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 A N D E R I D A.
 
 NEC ILLACRYMABILES. 
 
 Unwept, unsung; 
 Our dust the winds have blown 
 Over the meadow to the sterile shore, 
 But generations from our loins upsprung 
 Till where our hands have sown, 
 And gamer more. 
 
 Unsung, unwept ; 
 Yet of our mingled clay 
 The mould was shaped wherein yourselves are cast ; 
 Succeeding founders still the type have kept ; 
 Time fades, hues varying play, 
 
 The core will last. j 
 
 1
 
 A N DE R I D A: 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE BRITON AND THE SAXON, 
 
 A.D. CCCCXLI. 
 
 IN thre£ volumes. 
 
 VOL. L 
 
 LONDON : 
 BICKERS AND SON, 
 
 I, LEICESTER SQUARE. 
 1875-
 
 ?Z3 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " The night of time far surpasseth the day." 
 
 Urn Burial. 
 
 There are probably few readers of Gibbon's 
 History who have not paused for a moment 
 over a foot-note in the thirty-eighth chapter. 
 The note gives a Latin version of a passage 
 ^ in the EngHsh Chronicles which tells of the 
 fall of Anderida. One manuscript gives the 
 date A.D. 490, the rest have the year 491, 
 S and run thus : — 
 
 j4 *' Haer ^lle 7 Cissa ymbsseton Andredes 
 'vi ceaster. 7 ofslogon ealle tha the thser innc 
 (^ eardedan, ne wearth thser forthon an Bryt 
 J to lafe." 
 
 g, VOL. I. b 
 
 •J5 
 
 o
 
 VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Here ^lle and Cissa besieged Anderida, 
 and slew all that dwelled therein, nor was 
 there (in that place) thenceforth one Briton 
 left. 
 
 The historian points to some of the terrible 
 scenes which this brief, passionless recital, 
 *' dreadful in its simplicity," implies. Perhaps 
 the volume sinks to the reader's knee as he 
 tries to fill up the mental picture with such 
 scanty details as have come to us. 
 
 There is a fortress standino- between the 
 forest and the sea, a Roman camp grown 
 into a city. There is a population, mostly 
 urban, upholding the tradition of Roman 
 civilization against the rural districts which 
 cling to British customs, though the two 
 combine, more or less heartily, against the 
 invader. There is a native church lovina its 
 own ways, turned aside sometimes from them 
 by the energy and learning of missionaries 
 from beyond the sea, but returning to the old 
 paths as soon as the foreign influence is with- 
 drawn. There are allies, led by semi-inde- 
 pendent princes, who yield to the Pendragon
 
 INTRODUCTION. Vii 
 
 as much obedience as he can enforce. There 
 are ships and merchants, a commerce much 
 impeded, but not yet utterly stopped by the 
 hostile fleet. 
 
 On the other side are the invaders, fierce 
 heathen pirates, with whom might is right ; 
 men full of life who assimilate everything 
 that comes in their way. We see a people 
 which has already fashioned for itself language 
 and institutions so vioj-orous and flexible that 
 they exist this day, modified and adapted to 
 the orrowino- wants of the race. Their leader 
 became the first Bretwalda, a title which, 
 whatever amount of authority it conveyed, 
 certainly implied some kind of supremacy 
 over the other states, and was not held by 
 another king till Ceawlin's reign, sixty-nine 
 years later at least. This folk, coming over 
 a few ships at a time, were settling down on 
 lands not their own, slaying or enslaving the 
 rightful owners, gradually advancing in civili- 
 zation till nearly two hundred years later 
 they were taught to become Christians and 
 fishermen by wandering Bishop Wilfrith.
 
 Viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 So far we can go safely ; all beyond is the 
 realm of probability and fancy. If the sketch 
 be carried farther, the most that can be 
 claimed for it is verisimilitude. The epoch 
 lies between two historical periods ; there 
 are no contemporary records relating to the 
 affairs of Britain, and the traditions which 
 survive are hopelessly overlaid with unblush- 
 ing anachronisms. 
 
 It is startling to find how usual landmarks 
 fail us when we try to realize events which 
 happened long ago. For example, Caesar 
 started from Portus Itius to invade Britain, 
 and attempts have been made to show that 
 his point of embarcation was here or there 
 on the present seaboard of France ; but if we 
 are not assured of the outline of the Gallic 
 coast in Caesar's time, our search for his port 
 of departure will probably be vain. Now it 
 is alleged that coins of Postumus (a.d. 257-67) 
 have been found among tiles, bricks, and 
 other Roman relics, at Lille, under a bed of 
 peat three metres in. thickness, above which 
 is recent sea deposit It is evident that
 
 INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 since the middle of the third century, building 
 land has given place to peat moss, and that 
 the peat, after a considerable lapse of time, 
 has become a tidal swamp. 
 
 What an estuary, what a chain of salt- 
 water lakes and marshes does this imply! and 
 what more likely site for Portus Itius than 
 the southern shore of such an estuary, perhaps 
 not far from Gravelines. 
 
 Beda tells us that the Wantsum, which 
 separates Thanet from Kent, was in his time 
 three stadia, more than a third of an English 
 mile, in width ; and that Selsey, that is the 
 Seals' island, during the first half of the 
 eighth century, was a peninsula, joined to the 
 mainland on its western side by a neck 
 about a sling-cast across, much like Portland 
 at present. Who shall say M^iat was the 
 condition of Romney marsh towards the end 
 of the fifth century } While old Winchelsea 
 is under the waves of the channel a mile and 
 a half from the shore, galleys sailed over 
 what is now land, if not dry land. Near an 
 ancient bed of the Rother, miles from the
 
 X INTR on UCTION. 
 
 sea, a ship has been found ten feet below the 
 surface- — not a canoe, but a vessel of sixty 
 tons old measurement, caulked with Danish 
 moss. It has been conjectured that this was 
 one of the ships in which " the mickle host 
 came up Limene mouth," in the year 893, 
 when " they tugged their ships as far as the 
 forest, four miles from the mouth, and brake 
 into an unfinished work manned by a few 
 churlish men." 
 
 As Pevensey, with Anderida beside it, is 
 now a mile from the water, the land must 
 have risen there since the time it was a sea- 
 port. The depression necessary to bring the 
 tide up to the walls of the city, would drown 
 a large acreage of marshland, leaving islands 
 which would show more or less above water 
 accordinof to the state of the tide and the 
 rivers. On one of these islands the Romans 
 built their fortress, and probably had two or 
 more bridges which carried across water and 
 marsh the roads leading to other stations east 
 and west of them. The position was one of 
 great strength, for not only would the sea
 
 INTRODUCTION. xi 
 
 at that date penetrate more deeply into the 
 country,* but the rainfall being increased by 
 the vast forest which covered the land, the 
 rivers, with less fall, would have more water 
 to carry off, and would be wider, slower, and 
 more liable to floods. There must have 
 been on three sides of the city a fenny region 
 much of which would be more or less dry in 
 summer, covered with water in wet seasons, 
 for a great part of the year abysmal mud on 
 which man could not walk 'nor boat swim. 
 A Roman officer in garrison there, while 
 exulting in the impregnability of his post, 
 might perhaps murmur — 
 
 Quos circum limus niger, et deformis arundo 
 Cocyti, tardaque palus inamabilis unda 
 AUigat, et novies Styx interfusa coercet 
 
 Wliom shapeless reed-beds black with slime surround, 
 Unlovely quag and sluggish mere profound. 
 Whom Styx enlaced confines with ninefold bound. 
 
 * We should expect to find the tide now reaching 
 higher up the channels of the streams which traverse 
 the downs, than it did fourteen hundred years ago, as 
 in that time they have cut deeper beds for themselves.
 
 xu INTRODUCTION. 
 
 To the Saxons such places were the 
 chosen home of uncanny beings. There was 
 the gloomy den of the firedrake, and the 
 pool of Grendel. No man whose mind was 
 imbued with tales of Teutonic heroes, would 
 be astonished if in such miry shades he 
 encountered a fire-breathing monster, half 
 bat, half crocodile, with jaws fathom-long. 
 
 There is one peculiarity which strikes us 
 in the name of the river at whose mouth 
 Anderida was situated. It is well known 
 that the early names given to the natural 
 features of a country have extraordinary per- 
 manence. More especially is this the case 
 with rivers which are lines of communication 
 rather than of division. It is difficult to 
 persuade the inhabitants along the whole 
 course of a stream to consent to a change, 
 and they are not likely to be simultaneously 
 extirpated. The principal rivers of the 
 Sussex coast have retained their Celtic names 
 through all vicissitudes. A Welshman to- 
 day has no difficulty in explaining why his 
 fathers, two thousand or more years ago.
 
 INTRODUCTICA^. xiii 
 
 called one Adur, another Rother or Arun. 
 There is, however, one exception, the river 
 which washed the foot of the mound where 
 stood the last fortress of the Saxon shore 
 must have had a British title, but the Saxon 
 name Ashburne replaces it. The conquerors 
 were so savasfe in their wrath that mere 
 slaughter and destruction were not enough, 
 the place must be wiped out — forgotten. This 
 was done so effectually that in recent times 
 we have with difficulty identified Anderida 
 with the fortress shell between Pevensey and 
 Westham, while the ancient name of the 
 river is lost for ever. There must have been 
 some especial reason for this exceptional 
 severity, it does not appear that other places 
 experienced such ferocious treatment. It is 
 probable that the desperate resistance en- 
 countered by the Saxons inflamed their ire, 
 perhaps the two ^thelings, Cymen, and 
 Wlencinof who seem to have died durino; 
 their father's lifetime, fell in the assault on 
 the Roman wall. A rampart twenty-four to 
 thirty feet high, with numerous towers, and
 
 XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ably defended, would prove an awkward 
 morsel for mere bull-headed valour. Such, 
 however, and so placed, was the city attacked 
 by the Saxons and taken. 
 
 The story to which this is to be an in- 
 troduction grew out of an attempt to fill up 
 the bare outlines of the siege. If it is found 
 to be dull, the fault is with the teller,- for the 
 event itself can scarcely fail to be interesting 
 to any descendant of the men who fought on 
 either side. 
 
 It was the time of laying foundations upon 
 which a new Europe was to arise. Clovis 
 was establishing the Prankish power in Gaul, 
 but had not yet bov/ed his head to receive 
 the water of baptism. 
 
 The Visigoths, growing weaker in Gaul, 
 were extending their conquests in Spain. 
 
 Theodoric, the Arian Ostrogoth, has 
 crushed the power of Odoacer in Northern 
 Italy. 
 
 Felix the Third is the Roman Pontiff. 
 
 This year Anastasius becomes Emperor 
 of the East.
 
 INTR OD UCTION. x v 
 
 Four years after the sack of Anderida 
 Wessex began to exist, when Cerdic and 
 Cynric his son came to Britain with five 
 ships. Twenty-four years after their arrival, 
 Cerdic became King- of the West Saxons ; 
 his blood, which the Chronicles refer to 
 Woden, has warmed the heart of every 
 English monarch since, excepting those of 
 the Danish line, Harold the son of Godwine, 
 and William the Conqueror. 
 
 Loarn More, the Great Lorn, who is 
 accepted by the historian, J. H. Burton, as 
 the first King of the Albanian Dalriads, and 
 thence first King of Scotland, is said to have 
 begun his reign in the year 503. 
 
 Ambrosius Aurelianus, whom Dr. Guest 
 believes to have been crowned a.d. 463, and 
 to have been slain in the battle of Natan-leaga, 
 near Southampton water, a.d. 508, was the 
 Pendraeon. 
 
 A man eighty years of age in 491 might 
 remember havinof seen the heretic Pelamus, 
 and listened to the sermons of the Bishops 
 Germanus and Lupus, who came from Gaul
 
 XVI INTR on UCTION. 
 
 to confute his doctrine. He mio^ht have been 
 present at the " Hallelujah victory," attributed 
 by Beda to the prayers of these two holy men, 
 and which he states was gained soon after 
 Easter in the year 429. Such a one, if a 
 traveller, might have hearkened to the words 
 of St. Augustine, who died in the third month 
 of the siege of Hippo by Genseric, a.d, 430. 
 He might have played his part in the great 
 battle of the Catalaunian fields in 451, where 
 Aetius and Theodoric the Visigoth, with his 
 two sons, stayed the westward course of 
 Attila. 
 
 As to the manners and customs of our 
 forefathers at this early period, Kemble and 
 others have much to tell us of Saxon insti- 
 tutions, and we may eke out the knowledge 
 gleaned by the patience and ingenuity of the 
 learned, if we observe the settlements made 
 by the English folk at a later period. Be- 
 neath outward differences of habit and creed 
 similar qualities lurk. The stones come 
 from the same rock, though rolling up and 
 down the beach for fourteen hundred years
 
 INTRODUCTION. xvu 
 
 has rubbed them smooth, making them 
 Hghter, prettier, shppier. Self-reHance, en- 
 durance, fertility of resource, are quahties 
 essential to men who set out to conquer new 
 settlements for themselves. Fiercest reck- 
 lessness is brightened by traits of unconscious 
 heroism, and sometimes by gleams of unex- 
 pected tenderness. 
 
 Guest has' something to say about the 
 condition of Britain at the time of the Saxon 
 conquest, while for the daily life in Anderida, 
 we can only guess how Roman customs 
 would be modified by local usages. There is 
 a fund of beautiful and quaint tradition in the 
 Mabinogion, translated by Lady Charlotte 
 Guest, some portions of which bear a stamp 
 of great antiquity. 
 
 Notwithstanding these and other aids, 
 formidable difficulties remain to be faced ; 
 one, not the least of them, arising from the 
 circumstance that these remote events have 
 to be set forth in the vulgar tongue of the 
 nineteenth century. The choice lies be- 
 tween that and an olla podrida of old British
 
 XViil INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 and decaying Latin — decaying to sprout 
 afresh in the Romance tongues. There is, to 
 be sure, a dialect much favoured by play- 
 wrights and novel-smiths, which perhaps was 
 never spoken at any particular epoch, and 
 therefore translates us presently into the in- 
 definite past. It seems better, however, in 
 dealing with times so remote to use a 
 modern version, to tell the tale in the current 
 language of the day, though a terribly 
 modern air is imparted to the characters 
 thereby. 
 
 Nothing more easily confers an antique 
 flavour than a sprinkling of quaint and 
 obsolete oaths. Saxons have always been 
 painful disciples in that branch of devotion, 
 and we may suppose that strong language 
 was copious during the siege. A contem- 
 porary list of imprecations would be invalu- 
 able, as Gildas in the next century is too 
 diffuse for practical purposes. Not a curse 
 survives, " caret quia vate sacro." 
 
 The greater therefore is the need that 
 attention should not be diverted from the
 
 INTR OD UCTION, X ix 
 
 story by explanatory notes. A few may be 
 inevitable, but it is hoped that this prelimi- 
 nary chapter may obviate the necessity for 
 many such hindrances. 
 
 Introductions ought to be brief. Time 
 shall not be wasted in excusing blots which 
 cannot be erased without making matters 
 worse, nor in hoping that they may escape 
 detection. Faults apparent to the writer are 
 not likely to escape the trained vision of 
 critics. When the mother admits that her 
 darling has a cast in his eye, we may confi- 
 dently reckon on a glaring squint. A brighter 
 fancy, a wider knowledge, a steadier hand are 
 wanted for an adequate representation of 
 scenes like these. Enough if a more com- 
 petent artist, looking at the sketch, should be 
 induced to show with more powerful pencil 
 what really can be done with such subjects 
 as abound in our earliest history. 
 
 The story opens on the Ides of June, 
 Thursday, the thirteenth of that month 
 according to our reckoning, nine days before 
 the new moon, and ends on the forty-ninth 
 day after that date.
 
