did but rise and fall upon each band of Northmen as they arrived they
would get no footing among us."

"Yes," the father replied, "it is the unhappy divisions between the
Saxon kingdoms which have enabled the Danes to get so firm a footing in
the land. Our only hope now lies in the West Saxons. Until lately they
were at feud with Mercia; but the royal families are now related by
marriage, seeing that the King of Mercia is wedded to a West Saxon
princess, and that Alfred, the West Saxon king's brother and heir to
the throne, has lately espoused one of the royal blood of Mercia. The
fact that they marched at the call of the King of Mercia and drove the
Danes from Nottingham shows that the West Saxon princes are alive to
the common danger of the country, and if they are but joined heartily
by our people of East Anglia and the Mercians, they may yet succeed in
checking the progress of these heathen. And now, Edmund, as we see no
hope of any general effort to drive the Danes off our coasts, 'tis
useless for us to lurk here longer. I propose to-morrow, then, to
journey north into Lincolnshire, to the Abbey of Croyland, where, as
you know, my brother Theodore is the abbot; there we can rest in peace
for a time, and watch the progress of events. If we hear that the
people of these parts are aroused from their lethargy, we will come
back and fight for our home and lands; if not, I will no longer stay in
East Anglia, which I see is destined to fall piecemeal into the hands
of the Danes; but we will journey down to Somerset, and I will pray
King Ethelbert to assign me lands there, and to take me as his thane."

While they had been thus talking Egbert had been broiling the eels and
wild ducks over the fire. He was a freeman, and a distant relation of
Edmund's father, Eldred, who was an ealdorman in West Norfolk, his
lands lying beyond Thetford, and upon whom, therefore, the first brunt
of the Danish invasion from Mercia had fallen. He had made a stout
resistance, and assembling his people had given battle to the invaders.
These, however, were too strong and numerous, and his force having been
scattered and dispersed, he had sought refuge with Egbert and his son
in the fen country. Here he had remained for two months in hopes that
some general effort would be made to drive back the Danes; but being
now convinced that at present the Angles were too disunited to join in
a common effort, he determined to retire for a while from the sc