obligations of duty too.

However this may be, he went on with his preparations in the most
vigorous and prosperous manner. The whole country were enthusiastic in
the cause; and their belief that the enterprise about to be undertaken
had unquestionably secured the favor of Heaven, was confirmed by an
extraordinary phenomenon which occurred just before the armament was
ready to set sail. A comet appeared in the sky, which, as close
observers declared, had a double tail. It was universally agreed that
this portended that England and Normandy were about to be combined, and
to form a double kingdom, which should exhibit to all mankind a
wonderful spectacle of splendor.

CHAPTER IX.

CROSSING THE CHANNEL.

A.D. 1066

The River Dive.--Final assembling of the fleet.--Map.--Brilliant and
magnificent scene.--Equinoctial gales.--The expedition detained
by them.--Injurious effects of the storm.--Discouragement of the
men.--Fears and forebodings.--Some of the vessels wrecked.--Favorable
change.--The fleet puts to sea.--Various delays.--Its effects.--Harold's
want of information.--He withdraws his troops.--Harold's vigilance.--He
sends spies into Normandy.--Harold's spies.--They are detected.--William
dismisses the spies.--His confidence in his cause.--Fears of William's
officers.--He reassures them.--Arrival of Matilda with the Mira.--A
present to William.--The squadron puts to sea again.--Its
appearance.--Fleetness of the Mira.--Leaves the fleet out of
sight.--William's unconcern.--Reappearance of the fleet.--The fleet
enters the Bay of Pevensey.--Disembarkation.--Landing of the
troops.--Anecdote.--The encampment.--Scouts sent out.--William's
supper.--The missing ships.--The Conqueror's Stone.--March of the
army.--Flight of the inhabitants.--The army encamps.--The town of
Hastings.--William's fortifications.--Approach of Harold.

The place for the final assembling of the fleet which was to convey the
expedition across the Channel was the mouth of a small river called the
Dive, which will be seen upon the following map, flowing from the
neighborhood of the castle of Falaise northward into the sea. The grand
gathering took place in the beginning of the month of September, in the
year 1066. This date, which marks the era of the Norman Conquest, is one
of the dates which students of history fix indelibly in the memory.

[Illustration: NORMANDY.]

The gathering of the fleet in the estuary of the Dive, and the
assemb