Part 24 (2/2)

”Nothing of the kind; he really seemed to believe in it; at all events, I have promised you shall return with me.”

”Did they really seem to wish to see me?”

”They did really, especially your brother Alfred.”

Elfric started as if an arrow had struck him.

”Alfred. Alfred!” he said.

”Yes, why not Alfred?”

”And you saw him alive and well?”

”To be sure, why not? Did you think he was dead.”

Elfric became confused, and muttered some incoherent answer, but he rejoiced in his very heart; he felt as if a mountain were removed from him, and a sweet longing for home, such as he had not felt since a certain Good Friday, sprang up in his mind, so strongly that he would have gone then and there, had circ.u.mstances permitted.

Alas, poor boy! his wish was not thus easily to be gratified: he had sinned very deeply--his penance had yet to be accomplished; well has the poet written:

”_Facilis descensus Averno . . . . Sed retrograre gradum, superasque evadere ad auras, Hoc opus--hic labor est._” [xxvii]

The midday halt concluded, the troops resumed their march for Alcester, where they hoped to arrive about nightfall, and to surprise Edgar and his few followers. All that afternoon they proceeded through a dense woodland country; and the evening was setting in upon them, when suddenly the scouts in front came galloping back, and gave the startling information that entrenchments were thrown up across their path, and that a large force was evidently entrenched behind.

At first Edwy could scarcely believe the report; but Cynewulf, the experienced commander upon whom, as we have said, the real command of the force devolved, rode forward, and soon returned, having previously ordered a general halt, and that entrenchments should be thrown up for their own protection during the night.

”Ealdorman,” said Edwy, impatiently, ”why throw up entrenchments? can we not carry theirs by storm? we are all ready, are we not, for a valiant charge?”

”Nay, my lord, we are but ill prepared,” was the reply, ”for such desperate measures. I am not certain they do not outnumber us; even so, we probably excel them in discipline and skill, and have every chance of victory tomorrow, which we should lose by fighting in the dark.”

So Edwy, who did not lack personal courage, and would gladly have ended the short raid then and there, was forced to be governed by wiser heads, and accordingly the bivouacs were made, the fires lighted, and the royal tent pitched upon the slope of a gentle valley, which descended to a brook in the bottom, where the ground rose similarly on the other side, and was crowned by the hostile entrenchment, behind which rose the smoke of the enemy's fires. The heads of numerous soldiers, seen over the mound, showed how well they were prepared.

The entrenchment was dug, the mound thrown up, the sentinels posted, and all in so short a s.p.a.ce of time that to the uninitiated in the art of war, it would have seemed little short of miraculous; but the discipline of the Danes, who owed their success generally to the skill with which they fortified their camps, had been partially inherited by their adversaries, and the hus-carles were not even all English: there were many Danes amongst them.

The suppers were soon cooked and eaten, the wine circulated freely, and patriotic songs began to be heard: but there was one who seemed to have no heart for them--Elfric. At the huge fire, which blazed near the royal tent, Edwy sat as master of the feast, and he was in a state of boisterous merriment. But all Elfric's efforts could not hide the depression of his spirits, and Edwy, who loved him sincerely--for the reader has seen that he was quite capable of love--tried to rouse him from it, anxious that no one should suspect the courage of his favourite.

Once or twice Elfric seemed to make great efforts to overcome this feeling of depression, and partially succeeded in veiling it from all but the observant young king.

At last the feast was over.

”My friends,” said the king, ”we must be stirring early in the morning, so we will now disperse for the night.”

They drank a parting cup, then separated, while the king took Elfric's arm and led him aside.

”Elfric,” said he, ”did I not know my friend and most faithful follower, I should suspect that he feared the morrow's conflict.”

”I cannot help it,” said Elfric; ”perhaps I do fear it, yet, had I but my father's forgiveness, could I but see him once more, I could laugh at the danger. It is not pain or death I fear, but I long to be where you have been, I would I had gone with you now.”

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