I slipped out of the door quietly, and went 
 to that room where Owen and I waited on our 
 first coming here, and I sent a steward to tell him 
 of my arrival. There is no need for me to tell how 
 he greeted me, or how I met him. 
 
 Then when those greetings were over I heard 
 all that had been going on, and my loss had made 
 turmoil enough. My men had brought back the 
 news, having missed me very shortly, but it was 
 long before they found traces of me. The first 
 thing that they saw was my hawk, as I expected, 
 and after that the bodies of the slain. As I was 
 not with them, they judged that I had escaped in 
 some way, but they lost the track of the feet in the 
 woodlands, and so rode back to Owen in all haste. 
 Then was a great gathering of men for the hunting 
 of the outlaws, for it would take a small army 
 to search the wild hills and woodlands of the 
 Quantocks to any effect. The whole countryside 
 turned out gladly, and the Watchet Norsemen 
 helped also. 
 
 In the end, on the next day they penned the 
 outlaws into some combe, and took most of them, 
 and then all was told by them, so far as they knew
 
 2io A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 it. Cerent laid hands on four of the men who had 
 sworn the oath Evan told me of, that evening after 
 some leading outlaw had given their names, but 
 Tregoz had escaped. 
 
 He had been one of the most active in the 
 matter of the hunt, to all seeming, and had ridden 
 out with Owen and Jago and the rest. Then he 
 took advantage of some turn in the hills, when men 
 began to scatter, and was no more seen. Presently 
 it was plain enough why this was, when those who 
 were taken were made to speak. Yet it seemed 
 that he was not so far off, for already an attack had 
 been made on Owen as he rode beyond the village, 
 though it was no very dangerous one. Now it was 
 to be hoped that the danger from him was past, for 
 his brother had been taken the moment he rode 
 into the gate, and he would suffer if more harm 
 was done. 
 
 Then I asked if our king had been told of all 
 this, and I learnt that he had heard at once, and 
 had written back to Owen to say that he would pay 
 any ransom that might be asked for me if I yet 
 lived, as was hoped. The outlaws had told of 
 Evan's plan, but it was not known if I had been 
 taken out of the country yet. 
 
 "All is well that ends well," Owen said; "but 
 I asked Ina not to say aught of the matter yet for 
 a while. There is one at least in Glastonbury who 
 might be sorely terrified for you." 
 
 He laughed at my red face, for I knew that 
 he meant Elfrida. It was in my mind, however, 
 that I wished she had heard, for then, perhaps, she 
 would have been sorry that she had not been
 
 THORGILS IS HAPPY an 
 
 kinder to me unless, indeed, she was glad that 
 I was out of the way, in all truth. 
 
 Then there was my own long tale to be told, and 
 of course I told Owen all. It was good to hear 
 him say that he himself could have done nought 
 but free Evan. 
 
 Thereafter we sought Thorgils, who was happy in 
 the guard-room, and had seemingly been telling my 
 tale there, for the men stared at me somewhat. I 
 do not suppose that it lost in the telling. 
 
 Owen thanked him for his help, and took him 
 to see Cerent; which saved me words, for the 
 Norseman must needs tell how Evan had brought 
 me on board his ship, and so we even let him say 
 all that there was to be said. 
 
 After that Gerent loaded him with presents, and 
 so let him go well pleased. 
 
 I went out to his horse with him, and saw him 
 start. His last word as he parted from me was that 
 if I needed a good axeman at my back at any time 
 I was to send for him, and so he went seaward, 
 singing to himself, with the men who had brought 
 Dunwal hither behind him. 
 
 After that there was more to say of Howel and 
 his court. It seemed that Gerent and Owen liked 
 him well, and I wondered that Owen had not 
 sought him when the trouble fell on him. I think 
 he would not go to Dyfed as a disgraced man, for I 
 know he could not clear himself at the time. 
 
 Now at supper, presently, there was Dunwal, 
 looking anxious, as I thought, but trying not to 
 shew it. His daughter Mara was there also, and 
 as it happened she sat next to me. I suppose the
 
 2i2 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 seneschal set her there as we had crossed from 
 Dyfed together, unless she had asked it, or gone to 
 that seat without asking. She was very pleasant, 
 talking of the troubles of the voyage, and so went 
 on to speak sadly enough of the greater trouble that 
 had waited her. 
 
 " I am glad the king has kept us, however," she 
 said. " I can be content with the court rather than 
 with our wild Dartmoor, as you may guess. But 
 all these things are too hard for me, and how any 
 man can plot against so wonderful looking a prince 
 as Owen passes me. I cannot but think that there 
 is some mistake, and that my uncle has no hand in 
 the affair. That will be proved ere long, I do believe." 
 
 I answered that indeed I hoped that it would 
 prove so, and then asked for Morfed, the priest who 
 had crossed with us, as I did not see him among the 
 other clergy at the table. She told me that he had 
 left them, on foot, at the gate of Watchet, making his 
 way westward, as she believed. He had only joined 
 their party for easier travelling in Dyfed. Then she 
 must needs ask me questions about Thorgils' song, 
 and specially of Elfrida. I had no mind to tell her 
 much, but it is hard to refuse to answer a lady who 
 speaks in all friendly wise and pleasantly, so that I 
 had to tell her much the same that I told Nona the 
 princess, and began to wonder if every lady who had 
 the chance would be as curious to know all about 
 what story there was. And that was a true fore- 
 boding of mine, for so it was, until I grew used to 
 it. But all this minded me of Nona and her warn- 
 ing, and I was half sorry that the priest had not 
 come here to be taken care of with Dunwal.
 
 A SHADOW OF PERIL 213 
 
 After that night we saw little of these two. Mara 
 went to the house of Jago, and Dunwal kept to 
 himself about the palace boundaries within the old 
 ramparts, and seemed to shun notice. As for me, 
 word went to Ina that all was well, and he sent a 
 letter back to say that it would please him to know 
 that I was with Owen for a time yet. So I bided 
 with him, and for a time all went well, for we heard 
 nought of Tregoz in any way, while another of his 
 friends was taken and imprisoned in some western 
 fortress of Cerent's. Nor were there any more attacks 
 made on Owen, so that after a little while we went 
 about, hunting and hawking, in all freedom, for 
 danger seemed to have passed with the taking of 
 Dunwal as hostage. 
 
 Then one day a guard from the gate brought me 
 a folded paper, on which my name was written in a 
 fair hand, saying that it had been left for me by a 
 swineherd from the hill, who said that it was from 
 some mass priest whom I knew. The guard had 
 let the man go away, deeming that, of course, there 
 was no need to keep him. Nor had they asked who 
 the priest might be, as it was said that I knew him. 
 I took the letter idly and went to my stables with it 
 in my hand, and opened and read it as I walked. 
 
 " To Oswald, son of Owen. It is not good to 
 sleep in the moonlight" 
 
 That was all it said, and there was no name at 
 the end of it. I thought it foolish enough, for 
 every one knows that the cold white light of the moon 
 is held to be harmful for sleepers in the open air. 
 But I was not in the way of sleeping out in this 
 early season with its cold, though, of course, it was
 
 214 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 always possible that one might be belated on the 
 hills and have to make a night in the heather of it 
 when hunting on Exmoor or the Brendons. There 
 was not much moon left now, either. 
 
 So I showed the note to Owen presently, and he 
 puzzled over it, seeing that it could not have been 
 sent for nothing. At last we both thought that 
 whoever wrote it, or had it written, knew that some 
 attack would be made on us with the next moon, 
 when it would be likely that we might be riding 
 homeward by its light with no care against foes. 
 That might well be called " sleeping in the moon- 
 light" as things were, and at all events we were 
 warned in time. The trouble to me was that it 
 seemed to say that danger was not all past. 
 However, when there was no moon at all I forgot 
 the letter for the time, no more trouble cropping up, 
 and but for a chance word I think that it had not 
 come into my mind again until we were out in the 
 moonlight at some time. As we sat at table one 
 evening when the moon was almost at the full again, 
 some one spoke of moonstruck men, and that minded 
 me, and set me thinking. He said that once he 
 himself had had a sore pain in the face by reason 
 of the moonlight falling on it when he was asleep, 
 and another told somewhat the same, until the talk 
 drifted away to other things and they forgot it. 
 But now I remembered how that at our first coming 
 here I had waked in the early hours and seen a 
 patch of moonlight from a high southern window on 
 the outer wall of the palace passing across Owen's 
 breast as he slept. Then I was on the floor across 
 the door, but now I slept in the same place that
 
 IN THE MOONLIGHT 215 
 
 Owen had that night, while he was on the couch 
 across the room and under the window. It was 
 possible, therefore, that the light did fall on my face, 
 but I was pretty sure that if so it would have waked 
 me. At all events, if the letter had aught to do with 
 that, it was a cumbrous way of letting me know that 
 my bed was in a bad place for quiet sleep. The 
 only thing that seemed likely thus was that the good 
 priest who wrote had left the palace before he had 
 remembered to tell me how he had fared in that 
 room once, and so sent back word. There were 
 many priests backward and forward here, as at 
 Glastonbury with Ina. Then it seemed plain that 
 this was the meaning of the whole thing, and so I 
 would hang a cloak over the window by and by. 
 
 And, of course, having settled the question in my 
 own mind, I forgot to do that, and was like to have 
 paid dearly for forgetting. 
 
 Two nights afterward, when the moon was at the 
 full, I woke from sleep suddenly with the surety that 
 I heard my name called softly. I was wide awake 
 in a moment, and found the room bright with moon- 
 light that did indeed lie in a broad square right 
 across my chest on the furs that covered me. I 
 glanced across to Owen, but he was asleep, as there 
 was full light enough to see, and then I wondered 
 why I seemed to have heard that call. In a few 
 moments I knew that, and also that the voice 1 
 heard was the one that had come to me in sore 
 danger before. 
 
 Idly and almost sleeping again I watched the 
 light, to see if indeed it was going to cross my face, 
 and then a sudden shadow flitted across it, and with
 
 216 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 a hiss and flick of feathers a long arrow fled through 
 the window and stuck in the plaster of the wall not 
 an inch above my chest, furrowing the fur of the 
 white bearskin over me, so close was it. 
 
 In a moment I was on the floor, with a call to 
 Owen, and it was well that I had the sense to swing 
 myself clear from the light and leap from the head 
 of the bed, for even as my feet touched the floor a 
 second arrow came and struck fairly in the very 
 place where I had been, and stood quivering in the 
 bedding. 
 
 Then was a yell from outside, and before Owen 
 could stay me I looked through the window, reck- 
 lessly enough maybe, but with a feeling that no 
 more arrows would come now that the archer was 
 disturbed. It needed more than a careless aim to 
 shoot so well into that narrow slit. Across the 
 window I could see the black line of the earthworks 
 against the light some fifty paces from the wall of 
 the palace, with no building between them on this 
 side at all ; and on the rampart struggled two figures, 
 wrestling fiercely in silence. One was a man whose 
 armour sparkled and gleamed under the moon, and 
 the other seemed to be unarmed, unless, indeed, that 
 was a broad knife he had in his hand. Then Owen 
 pulled me aside. 
 
 " The sentry has him," he said, after a hurried 
 glance. " Let us out into the light, for there may be 
 more on hand yet." 
 
 Now I hurried on my arms, but another look 
 showed me nothing but the bare top of the rampart. 
 No sign of the men remained. I could hear voices 
 and the sounds of men running in the quiet, and
 
 ON NORTON RAMPARTS 217 
 
 I thought these came from the guard, who were 
 hurrying up from the gate. 
 
 " The men have rolled into the ditch," I said. 
 " I can see nothing now." Then we ran out, bidding 
 the captain of the guard to stand to arms as we 
 passed through the great door of the palace, and so 
 we went round to the place whence the arrows had 
 come. A score of men from the gate were already 
 clustered there on the earthworks, talking fast as 
 Welshmen will, but heedful to challenge us as we 
 came. I saw that they had somewhat on the ground 
 in the midst of them. 
 
 " Here is a strange affair, my Prince," one of them 
 said, as he held out his hand to help Owen up the 
 earthworks. 
 
 The group stood aside for us to look on what 
 they had found, and that was a man, fully armed in 
 the Welsh way of Gerent's guards, but slain by the 
 well-aimed blow of a strong seax that was yet left 
 where it had been driven home above the corselet. 
 There, was a war bow and two more arrows lying at 
 the foot of the rampart, as if they had been wrested 
 from the hand of the archer and flung there. The 
 men had not seen these, but I looked for them at 
 once when I saw that there was no bow on the slain 
 man. 
 
 " Who is this ? " Owen said gravely, and without 
 looking closely as yet. 
 
 " It is Tregoz of the Dart, whom the king seeks," 
 one or two of the men said at once. 
 
 I had known that it must be he in my own mind 
 before the name was spoken. There fell a silence 
 on the rest as the name was told, and all looked at
 
 2i8 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 my foster-father. There was plainly some fault in 
 the watching of the rampart that had let the traitor 
 find his way here at all. 
 
 " Which of you was it who slew him ? " asked 
 Owen. 
 
 " None of us, Lord. We cannot tell who it may 
 have been. Even the sentry who keeps this beat is 
 gone." 
 
 " Doubtless it was he who slew him, and is 
 himself wounded in the fosse. Look for him 
 straightway." 
 
 There they hunted, but the man was not to be 
 found. Nor was it his weapon that had ended 
 Tregoz. Then Owen said in a voice that had grown 
 very stern : " Who was the sentry who should have 
 been here ? " 
 
 The men looked at one another, and the chief of 
 them answered at last that the man was from 
 Dartmoor, one of such a name. And then one 
 looked more closely at the arms Tregoz wore, 
 and cried out that they were the very arms of 
 the missing sentry, or so like them that one must 
 wait for daylight to say for certain that they were 
 not they. 
 
 It was plain enough then. In such arms Tregoz 
 could well walk through the village itself unnoticed, 
 as one of the palace guards would be, and so when 
 the time came he would climb from some hiding in 
 the fosse and take the place of his countryman on 
 the rampart, and the watchful captain would see but 
 a sentry there and deem that all was well. 
 
 Yet this did not tell us who was the one who had 
 wrestled with and slain him, and Owen told what
 
 A MISSING SENTRY 219 
 
 had been done, while I went and brought the bow 
 and arrows from the foot of the rampart, in hopes 
 that they might tell us by mark or make if more 
 than Tregoz and the sentry were in this business. 
 Then I looked at my window, and, though narrow, 
 it was as fair a mark in the moonlight as one would 
 need. Without letting my shadow fall on the 
 sleeper, it was possible to see my couch and the 
 white furs on it, though it would be needful to raise 
 the arm across the moonlight in the act of shooting. 
 It was all well planned, but it needed a first-rate 
 bowman. 
 
 "It was surely Tregoz who shot," one of the men 
 said. " The sentry who was here was a bungler 
 with a bow. None whom we know but Tregoz 
 could have made sure of that mark, bright as the 
 night is. Well it was, Lord, that you were not 
 sleeping in your wonted place." 
 
 Owen glanced at me to warn me to say nothing, 
 and bade the men take the body to the guard-room. 
 They were already cursing the sentry who had 
 brought shame on their ranks by leaguing himself 
 with a traitor, and it was plain that there was no 
 need to bid them lay hands on him if they could. 
 That was a matter that concerned their own honour. 
 
 So we left the guarding of the place in their 
 hands, and they doubled the watches from that time 
 forward. Then we went and spoke with the captain 
 of the guard, who yet kept his post at the doors, as 
 none had called him. 
 
 " Maybe I am to blame," he said, when he heard 
 all. " I should not have left a Dartmoor man from 
 the country whence Tregoz came to keep watch
 
 220 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 there. I knew that he was thence, and thought no 
 harm." 
 
 " There is no blame to you," Owen said. " It is 
 not possible to look for such treachery among our 
 own men." 
 
 Then we went into our room to show the captain 
 what had been done. And thence the two arrows 
 had already been taken. The hole in the plaster 
 where the first struck was yet there, and the slit 
 made by the second in the tough hide of the bear 
 was to be seen when I turned over the fur, but who 
 had taken them we could not tell. Only, it was 
 plain that here in the palace some one was in the 
 plot and had taken away what might be proof of 
 who the archer had been, not knowing, as I suppose, 
 that the attempt had failed so utterly. For an 
 arrow will often prove a good witness, as men will 
 use only some special pattern that they are sure of, 
 and will often mark them that they may claim them 
 and their own game in the woodlands if they are 
 found in some stricken beast that has got away for 
 a time. It was more than likely that Tregoz would 
 have been careful to use only such arrows as he 
 knew well in a matter needing such close shooting 
 as this. Indeed, we afterwards found men who knew 
 the two shafts from the rampart as those of the 
 Cornishman, without doubt. 
 
 This I did not like at all, for the going of these 
 arrows brought the danger to our very door, as it 
 were. Nor did the captain, for he himself kept 
 watch over us for the rest of that night, and after- 
 wards there was always a sentry in the passage that 
 led to our room.
 
 OF OLD NORTON DAYS 221 
 
 We were silent as we lay down again, and sleep 
 was long in coming. I puzzled over all this, for 
 beside the taking of the arrows there was the 
 question of who the slayer of Tregoz might be, and 
 who had written the letter that should have warned 
 us. 
 
 In all truth, it was not good to sleep in the 
 moonlight ! 
 
 Somewhat of the same kind Owen was thinking, 
 for of a sudden he said to me : " Those arrows were 
 meant for me, Oswald. Did you note what the 
 man said about my not sleeping in my wonted 
 place ? " 
 
 " Ay, but I did not know that you had slept on 
 this side. Since I came back, at least, you have 
 not done so." 
 
 Owen smiled. " No, I have not," he said ; " but in 
 the old days that was always my place, and you 
 will mind that there I slept on the night we first 
 were here together. That was of old habit, and I 
 only shifted to this side when you came back, 
 because I knew that you would like the first light 
 to wake you. Every sentry who crosses the window 
 on the rampart can see in here if it is light within, 
 but he could not tell that we had changed places, for 
 the face of the sleeper is hidden." 
 
 Then he laughed a little, and added : " In the old 
 days when I was in charge of the palace this face 
 of the ramparts was always the best watched, 
 because the men knew that if I waked and did not 
 see the shadow of the sentry pass and repass as 
 often as it should, he was certain to hear of it in 
 the morning. Tregoz would know that old jest. I
 
 222 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 suppose Dunwal may have had some hand in taking 
 the arrows hence." 
 
 " It is likely enough," I answered. " He will 
 have to pay for his brother's deed to-morrow, in all 
 likelihood, also. But who wrote the letter, and who 
 slew Tregoz?" 
 
 Owen thought for a little while. 
 
 " Mara, Dunwal's daughter, is the most likely 
 person to have written," he said. " It would be like 
 a woman to do so, and she seems at least no enemy. 
 Maybe the man was the sentry, after all, and fled 
 because he had given up his arms, and so was sharer 
 in the deed that he repented of. Or he may have 
 been some friend of ours, or foe of the Cornishman, 
 who would not wait for the rough handling of the 
 guard when they found him there where he should 
 not be. No doubt we shall hear of him soon or 
 late." 
 
 But we did not. There was no trace of him, or of 
 the writer of the letter. One may imagine the fury 
 of Cerent when he heard all this in the morning, 
 but even his wrath could not make Dunwal speak 
 of aught that he might know. But for the pleading 
 of Owen, the old king would have hung him then 
 and there, and all that my foster-father could gain 
 for him was his life. Into the terrible old Roman 
 dungeon, pit-like, with only a round hole in the 
 stone covering of it through which a prisoner was 
 lowered, he was thrown, and there he bided all the 
 time I was at Norton. 
 
 By all right the lands of these two fell again into 
 the hands of the king, and he would give them to 
 Owen.
 
 THE LANDS OF TREGOZ 223 
 
 " Take them/' he said, when Owen would not do 
 so at first : " they owe you amends. If you do not 
 want them yourself, wait until you sit in my seat, 
 and then give them to Oswald, that he may have 
 good reason for leaving Ina for you." 
 
 So Owen held them for me, as it were, and was 
 content. Some day they might be mine, if not in 
 the days of Ina, whom we loved. 
 
 But Cerent either forgot or cared not to think of 
 Mara, Dunwal's daughter, and she bided in the best 
 house in the town, with Jago's wife, none hindering 
 her in anything. There was no more sign of trouble 
 now that Tregoz and his brother were out of the 
 way.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 HOW THE EASTDEAN MANORS AND SOMEWHAT 
 MORE PASSED FROM OSWALD TO ERPWALD 
 
 I BIDED at Norton with Owen until the Lenten-tide 
 drew near, and then I must needs go back to my 
 place with Ina. Maybe I should have gone before 
 this, seeing that all was safe now, but our king had 
 been on progress about the country, to Chippenham, 
 and so to Reading and thence to London, and but 
 half his guard was with him, so that I was not 
 needed. Now he was back at Glastonbury, and 
 I must join him there and go back to royal 
 Winchester with him for the Easter feast. Owen 
 and I also had been far westward at one time or 
 another, in this space, though there is little worth 
 telling beyond that we went even to the lands of 
 Tregoz that had passed to him, and so took posses- 
 sion of them. I could not see that any of the folk 
 on those lands, whether free or thrall, seemed other 
 than glad that Owen was their lord now. It was 
 said that Tregoz was little loved. We left a new 
 steward in the great half-stone and half-timber 
 house, with house-carles enough to see that none 
 harmed either him or the place, and so came back 
 to Norton. 
 
 224
 
 THE FIRST PARTING 225 
 
 Now, one may say that all this time, seeing that 
 Glastonbury was but so short a distance from 
 Norton, I was a laggard lover not to have ridden 
 over to see Elfrida, and maybe it would be of little 
 use for me to deny it. However, I would have it 
 remembered that there was always fear for Owen in 
 my mind if I was apart from him at the first, and 
 then there was this westward journey, and the 
 hunting in new places, and many other things, so 
 that the time slipped by all too quickly. Also, 
 when it is easy to go to a place one is apt to say 
 that to-morrow will do, and, as every one knows, 
 to-morrow never comes. Nor had we said much of 
 that damsel ; if Owen had not altogether forgotten 
 my oath, he never spoke of it, nor did I care to 
 remind him. Nevertheless, whenever we spoke of 
 Howel and his daughter, Owen's god-child, I minded 
 that the princess had bidden me see how Elfrida 
 greeted me when I came back, and it was in my 
 mind that she would be no less glad to see me after 
 a long absence. 
 
 That I should find out very shortly, but the 
 thought troubled me little. I will say that the 
 parting from Owen was all that was of consequence 
 to me, for it was hard enough. I could not tell 
 when we should meet again, for I must go east and 
 he west now, and presently all Devon, and maybe 
 Cornwall, would lie between us, even when our court 
 was at Glastonbury. It would be hard to see him 
 at all in the coming days, for not often was Gerent 
 here. However, partings must needs be, and we 
 made the least of it, and so at last we rode together 
 to the old bridge that crosses the Parrett, and there
 
 226 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 bade our last farewells, and went our ways, not 
 looking back. It was a lonesome ride onward for 
 me after all these days with him, and I had not a 
 word for my house-carles, who had ridden from 
 Glastonbury hither to meet me, for the first few 
 miles. Then I bethought myself, and drew rein a 
 little and let them come up with me, for I had ridden 
 alone at their head for a while, and so heard all the 
 news of the court and whatever talk was going 
 about the place, and my mind left Norton and went 
 on, as it were, before me to Glastonbury and all 
 that I should see there. 
 
 There was a warm welcome waiting for me from 
 the many friends, and best of all from the king 
 himself. With him I sat long in his chamber telling 
 of my doings and of Owen, and hearing also of what 
 had been going on. At the last, when I was about 
 to leave his presence, he said 
 
 " There is one matter that we must speak of to- 
 morrow, for it is weighty and needs thought. Let it 
 bide now, for it is nought unhappy, and so come to me 
 at noon and we will speak thereof. Now your friends 
 will seek you, and I will not say more." 
 
 I left him then with a little wonder as to what 
 this business might be, but thought little of it, as it 
 would very likely be a matter of taking some men 
 on some errand or the like house-carle work, and 
 then I bethought me that I would even go and see 
 how fared Elfrida. It was not unpleasant to think 
 of taking her by surprise, for I did not suppose that 
 she had heard of my return yet. At all events, she 
 would have no chance of making up some stiff 
 greeting for me. Wherefore I went down the street
 
 WELCOME AT GLASTONBURY 227 
 
 with my head in the air, making up my mind how 
 I would greet her, and maybe I thought of a dozen 
 ways before I reached the ealdorman's door. 
 
 His welcome was hearty enough at all events, 
 but before I could make up my mind to ask for 
 Elfrida, who was not to be seen at first, though I 
 had counted on finding her at her wheel in the great 
 hall of the house, as was her wont in the afternoon, 
 he had wasted a long hour in hearing all that he 
 could of my affairs, as may be supposed. There 
 had been some strange rumours flying about since 
 I was lost. I began to wish that I had brought Thor- 
 gils home with me, for it was plain that I should 
 have to go over all this too often, and he cared not 
 at all how many times he told the same tale. 
 
 At last I was able to find a chance of asking how 
 fared the lady Elfrida, and at that the ealdorman 
 laughed. 
 
 " What, has not all this put that foolishness out 
 of your head ? " he said. 
 
 " No, it has not," I answered pretty shortly. But 
 all the same, the old thought that I had remembered 
 her less than I would have it known did flash across 
 me for a moment. 
 
 " Well, I will send for her, and she will tell you 
 for herself how she fares." 
 
 He sent, and then in about half an hour she 
 came, just as I was thinking I would wait no longer. 
 And if she had been stiff with me in the orchard it 
 was even more so now, and I did not seem to get 
 on with her at all. She said, indeed, that she was 
 glad to see me back, but in no way could I think 
 that she looked more so than any one else I had met.
 
 228 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 So we talked a little, and then all of a sudden her 
 father said 
 
 " Ho ! Here comes that South Saxon again." 
 
 Then at once a blush crept slowly over her fair 
 face, and she tried not to look toward the great 
 door in vain, though no one came in, and presently 
 she was gone with but a few words to me. I did 
 not like this at all, but the ealdorman laughed at 
 her and then at me, the more that he saw that I was 
 put out. 
 
 " Never mind, Oswald," he said. " That vow of 
 yours pledged you to no more than duty to any fair 
 lady." 
 
 " Maybe it is just as well that it did not," I 
 answered, trying to laugh also. 
 
 " Ay, that is right. You were bound to say 
 somewhat, and you did it well. But it has not 
 pleased the girl, nevertheless." 
 
 " I did think, at least, she would have been more 
 glad to see me." 
 
 " Trouble yourself not at all about the ways of 
 damsels for the next five years, or maybe ten, 
 Oswald, my friend," said the ealdorman. " So will 
 you have an easier life, and maybe a longer one." 
 
 Discontented enough I went away, and that same 
 discontent lasted for a full half-hour. At the end 
 of that time I found myself laughing at the antics 
 of two boys who were sporting on a flooded meadow 
 in a great brew-tub, while their mother threatened 
 them with a stick from the bank. It was my 
 thought that a cake would have fetched them back 
 sooner than the stick, but maybe she knew best. It 
 was like a hen with ducklings.
 
 OLD MEMORIES 229 
 
 Then I grew tired of loitering outside the town 
 and nursing my wounded pride, and when it began 
 to rain I forgot it, and went back to the palace and 
 talked about the British warriors with Nunna and 
 some of the other young thanes until supper-time. 
 
 Next morning I waited on the king as he had 
 bidden me, finding him in his chamber with a pile 
 of great parchments and the like before him. He 
 bade me be seated, and I sat in the window-seat 
 opposite him. 
 
 " It is no light matter that I have to speak of," 
 he said, " but I will get to the point straightway. 
 What do you remember ot your old home, 
 Eastdean ? " 
 
 Now the thoughts of old days there that had 
 sprung afresh in my mind in the parting with Owen, 
 made me ready to answer that at once. 
 
 " Little, my King. I was but ten years old when 
 we fled," I answered therefore. 
 
 " That is likely. But would you go back there ? 
 As the Thane of Eastdean, I mean ; for I know that 
 you would wish to see the place where your father 
 lies." 
 
 I could not answer him this at once, for it was 
 indeed a matter that needed thought. So I said, 
 and he turned to his writings with a nod and left 
 me to myself. 
 
 In all these thoughts of mine, pleasant as they 
 were with some memories, it had never come to me 
 to wish that the lands were mine again. Save for 
 that one thing of which Ina spoke, and for the 
 pleasantness of seeing old scenes again, I had never 
 cared to go back. Owen had not spoken of the
 
 230 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 lands that should have been mine for years, and 
 even as he talked with me and Gerent he had not 
 seemed to remember that old loss at all. Gerent 
 had done so, saying that I should be back there, but 
 even that did not stir me now. I was of the court, 
 and here I had my place, and all my life was knit 
 with the ways of the atheling guard and the order- 
 ing of the house-carles under Owen. If I were to 
 turn from all this to become a forest thane it would 
 be banishment. And then I thought of Owen, and 
 how this would take me yet farther from him. I 
 would sooner, if I must be sent from Ina, go to him 
 and find what home I might on the lands of Tregoz 
 in wild Dartmoor. And then the thought of leaving 
 Ina, who had cared for me since I was a child, was 
 almost as terrible. 
 
 " I would not leave you, my King," I said at last. 
 
 Ina looked up at me with a smile, but was silent, 
 stroking his beard as was his way when thinking, 
 looking past me out of the narrow window to the 
 great Tor that towered beyond the new abbey 
 buildings. 
 
 " Think ! " he said at last, " partings must come, 
 and lands are not to be had lightly. Erpwald's 
 brother, who held Eastdean, is dead." 
 
 " I need no lands," I answered. " The ways of a 
 captain of your house-carles are good to me, and I 
 need no more. If I took those lands from your 
 hand, my King, needs must that I gave up all the 
 life with you. Sooner would I let the land go and 
 bide with you. Yet if I must needs take them, be 
 it as you will." 
 
 " It is a great thing that you speak so lightly of
 
 FOR LOVE OF THE KING 231 
 
 giving up," he answered gravely ; " Erpwald, the 
 heathen, was willing to risk his life for those lands, 
 and he held them dear. And a captain of the 
 king's house-carles will always look to be rewarded 
 for service with lands. In time you will seek the 
 same." 
 
 " That time has not yet come to me, King Ina." 
 
 " Eastdean lies in my hand here," he said, taking 
 up a parchment with a great seal on it. " I may 
 give it to whom I will, but you are the lawful heir 
 who should hold it from me. If it goes not to 
 you, it may be that one whom you would not shall 
 have it." 
 
 Then I said, not seeing at all what the king would 
 have me do, but thinking that he deemed me foolish 
 for not taking the lands straightway 
 
 41 Let me bide with you even yet for a while. 
 When the time comes that I must leave you I must 
 go to Owen, and neither he nor I care for aught but 
 to be here. He must leave you because of duty, 
 and if this is indeed choice with me, let me choose 
 to stay. It is nought to me who holds the lands, 
 save only that it might be one who will tend the 
 grave of my father." 
 