 XX INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 rXai)^ 'iTTTaTai — an owl flew past — auspicious 
 sign ! — or was it a bat ? Surely it was the 
 bird of wisdom, whose perceptions are -too 
 acute and dehcate to endure vulgar daylight ; 
 who whoops among twilight ruins of years 
 that are gone, a genuine antiquary. It ivas 
 the symbol of Athene. 
 
 In happy hour we close our senses against 
 the hurrying din, forgetting our toils of to- 
 day, our cares for to-morrow. The seer, 
 murmuring a Thessalian chant, casts incense 
 on the brazier. He waves his wand as the 
 fragrant cloud mounts upward. 
 
 Centuries pass as a dreamless sleep. 
 
 Towers and deep woods and broad shining- 
 waters glimmer in the mirror of wonder, 
 while Hermes marshals a shadowy troop, 
 uprising from the banks of Lethe.
 
 AN DERI DA. 
 
 ^ 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 It is a few minutes after midday, the sun 
 shines hotly between white-bosomed clouds, 
 the tide comes rippling over the ooze which 
 will not be completely covered for two hours 
 and more. 
 
 The salt stream laps against oaken bridge- 
 piles, black with age, which have sunk here 
 and there so that the roadway running over 
 them undulates up and down like a many- 
 legged worm. 
 
 The road, cut straight from the hills 
 westward, is carried by the bridge over two 
 furlongs of marshland, mud, and water, to 
 
 VOL, I. B
 
 2 ANDERIDA. 
 
 the wooden quay in front of the great gate of 
 Anderida. 
 
 This gate, strong, stern, and practical as 
 the men who built it, is flanked by two solid 
 chamberless towers — huge buttresses with 
 semi-circular fronts, where the city guard 
 keep watch. 
 
 Numerous boats lie in the mud by the 
 quay, and a few larger vessels from distant 
 ports are moored farther from the bank. 
 Beyond the quay the tide approaches the 
 base of the city wall on this side, the space 
 above high-water mark being filled with 
 bushes, brambles, and all the miscellaneous 
 refuse of the city and the sea. 
 
 On a rail of the bridge sat Howel, in a 
 pensive attitude, with his face seaward, 
 watching the shadows come and go. Since 
 long before noon he had sat in the same spot, 
 meditating an Englyn which he might sing 
 at the next Court festival, wherein he pro- 
 posed discreetly to introduce the name of 
 Bronwen, the Pearl of Anderida. Bronwen 
 was daughter of Vortipore, the Count of the
 
 ANDERIDA. 3 
 
 Saxon Shore, the chief man In the city ; and 
 Howel was grandson of Howel Hen, the 
 Count's favourite bard. 
 
 Dazzled by the intolerable splendour re- 
 flected by smooth water-mirrors beneath the 
 sun, the youth turned his head with a sigh 
 toward the city. He noted the valerian 
 blushinof in the angrle of a tower as the sea- 
 breeze waved its pale green stems, and the 
 stonecrop making golden patches on grey 
 mottled masonry. He marked the inverted 
 images, manifold, many-coloured, which shone 
 on the rising tide, of towers, of ruddy sails, 
 of dark hulls, and he observed the short- 
 shadowed fishermen in brown or blue home- 
 spun, calling to each other as they mended 
 their gear. The clear rays shed their influence 
 on earth and on man : then came a swift 
 shadow, and all was gloom. 
 
 Howel babbled in song of sunshine and 
 flowers, but he could make no music of the 
 shadow and the storm. The cloud-bank was 
 heavy on the western horizon, but his were 
 the illusory visions of Morgan the Fay. It
 
 4 ANDERIDA. 
 
 is permitted to the bard to be a dreamer, 
 on condition that he is at the same time a 
 seer. 
 
 Firmly the bulwark stands on its thorny 
 mound, as it has stood for more than two 
 centuries. Its builders were the masters of 
 the world, whose toolmarks are still plainly 
 to be seen on hard stone and harder mortar. 
 The tempest now brewing will try the found- 
 ations even of their massive handiwork. The 
 few who can discern the signs of the sky are 
 careless, because fair weather will last till 
 to-morrow. 
 
 Over the bridge came an agile runner, 
 bearing in each hand a light javelin. His 
 leathern tunic was stained, his bare legs 
 scratched and muddy, but he sped along as 
 lightly as when he started with his missive 
 four hours ago. One of the guard recognized 
 him, and hailed from above— 
 
 "Are you from the camp, Dulas ? What 
 is the news there ? " 
 
 Dulas only shook his head by way of 
 answer, and passed with a leap through the
 
 ANDERIDA. 5 
 
 open wicket, went through a vaulted guard- 
 chamber and by another open wicket to 
 the city. 
 
 It was a strange contrast that presented 
 itself to any one so entering. Without, all 
 was grand, solid, imperishable ; the internal 
 aspect showed little else than poverty and 
 decay. The city, though important for its 
 strength and situation, was small in extent, 
 and looked more insignificant than it actually 
 was — crushed in the embrace of the great 
 walls. 
 
 Crossing a wide space between the houses 
 and the wall, Dulas entered the main street 
 leading to the Forum. It was little better 
 than a paved lane flanked by tiny houses 
 varying in height, and also in the state of 
 dilapidation they had reached. Passages 
 still narrower, where a man could almost 
 touch the opposite walls with his arms out- 
 stretched, cut the principal thoroughfare at 
 right angles, the Via Ouintana being the 
 widest cross street. 
 
 Everywhere was the same appearance of
 
 6 ANDERIDA. 
 
 makeshift and neglect. For a hundred years 
 or more, only the most necessary repairs had 
 been undertaken, nothing new had been built. 
 
 The Romans, long before they left the 
 island, refused to burden themselves for any 
 but defensive purposes. Since their departure 
 battles of frogs and mice, fen-folk against 
 field-folk — combats of kites and crows, one 
 petty marauding chieftain against another — 
 aimless brawl and ceaseless broil, had ex- 
 tinguished public spirit and quenched private 
 enterprise. 
 
 The successes of the Jutes in Kent, and, 
 more recently, the Saxon invasion, had forced 
 the Southern Britons to forego for a time 
 their civil strife, and unite under Ambrosius 
 Aurelianus the Pendragon, but since the fight 
 at Mearcredes-burn, y^Ue had been compara- 
 tively quiet, and the fear of him diminished. 
 
 Whether at peace, or amid foreign or 
 domestic struggles, Anderida crumbled away. 
 The vast forest which probably gave its 
 name to the city, and which stretched, with 
 occasional breaks, from Eastern Kent nearly
 
 ANDERIDA. ~ 7 
 
 to Severn mouth, furnished the greater part 
 of the building material for the dwellings. 
 The old Praetorium, which had grown by 
 degrees into a kind of fortified palace for the 
 Counts of the Saxon Shore,* the Basilica, the 
 houses about the Forum, and a few others, 
 were of stone and lime, at least the better 
 parts of them were so constructed ; the rest 
 were either built throughout of wood, or 
 had timber frames filled in with clay or 
 sun-dried bricks, materials which crumble 
 away and leave no wreck behind. 
 
 To Dulas the condition of the street had 
 nothing of novelty. He sprang lightly over 
 masses of debris, glided between beams 
 which shored up structures of precarious 
 stability, and pushed his way through a 
 crowd at the corner where two men were 
 stripping of its quarry-stone a house of more 
 ample size and solid construction than its 
 neighbours, to repair the chimney of their 
 own hovel. The runner hastening by with 
 
 * The Saxon Shore was the coast to be defended 
 against invasion by the Saxons and cognate tribes.
 
 8 ANDERIDA. 
 
 a glance at each side, passed from the street 
 into the Forum, the largest open space in the 
 city, about sixty yards long by forty in 
 width. The Basilica occupied half the 
 southern side, and a short street led past 
 its western front to the palace of the Counts, 
 which stood on higher ground to the south- 
 east. 
 
 The Forum was thronged with citizens 
 standing in groups, talking of their affairs, 
 or discussinof the war which lanofuished on 
 the banks of the Adur. The Count had 
 been away a month, and men were dis- 
 satisfied because he had not fought a battle, 
 or done something they might gossip about. 
 These pricked up their ears, and would fain 
 have stopped Dulas and robbed him of his 
 news, but he evaded them and gave no 
 answer, crossing the square to the house 
 of the Praefect, who ruled the city when the 
 Count was absent. 
 
 The janitor answered the summons given 
 by beating the door with a bronze ring hang- 
 ing from a staple. The messenger was led
 
 ANDERIDA. . 9 
 
 through the pillared ostium to a hall beyond, 
 where several men were waiting, and was 
 ushered into the presence of Julius Romanus. 
 The Praefect was a spare man, little of 
 stature, with a head of the true Julian breed 
 • — hard-looking, with black quick eyes, a thin 
 curved nose springing from the forehead with 
 but slight depression between the brows, 
 rather full, firm lips, and a resolute but 
 delicate chin. There was a certain likeness 
 to the great Julius, whose blood the magis- 
 trate believed that he inherited. Forty years 
 ago chance left him stranded on the shore of 
 Britain when most of his father's kin sailed 
 for Gaul to shed their blood on Catalaunian 
 
 fields. He determined to follow the career 
 
 * 
 
 which was opened before him in the island, 
 and had attained to power, wealth, and repu- 
 tation. He was the firm friend of Ambrosius 
 the Pendragon, and chief of the Roman party 
 in Anderida, as opposed to those who 
 favoured British men and British customs, 
 at whose head was Vortipore, the immediate 
 superior of Julius.
 
 lO ANDERIDA. 
 
 The Praefect, having concluded the matter 
 in hand, dismissed those who stood about 
 him, and turning to the messenger, said — 
 
 " Whence are you ? What is your business 
 with me ? " 
 
 " I brinof a letter from the Count," Dulas 
 replied, " and I come from the heights which 
 but yesterday looked over Caer Adur." 
 
 There was a mysterious importance in the 
 man's bearing which showed that he had a 
 tale to tell, and Julius, who always liked to 
 throw all available side-lights on what the 
 Count was pleased to present as facts, spoke 
 graciously to the runner. 
 
 " Your name is Dulas, I believe. Give me 
 the despatch." 
 
 The runner took from his wallet a parch- 
 ment tied with a cord, the ends of which 
 were sealed with the impress of a dragon. 
 
 Julius examined the outside, cut the cord, 
 and read in a low voice — 
 
 "Vortiporius Princeps et Comes Limitis 
 Saxonici per Britanniam, Julio Romano 
 Praefecto urbi, Salutem."
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 1 
 
 The rest of the document was in the 
 British tongue. The Praefect perused it 
 hastily, glanced again at one passage, and 
 said — 
 
 " Your chief, Gower, is too active and 
 sagacious to be involved in a disaster such as 
 this. How has your band been employed ? " 
 
 " We were after a party of Saxons on our 
 side of the river. They burned two villages 
 before we could come up with them, but in the 
 third was much wine. We caught them in a 
 drunken sleep, and slew threescore and seven. 
 When we returned the fortress was lost." 
 
 " Then you know nothing as to how it 
 happened ? " 
 
 " I know," Dulas replied sulkily, " that 
 lorwerth, trusting to the sort of truce we 
 kept, crossed the river on one of his usual 
 errands. Would to Heaven the horse had 
 broken his neck ! " 
 
 " Mind your antecedents," Julius exclaimed. 
 " Men have had their tongues torn out for 
 as small a matter as that. So the fortress 
 is destroyed. Many men sacrificed ? "
 
 1 2 ANDERIDA. 
 
 "Sacrificed!" grumbled the runner. "Well, 
 it is the will of Heaven." { 
 
 " Nothing can happen contrary to the will \ 
 
 of Heaven, I suppose," said the Praefect ; 
 
 " but much may be done by good counsel." | 
 
 , Finding that no more intelligence was to 
 
 be got out of the messenger, Julius bid an 
 
 attendant take charge of him and supply ' 
 
 i 
 him with meat and wine, intimatinof at the ' 
 
 same time by a private sign that no one \ 
 
 should be allowed to have speech of him. ' 
 
 Julius left the audience chamber, traversed ! 
 
 the atrium, or main hall, and went through a j 
 
 narrow passage to a garden surrounded by ' 
 
 a broad peristyle into which several apart- 
 ments opened. He drew aside a curtain 
 which served as door to a plainly furnished 
 room where four slaves sat at a long desk \ 
 
 writing. A door of solid oak cut off this j 
 
 chamber from one beyond, into which he 
 passed and fastened the bar into its sockets 
 to make all secure. I 
 
 , The room was darkened by shutters of , i 
 
 latticed bars, inside which were hooks des-
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 3 
 
 tilled in winter to receive the costly glazed 
 frames more suitable to the cold weather. 
 The glass was carefully packed away in boxes 
 when summer came. 
 
 Julius threw open the shutters and looked 
 across the peristyle to the garden, gay with 
 Persian roses, for the season was unusually 
 hot, dry, and early. As he inhaled the sweet 
 odour of the flowers, a long-haired cat leaped 
 on to the window sill, and rubbed herself, pur- 
 ring against his hand. ' He turned from the 
 roses and crossed the floor which was strewn 
 with cylindric boxes filled with volumes, 
 baskets of paper which had been written on, 
 or washed for renewed service, and dusty litter 
 of all kinds. Shelves aq^ainst the walls were 
 laden in like manner, and between them hung 
 maps and discoloured sheets of portraits done 
 by a process analogous to that invented by 
 Varro. Opposite the windows was a bronze 
 bust of the Great Julius on a pedestal of 
 Numidian marble carved with wreaths in 
 bold relief and a figure of the wingless 
 Victory. On one side of this a suit of armour
 
 14 ANDERIDA. 
 
 was arranged as a trophy, on the other was a 
 rack in which stood a venerable eagle, flanked 
 on each side by old Roman weapons, con- 
 spicuous among which was a heavy pilum. 
 A broad table was covered with working 
 drawings of warlike engines, especially 
 machines for casting darts. Seating himself 
 at this table, Julius spread out the Count's 
 epistle before him on a clear space, and 
 began to read and comment on it : — 
 
 " ' Beginning of the fray — unfortunate ad- 
 venture — son lorwerth.' " Here the reader 
 said something scarcely audible, which ended 
 — " Qui caput uno digito scalpit." Then he 
 went on — " ' lorwerth, trusting to the informal 
 truce which has for some time prevailed, 
 crossed the river at the ferry to visit a 
 friend.' A friend ! as if such a fellow had 
 a friend. Friendship, indeed ! 'Her kins- 
 men lay in wait for the rash youth, but thanks 
 to Blessed Joseph.' Blessed Joseph ! The 
 custodian of the vine and the garden were 
 a more suitable protector — um. * Blessed 
 Joseph and the speed of his horse, he escaped
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 5 
 
 to the ferry, where his escort made a gal- 
 lant stand, and lorwerth escaped. Then the 
 Saxons came up in boats from Wlencing, 
 and our troops being widely scattered were 
 outnumbered and overpowered. After ac- 
 complishing feats of heroism incredible, 
 supernatural, they gave way — the enemy 
 entered Portus Adurni with the fugitives, 
 made grievous slaughter, and burned the 
 place.' The meaning of all this rambling- 
 story is, that Anderida is the last fortress of 
 the Saxon Shore. 
 
 " ' The army is encamped on the heights of 
 Pentire, in a position whence we can harass 
 the enemy. I have sent messengers to the 
 Count Caradoc of Venta,* asking for succour, 
 especially of horse. You will do well to 
 inform Ambrosius Aurelianus that active 
 hostilities have been brought on by the 
 treachery of the Saxons. 
 
 " ' I regret that you should have thought it 
 necessary to justify the course you took in 
 the matter referred to in your last despatch. 
 
 * Venta Belgarum, i.e. Winchester.
 
 1 6 ANDERIDA, 
 
 Convinced by long experience of your 
 wisdom and integrity, I lend no ear to those, 
 my enemies and yours, who persistently en- 
 deavour to raise a cloud of misunderstanding 
 between us.' 
 
