Whereupon I remembered the badger that scared me in the moonlight, and was less confident in myself.
Many were the questions put me as I passed into the marketplace of Bridgwater, but I answered none, pushing on to where I saw Osric the Sheriff's banner over a great house.

Mostly the men scoffed at me for thinking that I should win more renown in disguise; but some thought me a messenger, and clustered after me, to hear what they might.
When I came to the house door, where Osric lay, it was guarded, and the guards asked me my business.

I said I would see the sheriff and then they demanded name and errand.

Now, I could give neither, and was at a loss for a moment.

Then I said that I was one of the bearers of the war arrow, and though that was but a chance shot, as it were, it passed me in at once, for often a bearer would return to give account of some thane ill, or absent, or the like.
They took me to a great oaken-walled hall where sat many thanes along great tables, eating and drinking, and at the highest seat was Osric, and next him, Matelgar.