s not the end, for there are one or two who have ridden
in like sort from Reedham since that day, and have borne home the
like message; so that I know not where the ending of that kindly
deed may be.

Past the old Chichester walls I went, and out on the long line of
the Roman street that should take me to London. And as I went I
sang, for the green beechen woods were wondrous fair to me after
the long weeks of changing sea, and it seemed to me that all was
going well, so that I put away for the time the grievous thought of
my shipwreck, the one hard thing that I must face when I came home
again.

There is nothing to tell of that ride; for well armed, and rich,
and with a good horse, what should there be? And at last I came to
London town, and rode straightway to the great house of my
godfather, Ingild, that stood by London Bridge. Very strange it was
to me to look out over the Pool as I crossed, and not to see our
good ship in her wonted place, for this was the first time I had
come to London except in her.

At the door of the courtyard, round which Ingild had his great
storehouses and sheds for goods, I drew rein, and two serving men
whom I knew well came out. Yet they knew me not, staring at my arms
and waiting for my commands.

So I spoke to them by name, and they started and then laughed,
saying that they must be forgiven for not knowing me in my arms,
for surely I had changed greatly since two years ago, when I was
last with them.

It was the same when Ingild himself came out, ample robed and
portly; for he gazed long at my helmed face, and then cried:

"Why, here is a marvel! Wulfric, my son, you have grown from boy to
man since last we met; and you come in helm and mail shirt and on
horseback, instead of in blue homespun and fur cap, with an oar
blister on either hand. How is this?"

Then he kissed me on both cheeks and led me in, running on thus
till a good meal was before me, with a horn of his mighty ale; and
then he let me be in peace for a little while.

Afterwards, as we sat alone together, I told him all that had
befallen, even as I would have told my father, for in my mind
Ingild, my godfather, came next to him and our king, and I loved
him well.

Sorely he grieved for loss of ship and goods and men, but he told
me that we were not the only seamen who had been hurt by that
sudden gale. Nor did he blame me at all, knowing that Kenulf was in
truth the commander of our ship. Rather was he glad