He looked on them
a while and remembered the favour of those whom he had seen erewhile
in the Burg; but ere he could speak Giles said softly in his ear:
"These be of the Burg, forsooth, as ye may see by their dogs' faces;
but they be not clad nor armed as those whom we have met heretofore.
Ask them whence they be, lord."
Ralph spake and said: "Whence and whither are ye, ye manslayers?"
But no man of them answered. Then said Ralph: "Pass these murderers
by the edge of the sword, Stephen; unless some one of them will save
his life and the life of his fellows by speaking."
As he spake, one of the youngest of the men hung down his head a little,
and then raised it up: "Wilt thou spare our lives if I speak?"
"Yea," said Ralph. "Wilt thou swear it by the edge of the blade?"
said the man. Ralph drew forth his sword and said: "Lo then!
I swear it." The man nodded his head, and said: "Few words
are best; and whereas I wot not if my words will avail thee aught,
and since they will save our lives, I will tell thee truly.
We are men of the Burg whom these green-coated thieves drave out
of the Burg on an unlucky day. Well, some of us, of whom I was one,
fetched a compass and crossed the water that runneth through
Upmeads by the Red Bridge, and so gat us into the Wood Debateable
through the Uplands. There we struck a bargain with the main band
of strong-thieves of the wood, that we and they together would
get us a new home in Upmeads, which is a fat and pleasant land.
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