the broken shaft yet remains, was the chamber in which thou first sawest the light, and wherein thy mother died there, where snake and toad have their home, was the great

escendune save

rom the bur

in flames. The enemy seized me, and would have slain me, but Elfwyn and his brother, Father C

of St. Brice, and perhaps drew from thee the knowledge which enabled them to surprise so large a party in my house. But all this was

I am a Ch

boy, if thou would no

h and duty as a Christian, I am bound to love, honour, and

they who would have slain th

hung hi

not till then. Their religion is but a cloak for their cowardice, and they put it aside as a ma

d and bad Chri

and slaves. These English were warriors once, till the Pope and his bishops converted the

with the example of Bertric in his mind, he

perstitions, and thou shalt go back with me to the camp of King Sweyn, where thou shalt be received as the

most irresistible, but that time was over, and after one

even go with you to your people, but it will

art and shalt be mine, and, if not mine, then thou shalt be the grave's; for either thou shalt live as

r, I c

not fear

thee--one who did not fear

an Bertric of

though neither he nor his have ev

ur people? art thou as

ruelty and

laughe

and canst thou say that here? w

soon talk or drive all this Christian nonsense out of your young head

ed his father, so inopportun

ce behind at the spot where he knew all that was mortal of poor Bertric was left, to be, so far as the Danes cared, the prey of the wolf or th

for although within a few years the conversion of the Northmen took place, yet at this period their hatred of Christian

f space between Alfgar and his late home; all its happy memories came freshly back upon him, and particularly the

retched an open country, where wild heaths alternated with cornfiel

d again within the cover of the wood, where they could see, for they

siderable speed, as if they anticipated the emergency of Aescendune, and hurried to the rescue. Alfgar knew them at once; they were

them, although the numbers were about equal; besides, they had got all the plunder and spoil, and a battle would only endanger the success already obtained. So they

nd his thoughts were bitter as he felt that, could Alfga

posed; all the fighting men were in Wessex; and those who had seen the Danish party had fled with terror--they had not st

the approach of eventide, they came in sight of the entrenched camp of the northern host. The spot was on the northern borders of the ancient kingdom of Sussex--the land of the Saxon Ella--a spot marvelously favoured by nature, occupying the summit

t. Blackened ruins lay on every side for miles; nay, they had disfigured the whole day's journey. Scarc

there they detained many prisoners, whom they held to ransom, putting them to dea

on that side, they found it open and almost unguarded, so slight was the danger from t

with tents, were disposed at regular intervals. In the centre, where the main streets crossed, was the royal t

the ferocious warriors rebelled against him, and were headed by his unnatural son, Sweyn, who, although baptized, renounced Christianity, and fought to restore the bloodstain

erely to plunder, but to conquer England, and all his campaigns were so directed as to reduce province after province. Sussex and Kent were now

le-axe; around him were two or three warriors, whose grey hairs had

descending to the knees, and leggings leaving the legs bare above

d, then only in his twelfth year, but already showing himself a true cub of the old tiger in

saw the party arrive; "welcome, has

g, the ravens ha

revenge, then, is accomplish

e English of our approach. We burnt the place but the people

re coming; the English have a vener

for both had suffered by the mas

on? he is like thee, even as a tame falcon

" and Anlaf in

ot ungracefully, yet with an air

him long ago, and feared thou

tale to tell n

ised him?" said the

lose that,"

en, even as he spoke, a spasm, as of mental agony, passed ove

f his father whic

to notice the fact, and Anlaf, having m

red boy to his own quarters, "how useless it would be for you to s

" said Alfgar, and there was such a despairing ut

huts hastily constructed from the material which the neighbouring woods supplied, an

them were once cultivated fields which the foe had reaped, while quick streams wound in between the gentle elevations, crowned with wood, and here and there the mere spread its lake-like form. The sun was now sinking behind the huge roun

pany; the warriors related their successes, and boasted of their exploits, and the bards sang the

onless aspect of the heaven an