 "Here is a change indeed!" Julius mut- 
 tered ; " what does it mean ? " 
 
 " ' Your counsel and help, invaluable as they 
 are, and freely given, require exact inform- 
 ation for us to benefit fully by them, there- 
 fore I withhold from you nothing that 
 concerns us, and you know exactly on which 
 foot we are at present standing.' 
 
 "If he would stand on both feet," Julius 
 murmured, '* he would be less liable to over- 
 throw. Soon up is soon down." 
 
 "'But communicate to the citizens such 
 things as seem to you convenient. We shall 
 be in Anderida without delay, and hold a 
 council to-nioht' 
 
 "Evidently both the Count and his advisers 
 are thoroughly frightened, and let it be seen 
 that they are so. Either our forces have 
 suffered extraordinary losses, or the Saxons
 
 ANDERIDA. i 
 
 I- 
 
 are much stronger than expected. In any 
 case a panic may occur, and our whole force 
 scatter to the winds. The city must be put 
 in a posture of defence without delay." 
 
 Julius returned to his audience chamber, 
 and sent for Laelius, the captain of the city 
 guard, the chief of the smiths, the head of the 
 commissariat, and other officers, giving to 
 each brief but sufficient instructions. He 
 drew up a report in cypher, which he sent to 
 Caer Emrys for the Pendragon. 
 
 This done, the Praefect went to the 
 Basilica to administer justice, attended by 
 apparitors and a train of clients with their 
 weapons. These men, as well as the guards 
 of Laelius, and a considerable proportion of 
 the population of the city, were devoted to 
 Julius. They derived their origin from the 
 Roman military colonists, men of various 
 nations, who used Latin as their common 
 tongue. For generations a race of soldiers, 
 they had swelled the armies of Maximus and 
 Constantine, and distinguished themselves 
 under Claudian's patron Stilicho. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 1 8 ANDERIDA. 
 
 Men of this class, led by the hero Vorti- 
 mer, thrice drove the hosts of Hengest in 
 headlong ruin to their ships. 
 
 Bitter sea-spray falls in tears, salt winds 
 wail over the tomb where Vortimer sleeps by 
 the wasting tide, and war and years have 
 thinned the band which guards the bulwark 
 of the Saxon Shore. 
 
 Over these Vortipore had no influence, 
 notwithstanding his kinship to Vortimer ; but 
 to the marshmen eastward, to the hillmen of 
 the west and north, to the archers and iron- 
 workers of the forest, he was one of the 
 old stock, who revived and upheld ancient 
 customs. 
 
 In times of disaster the energy and ability 
 of Ambrosius ensured implicit submission to 
 his commands, but when no immediate peril 
 was impending every little potentate gave 
 himself the airs of an independent monarch. 
 At such times Julius and the men of the 
 Shore were the mainstay of the Pendragon 
 in those parts. 
 
 Vehement and contrary opinions had been
 
 ANDERTDA. 19 
 
 maintained as to the unknown news from the 
 camp. The multitude followed Julius into 
 the Basilica, and stood in groups round big 
 men of serious deportment. But these 
 oracles were dumb, or at best uttered an 
 uncertain sound. 
 
 " May the event be no worse than my 
 anticipation," ejaculated one simulacrum of 
 sapience, as a good double-edged apoph- 
 theofm. 
 
 But stout Rhys came bustling to the front. 
 
 " What does this wooden-faced image 
 know more than the rest of us ? His antici- 
 pation ! If the intelligence were good, we 
 should have heard all and more by this time. 
 Every one is not a Solomon, who can look 
 wise and wag his head. Wait, and we shall 
 hear the Praefect." 
 
 " Nor is every one wise who can wag his 
 tongue," retorted the wooden-faced man. 
 
 " What can be looked for but defeat .^ 
 An army of hares." 
 
 " Nay! " cried another, "the men are brave 
 enough."
 
 20 ANDERIDA. 
 
 "Brave enough to be beaten — not brave 
 enough to conquer." 
 
 " My children ! " interposed one with shaven 
 face and crown — "Carnal valour is of no 
 avail without the favour of the Lord of 
 Hosts. If He were with you, one should 
 pursue a thousand, and two put to flight ten 
 thousand. Have you never heard from your 
 father, how holy Germanus with shouts of 
 Hallelujah scattered the armies of the 
 heathen ? I see a man old enough to have 
 been present at the Hallelujah victory." 
 
 " No, master ! " piped the old man; " I was 
 not there, but I've heard tell of it, surely." 
 
 " The stars in their courses fight for the 
 true Christian. But how can you hope for 
 Divine aid ? You are defiled with countless 
 sins. You break ordinances of God and 
 the Church daily. You follow in the steps 
 of that child of the devil, Morgan, who 
 called himself Pelaofius. You are uncanon- 
 ical in the observance of the Paschal feast. 
 You " 
 
 " I don't see," broke in stout Rhys, " I
 
 ANDERIDA. 2 1 
 
 don't see how our observino- the Paschal 
 feast at the wrong time can put us at a dis- 
 advantage with a pack of sea-robbers who 
 observe it not at all." 
 
 "And as for Morgan, who calls himself 
 Pelao;ius — I wish he were burnt ! " shouted a 
 cloth-worker. 
 
 The monk smiled approvingly as he spoke. 
 "He has been burning for more than two 
 generations." 
 
 "And his followers — I wish they were all 
 burnt." 
 
 The monk made a step towards the trades- 
 man who expressed himself so properly, but 
 the man continued, " And all his antagonists 
 — all burnt. For the coil they keep here, 
 quiet citizens can scarce attend to their 
 business." 
 
 The monk would have made a severe 
 reply, but attention was turned in another 
 direction. 
 
 Julius, having disposed of his causes, rose 
 from his curule chair, and addressed the 
 assembly. " Tidings of importance have
 
 22 ANDERIDA. 
 
 reached me this morning, which I hasten to 
 impart to the citizens, whose fortunes are 
 involved in those of the illustrious Count and 
 his victorious " 
 
 Here a groan ran wave-like from end to 
 end of the hall, and the word " victorious " 
 was repeated in every tone of anger and 
 derision. 
 
 "If any object to the term ' victorious ' 
 I will not insist on it now. What I have 
 to communicate is this. The embers of 
 war have been fanned to a flame by a trea- 
 cherous attack on Prince lorwerth as he rode 
 with few attendants. The Prince escaped, 
 but " 
 
 Renewed expressions of disgust greeted 
 the name of lorwerth. 
 
 "It is not necessary to tell you that the 
 army has been too "scattered for efficient 
 action in an emergency, nor need I explain 
 to a people born and bred soldiers, that con- 
 centration cannot be accomplished without 
 sacrifice of outlying points. The concentra- 
 tion has been effected ; the host occupies
 
 ANDERIDA. 23 
 
 an impregnable position on Pentire. The 
 
 sacrifice " Julius paused, and scanned 
 
 his hearers with a curious o-lance — " the 
 sacrifice is, the temporary abandonment of 
 Portus Adurni. Silence ! " he cried as the 
 tumult swelled— " silence ! Hear me!" 
 Raising his hand with an imperious gesture, 
 he continued : — " This is no time to be quar- 
 relling about points of strategy. Beaten on 
 Pentire, we could not maintain the fortress — 
 victorious, we shall easily recover it. The 
 Saxons have neither the skill nor the disposi- 
 tion to hold fortifications. We may deplore 
 the loss of a few aged persons, who were 
 unable or unwilling to quit the home of their 
 youth — victims of imperious destiny ! " 
 
 A slight murmur of sympathy with the 
 victims of destiny was mingled with remarks 
 that after all matters might have been worse. 
 
 *' We are not weakened by the abandon- 
 ment of a town, which the Count, for good 
 reasons, has relinquished — temporarily relin- 
 quished ; we are strengthened by the advan- 
 tageous post among the hills, where the
 
 24 ANDERIDA. 
 
 heavy Saxons toil in vain after our agile 
 warriors. Gower's band, of which the mes- 
 senger is a member, surprised and cut off 
 a considerable force this morning. An em- 
 bassy has been despatched to Caradoc of 
 Verta, with whom a combined movement will 
 be concerted. Ambrosius will not neglect 
 those whom he has so often led to glory. If 
 you are the men I take you to be, the pros- 
 pect of battle will eclipse all narrower objects 
 for those who rejoice in the stern delights of 
 combat, of whom I see present not a few." 
 
 This drew unqualified applause, though the 
 rejoicing of some citizens may have been 
 exaggerated. 
 
 " Let all unite in one patriotic impulse. 
 Let no private enmity or political animosity 
 damp our energy. Let each man do the 
 work before him as if victory depended on 
 that work being done thoroughly. Let us 
 strengthen the hands of our leader by our 
 cordial welcome and sincere co-operation. 
 Do thus, and I will ask from this tribune, at 
 no distant period, 'Who is so hardy as to
 
 ANDERIDA. 25 
 
 deny to our gallant army the title of Vic- 
 torious ? ' " 
 
 The hall resounded with acclamations, and 
 many announced their intention of giving the 
 Count a warm reception. Others had a 
 rooted distrust of official statements, and 
 desired explanations of the precautionary 
 measures now being taken. The citizen who 
 had given his views on the observance of 
 Easter, declared that he would question the 
 Praefect. 
 
 " I fear him not," said Rhys. " The 
 Treasury owes me money." 
 
 '* I should not fear him the less for that," 
 squeaked a small man. 
 
 " Probably not," retorted Rhys — "probably 
 not, Gavren. You are not one of those who 
 enjoy the stern delights of combat." 
 
 " Rhys enjoys them at a distance, when 
 the weapons are more deadly instruments 
 than words," cried a cynic. 
 
 Julius, now approaching, Rhys stuck his 
 thumbs in his belt, cleared his voice sonor- 
 ously, and spoke —
 
 26 ANDERIDA. 
 
 " May I ask the Lord Praefect a question 
 cohcerninof the matter which he has so 
 eloquently handled ? " 
 
 Julius assented with a nod. 
 
 " Why then, Lord Praefect, if our arms are 
 so soon to be entwined with laurel, are we 
 vext with preparations as for a long siege ? " 
 
 " Because we cannot reckon precisely the 
 number of those whose swords are less 
 weighty than their tongues. Besides, an 
 appearance of carelessness invites attack." 
 
 " But why send away the women and 
 children? Why this drove of cattle cumber- 
 ing- the streets ? " 
 
 " The Saxon foragers are active and 
 daring. The crops and cattle they seize we 
 shall want ; what we have, they will want." 
 
 " That is true," said several voices. 
 
 " And as to the women and children, some 
 of those who thronged in from outside have 
 been sent back. I trust, good Rhys, I trust 
 that your domestic repose has not been in- 
 vaded by any presumptuous " 
 
 " No, no ! " said Rhys hastily ; " I speak
 
 ANDERIDA. 27 
 
 on public grounds only. How many men 
 has the Count with him ? " 
 
 "It may be some ten thousand— more or 
 less." 
 
 " More or less ! Yes, indeed, but " 
 
 " But don't take my word for it." 
 
 " I won't," interjected Rhys. 
 
 " You shall see with your own eyes. All 
 men liable to serve in the second levy are 
 summoned, and you will march with your 
 company to-morrow ; so furbish sword and 
 javelin, stout Rhys, and harness for head and 
 body. You shall return laden with spoil and 
 glory, or fall like a hero, with your wounds 
 in front." 
 
 So saying, the Praefect went on his wa}% 
 followed by a long train of clients and ad- 
 mirers. 
 
 Rhys remained in a brown study, till a 
 friend exclaimed — 
 
 " Courage, Rhys ! Every one who goes 
 to the war is not killed. Consider the stern 
 delights of combat ! " 
 
 " It's not that," returned Rhys, waking up.
 
 28 AN DERI DA. 
 
 " I can fight as well as another. I should 
 have gone to the field long ago, if it had not 
 been for leaving the wife and the business. 
 I am not afraid." 
 
 " Not you," cried the shrill voice of Gav- 
 ren. " You will rush on the shields and die 
 like a hero. The Fiscus will burden itself 
 with your property — and Prince lorwerth 
 will console the distracted widow " 
 
 " You wretch ! You little cur ! " roared 
 Rhys, " You — you. Fiends ! Let me get 
 at him ! " 
 
 But the crowd laughed, and Gavren 
 escaped.
 
 ANDERIDA. 29 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 At the time of Julius' address to the citizens, 
 Vortipore, with some of the chiefs and an 
 escort of horsemen, was riding across the 
 downs on his way to Anderida. The party 
 was scattered in groups, each taking the 
 course which seemed most tempting. One 
 chief accompanied the Count, but had not 
 exchanged a word with him for the last hour. 
 
 The air came in sultry, fitful puffs from 
 the sea, the sun was scorching between 
 slow-moving clouds whose delicate shadows 
 mottled the grey-green curves of the hills. 
 The horses trod heavily on the elastic turf as 
 if weighed down by the oppressive weather. 
 
 Vortipore had sufficient cause for depres- 
 sion within, but he was influenced by all that
 
 o 
 
 O ANDERIDA. 
 
 surrounded him, and even the Hstlessness of 
 the animal he bestrode added to the gloomy 
 hue of his meditations. It was not merely 
 the loss of Portus Adurni which weighed on 
 his spirits, there was besides the consciousness 
 of the advantage given to those who only 
 waited their opportunity to despoil him of his 
 state and honours. 
 
 Counsellors had not been wanting who 
 warned him of the result of his carelessness ; 
 it gave zest to his pleasures to disregard their 
 advice. Unstable as water, like water mir- 
 roring the objects near him; cold, ungenial 
 prudence iced him into obstinacy from which 
 argument and persuasion glanced ineffect- 
 ually. The next day might shine on a liquid 
 surface rippled by every passing wind. 
 
 With all his weakness, he was an opponent 
 too keen and bold to be slighted. When he 
 executed in the morning the project of 
 the eve, few of his enemies had occasion of 
 boasting — their hope was that action would 
 be deferred till the morrow. 
 
 His special antagonist was Ambrosius,
 
 ANDERIDA. 3 1 
 
 xvhose title and authority Vortipore secretly 
 claimed as his own. In those days, both 
 Celt and Saxon usually chose as head of the 
 state that one of the Royal family who 
 seemed most capable of doing good service. 
 The Count was assured of his eligibility to 
 the Pendragonship, and did not despair of 
 being elected, if his enemy would make a 
 conspicuous blunder. Deep was his resent- 
 ment when he . considered that the conspic- 
 uous blunder had actually been committed, 
 not by the detested Ambrosius (called in the 
 British speech Emrys), but by himself. 
 
 He looked back over his past errors, and 
 saw no ground for consolation to rest upon — 
 the deluge generated by careless security had 
 swamped everything solid. He had fooled 
 away time and opportunity, while y^lle had 
 been consolidating his power, settling Marks 
 up to the head waters of the Ouse, where he 
 had seized the iron works, and secured a 
 supply of implements both of war and of 
 peace. Swarms of immigrants from Old 
 Saxony had brought their wives, their chil-
 
 32 ANDERIDA. 
 
 dren, and with their wants strong arms to 
 supply them. However he might disguise it 
 from others, the Count told himself truly, that 
 in a few days he must fight for land and 
 life, with insufficient means. To stand alone 
 was probable ruin : to be saved from the 
 consequences of his folly by Ambrosius 
 would be almost worse. 
 
 He tried to drive away the thought, at 
 least for the present, but his efforts were 
 vain, till Madoc, who rode beside him, 
 exclaimed — 
 
 " They have found something over yonder. 
 The Gallic hounds are slipped." 
 
 Vortipore, an ardent sportsman, exhaled 
 his anxietv in a sio^h, and fixed his attention 
 on a moving spot in front of the hounds. 
 
 " It is a bastard," he said ; " a great 
 bustard." 
 
 " It is ! it is ! There goes the hawk ! " 
 
 lorwerth and a few well -mounted friends 
 were following the chase on the opposite 
 slope of the valley, and soon ran into their 
 game after a sharp burst.
 
