“0 you king and lords, what have we to do with you?  Were we not free in the old time, up among the hills there?  Wherefore give way, and we will go to the hills again; and if any man try to stop us, his blood be on his own head; wherefore now,” (and he turned) “all you House of the Lily, both soldiers and monks, let us go forth together fearing nothing, for I think there is not bone enough or muscle enough in these fellows here that have a king that they should stop us withal, but only skin and fat.”

And truly, no man dared to stop us, and we went.

FAILING IN THE WORLD

Now at that time we drove cattle in Red Harald’s land.  And we took no hoof but from the Lords and rich men, but of these we had a mighty drove, both oxen and sheep, and horses, and besides, even hawks and hounds, and huntsman or two to take care of them.

And, about noon, we drew away from the cornlands that lay beyond the pastures, and mingled with them, and reached a wide moor, which was called “Goliath’s Land.”  I scarce know why, except that it belonged neither to Red Harald or us, but was debatable.

And the cattle began to go slowly, and our horses were tired, and the sun struck down very hot upon us, for there was no shadow, and the day was cloudless.

All about the edge of the moor, except on the sidefrom which we had come was a rim of hills, not very high, but very rocky and steep, otherwise the moor itself was flat; and through these hills was one pass, guarded by our men, which pass led to the Hill castle of the Lilies.

It was not wonderful, that of this moor many wild stories were told, being such a strange lonely place, some of them one knew, alas to be over true.  In the old time, before we went to the good town, this moor had been the mustering place of our people, and our house had done deeds enough of blood and horror to turn our white lilies red, and our blue cross to a fiery one.  But some of those wild tales I never believed; they had to do mostly with men losing their way without any apparent cause, (for there were plenty of landmarks,) finding some well-known spot, and then, just beyond it, a place they had never even dreamed of.

“Florian!  FIorian!” said Arnald, “for God’s sake stop! as every one else is stopping to look at the hills yonder; I always thought there was a curse upon us.  What does God mean by shutting us up here?  Look at the cattle; 0 Christ, they have found it out too!  See, some of them are turning to run back again towards Harald’s land.  Oh! unhappy, unhappy, from that day forward!”

He leaned forward, rested his head on his horse’s neck, and wept like a child.  I felt so irritated with him, that I could almost have slain him then and there.  Was he mad? had these wild doings of ours turned his strong wise head?

“Are you my brother Arnald, that I used to think such a grand man when I was a boy?” I said, “or are you changed too, like everybody, and everything else?  What do you mean?”