"
"Yea," agreed Herebald. "I would all the knaves in England were shipped
off to France, and it were a good beginning to ship these four."
Another morning dawned, and slowly and heavily the men arose. Such
weary days followed by nights spent in the marsh had sapped their
energy. For the first time the men-at-arms looked sullen, and one went
to Richard Wood and spoke for all. "We be neither fish nor water-fowl,"
he said, "to spend our days in the marsh. We go this one day more with
thee; then, if we come not out of the marsh and into the town of
Yarmouth, we leave thee and return to our master."
The heavy-eyed Richard Wood counselled patience. "Would ye have these
Saxon knaves get the better of us just when the quarry is all but run
to earth? They be not so weary as we, and a plague upon their
endurance. If ye stand not by me, the game is lost."
But the man-at-arms answered sullenly: "I have said. Lead us out of
this vile marsh."
CHAPTER XVIII
"And now," said the canon, when Herebald and Bernulf had gone, "thou
mayest remain no longer here. It is too near the king, and moreover,
delay taketh thee not forward toward France.
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