Day after day the vengeful baron ranged the woods with his dogs and
men-at-arms, but all in vain.
Neither would Etienne forbear his woodland sports, although the
stragglers in the forest were constantly cut off by their unseen
foe; but in his hunts, accompanied by Pierre, his sole surviving
companion, he sought more eagerly for the tracks of men than of
beasts, and vowed he would some day avenge poor Louis.
Brave although the Normans were, they hesitated to remain in the
outlying cottages and farms which were yet untouched by the
destroyer, and therefore, by their lord's permission, concentrated
their forces in and around the castle, where they kept diligent
watch, as men who held their lives in their hands, and shunned the
woods after nightfall.
For night after night the fatal fires blazed, now at one extremity
of the domain, now at another, until there threatened to be very
little left to burn, unless some prompt and decisive measures were
taken; but superstitious fears united with natural ones to assist
the unseen enemy, by paralysing the courage of the hitherto
invincible Norman.
This state of things could be endured no longer; and the baron sent
embassies to the neighbouring barons to beg their aid against a
combination of outlaws united against law and society, who had
burnt his farms and slain his retainers, and whom, owing to his
limited numbers, he had yet failed to exterminate.
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