drank with us in the hut. Yes, he sat on the straw like an eagle ruffled
in her feathers, his yellow eyes rolling above the cup, and he pounced
in his talk like an eagle, swooping from one thing to another, but
always binding fast. Yes; he would lie still awhile, and then rustle in
the straw, and speak sometimes as though he were King William himself,
and anon he would speak in parables and tales, and if at once we saw not
his meaning he would yerk us in the ribs with his scabbarded sword.

'"Look you, boys," said he, "I am born out of my due time. Five hundred
years ago I would have made all England such an England as neither Dane,
Saxon, nor Norman should have conquered. Five hundred years hence I
should have been such a counsellor to Kings as the world hath never
dreamed of. 'Tis all here," said he, tapping his big head, "but it hath
no play in this black age. Now Hugh here is a better man than thou art,
Richard." He had made his voice harsh and croaking, like a raven's.

'"Truth," said I. "But for Hugh, his help and patience and
long-suffering, I could never have kept the Manor."

'"Nor thy life either," said De Aquila. "Hugh has saved thee not once,
but a hundred times. Be still, Hugh!" he said. "Dost thou know, Richard,
why Hugh slept, and why he still sleeps, among thy Norman men-at-arms?"

'"To be near me," said I, for I thought this was truth.

'"Fool!" said De Aquila. "It is because his Saxons have begged him to
rise against thee, and to sweep every Norman out of the valley. No
matter how I know. It is truth. Therefore Hugh hath made himself an
hostage for thy life, well knowing that if any harm befell thee from his
Saxons thy Normans would slay him without remedy. And this his Saxons