At last Hereward strode down from the hall, his drawn sword in his hand.
"Silence, good folks, and hearken to me, once for all. There is not a
Frenchman left alive in Bourne. If you be the men I take you for, there
shall not be one left alive between Wash and Humber. Silence, again!" as a
fierce cry of rage and joy arose, and men rushed forward to take him by
the hand, women to embrace him. "This is no time for compliments, good
folks, but for quick wit and quick blows. For the law we fight, if we do
fight; and by the law we must work, fight or not. Where is the lawman of
the town?"
"I was lawman last night, to see such law done as there is left," said
Perry. "But you are lawman now. Do as you will. We will obey you."
"You shall be our lawman," shouted many voices.
"I! Who am I? Out-of-law, and a wolf's-head."
"We will put you back into your law,--we will give you your lands in full
husting."
"Never mind a husting on my behalf. Let us have a husting, if we have one,
for a better end than that. Now, men of Bourne, I have put the coal in the
bush. Dare you blow the fire till the forest is aflame from south to
north? I have fought a dozen of Frenchmen. Dare you fight Taillebois and
Gilbert of Ghent, with William, Duke of Normandy, at their back? Or will
you take me, here as I stand, and give me up to them as an outlaw and a
robber, to feed the crows outside the gates of Lincoln? Do it, if you
will.
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