laying aside all these, St. Edmund stepped forward,
and standing before the altar declared solemnly that by the grace of God
he would fulfil all the duties of a good King. The Bishop placed the
crown upon his head, saying, "Live the King for ever," and the people
all cried, "Amen, amen, amen."

After that there was a solemn service of praise and thanksgiving to God,
and the new King received Holy Communion. You can imagine how happy it
made the holy young King that this should be the very first act of his
reign, and what confidence it gave him that Christ would stay with him
through all the difficult years to come.

_War._

For a long time there was peace in St. Edmund's kingdom, though the
people in other parts of the country were suffering terribly from their
enemies, the Danes, who came over in wild hordes from the North in their
low, black-sailed boats, and, landing on the coast, went through the
country burning and plundering and killing.

St. Edmund knew they would sooner or later invade his kingdom too. So he
set to work to prepare for them. His chief way of doing this was to win
the loyalty of all his subjects, so that if there was war he knew they
would all rally round him. He made wise laws, and he was so fair to all,
and so ready to listen to the poor and oppressed and help them, that
soon everyone in the kingdom loved the young King and would do anything
for him. They could see that God was with him, and they could not help
feeling that in serving the humblest of his subjects he felt that it was
Christ Himself that he served.

St. Edmund had, of course, prepared his army and had thrown up defences
to try and keep the enemy out as long as possible. You can still see one
of his great earthworks running from Newmarket to the Fen country. For
hundreds of years it was called "Edmund's Dyke." He placed scouts and
outposts all round his borders, and prepared in every way he could.

At last the day came when the country people came running into the towns
in terror. They had seen along the borders huge, fierce men, with
flashing eyes and long red hair and beards. Their leather tunics were
stained dark with blood. Huge round shields were slung across their
backs; they were armed with spears, bows, clubs, and knives, and they
shouted to one another in a strange language.

St. Edmund's scouts came running in to say that the Danes were
collecting in great crowds on the frontiers.

Soon they began creeping in a