our
brothers in arms, vowed to each other in the fulfilment of a purpose--
is it not so?"

"Yea, verily, lord. Good men and true are we all, but see you not,
lord, these outlaws be lewd fellows--base-born--"

"See you not, Giles, these outlaws be men, even as we, who, like us,
can laugh and weep, can bleed and die--who can use their lives to
purpose good or evil, even as we. Therefore, since they are men, I will
make of them our comrades also, an it may be."

Thus saying, Beltane loosed Giles and turning to the table, fell to
eating again while the archer sat upon the floor nursing his bruised
arm and staring open-mouthed.

Quoth Beltane at last:

"We will seek out and talk with these outlaws to-night, Giles!"

"Talk with a pack of--yea, forsooth!" nodded Giles, rubbing his arm.

"I am minded to strike such a blow as shall hearten Sir Benedict for
the siege and shake Black Ivo's confidence."

"Aha!" cried Giles, springing up so that his link-mail jingled, "aha! a
sweet thought, tall brother! Could we fire another gibbet now--"

"Know you where the outlaws lie hid, Giles?"

"Nay, lord, none save themselves and Walkyn know that. Walkyn methinks,
was great among them once."

"And where is Walkyn?"

"So soon as ye slept, lord, he and Roger went forth according to thy
word. As for me, I stayed here to watch. From the spy-hole yonder you
may command the road a-wind in the valley, and unseen, see you, may
see. But come, an thy hunger be allayed, reach me thy hand that I may
file off those iron bracelets."

"Nay, let be, Giles. I will wear them henceforth until my vow be
accomplished."

Hereupon Beltane arose, and, climbing the ladder, looked forth through
a screen of leaves and underbrush and saw that from the fissure the
ground sloped steeply down, a boulder-strewn hill thick with gorse and
bramble, at whose base the road led away north and south until it was
lost in the green of the forest. Now as Beltane stood thus, gazing down
at the winding road whose white dust was already mellowing to evening,
he beheld one who ran wondrous fleetly despite the ragged cloak that
flapped about his long legs, and whose rough-shod feet spurned the dust
beneath them so fast 'twas a marvel to behold; moreover as he ran, he
bounded hither and thither, and with every bound an arrow sped by him
from where, some distance behind, ran divers foresters bedight in a
green livery Beltane thought he recognized; but even as Beltane gra