She had never seen the face of war ! ' I was angry , and answered , `` This much at least I can disprove , for I swear '' -- and on my sword-hilt I swore it in that place -- `` I swear I will never set foot in the Great Hall till the Lady Ælueva herself shall summon me there . '' ` She went away , saying nothing , and I walked out , and Hugh limped after me , whistling dolorously -LRB- that is a custom of the English -RRB- , and we came upon the three Saxons that had bound me . They were now bound by my men-at-arms , and behind them stood some fifty stark and sullen churls of the House and the Manor , waiting to see what should fall . We heard De Aquila 's trumpets blow thin through the woods Kentward . ' `` Shall we hang these ? '' said my men . ' `` Then my churls will fight , '' said Hugh , beneath his breath ; but I bade him ask the three what mercy they hoped for . ' `` None , '' said they all . `` She bade us hang thee if our master died . And we would have hanged thee . There is no more to it . '' ` As I stood doubting , a woman ran down from the oak wood above the King 's Hill yonder , and cried out that some Normans were driving off the swine there . ' `` Norman or Saxon , '' said I , `` we must beat them back , or they will rob us every day . Out at them with any arms ye have ! '' So I loosed those three carles and we ran together , my men-at-arms and the Saxons with bills and axes which they had hidden in the thatch of their huts , and Hugh led them . Half-way up the King 's Hill we found a false fellow from Picardy -- a sutler that sold wine in the Duke 's camp -- with a dead knight 's shield on his arm , a stolen horse under him , and some ten or twelve wastrels at his tail , all cutting and slashing at the pigs . We beat them off , and saved our pork . One hundred and seventy pigs we saved in that great battle . ' Sir Richard laughed .
` That , then , was our first work together , and I bade Hugh tell his folk that so would I deal with any man , knight or churl , XXXXX or Saxon , who stole as much as one egg from our valley .
Aquila Duke English Hill Norman Picardy Saxon carles fall sword-hilt