noon
As he said that word , the carline , who had drawn very near to him and was looking hard at his face , turned and looked on the Hall-Sun and stared at her till she reddened under those keen eyes : for in her heart began to gather some knowledge of the tale of her mother and what her will was . But Gisli went on : `` Yet by his side was his mighty sword , and we all knew it for Throng-plough , and were glad of it and of him and the unfenced breast of the dauntless . Six hours we went spreading wide through the thicket , not always seeing one another , but knowing one another to be nigh ; those that knew the thicket best led , the others followed on . So we went till it was high noon on the plain and glimmering dusk in the thicket , and we saw nought , save here and there a roe , and here and there a sounder of swine , and coneys where it was opener , and the sun shone and the grass grew for a little space . So came we unto where the thicket ended suddenly , and there was a long glade of the wild-wood , all set about with great oak-trees and grass thereunder , which I knew well ; and thereof the tale tells that it was a holy place of the folk who abided in these parts before the Sons of the Goths . Now will I drink . '' So he drank of the horn and said : `` It seemeth that Fox had a deeming of the way the Romans should come ; so now we abided in the thicket without that glade and lay quiet and hidden , spreading ourselves as much about that lawn of the oak-trees as we might , the while Fox and three others crept through the wood to espy what might be toward : not long had they been gone ere we heard a war-horn blow , and it was none of our horns : it was a long way off , but we looked to our weapons : for men are eager for the foe and the death that cometh , when they lie hidden in the thicket .