They discovered, besides, two ships drawn up
upon the beach, whose long lines and snake-heads, beside the stoat carved
on the beak-head of one and the adder on that of the other, bore witness
to the piratical habits of their owner. The merchants, it seemed, were
well known to the Cornishmen on shore, and Hereward went up with them
unopposed; past the ugly dikes and muddy leats, where Alef's slaves were
streaming the gravel for tin ore; through rich alluvial pastures spotted
with red cattle, and up to Alef's town. Earthworks and stockades
surrounded a little church of ancient stone, and a cluster of granite
cabins thatched with turf, in which the slaves abode, and in the centre of
all a vast stone barn, with low walls and high sloping roof, which
contained Alef's family, treasures, fighting tail, horses, cattle, and
pigs. They entered at one end between the pigsties, passed on through the
cow-stalls, then through the stables, and saw before them, dim through the
reek of thick peat-smoke, a long oaken table, at which sat huge
dark-haired Cornishmen, with here and there among them the yellow head of
a Norseman, who were Alef's following or fighting men. Boiled meat was
there in plenty, barley cakes, and ale. At the head of the table, on a
high-backed settle, was Alef himself, a jolly giant, who was just setting
to work to drink himself stupid with mead made from narcotic heather
honey.
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