 Then said Ina, looking into my face and smiling, 
 as if well pleased 
 
 14 The choice is free, my Thane, and I should be 
 wrong if I did not say that I am glad to hear you 
 choose thus. I have missed you in these days, and 
 I have work here for you yet. It was in my mind 
 that thus you would choose, and I am glad. Let it 
 be so. I need one to take the place of Owen, as 
 second in command of the household, as one may
 
 232 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 say, and that you must do for me henceforward. 
 Nay," he said quickly, raising his hand as I tried to 
 find some words of thanks for this honour ; " you 
 know the ways of Owen, and men know you, and it 
 will be as if there had been no change, and that will 
 mean that we shall have no grumbling in the palace, 
 and the right men will be sent to do what they are 
 best fitted for and all that, so that there will be 
 quiet about the court as ever. It is a matter off my 
 mind, let me tell you, and no thanks are needed." 
 
 So he laughed and let me kiss his hand, patting 
 me on the shoulder as I rose, and then bade me sit 
 down again. He had yet more to say. 
 
 " With Erpwald who is dead, men would hold 
 that you had a blood feud. That is done with ; but 
 his son yet lives. I do not think it is your way, or 
 Owen's, to hold that a feud must be carried on in 
 the old heathen way of our forefathers." 
 
 " Most truly not," I said. " What ill has a son 
 of Erpwald done to me or mine ? " 
 
 " None ! Nay, rather has he done well, for I know 
 that he has honoured the grave of your father, and 
 even now is ready to do what he can to make 
 amends for the old wrong. He brought me this." 
 
 He took up the parchment that he had shewn me 
 before. It was a grant of the manors of Eastdean 
 to Erpwald, gained by those means of utmost 
 craft whereby the king thought that indeed the 
 last of our line had perished by other hands than 
 those of the heathen thane. 
 
 " Honest and straightforward and Christianlike is 
 this young Erpwald," the king said. " Well brought 
 up by his Christian mother, if not very ready or
 
 ERPWALD THE YOUNGER 233 
 
 brilliant in his ways. Now he has learned how his 
 father came into the lands, and though he might 
 well have held them after his uncle on this grant, 
 he has come hither to set the matter in my hands. 
 ' It is not fair,' quoth he, ' that I should hold them 
 if one is left of the line of Ella. I should not sleep 
 easily in my bed. Nevertheless, I will buy them if 
 so be that one is left to sell them to me.' So 
 he sighed, for the place is his home." 
 
 " All these years it has been no trouble to me 
 that Erpwald's brother has held the place,' my King. 
 It will be no trouble to think that a better Erpwald 
 holds them yet." 
 
 " I do not think that he will be happy unless he 
 deems that he has paid some price some weregild, 1 
 as one may say ; for slow minds as his hang closely 
 to their thoughts when they are formed. See, 
 Oswald, I have thought of all this, and the young 
 man has been here for a fortnight. I brought him 
 here from Winchester, where he joined me. Let 
 me tell you what I think." 
 
 " The matter is in your hands altogether, my 
 King." 
 
 " As you have set it there," he said, smiling 
 gently. " Now all seems plain to me, and I will 
 say that this is even what I thought you would wish 
 to do. How shall it be if we bid Erpwald, for the 
 deed of his father, to build a church in Eastdean 
 and there to keep a priest, that all men shall know 
 how that the martyr is honoured, and the land be 
 the better for his death ? " 
 
 1 Weregild the fine to be paid in amends for an onen " man- 
 slaying " in quarrel or feud.
 
 234 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 Nought better than this could be, as I thought, 
 and I told the king so. 
 
 " Why, then," he said, " that is well. I shall have 
 pleased both parties, as I hope. I know you will 
 meet him in all friendliness." 
 
 Then he let me go, and it was with a light heart 
 that I parted from him. Now I knew that my 
 father's grave and memory would be held in more 
 than common honour, and I was content. 
 
 Men would miss Owen sorely here, but, save for 
 that, I had so often acted for him in these last two 
 years that my being altogether in his place made 
 little difference to any one, or even to myself in a 
 few days. That last was as well for myself, as it 
 seems to me, for I was not over proud, as I might 
 have been had the post been new to me. As it 
 was, I do not think that there was any jealousy 
 over it, or at least I never found it out. My 
 friends rejoiced openly, and if any one wondered 
 that the king should so trust a man of my age, the 
 answer that I had saved Ina's life was enough to 
 satisfy all. My men drank my health in their 
 quarters that night, and after I got over the little 
 strangeness of sitting on the high place next to 
 Nunna, things went on, save for the want of Owen 
 about the court, even as when he was the marshal 
 and I but his squire, as it were. 
 
 I saw young Erpwald for the first time soon after 
 the king had spoken of him to me, and I liked the 
 look of him well enough. He was some few years 
 older than I, square and strong, with a round red 
 face and light hair, pleasant in smile, if not over wise 
 looking. One would say that he might be a good
 
 A LOVER'S FEELINGS 235 
 
 friend, but one could hardly think of him as willingly 
 the enemy of any man. Some one made me known 
 to him as the son of Owen, as was usual, and as 
 such would I be known to him for a while ; but for 
 some time I saw little of him, not caring to seek 
 his company, as indeed there was no reason for me 
 to do so. 
 
 The next thing that I heard of him was that he 
 had made a great friend of the ealdorman since he 
 came here, being often at his house. It was not 
 so long before I met him there, though my pride, 
 which would not let me risk another rebuff, kept me 
 away for some days. I had an uneasy feeling that 
 I should fare no better, and I could find good 
 reason enough to justify the thought in some ways, 
 as any one may see from what had happened before. 
 Maybe that was a token that my first feelings were 
 cooling off, and I do not think that there is much 
 wonder if they were. It would have been strange, 
 and not altogether complimentary to the fair damsel 
 if, after the deed at the feast and the vow that I had 
 to make, I had not thought myself desperately in 
 love with her at last, after a good many years of 
 friendship. But now there had befallen the long 
 days of peril and anxiety which had set her in the 
 background altogether, and I had had time to come 
 to more sober thoughts, as it were. Men have said 
 that I aged more in that short time than in the 
 next ten years of my life, and it is likely. Never- 
 theless, it needed but a word or two of kindness to 
 bring me to Elfrida's feet once for all, and but a 
 little more coldness to send me from her altogether. 
 
 So at last I went to her home to find out how I
 
 236 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 should fare, thinking less of the matter than last 
 time, and there she sat in the hall, chatting merrily 
 with Erpwald. That pleasantness stopped when I 
 came in, and after the first needful greetings Elfrida 
 froze again, and Erpwald fell silent, as if I was by 
 no means welcome. I could see that I was 
 the third who spoils company. However, the 
 ealdorman came in directly, and I talked to him, 
 and as we paid no heed to those two they took up 
 their talk once more, and presently their words 
 waxed low. Whereon the ealdorman glanced at 
 them with a sly grin and wink to me, and I 
 understood. 
 
 So I went away, for that was enough. Of course, 
 I was very angry, by reason of the scratch to my 
 pride ; for it does hurt to think that one is not 
 wanted, and for a while I brooded over it just as I 
 had done the other day. Then it came to me that 
 at least I had no reason to be angry with Erpwald, 
 who could know little or anything about me, being 
 a new-comer, and it was not his fault if the girl 
 made a tool of him to scare me away, and after 
 that I found my senses again, rather sooner than 
 before, perhaps. It was plain that the ealdorman 
 took it for granted that I had no feeling now in 
 that direction, and so others would do the same, 
 which was comforting. So I supposed that there 
 was no more to be said on the subject by any one, 
 unless Elfrida chose to have the matter out, and 
 set things on the old footing of frank friendliness 
 again. There I found that I was mistaken at once. 
 Some one was coming down the lane after me 
 quickly, and then calling my name. I turned, and
 
 ELFRIDA'S NEW CHAMPION 237 
 
 there was Erpwald, with a very red face, trying to 
 overtake me, and I waited for him. 
 
 " A word with you, Thane," he said, out of breath. 
 
 " As many as you will. What is it ? " 
 
 " Wait until I get my breath," he said. " One 
 would think that you were in a desperate hurry, 
 by the pace you go. Plague on all such fast 
 walkers ! " 
 
 That made me laugh, and he smiled across his 
 broad face in return. 
 
 " It is all very well to grin," he said, straightening 
 his face suddenly to a blankness ; " but what I have 
 to say concerns a mighty serious matter." 
 
 " Well, then, get it done with," I answered, trying 
 not to smile yet more. 
 
 " I don't rightly know how to begin," he said in a 
 hesitating kind of way. " Words are as hard to 
 manage as a drove of forest swine, and I am a bad 
 hand at talking. Can you not tell what I have to 
 say ? " 
 
 " Not in the least," I answered. It flashed 
 across me that he might have found out who I 
 was, however, and wanted to speak of the old 
 trouble. 
 
 " Well," he said at last, growing yet redder, " the 
 Lady Elfrida is angry that her name has been 
 coupled with yours pretty much lately." 
 
 He stopped with a long breath, and I knew what 
 he was driving at. 
 
 " She has told me as much herself already," 1 
 said solemnly. 
 
 He heaved a sigh of relief. " But she did not 
 tell me that," he said in a puzzled sort of way.
 
 238 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " Well, it must not go on, or or else, that is, I shall 
 have to see that it does not." 
 
 " The worst of it is that I cannot help it," said I. 
 " Did the lady ask you to speak to me of the 
 matter?" 
 
 "Why, no; she did not. Only, I thought that 
 some one must. Of course, I mean that I will fight 
 you if it goes on." 
 
 " Of course," I said. " But I can in no wise stop 
 it. Do you know how it began ? " 
 
 " Not altogether. How was it ? " 
 
 " Really, that you had better ask some one else," 
 I said, keeping a grave face. " I think that it 
 would have been fairer to me to have done so first. 
 But if there was any real blame to me, do you think 
 that the ealdorman would have been glad to see 
 me just now? I think that it was plain that he 
 was so." 
 
 " I am an owl," Erpwald said. " Of course, he 
 would not have been. But did you come to see 
 the ealdorman, or the lady ? " 
 
 " Why, both of them, of course. I have known 
 them for years." 
 
 He looked relieved when he heard that, and I 
 thought that he must be badly smitten already. 
 
 " Well, I will go and ask the ealdorman all about 
 it," he said. " Where shall I find you in an hour's 
 time ? " 
 
 " In my quarters," I answered ; " but, of course, if 
 you want to fight me you will have to send a friend 
 to talk to me." 
 
 " I will send the ealdorman himself." 
 
 " Best not, for he is the man who is charged with
 
 THE PEACE OF THE COURT 239 
 
 the stopping of these affairs if he hears of them. 
 Any atheling you meet will help you in such a 
 matter. It is an honour to be asked to do so. 
 But don't ever ask me to be your second if you 
 have another affair, for I also have to hinder these 
 meetings if I can." 
 
 " Is there any one else I must not ask ? " he said 
 in a bewildered way. 
 
 " Best not ask the abbot," I said, and I could not 
 help smiling. 
 
 " Now you are laughing at me, and that is too 
 bad. How am I to know your court ways ? " 
 
 " Well, you will not have to fight me unless you 
 really want to pick a quarrel. So it does not 
 matter. Get to the bottom of the question, and 
 then come and talk it over, and we will see what is 
 to be done." 
 
 He nodded and left me, and I had a good chuckle 
 over the whole business. It was not likely that 
 Elfrida had set him on me, in the least; but I 
 suppose he had heard some jest of her father's, 
 who was one of those who will work anything that 
 pleases them to the last. 
 
 So I went my way, and saw to one or two things, 
 and sat me down in the room off the hall that had 
 been Owen's, and presently Erpwald came in, and I 
 saw that he was in trouble. 
 
 " Well," I said, " how goes the quarrel ? " 
 
 " I am a fool," he replied promptly. " The lady 
 should be proud of the affair, and the more it is 
 talked of the better she should like it. You are 
 right in saying that it cannot be stopped. Why, 
 there is a gleeman down the street this minute 
 16
 
 240 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 singing the deeds of Os\vald and Elfrida. As for 
 the vow you made, the ealdorman says that it 
 could not have been better done, Forgive me for 
 troubling you about it at all." 
 
 He held out his broad hand, and for a moment 
 I hesitated about taking it. He bore his father's 
 name, but in a flash it came to me that I was 
 wrong. We were both children when the ill deed 
 was wrought, and I was no heathen to hold a blood 
 feud against all the family of the wrong-doer. He 
 did not even know that one of us lived, and, as the 
 king had told me, I knew that he was prepared to 
 make amends. 
 
 So I took his hand frankly, and he had not 
 noticed the moment's slowness or, if he did, took it 
 for the passing of vexation from my mind. 
 
 " You will laugh at me again," he said, " but now 
 I am in hot water in all sooth. The lady will not 
 speak to me at all." 
 
 I did laugh. I sat down on the edge of the 
 table and tried to stop it, but his red face was so 
 rueful that I could not, and at last he had to smile 
 also. 
 
 " Why, what have you done ? " I asked. " Now 
 it is my turn to know reasons why. Here is a new 
 offence to be seen into." 
 
 " I only told her that I had spoken to you on 
 the subject, and was going to talk to the ealdorman, 
 her father, if she would not save me the trouble by 
 telling me herself all about it." 
 
 " And then ? " 
 
 " She got up and went away, tossing her head, 
 without a word. So I had a talk with the ealdor-
 
 THE WELSH MAIDEN 241 
 
 man, and learnt all ; but after that I tried to see 
 her, and that black-haired Welsh maiden of hers 
 told me that she would not see me." 
 
 " It seems to me that you have had a bad day," 
 I said. " But what does it matter ? You have 
 done what seemed right, and if it is taken in the 
 wrong way you cannot help it." 
 
 " It does matter," he said. " If she is wroth with 
 me, I don't mind telling you that I am fit to hang 
 myself. Could you not set things right for me, 
 somehow ? You are an old friend." 
 
 " No, hardly ; for I am not in favour there just 
 now." 
 
 " Well, I shall go and try to get round the Welsh 
 girl to speak for me." 
 
 Now, that was a servant I had never heard of, 
 and I thought I knew all the household. So I could 
 not tell him if that would be of use, and he left 
 me in some sort of desperation to try what he could. 
 He was very much in love. 
 
 Next day he came back beaming. Somehow 
 the Welshwoman had managed things for him, and 
 all was .well again. I had my own thought that 
 Elfrida was by no means unwilling to meet him 
 half-way, but I did not say so. I think I had fairly 
 got over my feelings by this time, but I must say 
 that I felt a sort of half-jealousy about it. But 
 the more I came to look on the South Saxon's 
 round face, and to think of him as Elfrida's favoured 
 lover, the less I felt it. It became a jest to watch 
 the going of the affair, and I was not the only one 
 who found it so in a very short time. Erpwald 
 made no secret of his devotion. He minded me of
 
 242 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 a great faithful stupid dog, whose trust was bound- 
 less and whose love was worth having. One could 
 lead him anywhere, but he was true Sussex he 
 would not be driven an inch. 
 
 So Elfrida had a hopeless slave at her beck and 
 call, and by and by I was on the old footing, and 
 we used to make much of my vow of service to her. 
 
 " I would that I had made that vow," Erpwald 
 said once. 
 
 " It is not too late now," answered the ealdorman, 
 with his great laugh ; " but I do not think it is 
 needed." 
 
 After me went Erpwald when he was not at the 
 ealdorman's, and Ina told me that he was glad to 
 see that I harboured no thought of revenge. 
 
 " Presently you will want to go to Eastdean tc 
 see that your father's grave is well honoured, and 
 this friendliness will help you," he said. " And for 
 his friend such a man as Erpwald will do much. 
 The church at Eastdean will be no poor one, and 
 you will help him choose the place. We could not 
 have asked him to do anything that has pleased 
 him more." 
 
 One thing I feared was that when he found out 
 who I was he would be ill at ease with me, and I 
 asked the king to tell him in the way that seemed 
 best to his wisdom, lest the knowledge should come 
 by chance from some one else. 
 
 So he did that, and in a day or two Erpwald 
 came to me and told me that he knew at last who 
 I was, and we had a long talk together. It was in 
 his mind to try to make me take the lands again, 
 and I had hard work to make him believe that I
 
 AGAIN A WARNING 243 
 
 was in earnest when I said that I did not want 
 them. And at the end I made him happy by 
 telling him that the king would let me go to 
 Eastdean with him before long, so that we could 
 see to things together. 
 
 " Well," he said, " this is all very pleasant for 
 me, and it is common saying that you will be some 
 sort of prince in West Wales before long ; but I 
 shall ever feel that my family owes yours more than 
 I can repay." 
 
 After that he was a little uneasy with me for a 
 time, but it soon wore off, and we used to talk of 
 our ride to Eastdean often enough. And then 
 happened a thing that set me back into trouble 
 about Owen again. I had had many messages 
 from him, as may be supposed, and in all of them 
 he said that there was no sign of danger, or even 
 of plotting against him. 
 
 One of my men brought me a written message 
 one evening. A thrall had left it at the gate for 
 me. And when I asked from whom it came I had 
 the same answer that was given me when that other 
 writing warned me not to sleep in the moonlight, 
 for it was said to come from a priest whom I 
 knew. 
 
 So when I glanced at the writing I was not 
 surprised to see that it was the same, though the 
 sight of it gave me a cold shudder. Somewhat 
 the same also was the form in which the message 
 ran 
 
 " To Oswald, son of Owen.- It is not good to 
 take wine from the hand of a Briton."
 
 244 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 Now, I had some reason to believe that Mara 
 had written the first note, as she seemed the only 
 possible person to warn us of the plots of her kin, 
 and that was a very plain warning to Owen rather 
 than to myself, as it seemed. So I thought this 
 might come from the same hand, and be meant for 
 him also, and that all the more that there was not 
 a stranger left in Glastonbury, now that the feasting 
 was over, much less a Welshman. But Owen had 
 none but Welsh round him, and it seemed to say 
 that there was some plot among them again. 
 Maybe he would know who was meant by the 
 " Briton." Men have nicknames that seem foolish 
 to any but those who are in the jest of them. We 
 used to call Erpwald the " Saxon " sometimes, be- 
 cause he was not of Wessex, although we were as 
 much Saxon as he, or more so, according to our 
 own pride. 
 
 I went straight down the street to the house of 
 a man whom I knew well, an honest franklin who 
 had a good horse and knew the border country 
 from end to end, and I bade him ride with all speed 
 to Owen at Norton with the paper. He was to 
 give it into his own hand, and I made shift to scrawl 
 a few words on the outside of it that he might shew 
 to my friend the captain of the guard, and so win 
 speedier entry to the palace. I did not send one 
 of my own men, because he would have been known 
 as coming from me, while this man was often in 
 Norton about cattle and the like, and none would 
 wonder at seeing him. I was easier when I saw 
 him mount and ride away, but I was ill content 
 until the morning came and brought him back with
 
 FEARS FOR OWEN 245 
 
 tidings that all was well, and that Owen would be 
 on his guard. 
 
 Also, the franklin was to tell me that Cerent's 
 court went to Isca, which we call Exeter, in two 
 days' time, and that Owen would fain see me 
 before he went westward, if I could come to him. 
 There seemed to be difficulty in persuading Cerent 
 to let him return to our court, even for a day 
 now. 
 
 Whereon I went to Ina and told him of this new 
 trouble, and he bade me go. He thought that some 
 fresh plot was being hatched in Exeter, but both 
 he and I wondered that the warning was not sent 
 direct to my foster-father, rather than in this round- 
 about way through my hands. He said the same 
 thing to me that Howel had spoken when I parted 
 from him. 
 
 " These plotters ',vill not think twice about strik- 
 ing at Owen through you, if it seems the only way to 
 reach him. And you mind that the princess told 
 you .to have a care for yourself. Evan said that if 
 strife was stirred up between us and Cerent they 
 would be glad. If they slew you, my Thane, it is 
 likely that there would be trouble, unless Cerent is 
 as wrath as I should be." 
 
 So I went with a few guards and spent the day 
 and night with Owen at Norton. I knew it was 
 the last chance I should have of seeing him for a 
 long time, but we talked of the coming summer, 
 promising ourselves that journey together to see 
 Howel. I told him how things went with Elfrida 
 and me, and he did not seem to wonder much, nor 
 to think it of any consequence. He laughed at me,
 
 246 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 and told me to get over it as soon as I could, and 
 that was all. 
 
 But this last warning he could no more understand 
 than I. It was his thought that it was meant for 
 me rather than himself. 
 
 "You will have to take heed to any Welshman 
 you meet," he said, "and as you are warned that 
 should be no very difficult matter. No Briton can 
 ever pretend to be a Saxon." 
 
 I do not think that there is more to be said of 
 that meeting, though indeed I would willingly dwell 
 on it. Mayhap it will be plain why I would do so 
 presently, for I left him bright and happy in his old 
 place, with nought but the distance from the foster- 
 son whom he loved to trouble him. 
 
 But when I rode away again the sorrow of that 
 parting fell heavily on me, and I could not shake 
 it off. It seemed to me that I would not see Owen 
 again, though why it so seemed I could not tell. 
 If I had any thought of danger to myself I should 
 have cared little, so it was not that. I wonder if 
 one can feel " fey " for another man if he is dear to 
 you as no other can be ?
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 HOW ERPWALD FELL FROM CHEDDAR CLIFFS; 
 AND OF ANOTHER WARNING 
 
 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 west- 
 ward 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. 
 
 247
 
 248 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 Men- 
 dips 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
 
 ON CHEDDAR CLIFFS 249 
 
 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 over- 
 hanging cliffs are full four hundred feet high from 
 the little white track which winds at their foot, 
 and from clifftop to clifftop is but a short bowshot. 
 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 alto- 
 gether 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
 
 250 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 clifftops 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.
 
 THIS BRUTE WAS YET BACKING, AND HIS HEELS WERE ALMOST 
 ON THE BRINK." 
 
 p. 251.
 
 OVER THE EDGE 251 
 
 " 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 for- 
 ward 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
 
 252 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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
 
 AT THE CLIFF FOOT 253 
 
 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.
 
 254 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " 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 clifftop 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
 
 WHAT THE RAVENS KNEW 255 
 
 of the fall that he was between the horse and 
 the cliff as he went over the edge, for the fore- 
 feet 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 some- 
 where 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, 
 17
 
 256 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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
 
 A BARE ESCAPE 257 
 
 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 cliffs 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,
 
 258 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 half-way, 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."
 
 A STRANGE BIRDS'-NESTING 259 
 
 " 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
 
 260 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 guard-room, 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
 
 THE THRALL WHO SQUINTED 261 
 
 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
 
 262 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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 to-morrow 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
 
 A BLACKTHORN SPUR 263 
 
 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 ? " 
 
 " 1 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 thumb - nail. 
 " 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
 
 264 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 for a bit of luck, or maybe horsemanship. It was a 
 strange business. 
 
 " I was through a thicket or two to-day," 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
 
 TROUBLE AT HEREWALD'S 265 
 
 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
 
 266 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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, 
 1 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
 
 MARA'S HANDMAID 267 
 
 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."
 
 268 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 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
 
 AN UNKNOWN FRIEND 269 
 
 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 to-day, 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.
 
 270 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 Jago had no knowledge of the Welsh girl, or her 
 sending. But Mara was gone a fortnight or more 
 since, for Cerent 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 un- 
 suspected, 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
 
 CONFESSION 271 
 
 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 foolish- 
 nesses one does not care to be reminded of. 
 
 18
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 OF THE MESSAGE BROUGHT BY JAGO, AND 
 A MEETING IN DARTMOOR 
 
 As one may be sure, there was no danger for me at 
 Winchester, and if I had any anxiety at all it was 
 for Owen, who had dangers round him which I did 
 not know. I had sent him word by that old friend 
 of his, Jago of Norton, how the last warning was 
 justified, and had heard from him that with the 
 imprisonment of Dunwal his last enemies seemed 
 to have been removed or quieted. So I was more 
 at ease concerning him, and presently rode with 
 Erpwald to Eastdean in the fair May weather to 
 see the beginning of that church which should keep 
 the memory of my father. 
 
 And all I will say concerning that is that when I 
 came to visit the old home once more I knew that 
 I had chosen right. The life of a forest thane was 
 not for me, and Eastdean seemed to have nought of 
 pleasure for me, save in a sort of wonderment in 
 seeing how my dreams had kept so little of aught 
 of the true look of the place. In them it had grown 
 and grown, as it were, and now I was disappointed 
 with it. I suppose that it is always so with what 
 one has not seen since childhood, and for me it was 
 
 272
 
 A DREAMLAND VALLEY 273 
 
 as well. I felt no shadow of regret for the choice I 
 had made. 
 
 So after the foundation was laid with all due rites, 
 I went back to the king and found him at Chippen- 
 ham, for he was passing hither and thither about his 
 realm, as was his wont, biding for weeks or maybe 
 months here, and so elsewhere, to see that all 
 went well. And I knew that in Erpwald and his 
 mother I left good and firm friends behind me, and 
 that all would be done as I should have wished. 
 Ay, and maybe better than I could have asked, for 
 what Erpwald took in hand in his plain single- 
 heartedness was carried through without stint. 
 
 Through Chippenham come the western chapmen 
 and tin traders, and so we had news from the court 
 at Exeter that all was well and quiet, and so I 
 deemed that there was no more trouble to be feared. 
 It seemed as if Owen had taken his place, and that 
 every foe was stilled. 
 
 And yet there grew on me an uneasiness that 
 arose from a strange dream, or vision, if you will, 
 that came to me one night and haunted me there- 
 after, so soon as ever my eyes closed, so that I grew 
 to fear it somewhat. And yet there seemed nothing 
 in it, as one may say. It was a vision of a place, 
 and no more, though it was a place the like of 
 which I had never seen. 
 
 I seemed to stand in a deep hollow in wild hills, 
 and round me closed high cliffs that shut out all but 
 the sky, so that they surrounded a lawn of fair turf, 
 boulder - strewn here and there, and bright with 
 greener patches that told of bog beneath the grass. 
 In the very midst of this lawn was a round pool of
 
 274 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 black, still water, and across on the far side of that 
 was set a menhir, one of those tall standing stones 
 that forgotten men of old were wont to rear for rites 
 that are past. It was on the very edge of the pool, 
 as it seemed, and was taller than any I had seen on 
 our hills. 
 
 And when in my dream I had seen this strange 
 place, always I woke with the voice of Owen in my 
 ears calling me. That was the thing which made me 
 uneasy more than that a dream should come often. 
 
 Three times that dream and voice came to me, 
 but I said nought of it to any man. Then one day 
 into the courtyard of the king's hall rode men in 
 haste from the westward, and when I was called out 
 to meet them the first man on whom my eyes rested 
 was Jago of Norton, and my heart fell. Dusty and 
 stained he was with riding, and his face was worn 
 and hard, as with trouble, and he had no smile 
 for me. 
 
 " What news, friend ? " I said, coming close to him 
 as he dismounted. 
 
 " As they took you, so have they taken Owen. 
 We have lost him." 
 
 " Is he slain ? " 
 
 " We think not. He was wounded and borne 
 away. We cannot trace him or his captors. 
 Cerent needs you, and I have a letter to your 
 king." 
 
 1 asked him no more at this time, but I took him 
 straightway to Ina, travel-stained as he was. He 
 had but two men with him, and they were Saxons 
 he had asked for from Herewald the ealdorman as 
 he passed through Glastonbury in haste.
 
 GERENT'S MESSAGE 275 
 
 So Ina took the letter, and opened it, and as he 
 read it his face grew troubled, so that my fear that 
 I had not yet heard the worst grew on me. Then 
 he handed it to me without a word. 
 
 " Gerent of the Britons, to Ina of Wessex. I 
 pray you send me Oswald, Owen's foster-son, for 
 I need him sorely. On my head be it if a hair of 
 him is harmed. He who bears this is Jago, whom 
 you know, and he will tell my need and my loneli- 
 ness. I pray you speed him whom I ask for." 
 
 That was all written, and it seemed to me that 
 more was not needed. One could read between the 
 lines, after what Jago had said. 
 
 " What is the need for you ? " Ina asked, as I 
 gave him back the letter. 
 
 "To seek for Owen, my father," I said. "Jago 
 must tell what we have to hear." 
 
 Then he told us, speaking in his own tongue, so 
 that I had to translate for the king now and then, 
 and it was a heavy tale he brought. 
 
 Owen had gone to some house that belonged to 
 Tregoz, in the wild edge of Dartmoor north of 
 Exeter, and there men unknown had set on the 
 house and burnt it over him, slaying his men and 
 sorely wounding himself. Only one man had 
 escaped to tell the tale, and he was wounded and 
 could tell little. And the deed was wrought in the 
 night, and into the night he had seen the men 
 depart, bearing the prince with them. But who 
 and whence they were he could neither tell nor 
 guess.
 
 276 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 Then Cerent had ridden in all haste to the house, 
 and found even as the wounded man had told, for 
 all was still as the burners left it. But no man of 
 all the village, nor the shepherds on the hills, could 
 tell more. Owen was lost without trace left. 
 
 Then said Ina : " What more could be done by 
 Oswald ? Will men help a Saxon ? " 
 
 " This must be between ourselves, King Ina," 
 Jago said plainly. " It is in my mind that if 
 Oswald and I or some known lord of the British will 
 go to that place and sit there quietly with rewards 
 in our hands, we may learn much ; for men fear 
 Cerent the king in his wrath, and they fled from his 
 coming." 
 
 " So be it," said Ina. " Oswald shall go, and it 
 seems to me that every day is precious, so that he 
 shall go at once. Is there thought that Owen 
 may be taken out of the country, as Oswald was 
 taken ? " 
 
 " Every port and every fisher is watched, and has 
 been so. For that was the first thing we feared. 
 And word has gone to Howel of Dyfed and Mordred 
 of Morganwg, farther up the channel, that they 
 should watch their shores also. Nought has been 
 left undone that may be done." 
 
 So it came to pass that on the next morning Jago 
 and I rode away together along the great road that 
 leads westward to Exeter and beyond, asking each 
 train of chapmen whom we met if there was yet 
 news, and hearing nought but sorrow for the loss of 
 the prince they had hailed with such joy again. 
 Nor did we draw rein, save to change horses, till we 
 clattered up the ancient paved street of the city on
 
 MEETINGS AT EXETER 277 
 
 its hill, and dismounted at the gates of the white 
 palace where Cerent waited me. 
 
 There the first man who came out to greet me 
 was one whom I was altogether glad to see, though 
 his presence astonished me for a moment. Howel 
 of Dyfed passed from the great door and bade me 
 welcome. 
 
 " It is a different meeting from that which we 
 had planned, Thane," he said, somewhat sadly. " I 
 am here to help you if I can ; for when we heard 
 that Owen was lost much as you were, we came over 
 straightway, there being reasons of her own which 
 would not let Nona rest till we had sailed. Presently 
 you will hear them from herself, for she is here. 
 Glad am I to see you." 
 
 " There is no fresh hope ? " I asked, as we went in. 
 
 " None ; but we hope much from you. At least, 
 your coming will cheer the old king, for he is well- 
 nigh despairing." 
 
