This too was the doubt if not the entire belief of Thurstan. But the chamberlain and the prior called out aloud for a chapter; and those who were of a party with the prior and chamberlain laboured might and main to convince the whole brotherhood that the Danes ought to be gratified, and that they could be gratified without sin. Nay, some of them whispered to the more timid part of the community, that if the Peterborough treasure, as well as the shrine-money, were not quietly given to Knut, he would take it by force, as the house and the avenues to it were filled with his armed men, and as his barks were lying close under the abbey walls. The call for a chapter now became so loud and general that the Lord Abbat could not resist it; and so, leaving his guests in the hall, Thurstan went to the chapter-house, and, being followed by all who were competent to vote, the doors were closed, and the brotherhood deliberated. That deliberation was long, and would have been longer but for the impatience of the Danes, who vociferated in the hall, and even went the length of running to the door of the chapter-house and striking upon it, with loud and most unmannerly shoutings. At last it was resolved by the majority, and sorely against the will of the Lord Abbat, that the Danes should have the shrine-money, with other Ely treasure, and all the Peterborough treasure,[197] with the exception of the relics, for which it was thought they would care but little, inasmuch as they were not relics of Danish saints. Thurstan was so grieved at this resolution that he would not report it in the hall; but the prior gladly charged himself with the office, and then he and the chamberlain and the sacrist conveyed the cunning old Dane, and the prince, his master, into the treasury of the house, and there counted and delivered over to them all the gold and silver, and all the gilded crosses and silver vessels, and all the silks and hangings, with everything else which had been brought from Peterborough, except the relics. But even these last were taken out of the reliquaries which held them, as the said reliquaries were made of gold and of silver, or of crystal and amber curiously wrought, and so Knut would carry them away with him.