"Yield thee, Josceline De Aldithely!" commanded Richard Wood. "Yield
thee in the king's name!" and, dismounting, he laid his hand on the
astonished lad's arm.
[Illustration: "Yield Thee in the King's Name"]
A little later Humphrey, returning to the camp, paused in amazement,
for he heard voices. He crept around a fringe of reeds and peered, but
could not see clearly. He advanced further, still under cover, and then
he saw.
"I did dream of eagles," he muttered, "and they did scream above our
heads."
He listened, and from what he heard he learned that Hugo had not
revealed himself as Hugo, but that he allowed the spy to think him to
be Josceline. "Well did my lady trust in him!" exulted Humphrey. "And
my lord shall know of this when we be come to France, as we shall come,
though all the eagles in the fens do scream above our heads. And now I
will away to the Canon Thurstan, and see of what avail is the fish on
the circlet of gold."
Creeping back as silently as he could, he mounted his horse and set out
for Peterborough. "May the spy and his men-at-arms be too weary to stir
till I come back," he said.
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