 Now I was prepared to see some change in Gerent 
 by reason of all this sorrow and trouble, but not for 
 all that was plain when I first set eyes on him 
 presently. Old and shrunken he seemed, and his 
 voice was weary and dull. Yet there came a new 
 light into his eyes as he saw me, and he greeted 
 me most kindly, bidding me, after a few words of 
 welcome, to rest and eat awhile after the long ride, 
 before we spoke together of troubles. 
 
 So in a little time I sought him again, and found 
 him in a room with warm sunlight streaming into 
 it, making the strange pictured walls bright and 
 cheerful, and yet somewhat overdose for one who 
 loves the open air or the free timbered roof that loses
 
 278 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 itself in the smoke-wreaths overhead, with the wind 
 blowing through it as it blows through the forest 
 whence it was wrought, and with twitter of birds 
 to mind one of that also. Nevertheless, the old king 
 in his purple mantle with its golden hem over the 
 white linen tunic, and his little golden circlet on his 
 curling white hair, seemed in place there, even as 
 I minded thinking that Owen in his British array 
 seemed in place. 
 
 Now Howel stood where Owen was wont to stand, 
 and the only other in the room was the lady, who 
 rose from the king's side to greet me. 
 
 And if her smile was a little sad, it was plain 
 that Nona the princess was glad as her father to 
 see her guest again, and I will say that to me the 
 sight of her was like a bright gleam in the grey of 
 sadness that was over all things. It did not seem 
 possible that she and trouble could find place 
 together. 
 
 So I greeted her, and she went back to her place 
 quickly, for hardly would Gerent wait for us to 
 speak a few words before he would talk of that 
 which was in all his thoughts ; and then came Jago 
 and stood at the door, guarding it as it were against 
 listeners. 
 
 Now the old king told me all that I had heard 
 from his thane already, and I must tell what I 
 thought thereof, and that was little enough beyond 
 what I have said, and at last, when he seemed to 
 wait for me to ask him more, I put a question 
 that had come into my mind as I rode, and asked 
 if there might be any chance of Morfed the priest 
 having a hand in the matter. And at that the
 
 THE WAYS OF MORFED 279 
 
 king's frown grew black, and he answered fiercely : 
 " Morfed, the mad priest ? Ay, why had not I 
 thought of him before? Look you, Oswald, into 
 my hall of justice he came, barefoot and ragged 
 from his wanderings, but a few days before Owen 
 left me ; and before all the folk, high and low, who 
 were gathered there he cried out on all those who 
 spoke for peace with the men who owned the rule 
 of Canterbury, and who held traffic with the Saxon 
 who has taken our lands. And Owen was for 
 speaking him fair, seeing that he was crazed, but 
 I bade him be silent, telling the priest that what 
 was lost is lost, and there needed no more said 
 thereof; and that if the men of Austin and we 
 differed it was not the part of Christian men to 
 make the difference wider, even as Owen and 
 Aldhelm were wont to say. And at that he raved, 
 and threatened to lay the heaviest ban of the Church 
 on Owen, and on all who held with him, and so he 
 was taken from my presence, and I have seen him 
 no m,ore. But he was a friend of Morgan." 
 
 " That is the priest who was with Dunwal, surely," 
 Howel said. 
 
 " The same," I answered " and I was warned of 
 him," and I looked toward the princess, and she 
 smiled a little and flushed. 
 
 " I mind how he glared at Oswald across my 
 table," Howel said. " But one need fear little from 
 him, as I think. Who will heed a crazy priest ? " 
 
 " Many," answered Cerent. " The more because 
 they deem him inspired. I will have him taken and 
 brought to me." 
 
 There fell a little uneasy silence after that out-
 
 280 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 burst of the king's, but I felt that I had not yet 
 heard all that they would tell me. So we waited 
 for the old king to speak, and at last he turned 
 suddenly to the princess, setting his thin white hand 
 on her shoulder, and said : " Now tell Oswald what 
 foolishness brought you here, Nona, daughter of 
 Howel, that he may say what he thinks thereof." 
 
 " Maybe he also will think it foolishness, King 
 Cerent," she said in her low clear voice. " But 
 however that may be, I will tell him, for in what 
 I have to say may be help. I cannot tell, but 
 because it might be so I begged my father to 
 bring me hither. It was all that I could do for 
 my god-father." 
 
 There was just a little quiver in her lip as she 
 said this, and the fierce old king's face softened 
 somewhat. 
 
 " Nay," he said, " I meant no unkindness. I 
 forgot that it is not right to speak to a child as 
 to grown warriors. It is long since there was a 
 lady about the place who is one of us." 
 
 Then Nona smiled wanly, and set her hand on 
 that of the old king, and kept it there while she 
 spoke. 
 
 " Indeed, Thane, it may be foolishness, and now 
 perhaps as time goes on it begins to seem so to me. 
 Once, as I know now, on the night when Owen first 
 slept in his new house on the moor, I dreamed that 
 he was in sore danger, for I seemed to see shadows 
 of men creeping everywhere round the house that 
 I have never set eyes on ; and again, on the next 
 night, and that was the night of the burning, 
 I saw the house in flames, and men fought and fell
 
 THE VISION OF THE PRINCESS 281 
 
 around it among the flickering shadows, but I did 
 not seem to see Owen. And then on the next 
 night, soon after I first slept, I woke trembling with 
 the most strange dream of all. I think that the 
 light had hardly gone from the west, but the moon 
 had not yet risen. I dreamed that I stood at the 
 end of a narrow valley, whose sides were of tall 
 cliffs of rough grey stone, and in the depth of the 
 valley I saw a great menhir standing on the farther 
 side of a black pool. And all the surface of the 
 pool was rippling as if somewhat had disturbed it, 
 and set upright in the ground on this side was a 
 sword, like to that which King Ina gave you, Thane 
 ay, that which you wear now, not like my father's 
 swords. And I thought that I heard one call on 
 your name." 
 
 Now I heard Jago stifle a cry behind me, and 
 as for myself I stood silent, biting my lip that I 
 might know that I was not dreaming also, and I 
 saw that Howel was looking at me in a wondering 
 way,, while Cerent glowered at me. All the time 
 that she had been speaking, Nona had looked on 
 the ground, in some fear lest we should smile at 
 this which had been called foolishness, and I was 
 glad when the king broke the silence with a short 
 laugh. 
 
 " Well, Oswald, what think you of this ? On my 
 word, it seems that you half believe in the foolishness 
 that some hold concerning dreams." 
 
 " I would not hold this so," said Howel, " seeing 
 that she has dreamed of things that did take place, 
 as we know too well." 
 
 " Fire and fighting ? Things, forsooth, that every
 
 282 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 village girl on the Saxon marches is frayed with 
 every time she sleeps." 
 
 So said Cerent, and I answered him 
 
 " Foolishness I cannot call this, either, Lord King. 
 I also have seen the same in the night watches. I 
 have seen pool and menhir, and the cliffs that hem 
 them, even as the princess saw them. And I woke 
 with the voice of Owen in my ears." 
 
 " Dreams, dreams ! " the old king said. " Go to, 
 you do but tell me these trifles to please me, and as 
 if to give me hope that in such an unheard-of place 
 we shall find him whom we have lost. Say no 
 more, but go your ways on the morrow and search. 
 And may you find your dream valley and what is 
 therein." 
 
 He rose up impatiently, and Howel gave him 
 his arm from the room. Jago followed him, and 
 when the heavy curtain fell across the doorway, 
 Nona, who had risen with Gerent, turned to 
 me. 
 
 " I am sure now that there we shall find Owen," 
 she said, with a new light of hope in her eyes. 
 " And also I am sure that at the bottom of all the 
 matter is Morfed the priest." 
 
 " It was a needed warning against him that I 
 had from your hand, Princess," I said ; " now let me 
 thank you for it." 
 
 " I am glad you had it safely, for indeed I feared 
 for you with those people on the ship with you. 
 What has become of them ? " 
 
 I told her the fate of Dunwal, so far as I knew 
 it. I did not then know that Gerent had put an 
 end to his plotting once for all two days after Owen
 
 NONA'S FORESIGHT 283 
 
 was lost. As for his daughter, I knew no more 
 than Jago told the ealdorman. 
 
 Then she said : " Now I would ask you to speak 
 to my father, that he would let me go with you to 
 Dartmoor, that I may help you search. I do not 
 like to be far from him, but he says there may be 
 danger. Which makes me the more anxious not 
 to leave him, as you may suppose." 
 
 She smiled, but as I made no answer she went on : 
 " And maybe Owen will need nursing when you find 
 him. They say he was sorely wounded. Ay, I 
 am sure we shall find him, else why did we have 
 these strange visions? And I think that were he 
 not disabled altogether he would have won to free- 
 dom in some way." 
 
 " It is that wounding that makes me fear the 
 worst," I said in a low voice ; for indeed the 
 thought of Owen as hurt, in the care, or want 
 of care, of those who hated him, was not easy 
 to be borne. " It is my fear that we shall be too 
 late," 
 
 " Nay, but you must not fear that," she said 
 quickly. " That is no sort of mind in which you 
 have to set to work. I will think rather that they 
 have carried him to some safe tending. There will 
 be time enough to dread the worst when it is certain. 
 There was nought in the dreams to make us think 
 that he was dead." 
 
 The bright face and voice cheered me wonderfully, 
 and for the moment, at least, I felt sure that our 
 search would not fail. Then I tried to persuade 
 her not to come with us. One could not say that 
 there was any safety, even for her, among the men
 
 284 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 who would harm Owen, though I thought that none 
 would be in the least likely to fall on Howel. Rather, 
 they would keep out of his way altogether. In my 
 own mind I wished that I was going alone, or with 
 none but Jago, though, on the other hand, it might 
 be possible that men would speak to him if they 
 would not to me. And at last I did persuade her 
 to bide here until we had news, promising that if 
 need was she should come and see the place herself 
 when all was known. 
 
 " Well, maybe it is not so needful that I should 
 go now," she said. " I thought that I alone could 
 tell my father when that valley was found, but you 
 know as much of it as I, and will be sure when you 
 stand in it." 
 
 And so we fell to talk of these visions which were 
 so much alike, and there was but one difference in 
 them. In the dream of the princess the pool had 
 been ruffled, and mine was still as glass. And that 
 seemed strange, and we could make nothing of it. 
 Then Howel came back, and there is little more to 
 say of the doings of that evening. There was no 
 feasting in Cerent's house now. 
 
 Very early in the next dawning Howel and I rode 
 westward with five score men of Cerent's best after 
 us, into wilder country than I had ever yet seen ; 
 and late in the evening we came to where the 
 countless folds of Dartmoor lie round the heads of 
 Dart River. And there Tregoz had set his house, 
 and I think that it was the first that had ever been 
 in those wilds, save the huts of the villagers. Only 
 the hall of the place had been burnt, and there 
 yet stood the house of the steward on the village
 
 ON DARTMOOR 285 
 
 green, if one may call a meadow that had a dozen 
 huts round it by that name, and we bestowed our- 
 selves in the great room of that, while our men 
 found places in stables and outhouses and the huts. 
 Every man of the place had fled as they saw us 
 coming, for the fear of Cerent was on them ; but 
 the women and children remained, and they had 
 heard of the son of Owen, at least, since he and I 
 were in Dartmoor in the spring. I had some of 
 them brought to me when we were rested, and 
 told them that none need fear aught, knowing that 
 they would tell their menfolk. And so it was, for 
 after we had been quietly in the place for two days 
 the men were back and at their work again. I do 
 not think that even our Mendip miners were so 
 wild as these people, and their strange Welsh was 
 hard for me and Howel to understand. I will say 
 that the whole matter seemed hopeless for a time, 
 for no man would say anything to us about it. If 
 we spoke to a man, questioning him, and presently 
 wished to find him again, he was gone, and it would 
 be days ere he came back. 
 
 Some of our guards knew the country as well 
 as most, and with them we rode many a long mile 
 into the hills during the first few days, searching for 
 the deepest valleys, and ever did I look to see the 
 great menhir before me as we came to bend after 
 bend of the hills. Circles of standing stones we 
 found, and cromlechs, ruins of ancient round stone 
 huts where villages had been before men could 
 remember, and once we saw a menhir on the hillside ; 
 but that was not what I sought, and none could 
 tell us of the lost valley.
 
 286 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 Yet it was in my mind as I questioned one or 
 two that their looks seemed to say that the de- 
 scription of the place was not unknown to them, 
 and if they would they could tell me more. At 
 last, when I came to know the speech better at the 
 end of a week, I thought that I would try another 
 plan ; I would trust to the shepherds, and ride 
 alone for once across the hills. I thought that, 
 even were I set upon, my horse would take me 
 from danger more quickly than hillmen could run, 
 and Howel, unwillingly enough, agreed that it 
 seemed to be the only chance. Maybe the men 
 would speak more openly with me on the hillside 
 and alone. 
 
 So I asked if there was any one could tell me 
 where there were menhirs in the valleys, and a 
 shepherd said that he knew two or three. So I 
 rode with him at my side to one of these, but it 
 was not that which I sought; and, as I hoped, 
 the man was more willing to speak, and we got 
 on well enough. We had not met with a soul 
 all day, but my hawk had taken two bustard after 
 I saw the stone and was disappointed. One of 
 these as a gift to the shepherd had opened his 
 lips wonderfully, and we were talking as we 
 rode in the dusk, and were not so far from the 
 village, of another stone that I was to see next 
 day, when I asked him if he had ever heard of 
 the lost valley of pool and menhir. He did not 
 answer, but shrunk to my side, looking round him 
 fearfully. 
 
 " What comes, Lord," he said, whispering ; " see 
 yonder ! "
 
 A MOORLAND MEETING 287 
 
 He pointed across the bare hillside, and I looked 
 but saw nothing. 
 
 " I saw nought," I said. " Is it unlucky to speak 
 of the place ? " 
 
 " I saw somewhat leap from yonder rock," he 
 whispered ; " it went behind that other." 
 
 Plainly the man was terrified, and I asked him 
 what he feared. 
 
 The good folk, Lord." 
 
 " Pixies ? Do they come when one speaks of the 
 lost valley ? " 
 
 " Speak lower, Lord, lower ! Look, yonder it is 
 again ! " 
 
 Then I also saw in the dusk the figure of a man 
 who crept softly from one great boulder to another, 
 and without thinking of the terror of the shepherd 
 I spurred my horse, and rode straight for the rock 
 behind which the figure disappeared, having no 
 mind to have an arrow put into me at short range 
 by one of the men of Tregoz or of Morfed 
 unawares. 
 
 The shepherd howled in fright when he was 
 left, but I did not heed him, and in a moment I 
 was round the rock and almost on the cowering 
 man whom I had seen. He turned to fly, and I 
 cried to him to stop, but he only got another rock 
 between me and him, for the hillside was covered 
 with them, and shrank behind it, so that I could 
 only see his wild eyes as he glared at me across it. 
 He said nothing, and I did not think that he was 
 armed, so far as the dim evening light would let 
 me see. 
 
 " Why are you dogging me thus ? " I cried ; 
 19
 
 288 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " come out, and no harm will befall you." I rode 
 round, and he shifted as I did, so that he was 
 between me and the shepherd, and then I called 
 to the latter that this was but a man, and bade him 
 come and help me to catch him. Whereon the 
 man looked swiftly over his shoulder and saw that 
 he was fairly trapped. 
 
 " Keep him back, Master," he said in a strange 
 growling voice, which was not that of a Dart- 
 moor savage either in tone or speech. " Keep 
 him back, and we will talk together; I mean no 
 harm." 
 
 But I had no need to tell the shepherd not to 
 come, for he bided where he was, being afraid ; 
 but I held up my hand to him as if to bid him be 
 still, lest the man should know that he would not 
 help me. 
 
 " Come out like a man," I said. " One would 
 think that you were some evil-doer." 
 
 " Master, I will swear that I am not. Let that be, 
 for I have somewhat to tell you that you will be 
 glad to hear " 
 
 " If that is true, why did you not come openly, 
 instead of waiting till I had you in a corner? 
 Every one knows that there is reward for news 
 from any honest man." 
 
 " There are those who would take my life if they 
 caught me, Master. I have been seeking for speech 
 with you alone all this day ; I hoped the shepherd 
 would leave you hereabout for his home, and then 
 I would have come to you." 
 
 "Well," I said, "if you could tell me what I 
 need to hear I will hold you safe from any."
 
 NEWS AT LAST 289 
 
 " Master, will you swear that ? " said the man 
 eagerly. 
 
 Then it came across me that maybe this was 
 one of those who fell on Owen, for one might 
 well look for a traitor among so many. So I 
 answered cautiously : " Save and except you are 
 one of those who have wrought harm to the prince 
 you shall be safe. If you are one who has him alive 
 and in keeping you shall be safe also." 
 
 " Master, you have promised, and it is well 
 known that you keep your word. I am your man 
 henceforward, by reason of that promise. I will 
 give you a token that I have not harmed the 
 prince." 
 
 " What have you to tell ? " 
 
 " Master, they say that you seek the lost valley, 
 of which none will speak." 
 
 " That seems true ; but speak up, and mouth not 
 your words so." 
 
 " Here was I born and bred, Master," said the 
 man, still in the same growling voice. " I know 
 where the lost valley is hidden, though none may 
 go there save at peril of life. It is unlucky so much 
 as to speak thereof." 
 
 " Can you take me within sight of its place, so 
 that I can find it ? " I asked, with a wild hope at 
 last springing up in me. 
 
 " I can ; and, Master, unluckier than I am I cannot 
 be, so that life is little to me. Into that place I 
 will even go for you, and risk what may befall me, 
 if only you will find pardon for me. Only, I do 
 not know if you will find aught of Owen the prince 
 there."
 
 290 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " You must be in a bad way, my poor churl," 
 said I, "if things are thus with you. But if you 
 will help me to that place, and there let me find what 
 I may, there is naught that may not be forgiven 
 you. Even were it murder, I will pay the weregild 
 for you, and you shall have cause to say that the 
 place has no ill-luck for you." 
 
 " Thane," said the man, in a new voice that was 
 strangely familiar to me, " you have spoken, and 
 forgiven I shall surely be." 
 
 Then he rose from behind the rock and came 
 to my side, and took my hand and kissed it 
 again and again, and surely I had seen his form 
 before. 
 
 " Thane, I am Evan the outlaw, and my life is 
 yours because you forgave me a little once, and 
 saved me from the wolves, giving that life back to 
 me when I knew it well-nigh gone." 
 
 I looked at the pale hair and beard of the 
 man, and wondered. Evan's had been black as 
 night. 
 
 " It is Evan's voice," I said ; " but you have 
 changed strangely." 
 
 " Needs must I, Thane, with every man's hand 
 against me, if I would serve you and Owen the 
 prince for your sake." 
 
 Then I looked round for my shepherd, but he 
 had fled. 
 
 " Come to the house with me," I said. " I think 
 than none will know you, and if they do so I will 
 answer for you." 
 
 " No, Thane ; after to-morrow, seeing that even 
 Howel sets such store on finding the valley, as
 
 EVAN THE OUTLAW 291 
 
 men tell me, I shall be safe even from him. I 
 think that you are the only one who will trust 
 me yet." 
 
 There I knew that he was most likely right. Had 
 I not been certain that he could have kept me from 
 knowing him even yet, I think that I might have 
 been doubtful of him myself. 
 
 " As you will," I answered. " We can meet 
 to-morrow. Now give me that token by which 
 I am to know that you have not harmed 
 Owen." 
 
 " It is right that you should not yet trust me," 
 Evan said, as if he read my thoughts, " for I do not 
 deserve it. Here is one token : ' It is not good to 
 sleep in the moonlight.' And I will give you yet 
 another, if I may, for, indeed, I would have you 
 know that the words I spoke yonder were true when 
 I said that you should be glad that you freed me, 
 and that I have tried to serve you. That may be 
 known by the token of the blackthorn spine and 
 the dogvvhip." 
 
 I reined up my horse in wonderment and stared 
 at him, and he came close to my side, so that I 
 could see him plainly. And, lo ! his shoulders 
 grew rounded, and his eyes crossed terribly, and 
 they bided so, and he mumbled the words he 
 had said when the whip of the huntsman fell on 
 him. 
 
 Then he straightened himself again and looked 
 timidly at me. He was not like the man who had 
 bound me so cruelly in Holford combe on the 
 Quantocks. 
 
 " Evan," I cried, " what you did for me at the
 
 292 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 ealdorman's gate is enough to win any pardon you 
 may need." 
 
 " It is wonderful that, after all, pardon should 
 come from you, Thane. Do you mind how I said 
 to you that I hoped to win it otherwise through you 
 when we took you on the Quantocks ? It is good 
 to feel as a free man once more." 
 
 " Free, and maybe honoured yet, Evan," I said ; 
 for I knew that he had risked his Hie for me and 
 Owen. " Presently you shall come with me to 
 Wessex, where none know you, and there shall 
 be a fresh life for you. It is in my mind that what 
 you brought on me was as a last hope." 
 
 " Ay, that is true, Thane." 
 
 And then I asked him to tell me all he knew 
 of Owen, and of what had happened here, and how 
 it came about that he knew aught. And as he 
 told me it was plain that this was a true tale, 
 for one could feel it so. 
 
 He had followed Owen, keeping himself hidden, 
 after I went to Winchester, for there he knew that 
 I was safe, and yet he would serve me if he could. 
 So from the hillside where he lay he had seen the 
 burning and the fight ; and after Owen fell he 
 followed them who bore him away, till he lost 
 them in a grey mist that rolled from the hills 
 and hid them in the darkness. Nor had he been 
 able to find trace of them again, though he had 
 hunted far and wide. And so he waited for, my 
 coming, being sure that I would not be long. 
 But he knew that they had gone toward what he 
 called the lost valley, if it was not likely that they 
 would dare so much as look into it.
 
 THE MEN OF THE PRIEST 293 
 
 " But," he said, " there was a priest with them, 
 seeming to lead them. Maybe he would dare." 
 
 Into my mind at once came the certainty that 
 this must be Morfed, but Evan knew nought of him. 
 He had no more to tell me of this.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 HOW OSWALD AND HOWEL DARED THE SECRET 
 OF THE MENHIR, AND MET A WIZARD 
 
 So we two rode on together over the wild hills, 
 and talked of what chance there might be of finding 
 Owen on the morrow. He could not tell me if 
 his wounds were deep, for he was far off and 
 helpless, but he told me how he had fought, and 
 that was even as I had known he would. 
 
 Now the soft June darkness had fallen, and we 
 were not a mile from the first houses of the village. 
 Soon, if they were alert, we should meet the first 
 outpost of our men who guarded us, and mayhap it 
 were better that Evan came no farther to-night. Yet 
 I would know somewhat of himself and the way in 
 which he had helped me thus. So I stayed my 
 horse and dismounted for a few minutes. 
 
 " Tell me, Evan," I said, " how came you into 
 trouble at the first?" 
 
 " It is easy, Thane," he answered. " I was Evan 
 the chapman, and well known near and far in 
 Cornwall and Dyvnaint as an honest man, even as 
 I have seemed yet beyond the water. Two years 
 ago I slew the steward of this Tregoz in the open 
 market place of Isca, and there was indeed little 
 
 284
 
 THE STORY OF EVAN 295 
 
 blame to me, for I did but protect my goods which 
 ke would have taken by force, and smote too hard. 
 Little order was there in that market if the king 
 was not there, and Morgan and his friends were in 
 the town. Men have taken heart again since the 
 coming back of Owen, for it was bad enough, as 
 you may suppose by what happened to me. So 
 I fled, and then Tregoz had me outlawed, with a 
 price on my head, so that, being well known, I had 
 to take to Exmoor and herd with others in the same 
 case. I knew that no weregild, as the Saxon calls 
 it, would be enough to save me from the Cornish- 
 man. There I was the one who could sell the 
 stolen goods across the water, being held in good 
 repute there, and I traded with the Norse strangers 
 who ferried me across. So it was that when 
 Owen came I was in Watchet, and there Tregoz 
 saw me and laid hands on me. Then he needed 
 men to carry out that which he would do, and 
 he had me forth and spoke to me, saying that 
 if I would manage the Quantock outlaws for him 
 he would forgive me and have me inlawed again. 
 I was to have been hanged that day, Thane, and 
 so you will see that I had no choice. Owen's 
 coming saved me then." 
 
 Evan was not the first man whom I had known 
 to be driven into evil ways by misfortune and 
 powerful enemies. I had little blame for him. A 
 man will do much to save his neck from the rope. 
 But this did not tell me how he knew the plans of 
 Tregoz after I set him free in Dyfed. 
 
 " Then you came back to the Cornishman after I 
 freed you ? " I asked.
 
 296 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " That I did not, Thane, for the best of reasons. 
 He would have hanged me at once if he were in 
 power, and I had not meant to let him set eyes 
 on me again in any case, for he was treacherous. 
 I came back round the head waters of the Severn, 
 through Wessex, where I was only a Weala, though, 
 indeed, that is almost the same as an outlaw there ; 
 and there, by reason of Cerent's seeking for me, 
 I changed my looks and watched for Tregoz, for I 
 found that he was yet about the place in hiding. 
 Thralls know and tell these things to men of their 
 own sort, though they seem to know nothing if you 
 ask them, Thane." 
 
 " Then you wrote the letters ? " 
 
 " I had them written by the old priest of 
 Combwich by the Parrett River, who will tell you 
 that he did so. I took them myself to the palaces 
 for you." 
 
 " And was it you who slew Tregoz ? " 
 
 " Ay, with that seax you gave me back at the 
 Caerau wolf's den. I heard that he had been 
 speaking with a sentry, and thereafter I followed 
 him and heard his plan. I saw him change arms 
 with the sentry, and presently I fell on him, but the 
 arrow had sped and I feared I was too late. I had to 
 cross the trench from the bushes where I was hidden." 
 
 " But the poisoning at Glastonbury ? How did 
 you know of that? 
 
 " Easy it was to know of, but less easy to prevent. 
 I lurked round Glastonbury until I saw the girl, and 
 knew that some fresh trouble was on hand for you. 
 I knew her, for I had seen to that at Norton, that I 
 might learn somewhat, if I could, while she attended
 
 AT HEREWALD'S GATE 297 
 
 on the lady, the daughter of Dunwal. She met 
 her master there once or twice with messages, 
 and it was by following her that I found his hiding 
 in the hills. It was not hard for me to get her 
 to tell me all that she had to do, for I made her 
 think that I was in the plotting. Then she found 
 it harder than had been expected to serve you, 
 for she was kept about the lady. So she asked me, 
 and I told her to wait. I thought she would most 
 likely lose her chance altogether, and maybe but for 
 your staying at the gate that day she would have 
 done so." 
 
 " It was not the first time that we have had half 
 the household outside serving a hunting party," I said. 
 
 " And each time I have been there, Thane, lest 
 this should happen. The girl told me that such 
 times were her only chance, and I said she had 
 better wait for such a one again. I knew that in 
 the open I could in some way spill the horn, so 
 that she would be helpless and harmless afterward. 
 Therefore I bade her not to try to harm you 
 in the house, for my own reasons, but told her 
 that it were safer for herself to wait for some 
 stirrup-cup chance, as it were. That day I saw 
 that it had come, and I cut a thorn from the nearest 
 bush and was ready. I could not reach the girl 
 to stumble against her." 
 
 I minded that Thorgils had said that this Evan 
 could beguile Loki himself with fair words, and 
 I could well believe it. But he did not do things 
 by halves when he set himself a task, and I felt 
 that but for him I should certainly have been a 
 victim to Mara, or to whom ? "
 
 298 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " Who wrought this plot ? Was it Mara, the 
 Cornish lady ? " 
 
 " I do not think so," he answered, shaking his 
 head. " There is one thing that the girl would 
 never tell me. In no wise could I get the name 
 of the one who gave her the poison. I do not 
 know where she fled to, but it is likely that it 
 was to that one." 
 
 " Some day you shall know how grateful I am 
 for this, Evan," I said. " Now I must go. Only 
 one thing more. Where do you sleep ? " 
 
 " Wheresoever I may, that I may be near you, 
 Thane. Now meet me to-morrow at this place, 
 and we will go to the lost valley. After that let 
 me serve you for good and all if I may. I can 
 do many things for you, and you had my life in 
 your hand and gave it back to me ; though indeed 
 I know that it was hard for you to do so, seeing 
 that a thane is sorely wronged by being bound 
 by such as I." 
 
 " I can give you little, Evan ; but I can, as I 
 have said, find you a place in the court, whence 
 you may rise." 
 
 " Let me serve you, Master," he said earnestly. 
 " I have served myself for long enough, and it 
 has not turned out well. If I please you not, I 
 will go where you bid me, but in anywise let me 
 
 try." 
 
 " As you will," I said. " I owe you well-nigh 
 aught you can ask, and this is little enough." 
 
 Then I shook hands with him and parted. It 
 was a strange meeting. 
 
 I went back to Howel with a mind that was full
 
 HOPES AND FEARS 299 
 
 of what I might find on the morrow, but with little 
 hope that there would be anything of sign that 
 Owen yet lived. Howel was growing anxious for 
 me as the darkness fell, and was glad to greet me, 
 and I suppose my face told him somewhat. 
 
 " Why," he said, as I stepped into the firelight 
 on the hearth of the little house, "what is this? 
 Have you heard news at last ? " 
 
 " I have found one who will take us to the lost 
 valley, but nothing more. I have heard nought 
 fresh, but that there was indeed a priest with the 
 men who took Owen away." 
 
 " Well, we guessed as much as that ; but I tell 
 you plainly, Oswald, that I fear what may be in 
 store for us in that place. Nona is not the girl to 
 fancy things, and I know that her dreams must 
 have been terrible to her. And then you also " 
 
 " I fear too," I said. " But I do not think that 
 anything will be worse than this long uncertainty. 
 Well, that is to be seen. Now I must tell you who 
 it is that is to guide us, and maybe you will say 
 that, it is a strange story enough. Have patience 
 until you hear all, however." 
 
 So I told him, beginning with the certainty that 
 I had had some friend at work for me, and then 
 telling him at last that I had found the man who 
 had indeed saved me from these two dangers, and 
 would also have saved Owen if he could. 
 
 " Why, how is it that he kept himself hidden all 
 the time ? " 
 
 " For good reason enough, in which you have 
 some share," I answered, laughing. " It is none 
 other than Evan the chapman."
 
 300 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " Evan ! How did he escape the Caerau wolves ? 
 I tell you that I had him tied up for them and 
 hard words from Nona did I get therefore when 
 she knew. I was ashamed of myself for the thing 
 afterwards, and on my word I am glad he got away. 
 But when I am wroth I wax hasty, and things go 
 hard with those who have angered me. But he 
 was a foe of yours." 
 
 " Laugh at me as you will," I said ; " I made him 
 my friend when I cut his bonds in your woods." 
 
 He stared at me in wonder, and I told him what 
 the hunting led to. And then I also told of what 
 had sent Evan among the outlaws, and how he 
 came to fall in with me. 
 
 " You are a better man than I, Oswald," he said 
 thoughtfully, when I ended. " I could not have let 
 him go. I am glad that you did it, and that for 
 other reasons than that the deed has turned out to 
 be of use." 
 
