hey were going very carelessly.

"If we get it," I whispered to the thane, whose eyes were shining,
"ride hard up the hill to our folk who are there."

He nodded and then before us fluttered the folds of his treasure.
Instantly he spurred his great white horse, and leaped straight at
it into the lane, and after him on either side came Kolgrim and I.

A great howl rose from the startled Danes, and I saw Heregar wheel
his horse and tear the banner from the man who held it, cutting
down another warrior who tried to catch his bridle. Then Helmbiter
was hard at work for a moment, and Kolgrim's axe rattled on a helm
or two; and we were away up the lane before the shouting and
confusion were over, none of the Danes knowing but that more of us
would follow from out the cover.

One or two arrows, shot by men who found their wits sooner than the
rest, pattered after us, and we gained the hilltop and the great
cheer that went up from our few men who were there made the Danes
halt and waver, and at last turn back to the open again.

We stayed on that hilltop for an hour. Then the Danes were coming
up in force, and there was no hope in staying, so we got back to
the fort before they could cut us off.

Soon after this there was a general movement on the part of our
foes, and before evening we were surrounded on all sides by strong
posts, and it was plain that we were not to move from the fort.

Now this is not very large, but it is very strong--the hill which
has been fortified being some two hundred feet high, and steep
sided as a house roof on all sides but the east, where the entrance
must needs be. But this again has outworks; and the road into the
ramparts from the long slope of Cannington hill to the southward
runs slantwise through them, so that the gap it makes in the first
line is covered by the second. And both upper and lower rampart go
right round the circle of the hilltop, and are very strong, having
been made by the British folk, who well understood such matters,
and had such fighters as the old Romans and our own forefathers to
deal with. Some parts of the works were of piled stones, and the
rest of earth, as the ground required.

There is but one way in which that fort could be taken by force, as
I think, and that is by attacking on all sides at once, which needs
a greater force than would ever be likely to come against it.
Moreover, on one side the marshy course of the Combwich stream
would hinder any heavy