"'While the bishop was saying these words to me, some fugitive slaves rushed in and announced to him the approach of your troop. The prelate thereupon said to me imploringly: "Go, run, monk, I am ready for any sacrifice in order to live in peace with those redoubtable neighbors." "'It now, my friends and brothers, rests with you whether you will live happy and free. Those of you who are willing to enter our community of hermit-laborers will be admitted; those who, preferring family life, may wish to join a woman of their choice shall be settled upon the hereditary lands. I have visited the valley in all its parts; a river, well stocked with fish, crosses the meadows, magnificent woods shade it, vines and cereals flourish on its slopes, the cattle on its meadows are numerous. The poor slaves who were either born upon the place or transported thither will be set free; the lands that they have hitherto cultivated for the royal fisc will henceforth be theirs as hereditary property. The valley is immense. Even if we were ten times more numerous than we are, the soil's fertility will supply our wants. The lands that King Clotaire restores to us in the form of a gift have been violently conquered more than two centuries ago by tribes of barbarians, they were subsequently invaded by the Burgunds, and finally conquered over again by the Franks. Portions of the land are not cultivated; the race that owned them more than two hundred and fifty years ago, before the invasion, has long been extinct. The people who once inhabited them have been either cut to pieces during the successive conquests or have been led far away into slavery, or have died under the yoke working for others on their own ancestral domains--they are no more. By occupying this portion of the soil of Gaul we dispossess none of our own race. But, at an emergency, we must be able to defend the territory from aggression. In these days of civil wars, donations, however perpetual, are not always respected by the inheritors of the royal power, nor by the seigneurs and the bishops. We must, accordingly, be ready to repel force with force. The valley is protected towards the north by almost inaccessible rocky cliffs; on the south by a deep river; on the west by rugged ravines, and to the east by a dense forest. It will be an easy thing for us to fortify ourselves in our possession and maintain our rights.'" Kervan followed closely the Vagre's narrative and asked him with deep interest whether his companions took the advice of Loysik.