nd most
clear-headed of the nobles of East Anglia, and it seemed to him that
this strange and novel doctrine contained much truth in it. Still the
idea was as strange to him as it would have been to the son of a
southern planter in America half a century ago. The existence of slaves
seemed as much a matter of course as that of horses or dogs, and
although he had been accustomed to see from time to time freedom
bestowed upon some favourite serf as a special reward for services, the
thought of a general liberation of the slaves was strange and almost
bewildering, and he lay awake puzzling over the problem long after his
father and kinsman had fallen asleep.

CHAPTER II: THE BATTLE OF KESTEVEN

The following morning early the little party started. The great chest
was dug up from its place of concealment, and they resumed their
ordinary dresses. The ealdorman attired himself in a white tunic with a
broad purple band round the lower edge, with a short cloak of green
cloth. This was fastened with a gold brooch at the neck; a necklet of
the same metal and several gold bracelets completed his costume, except
that he wore a flat cap and sandals. Edmund had a green tunic and cloak
of deep red colour; while Egbert was dressed in yellow with a green
cloak--the Saxons being extremely fond of bright colours.

All wore daggers, whose sheaths were incrusted in silver, in their
belts, and the ealdorman and his kinsman carried short broad-bladed
swords, while Edmund had his boar-spear. Eldred placed in the pouch
which hung at his side a bag containing a number of silver cubes cut
from a long bar and roughly stamped. The chest was then buried again in
its place of concealment among the bushes near the hut, Edmund placed
his bows and arrows in the boat--not that in which Edmund had fished,
but the much larger and heavier craft which Eldred and Egbert had
used--and then the party, with the hound, took their places in it. The
ealdorman and Egbert were provided with long poles, and with these they
sent the little boat rapidly through the water.

After poling their way for some eight hours they reached the town of
Norwich, to which the Danes had not yet penetrated; here, procuring
what articles they needed, they proceeded on their journey to Croyland,
making a great circuit to avoid the Danes at Thetford. The country was
for the most part covered with thick forests, where the wild boar and
deer roamed undisturbed by man, and where