 ANDERIDA. 33 
 
 " The Gallic hounds run well," cried the 
 Count. 
 
 " The foreign hounds would have little 
 chance," answered Madoc, " without the help 
 of their hook-nosed friend." 
 
 " What hook-nosed friend ? " 
 
 " The hawk, which prevented the bustard 
 from rising-." 
 
 " I was thinking," said Vortipore, with a 
 laugh, " of our clever Praefect, and supposed 
 for a moment that he was the hook-nosed 
 friend. The idea is suggestive." 
 
 " Curse his cleverness, and his conceit," 
 replied Madoc. 
 
 " And yet, if through these qualities we 
 can make him useful — useful to ourselves." 
 
 " You will never make him useful to us. 
 His eyes and wings are for himself" 
 
 " If," said the Count meditatively, " if we 
 Avere to confess ourselves in a strait from 
 which there is no deliverance — if among our- 
 selves we exaggerate the difficulties which 
 really surround us, from which no general 
 could extricate us — not Alexander, not Julius 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 ANDERIDA. 
 
 Caesar — if some one were led on to under- 
 take the task ; success, if it ensued, might 
 be attributed to our valour, and the more 
 probable event of failure might be lifted from 
 our shoulders." 
 
 '* It might," cried Madoc after a short 
 deliberation. " It might, and it shall. The 
 plan will work. Let us strike while the iron 
 is hot. What we decide to do must be 
 decided and done at once." 
 
 Other chiefs were called up and consulted. 
 The matter was debated as they traversed 
 the Roman road which went without swerving 
 from point to point, and before the vallum 
 which protected the bridge-head became 
 visible, the details of the plan were concocted. 
 
 When the Count, with his son on his left 
 hand, and followed by the chiefs and escort, 
 passed through the gates of the entrench- 
 ment, he found the Praefect with his guard 
 and the principal citizens drawn up to receive 
 him inside the fort. 
 
 Julius came forward, uncovered his head, 
 and said : —
 
 ANDERIDA. '35 
 
 " Lord and Count, the men of your city 
 of Anderida greet you with dutiful and 
 hearty welcome. Behind me are two 
 thousand men, united and eager to revenge 
 the wrongs of yourself and Prince lorwerth 
 on the treacherous heathen." 
 
 Nothing could have persuaded lorwerth 
 that a sneer did not lurk behind the Prae- 
 fect's words, but before he could marshal 
 his ideas for a retort, the procession was 
 formed, and began to move slowly over the 
 bridge. 
 
 Vortipore had a noble presence, and riding 
 between the shouting lines with sunshine 
 around him, he forgot for a moment his 
 difficulties and the part he had undertaken 
 to play. He acknowledged the plaudits 
 of the crowd with easy grace, and had a 
 laughing word for all. 
 
 Frank, generous, affable, with the vices 
 easily condoned to brave and jovial princes, 
 he was a popular chief when fortune smiled ; 
 but his subjects learned by personal expe- 
 rience, that the lavish hand is severe in
 
 J 
 
 6 ANDERIDA. 
 
 exaction, that unwise leniency foreshadows 
 untempered severity, and that where self- 
 control is absent, endowments of mind and 
 body are bane, not blessing. 
 
 As for lorwerth, he had the inclinations of 
 the tiger, without the splendid skin and 
 graceful strength. At one moment he was 
 sullen when no one regarded him, at the 
 next he would be savage because some one 
 looked black at him. 
 
 Presently Vortipore recollected himself, 
 and said in a low voice to the Praefect — 
 
 "If these honest fellows knew all, they 
 would exchange their joyful bearing for 
 despondency, if not despair." 
 
 " They know all that I can tell them," 
 answered Julius, "and see little cause for the 
 one, none at all for the other." 
 
 " You know the whole case," said the 
 Count ; " do you think it promising ? " 
 
 " I put no faith in promises. Plough and 
 sow and reap the harvest. Use the means 
 and gain the end." 
 
 " Blight and flood may disappoint our 
 labour and skill."
 
 ANDERIDA. Zl 
 
 " But we do not cease our efforts. One 
 harvest fails, the next, perhaps, yields a 
 double crop." 
 
 "Fighting with these men is like ploughing 
 the sands. Nothing comes of the toil but 
 dust and bitterness. What have we left 
 undone ? Can any fresh means be devised ? " 
 
 " It might be considered presumption in 
 me, who am but slightly practised in the 
 military art, to suggest that there are re- 
 sources yet untried." 
 
 " Genius may supply the defect of experi- 
 ence. Instinctive knowledge of such subjects 
 may be expected where the blood of the great 
 Julius is inherited." 
 
 If this is a scoff, the Praefect reflected, it 
 does not matter — it is too coarse for flattery ; 
 but he answered — 
 
 " When we would take the beasts of the 
 field, we supplement our natural powers with 
 artificial helps. One animal we take in a 
 pitfall, another in a net. We avail ourselves 
 of the speed and courage of horse and hound. 
 If the Romans, who conquered the world, did 
 not disdain "
 
 38 ANDERWA. 
 
 " The Romans never conquered Britain," 
 interrupted the young- lorwerth. "Howel Hen 
 has a song how our BeHnus, with Brennus 
 his brother, sacked Rome. BeHnus was the 
 father of Gurgiunt Brabtruc, who took a fleet 
 to Dacia, slew the king and conquered the 
 country." 
 
 " My son," ejaculated Vortipore with pa- 
 ternal pride, " be ever mindful of the great 
 deeds of your ancestors, and let the memory 
 of them stir your heart to noble emulation." 
 
 " Yes ; there is the song, which has been 
 sung for hundreds of years. What have you 
 to say to that, my fine Roman ? " 
 
 At this moment the city gate was reached, 
 through which the horsemen went singly ; 
 and Julius did not approach the Count till 
 they came to the palace gate, where Vorti- 
 pore said — 
 
 " I see the germ of the idea, but not to 
 what it will grow, or what fruit it may bear. 
 Let it be developed at the council." 
 
 The palace was a large, irregular pile, 
 standine before the old Praetorian s^ate of the
 
 AND E RID A. 39 
 
 city. This gate was now walled up, in con- 
 sequence of the ruin of the bridge which 
 connected it with the land beyond the tidal 
 waters which, surrounding Anderida, ran far 
 up through the channels in the flat countr)-. 
 From the palace gate might be seen the 
 Forum and the western end of the Basilica. 
 Within the great gate was the main court, 
 which contained the apartments of the Count, 
 the treasury, the great hall, and the barracks 
 of the oruard. Below these were the vaults 
 used as prisons and storehouses ; beyond was 
 the women's court, built round a garden ; on 
 the east, lorwerth's quarters, with a separate 
 entrance, and on the west a block occupied 
 by the establishment of bards, and various 
 dependants. 
 
 The buildings wereof different dates, some 
 constructed of fine-jointed masonry, some 
 temporary wooden sheds. They were of 
 various heights, from a lofty tower which 
 looked over the city walls, to the kennels for 
 hounds. Nearly all had terraced roofs and 
 outside stairs.
 
 40 ANDERWA. 
 
 The Count dismounted and called for 
 wine ; then seeing the Bishop of Anderida. 
 beckoned to him. Bishop and Count were 
 firm allies — both of them devoted to field 
 sports. The Bishop blessed his friend briefly, 
 and began — 
 
 " I was about to ask for an interview. 
 There is something serious to tell you. Not 
 council matter." 
 
 " Nothing wrong with the young boar- 
 hounds, I hope." 
 
 " No, no ! Nothing so serious as that. Or 
 rather, I should say, much more serious, but 
 a different kind of seriousness." 
 
 " Come in here," said Vortipore. "■ Boy, 
 bring the flagon and cups, and leave us. 
 Now, Bishop, what is it ? " 
 
 " There is a pestilent fellow from Gaul " 
 
 " What do we care for fellows from Gaul .' 
 Fill your cup. Well ! " 
 
 "Well, he is doing much mischief — he sets 
 people against the authorities ; one of those 
 oily-tongued rogues who make glib speeches 
 about the venial weaknesses of their betters ;
 
 ANDERIDA. 4 1 
 
 and because he happens to be as thin as a 
 flint, gets credit for saintly austerities. He 
 says we are Pelagians, an assertion which, 
 true or false " 
 
 "Are we Pelagians ?" inquired the Count 
 with a twitch of his mouth. 
 
 " That is not a question to be answered in 
 five words." 
 
 " Surely we can't be Pelagians without 
 knowing that we are so ! " 
 
 " Indeed we can — most women are. They 
 hold that their children are born innocent — 
 free from stain of sin — which is a main doc- 
 trine of Pelagius. There is much to be said 
 for Pelagius — he was a Briton. I am not 
 prepared to admit that he is entirely in error. 
 Then as to the Paschal feast — we celebrate it 
 as it was taught us by Joseph of Arimathea, 
 who probably knew better than this ruffian. 
 But be that as it may, my sub-deacons won't 
 hear their father and bishop reviled as an 
 apostle of Satan — a Nimrod, a wine-bibber. 
 It is out sticks and heads are broke." 
 
 "Very unseemly!" said the Count, swing-
 
 4^ AND E RID A. 
 
 ing his leg as he sat on the table. " Of 
 course you tell the sub-deacons that, when 
 struck on the cheek, they are to offer the 
 other to the smiter." 
 
 " Of course I do ! But what hurts me is 
 that the scoundrel glances or rather aims 
 directly at your morals." 
 
 " Ha ! and pray what do you say to 
 that ? " 
 
 "Not feeling on such sure ground there, I 
 avoid details, and tell him in general terms 
 that he is a liar," 
 
 " That seems hardly the way to handle the 
 matter." 
 
 " Well ! you will have an opportunity of 
 handling it yourself. This is what I am 
 coming to. He vows to rebuke you in public 
 and liberate his soul. My advice, as your 
 spiritual father, is that you clap him in a 
 duno^eon under the hall." 
 
 " So I will, my spiritual father, so I will ; 
 and he shall liberate his soul there as much 
 as he pleases. And now let me hear about 
 the young boar-hounds."
 
 ANDERIDA. 43 
 
 This topic occupied the time agreeably till 
 the council met and required their presence. 
 
 The Count sat on a raised seat opposite 
 the middle of a long table. The others were 
 placed according to their rank by Howel 
 Hen, assisted by his grandson, for the bard 
 was obliged to know perfectly the claims of 
 every pedigree, and of every office and dignity. 
 
 lorwerth opened the discussion by asking 
 lazily — 
 
 " Could we not offer these thieves a good 
 sum to oro and fio-ht somewhere else ? We 
 give to a beggar to rid ourselves of a 
 nuisance. Somebody find out what they 
 want, and let them have it and go to Gaul, 
 or lerne, or the bottom of the sea." 
 
 " Where is the money to come from ? " 
 asked the treasurer. 
 
 " An unworthy and ineffectual method," 
 said the Bishop. 
 
 Julius hated above all things an incon- 
 gruity, and found the inconsistency between 
 the Bishop's life and a bishop's function un- 
 bearable.
 
 44 ANDERIDA. 
 
 " It is ineffectual to buy peace from barba- 
 rians," he said ; " but the most sensitive 
 morahty would allow us to amuse them with 
 negotiation, and so gain time to defend our 
 homes and families." Then, after a slight 
 pause, and a glance at the Count, " Time 
 now is all-important. With time, succours 
 will surely arrive. We require time to muster 
 our forces and to consider what fresh means 
 of baffling the enemy may be devised." 
 
 The Count perceived his cue and spoke, 
 mixing the ideas gleaned from Julius with 
 his conversation about the hounds, 
 
 " The valour and devotion of you all, my 
 noble fellow-warriors, is too perfect to allow 
 us to seek fresh strength in that direction. 
 Are there other resources, hitherto over- 
 looked ? The hunter does not vanquish the 
 savage boar by opposing naked valour to 
 brute strength — he looks to the temper of 
 his steel and the breed of his hounds, which 
 I prefer brindled " 
 
 " Black for me," grunted the Bishop. 
 
 " The hunter, I say, does not disdain to
 
 ANDERIDA. 45 
 
 employ net and spear and all the devices of 
 his craft, and owes his success no less to his 
 skill than to his fortitude. Are we availino- 
 ourselves of all the resources of the art 
 military in our struggle with these savages. 
 I call on you to give this matter your close 
 and careful consideration. Let no private 
 feelings weigh with us. If the sacrifice of 
 my own dignity and advantage on the altar 
 of patriotism be required, it shall be freely, 
 cheerfully made. If any one can show us 
 the right path, I will follow it, regardless 
 whether my position for the time be first or 
 last. The credit of the plan, and the execu- 
 tion of it, I will yield to him who can show 
 an eligible scheme for the rescue of our 
 country." 
 
 Madoc rose, and with a show of reluctance 
 said — 
 
 " It would be false pride, dangerous folly, 
 to underrate the imminence of the present 
 peril. We are unprepared. yElle has secretly 
 made his arrangements. But this is not all. 
 We may stave off destruction for a few days
 
 46 ANDERIDA. 
 
 or weeks, muster our forces, receive succours. 
 Can we, at the end of this reprieve, place an 
 army in the field able to encounter the 
 invader. Let us not deceive ourselves. In 
 former years we had a superiority in numbers, 
 and fought with various success. Now, with 
 wasted and diminished territory, we cannot 
 count man for man with the intruder. But if 
 we are unable to hold a considerable tract of 
 country, if we are to be cooped within narrow 
 bounds — in an island, in a city — our surrender 
 through loss of men and exhaustion of pro- 
 visions can be only a question of time. I 
 reo;ard with admiration the couras^e and 
 ability of our leader, but he cannot create 
 men out of nothing. Caesar himself could 
 not conquer without an army. If I speak 
 gloomily, it is not from cowardice- — you have 
 seen me in my place in the battle. I can 
 give my life for my country — I am unable to 
 hope that the gift will avail to save her." 
 Etlym with the red sword, said — 
 " The meanest spearman in my array will 
 shed his blood as freely as myself. The
 
 ANDERIDA. 47 
 
 Count's discourse seems to point to some- 
 thingf else — to some method or invention 
 which shall put us on an equality with the 
 Saxons, who are far stronger than was 
 believed. If any scheme or device can be 
 found to benefit us in this extremity, I pledge 
 my best efforts in any and every way to 
 secure its success ; and to him, whoever he 
 may be, who does this service to the state, 
 an ample meed of reward and renown." 
 After waiting a moment, Julius spoke — 
 " We are said to be overmatched by the 
 invading host. The problem is — how to 
 redress the inequality. The solution will 
 be found if we can induce or compel the 
 enemy to fight under circumstances suffi- 
 ciently disadvantageous to himself. These 
 big fellows, fully armed, standing on even 
 turf are formidable fighters ; set them up to 
 the neck in a bog, and I, with my puny arm, 
 should not fear to encounter a considerable 
 number of them. What are the circum- 
 stances least favourable to the display of 
 their power .'* Those attending the attack
 
 48 ANDERIDA. 
 
 of fortified places. Can they be entrapped 
 into such unprofitable assaults ? Will a bull 
 rush at a red cloth ? In turning out the 
 contents of a storehouse, I came upon an old 
 machine calculated to cast twenty heavy darts 
 at a time. It was too much decayed to be 
 capable of repair, but was sufficiently perfect 
 to serve as a model. Imagine a solid phalanx 
 forcing its way up a steep hill defended by a 
 score or two of such machines. There are 
 other details to be worked out, which will 
 not require long time. If you. Count, and 
 you, Lords, will sanction such a plan as I will 
 lay before you, I will guarantee, not victory 
 certainly, but that we shall not fight against 
 hopeless odds." 
 
 Gower, an honest, hot-tempered old chief- 
 tain, growled — 
 
 " The scheme is good. Let it be tried as 
 soon as may be." 
 
 Etlym said gravely — 
 
 " It promises well ; but there is a serious 
 responsibility. If our army is beaten, we 
 have no other to fall back on."
 
