wallowed up in
some quicksand; but they could give no aid, and only shudder in
helplessness.

At that moment Etienne caught hold of the loose leash by which one
of the dogs was secured.

"Let us follow the dogs," he said; "they always scent out firm
ground."

There was now, happily for them, more light; it had long since
ceased to snow, and the stars came out brightly.

"See," said Pierre, "the moon is rising; we shall have it quite
light soon."

"Would it had risen earlier," croaked Ralph.

The dogs, their noses to the ground, went on bravely, winding in
and out between quagmire and rotting herbage. Had the light been
brighter, our Normans would have perceived the impressions of
numerous footmarks of men on the path they were taking--the dogs
were at last on the scent they had sought all day, whether for weal
or for woe.

At length the path suddenly ascended a bank, and the light through
the tree tops showed that they were approaching a clearing.

They ascended cautiously, and from the summit of the short ascent
looked out upon an elevated tableland in the midst of the morass.
Before them, encircled by a little brook, which shortly afterwards
swelled the waters of the morass, stood a large rustic dwelling,
overgrown with ivy; and not far distant rose many houses or
huts--in fact, to their no small amazement, they beheld a village,
and one, too, that no individual amongst them had ever seen or
heard of before.

"'Tis the very nest of vipers we have sought all day," said
Etienne.

"And have found to our undoing," lamented Ralph.

"See, there is light behind that shutter, I will creep up and look
in," said Etienne; "rest you all here."

There was no glass in common use in those days, and, save when horn
was employed, people--the poor at least--had to choose, even in the
daytime, between darkness and warmth; for when they let in the
light, they let in the weather.

Looking through the chinks in the shutters, Etienne gazed inside.

It was the farmhouse occupied by a former lord, Elfwyn of
Aescendune, during the Danish invasions, as recorded in a former
Chronicle, and was larger and more commodious than usual in those
days. There were several smaller houses, or rather huts, around;
but if they had inmates, they were all silent--perhaps asleep, for
the hour was late.

Beside a fire, kindled beneath a large open chimney, such as were
then in use in the bettermost houses--for the poor were content
with a