"Now, tell us how it was that you won your spurs; and how it was that
the king, himself, knighted you."
"After I have eaten and drank I will do so, Father; for indeed, Roger
and I are well-nigh famishing."
After the meal, he related the whole story of his adventures.
"Well, lad, you were in luck," his father said, when he had finished.
"The help you gave those maidens might have brought your head to the
block; but it turned out well, and was the saving of your life, so I
will say nought against the deed; especially as you owed no allegiance
either to Mortimer or to Talbot, and were, save for the orders that
Hotspur had given you, your own master."
Two days later, having sent over, on the morning after his arrival, a
message to the tenants to present themselves at Stoubes to take their
oaths to him, Oswald, accompanied by his father, rode into Reddesdale.
He found the castle a much stronger place than Yardhope, which was but
a fortified house; while this was a moated building, with strong walls
and flanking towers, and a keep that could be held successfully, even
if the walls were captured by a sudden assault.
At twelve o'clock the tenants assembled. Oswald read to them the two
parchments, and they then took the oaths to him.
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