"
"What, is he abroad, and all this evil going on?"
"In Normandy. But the English have risen for the King in Herefordshire,
and beaten Earl Roger; and Odo of Bayeux and Bishop Mowbray are on their
way to Cambridge, where they hope to give a good account of Earl Ralph;
and that the English may help them there."
"And they shall! They hate Ralph Guader as much as I do. Can you send a
message for me?"
"Whither?"
"To Bourne in the Bruneswald; and say to Hereward's men, wherever they
are, Let them rise and arm, if they love Hereward, and down to Cambridge,
to be the foremost at Bishop Odo's side against Ralph Guader, or Waltheof
himself. Send! send! O that I were free!"
"Would to Heaven thou wert free, my gallant sir!" said the good man.
From that day Hereward woke up somewhat. He was still a broken man,
querulous, peevish; but the hope of freedom and the hope of battle woke
him up. If he could but get to his men! But his melancholy returned. His
men--some of them at least--went down to Odo at Cambridge, and did good
service. Guader was utterly routed, and escaped to Norwich, and thence to
Brittany,--his home. The bishops punished their prisoners, the rebel
Normans, with horrible mutilations.
"The wolves are beginning to eat each other," said Hereward to himself.
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