And so through all the fens came true what the wild-fowl
said upon the meres, that Hereward was come again.
And when he came to Bourne, all men were tilling in peace. The terror of
Hereward had fallen on the Frenchmen, and no man had dared to enter on his
inheritance, or to set a French foot over the threshold of that ghastly
hall, over the gable whereof still grinned the fourteen heads; on the
floor whereof still spread the dark stains of blood.
Only Geri dwelt in a corner of the house, and with him Leofric the
Unlucky, once a roistering housecarle of Hereward's youth, now a monk of
Crowland, and a deacon, whom Lady Godiva had sent thither that he might
take care of her poor. And there Geri and Leofric had kept house, and told
sagas to each other over the beech-log fire night after night; for all
Leofric's study was, says the chronicler, "to gather together for the
edification of his hearers all the acts of giants and warriors out of the
fables of the ancients or from faithful report, and commit them to
writing, that he might keep England in mind thereof." Which Leofric was
afterwards ordained priest, probably in Ely, by Bishop Egelwin of Durham;
and was Hereward's chaplain for many a year.
Then Hereward, as he had promised, set fire to the three farms close to
the Bruneswold; and all his outlawed friends, lurking in the forest, knew
by that signal that Hereward was come again.
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