 Then he would hear more, and when it came to 
 the way in which Evan had beguiled the Welsh 
 servant he laughed. 
 
 " Surely he laid aside the squint when he made 
 up to her, else from your account he would not have 
 been welcome. But he could hardly have kept it 
 up, lest the wind should change and it should bide 
 with him, as the old women say. Well, I used to 
 like the man, and so did Nona, and it is good to 
 think that one was not so far wrong." 
 
 Now we thought that on the morrow we would 
 go with but half a dozen men to the valley, if that 
 would seem good to Evan. If he thought more 
 were needed it would be easy to call them to us
 
 BEGINNING THE SEARCH 301 
 
 from the place where we were to meet him ; and so 
 we slept as well as the thought of that search would 
 let us, and it was a long night to me. I think it 
 was so for Howel also, for once in the night he 
 stirred and spoke my name softly, and rinding that 
 I waked he said : " I know why that girl of Mara's 
 would not tell who set her on you. It is not like 
 a maid to be sparing with her mistress' secrets, 
 and Morfed is at the back of it. It is his work, 
 and he laid a curse on the girl if she told who sent 
 her. About the only thing that would keep her 
 quiet." 
 
 " Why would Morfed want to hurt me ? " 
 
 " Plain enough is that. If you were slain, Gerent 
 would hold Ina responsible for Owen's sake, and 
 Ina would blame Gerent, and there would be a 
 breach at the least in the peace that your bishop 
 has made." 
 
 Then we were silent, and presently sleep came 
 to me, until the first light crept into the house and 
 woke me. 
 
 In an hour we were riding across the hills with 
 Evan, for whom we had brought a horse, and there 
 were fifty men with us. We should leave them at 
 a place which Evan would show us, and so go on 
 with him without them. It was not so certain that 
 we might not run into the nest of the men who had 
 taken Owen, though this would surely not be in the 
 lost valley. 
 
 Many a long mile Evan led us into the hills north- 
 westward, and far beyond where I had yet been. 
 I cannot tell how far it was altogether, for the way 
 was winding, but I lost sight of all landmarks that
 
 302 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 I knew, and ever the bare hills grew barer and yet 
 more wild, and I could understand that there were 
 places where even the shepherds never went. At 
 first we saw one or two of these watching us from 
 a distance, but soon we passed into utter loneliness, 
 and nought but the cries of the nesting curlew which 
 we startled, and the wail of the plover round our 
 heads, broke the solemn stillness of the grey rocks 
 on every side. Even our men grew silent, and the 
 ring of sword on stirrup seemed too loud to be 
 natural at last. We were all fully armed, of course. 
 Then we came to a place where the hills drew 
 together, and doubled fold on fold under a cloud 
 of hanging mist that hid their heads, and as we 
 rode, once Evan pointed silently to a rock, and I 
 looked and saw strange markings on it that had 
 surely some meaning in them, though I could not 
 tell what it was. And when I looked at him 
 in question I saw that his face was growing pale 
 and anxious, so that I thought we must be near 
 the place which we sought. So it was, for after 
 we had left that stone some two score fathoms 
 behind us, as we passed up a narrow valley, there 
 opened out yet another, wilder and more narrow 
 still, and at its mouth he would have us leave the 
 men and go on with him. 
 
 Now, we had seen no man, but when it came to 
 this, Howel said 
 
 " By all right of caution, we should have an 
 outpost or two on those ridges. If we are going 
 into this place it will not do to be trapped there." 
 
 So without question Evan pointed out places 
 whence men could watch well enough against any
 
 TO THE LOST VALLEY 303 
 
 possible comers, but he told me that \ve were close 
 to the place we would see, and a call from our 
 horns would bring help at once if it were needed. 
 Howel sent men by twos to the hilltops, and the 
 rest dismounted and waited where we stayed them, 
 while we three went on together up the valley. I 
 bade one of the men give Evan his spear, for he 
 had none. Grey and warm it was there, for the 
 clouds hung overhead, and no breeze could find 
 its way into the depths of this place, and it was 
 very silent, but it was not the lost valley itself. 
 And now Howel, who had not yet so much as 
 seemed to know Evan, rode alongside him for a 
 moment, and spoke kindly to him, telling him that 
 he was glad of all that I had told him, and at last 
 asking him to forget that which he had done to 
 him in the woods of Dyfed. And that was much 
 for the proud prince to ask, as I think, and I held 
 him the more highly therefor in my mind. And 
 Evan replied by asking Howel to forget rather that 
 he had ever deserved death at his hands. 
 
 " It , shall be seen that I am not ungrateful to 
 the Thane, my master, hereafter if I may live after 
 seeing this place," he said. 
 
 " Is it so deadly, then ? " asked Howel, speaking 
 low in the hush of the valley. 
 
 " It is said that those who see it must die at 
 least, of us who ken the curse on it. I do not think 
 that it will harm you or the thane to see it, for you 
 are not of this land at all. I have known men 
 see this valley by mischance, and they have died 
 shortly, crying out on the terror thereof. Yet none 
 has ever told what he saw therein." 
 
 20
 
 304 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 Now it seemed to me that it was possible that 
 such men died of fear of what might be, as men who 
 think they are accursed, whether by witchcraft or 
 in other ways, will die, being killed by the trouble 
 on their minds, and so I said to Evan 
 
 " I will not take you into this place. Show us 
 the way, and I will go alone." 
 
 " No, Master," he said, in such wise that it was 
 plain that there was no turning him. " I am a 
 Christian man, and I will not let old heathen curses 
 hold me back, now that there is good reason why 
 I should stand in that place. I will not be afraid 
 thereof." 
 
 " Is the curse so old ? " I asked. 
 
 " Old beyond memory," he said. " As old as 
 what is in that place." 
 
 " As the menhir, therefore." 
 
 " I do not know that there is a menhir, Thane. 
 How know you ? " 
 
 I reined up, and told him shortly. It was only 
 fair that I should do so. Then he said 
 
 " The prince is dead, and maybe that he lies 
 there will end the curse. Come, we will see." 
 
 A few paces more, and suddenly the hillside 
 seemed to open in a ragged cleft that made another 
 branching valley into the heart of the left-hand 
 hillside, so deep that it seemed rather to sink down- 
 ward from the mouth than to rise as a valley ever 
 will. In all truth, none would ever have found that 
 place unless he sought for it with a guide. I had 
 not guessed that we were so near its entrance. I 
 looked round the hills, but from here I could see 
 not one of our men on their watch-posts, though
 
 IN THE MOORLAND DEPTHS 305 
 
 one would have thought that where they stood it 
 would have been impossible to lose sight of all. We 
 were almost at the head of the wider valley along 
 which we had ridden. 
 
 Now I had thought to be the leader into the lost 
 valley when we came to it, but this Evan would not 
 suffer. There was not room for us to ride abreast 
 into its depths, for the narrow bottom of the cleft 
 in the hills was littered with fallen boulders from 
 the steeps that bordered it, and through these we 
 had to pick our way. There was no path, nor was 
 it possible to trace any mark of the foot of man or 
 horse that might have been there before us, and 
 the valley turned almost in a half-circle, so that we 
 could see no distance before us. 
 
 Now, I know that Evan had a hard struggle with 
 his fears, but nevertheless, without drawing rein he 
 led on, only turning to me with one word that told 
 me that we had found the place ; and as he turned 
 I saw that his face was ashy pale, and as he rode 
 on he crossed himself again and again, and his lips 
 moved in prayer. 
 
 Down the long curve of the valley we rode, and 
 it ever narrowed under rocky hills that grew at last 
 to cliffs, and I knew that this must be but the bed 
 of a raging torrent in the winter, for the stones that 
 rattled under the horse-hoofs were rounded, and here 
 and there were pools of clear water among them. 
 Any moment now might set us face to face with 
 what I longed to see. 
 
 And when I saw Evan, ten paces ahead of me, 
 straighten himself in the saddle as if he would 
 guard a blow from his face, and draw rein, I knew
 
 306 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 that we were there, and I rode to his side and 
 looked. 
 
 Suddenly the valley had ended in the place which 
 I had seen in my vision a rugged circle of cliffs, 
 in whose only outlet, to all seeming, we stood. 
 And in the midst of that circle was the pool of still, 
 black water, and across that towered the tall menhir 
 from a green bank on which it stood facing me. 
 All round the pool was green grass, bright with the 
 treacherous greenness that tells of deep bog beneath 
 it, and then fair turf, and beyond the turf the rocky 
 scree from the cliffs again. The menhir was full 
 thrice a man's height. 
 
 It was even as I had seen it. I knew every rock 
 and patch of green, and the very outline of the edge 
 of the beetling crags that had been so plain to me 
 in the dream-light ere Owen called me. But I did 
 not heed these things at the first. My eyes went 
 to the place where Nona the princess had seen the 
 sword in the long grass on the hither side of the 
 pool's edge, but I could not see it now. Then I 
 must ride forward and search for it, and at that 
 time Howel was close to me, and together we rode 
 yet a little farther into the circle that the cliffs made, 
 and as we drew closer to the edge of the pool I 
 scanned every inch of the ground, seeking the sword 
 which it seemed impossible that I should not find. 
 
 " It has gone," said Howel in a hushed voice. 
 
 And at that moment I saw a sparkle among the 
 new grass at the very edge of the bog that sur- 
 rounded the pool, and I threw the reins to the 
 prince and sprang from my horse and went toward 
 it. The light was very dull here, though it was
 
 A SPARKLE BY THE POOL 307 
 
 nigh midday now, and indeed so high and over- 
 hanging were the cliffs that I do not think the sun 
 ever reached the surface of the pool, save at this 
 high midsummer, and then but as it passed athwart 
 the narrow entrance, which faced south. Then it 
 would send its rays across the pool full on the face 
 of the menhir, as it seemed. 
 
 So I could see nought again until I was close to 
 the spot whence the spark shone, and then I caught 
 it once more, and hastily I cleared aside the rank 
 grass with my spear butt, and lo ! even as she had 
 seen it in dreams the sword of Owen was there, and 
 it was the gleam from the gem in its hilt, which no 
 damp could dim, which had caught my eye. But 
 a little while longer and we should never have seen 
 even that, for the weapon was slowly sinking into 
 the bog in which its scabbard point had been set, 
 and even as I stepped forward a pace to reach it 
 the black ooze rose round my foot, and Evan, who 
 was behind me, caught my hand and pulled me 
 back from its edge. Then I turned with the sword 
 in my hand, and I saw that his face had found its 
 colour again, and that his fears had left him, for 
 he had looked on the valley of the mighty curse 
 and yet lived. His horse was at his side, and he 
 had sprung to help me, but I hardly heeded him, 
 for I had what I sought in my hand, and I held 
 it up to Hovvel without a word, and a sort of fresh 
 hope began to rise in my heart. Owen might not 
 be so far from us. 
 
 " How came it there ? " Howel said, wondering. 
 
 " Who can tell," I answered, turning over many 
 possibilities in my mind.
 
 3 o8 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " One thing is certain," Evan said, " no man set 
 it in that place meaningly, for there he must have 
 known that it would be whelmed soon or late." 
 
 " Nor could it have been dropped there," I an- 
 swered. " None would go so near the edge of the 
 bog. It was surely thrown there. One thought to 
 hurl it into the pool. Yet if so he could have done 
 it, or would have tried again." 
 
 " Come, let us search the place," said Howel. 
 
 I hung the sword to my saddle-bow, while Evan 
 took the horses. The leather scabbard was black 
 with the bog water of the turf where it had been 
 set, but the blade within it was yet bright and keen. 
 Then I and the prince together walked slowly round 
 the edge of the black pool on the broad stretch of 
 grass between the bog around it and the loosely 
 piled stones of the cliffs' foot. Here and there even 
 this turf shook to our tread, as if it too were under- 
 mined with bog, and we went warily, therefore, wish- 
 ing that we had not left our spears by the horses. 
 
 " One would call such a place as this ' the devil's 
 cauldron ' in our land," said Howel. " I mislike it 
 altogether." 
 
 Then he sprang back with a start, and clutched 
 my arm and pointed to the ground at his feet. 
 The skull of a man grinned up at us, half sunk in 
 the green turf, and the ends of ribs shewed how he 
 to whom it had belonged lay. There went a cold 
 chill through me as I looked ; but I saw that the 
 bones were old, very old. They had nought to do 
 with our trouble, and what had been to others about 
 the loss of him who had died here was long past 
 and forgotten, or amended. But for the sake of
 
 BEYOND THE MENHIR 309 
 
 what had been I was fain to unhelm for a moment 
 as we stepped past them. 
 
 So we went on silently until we were half-way 
 to the menhir, and then we saw that there was yet 
 another way into this place, for across the water a 
 jutting wall of rock had hidden a gorge that had 
 surely been cleft by water, for down it came a little 
 stream that seemed to sink into the turf so soon as 
 it reached it. 
 
 " That is what fills the pool," said I, " and it must 
 find its way hence underground like the stream at 
 Cheddar. The pool may be fathomless. I would 
 that I could look into its depths." 
 
 " What may not be in yonder gorge ? " said Howel. 
 " We must go and see." 
 
 So we came to the menhir's foot, and though the 
 bog came almost to it there was yet a little mound 
 of turf on which it stood, and I went to that to see 
 if thence I could peer deeper into the dark water, 
 but I could not. 
 
 " Come," Howel said, " it is midday, and I for 
 one would not be on these hills on Midsummer Eve. 
 Call me heathenish if you like, but this is an un- 
 lucky night whereon to walk in the haunts of the 
 good folk." 
 
 I had forgotten that so it was, and even now I 
 only smiled at the prince, for my mind was full of 
 other things as I followed him toward the glen 
 whence the stream came. And now I was sure 
 that here was growing more clearly a trace as of a 
 seldom trodden path toward its mouth. We passed 
 a great flat rock, whereon were strange markings 
 and a hollowed basin, which stood behind the
 
 310 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 menhir near the cliff, and to this the path led, but 
 not beyond, from the glen. Now we were almost 
 in the opening, when both of us stopped and looked 
 at one another. Surely there were footsteps coming 
 among the rocks of the water-course before us. 
 Steep and crooked as this was, we could hear them, 
 though as yet if it were a man or men who came 
 we could not see. I pulled the prince back into 
 cover, where the rocks hid us from any one who 
 came down the stream, and I loosened my sword in 
 its sheath, for I could not be so sure that it might 
 not be sorely needed. The rattle of stones came 
 nearer, and I saw Evan hurrying to us. He also 
 had heard, and he had made shift to tie the horses 
 to some point of rock, and he ran with our spears 
 in his hand to join us. 
 
 " Get to the other side of the pool, Thane," he 
 said. "It may be the band of men who wrought 
 the burning." 
 
 " No," I answered. " Listen. Maybe there are 
 three or four men, not more. I want to take one 
 if I can. He shall tell me all he knows of this 
 place." 
 
 For I had made up my mind that one who would 
 come here freely must needs be of those who had 
 brought Owen. 
 
 Then from the narrow portal of the glen passed 
 quickly, looking neither to the right nor left, a tall 
 man, followed by two others, and they seemed not 
 to see us, but went straight toward the menhir along 
 that path I thought I had traced, and Howel and I 
 stared at them, speechless and motionless, for the 
 like of them we had never seen. As for Evan,
 
 MORFED THE DRUID 311 
 
 he reeled against the rock, and stared after them, 
 clutching it with both hands, so that his spear fell 
 rattling along the rocks. 
 
 " The Druids ! " he gasped. " We are dead men." 
 
 At the sharp rattle the leader of the three men 
 turned, and I knew him. He was clad in a wonder- 
 ful gold and white robe that swept the ground, 
 priestlike, but not that of any Christian, and his 
 hair was bound with a golden fillet with which oak 
 leaves were twisted, and in his ears were large 
 earrings. On his bare right arm was a coiled golden 
 bracelet, and a heavy golden torque was round his 
 neck, and a great golden brooch knit up the folds 
 of his flowing white cloak on his right shoulder. 
 But for all this strange dress I knew him, and he 
 was Morfed the priest, and I heard Howel mutter 
 the name also. Then a word from Morfed caused 
 the other two to turn, and they saw us, and there 
 flashed from under their robes which were like 
 those of their leader, save for golden ornaments a 
 long knife in the hand of each, and they made as 
 if to fly on us. 
 
 Morfed held up his hand, and they stayed, glaring 
 at us. I listened for the coming of more of his 
 followers down the water-course, but I heard none. 
 
 Then Morfed spoke a word or two to his men, and 
 came toward us, leaving them standing where they 
 were, some twenty paces or less behind him, and as 
 he came his pale face shewed no sort of feeling 
 of any kind. His strange bright eyes seemed to 
 look past us, as if we were but stones at the path 
 side. 
 
 " So it is the Saxon," he said, staying close before
 
 312 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 us. " Well, I have waited for you, if I did not look 
 to see you here. And this is Howel of Dyfed. 
 Surely a Briton knows that to break in on the rites 
 of the Druid is death ? But Howel ever was rash. 
 And this is the outlaw. It is a true saying that he 
 who sees this place shall die, Evan." 
 
 Then said Howel boldly : " Briton I am, and 
 therefore I know that the rites of the Druid are 
 banned by Holy Church. Wherefore does one of 
 her priests come in this heathen robe to such a place 
 as this on the eve of midsummer ? " 
 
 " Seeing that none but the initiated may know what 
 truth the ancient faith holds, it is not for you to say 
 that this is heathenry, Prince," Morfed answered 
 more quietly than I expected. " Ask yon Saxon if 
 his Yule-feast is less sacred to him now because it is 
 not so long since that it was Woden's. Is to-morrow 
 less Midsummer Day because it is the day of St. 
 John ? Hold your peace thereon, and go hence 
 while I suffer you." 
 
 At that I glanced at the mouth of the valley 
 whence we came, half looking to see it blocked by 
 men, but it was not. There was nothing to stay us 
 three armed men in this place, with but three against 
 us, and they well-nigh defenceless. Morfed saw that 
 glance and laughed. 
 
 " The Druid has other arms than those of steel," 
 he said, and he drew slowly from the wide cincture 
 round his waist a little golden sickle and balanced it 
 in his hand before me, flashing it to and fro. 
 
 Now I was sure that he was crazed in all truth, 
 and I would speak him fair that I might learn what 
 he would tell me. Howel was silent, seeming to
 
 ON MIDSUMMER EVE 313 
 
 look curiously at the golden toy in the priest's hand, 
 as it shifted restlessly backward and forward. 
 
 " We have come hither to pry into no ancient rites, 
 Morfed," I said. " Tell me what you know of Owen 
 the prince, my foster-father, and we will go hence. 
 I have seen that which tells me that he is near, but 
 there are yet things that I must learn of how he came 
 and where he lies." 
 
 But Morfed seemed to heed me not at all as I 
 spoke. Only, he kept moving the little sickle which 
 Howel watched, and its glancings drew my eyes to 
 it in spite of myself, for overhead the sky was 
 clearing somewhat and the sun was trying to break 
 through, and the gold shone brightly. 
 
 " Midday," muttered the priest, " nigh midday, and 
 what is to be done against the morrow must be done, 
 else will the tale of many a thousand years be 
 marred, and by me. Lo ! the sun comes, and time 
 passes swiftly." 
 
 The sun did indeed shine out now as some cloud 
 passed, and I saw that its rays came slanting through 
 the gap in the cliffs across the pool, passing the 
 menhir without lighting on it, but falling now on 
 the flat rock that was behind it, though not fully 
 yet. Half thereof was still in the shadow thrown by 
 the hills. 
 
 Morfed glanced at that shadow, and his face 
 changed, for I think that he knew the time for some 
 midday rite which we might not see was near, and 
 at that he seemed to make some resolve. He did 
 not turn from us, but he lifted his voice in a strange 
 chant, and said somewhat in Welsh that I could not 
 understand, and as they heard it his two followers
 
 3H A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 placed themselves on either side of the flat rock 
 three paces behind him, and stood motionless. Then 
 Morfed lifted his arm and began to sing softly, 
 swinging the sickle in time to the song, with his 
 eyes on us. 
 
 I thought that maybe he would sing to us the 
 end of Owen, as would Thorgils, but the tongue in 
 which the words were spoken was not the Welsh 
 that I knew. I think now that it was the tongue of 
 the men who reared the menhir, and that which was 
 the mother of the tongue of Howel and Cerent alike. 
 It was an uncanny song, and I waxed uneasy as it 
 went on, and the flashing sickle waved more quickly 
 before my eyes. 
 
 Soon the murmur of the song seemed to get into 
 my brain, as it were, and the sparkle of the gold in 
 the sunlight wove itself into strange circles of light 
 before my eyes, widening and narrowing in mystic 
 curves that dazzled me, until at last I would look no 
 longer, and with an effort I turned my head and 
 glanced at Howel to ask if this foolishness should 
 not be ended. 
 
 But he shook his head. 
 
 " Let him be," he said in a whisper. " It is ill to 
 anger a crazed man. Surely he will tell what we 
 need soon." 
 
 But beside him Evan seemed to be shrinking as 
 in terror. I suppose the Briton has old memories of 
 the Druids of past days which yet bid him fear them. 
 
 " Hearken to me, and heed them not," sang Morfed 
 in words that I could understand. " Hearken, for 
 you have much to learn." 
 
 That was true, and I turned to him. I supposed
 
 SAXON AND BRITON 315 
 
 that he was in truth about to speak to me as I 
 would, and straightway the look of Morfed was on 
 my face, and the song went back to [its old burden, 
 and the flashing sickle held my eyes with its circling, 
 and I knew that if I looked long I also must pass as 
 it were from myself, as had those two, and I wrenched 
 my eyes from him. 
 
 Then a movement on the stone caught my gaze, 
 and I saw that the two men yet stood motionless, 
 but across the sunlit patch which had crept nearer 
 the centre where the hollowed bowl was, a great 
 adder, greater than any I had ever seen, thick and 
 spade - headed, had coiled itself in shining folds 
 peaceably and seeming not to heed the men. Only 
 its head was raised a little, and it swayed as in time 
 to the chant of the priest, while the long forked 
 tongue flickered forth now and then restlessly. 
 
 But Morfed went on with his song and his waving, 
 seeming to try to draw my look back to him, and I 
 noted, as I glanced again at him, that a shade of 
 doubt crossed his face, and at that a new thought 
 came to me. Maybe if he saw that I feared him 
 not he would speak. So I looked in his eyes and 
 bade him be silent and hearken to what I said to 
 him. 
 
 Some wave of anger flushed his face then, and he 
 drew a pace nearer to me, but he was not silent, and 
 the waving sickle was not still. Neither of these 
 things troubled me any longer, and I looked past 
 them, in such wise that he might see that I meant 
 him to obey me, even as one will look at a sullen 
 thrall who delays to carry out an order given. A 
 captain of warriors will know what signs to watch for
 
 316 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 in a man's face well enough, and slowly and at last 
 I saw the look for which I waited steal across the 
 face of the man before me, and then I raised my 
 hand and said : " Be still, and answer me." 
 
 The song stopped, and the lifted sickle sank with 
 the hand that held it, and the eyes of Morfed left 
 mine and sought the ground. 
 
 " What will you ? " he said. " Let me go, for it is 
 time." 
 
 ' When you have answered," I said sternly. " Tell 
 me, where is Owen ? " 
 
 " In yonder pool," he said, as a child will answer 
 its teacher. 
 
 But if he answered as a child, his face was sullen 
 as of a child that is minded to rebel, and I knew 
 that he would try not to tell me aught. 
 
 " You lie," I said coldly. " Neither Christian 
 priest nor Druid would dare set a prince of Cornwall 
 in an unhallowed grave. Tell me the truth." 
 
 " Ay, I lied," he said, speaking in a strange voice 
 that seemed to come from him against his will. 
 And then he spoke quickly, without faltering or 
 excuse. " I led the men who should slay the 
 despiser of the faith of his youth and friend of the 
 Saxon, and we came to the house and destroyed it, 
 but they slew him not. Sorely wounded he was, 
 and yet they would not do my bidding and make 
 an end, but murmured at me. Then they bore him 
 away into the hills, saying that they would heal him 
 of his hurts and thereafter win his pardon, for he 
 was ever forgiving, and it is true that I told them 
 not who it was they were to slay. I said that it 
 was Oswald the Saxon, who slew Morgan, and they
 
 MIDDAY BY THE MENHIR 317 
 
 were glad. I do not know how it has come to 
 pass that you are here. I hate you." 
 
 " Speak on, Morfed," I said, for he had stayed his 
 words on that, and I bent all my mind into that 
 command as it were, so that he knew that I meant 
 to be his master in this. 
 
 " Why should I not speak," he said dully. " Let 
 me end quickly. Ay, I went with them, thinking 
 that he would die on the way, for he was sorely 
 wounded, and I mocked them and threatened them 
 in vain. I led them to this place, and when they 
 knew it they fled, and left him to me. Wherefore I 
 brought him here, that I might see him die I and 
 these two carried him on the litter 'the men made. 
 Then will I bury him in no hallowed grave, for I 
 myself spoke the uttermost ban of Holy Church 
 against him, for that he had herded with the men of 
 the Saxons who follow Canterbury, and has wrought 
 for peace with them." 
 
 Then I knew at last that Owen was not dead, 
 and I think that in my gladness I lost my hold on 
 Morfed, as it were, for I half forgot him. And at 
 that moment there came a little cry from one of the 
 men who waited by the flat altar stone, and both of 
 them looked to Morfed for some command, as if a 
 time had come. The stone was in full light now, 
 and I noted that the shadow of the menhir was 
 creeping toward its base, but not yet quite pointing to 
 it. But Morfed did not answer the cry, and the great 
 adder, roused by it, moved restlessly in its coils, 
 darting its long forked tongue into the hollow of the 
 stone as if it sought somewhat. That one of the men 
 who seemed the younger took from under his robe
 
 318 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 a golden flask and poured what looked like milk 
 into the hollow, and the creature lowered its head 
 and lapped it thence. 
 
 At that cry Morfed started and half turned. But 
 I had more to ask him, and I spoke sternly. 
 Behind me was a rattle of arms, as if Howel would 
 have stayed him. 
 
 " Morfed," I said, " you have yet to tell me where 
 Owen, the prince, is hidden. If you would finish 
 what you are about here, tell me straightway, or bid 
 one of these men shew me, or we will stay all this 
 wizardry." 
 
 Maybe I spoke more boldly than I felt, for indeed 
 the whole business and the place made all seem un- 
 canny. I know that my comrades feared it all. 
 
 But now Morfed heeded my word no longer. 
 Slowly at last he turned away, and now he must 
 needs look back toward the altar stone and the 
 menhir in turning, and the sight of them seemed to 
 bring to his mind what work he had here, so that in 
 a moment I was forgotten, and he sprang past me 
 toward his attendants, one of whom was pointing 
 silently, but with a white face, to the shadow of the 
 menhir. And I saw that now it touched the stone 
 and crept up on its surface for an inch or less. 
 
 I suppose that to-morrow that shadow would be 
 so much shorter, and would not lie on the flat top 
 of the stone at all. Then for a little space the sun 
 would seem to one at the back of the altar to stand 
 on the menhir's top, while all the stone and the 
 bowl where the adder lay was in full light, even as 
 men say the sun seems to stand on the great stone 
 of Stonehenge on Midsummer Day at its rising. I
 
 A BROKEN RITE 319 
 
 had seen that wonder once, and this minded me 
 of it. 
 
 But what Morfed saw told him that midday had 
 come and was passing ; and all that meant to him, 
 beyond that the time for some rite had been for- 
 gotten, I cannot tell. There came from his lips a 
 cry that was of terror and of sorrow as I thought, 
 and the adder lifted its head from its lapping and 
 coiled itself menacingly. 
 
 He did not heed the creature, but threw abroad 
 his hands sunwards, and began to speak hurriedly in 
 that tongue which I could not follow; and as his 
 words went on the faces of his men grew haggard, 
 and one of them wept openly. The younger threw 
 the golden vessel he had in his hand into the pool, 
 and turned on me a look of the most terrible hate, 
 and his hand stole under his robes as if he sought 
 the knife I had seen him draw when they first came. 
 
 Now Howel and Evan were beside me, wonder- 
 ing, but spear in hand, and I was glad. There was 
 more than enmity in the look of these men, and one 
 to three has little chance. Whatever strange fears 
 my friends had felt passed with the sight of danger. 
 
 But while Morfed spoke his followers were still, 
 listening to him intently, until at last he seemed to 
 dismiss them ; and then they turned from him with 
 a strange deep reverence, and folded their hands on 
 their breasts, and came past where we stood, not 
 looking at us, but with their eyes on the ground as 
 if they were going back, up the water-course whence 
 they came. And at that I thought they might be 
 going to where Owen was, and that they would 
 harm him. 
 
 21
 
 320 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " Quick, Evan," I said ; " follow them. See where 
 they go." 
 
 " Ay, follow them," said Morfed. " Now I care 
 not what befalls." 
 
 And with that he raised his voice and called 
 somewhat to the men, and they quickened their 
 pace into the glen. I did not understand what they 
 said in return, but somewhat in the words of the 
 ancient tongue they spoke was more plain to Howel, 
 and he cried to me hastily, hurrying after Evan. 
 
 " Guard you the priest here, and beware of him ! " 
 
 Then he dashed up the water-course into which 
 Evan had already disappeared, and I heard the feet 
 of the four on the loose stone as they climbed upward. 
 I had almost a mind to follow them, for I thought 
 that their way led to Owen, but I dared not leave 
 Morfed to go elsewhere. This might only be a 
 plan to lead us astray.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 HOW OSWALD FOUND WHAT HE SOUGHT, AND 
 RODE HOMEWARD WITH NONA THE PRINCESS 
 
 So I was left with Morfed the priest, and he did not 
 offer to follow his men, but stood and faced me with 
 eyes that gleamed with the fire of wrath or madness, 
 or both. We waited, both of us, as I think, to hear 
 if any sound beyond the lessening foot-falls came 
 from the water-course, but they died away upward, 
 and there was still no word between us. Then I 
 thought that I would try one more plan with him. 
 
 " Morfed," I said, " take me to Owen, and I will 
 pledge my word that Cerent shall seek no revenge 
 for what has been done by you." 
 
 " What I have done ! " he broke out. " I sought 
 to rid the land of a foe, and that was a deed worth 
 doing. Know you what you have done ? Through 
 you is ended the tale of many a thousand years. 
 The time is past when I, the priest and Archdruid 
 of this poor land, should have done what has been 
 done, since time untold, without fail, against to- 
 morrow's rites. That day, therefore, through you 
 shall be unobserved. It is strange that a mere 
 Saxon warrior, with no thought beyond his feasting 
 and fighting, should set his will against mine and 
 
 321
 
 322 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 prove the stronger. Now I wit well that this is 
 some fated day, and that herein lies some omen of 
 what shall be." 
 
