"Now, what has made thee take service with me?"

"Because you are you."

"Give me none of your parables and dark sayings, but speak out like a man.
What canst see in me that thou shouldest share an outlaw's fortune with
me?"

"I had run away from a monastery, so had you; I hated the monks, so did
you; I liked to tell stories,--since I found good to shut my mouth I tell
them to myself all day long, sometimes all night too. When I found out you
liked to hear them, I loved you all the more. Then they told me not to
speak to you; I held my tongue. I bided my time. I knew you would be
outlawed some day. I knew you would turn Viking and kempery-man, and kill
giants and enchanters, and win yourself honor and glory; and I knew I
should have my share in it. I knew you would need me some day; and you
need me now, and here I am; and if you try to cut me down with your sword,
I will dodge you, and follow you, and dodge you again, till I force you to
let me be your man, for with you I will live and die. And now I can talk
no more."

"And with me thou shalt live and die," said Hereward, pulling up his
horse, and frankly holding out his hand to his new friend.

Martin Lightfoot took his hand, kissed it, licked it almost as a dog would
have done. "I am your man," he said, "amen; and true man I will prove to
you, if you will prove true to me." And he dropped quietly back behind
Hereward's horse, as if the business of his life was settled, and his mind
utterly at rest.