Into the very outset of its track?

This patching principle which late allied

Our House with other Houses—what beside

Concerned the apparition, the first Knight

Who followed Conrad hither in such plight

His utmost wealth was summed in his one steed?

For Ecelo, that prowler, was decreed

A task, in the beginning hazardous

To him as ever task can be to us;

But did the weather-beaten thief despair