He was red enough now, but his hand played nervously with his sword
hilt, and once when men shouted in the wood, he clutched it. Clearly I
had terrified him, and if he deemed me, as it seemed, a ghost at first
sight, the token of the arrow had undeceived him, and little rest would
he have now, night or day, while I was yet at large.
So I laughed to myself, and watched him till he went back.
Presently the men straggled in, too. One party, having made a circle,
came close by me, and they were laughing and saying that the thane had
seen a ghost.
"Moreover," said another, "we saw him cross the court slowly enough, and
when we got to the gate--lo! he was gone."
Then one said that he had heard the like before, and their voices died
away as he told the story.
Soon after this the horns were blown to recall all the men, and I knew
that Matelgar must needs, even were it a ghost who brought the war
arrow, lead his following to the sheriff's levy.
Aye, and the following that should be mine as well. The message I had
brought should have been to me as a king's thane, and I myself should
have sent one to Matelgar to bid him come to the levy, even as he would
now send to the other lesser thanes and the franklins round about, in my
place.
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