 ANDERIDA. 49 
 
 " Give me your sanction and help," said 
 Julius calmly, "and I shall not shirk the 
 responsibility." 
 
 The conspirators felt that they had gained 
 their object, and something more. The 
 Bishop asked malevolently — 
 
 " What reward do you claim for this 
 wonderful discovery ? " 
 
 " That which you can neither grant nor 
 withhold — the satisfaction of havino- done 
 the duty which lies before me." 
 
 Vortipore, who dearly loved fine senti- 
 ments, and could be generous by starts, said 
 grandly — 
 
 " Lord Praefect, your plan shall have our 
 hearty support The power, as the responsi- 
 bility of working it, shall be yours. Enough 
 for us that we share with all our fellow- 
 citizens the blessings of victory and peace. 
 We will not now speak of rewards and 
 honours — these rarely fail the hero who seeks 
 them not, but is content onlv to deserve 
 them." 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 ANDERIDA. 
 
 Julius murmured, amid the applause of 
 his neiofhbours — 
 
 " ' Det vitam, det opes ; aequum mi animuni ipse 
 parabo.' " 
 
 " An excellent sentiment, though the versifi- 
 cation is detestable." 
 
 After discussing some other matters the 
 council broke up.
 
 ANDERIDA. 5 1 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 In early days privacy was unknown and un- 
 desired. Even in the changeable and damp 
 climate of southern Britain, the open air -was 
 preferred to the gloomy lairs in which the 
 majority of the people dwelt. Not only 
 the business but the amusements of the lower 
 classes were houseless ; the only great build- 
 ings sheltered by a roof were the Baths, the 
 Basilica, and the hall of the chieftain, or 
 king. The last was the most ancient, and 
 there the prince or lord ate with his minis- 
 ters and guests. The bards record of some, 
 in proof of their magnificence, that they had 
 no door-keeper. Even in other instances, 
 when the knife was in the meat, and the 
 drink in the horn, the doors opened to the
 
 52 ANDERIDA. 
 
 craftsman bringing his craft — he was a man 
 too usetul to be turned away. 
 
 This custom of pubHc eating had decHned 
 during the Roman occupation, and its revival 
 by Vortipore was one of his popular measures, 
 Persons who had nothing to do, went to look 
 at the strangers, if there happened to be any, 
 to meet their friends, and exchange news ; 
 while those who wanted, or were likely to 
 want anything, had opportunity of reminding 
 influential friends of their existence. 
 
 The great hall was spacious but ill-lighted, 
 and the smoke from the torches curled up to 
 the roof A dais extended over a third part 
 of the floor, and was strewn with rushes and 
 leaves of the sweet flag. On the dais the 
 tables were laid, where the Count and his 
 guests sat at supper. The rest of the hall 
 was occupied by groups of men who entered 
 by doors opening into the dark street. 
 
 When the meats were removed, young 
 Howel struck his harp and sang a tedious 
 ditty, most of which was lost in the buzz of 
 conversation and the movements of the
 
 ANDERIDA, 53 
 
 crowd below. Wine and hydromel were 
 handed to the chiefs by slaves, but Bronwen 
 filled her father's cup, and Cavall, his 
 favourite hound, sat with wise looks by the 
 Count's left hand. 
 
 A lull of the various sounds came, and 
 Howel's voice was heard — 
 
 n 
 
 Cities are fenced by bulwarks tall, 
 Mighty towers guard the wall, 
 A mighty chief is over all. 
 
 " Round the wall the waters flow, 
 Towers in the shining deep they show, 
 As our hearts the love to the chief they owe." 
 
 The hall was unusually thronged this night. 
 Vortipore ascribed the concourse to excite- 
 ment caused by recent events. Julius noted 
 that many in the crowd were zealous ad- 
 herents of the Romanizing ecclesiastics. 
 Though these belonged to his political party, 
 he disliked them but little less than the 
 Bishop of Anderida and his followers. They 
 were emotional, unreasonable, subject to no 
 discipline but the word of the priest. Julius
 
 54 ANDERIDA. 
 
 perceived that they had some business in 
 hand, and watched with languid interest to 
 see what would come of it. 
 
 Every one seemed listless and dull. 
 
 The Count brightened as his pet daughter 
 Sfave him the silver o-oblet, chased and 
 studded with gems. The man must be dull 
 indeed who would not rouse at the sight of 
 Bronwen. Over a tunic of subtile flax, 
 gathered in plaits round the delicate throat, 
 she wore an amice of fine wool, dyed purple 
 in the juice of the native cockle, whose colour 
 grows richer with age. A zone of loosely 
 twisted golden wires encompassed her 
 slender waist ; a wreath of pink and grey 
 pearls confined her raven-black hair ; round 
 the blue-veined arm which rested on the 
 throne twined a serpent of gold. 
 
 Again Howel's song became audible — 
 
 " High on the wall blooms a flower fair. 
 The blossom bends to the fragrant air — 
 ♦Bronwen leans on her father's chair." 
 
 Before drinking, Vortipore turned to his
 
 ANDERIDA. 55 
 
 darling. Her ivory-tinted face lighted up, 
 her dark-fringed, lovelong eyes glowed as he 
 caressed her hair. The smile was tender 
 but not joyous. Those acquainted with the 
 history of her birth wondered not at the 
 pensive expression habitual to her, but few 
 knew, and fewer still cared to speak of that 
 story. 
 
 Once more Howel's voice rang out — 
 
 " Fair and young ! The flower shall die — 
 The rampart fall — the stream be dry : 
 Love endures eternally." 
 
 " What heat ! " exclaimed Madoc. '' The 
 air seems stifling to-night." 
 
 "It is the smoke of the torches," answered 
 Gower. " I can smell the sulphur they are 
 made with." 
 
 " Smell it ! I can taste it. One could fancy 
 the hall were on fire. Hark ! What is 
 that ? " 
 
 The harp was silent. Conversation was 
 hushed. Through the dead stillness came 
 a muffled rumbling, near at hand, yet far
 
 50 ANDERIDA. 
 
 away — those who were seated feh themselves 
 heaved up a Httle and set down again, those 
 on their feet staggered sHghtly — the drinks 
 swayed to and fro in the large bowls, and 
 a few spears which leaned against the wall 
 fell down with a crash. It was nothing. 
 Such slight earthquake shocks were rare but 
 not unknown in Britain. Still men fancied 
 these events were portentous, and gazed 
 anxiously each in other's face, and listened 
 to the hail pelting furiously on the roof. 
 
 Vortipore signed himself with a cross 
 Bronwen was pale but steady, the Bishop 
 looked sullen and irritated, Julius expectant 
 and amused. 
 
 The distant rumbling had not yet died 
 away, when suddenly there stood before 
 the Count a tall figure, habited in a brown 
 frock with a leathern girdle, bearing the 
 staff and gourd of a pilgrim. The cowl 
 was drawn over the face, and the deep voice 
 sounded hollow from within. 
 
 The Count turned as if about to give some 
 order, but the solemn tones which fell upon
 
 ANDERIDA. 57 
 
 his ear seemed to touch some secret string, 
 and he paused in Hstening suspense as the 
 pilgrim spoke : — 
 
 " I am come from the tomb of the apostle, 
 from the shrine of the martyr. I have knelt 
 by the manger of Bethlehem, and adored at 
 the tomb in the garden, and watched in the 
 island of vision. Far away in the morning- 
 land I heard a voice which bade me rebuke 
 this people for their sins, and warn them of 
 judgment at hand. Hearken if ye will ! 
 Stop your ears if ye dare ! Repent, or 
 harden your hearts, I am come to you as 
 Jonas to Nineve." 
 
 "Mistaken your mission, Jonas!" roared 
 the Bishop, who, recognizing his enemy, went 
 at him like a mastiff "What sort of a 
 prophet are you ? This is not Nineve ! We 
 are not cowards to be scared with big words ! 
 The gourd, under which you shall sit to 
 witness our destruction, is a cool stone vault, 
 and instead of a worm is prepared a sufficient 
 chain." 
 
 lorwerth, lolling on the table, followed :
 
 58 AND E RID A. 
 
 " Get to the Basilica, Jonas ! We want no 
 preaching here." 
 
 " Greedy shepherd ! Faithless overseer ! 
 Thy time is near ! The never-dying worm 
 shall feed on thee. And for thee ! worthy 
 son of thy father, take heed lest I strike 
 thee with a curse which shall deliver thee yet 
 alive to Satan, who stands even now grinning 
 behind thy seat." 
 
 lorwerth turned sharply, and seeing 
 nothing, felt very uneasy, and glanced con- 
 tinually behind him. 
 
 But Vortipore, stung by the Bishop's sig- 
 nificant emphasis on the word "cowards," and 
 minded to silence this odious monitor effec- 
 tually, roused himself, and spoke haughtily, 
 though not with his firmest accent : — 
 
 " And who are you, thus thrusting yourself 
 on our festive hour, daring with unlicensed 
 speech to revile the Bishop and insult the 
 Prince ? The voice ! The voice ! Surely 
 it was a trick of fancy ! Seize and " 
 
 " Who am I } Does Vortipore ask who 
 I am ? The question merits an answer, if
 
 AND E RID A. 59 
 
 only for the courage it displays." As the 
 words dropped slowly from the pilgrim's 
 mouth he pushed back his hood, showing 
 a wan hollow face, from under whose brows 
 glowed the fire of inspiration or of insanity. 
 
 The Count, half raising himself with hands 
 which trembled on the draofon-arms of his 
 chair, gazed with eyes which showed the 
 white all round the iris — as the syllables rang 
 like strokes of a passing bell. 
 
 " I am the tono-ue of a crime — the memo- 
 rial of evil deeds long ago. Can you ask ? 
 Can you doubt } Does no sign from Heaven 
 herald my approach ? Does not that droop- 
 ing figure beside you tell of the past ? The 
 irrevocable, the unrepented past. Are there 
 others who desire proof? Take this. In 
 seven times seven days all the people of this 
 city, from the man of many days to the 
 infant at the breast, shall stand with me at 
 the bar of eternal justice. Think, tyrant ! 
 Count the band of pale ghosts that awaits 
 thy coming! Sensual! Perjured! Woman- 
 slayer ! Remember, and despair ! "
 
 6o ANDERIDA. 
 
 Whether by accident or by design, so it 
 was, that for a moment or two the torches 
 burned dim. When they blazed up again 
 the monk was gone.
 
 AN DERI DA. 6 r 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The embassy from Vortipore plodded for two 
 days through the thickest and most unfre 
 qiiented parts of the great forest. In the 
 noon-tide they found a gloom, pierced by 
 shafts of cool green light, under the leafy 
 cupolas, but the air was burdened with odours 
 of decayed wood and fungus. 
 
 The party was small in number, as speed 
 and secrecy were desired, and the necessity 
 of eluding the enemy compelled them to 
 travel on foot and to take a devious course. 
 Nevertheless, thanks to the experience of the 
 guide, their progress had been neither slow 
 nor toilsome. Bael was familiar with the 
 most obscure recesses of the woods, he never 
 faltered in the path, never had to retrace his
 
 62 ANDERIDA. 
 
 steps in the frequent swamps, nor failed to 
 find a coracle to waft his charge over stream 
 or lake. 
 
 Elphin and Cadogan, with two followers, 
 were instructed to hasten to Venta, and there 
 to lay before Caradoc the urgent need of his 
 neighbour of the Saxon Shore. They bade 
 the guide conduct them as speedily as possi- 
 ble to their destination. 
 
 The Saxon Marks lay for the most part 
 along the rivers and water-courses ; they were 
 separated from each other by miles of deep 
 shade — blocks of the forest out of which 
 the farms had been carved. To these sombre 
 tracts superstition lent additional terrors. 
 The March oak, carved with Runes of mys- 
 terious power, was not unreverenced by 
 Britons, whose blood retained some taint of 
 ancient heathenism, though they rejected the 
 g-od to whom the noble tree was dedicated. 
 
 Besides this, lake and river, swamp and 
 crag, each was the haunt of a congenial 
 monster who delighted in human ravin. In 
 the dark, endless woods, by dismal, solitary
 
 ANDERIDA. 63 
 
 stream or pool, in the bewildering bog which 
 seemed to heave under the foot of the rash 
 intruder, Nicor and Firedrake were words 
 of more awful significance than pertained to 
 them on breezy upland or in haunts of men. 
 The quick fancy of the Celt renders him 
 susceptible to spiritual influence, even from 
 a hostile race and a despised creed. But 
 Bael the guide was neither Celt nor Teuton ; 
 he contemned the Saxon deities as modern 
 inventions, and had not sufficient imagination 
 to be awed by unseen powers. He found 
 the path of safety in dim solitudes which 
 others filled with unsubstantial spectres. 
 
 At one place they came, in the earliest 
 morning, across a priest lying by the ashes 
 of a great fire, from which stuck out bones 
 burnt black and white — among them two cal- 
 cined human skulls. 
 
 Confiding in the horror of the spot, the 
 venerable man slumbered serenely, and, 
 when seized, called down the vengeance of 
 Frea on his captor. Bael was undeterred by 
 cursing which was not backed by physical
 
 64 ANDERIDA. 
 
 force, and advised immediate execution, lest 
 the expedition should be hindered. 
 
 When the Saxon flock discovered the re- 
 mains of their pastor they concluded that 
 he had omitted some necessary rite. But 
 such details were part of his business, and 
 they proceeded, with their usual matter-of- 
 fact composure, to elect another shepherd. 
 
 This guide, Bael, an uncouth being, whose 
 skin at a short distance could not be dis- 
 tinguished from his scanty, greasy, leathern 
 raiment, belonged to the earliest race existing 
 in these islands, and boasted of his descent 
 from the Sungod, His frame seemed to be 
 designed for strength and utility rather than 
 for comeliness. A huge trunk, with broad 
 shoulders and barrel-shaped chest, made him 
 look shorter than he really was, an appear- 
 ance which was increased by the short legs 
 with large- splay feet, and the long hairy 
 arms. The bones were big, the bony ridges 
 prominent, the jaw heavy and protruding, the 
 hind-head flush with the square bull neck. 
 His nose and eyes were small, but his senses
 
 ANDERIDA. 65 
 
 were as keenly delicate as those of a wild 
 animal. 
 
 With the help of these faculties, he had 
 brought the chiefs, before the close of the 
 second day's march, beyond the utmost limit 
 of Saxon colonization. They came in the 
 twilight to an opening in the forest where 
 stood several large mounds, glowing with 
 internal fires, which sent forth thin wreaths 
 of blue smoke and a choking vapour. Un- 
 canny forms, armed with cruel-looking forks, 
 thrust dark objects into the red-hot crevices, 
 and black figures flitted to and fro, or slept 
 in sheds upon piles of branches. Farther off 
 were stacks of charcoal, and wains loaded 
 with sacks to be sent away at sunrise, 
 
 Having slept soundly on fragrant fir- 
 tassels, they got horses the next morning 
 to continue their journey. They halted be- 
 fore noon on the hill which shelters Venta 
 from the east, and sent the two attendants 
 to announce their arrival to Caradoc. 
 
 These men, provided with peeled willow 
 wands to indicate their office, took their way 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 ANDERIDA. 
 
 down the green chalk slopes to the wooden 
 bridge which crossed the river, where they 
 were stopped by the warders, until the 
 Count's pleasure was known, 
 
 Bael toasted slices of dried meat at the 
 snapping fire, and the ambassadors ate the 
 mid-day meal on the hill which looked over 
 leagues of undulating woodland and bare 
 plain to Sorbiodunum,* and the heights be- 
 neath which stood the castle and choir of 
 Ambrosius. The Roman road ran forthright 
 regardless of hill or valley, and reaches of 
 river glanced like bright silver here and there, 
 while the lark carolled overhead, and the 
 shepherds lay on the turf drowsily watching 
 the wheatear traps. 
 
