e
experienced commander upon whom, as we have said, the real command of
the force devolved, rode forward, and soon returned, having previously
ordered a general halt, and that entrenchments should be thrown up for
their own protection during the night.

"Ealdorman," said Edwy, impatiently, "why throw up entrenchments? can we
not carry theirs by storm? we are all ready, are we not, for a valiant
charge?"

"Nay, my lord, we are but ill prepared," was the reply, "for such
desperate measures. I am not certain they do not outnumber us; even so,
we probably excel them in discipline and skill, and have every chance of
victory tomorrow, which we should lose by fighting in the dark."

So Edwy, who did not lack personal courage, and would gladly have ended
the short raid then and there, was forced to be governed by wiser heads,
and accordingly the bivouacs were made, the fires lighted, and the royal
tent pitched upon the slope of a gentle valley, which descended to a
brook in the bottom, where the ground rose similarly on the other side,
and was crowned by the hostile entrenchment, behind which rose the smoke
of the enemy's fires. The heads of numerous soldiers, seen over the
mound, showed how well they were prepared.

The entrenchment was dug, the mound thrown up, the sentinels posted, and
all in so short a space of time that to the uninitiated in the art of
war, it would have seemed little short of miraculous; but the discipline
of the Danes, who owed their success generally to the skill with which
they fortified their camps, had been partially inherited by their
adversaries, and the hus-carles were not even all English: there were
many Danes amongst them.

The suppers were soon cooked and eaten, the wine circulated freely, and
patriotic songs began to be heard: but there was one who seemed to have
no heart for them--Elfric. At the huge fire, which blazed near the
royal tent, Edwy sat as master of the feast, and he was in a state of
boisterous merriment. But all Elfric's efforts could not hide the
depression of his spirits, and Edwy, who loved him sincerely--for the
reader has seen that he was quite capable of love--tried to rouse him
from it, anxious that no one should suspect the courage of his favourite.

Once or twice Elfric seemed to make great efforts to overcome this
feeling of depression, and partially succeeded in veiling it from all
but the observant young king.

At last the feast was over.

"My friends," sa