man-made or Nature-built. Not even thy Welch spies, son of Godwin,
have gained to the heights. In the midst lie the scouts of the Welch
King, and those on the top can see the bird fly, the goat climb. Few
of thy spies, indeed, have ever returned with life; their heads have
been left at the foot of the hill, with the scroll in their lips,--
'Dic ad inferos--quid in superis novisti.' Tell to the shades below
what thou hast seen in the heights above."

"And the Walloons know Latin!" muttered the knight; "I respect them!"

The slow thegn frowned, stammered, and renewed:

"One thing at least is clear; that the rock is well nigh
insurmountable to those who know not the passes; that strict watch,
baffling even Welch spies, is kept night and day; that the men on the
summit are desperate and fierce; that our own troops are awed and
terrified by the belief of the Welch, that the spot is haunted and the
towers fiend-founded. One single defeat may lose us two years of
victory. Gryffyth may break from the eyrie, regain what he hath lost,
win back our Welch allies, ever faithless and hollow. Wherefore, I
say, go on as we have begun. Beset all the country round; cut off all
supplies, and let the foe rot by famine--or waste, as he hath done
this night, his strength by vain onslaught and sally."

"Thy counsel is good," said Harold, "but there is yet something to add
to it, which may shorten the strife, and gain the end with less
sacrifice of life. The defeat of tonight will have humbled the
spirits of the Welch; take them yet in the hour of despair and
disaster. I wish, therefore, to send to their outposts a nuncius,
with these terms: 'Life and pardon to all who lay down arms and