day, seizing both men and women,
and they put them in prison for their gold and silver, and tortured
them with pains unspeakable. They hung some up by their feet, and
smoked them with foul smoke; some by their thumbs, or by the head,
and they hung burning things on their feet. They put a knotted
string about their heads, and twisted it till it went into their
brain. They put them into dungeons, wherein were adders and snakes
and toads, and thus wore them out. Some they put into a crucet
house--that is, into a chest that was short and narrow, and not
deep, and they put sharp stones in it, and crushed the man therein
so that they broke all his limbs. There were hateful and grim
things called Sachenteges in many of the castles, and which two or
three men had enough to do to carry. The sachentege was made thus:
it was fastened to a beam having a sharp iron to go round a man's
throat and neck, so that he might noways sit, or lie, or sleep, but
must bear all the iron. Many thousands they exhausted with hunger.
I cannot and I may not tell of all the wounds and all the tortures
they inflicted upon the wretched men of this land."

This awful description of the cruelty of the Norman barons under
the grandson of the Conqueror may partially apply to the barons of
an earlier period, such as Hugo de Malville.

xv Destruction of Norman Forces by Fire.

We read that at the instigation of Ivo Taille-Bois (see Note),
William had the weakness to employ a sorceress to curse the English
in the Camp of Refuge, and by her spells to defeat those of the
supposed English magicians. She was placed in a wooden turret at
the head of the road, which the Conqueror was labouring to make
across the fens, to get at the refugees; but Hereward, watching his
opportunity, set fire to the flags and reeds; the wind rapidly
spread the conflagration; and the witch, her guards, the turret,
and the workmen, all alike perished in the flames, even as in our
story, Hugo de Malville in the Dismal Swamp.

xvi State of England in 1069.

In order that the reader may the better comprehend the chances
which lay before the insurgents of this year, the third after
Hastings, we will briefly summarise the state of affairs.

At the close of the preceding year the Midlands, after several
spasmodic struggles, appeared prostrate and helpless at the feet of
the Conqueror, who had taken advantage of the opportunity to build
strong castles everywhere, and to garrison them wi