 Then he turned a little from me, and looked at 
 the shadow which had passed altogether from the 
 altar stone now, and half to himself he said 
 
 " I had thought that this menhir had fallen when 
 this came to pass. But maybe the old prophecy 
 meant that not until it fell we must cease our rites. 
 But that was not how we read the words of old 
 time. If we read them wrong, what else have we 
 mistaken ? " 
 
 " Morfed," I broke in on his musings, " end this 
 idle talk, and tell me of Owen. Then I will go 
 hence and leave you to work what you will here. I 
 had no wish to disturb your rites, whatsoever they 
 were. If aught has happened amiss, it was your own 
 fault, not mine. Your own deed brought me here." 
 
 But he paid not the least heed to me, and yet I 
 thought that he tried to put me off, as it were, by 
 seeming wrapt in thoughts. 
 
 " Surely it should have fallen on this day that sees 
 the end, even as runs the ancient prophecy 
 
 When the pool shall whelm the stone, 
 Druid rite and chant are done.' 
 
 But it has not fallen, and the end is not yet. But 
 what shall amend this fault ? " 
 
 I had listened for some sound from Howel and 
 Evan, but since the footsteps passed up the glen I 
 had heard none until this moment. Then came one 
 cry from far upward, and silence thereafter. Morfed 
 heard it and looked up, setting at the same time his 
 hand on the edge of the altar stone.
 
 ATONEMENT 323 
 
 The golden sickle flashed as he did so, and at 
 that, swift as the flash itself, the adder stiffened its 
 coils, and its head flew back, baring the long fangs, 
 and twice it struck the hand deeply. 
 
 " I am answered," Morfed said quietly. " My life 
 shall amend." 
 
 But he never moved his hand, and the adder 
 swiftly slid from off the stone and sought some 
 hiding-place in the loose rocks at the cliff foot, and 
 the priest watched it go, motionless. 
 
 " Look you, Saxon," he said, lifting his eyes to 
 me ; " now I must die, and with me ends the line of 
 the Druids of this land of the olden faith. Yonder 
 in the Cymric land beyond the narrow sea whence 
 Howel came it shall not be lost. The hills shall 
 keep it, and there the slow mind of the Saxon shall 
 not slay the old powers as you have slain them in 
 me. Now I know that nought but the power of the 
 cross shall avail on such minds as yours, for the lore 
 of the older days is not for you. See ! This is an 
 end, and now you in your simpleness shall do one 
 last thing for me." 
 
 I saw that the hand which yet rested on the altar 
 was swelling already, and was waxing fiery red with 
 four black marks where the fangs struck it. And I 
 had a sort of pity for him, seeing him bear this, 
 which he deemed his punishment, bravely. Still, he 
 had answered nothing as to where Owen was. 
 
 " Morfed," I said, therefore " if it is indeed the 
 last hour for you, make amends for another ill by 
 telling me where Owen is, and I will do what you 
 ask me, if it is what I may do honestly and as a 
 Christian."
 
 324 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " Grave me a cross on yonder menhir in token that 
 the days of the Druid are numbered," he said softly, 
 sitting down on the stone with his head bowed, as if 
 in deadly faintness. 
 
 Two steps took me to the menhir, and I drew my 
 seax that I might do as he asked me. It was a 
 little thing, and Christian, and I thought that maybe 
 he had come to himself from the madness of which 
 men spoke. Yet though it seemed long that Howel 
 was away, and I longed to follow him, I dared not 
 leave this man, seeing that for all I knew Owen was 
 somewhere close at hand, and it was not to be 
 known what this priest might do in his despair. 
 Howel and Evan might be following the men yet 
 into some hiding-place. 
 
 I set the point of my weapon to the stone and 
 went to work, graving the upright stem of the cross 
 first, thinking that Morfed would speak when he saw 
 that I was indeed doing as he asked me. The stone 
 was softer than I expected, and surely was not of 
 the granite of the cliffs around, but had been brought 
 from far, else I could not have marked it at all. 
 Yet I had to lean heavily on my seax as I cut, and 
 it was no light task, as I stood sidewise that I 
 might not lose sight of Morfed, 
 
 " I die," he said presently. " There will be none 
 left who may bring back the ancient secrets hither 
 from the land of the Cymro. See, this is an end." 
 
 He rose up, staggering a little, and cast the golden 
 sickle from him into the pool with a light eddying 
 splash, as if it skimmed the surface ere it sank, but I 
 did not look at it, and that was well for me. I saw 
 his hand fly to his breast, as the hands of his men
 
 "HIS BLIND RUSH CARRIED HIM AGAINST THE MENHIR." 
 
 P- 3=5.
 
 WHEN THE MENHIR FALLS 325 
 
 had gone for their weapons when they first saw us, 
 and I knew what was coming. 
 
 Hardly had the golden toy touched the water 
 when out flashed a long dagger from his robes, and 
 he flew on me, thinking, no doubt, that I must needs 
 turn my head to watch the fall of his sickle, and I 
 was ready for him. He was no warrior, and his 
 hand was too high, but he was a priest, and on him 
 I would not use my weapon. I swung aside from him, 
 striking up his arm, and his blind rush carried him 
 against the menhir, so that the blow which was 
 meant for me fell thereon, scoring the stone deeply ; 
 and lo ! his own hand ended with that blow what I 
 had begun, marking the cross-beam I had yet to 
 make, so that the holy sign was complete. 
 
 And I saw that in a flash, even as he reeled back 
 from the menhir and staggered. His foot splashed 
 into the ooze of the bank and went down ; and with 
 that he lost his footing altogether and fell headlong 
 into the pool, swaying as he went, across the front 
 of the menhir. 
 
 Now there was a shout and the sound of hurrying 
 footsteps behind me, but it was Howel's voice, and I 
 did not turn. I leaned on the menhir to try to 
 catch the white robes that swirled below me, and 
 then I felt a heave and quaking in the turf on which 
 I knelt as I reached over the black water, and Howel 
 cried out and dragged me back roughly for a long 
 fathom. 
 
 The menhir was falling. Slowly at first, and then 
 more swiftly, it bent forward over the pool, and then 
 it gathered way suddenly, and with a mighty crash 
 it fell with all its towering height across it and
 
 326 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 across the last flash of the white robes of the man 
 who yet struggled therein. 
 
 For a moment the cross looked skyward, and then 
 the wave swept over the stone, and it was gone into 
 the unknown depths that maybe held so many 
 secrets of the strange rites of those who had reared 
 it. Only where its foot had been planted was a pit 
 to shew that somewhat had been there, and that was 
 slowly filling with the black bog which had under- 
 mined the stone at last. The old prophecy had 
 come to pass, and there was indeed an end. 
 
 But I saw for a moment into that pit before it 
 was filled, and in it was laid open as it were a great 
 stone chest, where the base of the menhir had been 
 to cover it, and in that were skulls and bones of 
 men, and among them the dull gleam of ancient 
 gold and flint. 
 
 The wild tumult of the water died away, and the 
 ripples came, and then the pool was glassy as before, 
 but there was no sign of movement in it, and now it 
 was clear no longer. And still Howel and I stared 
 silently at that place whence the great stone had 
 passed like a dream. 
 
 " Nona saw it troubled," Howel said at last. 
 
 But I answered what was in my mind, with a sort 
 of despair 
 
 " He never told me where Owen lies." 
 
 " But I think we have found him, or nearly," Howel 
 answered. " Come with me. This is no place for us 
 to bide in. Did you hear those voices ? " 
 
 I had heard the echoes from the rocks after the 
 great crash, and they were strange and wild enough, 
 but I heard nothing more.
 
 OUT OF THE VALLEY 327 
 
 " I heard one shout some time since," I said, 
 rising up from where I still sat as Howel had left me. 
 
 " Nay, but the wailing when the stone fell," he 
 said. " Wailing from all around. Wailing as of the 
 lost. Come hence, Oswald." 
 
 I do not know if the man of the more ancient 
 race heard more than I, mingled with those wild 
 echoes, but I know that Howel the prince feared 
 little. Now he was afraid, even in the bright 
 sunlight, and owned it. 
 
 But the first shock had passed from me, and I 
 looked for our horses. They had gone. I think 
 that the fall of the menhir scared them, for they 
 were yet tied where Evan left them, just before that. 
 
 " Howel, the horses have broken loose and gone," 
 I cried. 
 
 " Let them be," he said ; " they will but go to the 
 men down the valley, and will be caught there. 
 Come, we must get hence." 
 
 He fairly dragged me with him towards the glen, 
 and , it was not until we were out of the circle of 
 cliffs round the pool and picking our way among the 
 boulders of the water-course, that he spoke again. 
 
 " That is better," he said, " one can breathe here. 
 I do riot care if I never set eyes on that place again, 
 and indeed I hope we need not. Now we have to 
 find Owen as quickly as we may." 
 
 " What of the two men ? " 
 
 " One turned on us, and we slew him perforce. 
 The other Evan has tied up safely, though it took 
 us all our time to catch him. I left Evan trying to 
 make him speak." 
 
 I wondered in what way he was trying, but the
 
 328 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 path grew steeper and steeper, and the plash of 
 water falling among the stones made it hard to hear. 
 We went on and on, ever upward, until the walls of 
 the narrow glen widened, and at last we were on a 
 barren hillside, across which the little stream found 
 its way in a belt of green grass and fern and bog 
 from farther heights yet, and there I looked for 
 Evan. The path reappeared here again, and it went 
 slanting across the hill and over its shoulder, hardly 
 more than a sheep track as it was. And here lay 
 the body of the slain man. 
 
 " Over the hill-crest," Howel said, noting my look 
 around. " The man ran across this track. Did you 
 hear what Morfed said to them ? " 
 
 " No, I heard him call, of course, but his tongue 
 is unknown to me." 
 
 " It was the ancient British, I think. I heard a 
 word or two here and there, but few of those we use 
 yet. I heard more that are written in our oldest 
 writings, and few enough of them. But what he 
 said to his men was plain enough, happily. He bade 
 them kill the captive to amend the wrong done. I 
 do not know what the wrong was." 
 
 I knew then that Owen had had a narrow escape, 
 and but for the fleetness of foot of Evan he would 
 surely have been slain. I told Howel of what had 
 passed while he was absent, and so we came to 
 the hilltop, and I saw a little below me the white 
 robes of the captive, and Evan sitting by him, rest- 
 ing on his spear. He rose up as we came to him. 
 
 " Has he spoken, Evan ? " I said. 
 
 " Ay, Master," he answered, with a grin that 
 minded me of other days with him. " He says he
 
 THE LAST DRUID 329 
 
 will take us to the place where Owen lies, if we will 
 promise to spare his life." 
 
 " We will promise that," I answered. " We will let 
 him go his own way after we have seen all that we 
 need." 
 
 " Let me rise, then," the man said quietly. " I will 
 shew you all." 
 
 " Do not untie his hands, Evan, but let him walk," 
 I said. " He is not to be trusted, if he is like his 
 master." 
 
 It was the elder of the two whom we had before 
 us, and he seemed downcast and harmless enough as 
 we let him rise, though he was unhurt. He had run 
 on while the younger turned to stay the pursuers, 
 but Evan had caught him. He led us along the 
 path, which I suppose his own feet and those of 
 Morfed had worn, unless it was old as the menhir 
 itself, and on the way he said suddenly 
 
 " Let me ask one thing of you. Has the menhir 
 fallen ? " 
 
 " Ay, with the cross graven on it," I answered ; 
 and my words checked a laugh that was on Evan's 
 lips. 
 
 " I knew it. I heard the crash," the man said. 
 " That is an end therefore." 
 
 But Howel told the whole story as he had seen 
 it take place, from the time when Morfed flew 
 at me, to the time when the waters were still 
 again ; and as he heard, the man clenched his hands 
 and bowed his head and went on quickly, as if 
 that would prevent his hearing. After that he said 
 nothing. 
 
 Then the path took us round the shoulder of a
 
 330 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 hill, and before us was a rocky platform on the sun- 
 ward slope which went steeply down to another 
 brook far below us. Far and wide from that plat- 
 form one could see over the heads of three streams, 
 and across three hill-peaks that were right before us, 
 and at the back of the level place was a great 
 cromlech made of one vast flat stone reared on three 
 others that were set in a triangle to uphold it. 
 Seven good feet from the ground its top was, and 
 each of the three supporting stones was some twelve 
 feet long, so that it was like a house for space 
 within, and the two foremost stones were apart as a 
 doorway. And again beyond the cromlech was a 
 hut, shaped like a beehive of straw, built of many 
 stones most wonderfully, both walls and roof. 
 There were things about this hut that seemed to 
 tell that it was in use, and even as our footsteps 
 rang on the rocky platform, out of its low doorway 
 crept an ancient woman and stared at us wildly. 
 
 " What is this ? " she screamed. " How should 
 these unhallowed ones come hither ? " 
 
 " Silence, mother," our captive said. " All is 
 done, and these men come to take away the prince." 
 
 Then she saw that he was bound with Evan's 
 belt, and at that she screamed again, and a wild look 
 came into her face, and with a bound that was 
 wonderful in one so old and bent she fled to the 
 cromlech, and climbed up the rearward stone in 
 some way, perching herself on the flat top, whence 
 she glared at us. 
 
 " We will not harm you, mother," I said, seeing 
 her terror. 
 
 And even as I spoke, from within the stone
 
 THE FINDING OF OWEN 331 
 
 walls of the cromlech came the voice that I longed 
 to hear again, weak, indeed, but yet that of Owen 
 " Oswald, Oswald ! " 
 
 Then I paid no more heed to the hag, but ran 
 into the dark place, and there indeed was my foster- 
 father, swathed in bandages, and lying white and 
 helpless on a rough couch, but yet with a bright 
 smile and greeting for me, and I went on my knees 
 at his side and answered him. 
 
 I will not say more of that meeting. Outside 
 the old woman cursed and reviled Howel and Evan 
 and the captive in turns unceasingly ; but I heeded 
 her no more than one heeds a starling chattering on 
 the roof in the early morning. I had all that I 
 sought, and aught else was as nothing to me. 
 
 After a little while Howel's face came into the 
 doorway, and Owen called him in. I saw the look 
 of the prince change as he marked the many 
 swathings that told of Owen's sore hurts. 
 
 " Nay, but trouble not," Owen said, seeing this. 
 " I am cut about a bit, for certain, but not so badly 
 that I may not be about again soon. The old 
 lady overhead has a shrewd tongue, but she is a 
 marvellous good leech. I have not fared so badly 
 here, and I knew Oswald would not rest until he 
 found me." 
 
 " Now we must take you hence," I said. " Our 
 men wait, and we can no doubt get them here." 
 
 He smiled, being tired with the joy of seeing us 
 and the speaking, and I went out to Evan. The 
 old woman still sat on the cromlech, and when she 
 saw me her voice rose afresh with more hard words, 
 which I would not notice.
 
 332 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " Evan," I said, " how shall we take the prince 
 hence ? " 
 
 " The litter they brought him on stands behind 
 the hut yonder," he answered ; " for this man tells 
 me so. Also he says that we are not half a mile 
 from our men, and that we can see one from just 
 above here." 
 
 So I sent him to bring them, telling him how the 
 horses were gone, so that we had no need to go 
 back into the valley. To tell the truth, I was as 
 much relieved in my mind that we need not do so 
 as it was plain that he was. Then when he was 
 gone I went back to Owen, and he asked me if we 
 had seen Morfed. I did not tell him more than 
 that we had done so, but that he was not here, one 
 of his two men having guided us, for the tale we 
 must tell him by and by might be better untold 
 as yet. 
 
 "It does not matter," he said. " I cannot under- 
 stand the man. At one time I think that he was at 
 the bottom of all the trouble, and at another that he 
 rescued me from the men who fell on the house. 
 I have seen little of him here until yesterday and 
 to-day. There is a man whom he calls ' the Bard,' 
 who has tended me well enough with the old dame, 
 and another whom he names ' the Ovate,' whom I 
 have seen now and then a younger man. I have 
 set eyes on none but these four since the men of the 
 burning left me to them in the hills." 
 
 We asked him how all that went, and he told 
 us what he could remember. He had waked from 
 some sort of a swoon while he was being carried in 
 the midst of many men, and again had come to
 
 AFTER THE ONSLAUGHT 333 
 
 himself when his litter had been set down. At that 
 time there was seemingly a quarrel between Morfed 
 and his two followers and these men, and it ended 
 by the many departing and leaving him to the 
 priest. That was, as I knew, when the hillmen 
 would not come into the lost valley. 
 
 " They set my sword beside me," he said. 
 " Presently in the dark I saw the gleam of a pool, 
 and I made shift to throw it into the water, so that 
 no outlaw or Morgan's man should boast that he 
 wore it. Ina gave it me. One of the men saw me 
 throw it, and was for staying, but the other said he 
 had heard the splash and that it was gone. Morfed 
 was not near at the time, having gone on. I heard 
 him singing somewhere beyond the water." 
 
 " I have found it, father," I said. " It was on the 
 edge of the pool, in long grass, and it helped us 
 somewhat, for we knew you were near. Now say if 
 it is well to move you yet. We can bide here with 
 the men if not." 
 
 He. laughed a little. 
 
 " I think so, but that is a question for the leech. 
 Ask the dame. Maybe she will answer if you speak 
 her fair." 
 
 Howel went to do that, saying that maybe she 
 would listen to a Briton, for most of her wrath was 
 concerning my Saxon arms. So presently I heard 
 her shrill voice growing calmer as Howel coaxed her, 
 and then there was a sound as if she climbed from 
 her perch, and Howel came back to us. 
 
 " We may take you, she says. Hither come the 
 men in all haste also, and we may get away from 
 this place at once. These hills are uncanny on
 
 334 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 Midsummer Eve, and I am glad that we have long 
 daylight before us." 
 
 Then said Owen 
 
 " Oswald, I have not withal, but I would fain 
 reward the bard and the old woman for their care 
 of me. I think that even at Glastonbury there are 
 none who would have healed these hurts of mine 
 more easily than she." 
 
 I had my own thoughts about the bard, but I 
 said that I would see to this, and went to him. 
 The men were close at hand, and I saw that they 
 led our horses with them. 
 
 " Bard," I said, " Owen the prince speaks well 
 of you. Is it true that you would have slain him 
 had you not been stayed on your way ? " 
 
 " I do not know, Lord," he answered. " When I 
 was with Morfed, needs must I do his bidding, even 
 against my will. Yet, away from him, I think that 
 I should not have harmed the prince. I am a 
 Christian man, for all that you have seen." 
 
 " There was somewhat strangely heathenish in 
 what I did see," I said. " But I suppose that is all 
 done with ? " 
 
 " I might go across the sea to the British lands 
 in the north or in the south and learn to attain to 
 druidship," he said. "But I will not. What I 
 know shall die with me. He who was the next to 
 me above, even Morfed, is gone, and he who was 
 next below is gone also. Druid and Ovate both. 
 I am the only one of the old line left, and I will be 
 the last. Call me Bard no longer, I pray you." 
 
 " Well," I said, for there was that in the face of 
 the man which told me that he was in earnest, " I
 
 HOMEWARD 335 
 
 will believe you, and the more that Owen trusts 
 you." I let loose his hands then, and he stretched 
 his cramped arms and thanked me. I minded well 
 what that feeling was like. 
 
 " What would Morfed have done with the 
 prince?" I asked. 
 
 " I do not know. I have heard him plan many 
 things. I think that if he had won him to his 
 thoughts concerning the men of Canterbury he 
 would have taken him home. If not, I only know 
 this, that he would never have been seen in this 
 fand again. There was a thought of carrying him 
 even across the sea to the Britons in the south in 
 Gaul. But of all things Morfed hoped that he 
 would die here." 
 
 So I supposed, but I said no more, for Evan and 
 the men reined up close to us. There was joy 
 enough among them all as Owen was slowly and 
 carefully laid on the rough litter. And we left 
 those two staring after us, silent. But I suppose 
 that. the terror of that strange place will still lie on 
 all the country-side, and I hold that since the day 
 when the wizards of old time reared the menhir on 
 that which it covered, with cruel rites and terrible 
 words that have bided in the minds of men as a 
 terror will bide, no man but such as Morfed has 
 dared to pry into that valley lest the ancient curse 
 should fall on them the curse of the Druid who 
 would hide his secrets. It may be, therefore, that it 
 will not be known by the folk that the menhir has 
 fallen, even yet, for we who did know it told them 
 nought thereof. 
 
 As for that falling, it is the saying of Howel that 
 
 22
 
 336 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 it was wrought by the might of the holy sign, and 
 maybe he is not so far wrong in a way. For if the 
 slow creeping of the bog had at last undermined the 
 base of the tall stone so that it needed but little to 
 disturb its balance, no wind could reach it in that 
 cliff-walled place even in the wildest gale, and it is 
 likely that no hand but mine had touched it for 
 long ages. I began, and the rush and blow of 
 Morfed ended, the work of overthrow, with the sign 
 of might complete. And Evan holds that but for 
 the graving thereof he at least were by this time a 
 dead man. 
 
 It was late evening when we came to the village, 
 with no harm to Owen at all beyond tiredness, which 
 a good sleep would amend ; and after that there is 
 little that I need tell of Howel's going to Exeter 
 with the good news, and of his bringing back to 
 us a litter more fitted for the carrying of the hurt 
 prince, and then the welcome that was for us from 
 Cerent. 
 
 When we were back with him, Owen passed into 
 the loving hands of Nona the princess, and I do not 
 think that he had any cause to regret his older 
 leech of the beehive hut, skilful as she was, for we 
 who loved him saw him gain strength daily. 
 
 Now I found means to send a letter to Ina, by 
 the tin-traders who were on the way to London, 
 telling him that all was well, and begging him to 
 suffer me to bide with my foster-father for a time 
 yet, as I knew indeed that I might, for my new 
 place in the household had few duties save at times 
 of ceremony, and in war, when I must lead the men 
 of the household as the bearer of the king's own
 
 A WHISPER OF WAR 337 
 
 banner. And as the days went on it grew plain 
 to me that there was somewhat amiss about the 
 court here. 
 
 There was no dislike of myself, as I may truly say, 
 among the men of West Wales whom I met with, 
 but there was a coldness now and then which I 
 could not altogether fathom, and that specially 
 among the priests. It seemed that while Gerent 
 had forgotten that I was aught but the son of Owen, 
 who had brought him back, no one else forgot that 
 I was a Saxon, and that there was more in the re- 
 membrance than should be in these #mes of peace. 
 I could not think that this was due to my share in 
 the death of Morgan either, for it was plain that 
 not one of his friends was about the court. 
 
 At last I spoke of this to Howel, and found that 
 he also had seen somewhat of the kind. 
 
 " I know it," he said. " If I am not very much 
 mistaken, and I ought to know the signs of coming 
 trouble by this time, there is somewhat brewing in 
 the way of fresh enmity with your folk. It comes 
 from the priests." 
 
 " There are more of the way of thinking of 
 Morfed, therefore," I answered. 
 
 " And if that is so there may be more danger for 
 Owen. It is well known that he is for peace, and 
 that Gerent will listen to him in all things." 
 
 We talked of that for some time, not being at all 
 easy yet concerning the matter, after seeing how 
 far some were willing to go toward removing one 
 who was in their way. I could not stay here long, 
 nor could Howel, and it was certain that Gerent 
 could not well guard Owen up to this time. And
 
 338 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 at last Howel spoke the best counsel yet, after many 
 plans turned over between us. 
 
 " We will even take him to Dyfed, and nurse him 
 to strength in Pembroke. Then if aught is in the 
 wind it will break out at once, lest he should return 
 and spoil all. Gerent will either have to bow to the 
 storm and fight, or else he will get the upper hand 
 and quiet things again. If he can do that last, at 
 least till Owen is back, all will be well. Owen will 
 take things in hand then, and will be master." 
 
 That was indeed a way out of the trouble, and 
 therein Nona helped us with Owen, so that at last he 
 consented. I will say that he knew little or nothing 
 of possible trouble here, and we told him nothing, 
 for, in the first place, we had no certainty thereof, 
 and in the next, he was not strong enough to do 
 anything against it if we had. 
 
 When we came to ask Gerent if Howel might 
 take him to Dyfed, we found no difficulty at all, 
 which surprised me not a little. I think that the 
 king knew that it was well for him to be across the 
 channel in all quiet. 
 
 So it came to pass that in a few days all was 
 ready for our going to Watchet to find Thorgils or 
 some other shipmaster who would take us over. 
 We could wait at Norton until the time of sailing 
 came, if we might not cross at once, and thence I 
 should go back to Ina. 
 
 One may guess without any telling of mine what 
 the parting with Owen was for Gerent. As for 
 myself, I was somewhat sorry to bid the old king 
 farewell, for I liked him, and he was ever most kind 
 to me. But I was not sorry to leave his court, by
 
 THE RIDE TO WATCHET 339 
 
 any means, for those reasons of which I have spoken, 
 and of them most of all for fear of more plotting 
 against Owen. 
 
 Now I will say that the ride to Watchet, slow 
 and careful for his sake who must yet travel in the 
 litter, and in fair summer weather, is one that I love 
 to look back on. As may be supposed, by this 
 time I and the princess were very good friends, and 
 it is likely that I rode beside her for most of the 
 way. We had many things to talk of. 
 
 One thing I have not set down yet is, that it 
 had been easy, after what he had done for us, to win 
 full pardon for Evan from Gerent. Now he rode 
 with me, well armed and stalwart, as my servant, 
 and one could hardly want a more likely looking 
 one. And Nona had some good words and friendly 
 to say to him, which made him hold his head higher 
 yet after a time. 
 
 Presently, since I was on my way back to 
 Glastonbury and onwards, we must needs speak of 
 Elfrida, and I told her how I had fared when I 
 came back from Dyfed. She laughed at me, and 
 I laughed at myself also ; for now I knew at last 
 that the old fancy had in all truth passed from my 
 mind. 
 
 So we came to Norton, and then sought Thorgils, 
 and after that it was a week before he was ready. 
 I mind the wonder on the face of the Norseman 
 when he saw Evan at my heels on the day when 
 his ship came home and I met him on the wharf; 
 but he was glad to see him there. 
 
 " Faith," he said, " it has been a trouble to me 
 that a man whom I was wont to trust had turned
 
 340 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 out so ill. It shook my own belief in my better 
 judgment. I did think I knew a man when I saw 
 him, until then. So I was not far wrong after all. 
 Now I will make a new song of his deeds, and I do 
 not think it will be a bad one." 
 
 Then it came to pass that one day, when the wind 
 blew fair for Tenby, I saw the ship draw away from 
 me as her broad sail rilled, while on the deck was 
 Owen in a great chair, and from his side Nona 
 waved to me, and Howel shouted that I must come 
 over ere long and fetch Owen home. Thorgils was 
 steering, and he lifted his arm and cried his parting 
 words, and so I turned away, feeling lonely as a 
 man may feel for a little while. And presently I 
 looked again toward the ship, and I think that the 
 last I saw of her was the flutter of Nona's kerchief 
 in the soft wind, and I vowed that nought should 
 hinder me from Dyfed when the time came. 
 
 Thereafter I rode to Glastonbury, and told 
 Herewald what I thought of the trouble that was 
 surely brewing in the west ; and he said that he also 
 had some reason to think that along his borders 
 men were getting more unruly, as if none tried to 
 hinder them from giving cause of offence to us. 
 
 " Well, if they will but keep quiet until this 
 wedding is over it will be a comfort," he said. " I 
 should be more at ease if once Elfrida was safely in 
 Sussex." 
 
 Then I learned that the wedding was to be in a 
 month's time or so, and already there were prepara- 
 tions in hand for it. With all my heart I hoped 
 also that nought might mar it. 
 
 Then I passed on to the king at Winchester, and
 
 FOREBODINGS 34! 
 
 glad was he to hear that we had indeed found 
 Owen. But as he listened to what I thought was 
 coming on us from the west, he said 
 
 " It is even what Owen and I foresaw with the 
 death of Aldhelm. This is a matter that not even 
 Owen could have prevented, for it comes of the 
 jealousy of the priests. We will go to Glastonbury 
 and watch, and maybe we shall be in time for the 
 wedding. But I will not be the one to break the 
 peace. If war there must be, it must come from 
 Gerent." 
 
 And so he mused for a while, and then said 
 " Well, so it will be. And not before West 
 Wales has tried her failing force for the last time 
 will there be a lasting peace."
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 HOW ERPWALD SAW HIS FIRST FIGHT ON HIS 
 WEDDING DAY 
 
 So we went to Glastonbury in a little time, and 
 now it was as if Yuletide had come again in high 
 summer, so full was the little town with guests who 
 came to the wedding. Erpwald had come soon 
 after us, with a train of Sussex thanes, who were his 
 neighbours and would see him through the business, 
 and take him and his bride home again. Well 
 loved were the ealdorman and his fair daughter, 
 and this was the first wedding in the new church, of 
 which all the land was proud. 
 
 Only Ina was somewhat uneasy, though he would 
 not shew it. For on all the Wessex border from 
 Severn Sea to the Channel there was unrest. It 
 seemed that the hand of Gerent had altogether 
 slackened on his people, so that they did what they 
 listed, and it was even worse than it had been in 
 the days of Morgan and his brother, for at least 
 they were answerable for what the men of Dyvnaint 
 wrought of harm. There was none to take their 
 place here, while the old king bided in Exeter or in 
 Cornwall, and never came to Norton at all now. 
 So there was pillage and raiding across the Parrett, 
 
 342
 
 A WEDDING EVE 343 
 
 and at last Ina had sent messages to Cerent 
 concerning it. 
 
 A fortnight ago that was, and now the messengers 
 had returned, bearing word from Cerent that he 
 himself would come and speak to Ina of Wessex 
 and answer him, and it was doubtful what that 
 answer meant. There might well be a menace of 
 war therein, or it might mean that he was only 
 coming to Norton. It would not be the first time 
 that the two kings had met there and spoken with 
 one another in all friendliness concerning matters 
 which might have been of much trouble. And we 
 heard at least of no gathering of forces by the Welsh. 
 
 Yet Ina warned all the sheriffs of the Wessex 
 borderland, and could do no more. The levies 
 would come up at once when the first summons 
 came. 
 
 All of which the ealdorman spoke to me of, but 
 neither Erpwald nor Elfrida knew that war was in 
 the air. We did not tell them. 
 
 Thus we hoped to keep all knowledge that aught 
 was unrestful from them in their happiness, until at 
 least they two were beyond the sound of war, if it 
 needs must come. But it came to pass on the day 
 before the wedding that all men knew thereof in 
 stern truth, and that was a hard time for many. 
 
 Erpwald and I sat on the bench before the ealdor- 
 man's house in the late sunshine of the long July 
 evening, talking of the morrow, and of Eastdean, and 
 aught else that came uppermost, so that it was 
 pleasant to think of, and before us we could see the 
 long road that goes up the slope of Polden hills and 
 so westward toward the Devon border. Along it
 
 344 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 came a wain or two laden high with the first rye 
 that was harvested that year, and a herd or two of 
 lazy kine finding their way to the byres for the 
 evening milking. And then beyond the wains rose 
 a dust, and I saw the waggoners draw aside, and the 
 dust passed them, and the kine scattered wildly as 
 it neared them ; and so down the peaceful road 
 spurred a little company of men who shouted as 
 they came, never drawing rein or sparing spur for 
 all that the farm horses reared and plunged and the 
 kine fled terror-stricken. 
 
