"O my son! my son! where hast thou found time to lay all these burdens on
thy young soul?"

"It will take less time," said Martin, bluntly, "for you to take the
burdens off again."

"But I dare not absolve him for robbing a priest. Heaven Help him! He must
go to the bishop for that. He is more fit to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem
than to battle."

"He has no time," quoth Martin, "for bishops or Jerusalem."

"Tell him," says Hereward, "that in this purse is all I have, that in it
he will find sixty silver pennies, beside two strange coins of gold."

"Sir Priest," said Martin Lightfoot, taking the purse from Hereward, and
keeping it in his own hand, "there are in this bag moneys."

Martin had no mind to let the priest into the secret of the state of their
finances.

"And tell him," continued Hereward, "that if I fall in this battle I give
him all that money, that he may part it among the poor for the good of my
soul."

"Pish!" said Martin to his lord; "that is paying him for having you
killed. You should pay him for keeping you alive." And without waiting for
the answer, he spoke in Latin,--