did his
wife; and dug up the pot in which he stowed away any sums that
remained, at the end of each year, over and above the expenses of the
hold; and provided all that was required, without stinting.

Three days after the gathering, the Armstrongs returned home, and
Oswald rode with Roger to Alnwick. The next three months passed quietly
and uneventfully. Snow was lying deep on the Cheviots, and until spring
there was little chance of the Scotch making a foray.

Oswald worked hard in the hall, where the knights kept themselves in
exercise, practised with the young squires, and superintended the
drilling and practice of the men-at-arms, of whom the number at the
castle had been much increased; for none doubted that in the spring the
Scots would, after Henry's invasion, pay a return visit to England, and
that the northern counties would need a very strong force to hold them
in check.

He was, several times, sent by Percy with messages to the governors of
Roxburgh and Jedburgh, and to other commanders; calling upon them to be
vigilant, and to send in lists of arms and stores required, so that all
should be in good order to make a stout resistance, when the need came.

When he had received no special orders to return with speed to Alnwick,
Oswald generally found time to pay a visit of a few hours to the
Armstrongs. On these excursions Roger and another man-at-arms always
rode with him, for it would not have been becoming for a squire, and
messenger of Hotspur, to ride without such escort.

Alwyn had picked out, for Roger's use, one of the strongest horses in
the castle. It was not a showy animal, having a big ugly head, and
being vicious in temper; therefore, after some trial, it had been
handed over to the men-at-arms, instead of being retained for the
service of the knights. It had, at first, tried its best to establish a
mastership over the trooper; but it soon found that its efforts were as
nothing against the strength of its rider, and that it might as well
try to shake off its saddle as to rid itself of the trooper, the grip
of whose knees almost stopped its breathing. Oswald, too, was very well
mounted, Sir Edmund Mortimer having presented him with one of the best
horses in the stable, upon his leaving him.

Upon nearing Hiniltie one day, just as the new year had begun, Oswald
was alarmed at seeing smoke wreaths ascending from the knoll behind the
village upon which the Armstrongs' hold stood. Galloping on, he