return if
they are given your assurance that they may be tried, as priests, before
a spiritual tribunal." In this reply the reason for the detention of the
fugitives leaked out. They were high in office in the Church, and the
archbishop of Trondhem, with whom they had taken refuge, feared the
Lutheran tendencies of the king. Fredrik did not wholly share this fear,
and on the 4th of March for the first time addressed the archbishop,
commanding him to revoke the passport of the renegades. This letter
producing no immediate effect, Gustavus waited about six weeks, and then
despatched to the Cabinet of Norway a safe-conduct for the renegades to
be tried before "a proper tribunal," and, if adjudged not guilty, to
return to Norway. The passport was directed to the Cabinet of southern
Norway, to whom the monarch used these words: "We marvel much at the
language of your northern brothers, and particularly that they are
deceived by the treachery of these rascals, which is well known hundreds
of miles from here, and might be known in Norway if the people were not
blind. I might tell you how they lay a long while in Dalarne, and in the
name of the people sent deceitful letters through the land, to stir up
hostility against us. But as soon as the people began to leave them, and
the Dalesmen announced that these letters were not issued with their
consent, they betook themselves to Norway.... If, now, the fugitives
will come before a proper tribunal, we cannot and we would not refuse to
let them do so. We therefore send a safe-conduct to guard them against
all wrong, according to their request. If they do not come, it will be
manifest whether they are innocent." The safe-conduct, it may be well to
say, ran only to the 10th of August following, and no notice apparently
was taken of it till near the expiration of that time.[124]

Gustavus now devoted himself to the task of fighting Norby. The pirate
had given the king of Denmark a written promise that he would do no
injury to Sweden, but it was very soon apparent that this promise was
not likely to be kept. By the end of January Norby's acts so far aroused
suspicion that Gustavus ordered spies to enter Bleking and discover
Norby's plans. No very definite information, however, was obtained,
probably for the reason that Norby did not know his plans himself. He
was waiting for intelligence from Christiern. Late in March Gustavus
fancied the pirate was preparing to depart for Norway. A few