surly I have grown in these latter days?"

"I have seen thee sad," said Sir Godrick.

"Nay," said Osberne, "it is worse than that; but let it be. Well now I
shall tell thee another thing that hath got hold of me, and thou wilt
think it wild folly belike. But this it is: When I am in my own Dale
again, then the first morning when I arise I shall hie me straight to
that old trysting-place, and look across the Sundering Flood; and then
it may be that a miracle of God will betide, and that I shall see my
maiden there in her old place, and then shall we be no more utterly
disunited, as though each for each we were neither of us in the
world."

Said Sir Godrick: "This is a hope of no great things, nor is it like
to come about. Were it well for this to leave thy fellows and thy
friends and all the fame of thine that shall be?"

Osberne laughed. "Ah yes," he said, "some deal I know it now, that
fame; when we draw together before the foemen, and our men cry out,
'The Red Lad! the Red Lad!' in no faltering voice, and even therewith
the foeman's ranks quaver, as the trees of the wood when the wind
comes up from the ground amongst them; and then I ride forward with
Boardcleaver in my fist, and the arrows fly away about me for fear,
and the array opens before me, and we plunge in and find nought there,
and the rout goes down the green meadows. Yea, so it is, and many deem
it fair. But then comes the quiet of the night, and my comrades are as
though they were dead, and my praisers are voiceless, and I am alone;
and then meseems it is I that have been overthrown and thwarted, and
not thine enemies and mine, my friend. Nay, let me go back to my folk,
and the land that I know and that endures before me when others have
faded out. There will I abide whatso may come to me." Then he said:
"Moreover there is this last month at Longshaw; who knows what may
there betide? I shall keep my eyes and ears open I promise thee."

"Ah!" said Sir Godrick, "but beware, Red Lad, beware! Thou knowest how
much hatred thou hast drawn upon thee for thy dealings with the
rascaile of the Wood. Be sure that traps will be laid for thee, and
look to it that thou walk not into one! And now I will say to thee
farewell! It may be many a long day ere I see thy face again; and yet
methinks I shall. And now I tell thee, that hitherto I have had more
than enough gain out of thee, and scarce enough of joy. Maybe in days
to come it shall be otherwise."

So they