By nightfall they had already travelled many leagues, and making a fire
in the wood, Cuthbert asked Cnut for an account of what had taken place
on the previous day.
"We ran for life, Sir Cuthbert, and had not noticed that you had been
drawn into the fray. Had we done so, we would have remained, and sold our
lives with yours; but hoping that you had passed unnoticed in the crowd,
and that you would find some means to rejoin us, we kept upon our way.
After running down three streets, we passed a place where a courtyard
with stables ranged round it was open. There were none about, and we
entered, and, taking refuge in a loft, hid ourselves beneath some
provender. There we remained all night, and then borrowing some apparel
which some of the stablemen had hung up on the walls, we issued into the
town. As we neared the great square we saw some men employed in erecting
a platform in the midst, and a suspicion that all might not be right, and
that you might have fallen into the hands of these German dogs, beset our
minds. After much consultation we determined to see what the affair
meant, and making our way on to the walls, which, indeed, were entirely
deserted, we took refuge in that turret where you saw us. Seeing the
crowd gather, and being still more convinced that some misfortune was
about to occur, I again went back to the stables, where I had noticed a
long rope used by the carters for fastening their loads to the waggons.
With this I returned, for it was clear that if we had to mingle in this
business it would be necessary to have a mode of escape. Of the rest you
are aware. We saw the knights coming out of the castle, with that portly
baron, their lord, at their head. We saw the block and the headsman upon
the platform, and were scarcely surprised when you were led out, a
prisoner, from the gates. We judged that what did happen would ensue.
Seeing that the confusion wrought by a sudden attack from men perched up
aloft as we were, commanding the courtyard, and being each of us able to
hit a silver mark at the distance of 100 yards, would be great indeed, we
judged that you might be able to slip away unobserved, and were sure that
your quick wit would seize any opportunity which might offer. Had you not
been able to join us, we should have remained in the turret and sold our
lives to the last, as, putting aside the question that we could never
return to our homes, having let our dear lord die here, we should not, in
our ignorance of the language and customs of the country, have ever been
able to make our way across it. We knew, however, that before this turret
was carried we could show these Germans how five Englishmen, when brought
to bay, can sell their lives."
They had not much difficulty in obtaining food in the forest, for game
abounded, and they could kill as many deer as seemed fit to them. As Cnut
said, it was difficult to believe that they were not back again in the
forest near Evesham, so similar was their life to that which they had led
three years before. To Cnut and the archers, indeed, it was a pleasanter
time than any which they had passed since they had left the shores of
England, and they blithely marched along, fearing little any pursuit
which might be set on foot, and, indeed, hearing nothing of their
enemies. After six days' travel they came upon a rude village, and here
Cuthbert learnt from the people--with much difficulty, however, and
pantomime, for neither could understand a word spoken by the other--that
they were now in one of the Swiss cantons, and therefore secure from all
pursuit by the Germans. Without much difficulty Cuthbert engaged one of
the young men of the village to act as their guide to Basle, and here,
after four days' travelling, they arrived safely. Asking for the
residence of the Burgomaster, Cuthbert at once proceeded thither, and
stated that he was an English knight on the return from the Crusades;
that he had been foully entreated by the Lord of Fussen, who had been