At this point Loysik was suddenly interrupted by a voice that proceeded from a bush near the oak tree, shouting:
"Relapsed! Sacrilegious wretch! Worshiper of Mammon! Hermit of the devil! Prop of Beelzebub! You shall be burned for a heretic!"
It was the voice of Bishop Cautin. And almost at the same instant, from afar, from the side where the Vagres were finishing their night of wassail, these other cries were heard through the stillness of the approaching dawn:
"On guard! On guard! The leudes of Count Neroweg are approaching! The count himself is at their head!"
"On guard! The leudes of Count Neroweg are approaching! To arms! To arms!"
Awakened from her restful sleep by the tumult and hearing the cries of the Vagres, little Odille screamed with terror as she threw herself on the neck of Ronan:
"Count Neroweg! Save me!"
"Fear not, poor child!"
And addressing Loysik, Ronan added:
"Brother, fate sends to us a descendant of that family of Neroweg, whom our ancestor Schanvoch fought two centuries ago on the borders of the Rhine. I wish to kill that barbarian, rid Gaul of him, and protect our own family from the peril of his descendants—"