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"This be a foolish way to build a town," grumbled Richard Wood, "and none but Saxons would have done it. Why, here be a street only two feet wide at one end of it. And up and down one hundred and forty-five streets we must chase, to say nothing of looking in the better parts of the town." "Thou hast well said," observed Herebald, gravely. "It is not an easy thing, this search.
The two Saxons kept silence, but exchanged a crafty look, as if to say that they were not to be caught so easily. "What seek ye?" repeated the spy. "Hast thou seen aught of two runaways?" asked Herebald, gruffly. "Even a young lord who hath to his serving-man a Saxon?" Then Richard Wood himself looked crafty.
The tour, however, was destined to be a short one, since the second ship they visited proved to have among her sailors two men that they knew. And, moreover, they discovered the captain to be one Eric, whose mother was cousin to Bernulf's father. "Here have we luck," said Bernulf. "To Eric may I speak freely." "Yea, verily," answered Herebald.
This it is for a vile spy to go round the country with some lumbering men-at-arms, seeking to entrap a poor young lad to his destruction." "Yea," replied Bernulf; "but thou hast left out one thing. Thou shouldst have said, 'This it is when two Saxons get him and them in the toils. They had not been one-half so weary without us. Do but remember that." "Ay," agreed Herebald.
The two servants now withdrew from the canon's presence, taking Humphrey with them, and, calling up Herebald and Bernulf, all four made speed to depart with the impatient serving-man. "If the mist hold, we have them," said the first servant, as he rode beside Humphrey. "And it be heavier now than it was two hours agone." "Ay, if we lose not our way," was the response.
That morning the ship of Eric had slightly changed her position, and Bernulf so managed that, when the small row-boat he was bidden to hire was about to put off from land, Eric's ship would naturally be the first one boarded. "Do we go with thee?" asked Herebald. "Nay," answered Richard Wood. "Here be two men who will row for us. Do ye stay where ye be and watch."
A look of resolution came over the face of Richard Wood. He turned to his men-at-arms. "Take each of thee a street," he said, "and I will take another. Search as well and thoroughly as ye can for one hour, and then come to this point to go with me to the ships. We have had many toils to catch them. They must not escape us now." "And what do we?" asked Herebald.
Accordingly, as soon as the weary Richard Wood and his men had sunk into a heavy sleep, which they did almost as soon as they lay down, Herebald set out. He was extremely swift of foot and knew the region well. He was gone four hours. "The knave king's man and his followers will sleep soundly to-morrow night also if they follow my trail," he said, when he had returned and lay down.
They be not so weary as we, and a plague upon their endurance. If ye stand not by me, the game is lost." But the man-at-arms answered sullenly: "I have said. Lead us out of this vile marsh." "And now," said the canon, when Herebald and Bernulf had gone, "thou mayest remain no longer here. It is too near the king, and moreover, delay taketh thee not forward toward France.
"It seemeth to me that it were best to put them there to search the town. What thinkest thou?" "Even as thou thinkest," returned Herebald, grinning. "And then," continued Bernulf, "methinks it would be seemly to entice them aboard a fishing-vessel and ship them off for France, and so be rid of them." "Yea," agreed Herebald.
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