'
As he spake, came forth those three men of the Shepherds and the two
Dalesmen who had sworn with him on the Holy Boar. Then up stood
Folk-might, and came forth into the field, and said:
'Bristler, son of Brightling, and ye other good men and true, it is
but sooth that the ransackers and the slayer may soon be known; and
here I declare them unto you: I it was and none other who slew
Rusty; and I was the leader of those who ransacked Penny-thumb, and
cowed Harts-bane of Greentofts. As for the slaying of Rusty, I slew
him because he chased me, and would not forbear, so that I must
either slay or be slain, as hath befallen me erewhile, and will
befall again, methinks. As for the ransacking of Penny-thumb, I
needed the goods that I took, and he needed them not, since he
neither used them, nor gave them away, and, they being gone, he hath
lived no worser than aforetime. Now I say, that if ye will take the
outlawry off me, which, as I hear, ye laid upon me, not knowing me,
then will I handsel self-doom to thee, Bristler, if thou wilt bear
thy grief to purse, and I will pay thee what thou wilt out of hand;
or if perchance thou wilt call me to Holm, thither will I go, if thou
and I come unslain out of this war.
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