Thus we kept steadily pressing on through the darkness, and ere long the beams of the morning sun shot up athwart the eastern sky, and our march became much more easy and pleasant. By-and-by we rounded the bluff promontory indicated by Badger, and known as the "Great Nab's head;" and shortly we espied Badger, and his comrade Grizzly, seated most contentedly on a mossy bank, Badger regaling himself with a hunch of bread, and salt beef, whilst Grizzly, foraging for himself, was putting the finishing touches to a rabbit he had killed.
"Well, Badger," said the Earl, "alive and well, I see. What exploit have you been perpetrating? Reconnoitring the Norman camp, eh?"
"Reconnoitring, my lord? Mercy on us, no!—if that means sitting on a boulder like a moulting fowl, and gazing at nothing in particular. I never reconnoitre; that means can anything be done. I always know something can be done if one sets about it."
"Very good philosophy, Badger—well to the point. What have you been doing, then? What is the trick this time? and have you been found out for once in a way?"
"Just come with me, my lord, and we'll see."
So saying, he led us over the shoulder of the hill, revealing to us a lovely little dell where there was a stream of fresh water and an abundance of fresh green herbage. Here, also, were about twenty head of cattle browsing lustily.
"There, my lord. I thought we should have a bootless errand, for the wagging of tongues and the cackling of geese I never could understand; they are both pointless, and equally profitable. I never was a great hand at crooning since I was a baby, so I give that business up. But I owe a grudge to the Normans, and I borrowed these few cattle from them. They will be of service, I trow, on the top of the hill. And if you find you don't need them, why, there's no harm done—send them back again."
"Well, every man wields his own staff best, Badger. You do credit to yours. But I think we had better be moving, or the Normans may fetch them before they get to their journey's end."
"Quite ready, my lord. We can now reach the boat without another halt, if the Normans do not dock our tails in the meantime. Come, Grizzly, the drover's trade is a thriving trade in these times. The thieving Scot and the robber Dane have turned over their business to honester men. I never dreamed it was so respectable and well-spoken a trade as I find it to be now."
So saying, Badger and his hound set about collecting the beasts, and soon we were able to resume our march with as much celerity as we could command. Everybody seemed anxious to hear Badger's recital of his exploit, which he told us with much grim humour, and evidently much inward relish.