"I know not," he muttered, "I
know not. But I did dream of eagles and they did scream above our
heads. Some danger draweth near, or some heavy trouble."
The fire now blazed, and the faithful serving-man saw that Hugo was
still asleep, resting as easily on his couch of reeds as he could have
done on the canon's bed. "It is a good lad," said Humphrey. "Were he a
De Aldithely he could not be better."
Humphrey lay down no more that night. Restlessly he moved about, now
replenishing the fire, and now listening for some hostile sound. But he
heard nothing.
It was late in the morning when Hugo awoke. "Surely this must be thy
grandsire's mist, Humphrey," he said. "It is heavy enough."
"Yea," answered Humphrey, looking up from the breakfast he was
preparing. "It were best not to stir abroad to-day."
And at that moment Richard Wood was saying: "I smell smoke within half
a mile of me. Ride we to see what that meaneth." Again, as if to aid
him, the wind sprang up so that through the lifting mist one might
easily pick his way, and Humphrey had just departed to look after the
horses when Richard Wood and his men-at-arms arrived at the camp.
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