And now Richard and his fore-riders had come up on to the brow
and sat there on their horses clear against the sky;
and Ralph saw how Richard drew his sword from the scabbard
and waved it over his head, and he and his men shouted;
then the whole host set up a great shout, and hastened up the bent,
but with the end of their shout and the sound of the tramp
of their feet and the rattle of their war-gear was mingled
a confused noise of cries a way off, and the blowing of horns,
and as Ralph and his company came crowding up on to the brow,
he looked down and saw the happy meadows black with
weaponed men, and armour gleaming in the clear morning,
and the points of weapons casting back the low sun's rays
and glittering like the sparks in a dying fire of straw.
Then again he looked, and lo! the High House rising over
the meadows unburned and unhurt, and the banner of the fruited
tree hanging forth from the topmost tower thereof.
Then he felt a hand come on to his cheek, and lo, Ursula beside him,
her cheeks flushed and her eyes glittering; and she cried out:
"O thine home, my beloved, thine home!" And he turned to her
and said; "Yea, presently, sweetheart!" "Ah," she said, "will it
be long? and they so many!" "And we so mighty!" said Ralph.
"Nay, it will be but a little while. Wise man of Swevenham,
see to it that my beloved is anigh me to-day, for where I am,
there will be safety."
The Sage nodded yeasay and smiled.
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