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 Santlache , Saxon thieves , Norman plunderers , robbers , and deer-stealers . A hornets ' nest indeed ! ` When De Aquila had gone , Hugh would have thanked me for saving their lives ; but the Lady Ælueva said that I had done it only for the sake of receiving the Manor . ' `` How could I know that De Aquila would give it me ? '' I said . `` If I had told him I had spent my night in your halter he would have burned the place twice over by now . '' ' `` If any man had put my neck in a rope , '' she said , `` I would have seen his house burned thrice over before I would have made terms . '' '
`` But it was a woman , '' I XXXXX ; and I laughed , and she wept and said that I mocked her in her captivity . '
Lose knew poking put ran receiving said saving speak won