Page:The Sundering Flood - Morris - 1898.djvu/355

 best, spake to them in a harsh voice and said: God knows we have striven hard to save our lives this long while past, that there might be one or two left to tell the tale; but now it is not so sure but that up there they will slay us for coming home alive. But we heed not, for we be foul like beasts and hungry like beasts and weary like beasts. Let the beasts pass who were once men of Brookside! Poor men, said the Maiden kindly, ye need not wound your lips by telling me the tale, for I know it, to wit, the others are all slain and perished, and that your lord fell with all valiance in the very heat of the battle. O, woe is me for my friend! And she wept. But the man stared at her wildly, as if he were astonied to hear the unused sweetness of her voice. But she said: Come now, and let me lead thee to thy fellows; maybe they will be astir now. So she put her hand on his bridle to lead him, and he followed without naysay, and the others after him. And they passed in under the gate; and by this time there were a score or more folk in the court, for they had seen the riding of men from the walls or windows. But lo, now the Maiden, when she looked about for the Carline, might see her nowhere. But even therewith came one man and another thronging about those runaways, and some crying out, Tell all, tell at once! and blubbering outright, bearded men though they were; and some standing stock-still and staring straight before them in the extremity of their overthrow. And amidst of all this the Maiden was