"Where I had scarce patience to be. Bernard had gathered all of us
honest Normans together, and arranged us beneath that standard of the
King, as if to repel his Danish inroad. Oh, he was, in all seeming,
hand-and-glove with Louis, guiding him by his counsel, and, verily,
seeming his friend and best adviser! But in one thing he could not
prevail. That ungrateful recreant, Herluin of Montreuil, came with the
King, hoping, it seems, to get his share of our spoils; and when Bernard
advised the King to send him home, since no true Norman could bear the
sight of him, the hot-headed Franks vowed no Norman should hinder them
from bringing whom they chose. So a tent was set up by the riverside,
wherein the two Kings, with Bernard, Alan of Brittany, and Count Hugh,
held their meeting. We all stood without, and the two hosts began to
mingle together, we Normans making acquaintance with the Danes. There
was a red-haired, wild-looking fellow, who told me he had been with
Anlaff in England, and spoke much of the doings of Hako in Norway; when,
suddenly, he pointed to a Knight who was near, speaking to a Cotentinois,
and asked me his name. My blood boiled as I answered, for it was
Montreuil himself! 'The cause of your Duke's death!' said the Dane.
'Ha, ye Normans are fallen sons of Odin, to see him yet live!'"

"You said, I trust, my son, that we follow not the laws of Odin?" said
Fru Astrida.

"I had no space for a word, grandmother; the Danes took the vengeance on
themselves. In one moment they rushed on Herluin with their axes, and
the unhappy man was dead. All was tumult; every one struck without
knowing at whom, or for what. Some shouted, '_Thor Hulfe_!' some '_Dieu
aide_!' others '_Montjoie St. Denis_!' Northern blood against French,
that was all our guide. I found myself at the foot of this standard, and
had a hard combat for it; but I bore it away at last."

"And the Kings?"

"They hurried out of the tent, it seems, to rejoin their men. Louis
mounted, but you know of old, my Lord, he is but an indifferent horseman,
and the beast carried him into the midst of the Danes, where King Harald
caught his bridle, and delivered him to four Knights to keep. Whether he
dealt secretly with them, or whether they, as they declared, lost sight
of him whilst plundering his tent, I cannot say; but when Harald demanded
him of them, he was gone."

"Gone! is this what you call having the King prisoner?"

"You shall hear.