is
Saxons--ye can see it in their fat faces--have paid him homage and service!
By the Saints," he said, rubbing his nose, "I never thought England would
be so easy won! Surely I can do no less than give the lad what he has
taken. This Manor shall be thine, boy," he said, "till I come again, or
till thou art slain. Now, mount, men, and ride. We follow our Duke into
Kent to make him King of England."

'He drew me with him to the door while they brought his horse--a lean roan,
taller than my Swallow here, but not so well girthed.

'"Hark to me," he said, fretting with his great war-gloves. "I have given
thee this Manor, which is a Saxon hornets' nest, and I think thou wilt be
slain in a month--as my father was slain. Yet if thou canst keep the roof
on the hall, the thatch on the barn, and the plough in the furrow till I
come back, thou shalt hold the Manor from me; for the Duke has promised
our Earl Mortain all the lands by Pevensey, and Mortain will give me of
them what he would have given my father. God knows if thou or I shall live
till England is won; but remember, boy, that here and now fighting is
foolishness and"--he reached for the reins--"craft and cunning is all."

'"Alas, I have no cunning," said I.

'"Not yet," said he, hopping abroad, foot in stirrup, and poking his horse
in the belly with his toe. "Not yet, but I think thou hast a good teacher.
Farewell! Hold the Manor and live. Lose the Manor and hang," he said, and
spurred out, his shield-straps squeaking behind him.

'So, children, here was I, little more than a boy, and Santlache fight not
two days old, left alone with my thirty men-at-arms, in a land I knew not,
among a people whose tongue I could not speak, to hold down the land which
I had taken from them.'

'And that was here at home?' said Una.

'Yes, here. See! From the Upper Ford, Weland's Ford, to the Lower Ford, by
the Belle Allee, west and east it ran half a league. From the Beacon of
Brunanburgh behind us here, south and north it ran a full league--and all
the woods were full of broken men from Santlache, Saxon thieves, Norman
plunderers, robbers, and deerstealers. A hornets' nest indeed!

'When De Aquila had gone, Hugh would have thanked me for saving their
lives; but Lady AElueva said that I had done it only for the sake of
receiving the Manor.

'"How could I know that De Aquila would give it me?" I said. "If I had
told him I had spent my night in your halter he would have burned the