Argosy All-Story Weekly, November 12, 1927 — page 128: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

602 There was no jeweled diadem, no scepter, no ermine robe, to make the royal presence fill the eye: it was, rather, the absence of all royal trappings, all pomp and circumstance, that made this man kingly and tied the tongue that might have flattered a gartered and gilded potentate. On the threshold the king halted Conrad and Herwin. ‘‘ Tf my wish be reason sufficient for you, my friends,” he said, ‘let no more be said of Alfred the King. It’s better for the master of a cottage to be a simple man; the royal title better becomes the inmate of the palace in more auspicious times. I’m known to the yeomen who guard this island stronghold, and there are swine-herds and simple rustics hereabouts.who know my secret. “To others I am simply a leader, gather- ing Saxons together for one more blow at the foreign tyrant. Simple souls keep secrets and keep faith; it’s the man that thinks too much who makes us fear that his tongue will break loose when silence is most precious.” The two young men therefore conducted themselves according to Alfred’s request when they came into the presence of the women. To the latter Herwin was pre- sented merely as another Saxon who had found his way to the island refuge and escaped from the invaders. Edith was deeply moved at meeting the young Saxon, and a twinge of jealousy fur- ther unsettled the Roman traveler, particu- larly when Herwin announced that he had come to aid in protecting her from danger. Hasting, th Danish conqueror of the castle, was sending patrols of his pirates along the roads to meet Waldher if he brought her back there, and seize the girl for Hasting before she could effect another escape. The Dane was moody and _ sus- picious under the influence of Eadgar’s bountiful supply of ale and mead, and threatened the lives of Eadgar’s household if Edith was not delivered to him. -Herwin was astonished, but visibly re- lieved, when he learned of Waldher’ s failure to accomplish his mission. Though the two men were the chief retainers of Ead- gar’s household, they were personally at ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. variance, and the now alert Conrad quickly sensed that they had been rivals for Edith’s favor long before he came upon the scene. It developed in Herwin’s recital of his adventures that he left the castle by stealth, soon after Waldher’s departure, taking with him two men-at-arms that he could trust. He suspected Waldher of treachery on his own account, and resolved to thwart him if possible, and aid Edith and Conrad if they were in danger. “How came you to think that Loris would lead Waldher to this remote place in Somerset?” inquired Alfred with interest. “ T hunted here as a lad, with my father,”’ Herwin explained. “I know the trails in the marsh as Loris does, and though he tried to mislead us at the castle with his fanciful tale, I suspected at once that Edith and Conrad had found the way to the safest refuge in all Wessex.” A yeoman came to the Stas, * as they were talking, and announced that a soldier from Devon had crossed the marsh and brought a message to Alfred from Odda, the ealdorman of Devon. The king permitted Conrad and Herwin to go out with him, and they met the weary, travel-worn courier under the trees. The soldier had fought in Alfred’s army in better days, and his face lighted up with joyful recognition when he saw the plainly dressed and kindly cottager standing before him. He prostrated himself at Alfred’s feet, but the king raised him up and told him to give his message, and that he should then have refreshment and rest. “Great news, my liege!” the man de- clared vociferously, though the king had cautioned him to avoid all reference to royal rank. ‘The noble Odda, our ealdorman, sends greetings and homage. In the dark of the last moon, Hubba, the great Viking chief, landed on our Devon shore with thirty ships of war and a vast army. He came to seize Devon and plunder our homes before marching into Wessex to join his king, Guthrum. “ Our brave Odda would not yield. He gathered the men of Devon into the Cyn- with castle and sent his defiance to Hubba. He was threatened with terrible torture and death for his rashness, and when he still (©) mMIicbooks ~. (E(0)