upon freedom. I will not so violate the principle which in these
realms knits king and people, as to arrogate to my single arm the
right to dispose of the birthright of the living, and their races
unborn; nor will I deprive the meanest soldier under my banner, of the
joy and the glory to fight for his native land. If William seek me,
he shall find me, where war is the fiercest, where the corpses of his
men lie the thickest on the plains, defending this standard, or
rushing on his own. And so, not Monk and Pope, but God in his wisdom,
adjudge between us!"

"So be it," said Mallet de Graville, solemnly, and his helmet re-
closed over his face. "Look to it, recreant knight, perjured
Christian, and usurping King! The bones of the Dead fight against
thee."

"And the fleshless hands of the Saints marshal the hosts of the
living," said the monk.

And so the messengers turned, without obeisance or salute, and strode
silently away.




CHAPTER VI.


The rest of that day, and the whole of the next, were consumed by both
armaments in the completion of their preparations.