Then I
gave the word, and we started, Dudda the Collier going by my side, and
staring at the prioress and all things round him.
Alswythe turned and looked hard at her aunt as we passed the gates, and
I also. She stood very still on the steps before the great door, with
the portress beside her. There was only the old lay brother in the court
beside, and so we left her. And what my fears were for her and hers I
could not tell Alswythe. For, as we left the gates, something in the sky
over towards the battleground caught my eyes, and I turned cold with
dread. It was the smoke from burning houses at Cannington.
CHAPTER X. FLIGHT THROUGH SEDGEMOOR.
I was glad we had not to go through the town, for the sights there were
such as Alswythe could not bear to look on. And if that smoke meant
aught, it meant that our men were beaten back, and would even now be
flying into the place with perhaps the Danes at their heels.
I rode alongside Wulfhere, and motioned to him to look, and as he did so
he groaned. Then he spoke quite cheerfully to his lady, saying that we
had better push on and make a good start; and so we broke into a steady
trot and covered the ground rapidly enough, ever away from danger.
I rode next Alswythe, but I would not dare speak to her as vet.
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