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Page 347
Simon knew from Walter that Gilbert Bassett and Richard Siward were raiding in the area around Devizes. He did not know what losses they had taken nor how widely their forces were spread. It was very likely that they would not have enough men to chance an attack on the guard the king would set to starve out de Burgh. The smallest alarm would bring out the entire garrison of Devizes.
Even if they could get de Burgh out, it was not likely they could get him away with that force following them. The man was old and weak from being harshly treated; he could not travel far or fast. To rescue de Burgh, only to have him recaptured, would serve the king's purpose. However, if he could be removed secretly, soon after the night guard came on duty, there would be a fewor with luck, manyhours before the escape was discovered. This would give the fugitive a good head start, and no one would know in which direction he had fled. The chances then would be quite good for a clean escape.
The trouble was that Simon did not think Bassett or Siward or any of their men would be capable of spiriting de Burgh away without raising an alarm. His Welsh could do it, but should he embroil himself in such an enterprise? Hubert de Burgh had been no favorite with his family in the past.
Ordinarily Simon would have thought a pox on the king and de Burgh, but his sense of honor and fair play was outraged. It seemed unfair and cruel to him to hound a helpless old man. If the king feared de Burgh, it was reasonable to keep him in gentlemanly confinement; that was what had originally been intended by the four earls who agreed to be his gaolers. To have abrogated that agreement and to have thrust him, loaded with chains, into a dungeon was too much. It was not the king, anyway, Simon told himself. Probably it was Winchester, who feared if de Burgh were freed he would work himself back into Henry's affection. Thus Winchester kept inflaming the king's mind

 
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