Well, perhaps not idle, my daughter," said the monk, shaking his head,
"because they do work hard to learn what Jarl Cerda teaches them."

"Yes," said King Ethelwulf, "they are apt to learn how to fight; but you
must make them learned, as kings should be, so as to rule wisely and
well when the Danes have killed me and they are called upon to reign."

"The Danes never shall kill you, sir," cried the little monk fiercely,
"so long as I can stand in their way."

The little group now separated, for the King and Queen had many duties
to perform in connection with state affairs, and the little monk had to
prepare the lessons for the boys.

And that's how matters were on that bright sunny day when King
Ethelwulf's sons lay out on the steep hill-side--Bald, Bert, Red, and
Fred--four as crisp and tongue-tripping names as four bright Saxon
English boys could own, but each with the addition of Athel or Ethel
before, except the youngest, in whose name it shortened into Al; and
these were their titles, because each was a Prince.

CHAPTER TWO.

"BOYS WILL BE BOYS."

One of the boys' amusements had been for one to shoot an arrow as high
up as he could, and for his brothers to follow and try and hit the first
one sent. Fine practice this in marksmanship, but unsatisfactory and
tiring after a few tries, for the arrows flew far, and this time they
had brought no young serfs' sons to retrieve the arrows, one of which
took a long time to find.

But it was found at last, just as the head of a man appeared above the
distant ridge; and the boys stopped to look, the head being followed by
the shoulders and breast of the man, while behind him there was a fringe
of something bright and shimmering in the sunshine.

The next minute the boys began to run, for they saw that the object
first seen was a mounted man, and what followed the heads of spears
borne by a party of quite a hundred men, whose leader had been seen
first owing to his being mounted upon an active little horse.

"Where's Cerda going?" shouted one of the boys.

"There's a fight somewhere," said another.

And the other two joined in, crying together:

"Let's go and see."

So, in a state of wild excitement and wonder that they had not heard the
news of danger before, the boys raced to head off the body of armed men,
the first up being greeted by the big bluff leader with a cheery shout.

"What now? What now?" he cried. "Have you boys come to tell us that we
ar