Mingled with these good tidings were sayings which Roger had heard of Colonel Cromwell's. Some of these sayings were like proverbs, so closely did the word fit the thought. Others had in them the ring of a war-song, as when he wrote to the Commissioners at Cambridge. "You see by this enclosed how sadly your affairs stand. It's no longer disputing, but out instantly all you can. Raise all your bands; send them to Huntingdon; get up what volunteers you can; hasten your horses. Send these letters to Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex without delay. I beseech you, spare not. You must act lively; do it without distraction. Neglect no means." Yet often it seemed, when you listened to Colonel Cromwell, as if it were by some marvellous accident his thoughts did ever tumble into their right clothes, so strangely did they come lumbering out. But every now and then, if you had patience, amidst the rattling of the rough stones and pebbles, flashed a sentence, sharp cut and brilliant as a diamond, although, apparently, as unconscious of its polish and sharpness as the rest of their uncouth ness. "Subtilty may deceive you, integrity never will;" "Truly, God follows us with encouragements, who is the God of blessings; and I beseech you, let him not lose his blessing upon us! They come in season, and with all the advantages of heartening, as if God should say, 'Up and be doing, and I will stand by you and help you!' There is nothing to be feared but our own sin and sloth." "If I could speak words to pierce your hearts with the sense of our and your condition, I would. It may be difficult to raise so many men in so short time; but let me assure you it's necessary, and, therefore, to be done." "God hath given reputation to our handful (the Ironsides), let us endeavour to keep it. I had rather have a plain, russet-coated captain that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call 'a gentleman' and nothing else. I honour a gentleman that is so indeed." "Yet," said Roger in one of his letters, "it gives you little knowledge of what the Colonel is to extract these bits of his sayings, and make them emphatic, as if he meant them for epigrams, when the force is that they are said without force; the thought and purpose in him, which always go to the point in deeds, from time to time flashing straight to the point in words, which are then as strong as other men's deeds. But this I know, when he says of us, 'We never find our men so cheerful as when there is work to do,' or, 'God hath given reputation to our handful,' we all feel as if we were dubbed knights, and were moving about glorious with Royal Orders."