 I think that I knew what it meant at once, but 
 Erpwald laughed and said : " More of our guests, 
 belike. One rides fast to a bridal, but they are over 
 careless." 
 
 But I did not answer, for the hot pace of those 
 who came never slackened, and spurring and with 
 loose rein they swept across the bridge over the 
 stream and so thundered toward us. 
 
 " Here is a hurry beyond a jest," said Erpwald, 
 sitting up ; " somewhat is amiss, surely." 
 
 Never rode men in that wise but for life. In a 
 minute they were close, and one of them spied me 
 and called to me, waving his arm toward the palace 
 and reeling in his saddle as he did so. His arm 
 was bandaged, and I saw that the spear his comrade 
 next him bore was reddened, and that the other two 
 had leapt on their horses with nought but the halter 
 to guide them withal, as if in direst need for haste. 
 Not much longer could their horses last as it seemed. 
 
 I sprang up and followed to the king's courtyard, 
 leaving Erpwald wondering, and a footpath brought 
 me there almost as they drew rein inside the gates.
 
 WAR WITH THE WEST WELSH 345 
 
 One of the horses staggered and fell as soon as he 
 stayed, and his rider was in little better plight. 
 That one who had beckoned to me knew me, and 
 spoke at once, breathless 
 
 "Let us to the king, Thane. The Welsh the 
 Welsh ! " 
 
 " An outlaw raid again ? " I asked. 
 
 " Would I come hither in this wise for that ? " 
 the man answered. He was a sturdy franklin from 
 the Quantock side of the. river one whose father 
 had been set there by Kenwalch. " I can deal, and 
 have dealt, with the like of them, but this is war. 
 They are on us in their thousands, and I have even 
 been burnt out for being a Saxon, by a raiding 
 party." 
 
 "Whence?" 
 
 " From Norton," answered another of the men. 
 " Gerent, their king, is there with a host beyond 
 counting. One fled from across the hills and told 
 us, and we believed him not till the raiders came." 
 
 With that I took the men straightway to the 
 king, bidding the house-carles hold their peace awhile. 
 And even as we talked with this party, another man 
 rode in from the Tone fenlands, and he had seen 
 the march of the West Welsh men, and knew that 
 Cerent's force was halted at Norton. A swift and 
 sudden gathering, and a swift march that was worthy 
 of a good leader, else had we heard thereof before 
 this. 
 
 After that man came another, and yet another, 
 till all the courtyard was full of reeking horses and 
 white-faced men, and the ealdorman was sent for and 
 Nunna ; and in an hour or less the war arrow was
 
 346 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 out, and the news was flying north and south and 
 east, with word that all Somerset was to be here on 
 the morrow to hold the land their forebears had won 
 from those who came. 
 
 Presently with the quiet of knowing all done that 
 might be done on us, the ealdorman and I went 
 down to his house. 
 
 " Here is an end of to-morrow's wedding," he said 
 sadly. " I do not know how Elfrida will take it, 
 for it is not to be supposed that Erpwald will hold 
 back from the levy, though, indeed, if ever man had 
 excuse, he has it in full." 
 
 I knew that he would not, also, and said nothing. 
 He was yet sitting on the settle where I had left 
 him waiting for me, with the level sun in his face 
 as it sank across the Poldens, and he looked content 
 with all things. 
 
 " What a coil and a clatter has been past me, 
 surely," he said. " I doubt there must be a raid 
 over the border, from what I hear the men shouting." 
 
 " More than that, friend," I said gravely, looking 
 straight at him. " The Welsh are on us in all 
 earnest, and to-morrow we must meet them some- 
 where yonder, where the sun is setting." 
 
 He looked at me, and his face flushed redder and 
 redder. 
 
 " What, fighting in the air ? " he said, with a sort 
 of new interest. 
 
 " War, nothing more or less," answered Herewald 
 with a groan. 
 
 " I am in luck for once," he said, leaping up. 
 " Let me go with you, Oswald ; for this is what I 
 have never seen."
 
 BREAKING THE NEWS 347 
 
 " Hold hard, son-in-law," cried the ealdorman. 
 " What of the wedding ? " 
 
 His face fell, and he stared at us blankly, but his 
 cheek paled. 
 
 " Forgive me," he said. " I never can manage to 
 keep more than one thing in my head at a time. 
 Here was I thinking of nought but that, until 
 this news came and drove out all else. Don't tell 
 Elfrida that I forgot it." 
 
 " Trouble enough for her without that," answered 
 Herewald. "You cannot hold back, maybe, though 
 indeed, not one will think the worse of you if you 
 do so. We must tell Elfrida what has befallen, 
 however, and she must speak her mind on your 
 doings. Come, let us find her." 
 
 " Do you speak first, Ealdorman," I said, and he 
 nodded and went his way. 
 
 Erpwald and I followed him into the hall, and 
 there stayed. He was long gone thence to the 
 bower where Elfrida sat with her maidens preparing 
 for the morrow. 
 
 " What will she say ? " asked Erpwald presently. 
 
 " I think that she will bid you fight for the king, 
 though it will be hard for her to do so." 
 
 " I hope she will, though, indeed, I should like to 
 think that it will not be easy for her to send me 
 away," said the lover, torn in two ways. " How 
 long will it take to settle with these Welsh ? " 
 
 " I cannot tell," I said, shaking my head. For, 
 indeed, though I would not say it, a Welsh war is 
 apt to be a long affair if once they get among the 
 hills. 
 
 " If we have the victory, I think that the wedding
 
 348 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 will not be put off for so very long," I added to 
 comfort him. 
 
 He walked back and forth across the hall until 
 Herewald came back, and then started toward him. 
 
 " Go yonder and speak with her," the ealdorman 
 said, pointing to the door whence he came. 
 
 Then he went hastily, and we two looked at one 
 another. 
 
 " How is it with her ? " I said. 
 
 "In the way of the girl who helped you slay 
 Morgan," he said grimly. " She would hold him 
 nidring if he had not wished to go." 
 
 We went to the door and looked out. All the 
 road was dotted with men from the nearer villages 
 who came to the gathering, and as they marched, 
 each after the reeve of the place, they sang. And 
 past the hindmost of them came a single horseman 
 hurrying. Another messenger with the same news, 
 doubtless. 
 
 Then there were footsteps across the hall behind 
 us, and Elfrida and Erpwald came to us. I stole 
 one glance at her, and saw that she hid her sorrow 
 and pain well, though it was not without an effort. 
 She spoke fast, and seemingly in cheerful wise, as we 
 turned to her. 
 
 " Father, here is this Erpwald, who will go to the 
 war, and I cannot hold him back. What can you 
 say to him ? " 
 
 " Nought, surely. For if he will not listen to you, 
 it is certain that he will hearken to none else." 
 
 She laughed a little strained laugh, and turned to 
 Erpwald. 
 
 " You must have your own way, as I can see plainly
 
 ELFRIDA'S BIDDING 349 
 
 enough; and our wedding must needs wait your 
 pleasure. Even my father will not help to keep 
 you here." 
 
 " But, Elfrida it was your own saying " the 
 poor lover went no further, for he was beyond his 
 depth altogether. It would seem that this was not 
 the way in which she had spoken to him when they 
 were alone. So I went to help him. 
 
 " We will take care of him, Elfrida," I said, trying 
 to laugh ; " but I think that he is able to do that for 
 himself fairly well." 
 
 Then I was sorry that I had spoken, for it was 
 a foolish speech, seeing that it brought the thought 
 of danger more closely to her than was need, or 
 maybe than she had let it come to her yet. She 
 turned into the half-darkness of the hall again, and 
 after her went Erpwald. The ealdorman and I 
 went to the courtyard and left them, feeling that we 
 need say no more. 
 
 Then through the dusk that horseman whom we 
 had. noted clattered up, and called in a great voice to 
 us, asking if we knew where he should find Oswald 
 the marshal, and I answered him and went out into 
 the road to him. And there sat Thorgils, fully 
 armed, on a great horse that was white with foam, 
 but had been carefully ridden. 
 
 " Ho, comrade ! have you heard the news ? " he 
 said, gripping my hand. 
 
 " Twenty times in half an hour," I answered. 
 " But is there somewhat fresh ? " 
 
 " Have any of your twenty told you that these 
 knaves of Welsh have broken peace with us, tried to 
 burn Watchet town and had their heads broken ? "
 
 350 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " News indeed, that," said I. " What more ? " 
 
 " If you Saxons will stand by us, your kin, it may 
 be worth your while. Here have I ridden to tell 
 you so." 
 
 Then I hurried him to the king, for this was a 
 matter worth hearing. Watchet was on Cerent's 
 left flank, and a force there was a gain to us indeed, 
 if only by staying the force at Norton for a day 
 longer. We should have so much the more time in 
 which to gather the levies. 
 
 But, seeing that they were not yet gathered, it 
 did not at first seem possible to Ina that we could 
 help to save the little town, whose few men had 
 beaten off to-day's attack, but would be surely over- 
 whelmed by numbers on the morrow if Gerent chose. 
 But Thorgils had not come hither without a plan in 
 his head, and he set it before the king plainly. 
 
 " Norton is on the southern end of the Quantocks, 
 and Watchet is at the northern end, as you know, 
 King Ina. Between the two on the hills is the 
 great camp which any force can hold, but nought 
 but a great one can storm. If you will give me 
 two hundred men, I will have that camp by morning, 
 and that will save Watchet, and maybe hold back 
 Gerent in such wise that he will not care to pass 
 it without re-taking it. He will not know how few 
 of us will be there, and you will be able to choose 
 your own ground for the fighting while he bethinks 
 him. There is but one road into Wessex across 
 the Quantocks, and we shall seem to menace that 
 while we cover the way to Watchet." 
 
 " So the camp is held ? " asked Ina. " Gerent is 
 before me there."
 
 TO SAVE WATCHET TOWN 351 
 
 " Held by the men we beat off from VVatchet, 
 King. One we took tells us that they had no 
 business to fall on our town, but turned aside to 
 do it. Gerent has little hold on some of his chiefs. 
 Now they are there with a fear of us and our axes 
 on them, and if we may fall on them unawares we 
 can take the camp without trouble, as I think." 
 
 " Oswald," said Ina, after a little thought, " how 
 many horsemen can you raise now ? " 
 
 The town was full of horses by this time, and 
 I thought that it would not be hard to raise a 
 hundred, and that in half an hour. Maybe if we 
 did go with Thorgils we should meet many more 
 men on the way to the levy also. 
 
 " Then you shall go with Thorgils," the king said. 
 " It is a risk, certainly, but it is worth it. We had 
 held that camp, had we had but a day's earlier 
 warning, and that loss may be made good thus. 
 That outlaw of yours will know many a safe place 
 of retreat for you if need is. Good luck be with 
 you."' 
 
 He shook hands with us both, and we did not 
 delay. His only bidding was that we should hold 
 the camp until we had word from him, if we took 
 it, and he was to learn thereof by signal. 
 
 So it came to pass that in an hour and a half 
 Thorgils and I and Erpwald, who would by no 
 means let me go without him, and three of his 
 Sussex friends, rode across the causeway to the 
 Polden hills in the dusk, with a matter of six score 
 men behind us, well armed and mounted all for 
 these borderers have need to keep horse and arms 
 of the best, and those ever ready. From the 
 23
 
 352 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 ealdorman's door Elfrida watched us go very 
 bravely, and the glimmer of her white dress was 
 the lode-star that kept the eyes of her lover turned 
 backward while it might be seen. It vanished 
 suddenly, and he heaved a deep sigh, and I knew 
 that she had been fain to watch no longer lest her 
 tears should be seen. 
 
 As we went along the Polden ridge we met flying 
 men, and men who came to the levy, and by twos 
 and threes we added to our little force, until we had 
 a full hundred more than when we started. Thorgils 
 took us to a tidal ford that crosses the Parrett River 
 far below any bridge, which he thought would 
 not yet be watched by the Welsh. There is a 
 steep hill fort that covers this ford, but on it were 
 no fires as of an outpost yet. Then we were a 
 matter of eight miles from the great camp on the 
 highest ridge of the Quantocks which we had to 
 take, and we had ridden five-and-twenty miles. 
 I was glad that we had to wait an hour or more 
 for the fall of the tide before we could cross, for we 
 rode fast thus far. 
 
 So we dismounted and watched the slow fall of 
 the water, and we planned what we would do 
 presently ; until at last we splashed through the 
 muddy ford, and rode on through dense forest 
 land until the great camp rose above us, a full 
 thousand feet skyward, and we saw the glow of 
 the watch-fires of those who held it. It seemed 
 almost impossible to scale this hill as we looked 
 on its slope in the darkness, but we reached its 
 foot where the hill is steepest, and held on north- 
 ward yet, until we came to where there is a long
 
 IN THE GREY DAWN 353 
 
 steady rise up to the very gate of the earth- 
 works. 
 
 Now there should have been an outpost half-way 
 along this slope toward the camp, for whatever 
 tribe of the Britons made the stronghold had not 
 forgotten to raise a little fort for one. But we were 
 in luck, for this outpost was not held, and we rode 
 past it, and knew that there was every chance now 
 of our fairly surprising the camp. The first grey 
 of dawn was coming when I passed the word to 
 the men to close up, and told them what we were 
 to do. 
 
 " We charge through the earthworks, for there is 
 no barrier across the gate, and spread out across the 
 camp with all the noise we can. Follow a flight 
 for no long distance beyond the earthworks, but 
 scatter the Welsh." 
 
 So we rode on steadily until we were but a 
 bowshot from the trench, and yet no alarm was 
 raised, for the foe watched hardly at all, deeming 
 that -no Saxon force would think of crossing where 
 we crossed the river, or of coming on them from the 
 north at all. 
 
 Then Thorgils and I and Erpwald rode forward, 
 and I gave the word to charge, and up the long 
 smooth slope we went at the gallop, with a heavy 
 thunder of hoofs on the firm turf of the ancient 
 track. And that thunder was the first sign that the 
 Welsh knew of our coming. 
 
 I saw one come to the gateway and look, and 
 then with a wild howl throw himselt into the outer 
 ditch for safety, and the camp roared with the 
 alarm, and the dim white figures flocked to the
 
 354 
 
 rampart, and through a storm of ill-aimed arrows 
 we rode through the unguarded gate and were on 
 them. 
 
 " Ahoy ! Out, out ! Holy Cross ! " 
 
 The war shouts of Norseman and South Saxon 
 and Wessex men were in startling medley together 
 here, and that terrified the Welsh yet more. It 
 must have seemed to them that the Norsemen had 
 called unheard of allies to their help. There was 
 no order or rallying power among them. 
 
 We three were first through the gateway, and 
 then we were riding across the camp with levelled 
 spears, over men and through the fires, and a panic 
 fell on the foe, so that without waiting to see what 
 our numbers were, in headlong terror they fled from 
 the charge over the ramparts and into the forests 
 in the valleys on either side beyond whence we 
 came. I had no fear of their rallying thence to 
 any effect, for it would take them all their time to 
 find their leaders in the combes and the thick under- 
 growth that clothed their sides. Once out of the 
 camp, too, they could not see into it to tell how 
 few we were. I suppose that there were some five 
 hundred Welsh in the place. I do not think that 
 we harmed many of them in the hurry and the dark, 
 but we scared them terribly. Here and there one 
 rolled under the horses' hoofs, and we paid no heed 
 to such as fell thus, and they rose again and fled 
 the faster. All but one, that is, so far as I was 
 concerned. I charged a man, and my spear missed 
 him as he leapt aside, and he struck at my horse 
 as I passed him, and the next moment I was rolling 
 on the ground with the good steed, and the man
 
 A WELSH CHIEFTAIN 355 
 
 behind me had to leap over us as we lay. That was 
 one of the Sussex thanes, and he was no mean 
 horseman or unready, luckily. Then he chased my 
 enemy out of the camp, and came back to see if I 
 were hurt. But I was not, and I bade him go on 
 with the rest. We were almost across the camp at 
 this time. 
 
 " Take my horse rather," he said. " See, there is 
 a bit of a stand being made yonder." 
 
 There were yet some valiant and cooler headed 
 Welshmen whom the panic had not carried away, 
 and they were getting together to our right. The 
 camp was full three hundred paces across, and as 
 we spread over it our line had gaps here and there, 
 so that some at least had seen what our numbers 
 were. They had passed into the camp again over 
 the earthworks, or had been passed by in the place 
 by us, and they were gathering round one who wore 
 the crested helm and gilded arms of a chief, and he 
 was raving at the cowards who had left him. Even 
 now .he had not more than a score of men with 
 him. 
 
 Our men were chasing the flying foe across the 
 open hilltop now, outside the camp, and there were 
 but few left within its enclosure, though I saw the 
 dim forms of some who were turning back without 
 going beyond the rampart, and one of these was 
 Erpwald. He also saw the group of Welshmen, and 
 called the other horsemen to him, and even as the 
 chief saw us two standing alone together, and led 
 his few toward us, the shout of the four or five who 
 charged with my friend stayed them, and they closed 
 up to meet the new attack.
 
 356 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 Then the Sussex thane, whose name was Algar, 
 saw this, and again urged me to take his horse, 
 saying that it was not fitting for the leader to be 
 dismounted while work was yet in hand ; but I saw 
 a thing that bade me forget him, and set me running 
 at full speed toward the Welshmen. Erpwald had 
 ridden well ahead of his comrades, and as his spear 
 crossed those of the foe one of them stepped for- 
 ward before his chief and made a sweeping blow 
 at the legs of the horse with a long pole-axe. 
 Down the horse came, and Erpwald flew over its 
 head into the midst of the enemy, overthrowing 
 one or two of them as if he had been a stone from 
 a sling. 
 
 In a moment they closed over him, but I was 
 there before they could get clear of one another to 
 slay him. I cut my way through the turmoil before 
 they knew I was on them, and stood over him sword 
 in hand, while the Welsh shrank back for a space 
 with the suddenness of my coming. There was 
 Algar also hewing at them and trying to reach 
 my side, having dismounted, and those who followed 
 Erpwald were on them with their long spears. It 
 was more as a shouting than a fight for a moment 
 or two, but Erpwald never moved, being stunned, 
 as it seemed. It was like to go hard with me for 
 a time, for my men could not reach me. Still, I 
 held the Welsh back from Erpwald and myself. 
 
 There was a great shout of " Ahoy," and I saw 
 from beyond the ring round me the rise and fall of 
 a broad axe, and then Thorgils was at my back, 
 and close behind him was Evan. More of our men 
 were coming up fast to where they heard the noise ;
 
 IN A RING OF FOES 357 
 
 but the foe were minded to make a good fight of 
 it, and only to yield when there was no shame in 
 doing so. 
 
 " It is no bad thing to have a good axe at one's 
 back," quoth Thorgils in a gruff shout between his 
 war cries as he hewed, and with that I heard the 
 said axe crash on a foe again. Then I had the 
 chief before me, and his men fell back a little to 
 make way for him to me. Our swords crossed, and 
 I took his first thrust fairly on the shield and 
 returned it, wounding him a little, and he set his 
 teeth and flew at me, point foremost, with the deadly 
 thrust of the Roman weapon. That the shield met 
 again, and I struck out over his guard and he went 
 down headlong. And at that his men made a wild 
 rush on me, yelling. At that time I saw Thorgils, 
 with a great smile on his face, smite one man to his 
 right with the axe edge, and another on his left with 
 the blunt back of the weapon as he swung it round, 
 and Evan saved me from a man who was coming 
 on, me from behind. That is all I know of the 
 fight, save that it seemed that I heard some cry for 
 quarter, for of a sudden I went down across Erpwald 
 for no reason that I could tell. 
 
 It was full daylight when I came round, and the 
 first thing that my eyes lit on was the broad face of 
 Erpwald, who sat by my side with a woebegone 
 look that changed suddenly to a great grin when 
 he saw me stir and look at him. Then I saw Evan 
 also watching me, with his arm tied up, and I was 
 fain to laugh at his solemn face of trouble. Whereon 
 from somewhere behind me Thorgils cried in his 
 great seafaring voice : " There now, what did I tell
 
 358 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 you two owls ? His head is too hard to mind a bit 
 of a knock like that." 
 
 Then he came and laughed at me, and I asked 
 what sent me over. 
 
 " The pole-axe man hit you with the flat of his 
 unhandy weapon. It is lucky for you that he was 
 a bungler, however, for there is a sore dint in your 
 helm." 
 
 I sat up and looked round the camp. There was 
 a knot of captives in its midst, among whom was 
 the chief I had fought, wounded, indeed, but not 
 badly, and our men were eating the enemy's 
 provender and laughing. A fire of green brush- 
 wood and heather was sending a tall pillar of smoke 
 into the air to tell the watchers on the Poldens and 
 at Watchet that we had done what we came to do. 
 But here we had to stay till we heard from Ina that 
 we were to join him, and for Erpwald's sake and 
 Elfrida's I was not sorry. He had seen his first 
 fight, and nearly found his end therein. I do not 
 know how I could have looked Elfrida in the face 
 again had he indeed risen no more from that 
 medley. But I thought that he made more than 
 enough of my coming to his rescue. It was only a 
 matter of holding back a crowd till help came. 
 
 " All very well to put it in that way, comrade," 
 said Thorgils ; " but where does my axe come in ? 
 You are not fair, for, by Thor's hammer, Erpwald, 
 both of you had been mincemeat but for that." 
 
 " Nay," said I, laughing ; " you and I were those 
 who held back the crowd. I could not have done 
 it alone." 
 
 " But you did, though," the Norseman answered
 
 WAITING FOR TIDINGS 359 
 
 at once. " Nevertheless, it was as well that I 
 happened up in good time." 
 
 Now we rode across the nearer hills until we 
 could see into the fair valley which men call 
 Taunton Deane since those days, and we saw the 
 answering fires which told us that all was well at 
 Watchet, for we had saved the little town. Not 
 until Cerent learned how few we were here would 
 he dare to divide his forces. Far off to the south- 
 ward in the valley we could see the blue reek of his 
 camp-fires, and it would seem that he had not yet 
 moved on the Wessex border. 
 
 All the day we waited and watched, anxious and 
 restless, but no attack came on us here, and the 
 smoke of the camp grew no thinner at Norton. A 
 few Norsemen rode up to us from Watchet, and 
 they said that no move was on hand yet, so far as 
 they could tell. And at last, as the sun was setting, 
 and shone level on the slope of the Poldens, above 
 which the Tor of Glastonbury sent a waving wreath 
 of smoke into the air to bid Wessex gather against 
 the ancient foe, we saw the long line of sparkling 
 helms and spear-points as our host marched from 
 hill to causeway to the bridge that spans the Parrett. 
 Ina would hold the heights above Norton before 
 morning. But that made it the more needful that 
 we should bide here till we were sent for, seeing 
 that we guarded the flank of our advance ; and hard 
 it was to sit still and do it, with a battle pending 
 yonder. It was a long night to us, and hungry. 
 
 Early in the next morning there was heavy smoke 
 on these hills that told of burning on the line of our 
 march, and there was more away toward the far
 
 360 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 Blackdown hills, as if there were trouble beyond 
 Tone. And in the afternoon there fell a strange 
 stillness on the woods round us, and I wondered. 
 There was never a buzzard or kite, raven or crow, 
 left in all the woodland, and then I minded that 
 overhead lately the birds of prey had all flown in 
 one direction, and that toward where Norton lay. 
 It was the cry of the kite and the voice of the song- 
 birds that I missed. The birds of prey had gone, 
 and in the cover their little quarry cowered in fear 
 of the shadow of the broad wings which had crossed 
 them so often. Even now two of the great sea- 
 eagles were sailing inland, and from these strange 
 signs we knew for certain that yonder a battlefield 
 was spread for them, where Saxon and Welsh strove 
 for mastery in the fair valley. But we must pace 
 the hillcrest, silent and moody, waiting for some 
 sign that might tell us of victory. 
 
 That came at last in the late afternoon. Slowly 
 there gathered, over the trees where Norton was, a 
 haze that thickened into a smoke, and that grew 
 into heavy dun clouds which rose and drifted even 
 to the hilltops, for Norton was burning, and by that 
 token we knew that Ina was victor. 
 
 Presently there were flying men of the Welsh 
 who could be seen on the open hillsides, and some 
 few came even up to this camp, and we took them, 
 and from them heard how the battle had gone. It 
 had been a terrible battle, from their account, but 
 they knew little more than that, and that they were 
 beaten. I suppose that Ina thought it best for us 
 to hold this camp for the night, for here we bided, 
 chafing somewhat ; and but for what we took from
 
 A WESSEX VICTORY 361 
 
 the Welsh, hungry, until early morning. Then at 
 last a mounted messenger came to us, and we went 
 to Norton. 
 
 There, indeed, was high praise waiting for us from 
 Ina, for it seemed that our work had checked the 
 advance of Cerent, and had given time for full 
 gathering of the levies before he was over the border. 
 But now I learnt that there was another Welsh 
 army in the field, beyond the Tone River, and until 
 we heard how it fared with the Dorset levies in that 
 direction it was doubtful if we might hold that all 
 was well yet. Gerent had not set everything on 
 this one attack, but had also marched on Langport 
 across the Blackdown hills. Thither Nunna had 
 led what men he could be spared, and was to meet 
 the Dorset levies, whose ealdorman, Sigebald, had 
 sent word to Glastonbury, soon after I left there, to 
 tell of this attack. 
 
 In the late evening there were beacon-fires on 
 the Blackdown hills, and a great one on the camp 
 at Neroche which crowns and guards the hills in 
 that direction. And so presently through the dusk 
 one rode into Norton with word of the greatest 
 battle that Wessex had fought since men could 
 remember, for Nunna had met the foe on the way 
 to Langport, and at last, after a mighty struggle 
 which had long seemed doubtful, had swept them 
 back across the hills whence they came, in full flight 
 homeward. So there was full victory for Wessex, 
 but we had to pay a heavy price therefor. Nunna 
 had fallen in the hour of triumph, and Sigebald, the 
 ealdorman, was lost to Dorset also. Presently we 
 laid Nunna in his mound on the Blackdown hills
 
 362 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 where he had fallen. There he bides as the fore- 
 most of Saxon leaders in the new land we had won, 
 and I do not think that it is an unfitting place for 
 such a one as he. It is certain that so long as a 
 Wessex man who minds the deeds of his fathers is 
 left the name of Nunna will be held in honour with 
 that of the king, his kinsman.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 OF MATTERS OF RANSOM, AND OF FORGIVENESS 
 ASKED AND GRANTED 
 
 Now I must needs tell somewhat of the way in 
 which Ina won Norton, for that had so much to do 
 with my fortunes as it turned out, seeing that all 
 went well by reason of our holding the hill-fort, in 
 which matter, indeed, Thorgils must have his full 
 share of praise. 
 
 Gerent halted in his march when the flying men 
 from the camp came in to him, telling him that we 
 were in strong force on the hill, and so our men 
 crossed the Parrett unhindered, and won to the 
 long crest of the southward spurs of Quantocks, 
 where the Welsh gathered against Kenwalch in the 
 old days and stayed his farther conquest. There 
 was some sort of an advance post by this time in 
 the Roman camp at Roborough, and Ina sent a 
 few men to take it, and that was easily done. 
 Then Gerent heard that Ina was on him, and went 
 to meet him, and so the two armies met on the 
 westward slope of the hills above Norton, and there 
 all day long the battle swayed to and fro until the 
 Welsh broke and fled back to the town itself. Then 
 was a long fight across the ramparts, and at last 
 
 M
 
 364 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 Ina took the place, and so chased his enemy in 
 hopeless rout across the moorland westward yet, 
 until there was no chance of any stand being made. 
 
 But Gerent escaped, though it was said that it 
 was sorely against his will. I was told that the 
 old king came to the battle in a wonderful chariot 
 drawn by four white horses, and that he stood in it 
 fully armed, bidding his nobles carry him to the 
 forefront of the fighting, but that they would not 
 heed him. And presently when they knew that all 
 was lost they hurried him from the field, though he 
 cursed them, and even hewed at them with his sword 
 to stay them as they went. 
 
 Now Ina's camp was set within the walls of 
 Norton among the yet smoking ruins of the palace, 
 where not one stone was left on another ; and the 
 Dragon banner of Wessex floated side by side 
 with the White Horse of the sons of Hengist, 
 where I had been wont to see the Dragon of the 
 line of Arthur. 
 
 All the afternoon of that day Ina sat and saw 
 the long files of captives pass before him, and I 
 was there to question any he would, for he knew 
 little or none of the Welsh tongue. 
 
 Many of these captives were of high rank, men 
 who had only yielded when they must, and here 
 and there I knew one of these by sight. They 
 would be held to ransom by their captors, and the 
 rest, freeman or thrall, as they had been, would be 
 the slaves of those who took them, save they also 
 could pay for freedom. It was a sad enough 
 throng that passed under the shadow of the proud 
 banners.
 
 FOR OLD FRIENDSHIP 365 
 
 At last I saw one whom I knew well, and whom 
 the king knew, for it was Jago. He stood in the 
 line, looking neither to right nor left, but taking his 
 misfortune like a brave man. 
 
 " Here is Jago, the friend of Owen, whom you 
 know, King Ina," I said. 
 
 The king glanced up at the Welsh thane. There 
 was no pride of conquest in the face of Ina as he 
 gazed at his captives, and when one came as Jago 
 came he looked little at him, lest he should seem 
 to exult. 
 
 " Take him, and do what you will with him, 
 Oswald. We owe you much again ; if you see 
 others for whom you would speak, tell me. I will 
 deal with friends of Owen as you will. That is 
 known already, and none will gainsay it." 
 
 I thanked the king quietly, but none the less 
 heartily, and I ran my eyes down the line, but I 
 saw no more known faces. So I went after Jago, 
 who had passed on. 
 
 " Friend, you are free," I said. " That is the 
 word of our king, for the sake of old friendship." 
 
 He could not answer, but the light leapt into his 
 eyes, and he held out his hand to me. Then I took 
 him to the tent which my house-carles had pitched 
 next the king's, where Nunna's should have been, 
 and bade him sit down there. Then I went out 
 and brought up my own prisoners, passing the 
 commoners into the hands of the men who had 
 been with me, but keeping the chief until the last. 
 Two of the house-carles led him up, and his face 
 had as black a scowl on it as I had ever seen, and 
 he looked sullenly at us.
 
 366 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " Who is he ? " asked Ina, turning towards me. 
 
 I did not know, and, to tell the truth, had 
 forgotten to ask him in the waiting for news of 
 Nunna. So I asked him his name with all courtesy, 
 and could win no answer from him but a blacker 
 scowl than ever. Judging from his arms, which 
 were splendid, and of the half Roman pattern that 
 Howel wore, he might be of some note. I thought 
 Jago might know him, so I asked him. 
 
 " Mordred, prince of Morganwg, 1 from across the 
 channel," he answered, looking from the tent door. 
 " He is a prize for whoever took him. Gerent sent 
 word to several of those princes, and his men are 
 somewhere in the country yet, I suppose. They 
 came at Cerent's invitation." 
 
 I went back to Ina, who had set the chief aside 
 for the moment, and when some other man's captives 
 had passed, bound to a long cord, my men brought 
 him forward again. 
 
