But he would not.
So he went round the Foreland, and tried Sandwich,--as if, landing there,
he would have been safe in marching on London, in the teeth of the
_elite_ of Normandy.
But he was beaten off there, with more loss. Then, too late, he took
Hereward's advice,--or, rather, half of it,--and sailed north; but only to
commit more follies.
He dared not enter the Thames. He would not go on to the Wash; but he went
into the Orwell, and attacked Ipswich, plundering right and left, instead
of proclaiming King Sweyn, and calling the Danish folk around him. The
Danish folk of Suffolk rose, and, like valiant men, beat him off; while
Hereward lay outside the river mouth, his soul within him black with
disappointment, rage, and shame. He would not go in. He would not fight
against his own countrymen. He would not help to turn the whole plan into
a marauding raid. And he told Earl Osbiorn so, so fiercely, that his life
would have been in danger, had not the force of his arm been as much
feared as the force of his name was needed.
At last they came to Yarmouth. Osbiorn would needs land there, and try
Norwich.
Hereward was nigh desperate: but he hit upon a plan. Let Osbiorn do so, if
he would. He himself would sail round to the Wash, raise the Fen-men, and
march eastward at their head through Norfolk to meet him.
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