I like the journey well
enough, though I would that the animal I bestrode were more gentle
in his paces. He has for the last half-hour been fretting on the
rein to place himself by the side of yours. Horses are well enough
for nobles and fighting men, but for a peaceful scrivener like
myself a chair makes a far more comfortable seat."
The soldier gave a contemptuous grunt, and Wulf laughed. "It is
well that we have not all the same tastes, but for my part a seat
in a chair tires me more than one in a saddle, and I am never more
happy than when galloping briskly along," and he shook the reins,
a signal which the horse had been expecting for a considerable time,
and at once responded to by breaking into a canter.
"Stay you, I pray, Master Wulf," the scrivener cried in great
tribulation as his horse followed the example of its companion.
"Even if the animal does not break my neck he will jolt the life
out of me. I pray you curb him in if you would not see me prone in
the dust; and if I am disabled, who is to carry the earl's message
to the steward?"
Wulf reined in his horse. "Pardon me, good Gurth. I had forgotten
that you are not accustomed to journey on horseback. I was scarce
conscious, indeed, that I touched my horse, but he is used to travel
more rapidly, and was so eager to be off at the slightest hint that
I was willing that he should do so. We will try and journey soberly
for the rest of the distance.
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