Therefore the thane held back. But maybe you
heard all, and understood it."
"I heard all, lord king, and I will say naught."
The king waved his hand in sign that I was dismissed, and I bowed and
went. There were five rings of gold in the bag, worth about the whole
year's wage of a courtman, and I thought that for keeping a jest to
myself that was good pay indeed. There must be more behind that
business, as it had seemed to me already.
Now, as I crossed the green within the old walls on my way to the gate,
it happened that Havelok came back from the town, and as he came I heard
him whistling softly to himself a strange wild call, as it were, of a
hunting horn, very sweet, and one that I had never heard before.
"Ho, brother!" I said, for there was no one near us. "What is that call
you are whistling?"
He started and looked up at me suddenly, and I saw that his trouble was
on him again.
"In my dream," he said slowly, "there is a man on a great horse, and he
wears such bracelets as Ragnar of Norwich, and he winds his horn with
that call, and I run to him; and then I myself am on the horse, and I go
to the stables, and after that there is nothing but the call that I
hear. Now it has gone again."
And his hand went up in the way that made me sad to see.
"It will come back by-and-by. Trouble not about it.
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