as I looked at the stout
fair-haired thane it seemed to me that things must have been bad if
he had had to fly.

It would seem that his place was some ten miles from Pevensea,
lying at the head of a forest valley, down which was a string of
the old hammer ponds that the Romans made when they worked the
iron. And the village, or town as he called it, was in the next
valley, at the head of the little river Ashbourne, whose waters
joined the river which makes the haven of Pevensea. The town was
very old, and had a few earthworks round it, though the place
whereon it stood was strong by nature. The iron workers in the old
Roman days had first built there, and they knew how to choose their
ground. Thence, too, the Romans would float their boatloads of iron
down to the port of Anderida, as they called Pevensea; and there
were yet old stone buildings that had been raised by them.

So if these outlaws chose to hold the place, it was likely that we
should have some fighting, though this would not be quite after the
manner of forest dwellers, unless it were true that Danes were
among them.

"Whether there is any fight in them or not," said Wulfnoth, "I will
have the place surrounded, and let not one get away."

"That is early morning work," Olaf answered. "How many of my men
will you have?"

"It depends on what manner of men they are," said the earl. "All I
know of them yet is that they are good trenchermen."

That pleased not Olaf altogether, for there seemed to be a little
slight in the words--as though he had come to the earl to be fed
only. And he made a sign to me that I knew well; and I thought to
myself that Wulfnoth of Sussex was likely to wish that he had seen
our warriors in their war gear before.

Olaf paid no heed to me as I went quickly down to the ships. The
men were lying about and watching the sky, for it was changing. But
at one word from me there was no more listlessness; and Rani called
them to quarters. I would that in the English levies there was the
order and quickness that was in Olaf's ships. Yet these men had
been with him for years, and were not like our hastily-gathered
villagers.

So in ten minutes or less they were armed and ready for aught; and
Rani and I led them up to the castle, leaving the ship guard set,
as if we were making a landing in earnest on an enemy's shore.
Eight hundred strong we were, and foremost marched the men of
Olaf's ship, each one of whom wore ring mail of the best