 " Ask him what brought him here," said Ina, 
 when he heard who he was. 
 
 " I have a mind not to answer you," Mordred 
 growled, when I put the question, " but seeing that 
 there is no use in keeping silence, I will tell you. 
 I hate Saxons, and so when Gerent asked me I 
 came to help him." 
 
 " With your men ? " 
 
 " A shipload of them. They are up in the hills 
 yonder, where you left them, I suppose ; and they 
 will be a trouble to you until they get home, if they 
 can. I am well quit of the cowards." 
 
 1 The ancient Welsh province now represented by the county of 
 Glamorgan.
 
 CONCERNING RANSOM 367 
 
 Now I began to understand how it was that this 
 force went aside to fall on Watchet, and had little 
 heart in the defence of the camp. They were 
 strangers, who hated the name of the Northmen 
 from their own knowledge of them, and could not 
 miss a chance of a fight with them here. After 
 that the men of Gerent who were with them at the 
 camp cared nought for their strange leader. 
 
 " Take him, and hold him to ransom, Oswald," 
 Ina said, when I told him all this. " From all I 
 ever heard of Morganwg, he should be some sort 
 of reward for what you have done. I should set 
 his price high also, for he deserves it for coming 
 here." 
 
 So I took Mordred to my tent, telling him that 
 I must speak of him of ransom. 
 
 " Ransom ? Of course, that will be paid. What 
 price do you set on me ? " 
 
 Now that was a question on which I had no 
 thought ready, seeing that I had never held any 
 man of much rank to ransom before, and I hesitated. 
 At ' last I remembered what some great Mercian 
 thane had to pay to Owen some years ago, and I 
 named that sum, which was good enough for me 
 and Erpwald and Thorgils to share between us. 
 
 Thereon his face flushed red, and he scowled 
 fiercely at me. 
 
 " What ! Is that the value of a prince of 
 Morganwg? It is ill to insult a captive." 
 
 " Nay, Prince, there is no insult " 
 
 " By St. Petroc, but there is, though ! What will 
 the men of Morganwg what will the Dyfed men 
 say when they hear that the Saxon holds one of 
 24
 
 368 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 the line of Arthur at the value of a hundred cows ? 
 Ay, that is how I shall be known henceforth ! 
 Mordred of the cows, forsooth." 
 
 He was working himself up into a rage now, and 
 even Jago from the corner of the tent where he sat, 
 dejectedly enough, began to smile. I had spoken 
 of fair coined silver, and I had some trouble myself 
 in keeping a grave face when this Welsh prince 
 counted the cost of cattle therein. 
 
 " Will you double the sum, Prince ? " I asked in 
 all good faith. 
 
 " I will pay the ransom that is fitting for a 
 prince of Morganwg to pay when his foes have 
 the advantage of him. The honour of the Cymro 
 is concerned." 
 
 " Ask him his value," said Jago in Saxon, knowing 
 that Mordred did not understand that tongue at all. 
 " Never was so good a chance of selling a man at 
 his own price." 
 
 Then I could not help a smile, and Mordred 
 waxed furious. He turned on Jago with his fist 
 clenched. 
 
 " Silence, you miserable " 
 
 " Prince, Prince," I cried. " He did but bid me 
 ask you what was fitting." 
 
 " Well, then, do it," he cried, stamping impatiently, 
 and glaring at Jago yet. It was plain that if he 
 did not understand the Saxon he saw that there 
 was some jest. 
 
 " It is a hard matter for me to set a price on you, 
 Prince," I said gravely. " I have never held one of 
 your rank to ransom before, so that you will forgive 
 seeming discourtesy if I have unwittingly done what
 
 A PRINCE'S VALUATION 369 
 
 was not fitting in the matter. What would the men 
 of your land think worthy of you ? " 
 
 " Once," he said slowly, " it was the ill luck of 
 my of some forebear of mine to have to be ransomed. 
 They paid so much for him." 
 
 He named a sum in good Welsh gold that it had 
 never come into my mind to dream of. It was 
 riches for all three of us. And I dared not say 
 that it was too much and somewhat like foolish- 
 ness, for it was his own valuation. So I held my 
 peace. 
 
 " Not enough ? " he asked, not angrily, but as if 
 it would be an honour to hear that I set him higher. 
 " What more shall I add ? " 
 
 " No more, Prince. I see that I have yet things 
 to learn." 
 
 Truly, I had always heard that the tale of the 
 golden tribute to Rome from Britain had tempted 
 my forebears here first of all, and now I believed it. 
 I suppose these Welsh princes had hoards which had 
 been carried from out of the way of us Saxons and 
 Angles long ago. 
 
 " Ay, you have," Mordred said grimly. " One 
 day it shall be what the worth of a British prince 
 is in good cold steel, maybe. Now let me have a 
 messenger who shall take word to my people and 
 bring back what is needed." 
 
 He scowled when I mentioned Thorgils, but he 
 knew him by repute at least, and was willing to 
 trust him, as I would do so. In the end, therefore, 
 it was he who took the signet ring and the letter 
 the prince had written and brought back the gold. 
 Some of the coins were of the days of Cunobelin,
 
 370 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 but the most of it was in bars and rings and chains, 
 wrought for traffic by weight. 
 
 Now I will say at once that neither of my 
 comrades would share in this ransom, though I 
 thought that it was a matter between the three of 
 us, as leaders of the force that day. 
 
 " Not I," quoth Thorgils " the man was your own 
 private captive, for you sent him down yourself. 
 What do I want with that pile of gold ? I have 
 enough and to spare already, and I should only 
 hoard it. Or else I should just give it back to you 
 for a wedding present by and by. What ? Shaking 
 your head ? Well, what becomes of all my songs if 
 they end not in a wedding? Have a care, Oswald, 
 and see that you make up your mind in time." 
 
 So he went away, laughing at me, but afterward 
 I did make him promise that if he needed a new 
 ship at any time he would tell me, so that I might 
 give him one for the sake of the first voyage in the 
 old vessel, and that pleased him well. 
 
 Now I told Ina this, being always accustomed to 
 refer anything to him, and he was not surprised to 
 hear that the Norseman would not take the gold. 
 
 " And if I may advise," he said, " I would not 
 offer a share to Erpwald ; for, in the first place, he 
 does not expect it, seeing that the captive is yours 
 only, by all right of war ; and in the next, he deems 
 that you have already given him Eastdean, and he 
 is not so far wrong. So it would hurt him. He 
 will be all the happier now that he will know that 
 you have withal to buy four Eastdeans, if you 
 will." 
 
 So against my will, as it were, that day made a
 
 AFTER A VICTORY 371 
 
 rich man of me. Presently I gave the wealth into 
 the hand of Herewald the ealdorman, and he so 
 managed it, being a great trader in his way, that it 
 seemed to grow somewise, and I have a yearly 
 sum therefrom in ways that are hard to be under- 
 stood by me, but which seem simple enough to 
 him. 
 
 I handed over Mordred to the Norsemen to keep 
 until Thorgils returned with the ransom, for before 
 we could rest with the sword in its scabbard again 
 it was needful that all care should be taken for the 
 holding of the new land we had won, and Ina would 
 see to that himself. Here and there we had fighting, 
 but the Welsh never gathered again in force against 
 us, and at last we held every town and camp from 
 sea to sea along the line of the hills that run from 
 Exmoor southwards, and there was our new border. 
 
 Jago went back to Exeter, seeing that his house 
 was burnt at Norton with the rest of the town, and 
 I heard afterwards that there he had found his wife, 
 whom he had sent away when the certainty of war 
 arose. I was in no trouble for him, as he had 
 houses elsewhere. 
 
 But we sent Erpwald back to Glastonbury in all 
 haste, and he was in nowise loth to go, as may be 
 supposed. One may also guess how he was received 
 there. Then, as soon as Ina came back with us all, 
 the ealdorman set to work to prepare afresh the 
 wedding that was so strangely and suddenly broken 
 in upon, and it was likely to be little less joyous that 
 it had been so. 
 
 On the evening before the wedding the ealdorman 
 came to me, when the day's duties were over, and
 
 372 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 said that Elfrida wished to speak to me. So I went, 
 of course, not at all troubling that the ealdorman 
 could not tell me what was to be said, for there were 
 many things concerning to-morrow's arrangements 
 with which I was charged in one way or another. 
 So I found her waiting me alone, in that chamber 
 off the hall where her father and I spoke of the 
 poisoning. 
 
 " I have not sent for you for nothing, Oswald," 
 she said, blushing a little as if it were a hard matter 
 she had to speak of. " There is somewhat on my 
 mind that I must needs disburden." 
 
 " Open confession is good," I said, laughing 
 "what is it?" 
 
 " Well have you forgotten your vow of last Yule- 
 tide?" 
 
 " Not in the least. Would you have me do so ? 
 For that were somewhat hard." 
 
 " No but yes, in a way." 
 
 There she stopped for a moment, and I waited 
 for her to go on, not having any very clear notion 
 of what was to come. She turned away from me 
 somewhat, letting her ringers play over one of the 
 tall horns on the table, when she spoke again. 
 
 " It has been in my mind that you that maybe 
 you thought that I have been hard on you in ways, 
 since we spoke in the orchard." 
 
 So that was what troubled her, but I did not see 
 why she should have spoken of it, seeing that a lady 
 has no need at all to justify her ways in such a 
 matter, surely. 
 
 " No," I answered, " that I never thought. If my 
 vow displeased you, or maybe rather if I displeased
 
 A WELL-KEPT PROMISE 373 
 
 you thereafter, I had no reason to blame any one but 
 myself for the way in which it was needful that I 
 should be shewn that so it was. It was just the 
 best thing for me, for it cured me of divers kinds of 
 foolishnesses." 
 
 " That is what I would have heard you say," she 
 said with a light-hearted laugh enough, while her face 
 cleared. " Now I can say what I will. Do you 
 know that you have kept your vow to the full 
 already ? " 
 
 " Not at all. There are long years before you 
 yet, as one may hope." 
 
 " Ay, Oswald, and through you those years seem 
 bright to look forward to. See, through you has 
 come Erpwald, and now you have kept his life for 
 me at risk of your own. All my life long I shall 
 thank you for those two things. Surely your vow 
 is fulfilled, for this will be lifelong service. There is 
 more that I would say to you, but I cannot." 
 
 She turned away again, weeping for very happiness, 
 as . I think, that could not be told, and I had no word 
 to speak that was worth uttering, though I must say 
 somewhat. 
 
 " It will be good to think of you two together " 
 
 "In the place you have given us," she broke in on 
 me. " Love and a home for all my life ! What 
 more could your vow have wrought than that ? Let 
 me go, Oswald, or I shall weep. It was a good day 
 that sent you to be my champion." 
 
 Then she stepped swiftly to me and kissed me 
 once, and fled, and I do not mind saying that I was 
 glad that she had gone. Too much thanks for 
 things that had been done more or less by chance,
 
 374 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 and as they came to hand as it were, without any 
 special thought for any one, are apt to make one feel 
 discomforted. 
 
 The wedding on the morrow I have no skill to 
 tell of, but as every one has seen such a thing, that 
 hardly matters. I will only set down that never had 
 I seen such a bright one, or so good a company, 
 there being all the more guests present because 
 many who came to the levies stayed on to do 
 honour to the ealdorman and his daughter. Elfrida 
 looked all that a bride should, as I thought, and also 
 as the queen said in my hearing, so that I think I 
 cannot be wrong. I gave her Cerent's great gold 
 armlet, having caused it to be wrought into such a 
 circlet for her hair as any thane's wife might be well 
 pleased to wear. 
 
 As for Erpwald, he was dazed and speechless with 
 it all, but none heeded him, though indeed he made 
 a gallant groom, for that is the usual way as regards 
 the bridegroom at such times. Which is perhaps 
 all the more comfortable for him. 
 
 Then was pleasant feasting, and after it some of 
 us who had been Erpwald's closer friends here rode 
 a little way with those two wedded ones on the first 
 stage of their homeward journey. The Sussex 
 thanes and their men were with them as guard, 
 and they rode on ahead and left us to take our 
 leave. 
 
 And by and by, after a mile or two, the rest 
 turned back with gay farewells, and left me alone 
 with the two, for they knew that I was their nearest 
 friend, and would let me be the last to speak with 
 them. We had not much to say, indeed, but there
 
 ELFRIDA'S PARTING 375 
 
 are thoughts, and most of all, good wishes, that can 
 be best read without words. 
 
 " There is but one thing that I wish," Elfrida said 
 at the very last, even when I had turned my horse 
 and was leaving them. 
 
 " What is that ? " I asked, seeing that there was 
 some little jest coming. 
 
 " Only, that I had seen the Princess Nona." 
 
 I laughed, and so they were gone, and I went 
 back to Glastonbury, wondering if Elfrida guessed 
 what my thoughts of that lady might be. I had 
 not said much of her to any one, except as one 
 must speak of people with whom one has been for 
 a while. 
 
 Strangely enough had come to pass that which I 
 vowed to do for Elfrida, though not in the way 
 which had been in my mind when I drank the 
 Bragi bowl. Presently, when I came back to the 
 ealdorman's house, I had to put up with some old 
 jests concerning that vow, which seemed to others to 
 have come to naught, but they did not hurt me. 
 
 Three days after the wedding Thorgils came to 
 Glastonbury with his charge, and glad enough I was 
 to hand it to Herewald, as I have already said, and 
 to get the care of it off my mind. Yet I will say 
 that by this time there had come to me a knowledge 
 concerning this gold which was pleasant. Only the 
 other day I had been but the simple captain of 
 house-carles, though I was also the friend of a mighty 
 king, and foster-son of a prince indeed, and that had 
 been all that I needed or cared for. Lately there had 
 come a new hope into my life, and it was one that 
 was far from me at that time. But now, when the
 
 376 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 time came for me to go to Dyfed for Owen, I should 
 go with power to choose lands and a home for 
 myself, and for that one whom I dared now to ask to 
 share it. And that was the only reason that I cared 
 to think of the new riches at all. If that hope came 
 to naught I should certainly care for them or need 
 them little enough, for my home would be the court 
 as ever. 
 
 Better to me than the gold was a letter from Owen. 
 The honest Norseman had gone out of his way to 
 put in at Tenby, knowing that I should be glad 
 to have news thence, and not troubling about 
 Mordred who was waiting release, at all. So he 
 had seen Owen, who was well as might be, he said. 
 " With two holes in one thigh, and his left arm 
 almost growing again like a crab's claw. I do not 
 think that he was in the least surprised to hear of 
 the war, nor indeed of its end. All he wanted to 
 know was of you, as it seemed, at least from me. So 
 it was also with Howel and the princess. It was 
 good to see their faces when I told them of the fight 
 at the camp, and how you won glory there. Never- 
 theless, I was half afraid that I made the fighting a 
 bit too fierce over Erpwald, for the princess turned 
 pale enough in hearing how you were knocked over. 
 You ken that I am apt to make the most of things 
 when I am telling a story. My father was just the 
 same, and maybe my grandfather before that, for saga- 
 telling runs in the family." 
 
 I laughed at him, but in my mind I thought of the 
 day when I saw Elfrida pale as she heard of Erpwald's 
 danger at Cheddar, and I wondered. 
 
 Then I turned to Owen's letter, and it was long
 
 NEWS FROM PEMBROKE 377 
 
 and somewhat sad, as may be supposed, for this war 
 had a foreshadowing of long parting between him 
 and me. But he said that he had known it must 
 come, having full knowledge, before Morfed the priest 
 took him, how the war party were getting beyond 
 control. Wherefore he saw that he and I had been 
 saved much sadness by his absence, and it remained 
 to be seen how we should fare when he returned. At 
 least, we should meet soon in Dyfed, for he mended 
 apace. 
 
 I need not tell all of that letter, for it was mostly 
 between us twain. But in it were words for Ina 
 concerning peace, such as an ambassador from the 
 British might well speak, and they helped greatly 
 toward settlement by and by. And so the letter 
 ended with greetings from Howel and Nona, and 
 many words concerning their kindness to him. 
 
 But when I spoke to Thorgils of crossing soon to 
 bring Owen back he shook his head. 
 
 " I suppose he has even made the best of things in 
 the letter, but if he can bear arms again by Yule it 
 will be a wonder," he said. " Yet he is well for so 
 sorely wounded a man." 
 
 Then he promised that it should not be so long 
 before I heard news from Owen again, for he had yet 
 to make several voyages before the winter. And he 
 kept his promise well, for I think that he made one 
 more than he would have done, for my sake solely, 
 though he will not own it, lest the long winter should 
 seem lonesome to me. 
 
 For I will say at once that Owen did not come 
 back by Yule. All that went on in the Cornish 
 court I do not know, but it seemed that Cerent
 
 378 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 thought it well that he should not return until the 
 last hope of victory over Wessex had passed from 
 among his people ; and it may be that he did not 
 wish it to be thought that Owen had any hand in 
 bringing about the peace which he must needs make. 
 He would see to that, and take all the blame thereof 
 himself, caring nothing for any man, if blame there 
 should be from those who set the war on foot. So 
 although I waited to hear from time to time as 
 Thorgils came and went, getting also word from him 
 when some Danish ship crossed to Watchet, nought 
 was said of Owen's return. And I was not sorry, for 
 as things went I could not have gone to Dyfed to 
 meet him. 
 
 There was the new land we had won to be tended, 
 and for a time the planning for that was heavy 
 enough. All men know now how it ended in the 
 building of the mighty fortress of Taunton at the 
 southern end of the Quantock hills, to bar the pas- 
 sage from West to East for all time. There is 
 no mightier stronghold in all England than this, at 
 least of those built by Saxon hands, and there has 
 been none made like it since Hengist came to this 
 land. It stands some two miles from where the 
 Romans set Norton, for they had the same need to 
 curb the wild British as have we, and the place 
 they chose for their ways of warfare needed little 
 amending for ours. 
 
 While that was building, Ina dwelt in the house 
 of some great British lord at the place we call South 
 Petherton, not far off from the fortress. As the 
 place pleased him, presently he had a palace built 
 there for himself, which, as it turned out, Ethelburga
 
 THE WISDOM OF INA 379 
 
 the queen never liked at all. However, that came 
 about in after years. All day long now he was at 
 Taunton, taking pride in overseeing all, so that there 
 is no wonder that the place is strong. As for me, 
 I was with Herewald the ealdorman on the new 
 boundary line with the levies and the king's own 
 following, guarding against any new attack, and 
 trying to win the Welsh to friendship. That was 
 mostly my work, as I knew the tongue, and they 
 knew me as Owen's foster-son. We had some little 
 trouble with them for a time, but soon, as they came 
 to know the justice of the king, and that he did not 
 mean to drive them from the land, they became 
 content, and indeed there were many who welcomed 
 a strong hand over them. Presently there would be 
 Saxon lords over the manors as Ina found men to 
 hold them, but there would be no change beyond that. 
 Freeman should be freeman, and thrall thrall, as 
 before, each in his old holding undisturbed, with equal 
 laws for Saxon and Briton alike. 
 
 Now, one day when I came to the house of the 
 king at Petherton on some affairs I needed his word 
 concerning, presently there came a message to me 
 that Ethelburga the queen would speak with me, and, 
 somewhat wondering, I was taken to her bower, and 
 found her waiting for me. 
 
 " Oswald," she said, after a few words of greeting, 
 " there is one who wronged you once, and has come 
 to ask for your forgiveness. What answer shall I 
 give ? " 
 
 " Lady," I said, " I can remember none who need 
 forgiveness from me now. Those who wrought ill 
 against Owen have it already, or are gone. I have
 
 380 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 no foes, so far as I know, myself, and truly no wrongs 
 unforgiven." 
 
 " Nay, but there is this one." 
 
 " Why then, my Queen, that one must needs be 
 forgiven, seeing that I know not of wrong to me." 
 
 I laughed a little, thinking of some fault of a 
 servant, or of a man of the guard, of which she had 
 heard. But she went to a settle hard by and swept 
 aside a kerchief which lay on it as if by chance, and 
 under it were two war arrows. And I knew them at 
 once for those which had been shot into our window 
 at Norton and had vanished. 
 
 Now I will say that the sight of these brought 
 back at once some of the old feeling against those 
 who, like Tregoz, had sought Owen's life and mine, 
 and my face must needs show it. 
 
 " Ay," the queen said, seeing that, " these are 
 indeed a token that forgiveness is needed." 
 
 Then I remembered that there was but one who 
 could come here with these arrows, though how she 
 had them I could not do more than guess. It 
 could be none other than Mara, the daughter of 
 Dunwal. 
 
 Then suddenly, from among the ladies at the end 
 of the room, one who was dressed in black rose up 
 and came toward me, and she was none other than 
 Mara herself, thin and pale indeed, and with the 
 pride gone from her dark face. Her voice was very 
 low as she spoke to me, and her bright black eyes 
 were dim with tears. 
 
 " I do not ask you to forgive my uncle, or indeed 
 my father for what they planned and well-nigh 
 wrought is past forgiveness," she said, " Forget
 
 FORGIVE AND FORGET 381 
 
 those things if it be possible, but forgive my part 
 in them." 
 
 " I have done that long ago, lady," I said in all 
 truth. I knew that she must have been made use of 
 by the men in some ways, but I did not think at all 
 that she had wished ill as they wished it, since I 
 knew that Morfed had trained the Welsh girl to the 
 deed at Glastonbury. 
 
 " Ay," she said sadly. " But forgetfulness is not 
 forgiveness. You do not know how I carried mes- 
 sages between my father and uncle, when one was 
 in bondage and the other in hiding, so that their 
 plans were laid through me. I am guilty with them. 
 Therefore I would hear you say at least that you will 
 try to forgive before I pass from the world into the 
 cloister where I may pray for them, and for you also, 
 if I may." 
 
 Then I said, with a great pity on me for this lady 
 whom I had known so proud and careless 
 
 " Lady, I do forgive with all my heart. I do not 
 think that you could have stood aloof from your 
 father, and I do not think that you are so much to 
 blame in all the trouble as you would seem to make 
 me believe. In all truth I do forgive." 
 
 She looked searchingly at me while I spoke, and 
 what she saw in my face was enough to tell her that 
 she had all she needed, and with one word of thanks 
 she went back to the ladies, and one of them took her 
 from the room. 
 
 " She goes into my new nunnery at Glastonbury 
 to-morrow, Oswald," the queen said, " and now she 
 will rest content. It was a good chance that brought 
 you here to-day, my Thane, for she had begged me to
 
 382 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 send for you, and that I could hardly do, seeing that 
 one knows not where to find you from day to day. I 
 could tell her truly that I knew I could win your 
 forgiveness : but that would not have been enough 
 for her, I think." 
 
 So Mara passed into the nunnery, and unless she 
 has been one of the veiled sisters whom one sees in 
 their places at the time of mass, I do not know that 
 I have ever set eyes on her again. I do not think 
 that it was the saddest end for her.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 HOW OSWALD FOUND A HOME, AND OF THE 
 LAST PERIL OF OWEN THE PRINCE 
 
 ALL that winter, and through the spring, men toiled 
 at the great fortress, but Ina went back presently to 
 Glastonbury, or to others of his houses, after his 
 wont, now and then riding even from far to us to 
 see how all went. And I was fully busy in the new 
 province, for we made a roll of those who owned land 
 there, that all might be known to the king, and that 
 matter was set in my hand for those reasons which 
 had made me useful already in quieting the country. 
 Moreover, the years at Malmesbury had made me 
 able to write well, and now I was glad that I had 
 learnt, though indeed it went sorely against the 
 grain with me to do so at the time. Truly, I had 
 to go on this errand of the king's with sword in one 
 hand and pen in the other, but I daresay I did 
 better, and fared less roughly, than would one who 
 could not speak to the British freemen in their own 
 tongue. At least, if a man was sullen when I came 
 to him, he was, as a rule, pretty friendly when I left, 
 for he knew that no harm was meant him, and that 
 to be on this roll meant that on his lands he was 
 to bide in peace. And I may not forget that Evan 
 25
 
 384 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 helped me greatly in the matter, for he knew almost 
 all of the best freemen. 
 
 When the walls were strong, in the midst of the 
 new fortress they built a good house for Ina, and 
 we thought that he meant to live here at times, for 
 he had it fully furnished, even to the rushes on the 
 floor, after Easter. By that time I had leisure to 
 spend the holy season with the court at Glastonbury, 
 for there was peace everywhere. And there I had 
 a visit from Thorgils, who brought good news from 
 across the sea. He had made his first voyage of 
 the year, and had seen Owen, who was himself 
 again, if yet weak. 
 
 He had not written to me, but sent word by the 
 Norseman that he did but wait for me to come for 
 him, if I might. If not he would come alone ; but 
 it seemed to him that we should have to part when 
 we reached this side of the channel, for he must go 
 to Cerent at once. 
 
 Next day Ina and the queen must needs pass to 
 Taunton to see the place, for he said that when I 
 might go for Owen depended on its readiness. So 
 we rode with but a small train, meaning, after seeing 
 the fortress, to go on to Petherton for the night, 
 which was quite a usual plan with the king nowa- 
 days, since all this building was on hand. 
 
 So we went round all the walls, and saw the 
 new bridge across the Tone River, and then went 
 into the hall that stood, as I have said, within the 
 walls of the fortress itself. There all was ready for 
 the king, even to a fire on the hearth in the middle 
 of the great hall, which was fully as large as that at 
 Glastonbury itself. I had not seen this house of
 
 A KING'S REQUEST 385 
 
 late, and now the king would have me go all over 
 it and tell him what I thought thereof. 
 
 Indeed, there was nought to say of it but good, 
 for it would be hard to find one better planned in 
 all Wessex, as I think, whether in the house itself, 
 or about the buildings that were set along its walls 
 without for the thralls and workshops, or in the stables 
 and other outhouses, It was indeed such a house 
 as any thane would be proud to hold as his home. 
 
 Presently, therefore, after seeing all, the king and 
 queen and I stood by the hearth in the hall again, 
 and Ina asked me my thoughts of it. And I told 
 him even as I have written, that all was well done 
 and completely. 
 
 " Why, then," he said, " let me come and stay 
 here now and then." 
 
 I laughed at that. 
 
 " I have heard, my King, of house-carles who led 
 their masters, but that is not our way. Where the 
 king goes the household follows, in Wessex." 
 
 He laughed also, for a moment. 
 
 " Long may it be so," he said. " Nevertheless, I 
 think that I shall have to be as a guest here now 
 and then." 
 
 Then Ethelburga smiled at my puzzled face, and 
 spoke in her turn. 
 
 " Why, Oswald, it seems to me that you are the 
 only man in all Wessex who does not know who 
 is to live here." 
 
 " It is always said that the king himself will 
 make it one of his palaces, lady," I answered. 
 
 Then Ina set his hand on my shoulder, and made 
 no more secret of what he meant.
 
 386 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " I want you to bide here, my Thane, and hold 
 this unquiet land for me. There is not one who 
 can better rule it from this fortress for me than 
 yourself; and the house and all that is in it is yours, 
 if you will." 
 
 Then for a moment came over me that same 
 feeling of loneliness that had kept me from taking 
 Eastdean again, and with it there was the thought 
 that I was not able to take so great a charge 
 on me. 
 
 " How can I do this, my King ? " I said, not 
 knowing how to put into words all that I felt. " I 
 am not strong enough for such a post." 
 
 " Nay," he said gravely. " It is said of me that 
 I do not do things hastily, and it is a true word 
 enough, seeing that I know that I often lose a 
 chance by over-caution, maybe. Answer me a ques- 
 tion or two fairly, and I think you will see that I 
 may ask you to bide here." 
 
 Then he minded me that I alone of all his 
 athelings knew this Welsh tongue as if born thereto, 
 and also that men knew me as the son of Owen 
 the prince, so that the Welsh would hardly hold me 
 as a stranger. That I had found out in these last 
 months while I had been numbering the freemen 
 and their holdings ; and as I went about that busi- 
 ness I had seen every one that was of any account, 
 so that already I knew all the land I had to rule 
 better than any other. That task, however, had 
 been set me, as I know now, in preparation for this 
 post. 
 
 I had no answer to make against all this con- 
 cerning myself, for it was true enough, but I did
 
 THE EALDORMAN OF TAUNTON 387 
 
 not speak at once. It did not follow that I could 
 rule as I should, even with all this to help me, and 
 I knew it. 
 
 " What, is more needed ? " Ina said. " Well, I at 
 least have had a letter from Owen by the hand of 
 Thorgils yesterday. See what is written in it." 
 
 He set the writing in my hand, and turned away 
 while I read it. It was meant for my sight as well 
 as his, for he had written to Owen concerning this 
 post for me. And after I had read it all I could 
 say no more, for Owen told how he would help 
 me in all ways possible, and also that he knew 
 how Cerent himself would be more content in 
 knowing that no stranger was to be over the land 
 he had lost. 
 
 So I gave the letter back to the king's hand, and 
 said plainly 
 
 " I think that I may not hold back from what 
 you ask me, my King, after all that Owen says. 
 Nevertheless I " 
 
 " But I am certain that you will do well," said 
 Ina. " Now I shall miss my captain about the 
 court, but I need him here. So you must even 
 stay. There is Owen on the west to help you keep 
 the peace in one way, and Herewald on the east 
 to help you with the levies if need be. Fear not, 
 therefore. It is in my mind that you will have 
 an easier time here than any other I could have 
 bethought me of, if I had tried." 
 
 Then, as in duty bound, I knelt and kissed the 
 hand of the king in token of homage, and he smiled 
 at me contented. 
 
 * You will be the first ealdorman of Devon,
 
 3 88 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 Oswald, when the Witan meets," he said ; for it 
 needed the word of the council of the thanes to 
 give me the rank that was fitting. 
 
 Then when I rose up and stood somewhat mazed 
 with the suddenness of it all, Ethelburga the queen, 
 who had stood by smiling at me now and then, 
 said : " This is your hall, Oswald, remember. But 
 it needs one thing yet. You were wrong when you 
 said it was complete." 
 
 I looked round and saw nothing wanting, from 
 the hangings on the wall to the pile of skins on 
 the high place seats. 
 
 " There are the pegs for the arms of the house- 
 carles," I said, " but no arms thereon yet. That 
 will soon be mended. And I have to set up a head 
 or two of game, to make all homely, maybe ? " 
 
 " More than that, Oswald," she said, laughing. 
 " Strange how dense a man can be! It is a mistress 
 who is needed. Else the women of Devon will have 
 no friend at court." 
 
 I laughed, a little foolishly, perhaps, not having 
 any answer at all, and Ina smiled and went out 
 into the court by himself, saying that he would not 
 meddle with such matters. So I was left to the 
 queen by the hearth. 
 
 " Jesting apart, Oswald," she said, " I had hoped 
 that vow of yours would have led to somewhat, 
 and whose fault it was that nought came of it I 
 do not know. However, no harm seems to have 
 been done, and that may pass, though indeed Elfrida 
 was a favourite of mine. But see to it that next 
 time you are no laggard. Now, when are you going 
 to Dyfed ? "
 
 THE QUEEN'S QUESTIONS 389 
 
 Then I suppose my face told some tale against 
 me, for the queen laughed softly. 
 
