So the Danes and their ships were gone with all that they could carry with them; and the Saxons of Ely and in the Camp of Refuge, after being robbed as well as betrayed, were left to their own devices. Much was Duke William heartened by the departure of Knut, and the treaty he had made with him; and, seeing no enemy in any other part of England, he gave his whole mind to the war in the Fen-country. More knights and adventurers had come over from France and from sundry other countries to aid the Conqueror in his enterprises, and to seek provision and fortune in unhappy England. Choosing some of the best of these new comers, and joining them to troops that had been tried in the hard warfare of the Fen-country, the Son of Robert the Devil by the harlot of Falaise sent strong garrisons to Grantham and Stamford, and Peterborough, and Cam-Bridge; and, carrying with him his chancellor and nearly the whole of his court, he quitted London and went himself to Cam-Bridge to direct the war in person. As he and his mighty great host were marching through the country towards the river Cam, and as the poor Saxon people counted the number of the lances, they said, “_Miserere Domine!_ The conquest of our country is complete, and not even Hereward the Brave will be able longer to defend the Camp of Refuge!” When Duke William arrived in the camp at Cam-Bridge, and examined the Fen-country which lay before him, he severely censured the folly and rashness of Eustache of Ambleville; and also chiding the impatient and self-confident knights that were now with him and eager to fall on, he swore his terrible oath, by the splendour of God’s face, that he would not allow of any fighting until the ancient causeway[202] should be repaired and fortified with towers, and another and a broader causeway carried across the marshes into the very heart of the fens, and opposite to the point whereon the Saxons had constructed the main defence of their Camp of Refuge. Timber and stones and baked bricks were brought from all parts of the country, and every Saxon serf that could be caught was impressed, and was forced to labour almost unto death upon works intended for the destruction of his countrymen. Skilful artizans and men experienced in the making of roads and the building of bridges were brought to Cam-Bridge from the city of London, from the city of Caen in Normandie, and from other places beyond the seas; and the task which William had in hand was made the easier by the long-continued, unwonted dryness of the season. But the Lord of Brunn, although he prayed heartily for rain, did in no wise lose heart; and in proportion as his difficulties increased, his wit and invention increased also. The working parties on the roads were constantly covered and protected by great bodies of troops put under the command of vigilant officers; but this did not prevent Hereward from stealing through the tall, concealing rushes of the fens, and the forests of