CHAPTER IV
YORK AND THE DEIRAN FRONTIER
_Aberach_, the British mound by the confluence of Ouse and Foss, wasconverted into the Roman camp of _Eburacum_ by Agricola in A.D. 79,and from a camp became an imperial city, and the headquarters of the6th Legion for nearly three centuries. The camp was surrounded by aditch 9 feet deep and 32 wide, with an _agger_ or rampart fortified by_valli_. The sides were 692 yards long, with four gates, and there wasa space of about a hundred yards between the ditch and the river Ouse.But in A.D. 120 the Emperor Hadrian caused the _valli_ to be replacedby substantial walls of alternate layers of bricks and masonry, withtowers at the angles. The multangular tower at the north-west is stillstanding. The praetorium was converted into an imperial palace, andstood on the ground now occupied by gardens on the south-east side ofGoodramgate, and by Aldwark and Peterna. A temple of Bellona stood onthe site of part of St. Mary's Abbey and the manor. Hyeronimianus ofthe 6th Legion had dedicated a temple to Serapis on the site of Fryar'sGarden, and there was an artificial cave for the worship of Mithras ona site in Micklegate, opposite St. Martin's Church. The sites of othertemples and theatres, which must have existed, are now unknown. Thedense forest of Galtres came close up to the Praetorian gate, whence aroad led to Isurium, and the Decumanian gate was in the centre of theopposite wall.
When the English arrived the 6th Legion had been gone for upwards of acentury and a half, the place had been frequently pillaged, the wallswere broken down in several places, and the beautiful Roman edificeswere in ruins. King Ella had repaired the breaches in the walls withstrong palisades, and his brother Elfric had made a portion of theimperial palace habitable.
Seomel and the four boys were the guests of the Atheling for a fewdays, while weapons were collected and got ready for the use of theoutposts beyond the Wharfe. The boys wandered about among the ruins,and gazed upon the porticoes and colonnades with awe and admiration.It was then that they first heard of the great emperors of Rome and ofthe Legions, and they understood dimly that their own people were onlybeginning to build up a new empire on the ruins of a glorious past. Oneday they had crossed the river Ouse to see the tombs which lined bothsides of the Roman road leading to the south. Many were broken down,but some were still standing, especially on the higher ground. Therewas a beautiful monument on the Mount, where a youth and a maiden hadbeen buried, for their figures were carved in relief on the stone, butof course the boys could not read the inscription. Here they rested,gazing over the swampy expanse of Knavesmire, and Porlor fancied thatthe two figures represented lovers who had been cut off in the flowerof their youth. They were worshippers of Nehalennia; for a deity, likethe one at Appleton, was carved in the semicircular space over theirheads.
In running down the slope towards the river, the boys stopped at theentrance of the cave of Mithras, and entered with feelings of curiositymingled with awe. In the dim light they could see a bull on its knees,and a young man plunging a knife into its neck. "What can it mean? Isit a priest sacrificing a bullock to Woden?" said Oswith. "That cannotbe," objected Coelred, "for the images were not made by our people, nordo we make images of the sacrificers but of the gods, and those only atGodmundham." Porlor sat long gazing at the fine bas-relief, on which afew rays from the sun cast a dim light. "The being with a high cap," hesaid, "is a god, not a man. I see by his face that he is a good god."His companions looked again more closely. "The god is plunging a knifeinto the bull, but it is not to do harm but good, for he is a goodgod." He again sat thinking. "It is a mystery," he said at last, "andwe are too ignorant to solve it." "Alca would understand," said theother boys. They walked down to the river, and, crossing it, returnedto the "Aldwark," as the ruined palace was then called.
Next day Seomel left York with a number of laden horses, and astrong force as an escort. The four boys were with him. Again theypassed the mysterious cave of Mithras, and the monument of the twolovers on the Mount, as they wended their way southward along theRoman road. These Roman roads in Britain were so admirably constructedthat, although they had been neglected for more than a century, theywere still serviceable. The mode of construction was as follows:--Twoparallel furrows were dug to mark the width, and all loose earth wasremoved down to the rock. The first layer for the road was called the_pavimentum_. On it was laid a bed of small squared stones called_statumen_. The next layer consisted of a mass of small stones brokento pieces and mixed with lime, called _rudus_ or _ruderatio_. Thethird layer, called _nucleus_, was a mixture of lime, chalk, brokentiles, all beaten together. On this was laid the _summum dorsum_ orpavement of stones, sometimes like our paving-stones, but oftener ofsquare flagstones. At proper intervals there were stations for changinghorses, called _mutationes_, supplied with horses and _veredarii_ orpostilions, and in charge of stationmasters called _statores_. The_miliaria_ or milestones were perfect stone cylinders about 3-1/2 feethigh, on bases.
The arrangements for travelling were out of gear, and most of the_mutationes_ were in ruins or had been destroyed when King Ellareigned. But the splendid road was so admirably constructed that itwas still efficient. Seomel had been delayed, and had not starteduntil nearly sunset, but he made the best of his way, and reached thedwelling of Saebald the Fairfax, chief of the Billingas, long beforedark. Here the night was to be passed. It was here that Saebald'spredecessor had dwelt, and here the old warrior had been surprised bythe Britons and killed. The place is now called Street Houses. Thehouse was one of the _mutationes_ of the Roman road, to which somewooden buildings had been added. But it was exposed, and it was theintention of Saebald to remove his people to a stockaded burg on thesummit of what was afterwards called Ingrish Hill, about a mile to thewestward of the road. Saebald received his guests with much cordiality,and after supper he was quite willing to satisfy the eager curiosityof the boys about the life and death of the Viking chief Vidfinn, andabout the strange fate of his children, rumours of which had reachedthem.
