shame all at once, and one chasing the other through my mind till I
knew not where I was, and would start as from a troubled dream when
one spoke, and then go back to the same again as will a sick man.
But by the time we reached Caistor I had, as it seemed to me,
thought every thought that might be possible, and one thing only
was plain and clear. I would ask for judgment by Eadmund the King,
and if that might not be, then for trial by battle, which the earl
would surely grant. And yet I hoped that Beorn's plot was not so
crafty but that it would fail in some way.

So they put me in a strong cell in the old castle, leading Beorn to
another, and there left me. The darkness came, and they brought me
food, so I ate and drank, being very hungry and weary; and that
done, my thoughts passed from me, for I slept heavily, worn out
both in body and mind.



CHAPTER VI. THE JUSTICE OF EARL ULFKYTEL.


An armed jailor woke me with daylight, bringing me food again, and
at first I was dazed, not knowing where I was, so heavy was my
sleep. Yet I knew that I woke to somewhat ill.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Under Caistor walls, surely," he said; and I remembered all.

The man looked friendly enough, so that I spoke again to him,