Then I asked him why I must be taken there, and, grimly enough, he
replied in two words, "For trial", and so I knew that the Great Moot [i]
was summoned, and that presently I should know the whole meaning of this
thing that had befallen me. Then my spirits began to rise, for, being
conscious of no wrongdoing, I looked forward to speedy release with full
proof of innocence.
Then I began to look about me and to note the crowds of people whom the
Moot had gathered. So many and various were these that I and my guards
passed with little notice among those who toiled up the hill with us,
the crowd growing thicker as we neared the edge of the first great
square platform on the hilltop. And when we reached this, my guards
reined up to breathe their horses, for Brent has from this first
platform a yet steeper rise to the ancient circle on the very summit.
Men say that both platform and circle are the work of the Welsh, whom
our Saxon forefathers drove out and enslaved, but however this may be,
they were no idle workmen who raised the great earthworks that are there.
All the many acres of that great platform were covered with wagons and
carts, and everywhere were set booths and tents, and in them men and
women were eating and drinking, having come from far.
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