Surely I can do no less than give the lad what he has taken . This Manor shall be thine , boy , '' he said , `` till I come again , or till thou art slain . Now , mount , men , and ride . We follow our Duke into Kent to make him King of England . '' ` He drew me with him to the door while they brought his horse -- a lean roan , taller than my Swallow here , but not so well girthed . ' `` Hark to me , '' he said , fretting with his great war-gloves . `` I have given thee this Manor , which is a Saxon hornets ' nest , and I think thou wilt be slain in a month -- as my father was slain . Yet if thou canst keep the roof on the hall , the thatch on the barn , and the plough in the furrow till I come back , thou shalt hold the Manor from me ; for the Duke has promised our Earl Mortain all the lands by Pevensey , and Mortain will give me of them what he would have given my father . God knows if thou or I shall live till England is won ; but remember , boy , that here and now fighting is foolishness and '' -- he reached for the reins -- `` craft and cunning is all . '' ' `` Alas , I have no cunning , '' said I. ' `` Not yet , '' said he , hopping abroad , foot in stirrup , and poking his horse in the belly with his toe . `` Not yet , but I think thou hast a good teacher . Farewell ! Hold the Manor and live . Lose the Manor and hang , '' he said , and spurred out , his shield-straps squeaking behind him . ` So , children , here was I , little more than a boy , and Santlache fight not two days old , left alone with my thirty men-at-arms , in a land I knew not , among a people whose tongue I could not speak , to hold down the land which I had taken from them . ' ` And that was here at home ? ' said Una . ` Yes , here . See ! From the Upper Ford , Weland 's Ford , to the Lower Ford , by the Belle Allée , west and east it ran half a league .
From the Beacon of Brunanburgh behind us here , south and north it ran a full league -- and all the woods were full of broken men from XXXXX , Saxon thieves , Norman plunderers , robbers , and deer-stealers .
Duke England Ford Mortain Santlache Weland left plough roan shield-straps