, and there was a running fight and much wounding and slaying all
through the fresh green countryside, where the hedges were laden with
May-blossoms, and in the sky the larks were trilling.

And that day many a wounded man crawled groaning into the thickets to
die, many a chalky cart-rut ran red with blood, and many a white face,
with wide-open, sightless eyes, stared up at the blue sky, where the
fleecy clouds sailed in the gentle wind.

For three weeks after this battle both sides rested, and like great
wrestlers gathered all their strength for one great struggle. Knights
and riders were sent by both sides into all parts, with letters to
lords and knights, charging them to take their sides in the war. Many
people from about London came to the banner of Mordred, and the parts
now called Kent, Sussex and Surrey, Essex and Suffolk held wholly with
him; but those in the west, as Wales, Devon, Cornwall and the middle
parts, thronged to the banner of the king.

Few came from the north, for there the pagan pirates stalked with fire
and sword through and through the land, and the British lords and
chiefs that were alive had little power to stay them now. King Uriens
was dead, slain by the dagger of a traitor, and so were two other great
chieftains; so that men south of Trent sorrowfully shook their heads
and said that now the north was no longer the land of the British folk,
but was given over to the savage heathen hordes.

Then, to meet the many that flocked together in his favour, King Arthur
drew him with his host westward beyond Sarum. There on the wide downs
beside the great standing-stones of the Old Princes, which men now call
Stonehenge, a great multitude of chiefs and knights and yeomen came to
his banner.

But Sir Mordred avoided a battle, and, instead, kept aloof with his
army, and began to burn and harry the country which was on the side of
Arthur. He took Calleva and Cunetio, and put the people to the sword,
and took much gear from those wealthy cities; then he stole through the
great forest by night and came to Palladun, which was a rich town
builded upon the top of a great hill. He thought to take this unawares,
but it was well watched and well armed, and he strove to break into it
and was kept about it for some days.

That delay was used well by King Arthur, for he made great haste to
pass through the wild country, filled with wide marshes and thick woods
as it was, which separated him from his enemy. Th