The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dragon and the Raven, by G. A. Henty

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Title: The Dragon and the Raven
or, The Days of King Alfred

Author: G. A. Henty

Posting Date: April 29, 2009 [EBook #3674]
Release Date: January, 2003
First Posted: July 12, 2001
Last Updated: April 18, 2002

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DRAGON AND THE RAVEN ***

Produced by Ronald J. Goodden. HTML version by Al Haines

THE DRAGON AND THE RAVEN:

Or The Days of King Alfred

By

G. A. Henty

C O N T E N T S

PREFACE
I. THE FUGITIVES
II. THE BATTLE OF KESTEVEN
III. THE MASSACRE AT CROYLAND
IV. THE INVASION OF WESSEX
V. A DISCIPLINED BAND
VI. THE SAXON FORT
VII. THE DRAGON
VIII. THE CRUISE OF THE DRAGON
IX. A PRISONER
X. THE COMBAT
XI. THE ISLE OF ATHELNEY
XII. FOUR YEARS OF PEACE
XIII. THE SIEGE OF PARIS
XIV. THE REPULSE OF THE NORSEMEN
XV. FRIENDS IN TROUBLE
XVI. FREDA
XVII. A LONG CHASE
XVIII. FREDA DISCOVERED
XIX. UNITED

PREFACE

MY DEAR LADS,

Living in the present days of peace and tranquillity it is difficult to
picture the life of our ancestors in the days of King Alfred, when the
whole country was for years overrun by hordes of pagan barbarians, who
slaughtered, plundered, and destroyed at will. You may gain, perhaps, a
fair conception of the state of things if you imagine that at the time
of the great mutiny the English population of India approached that of
the natives, and that the mutiny was everywhere triumphant. The
wholesale massacres and outrages which would in such a case have been
inflicted upon the conquered whites could be no worse than those
suffered by the Saxons at the hands of the Danes. From this terrible
state of subjection and suffering the Saxons were rescued by the
prudence, the patience, the valour and wisdom of King Alfred. In all
subsequent ages England has produced no single man who united in
himself so many great qualities as did this first of great Englishmen.
He was learned, wise, brave, prudent, and pious; devoted to his people,
clement to his c