But many of the Danes, believing the Peterborough treasure to be far greater than it was, said that it would be no such sin to employ it for secular purposes, or to give it for the support of friends and allies who had quitted their homes and their countries, and had crossed the stormy ocean to aid the English; for that, when the Danes and the English between them should have driven the Normans out of the land, there would be no lack of gold and silver wherewith to replace the sacred vessels, and to give back to Peterborough Abbey far more than had been taken from it. Some of them declared, and severally promised and swore by their own saints, that if Knut, their leader, and the son of their king, was but gratified in this particular, he would land all his best warriors and join Hereward the Saxon, and so go in search of Duke William and bring the Normans to battle: and if Knut did not swear by his saints, or say much by word of mouth, he nodded his head and seemed to consent—the christened infidel, and unprince-like prince that he was. It may be judged whether Lord Hereward was not eager for such an increase of strength as might enable him to carry the war into the heart of England or under the walls of the city of London! It may be judged whether he did not burn for the opportunity of fighting a great and decisive battle: but Hereward had a reverence for the property of the church, and a great misgiving of the Danes; and he whispered to his best friend, the Lord Abbat, “If we put this guilt upon our souls, and give these insatiate Danes all that they ask, they will do not for us that which they promise, but will sail away in their ships with the plunder they have made as soon as the storms of winter approach.”