CHAPTER XXV
There lay many a man
Marr'd by the javelins,
Men of the Northland
Shot over shield.
BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH.
Noon found Roland and his horsemen still waiting for the ox-train at the head of the valley. Hours since, the last files of the main host had wound away up the wild gorges of Ibañeta.
From the bank where he was sitting with Olvir, Roland sprang up for the twentieth time, to peer down the valley.
"By my sword, brother," he said, "you 'll soon be wishing you had gone on with your sea-wolves. By now they are resting over in the Nive valley."
"What odds? Are you not here with me? I might wish for the little vala also; yet this is not unpleasant," replied Olvir; and he called the black Arab courser which Roland had given him, to stroke the beast's starred forehead. But Roland walked to and fro restlessly.