elieved, supernatural and magical powers. The raven on the banner
could foresee the result of any battle into which it was borne. It
remained lifeless and at rest whenever the result was to be adverse;
and, on the other hand, it fluttered its wings with a mysterious and
magical vitality when they who bore it were destined to victory. The
Danes consequently looked up to this banner with a feeling of profound
veneration and awe, and the Saxons feared and dreaded its mysterious
power. The explanation of this pretended miracle is easy. The
imagination of superstitious men, in such a state of society as that
of these half-savage Danes, is capable of much greater triumphs over
the reason and the senses than is implied in making them believe that
the wings of a bird are either in motion or at rest, whichever
it fancies, when the banner on which the image is embroidered is
advancing to the field and fluttering in the breeze.

The Castle of Kenwith was situated on a rocky promontory, and was
defended by a Saxon wall. Hubba saw that it would be difficult to
carry it by a direct assault. On the other hand, it was not well
supplied with water or provisions, and the numerous multitude which
had crowded into it, would, as Hubba thought, be speedily compelled
to surrender by thirst and famine, if he were simply to wait a short
time, till their scanty stock of food was consumed. Perhaps the raven
did not flutter her wings when Hubba approached the castle, but by her
apparent lifelessness portended calamity if an attack were to be made.
At all events, Hubba decided not to attack the castle, but to invest
it closely on all sides, with his army on the land and with his
vessels on the side of the sea, and thus reduce it by famine. He
accordingly stationed his troops and his galleys at their posts and
established himself in his tent, quietly to await the result.

He did not have to wait so long as he anticipated. Odun, finding that
his danger was so imminent, nay, that his destruction was inevitable
if he remained in his castle, thus shut in, determined, in the
desperation to which the emergency reduced him, to make a sally.
Accordingly, one night, as soon as it was dark, so that the
indications of any movement within the castle might not be perceived
by the sentinels and watchmen in Hubba's lines, he began to marshal
and organize his army for a sudden and furious onset upon the camp of
the Danes.

They waited, when all was ready, till t