rm day, there was no reason to fear danger, and the men
lounged about without their arms. In this unwary state they found
themselves suddenly face to face with a large army, led by the English
King Harold, who had marched north in furious haste. Tostig, finding that
they had been taken by surprise, advised a retreat to the ships, but
Harold was not the man to turn his back to his foe, and decided to stand
and fight, ordering the men to arm and prepare for battle. While they
were gathering in ranks for the fray, a party of English horsemen rode up
and asked if Earl Tostig was there.

"You see him before you," said Tostig.

"Your brother Harold sends you greeting and offers you peace and the rule
of Northumberland. If he cannot gain your friendship for less, he will
grant you one-third his kingdom."

"Last year he had only scorn and disdain to offer me," replied Tostig.
"But if I should accept his proposal, what has he to offer my ally, the
king of Norway?"

"He will grant him seven feet of English soil; or more if his length of
body needs it."

"If that is your best offer," said Tostig, "ride back and bid Harold to
begin the battle."

Harold of Norway had heard this brief colloquy, and as the English
horsemen rode away asked Tostig who was the speaker.

"That was my brother, Harold himself," answered Tostig.

"I learn that too late," said Harold grimly.

The battle that followed was hotly contested. It began with a charge of
the English cavalry, which was repulsed, and was followed up fiercely by
the Norsemen, who fancied the flight of the English to mean a general
rout. In this way they broke their ranks, which the king wished to
preserve until reinforcements could reach him from the ships. Forward
rushed the impatient Norsemen, King Harold throwing himself into their
midst and fighting with savage fury. His men seconded him, the English
ranks wavered and broke before the fierce onset, and victory seemed
within the grasp of the invaders, when an arrow pierced King Harold's
throat and he fell in a dying state from his horse.

His fall checked the onset, and the English king, hearing of his death,
offered his brother an armistice. Tostig refused this and led his men
back to the fray, which was resumed with all its old fury. But Tostig,
too, was slain, and the king's brother-in-law, who arrived with
reinforcements from the ships, met with the same fate. By this time the
battlefield was covered with the bodies o