of astonishment and pleasure, and without a
word wheeled his horse and galloped past back at headlong speed towards
the castle.

As Cuthbert and the party approached the gate, the earl himself,
surrounded by his knights and followers, rode out hastily from the
gate and halted in front of the little party. The litter was lowered,
and as he dismounted from his horse his daughter sprang out and leapt
into his arms.

For a few minutes the confusion and babble of tongues were too great for
anything to be heard, but Cuthbert, as soon as order was somewhat
restored, stated what had happened, and the earl was moved to fury at the
news of the outrage which had been perpetrated by the Baron of Wortham
upon his daughter and at the very gates of his castle, and also at the
thought that she should have been saved by the bravery and devotion of
the very men against whom he had so lately been vowing vengeance in the
depths of the forest.

"This is not a time," he said to Cnut, "for talking or making promises,
but be assured that henceforth the deer of Evesham Chase are as free to
you and your men as to me. Forest laws or no forest laws, I will no more
lift a hand against men to whom I owe so much. Come when you will to the
castle, my friends, and let us talk over what can be done to erase your
outlawry and restore you to an honest career again."

Cuthbert returned home tired, but delighted with his day's work, and Dame
Editha was surprised indeed with the tale of adventure he had to tell.
The next morning he went over to the castle, and heard that a grand
council had been held the evening before, and that it had been determined
to attack Wortham Castle and to raze it to the ground.

Immediately on hearing of his arrival, the earl, after again expressing
his gratitude for the rescue of his daughter, asked him if he would go
into the forest and invite the outlaws to join their forces with those of
the castle to attack the baron.

Cuthbert willingly undertook the mission, as he felt that this alliance
would further strengthen the position of the forest men.

When he arrived there was some considerable consultation and discussion
between the outlaws as to the expediency of mixing themselves in the
quarrels between the Norman barons. However, Cnut persuaded them that as
the Baron of Wortham was an enemy and oppressor of all Saxons, it was in
fact their own quarrel that they were fighting rather than that of the
earl, and they ther