"Whither are you going, father?" "I am making my way to Carlisle," he said. "I have a brother who is prior in a small monastery, there, and it is long since I have seen him. Who lives at the stronghold I saw on the hills, but a short distance away?" "It is the hold of William Baird, the head of that family; of whom, doubtless, you may have heard." "I have heard his name, as that of a noted raider across the border," the monk said; "a fierce man, and a bold one. Has he regard for the church? If so, I would gladly take up my abode there, for a day or two; for in truth I am wearied out, it being some years since my feet have carried me so long a journey." "As to that, I say nothing," the host said. "It would depend on his humour whether he took you in, or shut the gates in your face without ceremony; but methinks, at present, the latter were more likely than the former; for his hold is full of armed men, and I should say it were wisest to leave him alone, even if you had but the bare moor to sleep upon." "Nevertheless, I can but try," the monk said. "He may be in one of those good tempers you spoke of. And I suppose he has also a priest, in his fortalice?" "Ay, the Bairds are not--but I would rather not talk of them. They are near neighbours, and among my very best customers." As he spoke, four armed men came in at the door. "Good day, Wilson! Whom have you here? An ill-assorted couple, surely. A monk, though a somewhat rough one, and a man-at-arms." "Fellow travellers of a day," Roger said calmly. "We met on the road, and as I love not solitude, having enough and to spare of it, I accosted him. He turned out a good companion." "You are a man of sinew yourself, monk, and methinks that you would have made a better soldier than a shaveling." "I thought so sometime, myself," the monk said; "but my parents thought otherwise, and it is too late to take up another vocation, now." "Is that staff yours?" the soldier asked, taking it up, and handling it. "Yes, my son. In these days even a quiet religious man, like myself, may meet with rough fellows by the way; and while that staff gives support to my feet, it is an aid to command decent behaviour from those I fall in with. I have not much to lose, having with me but sufficient to buy me victuals for my journey to Carlisle; where, as I have just told our host, I am journeying to see a brother, who is prior at a convent there." "This fellow--where did you fall in with him?" "He overtook me some twenty miles north, on the road to Glasgow." "And are you travelling to Carlisle, too?" the man said to Oswald. "Nay," he said, "I purpose not going beyond the border. I have lost my employment, and have tried, in vain, to find another as much to my liking. I have come south to seek service, with one who will welcome a strong arm to wield a sword." "Hast tried the Douglas?"