And greet thou there Hengest, that was fairest of knights,
Ebissa, and Ossa, Octa, and more of thy kin, and bid them there dwell
winter and summer; and we shall here in land live in bliss, pray for
your souls, that happiness never come to them; and here shall your
yones lie, beside Bath!"
Arthur, the king, called Cador, the keen;--of Cornwall he was earl,
the knight was most keen:--"Hearken to me, Cador, thou art mine own
kin. Now is Childric flown, and awayward gone; he thinketh with safety
again to come hither. But take of my host five thousand men, and go
forth-right, by day and by night, until thou come to the sea, before
Childric; and all that thou mayest win, possess it with joy; and if
thou mayest with evil kill there the kaiser, I will give thee all
Dorset to meed." All as the noble king these words had said, Cador
sprang to horse, as spark it doth from fire; full seven thousand
followed the earl. Cador the keen, and much of his kindred, proceeded
over wealds, and over wilderness, over dales and over downs, and over
deep waters. Cador knew the way that toward his country lay, by the
nearest he proceeded full surely right toward Totnes, day and night,
until he came there forth-right, so that Childric never knew any
manner of his coming.
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