of that crowd of
thralls once, but they thinned, taking to the woods whence I had come;
while I kept on.

Then I saw one of those horses, a great white steed, standing, snorting,
by the wayside where he had stopped, and I spoke to him, and he let me
catch and mount him, and so I rode on.

Yet when I came to the top of Cannington Hill I looked back. All the
road was full of our men, flying; and a thought came into my head, and I
dared to draw rein and wait for them, linking my mail again across my face.

They came up, panting, and wild with panic, and there with voice and
hand I bade them stand on that vantage ground and block the way against
the Danes; bidding them remember the helpless ones in the town, who must
have time to fly, and how the Danes must needs shrink from a second
fight after hot pursuit.

And there is that in a Saxon's stubborn heart which bade them heed me,
and there they formed up again, wild with rage and desperate, and the
line grew thicker and firmer as more came up, with the sheriff himself,
till the foremost pursuing Danes recoiled, and some were slain, and I
knew that the flight was over.

Then I slipped from my horse and made my way on foot, lest men should
notice my going, but the horse followed me, and soon I mounted him again
and galloped on.

Then I found that though I had not noticed it, my mail had fallen apart:
but I knew not if any had known me, or even had noted who I might be.

So I came to Bridgwater, bringing terror with me, as men gathered what
had befallen from my haste. Yet I stayed for none; but went on to the
nunnery.

CHAPTER IX. IN BRIDGWATER.

Two of Wulfhere's men were by the gate, lounging against the sunny wall;
but they roused into life as they heard the clatter of my horse's hoofs,
and came to meet me and take the bridle, as was their duty. They knew
who I was well enough; but thralls may not question the ways of a thane,
as I was yet in their eyes, though outlawed. Yet they asked me for news
of the fight, and I told them--lest they should raise a panic, or
maybe leave us themselves--only that our men stood against the Danes
on Cannington Hill, and that beyond them the invaders could not come.
And that satisfied them.

I was doubtful whether to go in at once and seek audience with the
prioress, or wait until some fresh news came in; for now I began to have
a hope that our men would sweep down the hill on the Danes and scatter
them in turn, even as the