leave the town and get back to Guthrum as he can."

"He can have the Danish horses," I said.

Now before sunset we had seen the Danish force, and our hearts
sank. There were full ten thousand men, many of whom were mounted.

Then we rode back, and found the town in such tumult as it is not
good to think on. There is nothing more terrible to see than such a
flight, and in midwinter.

When we came to my lodging, Heregar went in to find Osmund. I would
not see him again, lest Thora should weep. But in a few minutes he
came out with the jarl.

"Here is a wise man," said Heregar. "He says that he swore to keep
the peace with Alfred, and he will do it. He and the Lady Thora
will go with us. There are one or two also of the other hostages
who blame him for returning. He cannot stay among the Danes here."

Then I was very glad, and we made haste to have all ready for
Thora's comfort on the ride that might be so long. And so we rode
out after the king along the road to Glastonbury, and I think that
the Danes were in the town half an hour after we left it.

Next we knew that Danes were on the road before us, and that more
were hard after us. Some had skirted the town in order to cut off
the king, and were pursuing him. So we struck off the road into
by-lanes that Heregar knew, resting at lonely houses as we went on.
And when we came to Glastonbury at last, the king was not there,
nor did any know of his fate.

Then we rode, with the Danes swarming everywhere, through the
Sedgemoor wastes to Bridgwater, and found rest at Cannington,
Heregar's great house not far off.

Chapter IX. The Sign of St. Cuthberht.

I suppose that in our flight from Glastonbury to Bridgwater we
passed through more dangers than we knew of; for Danes were hard
after us, riding even into sight from the town that evening, and
next day coming even to the eastern end of the old bridge, and
bandying words with the townsfolk who guarded it. Across it they
dared not come, for there is a strong earthwork on the little rise
from the river, which guards both bridge and town, and in it were
my Norsemen with the townsfolk.

So we were in safety for a time; and it seemed likely that we might
be so for long if but a few men could be gathered, for here was a
stretch of country that was, as it were, a natural fastness. Three
hundred years ago the defeated Welsh had turned to bay here while
Kenwalch of Wessex and his men could not follow them; and now it