Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/313

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wild tumult; it needed a cooler head than Robert's to distinguish friend from foe. He might easily rush on destruction in some ignoble form, and bring dishonour on the Norman name itself. He was persuaded by his friends to forego his warlike purposes, and to suffer himself to be led out of harm's way. While every other man in the metropolis of Normandy was giving and taking blows, the lord of Normandy, in mere personal prowess one of the foremost soldiers in his duchy, was smuggled out of his capital as one who could not be trusted to let his blows fall in the right place. With a few comrades he passed through the eastern gate into the suburb of the Evil Swamp, just below the castle walls. It is to be noticed that no fighting on this side of the city is mentioned. The King's troops were specially looked for to approach from Gournay, and the east gate was the natural path by which an army from Gournay would seek to enter Rouen. One would have expected that one at least of the relieving parties would have hastened to make sure of this most important point. Yet one division takes its post by the southern gate, another by the western, none by the eastern. Were operations on that side made needless, either by the neighbourhood of the castle, by any difficulties of the marshy ground, or by the disposition of the inhabitants of the suburb? Certain it is that Duke Robert's nearest neighbours outside his capital were loyal to him. The men of the Evil Swamp received the Duke gladly as their special lord. He allowed himself to be put into a boat, and ferried across to the suburb on the left bank.