"
At last they grew sleepy, and the men went out and brought in bundles of
sweet rush, and spread them against the wall, and prepared to lie down,
each his weapon by his side. And when they were lain down, Hereward
beckoned to him Perry and Martin Lightfoot, and went out into the back
yard, under the pretence of seeing to his horse.
"Perry Surturbrandsson," said he, "you seem to be an honest man, as we in
foreign parts hold all the Danelagh to be. Now it is fixed in my mind to
go up, and my servant, to your hall, and see what those French upstarts
are about. Will you trust me to go, without my fleeing back here if I am
found out, or in any way bringing you to harm by mixing you up in my
private matters? And will you, if I do not come back, keep for your own
the horse which is in your stable, and give moreover this purse and this
ring to your lady, if you can find means to see her face to face; and say
thus to her,--that he that sent that purse and ring may be found, if he be
alive, at St. Omer, or with Baldwin, Count of Flanders; and that if he be
dead, as he is like enough to be, his trade being naught but war, she will
still find at St. Omer a home and wealth and friends, till these evil
times be overpast?"
As Hereward had spoken with some slight emotion, he had dropped unawares
his assumed Flemish accent, and had spoken in broad burly Lincolnshire;
and therefore it was that Perry, who had been staring at him by the
moonlight all the while, said, when he was done, tremblingly,--
"Either you are Hereward, or you are his fetch.
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