"Good! Bretwul, stir up these fellows, the more the merrier, for we are not going to play hide-and-seek with these Normans, and the stouter the mustering the better we can deal with them." Bretwul's wife set before the visitors a stout repast--spoils of the chase and the flood--for Bretwul was an adept at his vocation. The visitors also were well supplied with hunger-sauce, and they did rare justice to it. "Well, Badger," said Oswald, "you seem to have taken such a liking to your new friends that you could not bear parting with them on any terms, so we must leave you behind, and wish them joy of their friend." "Gramercy, master, it is true! I am such a simple fellow that I can wag a paw with these Normans in all meekness and humility; but I have a snare or two set on my own account, and the game always finds its way fellward. Leave me alone, I'll wriggle through it somehow; and, by our Lady, I've had no broken bones thus far." So Oswald, Wulfhere, and Ethel sped them on their way--Ethel being accommodated with the spare horse. "Come, Ethel, my girl, you must dry those eyes, for I shall take note each day, be assured, to see how the sunshine comes back again to your countenance," said Oswald, pleasantly. "I am afraid I shall prove to be a great burden, and very little of a help to you in your struggles." "Oh, yes; you will be just such a burden as the wild flowers, as little tending and as fragrant and beautiful as they." Ethel blushed scarlet, and made haste to change the subject. "Do you think, my lord, this Norman Count is bent on exterminating all Saxons who do not yield them vassals to him?" "Nay, Ethel girl, why this formality? I used to be Master Oswald; I pray you let the honest Saxon name suffice. I cannot tell what De Montfort intends, but I fear he will let nothing slip that he can by any means grasp; but I have determined I will know the best or the worst of his intentions. I shall open negotiations with him, and ascertain, if possible, if he purposes we shall dwell in peace and as freemen." "But you will not venture so far as to put yourself in his power? I pray you, trust them not, for they are insatiable in their cruelty," said Ethel anxiously. "No fear, Ethel, of my putting myself in his power. Having once tasted the horrors of captivity I shall not risk its repetition rashly; but I have a plan, and I shall speak with him face to face. I may tell you, despite the many reasons we have for undying hatred and no compromise, I have a deep-rooted conviction that for the present, at all events, a truce on reasonable and honourable terms will be immeasurably best for the Saxon cause." "The land is undoubtedly prostrate, and time is urgently needed ere it can rally once more," said Ethel. CHAPTER XIV. THE SAXON CHIEFTAIN CONFRONTS DE MONTFORT. "Then crouch no more on suppliant knee, But scorn with scorn outbrave; A Briton even in love should be A subject, not a slave." Wordsworth.