were still moored in the harbour, yet the fishermen
shot past unheeded by these leviathans of the deep. As they came
nearer to the opposite shore, they saw an individual making signals,
as though he would be taken across. His monkish garb was a passport to
their obedience; and the friar was received on board with great
reverence and respect. With a sullen air he demanded, rather than
requested, to be conveyed to the castle, which the simple fishermen
undertook with great alacrity and good humour. Left to the care of the
guards below the ramparts, he was speedily forwarded through ranks of
iron men, and the barriers flew open at his presence; an embassage
from the abbot of Furness was not to be lightly entreated.

Again was there a summons that the council should assemble, and the
chiefs, already risen from the banquet, prepared to give him audience.
With a proud and firm step he approached the table; and though, from
habit, he repressed the natural feelings and bias of the temper, yet
there was an evident expression of hostility against the intruders,
accompanied with a glance of unequivocal meaning towards their
sovereign.

Simon, rising to receive this ambassador from the abbot, watched his
demeanour with a cautious and keen observance, though betraying little
of that really intense interest with which his presence was regarded.

"Thrice welcome!" he cried; "we hail your presence as an omen of good
import. How fareth my lord abbot, whom we hope to number with our
friends in this glorious cause?"

"The abbot of Furness hath no message of that similitude. He doth ask
by what right, privity, or pretence, ye appear within his castle or
stronghold upon this island? upon whose advice or incitement ye have
thus taken possession? and furthermore, under whose authority ye do
these things?"

This short address, uttered in a firm voice, and in a tone of menace
rather than inquiry, daunted the hearers, who had hoped for a more
propitious message from the abbey of Furness. Simon, however, without
betraying his chagrin, unhesitatingly replied--

"The right by which we hold this fortress is the will of our king, and
our authority is from him."

"I crave your honest regards," returned the monk, looking round with a
glance of conscious power and superiority; "this good inheritance is
ours, and whosoever disporteth himself here must answer for it to the
lord of Furness, whose delegate and representative I am."

Choler was ris