The hall of the Billingas was lighted with torches, and after someconversation with Seomel touching the defences and the supply ofweapons, the good-natured Saebald turned to the boys and began histale. "Vidfinn," he said, "was a mighty sea-rover, and like Brand, hisbrother, a stanch follower of the Eolderman Iffi, father of our king.When the English first advanced beyond the Ouse they were led by Brandand Vidfinn, and Vidfinn eventually formed this frontier station beyondthe road, where he and his followers settled. He brought two children,a boy and a girl, with him, named Hjuk and Bil, to whom he was devoted.He called his burg after the girl, Bilbrough, and his people hence werecalled _Billingas_. It so happened that the spring beside his dwellingon the road was fouled by cattle, and for a time they had to use thewater from a well called _Byrgir_, about half a mile up the hill. Oneday Hjuk and Bil went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. They tooka pole named _Simul_, on which they slung the bucket _Saeg_, and awaythey went, Bil in front and Hjuk behind, talking and laughing so thatthe people heard them and thought no harm. But they never returned."The boys had listened eagerly, and Oswith now asked if search was madefor the lost children. "Yes, indeed," answered Saebald. "The pole_Simul_ and the bucket _Saeg_ were found lying near the well _Byrgir_in such a position as to make people think that Hjuk must have fallendown, and that Bil must have come tumbling after. But they were bothgone. Search was made in all directions and continued long, but with noresult. Vidfinn was wild with grief. At length, in gazing at Mani, who,as you know, is seen on the face of the moon and directs its course,Vidfinn thought he saw two children behind him, and he became convincedthat Mani had taken Hjuk and Bil up from the earth as they were comingfrom the well. They help Mani by presiding over the tides of the ocean,it is thought: Hjuk looks after the flow, while Bil directs the ebb,and both together send the long high wave up the rivers, which you boysmust often have seen, and which is named after the god AEgir."
When Saebald paused, the boys ran out into the road and gazed atthe moon. They then saw, what they had never before observed, thatthere really were t
wo children behind Mani. Astonished and intenselyinterested, they returned and entreated Saebald to tell them the restof the story of Vidfinn. The fair-haired chief of the Billingas saidthat little remained to tell, and before beginning he showed the boysthe pole _Simul_ and the bucket _Saeg_, which hung on the carveddoor-post of the hall, and had escaped attention from the Britons."When Vidfinn had satisfied himself that his beloved children were safein the hands of Mani," resumed Saebald, "he was consoled, and ten yearsago he took another wife, a daughter of one of the Billingas, and had ason named Sivel, but the mother died. Peace had continued so long thatthe old Viking was off his guard and completely taken by surprise whenhis burg was attacked at the dead of night by the army of the Britons.He sent little Sivel away with a girl, and they escaped to Ulfskelf.Vidfinn then defended his home desperately, with his Billingas, andat length he fell amidst a heap of slain. He was amply avenged by theKing and his brave warriors, and a worthy tumulus has been raised tothe memory of the founder of Bilbrough. My father was Beorn, anotherof his brothers," concluded the Fairfax, "and as his successor, in theminority of Sivel, I am proud to be the host of the valiant Seomel andhis knights" (_cnihts_ or boys). By this time the eyes of the four boyswere heavy, and they no sooner threw themselves on their heaps of freshstraw in the hall than they were all fast asleep.
At dawn the two chiefs, Seomel and Saebald, went up to the IngrishHill to inspect the progress of the stockade and to serve out weaponsto the Billingas, and on the way the boys were shown the tumulus ofVidfinn, and, a little farther on, the deep well _Byrgir_. The tumulushad been raised on the very spot where the bucket _Saeg_ and the pole_Simul_ were found in the grass, so that it is a monument both to theViking father and to the children kidnapped by Mani.
Taking their leave of the hospitable lord of Bilbrough, Seomel andthe boys rode down the Roman road and came to the great battle-fieldof Helagh. Seomel showed them the place where the enemy's slain wereburied, which is called "Hell Hole" to this day. They then went onto the river Wharfe, and crossed by the ford of Nehalennia to theold Roman station of Calcaria, where a strong English outpost wasestablished. Seomel went a mile or two down the river, and fixed upona hill called Kele-bor for another military station, to guard againstsudden incursions from Elmet; while the boys wandered up the streamto a limestone crag. Here the water was deliciously cool and clear,so different from the muddy floods of Wharfe and Ouse, lower down.They stripped and plunged into it, and after their bath they went tothe famous shrine of their mother's goddess Nehalennia at Calcaria.Here, in the midst of the white limestone country, the guardian deityof chalk workers and of fruit trees received highest honour. Heretoo, among her favourite white rocks, she lavished her favours mostabundantly among the fruit orchards, and even now the real wine-sourplum will only grow on the Brotherton lime, and in the Sherburndistrict. Crossing the ford once more, and riding along the banks ofthe Wharfe, the little party was very hospitably welcomed at Ulfskelfby the grand old warrior Brand and his wife Verbeia, a sister of theLady Volisia. Here Coelred and Porlor made the acquaintance of thelittle Sivel, a bright intelligent child, in whom the strange storytold them by Saebald had made them feel a deep interest. Taking leaveof their cousin Forthere and of Sivel at Ulfskelf next morning, and ofOswith, who rode on to Hemingborough, Seomel and his two sons arrivedat their home. Here they found the Lady Volisia with the children ofElfric--Hereric, Bergliot, and Osric--her own daughters Braga andNanna, and the dog Shuprak. Thus once more was the happy and unitedfamily assembled in the hall of Stillingfleet, with peace fullyrestored, and all fear of danger vanished. How fortunate it is that itis not given to any of us to know, and to few of us to foreshadow, whata week or a month may bring forth.