.

THE FIRES OF STERT.
I went along the highroad now, for it was dark, and few were about.

Only now and then I met a little party of men hurrying to the gathering place, and mostly they spoke to me, asking for news.

And from them I learned, too, that nothing had been seen, while daylight served, of the Danes.

Once, I had to say I was on Osric's errand, as he bade me, being questioned as to why I was heading away from the town.
I could not see my hall as I passed close by its place, for the lights that ever shone thence in the old days, so lately, yet seeming so long, gone, were quenched.