ers and the like was round him; for he was
arrow making--an art in which he was skilful, and he had all the
care and patience which it needs. When we came in he rose up,
shaking the litter from his dress into the fire; and we bent our
knees to him and kissed his hand.

"O my king," said Heregar, "why have you thus hidden yourself
from us? All the land is mourning for you."

Then Alfred looked sadly at him and wistfully, answering:

"First, because I must hide; lastly, because I would be hidden: but
between these two reasons is one of which I repent--because I
despaired."

"Nay," said Denewulf, "it was not despair; it was grief and
anxiousness and thought and waiting for hope. Never have you spoken
of despair, my king."

"But I have felt it," he answered, "and I was wrong. Hope should
not leave a man while he has life, and friends like these, and
counsellors like yourself. Now have I been rebuked, and hope is
given me afresh."

Then he smiled and turned to me.

"Why, Ranald my cousin, this is kindness indeed. I had not thought
that you would bide with a lost cause, nor should I have thought of
blame for you had you gone from this poor England; you are not
bound to her as are her sons."

"My king," I said truly, "there are things that bind more closely
even than birth."

I think he was pleased, for he smiled, and shook his head at me as
though to say that he could not take my saying to himself, as I
meant it. And then, before we could ask him more, he began to think
of our needs.

"Here we have been pressed for food, friends, for the last few
days, and I fear you must fast with us. The deer have fled from our
daily hunting, and the wild fowl have sought open water. Unless our
fishers have luck, which seems unlikely, we must do as well as we
can on oaten bread."

Then Ethelnoth said:

"There have been no fish caught today, my king."

"Why, then, we will wait till the others return; and meanwhile I
will hear all the news, for Ranald and Heregar will have much to
tell me."

So we told him all that we knew, and he asked many questions, until
darkness fell.

"Why are you here, lord king?" asked Heregar; "my hall is safe."

"Your hall and countryside are safe yet because I am not there,"
Alfred answered, fixing his bright eyes on the thane. "The Danes
are hunting for me, and were I in any known place, thither would
they come. Therefore I said that now I choose to bide hidden.
Moreover, in this quiet and