 Messengers came from Caradoc in the 
 afternoon, who conducted them through the 
 eastern gate of the city. They passed the 
 new church, built about two hundred years 
 before to replace the structure raised on the 
 ruins of temples to Apollo and Concordia. 
 
 Caradoc occupied a high chair in the 
 
 * OldSarum.
 
 AND E RID A. 67 
 
 council chamber ; and his chiefs sat at tables 
 on either side, with guards at the door and 
 at the Count's back, armed with sword and 
 lance. Beside him stood a youth with a mane 
 of short, curling hair, dark blue eyes fringed 
 with long black lashes, and an active, sinewy 
 frame, whose every movement provoked the 
 idea of dancing, as if blood and spirit were 
 leaping and laughing within. A merry, 
 careless temper, a bright face and graceful 
 person, joined to an unfailing stock of modest 
 assurance, made him everywhere popular. 
 The old felt reanimated by his overflowing 
 life; young men recognized in him the ideal 
 of youth ; and the girls could never be brought 
 to see that anything he did was wrong. It 
 was nothing to the point that the action of 
 to-day was in direct opposition to that of 
 yesterday — circumstances had altered — both 
 were right. 
 
 Of course he 'was a headlong politician, 
 and was for setting everybody and everything 
 right. Though his father was an unstable 
 pillar of the throne of Ambrosius, Farinmail
 
 68 ANDERIDA. 
 
 belonged to the same party as Vortipore. 
 There was this unimportant difference of 
 view, that, as Vortipore was incompetent 
 morally and intellectually for the arduous 
 duties of empire, Farinmail proposed to dis- 
 charge them himself. Just now there was no 
 likelihood that either of them would be called 
 to any new function, and Farinmail wished 
 for something to keep him from rusting. 
 There were scores, there were hundreds, of 
 dashing young fellows who wished for nothing 
 better than to follow him on horseback or on 
 foot, by night or by day, without too curiously 
 inquiring whither he led them. 
 
 So he stood, his hand resting on the arm 
 of his father's seat, to hear the message from 
 Vortipore. 
 
 The ambassadors stepped forward. Elphin 
 offered some compliments to the powerful 
 Lord of Gwent ; for though the city was 
 called Venta, the territory had regained its 
 ancient British title. He then proceeded to 
 tell in detail the events which led to the loss 
 of Portus Adurni, the threatening attitude of
 
 ANDERIDA. 69 
 
 y^lle, and the insufficiency of the forces at 
 the disposal of Vortipore. He dwelt on 
 the importance of retaining Anderida, the last 
 bulwark between the Jutes of Kent and the 
 Saxons of their own neighbourhood. 
 
 " The loss of our city will deprive the 
 Britons of access to the sea, from Thames' 
 mouth and the Cantian promontory, as far as 
 Portus Magnus : * will cut us off from all the 
 coast most convenient for intercourse with 
 Gaul. 
 
 " You will not — you cannot in your own 
 interest — refuse us succour. But help, to be 
 of any avail, must be immediate. A few days 
 hence— a few leagues from your own border 
 — must be decided the question, whether 
 Anderida shall retain the territory essential 
 for her existence. Beleaguered by land, block- 
 aded by sea, her resistance will be measured 
 by weeks. Strong walls and stout hearts 
 will keep at bay the human assailant — they 
 cannot repel famine. 
 
 " These Saxons are like certain weeds of 
 the field — they may be kept out by timely 
 
 * Porchester.
 
 70 ANDERIDA. 
 
 care, but if once they gain foothold the}' 
 are ineradicable. The hardships endured on 
 the barren sea give them an unappeasable 
 craving for plenty and fertile fields. Am I 
 pleading our own cause alone ? It is not the 
 men who die in the breach who suffer most 
 when the city is captured. Why waste time 
 in argument ? You are not ignorant of these 
 matters. I speak not to aliens, but to 
 brothers allied in blood as in peril. 
 
 " Certain details the Count of the Saxon 
 Shore thouoht fit to communicate in a letter, 
 which my colleague is charged to deliver." 
 
 Cadogan advanced and presented a parch- 
 ment tied with scarlet cord, and sealed with 
 wax bearing the dragon stamp. 
 
 The ambassadors were directed to with- 
 draw while the council deliberated, and 
 Caradoc opened the despatch. While he 
 read it the councillors discussed the speech 
 of Elphin. 
 
 " This communication," said Farinmail, 
 leaving the Count's side, " is in a style some- 
 what different from the last which Vortipore 
 sent."
 
 AND E RID A. 7 1 
 
 "In truth it is," exclaimed a chief. " Has 
 he forgotten that piece of insolence, or does 
 he suppose that our memories are so short ? " 
 
 " His pride is abated for the moment," said 
 an old chieftain ; " but how long will this 
 fit last ? Is it a passing shadow of alarm, or 
 is the impression permanent? Is it serious ? " 
 
 " Serious !" exclaimed Farinmail. "He is 
 as serious as a newly waked bear coming 
 down the tree hind part foremost." 
 
 " We must have some guarantee," urged 
 the old man, " that is the point — some pledge 
 that these fair words shall not be forgotten 
 when the need is over. Now he is butter 
 and honey." 
 
 " Yes," cried Farinmail, " as complaisant 
 as a dog in a butcher's shop. When he has 
 done with us he remembers the blood of 
 Vortigern." 
 
 Caradoc having perused the letter, raised 
 his sceptre — an ashen rod, round the upper 
 part of which a red dragon twisted its coils— 
 and at the signal an officer of the court pro- 
 claimed silence.
 
 72 ANDERIDA. 
 
 The Count laid the epistle on the table, 
 and spoke — 
 
 " This missive from the Count of the 
 Saxon Shore refers, first of all, to circum- 
 stances brought to your knowledge by his 
 ambassadors. He then treats of a matter of 
 private as well as public concern, which shall 
 be at ' once submitted to your wisdom. 
 Farinmail, my son, if you can find no better 
 occupation than pulling that dog's ears to 
 make him howl, you may as well amuse 
 yourself in some other place." 
 
 ** He likes having his ears pulled," an- 
 swered Farinmail. "He only howls at inci- 
 dents, such as a bright night or a diill 
 speech." 
 
 " Turn out the brute ! " exclaimed Caradoc 
 angrily. 
 
 " Go, my faithful friend ! " ejaculated Farin- 
 mail sadly. " Heaven improve your taste, 
 and increase your patience ! " 
 
 " Truly, an abundant gift of patience is 
 needed by all who have to do with you ; 
 but now, either fit your demeanour to the
 
 AND E RID A. 73 
 
 occasion, or follow your four-legged friend. 
 The part which I am about to read touches 
 you, but it must be considered without 
 levity." 
 
 " Honoured father ! Levity and unmeet 
 company vanish at your bidding. May our 
 wisdom be equal to our gravity." 
 
 The Count stretched the crackling parch- 
 ment, and read — 
 
 " Dissensions and difficulties will occur 
 in families, but when the stranger, taking 
 advantage of fraternal strife, plunders all 
 parties • alike, none but fools persist in the 
 private quarrel. Enmities are suppressed at 
 least until the intruder is quelled. So let 
 it be with us. Let us unite our strength to 
 crush the Saxon, who will otherwise leave 
 us no subject for dispute. When the in- 
 truders are expelled, then, if the sting of 
 ancient offence still rankle in your breast, 
 we can settle our difference as brave men 
 should. If on the other hand, mutual ser- 
 vices lead to the wish for a closer bond of 
 union, let the noble Farinmail espouse our
 
 74 ANDERIDA. 
 
 sweet Bronwen, whose dowry shall be the 
 city of Regnum,* rebuilt by us when the 
 hosts of the heathen shall have been driven 
 into the sea." 
 
 Farinmail could contain himself no longfer. 
 
 " A most straightforward, a most honour- 
 able proposal ! You, lord, ask for a pledge 
 — here are two : the city of Regnum, the 
 hand of Bronwen — Bronwen, the Pearl of 
 Anderida ! " 
 
 " Regnum is not a valuable pledge at the 
 present time," replied the old chief. "And 
 as for Bronwen " 
 
 " Not a word in disparagement of her. 
 She is my betrothed from this hour. I will 
 muster my " 
 
 " Peace ! " thundered the Count, striking 
 the ground with the butt of his sceptre. 
 " The business of the council shall not 
 be interrupted by your petulance — begone ! 
 Do not presume to come into my presence 
 for a week — unless sent for." 
 
 When Farinmail was gone, the Count con- 
 tinued — 
 
 * Chichester.
 
 ANDERIDA. 75 
 
 " We cannot decide a point so weighty at 
 once. The Pendragon must be informed, 
 and his wishes ascertained." 
 
 " I hope," said a heavy man, " I trust, that 
 the young Count will not do anything rash 
 before those wishes can be known." 
 
 " I shall take care that he engages in no 
 sudden enterprise or compromising action," 
 replied Caradoc, composing his features to 
 the serious expression which befits the coun- 
 tenance of a good man, when promising that 
 which he does not intend to perform. After 
 a short pause, he added — 
 
 " Take notice, all of you, that I say this, 
 and let it be generally known." 
 
 All this time, Bael lay under some bushes 
 on the hill opposite to the eastern gate, 
 waiting to see what would happen. He had 
 volunteered as guide for this expedition in 
 hope of picking up information for his patron 
 Julius. A singular friendship had long 
 existed between these men. It originated 
 in the rescue of Julius from a famine-pinched 
 wolf, which sprang at his horse's head and
 
 76 ANDERIDA. 
 
 brought it to the ground. Bael was on the 
 track of the gaunt beast, he caught it by the 
 throat and broke its back before much harm 
 was done. Juhus admired the promptitude 
 and energy of his rescuer, while Bael saw 
 in the Roman a representative of the people 
 who had subdued the traditional enemies and 
 oppressors of his race. 
 
 The connection between the strangely 
 assorted pair was of the loosest kind. Some- 
 times Bael disappeared for weeks or months, 
 sometimes he slept in the garden near his 
 patron's chamber door for many successive 
 nights. He had the peculiar merit of turn- 
 ing up just when he was wanted, and his 
 appreciation of valuable intelligence partook 
 of the nature of instinct. 
 
 So he remained for two or three hours, 
 tranquilly chewing a twig or a grass-stalk, 
 with no more sense of tedium than would 
 be felt by a cow or a sheep. But notwith- 
 standing this appearance of carelessness, not 
 a sight nor a sound escaped his observation. 
 He could have told the number of kine that
 
 ANDERIDA. 11 
 
 ofrazed in the broad meadow below, countino- 
 by tens on his fingers ; he knew where the 
 plover's nest was hidden in the marsh, and 
 where partridge and quail sat on the edge of 
 the cornland. 
 
 It wanted yet four hours to sunset, when 
 horsemen began to gather in the meadow 
 where orchards screened them from common 
 observation. It was hard to say whence or 
 how they came, sauntering in a casual, uncon- 
 cerned fashion, but avoiding the city gate 
 and the bridge. 
 
 As often as Bael counted ten, he put on 
 one side a stone, and when the tale was 
 complete, he needed the fingers of both 
 hands twice over to reckon the stones. 
 
 The horsemen drew up in line, four deep, 
 each man accoutred with shield, lance, and 
 broadsword. Those in front wore scale 
 armour on the body, though their knees and 
 arms were bare — they alone used stirrups. 
 The other three ranks had leathern defensive 
 armour ; they scoured the country when on 
 the march, and at other times attended on
 
 78 ANDERIDA. 
 
 their file-leaders, closing in behind them to 
 add weight in a charge, and picking them up 
 if they had the ill-luck to be unhorsed. 
 
 Bael saw one of the leaders ride out from 
 the centre, pass slowly from one end to the 
 other of the line, return and face the rest. 
 This one seemed to address the others, and 
 they answered by clashing their arms. The 
 whole body formed into column, with front, 
 flank, and rear guards, and moved away 
 silently in a south-easterly direction. 
 
 Then Bael beean an arduous task. Pro- 
 ducing a small leaden plate and a pointed 
 iron, he scratched on the side of the plate 
 Avhich would be east in a map, a rude circle ; 
 and within it made three marks, two above 
 and one below, and drew from the circum- 
 ference eight lines. This was the conven- 
 tional sign for the sun, and signified himself 
 Above this he scored two arrow heads, the 
 points downward, which stood for Venta. 
 On the left side was a complication of lines 
 from which one accustomed to the style 
 might derive the idea of a horseman with
 
 ANDERIDA. 79 
 
 sword, lance, and shield ; and below this two 
 skeleton arms and hands, and twenty stones 
 or dots. This caused more trouble than all 
 the rest. He transferred a stone from the 
 heap to the other side, and made a mark on 
 the lead. This went on till the heaps were 
 about equal, when he unhappily forgot which 
 was which. He gnashed his teeth, and 
 groaned, and perspired, and uttered sounds 
 equivalent to cursing, but in the end had to 
 do it all over again. One of the sun rays 
 was prolonged till it reached the horse's tail, 
 and another line extended from the fore feet 
 to the corner under the sun. The lirst 
 showed that Bael was following the horse- 
 men, the second that they had gone toward 
 the south-east. 
 
 When it was done, he drew a deep breath, 
 and threw himself back on the turf as if 
 utterly exhausted. Presently he rose, re- 
 garded the plate with the air of an artist 
 astonished and delighted by evidence of his 
 skill, and took his way across the higli 
 ground to a chalky hollow. Putting his
 
 8o ANDERIDA. 
 
 hands to his mouth, he gave a pecuhar cry, 
 and repeated it several times without result. 
 With looks of anger he grasped a block of 
 chalk containing about four cubic feet, and 
 weighing five hundred pounds. This he 
 sent bowling down the steep ; and as the 
 mass leaped crashing into some bushes, a lad 
 started out on the other side, and hastened 
 up the hill with all outward tokens of peni- 
 tence. Bael knocked him down to waken 
 him up, committed to him the leaden plate, 
 and charged him, with terrible threats, to 
 deliver it at a certain station where the 
 runners in the pay of Julius were to be 
 found. 
 
 Eight hours afterwards, the work of art 
 was in Anderida, but Julius was gone, and 
 did not receive it till a later time. 
 
 Bael follovv^ed the horsemen of Farinmail 
 till they camped for the night ; leaving the 
 party whom he had conducted to Venta 
 to get home as they might.
 
 ANDERIDA. 8 1 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Early In the morning after the scene in the 
 hall, Julius sought an interview with the 
 Count, and when admitted, found him more 
 depressed than might have been expected, 
 considering his easy, careless temper. His 
 first question was, " Have you caught that — 
 
 that " 
 
 " That lunatic ? No ; he has friends who 
 covered his escape, and if a man is once lost 
 sight of in this rabbit warren, it is difficult to 
 lay hands on him. But he will be out pro- 
 phesying again in two or three days — such 
 as he cannot refrain themselves — then I will 
 seize him, and deal with him as you think 
 proper. Meanwhile I have caused inquiries 
 to be made concerning his former life. My 
 
 VOL. r. G
 
 82 AND E RID A. 
 
 men may pounce upon him at any moment, 
 and I shall be glad to know how to treat 
 him." 
 
 " Let him be secured in the safest dungeon 
 we have. I will give five pounds of fine 
 silver to him who brings me his head. And 
 yet, it is questionable policy to meddle 
 with a madman ; people will but speak the 
 more of him. What is your opinion ? I am 
 ill, unable to think steadily, or to resolve 
 wisely." 
 
