'
On the other spear there was nought; but the head thereof was great
and long, and they had so burnished the steel that the sun smote out
a ray of light from it, so that it might be seen from afar. And they
said: 'This is the Banner of the Spear! Down yonder where the
ravens are gathering ye shall see a banner flying over us. There
shall fall many a mother's son.'
Smiled the Dale-wardens, and said that these were good banners to
fight under; and those that stood nearby shouted for the valiancy of
the Woodland Carles.
Now the Dale-wardens went to the entrance from the Portway to the
meadow, and there met the Men of the Burg, and two of them went one
on either side of the War-leader to show him to his seat, and the
others abode till the Alderman and Burg-wardens came up, and then
joined themselves to them, and the horns blew up both in the meadow
and on the road, and the new-comers went their ways to their
appointed places amidst the shouts of the Dalesmen; and the women and
children and old men from the Burg followed after, till all the mead
was covered with bright raiment and glittering gear, save within the
ring of men at the further end.
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