eyes.

Among those who had early sworn fealty to him, after the defeat of
Harold at Hastings, were Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and
Northumberland. They were confirmed in the possession of their estates
and dignities, and remained faithful to William during the general
insurrection of northern England. As time went on, however, their
position became unbearable. The king failed to give them his confidence,
the courtiers envied them their wealth and titles, and maligned them to
the king. Their dignity of position was lost at the court; their safety
even was endangered; they resolved, when too late, to emulate their
braver countryman, and strike a blow for home and liberty. Edwin sought
his domain in the north, bent on insurrection. Morcar made his way to
the Isle of Ely, where he took service with his followers, and with
other noble Englishmen, under the brave Hereward, glad to find one spot
on which a man of true English blood could still set foot in freedom.

His adhesion brought ruin instead of strength to Hereward. If William
could afford to neglect a band of outlaws in the fens, he could not rest
with these two great earls in arms against him. There were forces in the
north to attend to Edwin; Morcar and Hereward must be looked after.

[Illustration: ELY CATHEDRAL.]

Gathering an army, William marched to the fen country and prepared to
attack the last of the English in their almost inaccessible Camp of
Refuge. He had already built himself a castle at Cambridge, and here he
dwelt while directing his attack against the outlaws of the fens.

The task before him was not a light one, in the face of an opponent so
skilful and vigilant as Hereward the Wake. The Normans of that region
had found him so ubiquitous and so constantly victorious that they
ascribed his success to enchantment; and even William, who was not free
from the superstitions of his day, seemed to imagine that he had an
enchanter for a foe. Enchanter or not, however, he must be dealt with as
a soldier, and there was but one way in which he could be reached. The
heavily-armed Norman soldiers could not cross the marsh. From one side
the Isle of Ely could be approached by vessels, but it was here so
strongly defended that the king's ships failed to make progress against
Hereward's works. Finding his attack by water a failure, William began
the building of a causeway, two miles long, across the morasses from the
dry land to the island.

This was