ration, that he could never adopt such a plan. He could not be
so derelict to his duty as to lay waste a country which he was under
obligations to protect and save, or compel his people to come to his aid
by exposing them, designedly, to the excesses and cruelties of so
ferocious an enemy.

Harold determined, therefore, on giving William battle. It was not
necessary, however, for him to attack the invader. He perceived at once
that if he should take a strong position and fortify himself in it,
William must necessarily attack _him_, since a foreign army, just landed
in the country, could not long remain inactive on the shore. Harold
accordingly chose a position six or seven miles from William's camp,
and fortified himself strongly there. Of course neither army was in
sight of the other, or knew the numbers, disposition, or plans of the
enemy. The country between them was, so far as the inhabitants were
concerned, a scene of consternation and terror. No one knew at what
point the two vast clouds of danger and destruction which were hovering
near them would meet, or over what regions the terrible storm which was
to burst forth when the hour of that meeting should come, would sweep in
its destructive fury. The inhabitants, therefore, were every where
flying in dismay, conveying away the aged and the helpless by any means
which came most readily to hand; taking with them, too, such treasures
as they could carry, and hiding, in rude and uncertain places of
concealment, those which they were compelled to leave behind. The
region, thus, which lay between the two encampments was rapidly becoming
a solitude and a desolation, across which no communication was made, and
no tidings passed to give the armies at the encampments intelligence of
each other.

Harold had two brothers among the officers of his army, Gurth and
Leofwin. Their conduct toward the king seems to have been of a more
fraternal character than that of Tostig, who had acted the part of a
rebel and an enemy. Gurth and Leofwin, on the contrary, adhered to his
cause, and, as the hour of danger and the great crisis which was to
decide their fate drew nigh, they kept close to his side, and evinced a
truly fraternal solicitude for his safety. It was they, specially, who
had recommended to Harold to fall back on London, and not risk his life,
and the fate of his kingdom, on the uncertain event of a battle.

As soon as Harold had completed his encampment, he expressed a de