 " Such an outrage cannot pass unpunished. 
 No man, lay or ecclesiastic, may with im- 
 punity threaten the civil government. Priests 
 are to be treated with respect, as a means of 
 controlling the vulgar, but they must not be 
 allowed to usurp authority. Nor should they 
 be vexed with half measures ; he who throws 
 the sacred chickens into the sea must fling 
 the augur after them. If this man is at 
 liberty he will inflame men's minds — none the 
 less surely for his being mad. I should be 
 g-lad to know more about him. Few 
 foreigners speak the British tongue, fewer
 
 AND ER ID A. ^l 
 
 have such fluent command of It as he chs- 
 played ; and yet there was a pecuHarity in 
 his speech, the hke of which I have never 
 observed in Briton or in stranger — a defect 
 in the pronunciation of certain letters, 
 especially T and D, as if his tongue " 
 
 " You too ! " exclaimed the Count. " Are 
 you also in the conspiracy ? Will you too 
 dare to accuse me ? " 
 
 " I accuse you, Lord Count ! If you are 
 accused it must be by yourself. I brought no 
 charge against you, nor thought of bringing 
 any. If " 
 
 " Excuse me, my head is disordered. Act 
 on your own judgment. For myself — — " and 
 he paused and seemed to wander away to 
 other scenes. 
 
 " There are public affairs," said Julius, 
 stiffly, " of more moment than this fellow's 
 rhapsodies, which indeed may owe their ful- 
 filment to our negligence and cowardice, as 
 it has happened ere now. The Saxons must 
 be met without delay." 
 
 " For that business I am at present unfit.
 
 84 ANDERIDA. 
 
 Take what power you think necessary. 
 Write and I will sign." 
 
 Julius looked at the Count, half in pity, 
 half in contempt ; then in a more kindly tone 
 he said — 
 
 " Lord Count, this Is no time for Indul- 
 gence : every man, great or small, sick or 
 sound, must make a supreme effort'. You 
 must give us your countenance, if you can 
 contribute nothing more ; the mere presence 
 of the chief is a spur to the energies of 
 meaner men. I am unwilling to obtrude my- 
 self on the ground of your private feelings ; 
 but if, as I conceive, you are suffering in 
 mind rather than in body ; if, as may well be, 
 you in your high and responsible station are 
 deeply moved by the words you heard last 
 night, permit me to suggest that the best 
 remedy against such painful thoughts, the 
 surest safeguard against fanatical plots, is 
 strenuous and sustained actlvit)- of body and 
 mind. The alert soldier is not taken by sur- 
 prise. Mount your horse. Lord Count, and 
 come and choose a spot where we ma}' give
 
 AND E RID A. 85 
 
 battle to ^lle — the fresh breeze of the 
 downs will dissipate melancholy vapours." 
 
 Vortipore half rose, but sank back on his 
 couch. 
 
 " I cannot. Mind and body both are 
 stunned and helpless from the blow that man 
 inflicted. His word will come true." 
 
 " And if it do — what is it that is 
 threatened ? Can we not meet it with 
 serenity .'* You shall die within fifty days. 
 So be it — I will be found doing my duty. 
 Oh ! but you shall die by violence ! Again I 
 say, so let it be. The sword of the Saxon 
 gives a more speedy and easy death than 
 many forms of disease usually do. What is 
 it then ? I cannot determine the length of 
 my life — I will regulate my manner of living. 
 I care not to fix the fashion of my death, but 
 I will die a free, wise, and just man, and 
 leave whining and entreaty to curs and 
 slaves. Show a cheerful face to men, and do 
 what is right, let v/hat will happen." 
 
 "It is not the fear of death which over- 
 whelms me — it is the prospect beyond, which
 
 86 AXDERIDA. 
 
 I am ill-prepared to meet. It is the past 
 which lends terror to the future." 
 
 " If the past is unsatisfactory, and who can 
 look back on all that he has done and say, 
 so would I have it : if evil seed is producing 
 a hurtful crop, now is the time for weeding 
 and cleansing. The shorter the time, the 
 more need for haste." 
 
 " My good friend," said Vortipore, rising 
 impatiently, " these maxims sound well, but 
 they cannot assuage grief of heart nor ache 
 of finger." 
 
 " Philosophy does not claim power to avert 
 such pains, it teaches and enables men to 
 bear them nobly." 
 
 "It may strengthen those who have been 
 lonof trained in certain schools. To such the 
 remembrance of discussions and arguments 
 may bring comfort, while a recollection of 
 sneers at the weakness of others may intro- 
 duce pride as the ally of fortitude. But to 
 present these doctrines to one unaccustomed 
 is to offer raw flesh to him that is sea-sick — it 
 is repulsive to the healthy stomach, the infirm
 
 ANDERIDA. 87 
 
 it excites to loathing. You think me un- 
 manly to bend thus at the words of a chance 
 comer. All will soon learn who this appari- 
 tion is ; it is idle to make a secret of it : — 
 
 " Years agfo there was such a man — Vorti- 
 mer was fiehtino- in Kent at that time. The 
 man was brave and popular ; his wife was 
 one of the three beautiful women, fair as all 
 that is fairest. 
 
 " She loved him not — hated him — has told 
 me so again and again. She was mother of 
 Bronwen. He escaped from prison, fled to 
 Vortimer, who took part with him. After 
 my cousin's death he returned here, talking 
 wildly, stirring up the people, for he had a 
 persuasive tongue. Everything was wrong : 
 Satanas triumphant — ^signs in heaven and 
 earth — the last day at hand. It could not 
 go on, but still she cried, ' Touch not his life.' 
 His tongue was cut out. Then he tried the 
 dagger — down by the pool under Pen y Coit 
 • — he fought like a rat in a corner — he was 
 thrust through with a hunting spear — his skull 
 was cloven to the brain • — I saw the scar last
 
 88 ANDERIDA. 
 
 night — he fell in the deep water. Oh ! the 
 cry ! It rings in this room as I speak. Now, 
 after all these years, he rises up before me, 
 using the same language, denouncing, sum- 
 moning to judgment, bidding me remember 
 and despair. It is a miracle — a miracle ! " 
 
 Vortipore sank down in his seat, and 
 bowed his head on his arms which were 
 crossed on the table. 
 
 " Miracle ! " said Julius. " There was a 
 miracle at Tipasa in Mauritania, where sixty 
 men had their tongues plucked out by com- 
 mand of Hunneric, and did not lose the 
 power of speaking. That only tends to 
 show that the tongue is not so essential an 
 organ of speech as is commonly believed. 
 Crispus Passienus told me that one of the 
 men was a notorious blasphem.er, a foul liver, 
 who recanted to escape the penalty, and was 
 mutilated by a private enemy, yet he spoke 
 among the rest. There are sounds which 
 seem to be impossible without the aid of the 
 tongue. I will have some experiments tried 
 on criminals."
 
 ANDERIDA. S9 
 
 Then seeing that Vortipore paid no atten- 
 tion, he laid his hand on the Count's arm, 
 and went on — 
 
 " As theological questions seem to be 
 mixed up in this matter, let it be referred 
 to the Bishop ; it is his duty to absolve you 
 on the performance of due penance. Repent- 
 ance is best shown in orood works. To 
 enforce good laws, to curb the oppressor, 
 to protect the weak, to beat back the invader, 
 these deeds and such as these are meritorious 
 in a ruler. Surely the errors of him who 
 sacrifices his life, dying for his people in front 
 of the battle, will receive merciful consider 
 ation from the Judge." 
 
 A queer suspicion flashed across the mind 
 of Vortipore, dispelling the dark cloud which 
 rested upon it. No doubt it would suit his 
 enemies very well that he should throw 
 away his life in a fit of despair. Had the 
 scene been prepared for that particular 
 purpose ? He raised his head and looked 
 steadily at Julius, who, seeing that he had 
 at last made an impression, continued —
 
 90 ANDERIDA. 
 
 " There is another point to which your 
 attention should be directed. The young- 
 prince is leading a life which must disqualify 
 him from succeeding to your authority." 
 
 " Faults of youth ! We must not be hard 
 upon him. Have we not been young our- 
 selves." 
 
 " And the result of our errors, has it been 
 so pleasant and profitable that we desire the 
 same for our children ? " 
 
 " No, assuredly not ! Do you propose 
 anything ? " 
 
 " The absence of equal companionship, 
 the want of regular duties, all the tedium of 
 idleness, these drive him to courses injurious 
 to himself, and intolerable to the citizens." 
 
 " Ha ! and the remedy ? " 
 
 "Is not a harsh one, nor distasteful to a 
 young noble. Let him travel for a year or 
 two with a well-filled purse, let him mix with 
 men of his own rank and age. For an 
 object, he might bear to some shrine rich 
 gifts to purchase intercessions of the patron 
 saint in your behalf."
 
 ANDERIDA. 9 1 
 
 " Excellent ! " laughed Vortipore. " And 
 if in the meantime I deserve the merciful 
 consideration of the Judge by a patriotic 
 death, he will not be in the way of ulterior 
 designs for the safety of our beloved 
 country." 
 
 "Lord Count!" Julius began with rising 
 wrath. 
 
 " Pardon me, Lord Praefect ! It is a jest, 
 an unseasonable, inconvenient jest. The pro- 
 posal has my full consent, and I will speak 
 to the boy on the subject. He shall journey 
 to the holy places, to Jerusalem ; his powers 
 of body and mind will be strengthened, and 
 who knows what comfort he may bring me 
 from that East, the source of heavenly as of 
 earthly light. But now that I feel myself 
 capable of some exertion, thanks to your 
 wise exhortations, let us examine the site 
 where our standard is to be planted and 
 ^lle overthrown. Doubtless you have 
 already selected an advantageous position." 
 
 The feelings of Julius had been more than 
 once ruffled during the interview, but the
 
 92 ANDERIDA. 
 
 opportunity of parading his hobby tranquil- 
 Hzed them, and he repHed — 
 
 '* I would first show you some machines, 
 which will require favourable ground for the 
 full development of their power. Your ex- 
 perience in war will enable you to discern 
 their defects, as well as the best method for 
 correcting them," 
 
 So they mounted and rode through the 
 city and over the bridge, the Count having 
 apparently regained his usual careless and 
 joyous demeanour. They came to a range 
 of buildings which stood before a recess in 
 the woods, and from whose open doors came 
 sounds of hammering, sawing, and all the 
 noise of active industry. 
 
 Passing through these, they found them- 
 selves on a level stretch of turf, which ex- 
 tended four hundred yards backward to the 
 trees. Here, under a shed, stood a machine 
 ready to be wound up and discharged. Its 
 motive force was obtained by the torsion of 
 two thick, short cables, made of horsehair to 
 resist the wet. A strong, planked frame
 
 ANDERIDA. 93 
 
 J 
 
 fixed to the cables, was drawn back by means 
 of a winch, and when released, struck with 
 its upper end a number of darts which lay in 
 front of it. The lower ends of the frame 
 worked in boxes of sand, by the help of 
 which the movement was checked without 
 straining the timbers. The angle of eleva- 
 tion was regulated by a simple arrangement 
 of wedges. 
 
 In front of the machine, spaces forty yards 
 square were pegged out at distances of a 
 hundred, a hundred and fifty, and two 
 hundred yards, the pegs being so large that 
 they were plainly seen. The man in charge 
 of the machine asked the Count into which of 
 these spaces he would have the darts thrown. 
 He named the two hundred yards distance. 
 The front wedQ^es were driven home, the 
 winches turned, a string was pulled, and 
 twenty darts went whizzing through the air. 
 The Count galloped to the farther end of the 
 range, and found them, all sticking in the 
 earth within the marked square, and so 
 deeply imbedded that they had to be dug
 
 94 ANDERIDA. 
 
 out of the soil. Returning rapidly, he met 
 the machine coming toward him. Four 
 horses drew it easily to the other end of the 
 o-round, where another flio-ht was discharged 
 with similar force and precision. 
 
 After expressing his admiration of this 
 engine, the Count inspected twenty others — 
 some finished, some approaching completion 
 — as well as a number of carts to carry the 
 missiles. 
 
 " For what purpose are these sockets at 
 the back of the carts." 
 
 " Some one spoke one day of the sithe- 
 armed chariots of the ancient Britons, and it 
 struck me that something of the same kind 
 might be devised, and used advantageously 
 by ourselves." 
 
 " But the horses ! We cannot have them 
 ready in time." 
 
 " We cannot. Horses we must dispense 
 with. W^e must fight on a steep, smooth slope. 
 These carts, having been emptied of their 
 freight, will be loaded with stones, chalk, turf, 
 anything, and will be sent rolling down the
 
 ANDERIDA. 95 
 
 hill with a couple of men at the pole of each 
 to guide it. Our agile warriors would easily 
 elude such a clumsy attack : the massive 
 Saxon phalanx must await the shock, resist 
 it if they can." 
 
 " We must have good men at the pole to 
 steer the contrivance," said Vortipore, after 
 trying the balance of the cart. " Indeed, I 
 doubt if two or even three men could control 
 it when once it has gathered speed. How- 
 ever, the best plan will be to give it a trial. 
 I know a spot, on this side of the Ouse, full 
 of steep gullies, where the cars would need 
 little guidance. Let three or four of them 
 follow us with men and tools, and we can 
 make any necessary alterations." 
 
 Two hours of easy riding brought them to 
 an isolated patch of hill, crescent-shaped, with 
 its hollow toward the south-west. The sea- 
 ward horn returned at a sharp angle to the 
 north-west, and at this corner, the loftiest 
 point of the hill,* were remains of an old 
 earthwork.. From this summit all the undu- 
 
 * Mount Caburn, near Lewes.
 
 96 ANDERIDA. 
 
 lations of the ground were visible. The outer 
 curves of the hill were steep and slippery, 
 while within, the little valleys converged, 
 presenting just the features required for the 
 proposed combinations. In the other direc- 
 tion, a little south of east, the towers of 
 Anderida rose from the sea and the woods. 
 The Count looked wistfully toward his city, 
 and said with a deep sigh — 
 
 " Here then we play our last stake." 
 " It will be the last stake if they get as far 
 as this. Here we may set the red dragon 
 and strengthen the old lines ; but the stress 
 of the fiorht should be where those four 
 little valleys meet. The engines would stand 
 on the intermediate heights, there are slopes 
 for the carts — and oh ! for a few hundred 
 heavy cavalry to follow them ! " 
 
 " You are longing for Ambrosius and his 
 knights to snatch the cup of victory and 
 glory from our lips." 
 
 Julius, pointing to the east, replied — 
 " Let us make our home and people safe, 
 and fight for glory another time."
 
 ANDERIDA. 97 
 
 The carts had been dragged to the top of 
 one of the hills overhanging the four valleys 
 above mentioned. One of them was filled 
 with flints and chalk, the spears were shipped 
 in the sockets, and two men at the pole 
 started it on its downward career. It was 
 totally unmanageable before it had gone fifty 
 yards. The stones were flung from end to 
 end, and from side to side, by the bumps and 
 jumps and lurchings. The pole jerked with 
 violence this way and that ; one of the men 
 was thrown off, the other had his ribs broken ; 
 up went the pole, down went the spears 
 into the grass, and the whole apparatus cap- 
 sized with a tremendous smash. 
 
 " Ha-ha ! " laughed Vortipore, looking at 
 his companion's face. " Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha ! 
 Never look so black. Lord Praefect ! It is an 
 admirable invention ; but we must give up 
 the hope of guiding it. Put it on four wheels 
 and let it go its own course. The mark will 
 be a wide one." 
 
 Julius would not be satisfied with such a 
 compromise ; he wished to make an ordinary 
 
 VOL. -I. H
 
 98 ANDERIDA. 
 
 cart available, with the least possible addi- 
 tion or alteration. He conferred with the 
 men, who talked and fitted planks and 
 wheels till Vortipore was tired, and rode back 
 to the camp on the summit. 
 
 Here the Count dismounted, removed the 
 
 bit from his horse's mouth, and left him to 
 
 feed on the short, sweet grass of the enclosed 
 
 space, while he himself mounted to the 
 
 highest part of the ancient rampart. His 
 
 thoughts strayed back to the first builders 
 
 of this hill fortress. That they were not 
 
 Roman its outline showed ; but the masters 
 
 of the world had found their way to this 
 
 desolate peak. As he scrambled to the spot 
 
 where he stood, a coin rolled among some 
 
 displaced stones. It was worn and covered 
 
 with a green crust ; but behind a laurelled 
 
 head he could read L SEPT SEV PERT, 
 
 and knew that it was the superscription of an 
 
 emperor, though he had not learning enough 
 
 to say which of them owned the beetling 
 
 forehead and sharp nose. 
 
