once. Edmund and
Egbert with their serfs journeyed to the spot they had chosen, and were
met there by the shipwright, who brought with him twenty craftsmen from
Exeter. The wood was brought up the river, and while the craftsmen
began to cut it up into fitting sizes, the serfs applied themselves to
dig the deep dock in which the vessel was to be built.

CHAPTER V: A DISCIPLINED BAND

The construction of the ship went on steadily. King Alfred, who was
himself building several war vessels of ordinary size, took great
interest in Edmund's craft and paid several visits to it while it was
in progress.

"It will be a fine ship," he said one day as the vessel was approaching
completion, "and much larger than any in these seas. It reminds me,
Edmund, not indeed in size or shape, but in its purpose, of the ark
which Noah built before the deluge which covered the whole earth. He
built it, as you know, to escape with his family from destruction. You,
too, are building against the time when the deluge of Danish invasion
will sweep over this land, and I trust that your success will equal
that of the patriarch."

"I shall be better off than Noah was," Edmund said, "for he had nothing
to do, save to shut up his windows and wait till the floods abated,
while I shall go out and seek my enemies on the sea."

The respite purchased by the king from the Danes was but a short one.
In the autumn of 875 their bands were again swarming around the borders
of Wessex, and constant irruptions took place. Edmund received a
summons to gather his tenants, but he found that these no longer
replied willingly to the call. Several of his chief men met him and
represented to him the general feeling which prevailed.

"The men say," their spokesman explained, "that it is useless to fight
against the Danes. In 872 there were ten pitched battles, and vast
numbers of the Danes were slain, and vast numbers also of Saxons. The
Danes are already far more numerous than before, for fresh hordes
continue to arrive on the shores, and more than fill up the places of
those who are killed; but the places of the Saxons are empty, and our
fighting force is far smaller than it was last year. If we again go out
and again fight many battles, even if we are victorious, which we can
hardly hope to be, the same thing will happen. Many thousands will be
slain, and the following year we shall in vain try to put an army in
the field which can match that of the Danes,