so far as roger had been able to follow ridley 's story , the strangely dressed man ( some said he was a faerie , some thought him a northerner , though there was confusion as to whether this meant a scot , a norseman , or something else ) had had the ill luck to show up at a farm two or three miles from the stones , where he had been set upon by the inhabitants , these being an antisocial clan called wad .