e go along we cut the
mooring-ropes of all the vessels. We must do it quietly so as not to
excite any alarm, and they will know nothing of it until they find
themselves drifting down the river in a mass. Then there will be great
jostling and carrying away of bowsprits and bulwarks, and the confusion
and shouting which will arise will tend to confuse the Danes and to
distract their attention from us."

Egbert agreed to the proposal, and as soon as they reached the first
ships the Saxons began their work, sawing with their knives and daggers
through the ropes. The vessels lay four or five deep and there were
many cables to cut, but the keen knives of the Saxons made short work
of these. Before beginning their work they had spread along the bank,
leaving only two men abreast of each ship, so that in the course of two
or three minutes the cables for the length of forty ships were severed,
and these and their consorts beyond them began to drift out into the
stream.

The Saxons ran quickly on ahead and repeated the work until the whole
of the vessels below those forming the platform for the towers were
adrift in the stream; but by this time those in the ships at the lower
end of the tiers had taken the alarm, and shouts of wonder and anger
rose on the air. The nine Saxons told off for the purpose leaped into
three small boats and rowed out into the stream, while the rest of the
band, divided into three parties, dashed across the planks on to the
platforms. The Danes here had already been alarmed by the uproar from
the vessels adrift, and although unable to see what was passing judged
that something was wrong, and had called to their comrades sleeping in
the holds to come up.

Some of these bearing torches came up on deck just as the Saxons,
pouring across the planks which connected the ships with the shore,
fell upon them. Taken utterly by surprise, the Danes could offer no
effective resistance. The Saxons, charging with levelled spears, drove
those above headlong into the water; then, having made themselves
masters of the platforms, they dashed below and despatched the Danes
they found there. The torches were now applied to the contents of the
holds. These were for the most part crammed with the booty which the
Norsemen had gained at Havre, Rouen, and other places, and the flames
speedily shot up. By this time the Danes in the camp, alarmed by the
shouting from the drifting ships and the sounds of conflict from the
tower