 " Soon, Oswald ? M 
 
 I could not pretend to misunderstand her then, 
 but when it was put to me so plainly it did not 
 seem to me all so certain that my suit would 
 fare better than my vow. I had no fear once that 
 the last would not have been welcome, and was 
 mistaken enough. Now, perhaps because I was 
 in real earnest, I did doubt altogether. 
 
 " What, do you fear that there is no favour for 
 you, my Thane?" Ethelburga said, with a smile 
 lingering round the corners of her mouth. 
 
 " I do not see how there can be," I answered. 
 " I am not worthy. It is one thing for the princess 
 to be friendly with me, and another for her to suffer 
 me to look so high." 
 
 I spoke plainly to the queen, as I was ever wont 
 since I was a child in her train and she the kindly 
 lady to whose hand I looked for all things, and 
 from whom all my earlier happinesses had come. 
 She was ever the same, and I know well that her 
 name will be remembered as one of our best 
 hereafter. It was almost therefore as mother to 
 son that she spoke to me, rather than as mistress 
 to servant. 
 
 " But you had no doubts at all concerning 
 Elfrida." 
 
 " That was foolishness, my Queen, and I see it 
 now. This is different altogether." 
 
 " I know it, and it was my fault in a way. 
 Still, you were then but the landless house-carle 
 captain, and yet you dared to look up to the
 
 390 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 daughter of the ealdorman. Now you are the 
 Thane of Taunton, and to be the first ealdorman 
 of Saxon Devon, with house and riches at your 
 back, moreover. And she of whom you think is 
 but the daughter of a Welsh princelet." 
 
 " Nay, my Queen, but she is Nona." 
 
 " Go your ways, Oswald," the queen said, laughing 
 " of a surety you are in earnest this time. Nay, 
 but I will jest no more, and will wish you all speed 
 to Pembroke. If there is no welcome, and more, 
 for you there, I am mistaken, for you deserve all 
 you wish." 
 
 So we spoke no more, but joined the king. 
 Presently, when I came to think of what the queen 
 had said of my changed rank and all that, I saw 
 that she was right, and it heartened me somewhat. 
 Not that I thought it would make any difference 
 to Nona, but that it surely must to Howel, which 
 was a great matter after all. 
 
 In a week Ina gathered the Witan of Somerset 
 here to Taunton, first that the last stone of the 
 fortress should be laid with all solemnity and due 
 rites, even as the foundation had been laid with the 
 blessing of Holy Church on it, and then that he 
 might take counsel for the holding of the new land. 
 Then in full Witan I did homage and took the 
 oaths that were fitting, and so the king girt my 
 sword on me afresh as I sat at the foot of his 
 throne as the first ealdorman of Devon ; and the 
 Witan confirmed his choice, also making sure to 
 me all dues that should come to the man who held 
 the rank. They seemed well satisfied with the 
 king's choice of me, and that was a good thing,
 
 WELCOME TO DYFED 391 
 
 for I will say that I had somewhat feared jealousy 
 here and there. I do not think that their approval 
 was due to any special merit of my own at all, 
 but it was plain that I stood in a half-way place, 
 as it were, between the two courts in a way that 
 was in itself enough to make the choice good policy. 
 
 After that Ina bade me go to Dyfed, while he 
 was yet in the west, and would set all things in train 
 for me, choosing my house-carles, and setting such 
 men as I could work well with in places of trust in 
 the land. There was much for the king to do yet. 
 
 " Therefore take what time you will, Oswald," 
 he said kindly. " You will be busy enough when 
 you come back, and I can trust you not to overstay 
 your time. If Owen can come to speak with me 
 bring him, but that is doubtful yet." 
 
 One may suppose that I did not delay then. 
 I sent Evan to Thorgils, and asked him to give 
 me a passage over, and so had a fortnight to wait 
 for him, as he was on his way from some voyage 
 westward at the time. Then a fair summer sailing 
 and a welcome from the Danefolk at Tenby, where 
 we put in rather than make for the long tidal waters 
 of Milford Haven against a south-west breeze. 
 
 There the Danes must needs set themselves in 
 array in all holiday gear that I might ride to 
 Pembroke as a prince's foster-son, with a better 
 following than Evan and my half-dozen house-carles, 
 and I rode with fifty men after me, so that the guard 
 at the palace gates might have thought that Ina 
 himself had come to see Owen, and there was bustle 
 of welcome enough. 
 
 And so there were wonderful greetings for me,
 
 3Q2 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 from Owen first, and afterward from Howel and 
 from Nona, and I will not say much of them. If 
 one knows what it is to see a father whom one 
 had left weak and ill, strong and well and fully 
 himself again ; if one has met a good friend after 
 absence; if one knows what it may be to see again 
 the one who is dearest in thought, there is no need 
 for me to try and tell the greeting, and if not, I 
 could not make it understood. Let it be therefore. 
 It was all that I looked for, and I was more than 
 content. And yet, for all that, it was a long week 
 before I dared to tell Nona that which I would, 
 and how I did so is another thing that I cannot 
 set down. Maybe all that I need say is that I 
 need not have feared, and that the new hall at 
 Taunton waited for its mistress from that hour 
 forward. 
 
 And so at length I knew that I must be away, 
 and I rode to Tenby to see Thorgils, and found 
 him in the haven, begrimed and happy, with men 
 and boys round him at work on the ship everywhere, 
 painting and scraping in such wise that I hardly 
 knew her. From stem to stern she was bright 
 green instead of her sea-stained rusty black, and a 
 broad gilt band ran along her side below the oar 
 ports. A great red and gold dragon from one of 
 the warships of the Danes reared its crest on the 
 stem head, while its tail curved in red and gold over 
 the sternpost, and even the mast was painted in 
 red and white bands, and had a new gilt dog-vane 
 at its head. 
 
 " Here is finery, comrade," I said. " What is the 
 meaning thereof? "
 
 FROM DYFED TO DEVON 393 
 
 " Well, if you know not, no man knows. I have 
 a new coat for to-morrow's wedding, and it is only 
 fit that the ship that takes home the bride should 
 have one also. Wherefore the old craft will be 
 somewhat to sing about by the time I have done 
 with her." 
 
 Then he showed me a new red-striped sail that 
 Eric had given him, and an awning for the after- 
 deck which the women of the town had wrought 
 for the shelter of the princess whom they loved. 
 It seemed like a good speeding to Nona and 
 to me. 
 
 And so it was at the end of a fortnight thereafter. 
 It would be long to tell of the morrow's wedding, 
 and then of days at Pembroke before we sailed, 
 passed all too quickly for me. But at last we stood 
 with Owen on the deck of the good ship while all 
 the shore buzzed with folk, Welsh and Danish alike, 
 who watched us pass from Dyfed to the Devon 
 coast, cheering and waving with mighty good-will, 
 And only Howel seemed lonely as he sat on his 
 white horse, still and yet smiling, with his men 
 round him, where the cliff looks over the inner 
 harbour, to see the last for many days of the 
 daughter he had trusted to my keeping. 
 
 We cleared the harbour, and then where she had 
 been lying under the island flew toward us under 
 thirty oars the best long-ship that Eric owned, for 
 it was his word that as the Danes had seen me into 
 Pembroke by land, so they would see Nona from 
 the shore with a king's following by sea, and that 
 was well done indeed. The old chief himself was 
 steering in full arms, and all the rowers were in
 
 394 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 their mail and helms, flashing and sparkling 
 wondrously in the sun as they swung in time 
 to the rowing-song as they came. And all down 
 the gangway amidships between the rowers stood 
 the armed men who should take their places when 
 their turn came, full sixty warriors, well armed and 
 mail-clad as if they had need to guard us across 
 the sea. 
 
 I suppose that there is no more wonderful sight 
 than such a ship as this, fresh from her winter 
 quarters, and with her full crew of three men to an 
 oar in all array for war, and Owen and I gazed at 
 her in all delight. As for my princess, she had 
 more thought for the kindliness of the chief in thus 
 troubling himself and his men, I think, for she 
 could not know the pleasure it gave each man of 
 the Danes to feel his arms on him and the good 
 ship swinging under him again after long months 
 ashore. 
 
 " There is another ship in the offing," I said to 
 Thorgils presently, when we, with the Dane just 
 astern of us, were some five miles from land and had 
 ceased to look back to Tenby. Nona had gone 
 into the cabin away from the wind, which came a 
 little chill from the east on the open sea, and maybe 
 also that she felt the chill of parting from her 
 father more than she would have us know. 
 
 " Ay," he said, looking at the far vessel under 
 his hand, " I do not make out what she is but 
 if she is a trader well, our Danes are likely to get 
 some reward for their trouble. They will not have 
 come out for nothing." 
 
 I laughed, for any trader in the Severn sea knew
 
 A STRANGE SAIL 395 
 
 that he must be ready to pay more than harbour 
 dues if he had the ill luck to meet with the Danes. 
 They would make him pay for freedom, but would 
 not harm him unless he was foolish enough to 
 fight. 
 
 So we held on, and the strange sail, which was 
 seemingly beating up channel against the wind, 
 put about and headed for us somewhat sooner than 
 Thorgils expected. 
 
 " She is making mighty short boards," he said. 
 " She should surely have headed over to the coast 
 yet awhile. Would have fetched a bit of a breeze off 
 the land there, maybe." 
 
 Thorgils watched this vessel curiously, for there 
 were things about her which seemed to puzzle him. 
 The men, too, were beginning to talk of her and 
 watch her. And presently I saw that our consort, 
 the Dane, had slackened her speed, so that there 
 was a mile of water between us astern. 
 
 " Oh ay," said Thorgils, as I spoke of this, 
 " they mean to pick her up when we have passed 
 her. They can overhaul her as they like." 
 
 Now we drew near to the strange ship, and it 
 seemed to Owen and me, as we stood side by side 
 on the after-deck beside Thorgils at the helm, that 
 we saw here and there among the men on her 
 deck the sparkle of arms as she lifted and swayed 
 to the waves. She was a long black ship, not like 
 the Dane at all, and her sail was three cornered 
 on a long tapering yard, quite unlike ours, which 
 was square. Thorgils said that she was a trader 
 from the far south, a foreigner, even from so far 
 as Spain, though why she was here he could not
 
 396 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 tell. Mostly such never came round the Land's 
 End. 
 
 " She wants to speak with us," he said presently. 
 " I suppose she has lost herself in strange waters." 
 
 The vessel was right across our bows now, some 
 half-mile away, and her tall sail was flapping in the 
 wind as she hove to. Thorgils put the helm down 
 so as to pass to windward of her, and as he did so 
 the sail of the stranger filled again, and she headed 
 as if waiting to sail with us for a while. Now we 
 could see that many of her crew, which did not seem 
 large, were armed, and I thought little of that, seeing 
 that there were Danes about. But Thorgils waxed 
 silent, and sent a man to the masthead suddenly, for 
 some reason which was not plain to me. 
 
 No sooner was the man there than he shouted 
 somewhat in broad Norse sea-language, which made 
 our skipper start and knit his brows. 
 
 " How many ? " he asked. 
 
 " Like to herrings in a barrel. More than I can 
 tell," the masthead man answered. 
 
 Then Thorgils turned to us. 
 
 " This is more than I can fully fathom," he said, 
 leaning on the helm a little, so that the ship edged 
 up a trifle closer to the wind steadily. " She has her 
 weather gunwale packed with men, who are hiding 
 under it armed men. On my word, it is well that 
 Eric is with us." 
 
 Owen and I looked at one another. If I had 
 been alone, or with him only, I think I should have 
 rejoiced in this seeming chance of a fight at sea, but 
 with Nona and her maidens on board there was a 
 sort of terror for me in what all this might mean.
 
 A SAILING MATCH 397 
 
 No honest vessel hid her men thus, and waited for 
 the coming of two strangers. 
 
 " Get your arms on, prince and comrade," said 
 Thorgils. " It is in my mind that these are 
 desperate folk of sorts. We are pranked up with 
 that dragon like any long-ship, and here is Eric 
 astern of us, and yet there is some look of fighting 
 in the hiding of these men. Will they face two of 
 us, or what is it ? " 
 
 " We may not fight with the lady on board, 
 Thorgils," Owen said under his breath. " If so be 
 we can get away from them we must. Yet it will 
 be the first time that Oswald and I have thought of 
 flying." 
 
 " There is no merit in staying for a fight if there 
 is need why one should be out of it," Thorgils said. 
 " See, she is going to try to get to windward of us, 
 and now will be a bit of a sailing match." 
 
 Then he called one of the men, and he came aft 
 and took a pole with a round red board on its top 
 from where it hung along the gunwale, and, standing 
 on the stern rail with his arm round the high stern- 
 post, waved it slowly. He was signalling to Eric as 
 Thorgils bade him. 
 
 The ship forged up into the wind closer and 
 closer, and the spray flew over her bows as she met 
 the sea. But the strange vessel was no less 
 weatherly, and kept pace with us, and now Eric was 
 bearing down on us more or less, sailing a little more 
 free than we, though he also had to luff somewhat to 
 keep near us, taking a long slant across our course as 
 we sailed now. 
 
 I sent Evan for our arms, for the men were arm-
 
 398 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 ing silently. They were in the chests in the fore- 
 cabin where I had once been bound, and Nona 
 knew nought of possible trouble on hand. To keep 
 her from it altogether I went to the low door of her 
 rude shelter before I put on my mail, and looked in, 
 telling her to keep the cabin closed against the spray 
 that was flying, and had a bright smile for my 
 thought. Then I went back to the deck and armed, 
 and all the while the two ships reached to windward, 
 but even in that little time I saw that the stranger 
 had gained on us. The man was at work signalling 
 to Eric again. 
 
 " We shall know if he means fighting in no long 
 time," said Thorgils to me. " If he does I think that 
 he is going to be surprised." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 " Well, unless every man on board is clean witless 
 they must deem us both harmless. Maybe they 
 have heard of a wedding party that is to cross and 
 are waiting for us. Otherwise it seems impossible 
 that they will face us and the Dane as well." 
 
 Now Eric was back on his old tack, and passing 
 astern of us. I saw the glint of his oar blades, which 
 had been run out from their ports ready to take the 
 water if need was presently. And then we knew 
 that his help would be wanted. Suddenly the 
 strange ship's head flew up into the wind and she 
 was round on the other tack, paying off wonderfully 
 quickly ; and as she did so, from under her gunwale, 
 where they could be hidden no longer, rose the 
 armed men, seeming to crowd her deck in a moment. 
 She was full of them from stem to stern, and our 
 men shouted. She had won well to windward of us.
 
 SHIELD AND ARROW 399 
 
 But Thorgils had known what was coming, and 
 had kept his quick eye on the helmsman of the 
 stranger. Even as her helm went down for the luff 
 his went up and the men sprang to the sheets, and 
 we were tearing across her bows even as her sail 
 filled on the new tack, and heading away lift by lift 
 toward Eric. And Eric hove to to meet us, and his 
 sail fell and his oars flashed out and took the water, 
 and he made for us like the sea-dragon his ship 
 seemed. 
 
 " Down with you men under cover ! " roared 
 Thorgils. " Arrows, comrade ! Down with you ! " 
 
 The strange ship was only a bowshot from us, if 
 a long one yet, but she was overhauling us apace. 
 I saw her men forward bending their bows, and the 
 Norsemen of our crew came aft with my men under 
 the break of the deck on which we stood, where they 
 were in cover. Evan ran to me with his shield up. 
 
 "Evan," I cried, "shield Thorgils." And I set 
 myself before Owen with my own shield raised to 
 cover him, and he laughed at me grimly. 
 
 He set his own alongside mine, and we three 
 stood covering Thorgils. The Norseman's face was 
 set and watchful, but his blue eyes danced under 
 the knit brows, and I do believe that he was enjoying 
 the sport. 
 
 Ay, and so would I but for her who was so close 
 to me. It was the first time I had known aught 
 but joy in battle, and what all my strange new 
 thoughts were I cannot say. I would not pass 
 through that time again for worlds. 
 
 Then the first arrow fled from the enemy toward 
 us, falling short by a yard or two, and at that there 
 26
 
 400 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 came one who looked like a chief, and stood on the 
 high bows and hailed us in Welsh. 
 
 At sight of him Evan cried out, and Owen 
 started. 
 
 " Daffyd of Carnbre, Morfed's kinsman," Owen 
 said to me quietly. " This is the last of the crew 
 who followed Morgan." 
 
 " Likewise the last of Daffyd," Thorgils growled 
 grimly. Look ! " 
 
 But I could not. Now the arrow storm swept on 
 us, and all the air seemed dark with shafts which 
 dimpled the sea like a hailstorm, and clanged on our 
 shields and smote the decks with a sharp click from 
 end to end of the vessel. Even at that time I saw 
 that some of the arrows were British, but more of 
 some outland make with cruelly barbed heads. One 
 or two went near my helm, and I had several in my 
 shield, but none of us were hurt. 
 
 I had to watch them for the sake of Thorgils, 
 who was un mailed, and I could not look where he 
 pointed ahead of us. 
 
 Then of a sudden the arrows ceased to rain on 
 us, and there went a cry as of terror from the decks 
 of our enemy. The wild war-song of the Tenby 
 Danes rose ahead of us, and I turned and looked. 
 Eric was close on us, and his men had risen from 
 under the gunwales, where they too had been hiding 
 until the foe was in their grasp, and now the dragon 
 was on her prey, and that prey knew it. And yet 
 Evan had need to shield me as I turned, for the 
 chief whom they called Daffyd was urging his men 
 to shoot, and himself snatched a bow and loosed an 
 arrow at us harmlessly.
 
 "THE STEM OF THE VIKING WAS CRASHING ON HER QUARTER." 
 
 p. 401.
 
 A SEA-DRAGON 401 
 
 It was wonderful. Under the sweep of the thirty 
 long oars the dragon ship tore past us, hurling the 
 white foam from her sharp bows, while the thunder 
 of war-song and breaking wave and rolling oars filled 
 my ears and set our men leaping and cheering as 
 they saw her. Eric was on the high forecastle, and 
 he waved his broad axe at us gleefully, and all along 
 the decks the fighting men stood above the armed 
 rowers ; one shielding the toiler, and one with bent 
 bow ready, steady as oaks on the reeling deck, and 
 cheering us also with lifted weapons. 
 
 The foe saw, and her oars ran out too late. The 
 dragon met her, and thus, checking her speed as she 
 passed her, swept her crowded deck with arrows at 
 half-range ; and yet the foe held on after us, for the 
 men of Daffyd and of Morgan were bent on ending 
 Owen if they themselves must die. The arrows 
 were about us again, and Eric must turn and be 
 back to our help. It seemed that the foe would be 
 on us before that help could come. 
 
 I did not know the handiness of the long-ship 
 under oars. She was about even as I looked again 
 from the foe to her. And her sail was hoisted, and 
 under that and oars alike she was back on the foe ; 
 and then the men of Daffyd forgot him and us in 
 the greater business of caring for themselves, and 
 left him raving on the fore-deck, to seek shelter while 
 they might. 
 
 Then I suppose the helmsman was shot, for the ship 
 luffed helplessly, and in a moment the stem of the 
 viking was crashing on her quarter, and the grap- 
 pling irons were fast to her. Thorgils laughed and 
 luffed at once.
 
 402 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 " Somewhat to sing of," he said cheerfully, as he 
 hove to to watch the fight. That it was in all 
 truth. We were but a bowshot off, and could see it 
 all. We heard the ships grinding together, and we 
 heard the shout of the Danes and the outland yells 
 of the Welsh, and we saw the vikings swarming on 
 board while the axes flashed and the war-song rose 
 again, 
 
 " Eric has a mind to pay them for nigh spoiling 
 a wedding voyage," quoth our Norseman. 
 
 It was no long fight, for I suppose that there are 
 men of no race who can stand before the Northmen 
 at sea, at least since we have forgotten the old ship- 
 craft of our forefathers. From stem to stern Eric 
 led his men, sweeping all before him, some foemen 
 even leaping overboard out of the way of the terrible 
 axes, and so meeting another death. I think that 
 the Welsh chief Daffyd was the last to fall before 
 old Eric himself. And then was a great cheer from 
 the two ships, and after it silence. 
 
 Then Eric hailed us, and Thorgils ran out his 
 oars, and we went alongside the Danish ship. And 
 at that time Nona came from the cabin, and called 
 me, looking wonderingly at the arrows that littered 
 the deck at her feet. 
 
 " Oswald, what is it all ? Do the good Danes 
 leave us ? " 
 
 Then she saw my mail, and paled a little. 
 
 " Fighting ! and I not with you ? " she cried. " Is 
 any one hurt ? " 
 
 But I went to her side and told her how things 
 had gone, asking her to bide in the shelter yet, for 
 we had things to see that were not for her. And
 
 THE GALLEY-SLAVES 403 
 
 so she went back again and closed the door, being 
 assured that the danger had passed. 
 
 We went on board the Danish ship, for there was 
 not enough sea to prevent our lying gunwale to 
 gunwale for a moment. Both Owen and I would 
 find out if possible how all this came about. There 
 was a row of captives on the deck of the enemy 
 waiting question, and I looked down on them from 
 beside Eric. Swarthy men and black haired they 
 were, speaking no tongue which we knew, and one 
 of them was black as his hair. I had never seen 
 a black man before, and he seemed uncanny. The 
 Danes were staring at him also, and he was grinning 
 at them with white teeth through thick lips in all 
 unconcern. Many of these men had chains on their 
 legs, and this black among them. 
 
 " Chained to the oar benches they were, poor 
 thralls," Eric said. "We could not bide that, so 
 we cut them free. Then they fell on their lords 
 and rent them." 
 
 Owen shuddered. He had seen the southern galleys 
 before, and knew why no man was left alive of the 
 foreigners who had fought. Our kin do not slay 
 the wounded. But there were some Britons left 
 among the captives, and one of them cried to Owen 
 by name for mercy. 
 
 We had that man on board the Dane and 
 questioned him, and learnt all. He had no reason 
 to hide aught when he was promised safety. 
 
 Daffyd had heard that we were to cross from 
 Tenby, having had all the doings of Owen spied 
 upon since the winter. Then he learned that when 
 I came over Owen was to return, and therefore he
 
 404 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 had my doings watched also. He hired this foreign 
 ship in Marazion, where she put in for trade just as 
 he was wondering how to compass our end on the 
 journey, promising her fierce crew gold of his own 
 and all plunder there might be, if they would help 
 him to an easy revenge. So they came into the 
 Severn sea, and lay for a fortnight or more under 
 Lundy Island, watching for us as a cat watches for 
 a mouse, and getting news now and then from 
 Welsh fishers from Milford Haven. It was from 
 them that Daffyd learned of my wedding, and so 
 it came to pass that neither he nor the strangers 
 thought for a moment that our two ships held aught 
 but passengers and much plunder, with a princess to 
 hold to ransom, moreover, for the taking. They took 
 no account of the few house-carles we might have 
 with us, and even I knew nought of the crossing of 
 the armed Danish ship with us, which was planned 
 so that it came as a pleasant surprise to us all. 
 Thorgils was right, and it had been a terrible one 
 for them. 
 
 So the plunder fell to Eric, and it was worth 
 having. There was the ship and arms and captives, 
 and the gold of Daffyd, and that of the traders, 
 moreover, with some strange and precious woven 
 goods from southern looms, silken and woollen, 
 which yet remained in the hold, wondrous to 
 look on. 
 
 Now, in halting words enough I went to thank 
 Eric and his men for that which he had done for 
 me and mine, which indeed was more than I knew 
 how to put into words. 
 
 " Hold on, comrade," he said, staying me. " I
 
 ERIC'S FAREWELLS 405 
 
 will tell you somewhat Good friends enough we 
 are with Howel nowadays, but it was not always 
 so. It was the doing of your fair princess that 
 things came not to blows between us at one time, 
 for we held that he was unreasonable in some matter 
 of scatt l to be paid. She settled that matter for us 
 with wise words, and we hold that to her we owe 
 it that we are in Tenby to-day. Howel could 
 starve us out any time he chose. And that the 
 prince will own to you if you ask him, being an 
 honest man, if hasty. We shall miss Nona the 
 princess sorely good luck to her." 
 
 Then he must needs have all the bales of rich 
 goods set on board our ship, as a wedding present 
 to Nona, and so set a crew on board the prize, 
 and she left us, heading homewards to Tenby. We 
 went back to our own ship at once after this was 
 done, but Eric would see us safely to Watchet 
 before he was satisfied, and so we took up the quiet 
 passage again, little harmed enough. Eric had a 
 few wounded men, but we had not suffered from 
 the arrows. 
 
 Presently the stars came out, and Nona and I 
 sat with Owen under the awning in the quiet of 
 the calm sea, while the men rowed under the shadow 
 of the sail that held a little wind enough to help 
 them homeward, and we went over all the things 
 that the day had brought us. And Owen said 
 
 " Now you may be at rest concerning me, Oswald, 
 
 for there is not one left to lift a hand against me 
 
 of whom I need think twice. Daffyd was the last 
 
 of the crew to which Morgan and Tregoz and 
 
 1 Tribute due to an over-lord by the settlers.
 
 406 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 Dunwal belonged, for Gerent has the rest in ward 
 safely ; and there they will bide, if I know aught 
 of him, until I have to beg him to set them free 
 beyond the shores of Cornwall." 
 
 I will say now that this was true, for thence- 
 forward no man lifted hand or voice against my 
 foster-father. The war and its hopeless ending 
 quieted the men whom Morfed had led, and there 
 was peace, in which men turned to Owen as the 
 one who could keep it, and had given wise counsel 
 which was once disregarded. 
 
 So it came to pass that I took home Nona with 
 me, and set her as princess in the hall at Taunton 
 amid the rejoicing of all the Welsh folk who were 
 under me; for, as Ethelburga the queen had said, 
 they knew that they had a friend in her. And here 
 we have bided ever since, and are happy in home 
 and friends and work, for all seems to have gone 
 well with us. And as to those good friends of ours, 
 there may yet be a little to tell before I set the pen 
 aside. 
 
 Owen passed to Exeter at the time we came 
 home, for he would see his uncle before he went 
 to speak with Ina. But presently he was back 
 with us at Taunton, bearing with him a wondrous 
 present for the bride from Gerent, and good and 
 friendly words for me which promised well for the 
 peace of the border, at least while he lived. And 
 seeing that he lives yet, with Owen at his right 
 hand, that has been a long time. Now Owen 
 comes and goes, and none think it strange that 
 he is most friendly with Ina, for men have learnt
 
 PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT 407 
 
 that in the peace of the two realms is happi- 
 ness. 
 
 Presently Jago came back to Norton, for I needed 
 some British adviser at hand, for Evan, faithful and 
 well trusted as he is as our honest steward, and able 
 to tell me of the needs of the people, knows nought 
 of the greater laws and ways, and Herewald minded 
 me of him. They had ever been good friends, and 
 I could fully trust him. So he rebuilt his house at 
 Norton, where the land lay waste round the old 
 Roman walls which our Saxons hate, and there he 
 is now, helping me mightily with his knowledge of 
 the Welsh customs, which I do not wish to interfere 
 with more than needful. 
 
 For, in the wisdom of Ina, we did not follow the 
 old plan of driving out and enslaving all the Welsh 
 folk in this new won land, as had been the rule in 
 the days of the first coming of our forefathers when 
 Saxons were few. Those manors whose owners had 
 fallen or would not bide under the new rule, Ina 
 gave to thanes of his own, and the men of Somerset 
 and Dorset took what land they would where the 
 freeman had left them, but all others he left under 
 new and even-handed laws in peace. 
 
 So I had to content the men of both races as 
 well as I could, and men say that I wrought well. 
 At least, I have had no murmuring, and I may deem 
 that they are right. 
 
 As one may suppose, there is no more welcome 
 guest in our hall than Thorgils, and at times he 
 brings Eric or some other Tenby Dane with him 
 if a ship happens to cross hither. Once a year 
 also he brings Howel, and there is feasting in our
 
 408 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 hall, Saxon and Norseman, Briton of the west and 
 Briton from over sea together in all good fellow- 
 ship. 
 
 One evening it came to pass that Thorgils sat 
 in our hall, which was bright with the strange stuffs 
 that came from the ship of Daffyd, and we talked 
 of the old ship a little, after he had sung to us. 
 And then I said idly : " She must be getting old, 
 comrade. When am I to give you that new craft 
 we once spoke of?" 
 
 Whereon he looked at Nona suddenly, and said : 
 " I mind that old promise. But now there is a ship 
 of another sort that will be a better present. I will 
 ask for that." 
 
 " What is it ? " 
 
 " Build us a church at Watchet, and set there a 
 priest who shall teach us the way of the Christian. 
 We have seen you forego a blood feud and do well 
 to the innocent man whom our faith would have 
 bidden you slay, and it is good. We know you for 
 a brave warrior, and your faith has not taken the 
 might from your heart as we were told it must. 
 Only let the priest be a Saxon." 
 
 Then he added, as if thinking aloud 
 
 " Ay, Odin and Thor and the rest of the Asir 
 are far off from us here. Our old faith falls from 
 us, and we are ready for the new. Let it be soon." 
 
 There I think that the hand of Nona wrought, 
 for the Norse folk fairly worshipped her. So it 
 was not long before that good friend of mine, the 
 Abbot of Glastonbury, found me the right man, 
 and one day thereafter Nona and I stood sponsors 
 for Thorgils and one or two more whom we knew
 
 IN THE DAYS TO COME 409 
 
 well, at the font in the new church which the gold 
 of Mordred built instead of the ship, and soon all 
 the little town was Christian in more than name. 
 
 There is happiness at Eastdean, and we meet 
 with Erpwald and Elfrida at the house of her father 
 now and then, and they have been here also. But 
 I have never had time to go to Eastdean again, 
 though it is a promise that we will do so when 
 we may. 
 
 It is the word of Ina my master that all things 
 go well where I bear rule for him, and I fear little 
 blame, if little praise may be for me, when Owen 
 comes to us from time to time. If there is any 
 praise, it is due to my fair British princess, who is 
 my best adviser in all things. 
 
 So there is peace ; and some day, and that no 
 distant one, there will grow up here a new race in 
 the west, wrought of the blood of Saxon and Briton 
 and Norseman ; and the men of that Devon and 
 Somerset that shall be, will have the doggedness 
 of the Saxon and the fire of the Welsh and the 
 boldness of the Norse, to be first of all England, 
 maybe in peace and in war, on shore and at sea. 
 And that will have been brought to pass by the 
 wisdom of Ina, whose even laws are held the wisest 
 that the race of Hengist has ever known. It is in 
 my mind that the lesson of the wisdom of equal 
 rights for all men, whether conquered or conqueror, 
 is one that will bide with us in the days to come, 
 and be our pride. 
 
 Now it seems that I have told my story so far 
 as any will care to hear it. But if there has been 
 aught worth telling it has centered round that one
 
 410 A PRINCE OF CORNWALL 
 
 who took me from the jaws of the wild wolf in the 
 Andredsweald. First in my heart, and first in the 
 hearts of his people now at last, must be set the 
 name of my foster-father, Owen the Prince of 
 Cornwall.
 
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