rified when he saw the tall young chieftain standing
before him, for all the countryside feared Guthlac. But very soon the
brother saw the love of God shining in Guthlac's eyes, and the gentle
humility in his voice showed that he was no longer the cruel robber, but
a servant of Christ.

The monks took Guthlac in and made him welcome. Soon he found that
conquering himself and the Devil was a harder fight than he had ever
fought against his enemies in the world, but he threw himself into the
battle with all his heart. He did not do things by halves, but began to
serve God with all his might, because before he had fought so hard
against Him. Remembering how often he had got drunk with the wine he
had stolen, he now would not drink one single drop even of the wine the
monks were allowed to have. At first the brothers did not like this, but
soon they began to understand the strong resolve of the young robber,
and, seeing how very pure his heart was and how much he loved God, they
all loved him. The curious old book which tells all about him says: "He
was in figure tall, and pure in body, cheerful in mood, and in
countenance handsome; he was modest in his discourse, and he was patient
and humble, and ever in his heart was Divine love hot and burning."

For two years he lived in that monastery, and then he began to long to
live a harder life for Christ's sake. He heard about the hermits of old
days who used to live apart from other men in wild places, and he got
leave from the Abbot to follow their example. So one day he set out.

He did not choose the beautiful green woods that he had once roamed in,
but turned towards a most horrible place--a great marsh full of pools of
slimy black water, and reeds, and rough scrub and bushes. It was the
most lonely place you can imagine, and people feared to go there because
they said it was haunted by evil spirits.

On an island in this lonely fen St. Guthlac settled down with two
servants. It was a very hard life, and the Devil sent him all sorts of
horrible temptations and haunted him and gave him no rest; but St.
Guthlac rejoiced in the chance of fighting under his Captain, Christ,
against the evil spirits.

It would take too long now to tell you of all the wonderful things that
happened to St. Guthlac on this island--we must keep them for another
time. For God rewarded his love and his courage by giving him a
wonderful gift of miracles and of great wisdom, so that the news of him