What
words he also spoke they could not catch, but they heard the Danish cries sink
and die, aghast, and they saw a score of English thanes spring upon him and
drag him backwards. Above the noise of their scuffling, the King's voice
sounded stern and cold.
"While I act as law-man in my judgment hall, I will hear no disputing of my
judgments. Whoso comes to me in my private chamber, as friend to friend, may
tell his mind; but now I speak as King, and what I have spoken shall stand."
Struggling with those who would have forced him from the room, Rothgar had no
breath to retort with, but the words did not go unsaid because of that.
Wherever scarlet cloaks made a bright patch, the human arras swayed and shook
violently, and then fell apart into groups of angry men whose voices rose in
resentful chorus:
"Such judgment by a Danish King is unexampled!" "King, are we all to expect
this treatment?... This is the third time you have ruled against your own
men--" "Sven you punished for the murder of an Englishman--" "Because you
forced Gorm to pay his debt to an Englishman, he has lost all the property he
owns." "Now, as before, we want to know what this means." "You are our chief,
whose kingship we have held up with our lives--" "What are these English to
you?"... "They are the thralls your sword has laid-under, while we are of your
own blood--" "It is the strong will of us warriors to know what you mean--"
"Yes, tell it plainly!".
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