What sayest thou, therefore? Who shall hurt thee in the Burg,
a town which is under good and strong law, if thou be a true man,
as thou seemest to be? And if thou art seeking adventures,
as may well be, thou shalt soon find them there ready to hand.
I rede thee come with me to the Burg; for, to say sooth, I shall
find it somewhat easier to enter therein if I be in the company
of thee, a knight and a lord."
So Ralph considered and thought that there lay indeed but little peril
to him in the Burg, whereas both those men with whom he had striven were
hushed for ever, and there was none else to tell the tale of the battle,
save the lady, whose peril from them of the Burg was much greater than his;
and also he thought that if anything untoward befel, he had some one to fall
back on in old Oliver: yet on the other hand he had a hankering after Hampton
under Scaur, where, to say sooth, he doubted not to see the lady again.
So betwixt one thing and the other, speech hung on his
lips awhile, when suddenly the carle said: "Hist! thou hast
left thy horse without the bushes, and he is whinnying"
(which indeed he was), "there is now no time to lose.
To horse straightway, for certainly there are folk at hand,
and they may be foemen, and are most like to be."
Therewith they both arose and hastened to where Falcon stood just
outside the alder bushes, and Ralph leapt a-horseback without more ado,
and the carle waited no bidding to leap up behind him, and pointing
to a glade of the wood which led toward the highway, cried out,
"Spur that way, thither! they of the Dry Tree are abroad this morning.
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