Several of the rustics looking on gave their aid in carrying in the tables, in order that they might take home to their wives an account of the appearance of the place where the grand council was to be held.

Jock thrust himself forward, and seizing a bundle of green boughs, entered the barn.
Certainly there was nothing here to justify any suspicions.

The soldiers were laughing and joking as they made the arrangements; clean rushes lay piled against a wall in readiness to strew over the floor at the last moment; boughs had been nailed against the walls, and the tables and benches were sufficient to accommodate a considerable number.

Several times Jock passed in and out, but still without gathering a word to excite his suspicions.

Presently Arlouf himself, a powerful man with a forbidding countenance, rode up and entered the barn.