“He must have come too late, and after I had heard of this from others; so I had already gone to meet the princess. I am glad that I was sent for, and it may pass. Well, it is lucky that I was in time, for we were attacked on the road, and but for my men there would have been trouble.”
Then Alsi broke into wrath, which was real enough.
“This passes all. Where and by whom were you attacked? and why should any fall on the party?”
“Five miles on the other side of Ancaster town, where the Ermin Street runs among woods, we were fallen on, but who the men were I cannot say. Why they should fall on us seems plain enough, seeing that the ransom of a princess is likely to be a great sum.”
“Was it a sharp fight?”
“It was not,” answered Ragnar, “for it seemed to me that the men looked only to find your Welsh thane Griffin and his men. When they saw my Norfolk housecarls, they waited no longer, and we only rode down one or two of them. But I have somewhat against this Griffin, for he helped me not at all. Until this day he and his men had ridden fairly with us, but by the time this attack came they were half a mile behind us.”
“Do you mean to say that you think Griffin in league with these—outlaws, as one may suppose them?” said Alsi, with wrath and more else written in twitching mouth and crafty eyes.
“I would not have said that,” Ragnar answered, looking in some surprise at the king, “it had never come into my head. But I will say that as the Ermin Street is straight as an arrow, and he was in full sight of us, he might have spurred his horses to our help, whereas he never quickened his pace till he saw that the outlaws, or whoever they were, had gone. I put this as a complaint to you.”
“These men seem to have scared you, at least,” sneered the king.
Ragnar flushed deeply.