e valley, and the three men loosed my
ropes and fled out, and De Aquila's men rode up. Gilbert de Aquila
came with them, for it was his boast that, like his father, he forgot
no man that served him. He was little, like his father, but terrible,
with a nose like an eagle's nose and yellow eyes like an eagle. He
rode tall warhorses--roans, which he bred himself--and he could never
abide to be helped into the saddle. He saw the rope hanging from the
beam and laughed, and his men laughed, for I was too stiff to rise.

"'This is poor entertainment for a Norman knight," he said, "but, such
as it is, let us be grateful. Show me, boy, to whom thou owest most,
and we will pay them out of hand."'

'What did he mean? To kill 'em?' said Dan.

'Assuredly. But I looked at the Lady Aelueva where she stood among her
maids, and her brother beside her. De Aquila's men had driven them all
into the Great Hall.'

'Was she pretty?' said Una.

'In all my long life I have never seen woman fit to strew rushes before
my Lady Aelueva,' the knight replied, quite simply and quietly. 'As I
looked at her I thought I might save her and her house by a jest.

"'Seeing that I came somewhat hastily and without warning," said I to
De Aquila, "I have no fault to find with the courtesy that these Saxons
have shown me." But my voice shook. It is--it was not good to jest
with that little man.

'All were silent awhile, till De Aquila laughed. "Look, men--a
miracle," said he. "The fight is scarce sped, my father is not yet
buried, and here we find our youngest knight already set down in his
Manor, while his Saxons--ye can see it in their fat faces--have paid
him homage and service! By the Saints," he said, rubbing his nose, "I
never thought England would be so easy won! Surely I can do no less
than give the lad what he has taken. This Manor shall be thine, boy,"
he said, "till I come again, or till thou art slain. Now, mount, men,
and ride. We follow our Duke into Kent to make him King of England."

'He drew me with him to the door while they brought his horse--a lean
roan, taller than my Swallow here, but not so well girthed.

"'Hark to me," he said, fretting with his great war-gloves. "I have
given thee this Manor, which is a Saxon hornets' nest, and I think thou
wilt be slain in a month--as my father was slain. Yet if thou canst
keep the roof on the hall, the thatch on the barn, and the plough in
the furrow till I come back, thou s