Finding his attack by water a failure, William began
the building of a causeway, two miles long, across the morasses from the
dry land to the island.
This was no trifling labor. There was a considerable depth of mud and
water to fill, and stones and trunks of trees were brought for the
purpose from all the surrounding country, the trees being covered with
hides as a protection against fire. The work did not proceed in peace.
Hereward and his men contested its progress at every point, attacked the
workmen with darts and arrows from the light boats in which they
navigated the waters of the fens, and, despite the hides, succeeded in
setting fire to the woodwork of the causeway. More than once it had to
be rebuilt; more than once it broke down under the weight of the Norman
knights and men-at-arms, who crowded upon it in their efforts to reach
the island, and many of these eager warriors, weighed down by the burden
of their armor, met a dismal death in the mud and water of the marshes.
Hereward fought with his accustomed courage, warlike skill, and
incessant vigilance, and gave King William no easy task, despite the
strength of his army and the abundance of his resources. But such a
contest, against so skilled an enemy as William the Conqueror, and with
such disparity of numbers, could have but one termination.
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