will be here; before he arrives we shall be halfway to
Wessex. Let every one secure his baggage and his plunder, and let the
horses be all got ready for a forced march. We have eaten the last feast
that shall ever be eaten in these halls."

A few moments of bustle and confusion followed, and before half-an-hour
had expired all was ready, and the men-at-arms from without announced
that every horse--their own and those of the thane, to carry their
booty, the plunder of the castle--awaited them without.

"Then," said he, "listen, my men, to the final orders. _Fire the castle,
every portion of it; fire the stables, the barns, the outbuildings._ We
will leave a pile of blackened embers for Edgar when he comes; the halls
where the princely Edwy has feasted shall never be his, or entertain him
as a guest."

A loud shout signified the alacrity with which his followers bent
themselves to the task; torches flashed in all directions, and in a few
moments the flames began to do their destroying work.

An officer addressed Ragnar--"There are three thralls locked up in an
outbuilding, shall we leave them to burn?"

"Nay; why should we grudge them their miserable lives; they have done us
no harm."

At that moment a loud cry of dire alarm was heard, the trampling of an
immense body of horse followed--a rush into the hall already filled
with smoke--loud outcries and shrieks from without.

"What is the matter?" cried Ragnar.

"The Mercians are upon us! the Mercians are upon us!"

Ragnar rushed to the gateway, and a sight met his startled eyes he was
little prepared to behold.

The clouds had been driven away by a fierce wind, the moon was shining
brightly, and revealed a mighty host surrounding the hall on every side.
Every horse before the gateway was driven away or seized, every man who
had not saved himself by instant retreat had been slain by the advancing
host; without orders the majority of his men had repassed the moat, and
had already raised the drawbridge against the foe, not without the
greatest difficulty.

"Extinguish the fires which you have raised; let each man fight fire--
then we will fight the Mercians."

It was high time to fight fire, rather it was too late.

CHAPTER XXIII. "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY."

When the door was finally closed upon the brothers and their faithful
thrall, Alfred did not give way to despair. The words of Ragnar, "If
there be a God, let Him deliver you," had sunk deep