`` Thou hast need to pray , '' she said , catching up her underlip . `` If he dies , thou shalt hang . '' ` They bore off Hugh to his chamber ; but three tall men of the house bound me and set me under the beam of the Great Hall with a rope round my neck . The end of the rope they flung over the beam , and they sat them down by the fire to wait word whether Hugh lived or died . They cracked nuts with their knife-hilts the while . ' ` And how did you feel ? ' said Dan . ` Very weary ; but I did heartily pray for my schoolmate Hugh his health . About noon I heard horses in the valley , and the three men loosed my ropes and fled out , and De Aquila 's men rode up . Gilbert de Aquila came with them , for it was his boast that , like his father , he forgot no man that served him . He was little , like his father , but terrible , with a nose like an eagle 's nose and yellow eyes like an eagle . He rode tall warhorses -- roans , which he bred himself -- and he could never abide to be helped into the saddle . He saw the rope hanging from the beam and laughed , and his men laughed , for I was too stiff to rise . ' `` This is poor entertainment for a Norman knight , '' he said , `` but , such as it is , let us be grateful . Show me , boy , to whom thou owest most , and we will pay them out of hand . '' ' ` What did he mean ? To kill 'em ? ' said Dan . ` Assuredly . But I looked at the Lady Ælueva where she stood among her maids , and her brother beside her .
De XXXXX 's men had driven them all into the Great Hall . '
Aquila Dan Hugh knife-hilts knight noon roans underlip warhorses Ælueva