"Do you know what that means, Schanvoch? Is not the army of those Frankish bandits, if one can honor those savage hordes with the name of army, encamped on the opposite shore?"
"It is to those very barbarians that I am bound."
For a few moments all the four oars rested motionless in their oarlocks. The soldiers looked at one another speechless, as if they could not believe what they heard me say.
Douarnek was the first to break the silence. With a soldier's unconcern he said to me:
"Is it, then, a sacrifice that we are to offer to Hesus by delivering our hides to those hide-tanners? If such be the orders, forward! Bend to your oars, my lads!"
"Have you forgotten, Douarnek, that we have a truce of eight days with the Franks?"
"There is no such thing as a truce to those brigands."
"As you will notice, I have made the signal of peace by ornamenting the prow of our bark with green boughs. I shall proceed alone into the enemy's camp, with an oak branch in my hand."
"And they will slay you despite all your oak branches, as they have slain other envoys during previous truces."
"That may happen, Douarnek; but when the chief commands, the soldier obeys. Victoria and her son have ordered me to proceed to the Frankish camp. So thither I go!"