So now, with his will or without it, his feet bore him on,
and he followed up the stream which the Lady had said ran into
the broad river called the Swelling Flood; "for," thought he,
"when I come thereabout I shall presently find some castle or
good town, and it is like that either I shall have some tidings
of the folk thereof, or else they will compel me to do something,
and that will irk me less than doing deeds of mine own will."
He went his ways till he came to where the wood and the trees ended,
and the hills were lower and longer, well grassed with short grass,
a down country fit for the feeding of sheep; and indeed some sheep he saw,
and a shepherd or two, but far off. At last, after he had left the
stream awhile, because it seemed to him to turn and wind round over much
to the northward, he came upon a road running athwart the down country,
so that he deemed that it must lead one way down to the Swelling Flood;
so he followed it up, and after a while began to fall in with folk;
and first two Companions armed and bearing long swords over their shoulders:
he stopped as they met, and stared at them in the face, but answered
not their greeting; and they had no will to meddle with him,
seeing his inches and that he was well armed, and looked no craven:
so they went on.
Next he came on two women who had with them an ass between two panniers,
laden with country stuff; and they were sitting by the wayside, one old
and the other young.
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