One came and bade him take the silver pennies that the
thanes had set out for the prize, but he shook his head and smiled.
"I threw the thing because I was bidden, and not for any prize," he
said. "I would have it given to the porter who fairly won it."
Then he elbowed his way to Berthun, and said, "let us go, master; we
have stayed here too long already."
"As it pleases you," the steward said; and Havelok waved his hand to me,
and they went their way.
He had not seen Withelm, and I was glad, for I wanted to speak to him
alone first.
Now men began to ask who this was, and many voices answered, while the
porter went to claim the prize from the thane who held it.
Two silver pennies the thane gave him, and said, "This seems to be a
friend of yours, and it was good to hear you try to help him without
acrimony. Not that he needed any hints from any one, however. Who is he?"
"Men call him Curan, that being the name he gives himself; but he came
as a stranger to the place, and none know from whence, unless Berthun
the cook may do so. Surely he is a friend of mine, for he shook me once,
and that shaking made an honest man of me. He himself taught me what
fair play is, at that same time."
So said the porter, and laughed, and the thane joined him.
"Well, he has made a sort of name for himself as a wonder, certainly,
now.
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