ked in the face of the man, whom they had not
yet seen plainly, he spoke to the king, and Ina seemed to wonder at
what he heard.

Then Herewald the ealdorman said:

"That is the name of one of the two Devon princes of the West
Welsh, cousins of Gerent the king. We have trouble with their men,
who raid our homesteads now and then."

At that a big man with a yellow moustache and long curling hair
rose from among the franklins and said loudly, in a voice which was
neither like that of a Briton nor a Saxon at all:

"Let me get a nearer look at him, and I will soon tell you if he is
what he claimed to be."

And with no more ceremony he came to where I and the two
house-carles yet stood, and looked and laughed a little to himself
as he did so.

"He is Morgan the prince, right enough," he said. "And I can tell
you all the trouble. Your sheriff hung his brother, Dewi, three
months since for cattle lifting and herdsman slaying on this side
Parrett River, somewhere by Puriton, where no Welshman should be. I
helped hunt the knaves at the time. The sheriff took him for a
common outlaw like his comrades, and it was in my mind that there
would be trouble. So I told the sheriff, and he said that if the
king himself got mixed up with outlaws and cattle thieves he must
even take his chance with the rest. And thereon I said--"

"Thanks, friend," said Ina. "The rest shall be for tomorrow. Bide
here tonight, that you may tell all at the morning."

The man made a courtly bow enough, and went back to his seat, and
then Ina bade Owen see to his lodgment, and after that the thralls
carried out the body. I went quietly and walked along the lower
tables, bidding my men see if more Welshmen were present, but
finding none, and then I found the hall steward wringing his hands,
with an ashy face, at the far end of the hall.

"Master Oswald," he said, almost weeping, "how that man came in
here I do not know. I saw him not until he rose up. None seem to
have seen him enter, but men have so shifted their places that it
seemed not strange to any near him that they had not seen him
before."

"Had you seen him you could not have turned him away," I said. "He
came as a suppliant, and the king's word is strict concerning such
at these times. Good Saxon enough he spoke, too, in the way of many
of our half Welsh border thralls. I do not think that you will be
blamed. Most likely he slipped in as the tables were cleared just
now. There was comin