"Unite! Love one another! Help one another, children of one God, sons of one country! Disunited, you can do nothing; united you will be stronger than your oppressors. The day of deliverance may be nigh! Love, unity, patience!" "Aye! Aye! These are the precepts that the hermit-laborer teaches us!" "And these precepts, brothers, you must remember and act upon at this hour," replied the monk-laborer. "Jesus said: 'Woe to the hardened hearts! Mercy to those who repent!'" "Insolent monk, dare you accuse me!" "Hermit, good friend, you hear the 'holy' man--you perceive his repentance--what shall be done, my Vagres?" "Brothers, if you love me, grant me the bishop's life!" "The bishop made us suffer. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!" "Will vengeance wipe out your past sufferings? Your ancestors astonished the world by their generous bravery--and would you slay a defenseless man?" Vagres and slaves remained silent for a moment. After a short consultation with Ronan they directed him to stipulate the conditions for Cautin's life. "Bishop, choose! Either be our cook or hang!" "Sacrilegious bandits! After pillaging and setting my episcopal villa on fire, to demand that I be their cook! Monk, you hear them! Alas! Alas! And you have neither curse nor anathema for them! Is it thus that you defend me? What did you save my life for but in order to rejoice at my humiliation?" "Hold your tongue! Jesus of Nazareth, whose life was as pure as yours is sullied; Jesus, when in the Roman pretorium, amidst the soldiers who whelmed him with mockery and physical outrage said: 'My God, pardon them, they know not what they do--" "But these scamps do know what they are doing when they make a cook of me! And would you have me pardon them their sacrilege!" "Consider your past life--" "Come, my Vagres," said Ronan; "come, day is dawning. Let us pack our booty on the bishop's wagons, and on the march! What a fine day will this be for the folks of this neighborhood!" And stepping towards the little slave girl, who, seated on the steps of the altar had quietly watched and listened to all that took place: "Poor child, you are without father or mother, will you come with us? The Vagrery is the world topsy-turvy. The slave and the poor are sacred to us; our hatred is for the wicked rich. If our life of adventure and dangers should frighten you, our friend the hermit will take you to some charitable person in a neighboring village, where you may be safe." "I shall follow you, Ronan. I am a slave and an orphan," answered Odille weeping. "What can I do? Where would you have me go, if not with you who speak to me with so much kindness?" "Well, then, come with me, and dry your tears, little Odille. No tears are shed among the Vagres. You shall ride on one of the wagons of the villa in which our companions will carry the booty. Come, take my arm, and let us walk out, poor little child. We shall go whithersoever chance may take us!"