m the water, "but I own that I did not reckon upon being so late;
but in truth Egbert and I missed our way in the windings of these
swamps, and should not have been back to-night had we not luckily
fallen upon a man fishing, who was able to put us right. You have got
some supper, I hope, for Egbert and I are as hungry as wolves, for we
have had nothing since we started before sunrise."

"I have plenty to eat, father; but you will have to wait till it is
cooked, for it was no use putting it over the fire until I knew that
you would return; but there is a good fire, and you will not have to
wait long. And how has it fared with you, and what is the news?"

"The news is bad, Edmund. The Danes are ever receiving reinforcements
from Mercia, and scarce a day passes but fresh bands arrive at
Thetford, and I fear that ere long East Anglia, like Northumbria, will
fall into their clutches. Nay, unless we soon make head against them
they will come to occupy all the island, just as did our forefathers."

"That were shame indeed," Edmund exclaimed. "We know that the people
conquered by our ancestors were unwarlike and cowardly; but it would be
shame indeed were we Saxons so to be overcome by the Danes, seeing
moreover that we have the help of God, being Christians, while the
Danes are pagans and idolaters."

"Nevertheless, my son, for the last five years these heathen have been
masters of Northumbria, have wasted the whole country, and have
plundered and destroyed the churches and monasteries. At present they
have but made a beginning here in East Anglia; but if they continue to
flock in they will soon overrun the whole country, instead of having,
as at present, a mere foothold near the rivers except for those who
have come down to Thetford. We have been among the first sufferers,
seeing that our lands lie round Thetford, and hitherto I have hoped
that there would be a general rising against these invaders; but the
king is indolent and unwarlike, and I see that he will not arouse
himself and call his ealdormen and thanes together for a united effort
until it is too late. Already from the north the Danes are flocking
down into Mercia, and although the advent of the West Saxons to the aid
of the King of Mercia forced them to retreat for a while, I doubt not
that they will soon pour down again."

"'Tis a pity, father, that the Saxons are not all under one leading;
then we might surely defend England against the Danes. If the people