Before they could run up and seize them the two men had
leapt up into the saddles and galloped furiously away. Unfortunately the
other four horses had followed, and immediate pursuit was therefore
impossible. The housecarls had run to the spot where their horses were
stabled and had gone off in pursuit, but Beorn feared that the men would
have far too great a start to be overtaken. One of the officers had ridden
with the housecarls, and Beorn had told him to keep by the river-bank, as
the men would assuredly make for a ship that was lying somewhere down the
river, though whether at a distance of two miles or of twenty he knew not.
Long before Beorn's return Wulf's wound had been examined. Unguents had
been poured into it and bandages applied. The surgeons were of opinion that
it was a very grave one, but that at present they could not say how the
matter would terminate.
"Your story will keep till the morning, Beorn," the king said. "It is still
five hours to daylight, and we may as well retire to rest, unless, indeed,
you know that there are others engaged in the affair in London or elsewhere
who should be arrested before the news of the night's business reaches
them."
"I know of none such," Beorn said, "and believe that these four and the two
who have escaped were alone concerned in it. I will bring with me in the
morning a man and a boy who know more than I do of the matter; they and
Osgod, with whom Wulf will assuredly have talked it over, will be able to
tell you all that was known up to the moment when these men entered the
palace.
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