and the leader of the Shepherds, and the foe of their foeman and the well-beloved of Bear-father.  Go night and day, sit not down to eat, stand not to drink; heed none that crieth after thee for deliverance, but go, go, go till thou hast found him.  Meseems I see him riding toward Higham, but those dastards will not open gate to him, of that be sure.  He shall pass on and lie to-night, it may be at Mileham, it may be at Milton, it may be at Garton; at one of those thorps shall ye find him.  And when ye have found him thus bespeak him:  O bright Friend of the Well, turn not aside to fall on the Burgers in this land, either at Foxworth Castle, or the Longford, or the Nineways Garth:  all that thou mayest do hereafter, thou or thy champions.  There be Burgers otherwhere, housed in no strong castle, but wending the road toward the fair greensward of Upmeads.  If thou delay to go look on them, then shall thy work be to begin again amid sorrow of heart and loss that may not be remedied.’  Hast thou heard me, lord?”

“Yea, verily,” said Ralph, “and at sunrise shall we be in the saddle to ride straight to Upmeads.  For I know thee, friend.”

“Hold a while,” said the carle, “for meseemeth I know thee also.  But this withal she said:  ’But hearken, Giles, hearken a while, for I see him clearly, and the men that he rideth with, and the men that are following to his aid, fierce and fell are they; but so withal are the foemen that await them, and his are few, howsoever fierce.  Therefore bid him this also.  Haste, haste, haste!  But haste not overmuch, lest thou speed the worse:  in Bear Castle I see a mote of our folk, and thee amidst of it with thy champions, and I see the staves of the Shepherds rising round thee like a wood.  In Wulstead I see a valiant man with sword by side and sallet on head, and with him sitteth a tall man-at-arms grizzle-headed and red-bearded, big-boned and mighty; they sit at the wine in a fair chamber, and a well-looking dame serveth them; and there are weaponed men no few about the streets.  Wilt thou pass by friends, and old friends?  Now ride on, Green Coats! stride forth, Shepherds! staves on your shoulders, Wool-wards! and there goes the host over the hills into Upmeads, and the Burg-devils will have come from the Wood Debateable to find graves by the fair river.  And then do thy will, O Friend of the Well.’”

The carle took a breath, and then he said:  “Lord, this is the say I was charged with, and if thou understandest it, well; but if it be dark to thee, I may make it clear if thou ask me aught.”

Ralph pondered a while, and then he said:  “Is it known of others than thy spaewife that the Burgers be in Upmeads?” “Nay, lord,” said the carle, “and this also I say to thee, that I deem what she said that they be not in Upmeads yet, and but drawing thitherward, as I deem from the Wood Debateable.”