return."

"I think the plan is a good one, Edmund, and may well be carried out
without great loss. There are plenty of empty wine skins at present in
Paris. I will at once set about collecting a hundred of them. We will
fasten to each a stout cord so as to form a loop to go over the head
and shoulders, then we had best attach them all together by one long
cord, by which means we shall float in a body."

"Fortunately the night is very dark and I think that we shall succeed.
Say nothing about it, Egbert, and tell the men to keep silent. The good
people of Paris shall know nothing of the matter until they see the
flames dancing round the towers which they hold in so much dread."

The Saxons received with satisfaction the news of the intended
expedition. They had been disappointed at being kept back from taking
any part in the fighting during the two days' attack upon the tower,
and longed for an opportunity to inflict a blow upon their hated enemy
the Danes. The wine skins were fitted up with ropes as Egbert had
suggested, and soon after nightfall the party, armed with spear and
sword, and carrying each his float, sallied out from the gates, as
Edmund was by this time so well known among the citizens that the gate
was opened without demur on his order.

They crept along the foot of the wall until they reached the lower
extremity of the island. Across the river innumerable fires blazed
high, and the songs and shouts of the Danes rose loud in the air.
Numbers of figures could be seen moving about or standing near the
fires, the tents of the chiefs were visible some distance back, but the
number of these as well as of the fires was much less than it had been
on the first arrival of the Northmen, owing to the numbers who had gone
to the camp round St. Germain.

The night was very dark and a light rain was falling. Before taking to
the water Edmund bade his men strip off the greater portion of their
clothes and fasten them in a bundle on their heads, as it would be some
time after they landed before they could advance upon the camp, and the
cold and dripping garments would tend to lessen their spirits and
courage.

When all was ready they stepped into the water, and keeping in a body,
drifted down the stream. The wine skins floated them well above the
water, the stream was running strong, and the lights of the Danish
fires were soon left behind.

In half an hour Edmund and Egbert deemed that they were now far beyond
a