Against the latter we bear no malice, he is a good knight and a fair lord; and could he free himself of the Norman notions that the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field, and the fishes of the water, all belong to Normans, and that we Saxons have no share in them, I should have no quarrel with him.

He grinds not his neighbours, he is content with a fair tithe of the produce, and as between man and man is a fair judge without favour.

The baron is a fiend incarnate; did he not fear that he would lose by so doing, he would gladly cut the throats, or burn, or drown, or hang every Saxon within twenty miles of his hold.

He is a disgrace to his order, and some day when our band gathers a little stronger, we will burn his nest about his ears." "It will be a hard nut to crack," Cuthbert said, laughing.

"With such arms as you have in the forest the enterprise would be something akin to scaling the skies." "Ladders and axes will go far, lad, and the Norman men-at-arms have learned to dread our shafts.