at saga of Robin Hood, and long after the fens were drained women
hushed their babies with snatches about the Crane and the Falcon, and
fairy tales of a certain John of the Shaws, who became one with Jack the
Giant-killer and all the nursery heroes.

Jehan and his band met Aelward at the appointed rendezvous, and soon
were joined by a dozen knots of lusty yeomen, who fought not only for
themselves but for the law of England and the peace of the new king. Of
the little force Jehan was appointed leader, and once again became the
Hunter, stalking a baser quarry than wolf or boar. For the Crane and his
rabble, flushed with easy conquest, kept ill watch, and the tongues of
forest running down to the fenland made a good hunting ground for a wary
forester.

Jehan's pickets found Hugo of Auchy by the Sheen brook and brought
back tidings. Thereupon a subtle plan was made. By day and night the
invaders' camp was kept uneasy; there would be sudden attacks, which
died down after a few blows; stragglers disappeared, scouts never
returned; and when a peasant was brought in and forced to speak, he told
with scared face a tale of the great mustering of desperate men in this
or that quarter. The Crane was a hardy fighter, but the mystery
baffled him, and he became cautious, and--after the fashion of his
kind credulous. Bit by bit Jehan shepherded him into the trap he had
prepared. He had but one man to the enemy's six, and must drain that
enemy's strength before he struck. Meantime the little steadings went
up in flames, but with every blaze seen in the autumn dusk the English
temper grew more stubborn. They waited confidently on the reckoning.

It came on a bleak morning when the east wind blew rain and fog from the
sea. The Crane was in a spit of open woodland, with before him and on
either side deep fenland with paths known only to its dwellers. Then
Jehan struck. He drove his enemy to the point of the dry ground, and
thrust him into the marshes. Not since the time of the Danes had the
land known such a slaying. The refuse of France and the traitor English
who had joined them went down like sheep before wolves. When the Lord
Ivo arrived in the late afternoon, having ridden hot-speed from the
south coast when he got the tidings, he found little left of the
marauders save the dead on the land and the scum of red on the fen
pools.

Jehan lay by a clump of hazels, the blood welling from an axe-wound in
the neck. His face was ashen wi