"
"Well," went on the injured Earl, "this Hereward gets news of me,--and
news too, I don't know whence, but true enough it is,--that I had sworn to
drive Ulfketyl out of Crowland by writ from king and bishop, and lock him
up as a minister at the other end of England."
"You will do but right. I will send a knight off to the king this day,
telling him all, and begging him to send us up a trusty Norman as abbot of
Crowland, that we may have one more gentleman in the land fit for our
company."
"You must kill Hereward first. For, as I was going to say, he sent word to
me 'that the monks of Crowland were as the apple of his eye, and Abbot
Ulfketyl to him as more than a father; and that if I dared to lay a finger
on them or their property, he would cut my head off.'"
"He has promised to cut my head off likewise," said Ascelin. "Earl,
knights, and gentlemen, do you not think it wiser that we should lay our
wits together once and for all, and cut off his."
"But who will catch the Wake sleeping?" said Ivo, laughing.
"That will I. I have my plans, and my intelligencers."
And so those wicked men took counsel together to slay Hereward.
CHAPTER XLII.
HOW HEREWARD GOT THE BEST OF HIS SOUL'S PRICE.
In those days a messenger came riding post to Bourne. The Countess Judith
wished to visit the tomb of her late husband, Earl Waltheof; and asked
hospitality on her road of Hereward and Alftruda.
Pages:
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642