After consulting together it was deemed a matter of sufficient importance to summon Oswald, and to him Badger briefly related the news which had brought him. Then ensued a council of war, some advocating evasive tactics. But this brought them face to face with the fact that the Normans were all aware that they were hiding not far away, and they would be sure to persevere until they had unearthed them. So it was decided that a lesson in retaliation was necessary. Word was sent round at once for all cattle and non-fighters to keep especially close, also for the able-bodied men to meet the Earl at daylight at the cave on Deepdale Head. Badger's errand being now accomplished, he led his pony to the clear. There mounting, and accompanied by Grizzly, the return journey commenced at a steady trot, which was never broken until the monastery was reached; and soon each one was at rest. He had thus given a timely warning to the outlawed Saxons, from which it will be seen they were not slow to profit. CHAPTER XVI. SIGURD THE VIKING. "Beware Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in, Bear 't that the opposed may beware of thee." Shakespeare. Hanging-Brow Scaur, to which allusion has been made, is a huge peak towering high above the Pennine Range, out of which it springs. A rude cultivation obtains to its very summit--such a cultivation as the bleak winds and perpetual cold permit. Ere the advent of the Normans small mountain sheep with the single lamb at their heels had swarmed over its hoary sides, browsing amid its moistureless grass, nipping the fresh shoots during the summer time, and retreating to the lowlands at the advent of winter. The husbandman who reared his humble dwelling beneath its shoulders had frequent need to beware the cold north wind, the drifted snow, and not unfrequently the rushing avalanche. A sluggish, unromantic life was lived, and a precarious livelihood obtained by these hill-folk. The woods ran up the gorges to the foot of the loftiest peak. Coming downwards they spread over the tops of the lower hills until, from gorge to gorge, the forest trees join hands, and an unbroken forest sweeps downwards, gathering density and luxuriousness until it sweeps over the valleys and up the sides of the hills beyond. Inexpressibly lovely especially are these wooded gorges in the summertime, when the fragrant breath of foliage and flower, of moss and lichen, is in the nostril, when the music of rushing cataract and waterfall is in the ear. Buoyant and bracing as an elixir of life is the cool air on these mountain-sides, when the hot breath of July is enervating the dwellers in the valley below. How delightful was my task at this season to carry the consolations of my office to the lonely scattered folk on the hills! How often have I felt my heart expand with lowly adoration when, from the lofty summit of Hanging-brow, I have turned my gaze westward, and