w that
the plot is found out, while you guard against it. The traitors
will be less careful if they deem that nought is known. Thorgils is
somewhat talkative, you know."

"That is right," said Howel. "I have a good counsellor here, Thane,
as you see. However, Thorgils will not sail today, for he has just
put in, and I know that he was complaining of some sort of damage
done, as the gale set a bit of a sea into the cove, and he had some
ado to keep clear of the rocks for a time. We will even ride to
Pembroke, and I will send for Thorgils that he may speak with you."

And then he added grimly:

"Moreover, I will send men on the track of Evan, the chapman,
forthwith."

So we called out the guards from the camp, where there were lines
of huts with a greater building in the midst as if it were often
used thus, and so rode across the rolling land northwards till we
came to Pembroke. And there Howel of Dyfed dwelt in state in such a
palace as that of Gerent, for here again the hand of the Saxon had
never come, and the buildings bore the stamp of Imperial Rome.

So once again I was lodged within stone walls, and with a roof
above me that I could touch with my hand, and I need not say how I
fared in all princely wise as the son of Owen. I suppose there
could be no more frank and friendly host than Howel of Dyfed.

Tired I was that night also, and I slept well. But once I woke with
a fear for Owen on me, for I had dreamed that I saw some man
creeping and spying along the wide ramparts of Norton stronghold.
And it seemed that the man had a bow in his hand.

CHAPTER VIII. HOW OSWALD LOST A HUNT, AND FOUND SOMEWHAT STRANGE IN CAERAU
WOODS.

I thought Pembroke a very pleasant place when I came to see it in
the fair winter's morning. The gale had passed, but it had brought
a thaw with it, and there was a softness in the air again, and the
light covering of snow had gone when I first looked abroad. There
had been no such heavy fall here as we had in Wessex beyond the
sea.

Maybe pleasant companionship had something to do with my thought of
the place, for none can deny that a good deal does depend on who is
with one. And, seeing that after the morning meal her father was
busy with his counsellors for a time, Nona the princess would shew
me all that was to be seen while we waited the coming of Thorgils.

Whoever chose the place for the building of this palace stronghold
chose well, for it is set on a rocky tongue of l