"
"Then why hast thou expelled the rightful dwellers therein from their
house and home? We know Elfric is with thee, and that thou art a
traitor, wherefore, deliver him up, or we will even excommunicate thee."
"Thou hadst better not begin in the hearing of the men who sit upon the
wall; for myself, excommunication cannot hurt a man who never goes to
church, and does not company over much with those who do."
"Infidel! heretic! pagan! misbeliever! accursed Ragnar!" began the irate
monk, when an arrow, perhaps only meant to frighten him (for they could
hardly have missed so fair a mark), glanced by him.
He retreated, but still continued his maledictions.
"_Excommunicabo te, et omnes tibi adhaerentes_; thou art an accursed
parricide, who hast raised thine hand against thy father's house. _Vade
retro, Sathanas_, I will shake off the dust of my feet against thee,"--
another arrow stuck in his frock--"thou shalt share the fate of Sodom,
yea of Gomorrha; _in manus inimici trado te_;" by this time his words
were inaudible; and he departed, not having accomplished much good, but
having nevertheless informed Redwald of two great facts--the first,
that Elfric's return was blazed abroad; the second, that his own
identity was more than suspected.
"Ragnar!" said he, "What fiend has told them that? how came they to
suspect? Confusion! it will foil all my plans, and my vengeance will be
incomplete.
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