And at first I seemed to be blinded by the brilliance of that assembly,
for our Saxon folk love bright array and fair jewellery on arm and neck.
Men sat four and six deep all round the great circle, leaving only the
gap where we should enter; and right opposite that gap seemed the place
of honour, for there were a score or more of chairs set, each with a
thane thereon, and in the midst of them sat those behind whom the
banners were raised. Near us at this end of the circle were the lesser
freemen, and so round each bend of the ring to right and left in order
of rank till those thanes were reached who were highest.

Before those stood some disputants, as it seemed, and I could not see
the faces of the seated thanes clearly at first. But presently I knew
the banners--they were those of Eanulf the Ealdorman, and of Ealhstan
the Bishop. And when I saw the first I feared, for the great ealdorman
was a stern and pitiless man, from all I had ever heard; but when I knew
that banner with the golden cross above it, my heart was lighter, for
all men loved and spoke well of the bishop.

It seemed long before that trial was over; but at last the men ceased
speaking, and the thanes seemed to take counsel upon it; and then Eanulf
pronounced judgment, and the men sat down in their places in the ring,
for it was, as one could tell, some civil dispute of boundary, or road,
or the like which had been toward.

Then there was a silence for a space, until the ealdorman rose and spoke
loudly, for all the great ring to hear.

"There is one more case this day that must come before this Moot, and
that is one which brings shame on this land of ours. That one from among