been rebuilt or restored from time to time in
exactly the same wise, so that it stood fair and lordly and fit for
a king's dwelling even yet. Maybe the wattled hovels of the thralls
that clustered round it inside the great earthworks were not what
would have been suffered in the days of those terrible men who made
the fortress, but I doubt not that they stood on the foundations of
the quarters of the soldiers who had held it for Rome.

The guard turned out in orderly wise as we came to the gates, and
they wore the Roman helm and corselet, and bore the heavy Roman
spear and short heavy sword. But that war gear I had seen before on
the other Welsh border, and I had a scar, moreover, that would tell
that I had been within reach of one weapon or the other. I knew
their tongue, too, almost as well as my own, for Owen had taught it
me, saying that I might need it at some time. It had already been
of use to the king in the frontier troubles, for I could interpret
for him, but I think that Owen had in his mind the coming of some
such day as this.

Now, Owen would have me speak to the guard and tell them our
errand, and I rode forward and did so. The short day was almost
over by this time; and the captain who came to meet me did not seem
to notice my Saxon arms in the shadow of the high rampart. Hearing
that we bore a message for the king, he sent a man to ask for
directions, and meanwhile we waited. I asked him if there was any
news, thinking it well to know for certain if aught had been heard
yet of the end of Morgan. News of that sort flies fast.

"No news at all," he answered. "What did you expect?"

"I had heard of the death of a prince, and do not know the rights
thereof."

"Why, where have you been? That is old news. It was only Dewi, and
he is no loss. The Saxon sheriff hung him, even as the king said he
would do to him an he caught him, so maybe it is the same in the
end. I have not heard that any one is sorry to lose him."

He laughed, and if it was plain that Morgan's brother was not
loved, it was also plain that nought was known of the end of the
other prince yet. We were first with the tidings here, and that
might be as well.

Now a message came to bid us enter, and the steward who brought it
told us that we were to be lodged in some great guest chamber, and
that we should speak with the king shortly.

The men bided outside the walls, the captain leading them to a long
row of timber-built stables which s