"What wouldest thou?" inquired he, with great awe and reverence.
"Ye must depart!" said a voice, deep and sepulchral.
"Depart!" repeated the priest, with an expression of doubt and alarm.
"Yes," said the mysterious figure; "wherefore dost thou inquire?"
"Our only resting-place, our point of support, our sustenance and our refuge! Are we to leave this, and buffet with the winds and waves of misfortune, without a haven or a hiding-place? Surely"——
"I have said it, and to-morrow ye must depart!"
"Whither?" inquired the priest; his opinion evidently controlled by the belief that a being of a superior nature was before him.
"Beyond the Abbey of Furness. Choose a fitting place for your encampment, and there abide until I come."
"It doth appear to my weak and unassisted sense," said the priest, in great agony of spirit, arising from his doubt and unbelief, "that it were the very utmost of madness and folly to give up this strong and almost impregnable position for one where our little army may be outflanked, and even surrounded by superior strength and numbers."
"Disobey, and thy life, and all that are with thee, shall be cut off!"