n them, and
delivered other lands and good towns when they fell under tyrants and
oppressors; and for as kind a man as he was in hall and at hearth, in
the field he was a warrior so wise and dreadful, that oft forsooth the
very sound of his name and rumour of his coming stayed the march of
hosts and the ravage of fair lands; and no lord was ever more beloved.
Till his deathday he held the Castle of the Scaur, and cleansed the
Wood Perilous of all strong-thieves and reivers, so that no high-street
of a good town was safer than its glades and its byways. The new folk
of the Burg of the Four Friths made him their lord and captain, and the
Champions of the Dry Tree obeyed him in all honour so long as any of
them lasted. He rode to Higham and offered himself as captain to the
abbot thereof, and drave out the tyrants and oppressors thence, and
gave back peace to the Frank of Higham. Ever was he true captain and
brother to the Shepherd-folk, and in many battles they followed him;
and were there any scarcity or ill hap amongst them, he helped them to
the uttermost of his power. The Wood Debateable also he cleared of
foul robbers and reivers, and rooted out the last of the Burg-devils,
and delivered three good towns beyond the wood from the cruelty of the
oppressor.

Once in every year he and Ursula his wife visited the Land of
Abundance, and he went into the castle there as into a holy place, and
worshipped the memory of the Lady whom he had loved so dearly. With
all the friends of his quest he was kind and well-beloved.

In about two years from the day when he rode home, came to him the Lord
Bull of Utterbol with a chosen band, of whom were both Otter and
Redhead. That very day they came he was about putting his foot in the
stirrup to ride against the foemen; so Bull and his men would not go
into the High House to eat, but drank a cup where they stood, and
turned and rode with him straightway, and did him right manly service
in battle; and went back with him afterwards to Upmeads, and abode with
him there in feasting and joyance for two months' wearing. And thrice
in the years that followed, when his lands at home seemed safest and
most at peace, Ralph took a chosen band, and Ursula with them, and
Clement withal, and journeyed through the wastes and the mountains to
Utterbol, and passed joyous days with his old thrall of war, Bull Nosy,
now become a very mighty man and the warder of the peace of the
Uttermost lands.