e, for we have been close comrades."

"You must have heard thereof today, my king," I answered; "and you
were but beforehand with me. I could speak of such things now that
peace has come. Yet I feared that you would be against my wedding a
Danish lady."

"It was a natural thought," answered Alfred; "but Thora and Osmund
are ours, surely. Perhaps I should have doubted were your mind set
on any other. But I have no fears for you."

Then he pondered a little, and went on:

"You say that peace has come. So it has--for a time; and had we to
do only with the force that is in England now, I think it would
grow and strengthen. We cannot drive out the Danes, and there is
room in England for both them and us, and in the days to come the
difference of race will be forgotten--not in our time, Ranald, but
hereafter, as long years go by. Some day one of my line, if God
will, shall reign alone over a united England, stronger for the new
blood that has come among us. But it is a great charge that I give
to you, Ranald. What we have to fear are the new hosts that come
from Denmark, and only a strong fleet can stay them from our
shores. I can deal with those who are here, and these in time will
help me against fresh comers to the land. There is that in English
soil that makes every settler an Englishman in heart. But there is
warfare before us yet, and the fleet must break the force of the
storm, if it cannot altogether turn it aside."

Then his grave voice changed, and he laughed.

"Heavy things are these to speak in the ears of a bridegroom, but
you know all I mean. Now go your ways, and seek Odda, who will
rejoice to see you; for word comes from him that his master, Thord
the viking, is saying hard things to him because the men do not
come in readily to man the ships. At the summer's end I shall be in
Winchester, and thence I will come to Wareham to see the fleet, and
your wedding also. Go now, and all good go with you."

So Alfred the king set me forth in brotherly wise, speaking on the
morrow to my men to bid them serve him and England well under me.
And after that all came to pass as the king had planned, and at the
summer's end there was a bright wedding for us in Wareham town,
while in the wide haven rode at anchor the best fleet that England
had ever seen.

So that is how I came to be called "King Alfred's Viking," and made
this land my home. What this Wessex fleet of mine has done since
those days has been written by