noon
It was our own hall that we had come back to . So , the next morning we struck inland again , from the hill-top , thinking to find refuge in a forest of leafless oaks whose rattling branches glittered in the pale sunlight ; and when we reached it my lord sat down on a great root of one of the trees and would go no farther into the forest . So I stayed by him all day feeding him on the last of our fish , and making him cold water to drink , for though he shivered very much he drank always . Thus it was that midway between the noon and the evening there came three men , cross-bowmen , suddenly , from over the hillside , and seeing us they stopped ; then after a moment 's speaking one with another they ran forward , their cross-bows stretched . My lord was sitting dejectedly at the foot of the ice-sheaved oak , and I was cooling water for him in my helmet . The three men ran toward us , shouting . My lord heard the sound and looked up ; then rising slowly to his feet , he hesitated a moment and unbuckled his sword , at which the three cross-bowmen stopped , for they were not great men .