ins over the door. It was jehan whom De Aquila had
sent to us with the horses, and only Jehan had loaded the gold. When
our story was told, De Aquila gave us the news of England, for we were
as men waked from a year-long sleep. The Red King was dead--slain (ye
remember?) the day we set sail--and Henry, his younger brother, had
made himself King of England over the head of Robert of Normandy. This
was the very thing that the Red King had done to Robert when our Great
William died. Then Robert of Normandy, mad, as De Aquila said, at
twice missing of this kingdom, had sent an army against England, which
army had been well beaten back to their ships at Portsmouth. A little
earlier, and Witta's ship would have rowed through them.

"'And now," said De Aquila, "half the great Barons of the North and
West are out against the King between Salisbury and Shrewsbury, and
half the other half wait to see which way the game shall go. They say
Henry is overly English for their stomachs, because he hath married an
English wife and she hath coaxed him to give back their old laws to our
Saxons. (Better ride a horse on the bit he knows, I say!) But that is
only a cloak to their falsehood." He cracked his finger on the table,
where the wine was spilt, and thus he spoke:

"'William crammed us Norman barons full of good English acres after
Santlache. I had my share too," he said, and clapped Hugh on the
shoulder; "but I warned him--I warned him before Odo rebelled--that he
should have bidden the Barons give up their lands and lordships in
Normandy if they would be English lords. Now they are all but princes
both in England and Normandy--trencher-fed hounds, with a foot in one
trough and both eyes on the other! Robert of Normandy has sent them
word that if they do not fight for him in England he will sack and
harry out their lands in Normandy. Therefore Clare has risen,
FitzOsborne has risen, Montgomery has risen--whom our First William
made an English Earl. Even D'Arcy is out with his men, whose father I
remember--a little hedge-sparrow knight near by Caen. If Henry wins,
the Barons can still flee to Normandy, where Robert will welcome them.
If Henry loses, Robert, he says, will give them more lands in England.
Oh, a pest--a pest on Normandy, for she will be our England's curse
this many a long year!"

"'Amen," said Hugh. "But will the war come our ways, think you?"

"'Not from the North," said De Aquila. "But the sea is alw