e the gate that leads down the hill, I saw
Withelm, who was there waiting for me, and he knew at once what had
happened.

He came to my side, and asked only, "Already?"

"Already," I answered; "but it is well. Go to the widow's straightway,
and bring Havelok's arms to him at the hostelry at the end of the
marketplace, where we have to find more horses."

He went at once, and silently we came down the street and to the
courtyard of the inn. Some few folk stared at us; but the princess was
hardly known here, and she had cast her long, white mantle hoodwise over
her head and face, so that one could not tell who she was. So early in
the day there were few people in the marketplace either.

Berthun was in the courtyard of the inn, and I was glad to see him, for
I did not know what would happen to him. It was likely that Alsi would
seek for someone on whom to visit his anger at the way things had gone.
But the steward had been warned, and was not one to run any risk.

"I did but go back for a few things that I did not care to leave," he
said; and he showed me that he had brought his own horse from the
stables, and on it were large saddlebags. No poor man was Berthun after
years of service in the palace, where gifts from thane and lady are
always ready for the man who has had the care of them. Across the saddle
bow also were his mail shirt and arms, and his shield hung with his helm
from the peak.

"You see that I must needs cast in my lot with yours, or rather
Curan's," he said, laughing; "but it is in my mind that in the end I
shall not be sorry to have done so. I think that I am tired of the
fireside, and want adventure for a while."

"Well," I answered, "you are likely to have them, and that shortly, if I
am not mistaken; but we shall see. Now about these horses, for we had
better get out of Lincoln as soon as we may."

The man he had spoken with was a merchant, who came yearly, and was a
friend of his. He had more horses than he meant to keep, as he had here
each year; for every one knows that a horse can always be sold in
Lincoln, and they were good ones. Then my gold came in well, and I
bought three, one for each of us brothers. I daresay that I paid dearly
for them, but there was no time for haggling in the way that a horse
dealer loves. Out of the way of Alsi we must get, before he bethought
him of more crafty devices. And I thought, moreover, that we should be
riding towards East Anglia shortly, and it was n