Oswald had been well supplied with funds,
and seldom found difficulty in obtaining lodgings for the party. The
sight of an esquire, with a small troop of men-at-arms wearing the
Percy cognizance, excited no curiosity as they rode south; but when
they turned westward it was otherwise, and at their halting places
Oswald and his uncle, who dined apart from the others, were always
questioned as to their destination.
But when it was known that they were travelling to the castle of
Mortimer, whose sister was the wife of their lord, none were surprised;
for rumours were already current of troubles on the Welsh border; and
when they entered Shropshire they heard that Owen Glendower, with a
considerable force, had fallen suddenly upon the retainers of Lord Grey
de Ruthyn, had killed many, and had reoccupied the estates of which he
had been deprived by that nobleman.
On the fifteenth day after leaving Alnwick they arrived at Ludlow
Castle, of which Mortimer was the lord. Oswald was at once conducted to
the hall where the knight was sitting.
"I am bearer of a message from Sir Henry Percy," he said; "he has sent
hither a party of twenty men-at-arms, under the command of the captain
of his garrison, at Alnwick.
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