So on a certain day Dicul rode over from Bosham on his mule, and
early on the next morning he set up a little wooden cross by the
spring above the hall, and there my father and I and Stuf, the head
man of the house-carles, who had bided in the old faith for love of
my father, were baptized, Owen and one of the village freemen
standing sponsors for us, and that was a wondrous day to us all, as
I think. For when all was done my father gave their freedom to all
our thralls, for the sake of the freedom that had been given him,
and he promised that here, where he and they had been freed, a
church should be built of good forest oak, after the woodcutting of
the winter to come.
Then Dicul went his way homewards, with one of our men to lead his
mule and carry some few presents for his people to Bosham, and
after he was gone we had a quiet feasting in our hall until the
light was gone. And even as our feasting ended there came in a
swineherd from the forest with word that from the northward there
came a strong band of armed men through the forest, and he held it
right that my father should be warned thereof, for he feared they
were some banded outlaws, seeing that there was peace in the land.
That was no unlikely thing at all, for our forests shelter many,
and game being plentiful they live there well enough, if not
altogether at ease.
Pages:
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43