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Around the table were gathered Hugo himself, his guests Raoul de Broc, Tustain de Wylmcote, Ralph de Bearleigh, his seneschal, chamberlain, and other confidential officers of his household, and four strong brawny men-at-arms sufficient to manage the prisoner with ease. Ordgar, son of Haga, stood alone at the foot of the table, before all this hostile array.
Ordgar snatched at the cord; it escaped Hugo's grasp; the guide was amidst the reeds, and in one moment he had made his escape; the reeds parted, waved again, higher than the head of the fugitive, and the baron saw him no more; only a mocking laugh arose to augment the rage of the baffled tyrant.
Let those who would ride to the Camp of Refuge hold up their hands on high." "Ulf, Sexwulf, Tosti, Wulfgar, Ordgar," and so Wilfred went on counting all the younger and more impetuous spirits on his side, his heart swelling with pardonable pride, as he thought he should not go alone, or as a mere fugitive, to the help of the patriotic Hereward.
About the year 960 he heard of the surpassing beauty of one Ælfthryth, daughter of Ordgar of Devon, and possibly never having heard of the mischief that befell Arthur when he sent Launcelot to ask at her father's hands his fair daughter Guinevere, or to Mark when he sent Tristram on a similar errand to Iseault's father, he sent his trusted and hitherto trustworthy friend Æthelwold to Ordgar.
"It is a holy cause," said Father Kenelm, who was present: "God's arm is bared for vengeance the blood of my martyred brethren cries aloud from beneath the altar." "And thou wilt say a mass for us?" "It is my duty, since I may not fight with carnal weapons." "But, Ordgar, how dost thou propose to act?"
In short, the bargain was concluded, and Ordgar, son of Haga, became the promised guide of the foes of his country. Day after day Etienne de Malville tossed upon the couch in the hut of the woman whom he had so cruelly bereaved, struggling against the throes of fever.
But no shadow of coming events was there to disturb his equanimity; all seemed to promise the gratification of his fondest wishes, and he was in the highest spirits. And now he bade them bring Ordgar forward, and the guide his feet free, but his arms bound stood before him. "Thou hast said that thou knowest the road through the Swamp?" "I do."
And there were Sexwulf and Ulf, Tosti and Elfwold, Ernulph and Ordgar, Oslac and Osgood, Wulfsy and Ringulph, Frithgist and Wulfgar men whose names sounded rough and uncouth in Norman ears, but were familiar enough to the natives. The whole party having assembled, Wilfred, as a consequence of his rank, spoke first and opened the debate.
"Ordgar of Oxford fights not with boys!" said the accuser contemptuously. The king's savage humor broke out again. "Face him with your own page, Sir Ordgar," he said, with a grim laugh. "Boy against boy would be a fitting wager for a young maid's life." But the Saxon knight was in no mood for sport. "Nay, beausire; this is no child's play," he said. "I care naught for this girl.
The victorious Godwine received the arms and lands of the dead Ordgar; Edgar the Atheling was raised high in trust and honor; the throne of Scotland, wrested from the Red Donald, was placed once more in the family of King Malcolm, and King William Rufus himself became the guardian and protector of the Princess Edith.
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