by the way-side to
die, while their comrades, intent only upon their own safety, pressed
incessantly on. The retreating army was thus, in a short time, reduced
to a small fraction of its original force. This remaining body, with
Guthrum at their head, continued their retreat until they reached
a castle which promised them protection. They poured in over the
drawbridges and through the gates of this fortress in extreme
confusion; and feeling suddenly, and for the moment, entirely relieved
at their escape from the imminence of the immediate danger, they shut
themselves in.

The finding of such a retreat would have been great good fortune for
these wretched fugitives if there had been any large force in the
country to come soon to their deliverance; but, as they were without
provisions and without water, they soon began to perceive that, unless
they obtained some speedy help from without, they had only escaped the
Saxon lances and swords to die a ten times more bitter death of thirst
and famine; and there was no force to relieve them. The army which had
been thus defeated was the great central force of the Danes upon
the island. The other detachments and independent bands which were
scattered about the land were thunderstruck at the news of this
terrible defeat. The Saxons, too, were every where aroused to the
highest pitch of enthusiasm at the reappearance of their king and
the tidings of his victory. The whole country was in arms. Guthrum,
however, shut up in his castle, and closely invested with Alfred's
forces, had no means of knowing what was passing without. His numbers
were so small in comparison with those besieging him that it would
have been madness for him to have attempted a sally; and he would not
surrender. He waited day after day, hoping against hope that some
succor would come. His half-famished sentinels gazed from the
watch-towers of the castle all around, looking for some cloud of
distant dust, or weapon glancing in the sun, which might denote the
approach of friends coming to their rescue. This lasted fourteen days.
At the end of that time, the number within this wretched prison who
were raving in the delirium of famine and thirst, or dying in agony,
became too great for Guthrum to persist any longer. He surrendered.
Alfred was once more in possession of his kingdom.

During the fourteen days that elapsed between the victory on the field
of battle and the final surrender of Guthrum, Alfred, feeling t