scaling the skies."

"Ladders and axes will go far, lad, and the Norman men-at-arms have
learned to dread our shafts. But enough of the baron; if we must be his
neighbors for a time, so be it."

"You have heard, my mates," he said, turning to his comrades gathered
around him, "what Cuthbert tells us. Are you of my opinion, that it is
better to move away till the storm is past than to fight against heavy
odds, without much chance of either booty or victory?"

A general chorus proclaimed that the outlaws approved of the proposal
for a move to Langholm Chase. The preparations were simple. Bows were
taken down from the boughs on which they were hanging, quivers slung
across the backs, short cloaks thrown over the shoulders. The deer was
hurriedly dismembered, and the joints fastened to a pole slung on the
shoulders of two of the men. The drinking-cups, some of which were of
silver, looking strangely out of place among the rough horn implements
and platters, were bundled together, carried a short distance and
dropped among some thick bushes for safety; and then the band started
for Wortham.

With a cordial farewell and many thanks to Cuthbert, who declined their
invitations to accompany them, the retreat to Langholm commenced.

Cuthbert, not knowing in which direction the bands were likely to
approach, remained for awhile motionless, intently listening.

In a quarter of an hour he heard the distant note of a bugle.