“May I die the death of a dog—may I be hanged on a Norman gibbet,” said Elfric to himself, “if I help to open the gates to these midnight robbers!” And instead of following Hubert down to the gate, he went again (_sine Abbatis licentiâ_, without license or knowledge of his superior) to the house-top, to see whether any of the folk of Spalding town had ventured to come nigh. As he got to the corner of the roof from which he had blown the horn, he heard loud and angry voices below, and curses and threats in English and in Norman French. And he saw about a score of Spalding-men in their sheepskin jackets and with bows and knives in their hands, menacing and reviling the mail-clad men-at-arms. The Saxons soon got themselves well covered from the foe by a broad deep ditch, and by a bank; but some of the Normans had brought their bows with them, and a shaft let fly at the right moment when one of the Saxons was exposing his head and shoulders above the bank, took effect, and was instantly followed by a wild scream or yell—“Wybert is down! Wybert is slain!” “Then this to avenge him, for Wybert was a good man and true;” and Elfric, who had brought a bow with him from the corridor, drew the string to his ear and let fly an arrow which killed the Norman that had killed Wybert the wright. It was the men-at-arms who now yelled; and, even as their comrade was in the act of falling, a dozen more arrows came whistling among them from behind the bank and made them skip. Ivo Taille-Bois lifted up his voice and shouted, “Saxon churls, ye mean to befriend your fainéant[37] monks; but if ye draw another bow I will set fire to the cell and grill them all!” This was a terrible threat, and the poor men of Spalding knew too well that Ivo could easily do that which he threatened. The noise had reached the chapel, where the superior was robing himself, and Father Cedric came to the house-top to conjure the Saxons to retire and leave the servants of the saints to the protection of the saints. At the top of the spiral staircase he found the novice with the bow in his hand; and he said unto him, “What dost thou here, _et sine licentiâ_”?[38] “I am killing Normans,” said Elfric; “but Wybert the wright is slain, and the men of Spalding are losing heart.” “Mad boy, get thee down, or we shall all be burned alive. Go help Hubert unbar the gate and drop the bridge.”