king, meat would be our portion as in other years. Since he is the bad
king he is, I will e'en eat the brawn and any other meat to be had. And
upon the head of the king be the sin of it, if sin there be."

And the packing finished, he went early to rest.

The castle stood on a ridge near the river Wharfe, from which stream
the castle moat derived its water. Its postern gate was toward the
east, the great gate being on the northwest. From the postern Hugo and
Humphrey were to set out and follow along down the river toward Selby.
They were to make no effort at concealment on this first stage of their
journey which might, therefore, possibly be the most dangerous part of
it. They had little to fear, however, from arrows, as the king's men
would not so much wish to injure the supposed Josceline as to capture
him. They had shot at him before simply to disable him before he could
reach the shelter of the castle.

But Humphrey was not thinking of the dangers of the way. He was up and
looking at the sky at the early dawn. "I did hear owls whooping in the
night before I slept, which foretelleth a fair day for the beginning of
our enterprise," he said. "The sky doth not now look it, but my trust
is in owls. I will call Hugo. It is not meet that he should slumber
now."

Hugo was not easily roused. He had slept ill: for as night had come
down upon him in the castle for the last time, he had not felt quite so
sure of being able to lead his pursuers a merry chase. And it was
midnight when he fell into an uneasy sleep which became heavy as
morning dawned. Humphrey knew nothing of this, however, nor would he
have cared if he had. By his own arguing of the case in his mind, he