midday
`` Ay , I shall be back with Ethelbert at some time , '' I said . `` I do not forget promises . '' After that we rode down the long hill silently enough , and the way did not seem so bright to me . And so through the long day we rode , stopping for an hour or two at the strong oaken hall , moated and stockaded , of some great border thane for the midday meal . There were the marks of fire on roof and walls ; for once the wild Welsh had tried to burn it , and failed , in a sudden raid before Offa had curbed them with the mighty earthwork that runs from Dee to Severn to keep the border of his realm . `` Offa 's Dyke '' men call it , and so it will be called to the end of time . And now we were on the way of the war host from west to east , the way of the Welshmen , and making toward the ford of the Wye , which they were wont to cross , so that we call it the `` ford of the host , '' the `` Hereford . ''