Then turned he to the outlaws, and catching up his axe therewith pointed downwards to that stilly pool whose placid waters seemed to hold nought but a glory of floating stars.
"Behold," he panted, "here was an evil man--a menace to well-being, wherefore is he dead. But as for ye, come tell me--how long will ye be slaves?"
Hereupon rose a hoarse murmur that grew and grew--Then stood the man Perkyn forward, and scowling, pointed at Beltane with his spear.
"Comrades!" he cried, "he hath slain Tostig! He hath murdered our leader--come now, let us slay him!" and speaking, he leapt at Beltane with levelled spear, but quick as he leapt, so leapt Walkyn, his long arms rose and fell, and thereafter, setting his foot upon Perkyn's body, he shook his bloody axe in the scowling faces of the outlaws.
"Back, fools!" he cried, "have ye no eyes? See ye not 'tis he of whom I spake--he that burned Belsaye gallows and brake ope the dungeon of Belsaye--that is friend to all distressed folk and broken men; know ye not Beltane the Duke? Hear him, ye fools, hear him!"
Hereupon the outlaws stared upon Beltane and upon each other, and fumbled with their weapons as men that knew not their own minds, while Beltane, wiping sweat from him, leaned upon his axe and panted, with the three at his elbow alert and watchful, eager for fight; but Perkyn lay where he had fallen, very still and with his face hidden in the grass.
Of a sudden, Beltane laid by his axe and reached out his hands.
"Brothers," said he, "how long will ye be slaves?"
"Slaves, forsooth?" cried one, "slaves are we to no man--here within the green none dare gainsay us--we be free men, one and all. Is't not so, comrades?"
"Aye! Aye!" roared a hundred voices.
"Free?" quoth Beltane, "free? Aye, free to wander hither and thither, hiding forever within the wilderness, living ever in awe and dread lest ye die in a noose. Free to go in rags, to live like beasts, to die unpitied and be thrown into a hole, or left to rot i' the sun--call ye this freedom, forsooth? Hath none among ye desire for hearth and home, for wife and child--are ye become so akin to beasts indeed?"
Now hereupon, divers muttered in their beards and others looked askance on one another. Then spake the man Eric, of the wry neck.
"Messire," quoth he, "all that you say is sooth, but what remedy can ye bring to such as we. Say now?"
Then spake Beltane on this wise: "All ye that have suffered wrong, all ye that be broken men--hearken! Life is short and quick to escape a man, yet do all men cherish it, and to what end? What seek ye of life--is it arms, is it riches? Go with me and I will teach ye how they shall be come by. Are ye heavy-hearted by reason of your wrongs--of bitter shame wrought upon the weak and innocent? Seek ye vengeance?--would ye see tyrants die?--seek ye their blood, forsooth? Then follow me!"