but, to
save himself from the imputation of cowardice, he begged leave for time
to ask King Frederick for assistance. If none came before the 1st of May
he would willingly surrender the place.

Adept in deceit as Christian was, he this time suffered himself to be
tricked. At the suggestion of Magnus a thousand men were sent from
Denmark, and led by secret paths over mountains and through forests in
all haste, throwing themselves into Aggerhus while Christian was watching
the seas to intercept them. In a rage he hurried back to renew the siege,
but the shrewd commandant was now strong enough to defy him.

Ture Joensson, one of the Swedish nobles who had joined Christian, led a
portion of his forces against the fortress of Bohus, writing to its
commandant, Klass Bille, a letter in which he set forth the great change
for good which had come upon King Christian and begging him to side with
his Grace. He closed in the manner customary in those days: "Commending
you, with your dear wife, children, and friends, hereby to God's
protection."

On the next day he received the following answer:

"Greeting suited to the season.

Learn, Ture Joensson, that I yesterday received your writing with
some of your loose words with which you sought to seduce me from my
honor, soil my integrity and oath, and make me like yourself, which
God, who preserves the consciences of all honest men, forbid. To the
long and false talk which your letter contains, I confess myself,
by God's providence to be too good to give you any other answer than
this which my letter conveys. You have so often turned and worn your
coat, and it is now so miserably thread-bare on both sides, that it
is no longer fit to appear among the apparel of any honest man. No
more this time, I commend you to him to whom God the Father
commended that man who betrayed His only Son,

_Ex Bohus._

Sunday next before Lady-day, 1531."

Klass Bille proved as good with an answer by balls and blows as by pen,
and the Castle of Bohus defied all attempts to take it.

Meanwhile the Swedish exiles were writing to their friends at home, and,
elated by the capture of a Swedish fort, Christian marched his army
towards the frontier, and made ready to invade the kingdom from which he
had been driven two years before.

But Gustavus and Frederick were not idle. They recognized the danger of
this invasion and prepared to meet it, rene