said Dan . ` That I can answer to the very day , for as we rode with De Aquila by Pevensey -- have I said that he was Lord of Pevensey and of the Honour of the Eagle ? -- to the Bordeaux ship that fetched him his wines yearly out of France , a Marsh man ran to us crying that he had seen a great black goat which bore on his back the body of the King , and that the goat had spoken to him . On that same day Red William our King , the Conqueror 's son , died of a secret arrow while he hunted in a forest . `` This is a cross matter , '' said De Aquila , `` to meet on the threshold of a journey . If Red William be dead I may have to fight for my lands . Wait a little . '' ` My Lady being dead , I cared nothing for signs and omens , nor Hugh either . We took that wine-ship to go to Bordeaux ; but the wind failed while we were yet in sight of Pevensey , a thick mist hid us , and we drifted with the tide along the cliffs to the west . Our company was , for the most part , merchants returning to France , and we were laden with wool and there were three couple of tall hunting-dogs chained to the rail . Their master was a knight of Artois . His name I never learned , but his shield bore gold pieces on a red ground , and he limped , much as I do , from a wound which he had got in his youth at Mantes siege . He served the Duke of Burgundy against the Moors in Spain , and was returning to that war with his dogs . He sang us strange Moorish songs that first night , and half persuaded us to go with him . I was on pilgrimage to forget -- which is what no pilgrimage brings . I think I would have gone , but ... ` Look you how the life and fortune of man changes ! Towards morning a Dane ship , rowing silently , struck against us in the mist , and while we rolled hither and yon Hugh , leaning over the rail , fell outboard . I leaped after him , and we two tumbled aboard the Dane , and were caught and bound ere we could rise . Our own ship was swallowed up in the mist . I judge the Knight of the Gold Pieces muzzled his dogs with his cloak , lest they should give tongue and betray the merchants , for I heard their baying suddenly stop .
` We lay bound among the benches till XXXXX , when the Danes dragged us to the high deck by the steering-place , and their captain -- Witta , he was called -- turned us over with his foot .
Artois Bordeaux Burgundy Hugh King Mantes Spain William morning war