It was reserved for monks and
inquisitors, in the name of religion and the Gospel, to continue, through
after centuries, those brutalities toward women of which gentlemen and
knights had grown ashamed, save when (as in the case of the Albigense
crusaders) monks and inquisitors bade them torture, mutilate, and burn, in
the name of Him who died on the cross.
But the words had hardly passed the lips of Hannibal, ere he reeled in the
saddle, and fell to the ground, a javelin through his heart.
A strong arm caught the Princess. A voice which she knew bade her have no
fear.
"Bind your horse to a tree, for we shall want him; and wait!"
Three well-armed men rushed on the nearest Cornishmen, and hewed them
down. A fourth unbound the Dane, and bade him catch up a weapon, and fight
for his life.
A second pair were dispatched, a second Dane freed, ere a minute was over;
the Cornishmen, struggling up the narrow path toward the shouts above,
were overpowered in detail by continually increasing numbers; and ere half
an hour was over, the whole party were freed, mounted on the ponies, and
making their way over the downs toward the west.
"Noble, noble Hereward!" said the Princess, as she sat behind him on
Hannibal's horse. "I knew you from the first moment; and my nurse knew you
too.
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