The baron is a fiend incarnate; did he not fear that he would lose by so doing, he would gladly cut the throats, or burn, or drown, or hang every Saxon within twenty miles of his hold.

He is a disgrace to his order, and some day, when our band gathers a little stronger, we will burn his nest about his ears." "It will be a hard nut to crack," Cuthbert said, laughing.

"With such arms as you have in the forest the enterprise would be something akin to scaling the skies." "Ladders and axes will go far, lad, and the Norman men-at-arms have learned to dread our shafts.

But enough of the baron; if we must be his neighbors for a time, so be it." "You have heard, my mates," he said, turning to his comrades gathered around him, "what Cuthbert tells us.

Are you of my opinion, that it is better to move away till the storm is past than to fight against heavy odds, without much chance of either booty or victory ?" A general chorus proclaimed that the outlaws approved of the proposal for a move to Langholm Chase.