270 The King Orgulous

days thy feet be found on the earth of Sarras,
thou shalt hang from the nearest tree.”

As he spoke the great bell of the High
Church began to toll as for one whose spirit
has passed away. At the sound Talisso
started ; then taking the rope from his neck
and flinging it on the ground with a mock-
ing laugh, he turned and fled down the
Mound and into the green fields that lie to
the north.

Not far had he fled into the open country
before the recklessness of the reiver and
strong-thief fell on Talisso. Entering a
homestead he smote down the master, and
got himself clothing and food and weapons,
and seizing a horse, pushed on apace till he
came to the red field where he had routed
the Avars, and thence onward to Danube
water.

Beyond Danube, some days’ riding into
the north, lay that mysterious stronghold,
the Hring, the camp-city of the Avar rob-
ber-horde. And thither Talisso was now
speeding, for he said to himself: “ They are
raiders and slayers, and this kind is quick to
know a man. They will love me none the