ver mark at the distance of one hundred
yards, would be great indeed, we judged that you might be able to slip
away unobserved, and were sure that your quick wit would seize any
opportunity which might offer. Had you not been able to join us, we
should have remained in the turret and sold our lives to the last, as,
putting aside the question that we could never return to our homes,
having let our dear lord die here, we should not, in our ignorance of
the language and customs of the country, have ever been able to make our
way across it. We knew, however, that before this turret was carried we
could show these Germans how five Englishmen, when brought to bay, can
sell their lives."

They had not much difficulty in obtaining food in the forest, for game
abounded, and they could kill as many deer as seemed fit to them. As
Cnut said, it was difficult to believe that they were not back again in
the forest near Evesham, so similar was their life to that which they
had led three years before. To Cnut and the archers, indeed, it was a
pleasanter time than any which they had passed since they had left the
shores of England, and they blithely marched along, fearing little any
pursuit which might be set on foot, and, indeed, hearing nothing of
their enemies. After six days' travel they came upon a rude village, and
here Cuthbert learned from the people--with much difficulty, however,
and pantomime, for neither could understand a word spoken by the
other--that they were now in one of the Swiss cantons, and therefore
secure from all pursuit by the Germans. Without much difficulty Cuthbert
engaged one of the young men of the village to act as their guide to
Basle, and here, after four days' traveling, they arrived safely. Asking
for the residence of the burgomaster, Cuthbert at once proceeded
thither, and stated that he was an English knight on the return from the
Crusades; that he had been foully entreated by the Lord of Fussen, who
had been killed in a fray by his followers; and that he besought
hospitality and refuge from the authorities of Basle.

"We care little," the burgomaster said, "what quarrel you may have had
with your neighbors. All who come hither are free to come and go as they
list, and you, as a knight on the return from the Holy Land, have a
claim beyond that of an ordinary traveler."

The burgomaster was himself able to speak French, and summoning several
of the councilors of the town, he requested Cuthbert to gi