more to the exactions, and will fight rather than pay, for that their
lives are of little value to them if they are to be ground to the earth by
these leeches. The Fleming traders in the town have hidden away, for in
their present humour the mob might well fall upon them and kill them."

It was against the Flemings indeed that the feelings of the country people
ran highest. This tax was not, as usual, collected by the royal officers,
but by men hired by the Flemish traders settled in England. The proceeds
of it had been bestowed upon several young nobles, intimates of the king.
These had borrowed money from the Flemings on the security of the tax; the
amount that it was likely to produce had been considerably overrated, and
the result was that the Flemings, finding that they would be heavy losers
by the transaction, ordered their collectors to gather in as much as
possible. These obeyed the instructions, rendering by their conduct the
exaction of the poll-tax even more unpopular than it would have been had
it been collected by the royal officers, who would have been content with
the sum that could be legally demanded.

"This is serious news," Edgar said, gravely, "and I fear that much trouble
may come of it. Doubtless the tax-collector misbehaved himself grossly,
but his employers will take no heed of that, and will lay complaints
before the king of the slaying of one of their servants and of the assault
upon others by a mob of Dartford, so that erelong we shall be having a
troop of men-at-arms sent hither to punish the town."

"Ay, young master, but not being of Dartford I should not care so much for
that; but there are hot spirits elsewhere, and there are many who would be
like to take up arms as well as the men at Dartford, and to resist all
attacks; then the trouble would spread, and there is no saying how far it
may grow."