in cool it by the night air. Let us go: I know all the ways of
the country; for hither have I come often with hawk and hound. But let
us wait yet till the night is more hushed and deep."

The clouds had gathered over the whole surface of the skies, and there
hung sullen; and the mists were cold and grey on the lower grounds, when
the four Saxon chiefs set forth on their secret and perilous enterprise.

"Knights and riders took they none,
Squires and varlets of foot not one;
All unarmed of weapon and weed,
Save the shield, and spear, and the sword at need." [258]

Passing their own sentinels, they entered a wood, Gurth leading the way,
and catching glimpses, through the irregular path, of the blazing lights,
that shone red over the pause of the Norman war.

William had moved on his army to within about two miles from the farthest
outpost of the Saxon, and contracted his lines into compact space; the
reconnoiterers were thus enabled, by the light of the links and
watchfires, to form no inaccurate notion of the formidable foe whom the
morrow was to meet. The ground [259] on which they stood was high, and
in the deep shadow of the wood; with one of the large dykes common to the
Saxon boundaries in front, so that, even if discovered, a barrier not
easily passed lay between them and the foe.

In regular lines and streets extended huts of branches for the meaner
soldiers, leading up, in serried rows but broad vistas, to the tents of
the knights, and the gaudier pavilions of the counts and prelates. There,
were to be seen the flags of Bretagne and Anjou, of Burgundy, of
Flanders, even the ensign of France, which the volunteers from that
country had assumed; and right in the midst of this Capital of War, the
gorgeous pavilion of William himself, with a dragon of gold before it,
surmounting the staff, from which blazed the Papal gonfanon. In every
division they heard the anvils of the armourers, the measured tread of
the sentries, the neigh and snort of innumerable steeds. And along the
lines, between hut and tent, they saw tall shapes passing to and from the
forge and smithy, bearing mail, and swords, and shafts. No sound of
revel, no laugh of wassail was heard in the consecrated camp; all was
astir, but with the grave and earnest preparations of thoughtful men. As
the four Saxons halted silent, each might have heard, through the remoter
din, the other's painful breathing.

At length, from two tent