 He saw in imagination the natives 'driven
 
 ANDERIDA. 99 
 
 from the lower ground, huddling with wives 
 and little ones and cattle in this last refuge 
 — the heavy legionaries coming on to the 
 assault, covered by archers, slingers, and 
 military engines. Old songs told of the 
 desperate valour of the defenders ; women 
 fighting madly, vainly, beside their husbands. 
 Vortipore could see the swaying, struggling 
 mass, where naked, untaught courage for a 
 while held at bay the best soldiers in the 
 world — but for a while ; soon the natives lay 
 a writhing, moaning heap ; turf and chalk 
 soaked up the blood, and the victors went 
 on their way with rude song and brutal 
 jest. He saw it all, and with an angry 
 groan, jerked the coin far away down the 
 hillside. 
 
 No sight or sound of mortal strife, little 
 that man had either made or marred, could 
 now be discerned from that lonely pedestal. 
 Creeping mists from the marshlands hid 
 the city and the sea, but away over the 
 downs the view was clear. Westward, hill 
 beyond hill rolled wave-like toward the sun-
 
 lOO ANDERIDA. 
 
 set, looming dusk and dim against a lurid 
 sky. Brown twilight, with the hush of 
 evening, sank down on the solitude, as the 
 horsemen descended the darkening combes.
 
 ANDERWA. 10 1 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 On the following day, the Count, with his 
 chiefs and Julius, set out betimes for the 
 army. They turned aside from the road to 
 visit the new works on the site chosen 
 yesterday, where a large number of men 
 were left, levelling, trenching, and stockading 
 the chosen points, and erecting sheds to pro- 
 tect the engines. 
 
 Vortipore watched for an opportunity to 
 talk with his son, but lorwerth's heavy coun- 
 tenance and red eyes gave warning that last 
 night's excess still buzzed in his brain. The 
 sweet, cool morning air on the hills revived 
 the prince's faculties, and the Count thought 
 it might be profitable to lead the conversa-
 
 I02 ANDERIDA. 
 
 tion into the proposed channel. Accordingly, 
 after they had forded the Ouse at the head 
 of the tideway, where the water spread out 
 wide and shallow, he rode up to the group 
 where lorwerth was displaying his renewed 
 vigour by snarling at his companions, who 
 cheerfully reined up as the Count approached. 
 
 " You do not show so much interest," said 
 he, " in our preparations as might reasonably 
 be expected." 
 
 " There are fools enough," was the gracious 
 answer : " quite enough to do all the fighting 
 without my troubling myself" 
 
 " But they will not fight well without their 
 natural chief," said Vortipore with a sl}- 
 glance at the amiable lad. A sullen fellow 
 is not easily read : you can seldom know 
 whether you have hit a bear, unless you 
 fairly knock him over. " This is a crisis in 
 Avhich every one who can wield a sword is 
 bound to fight for his country — especially 
 those in high station. You expect to suc- 
 ceed to my title and office ? " 
 
 " Your title and office ! I hope for more
 
 ANDERIDA. 103 
 
 than that. Now that Vortlgern is dead, 
 
 and Pascent his son forgotten in the wild j 
 
 lands west of the Severn, who has a better 
 
 claim to the Pendragonship than I ? " ' 
 
 " I rejoice that you think of this, if reflec- 
 tion induce you to become more fitted for 
 exalted place and duties. Your claim is 1 
 
 strong, but right is of little use unless rightly i 
 
 used. An indolent debauchee will gain no ! 
 
 adherents. People will choose him who, j 
 
 from evident proofs of valour and policy, | 
 
 seems most likely to protect them and to 
 promote their prosperity." i 
 
 "Proofs of valour! If I get killed what j 
 
 good will my birth do me } No ! The j 
 
 people may choose whom they will ; pay and j 
 
 plunder will bring me the best of fighting- 
 men, and while the countryman has grain 
 and stock, while the citizen has gold and I 
 
 rich stuffs, neither lorwerth nor his merry 
 men shall know want." 
 
 Vortipore guessed that this was quoted 
 from the speech of some boon companion. 
 He replied — -
 
 I04 ANDERIDA. 
 
 " The system has been tried, and the 
 result shows that your guards will be your 
 masters ; a bold, capable man who covets 
 your position, will kick your carcase into the 
 sewer. At the best, sorrow, sickness, and 
 old age will come ; wealth will melt away. 
 What will you do then ? " 
 
 " When I grow old, I suppose, I shall have 
 to die ; if I fall into poverty I shall be 
 forsaken, of course. The more reason for 
 taking my pleasure while I can." 
 
 " Well, " said Vortipore, " I shall leave 
 you a good treasury, but not much in it. 
 With what coin shall you pay your men ? " 
 
 " Promises," replied lorwerth, with such a 
 knowing leer, that his father thought there 
 must be something in him. Perhaps there 
 was. Every day we see better brains than 
 his besotted by sensuality, by self-indulgence. 
 
 Vortipore tried to lay hold of his hopeful 
 son by another handle. Whether Julius were 
 plotting or not, mattered little. Unless 
 lorwerth changed for the better, here or 
 there he had no chance of being made Pen-
 
 ANDERIDA. 105 
 
 drag-on or Count. Travel might improve 
 him, it could scarcely render him more 
 worthless. With a sigh the father spoke. 
 
 " You say truly, youth is the season for 
 pleasure, for what sings the poet — 
 
 ' Ut flos in septis secretus nascitur hortis.' 
 
 No, that is not it." 
 
 " Do not seek Latin quotations for me. 
 In the first place, I don't understand a word 
 of them, and if I did " 
 
 " The first reason is quite sufficient, be- 
 sides I cannot recall the passage. However, 
 we are agreed that pleasure is fitting for the 
 young. But what do people here know ot 
 pleasure. As much as that crow, flapping 
 along, and casting his shadow on these bare 
 hills. A fatter worm, a more highly- 
 flavoured carrion, are the limits of his ex- 
 perience and his desires. Hemmed in be- 
 tween swamp and sea, with fog for air, and 
 the barbarian for a neighbour, we live like 
 frogs. Ah, my son ! I saw the world when I 
 was your age. I visited the great cities of
 
 io6 ANDERIDA. 
 
 Gaul, beheld stately buildings, to which my 
 palace is a hovel. I saw the shows of gladia- 
 tors which lingered in the Aquitanian pro- 
 vince, long after the death of Saint Tele- 
 machus. There were combats of wild beasts, 
 lions of Africa and of Ind, the huge, intelli- 
 gent, snake-handed monster, whose tusks are 
 ivory ; ostriches, which run as swiftly as 
 other birds fly ; mighty Behemoth, Levia- 
 than, and the Unicorn. Then the chariot 
 races, colour against colour, the crowd shout- 
 ing and betting on the skill of the driver and 
 the speed of the Numidian horses. Enter- 
 tainments to which our insular feasts are as 
 the gorging of hogs at the swine-trough. 
 Ah ! the sparkling wines ; the dainty food ; 
 the dark-eyed, laughing girls, with purple 
 and gold, and gems, and crowns of rose and 
 lily ! Ah ! the fine air, which to breathe 
 was as drinking nectar ; the blithe friends, 
 with jest, and song, and music. Ah ! " 
 
 A long-drawn suspiration was to provoke 
 lorwerth to declare that he too would see 
 the world, as his father, in fact, had not
 
 AND E RID A. 107 
 
 done ; but had given this glowing descrip - 
 tion, as best he could, at second hand. 
 
 Whether lorwerth thought that he would 
 not count for much amonof the biesrer 
 pieces, or whether he had a special object of 
 attraction near at hand, or whether it were 
 his ill conditions, or a combination of several 
 sentiments, so it was that he manifested no 
 eagerness to try the allurements of Gaul, but 
 looked as unmoved as a decorated Terminus. 
 
 Vortipore chafed at this slackness, and 
 wondered to himself whether it were a result 
 of exalted birth. He had been more or 
 less married to many ladies ; but lorwerth's 
 mother, a somewhat slow-footed Damnonian 
 princess, whose pedigree ran through Brut to 
 Aphrodite, was the only one with whom he 
 had gone through all the ecclesiastical rites 
 and every civil form which pertained to 
 marriages of the higher class. This thought 
 about the princess led him easily to the 
 question whether he had done justice to 
 himself as regarded his late wife's posses- 
 sions. Would it be possible to get anything
 
 lo8 ANDERIDA. 
 
 more out of them ? His pecuniary neces- 
 sities were great and urgent — they always 
 were ; and he glanced at his son, who was 
 absorbed in kindred meditations. He broke 
 silence at length by saying — 
 
 " The prospect is not tempting ; you have 
 no wish to cut a dash among the princes and 
 nobles beyond the sea." 
 
 " How cut a dash," growled lorwerth, 
 " without money. Your treasury empty, as 
 you say." 
 
 " Yes ! I cannot help you out of that 
 dish ; but there are others in which you may 
 dip your hand." 
 
 "Indeed! I will help myself gladly. I 
 hope it will not prove ' arian cor,' fairy 
 money, and turn to rubbish." 
 
 "No fear of that ; it is in good solidi and 
 denarii, or unminted silver by weight. It 
 will last longer than you can keep it." 
 
 "Where and by what means is it to be 
 obtained ? " 
 
 "As to the means, you will have to re- 
 nounce what you can never possess, and for
 
 ANDERIDA. 109 
 
 the question, where, you must ask your 
 grandfather where he keeps his valuables." 
 
 "Ah, traitor !" shouted the youth. ''Ah, 
 monster ! Can you speak to me of that ? " 
 and he flourished his fist at his parent's head. 
 " To me ! Fiends and furies ! Me whom you 
 have shaved as Kaw of North Britain shaved 
 Yspaddaden Penkawr, flaying skin and flesh 
 to the very bone. ' Art shaved, man ? ' asked 
 Kaw. I am shaved. Leagues and leagues 
 and leagues of fair and fertile land cut off 
 from me — Isca, the noble, the wealthy city 
 that you have tried to alienate. Yes, you 
 know the value of the coinage, robber ! 
 The difficulty of keeping it is fresh in your 
 memory! May th " 
 
 " My son ! my son ! Be not so furious. 
 Hear me." 
 
 " The curse reserved for those who steal 
 and devour the substance of their children 
 light on you and stick to you. Ah ! " And 
 with an inarticulate snarl of rage the youth 
 wheeled his horse, and stabbed the spurs into 
 him again and again, till the creature ran 
 away with him.
 
 no ANDERIDA. 
 
 It was an unusual outburst of vigour and 
 eloquence, but lorwerth had abstracted his 
 affections from all other subjects to fix them 
 upon his own profit and pleasure ; on these 
 two points his emotions were profound in 
 proportion to their concentration. 
 
 Vortipore, on the other hand, really loved 
 his children, and would fain advance their 
 interests ; what he had done was forced upon 
 him by sheer unrelenting necessity. It was 
 true, in a sense, that he had received large 
 sums from his father-in-law in consideration 
 of his renouncing, on the part of lorwerth 
 and for himself, certain rights, but these 
 rights were so vague that he was glad to be 
 quit of them. As to the young man's claim, 
 one can neither resign nor give away the 
 property of another ; and if his son dis- 
 approved of the arrangements entered into 
 on his behalf, he could repudiate them. 
 Indeed this was the very course the fond 
 parent was about to recommend, with a view 
 of gaining farther specimens of art from the 
 Damnonian hoards. All this Vortipore said
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 1 1 
 
 to himself, and would fain have represented 
 to his offspring, whose unfilial demeanour 
 wrung- his heart. Even if the mortgaged 
 claim could not be redeemed — and repayment 
 is an unfailing source of vexation — there were 
 circumstances under which it would revive 
 without any refunding ; and the joy is great 
 when one achieves the exploit of eating the 
 cake and yet having it. He cried with bitter 
 feeling — 
 
 "Unjust! Ungrateful! was not the cash, 
 after all, spent for your benefit, directly or 
 indirectly. We sacrifice ourselves for our 
 children, and our reward is the approval ot 
 our conscience." 
 
 The Count would have expanded his 
 crushed heart to Julius, who was too wary 
 to be drawn into such a discussion, and 
 diverted the conversation to the state ot the 
 army, whose outposts were now distinctly 
 visible. The position was most formidable — 
 on a high steep crest with a strong earthen 
 rampart of ancient date, which commanded a 
 pass between the down and the forest.
 
 1 1 2 ANDERIDA. 
 
 There were no tents. Chiefs and men for 
 the most part lay on the bare ground. 
 Parties stationed on the highest points kept 
 a look-out in every direction, but the force 
 was scattered, and seemed lost in the vast 
 sweeping curves of hill and hollow. The 
 larger part were busy among the level 
 Sfrounds below, where wood and water 
 abounded, insomuch that Julius wondered 
 why ^lle had not already attacked them ; 
 perhaps he too wanted time to gather himself 
 together for a spring. It was agreed that 
 a lower ridge, opposite the fords of Ouse, i 
 
 would be both safer and more convenient. i 
 
 Some of the chiefs went to their tribesmen, ; 
 
 some stayed and partook of the mid-day meal 
 with the Count and Julius. They sat or 
 reclined on the turf under the lee of the wall, ; 
 
 and dipped their hands into beechen bowls | 
 
 containing the food. Thin slices of mutton, 
 stewed with lentils, onions, and herbs, formed j 
 
 the staple of the repast, with wheatears 
 roasted on skewers, flat cakes of bread, and 
 some cheese.
 
 ANDERIDA. I 1 3 
 
 o 
 
 The provision for the mouth was scanty, 
 but the sieht had a noble feast. Limited on 
 the right by a rival summit, in front and 
 to the left the eye ranged far and wide. 
 Straight it plunged down the hillside over 
 the copses to the beech woods, which reared 
 scintillating domes to the sunlight ; to the 
 oaks huge and stark in the deep lands ; to 
 endless mounds and hollows of undistinofuish- 
 able foliage, moving multitudinous as the 
 ripple of the Channel when the south-west 
 wind meets the tide on lonof twinkling 
 reaches ; to leagues beyond leagues of green- 
 grey forest, till it rested on blue steeps north- 
 ward, far away. 
 
 The men of Celtic race, rarely dull to any 
 phase of natural loveliness, drank the beauty 
 of the scene with unconscious enjoyment, just 
 as they inhaled the pure air ; but Julius, who 
 could admire a statue or a building, had no 
 taste for forests. Dark, muddy, and intricate, 
 their highest use was to feed swine ; they 
 were best when hewn down and converted 
 into ships or houses. He soon recalled the 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 114 ANDERIDA. 
 
 others to necessary affairs, by offering to 
 carry out, in practical fashion, lorwerth's idea 
 of a message to the Saxons. 
 
 "An embassy," he observed, "is an ex- 
 cellent device for picking up information and 
 gaining time. Much depends on the news 
 from Venta. If that is good we should fight 
 at once, so as to be able to strike again before 
 men scatter for the hay harvest ; if it is bad, 
 delay is our profit ; if none come, we must 
 amuse y^lle with negrotiations." 
 
 Messengers were at once sent to the Saxon 
 camp to announce the approach of envoys 
 in the morning, and to request a favourable 
 reception. 
 
 The chiefs then deliberated on the scope 
 and order of the mission, and in the end left 
 everything to Julius. 
 
 lorwerth was named as a member of the 
 party, but it was ascertained that he had 
 been thrown from his horse, and so severely 
 bruised as to incapacitate him for exertion. 
 
 Before nightfall the messengers returned 
 with a curt reply that the envoys might visit 
 the Saxon camp.
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 15 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 As Julius rode the next day towards the Adur, 
 he thought less of what he himself should do 
 or say than of the character of the men he 
 was about to meet. During years of war 
 and truce, opportunities of studying them 
 had occurred which he never failed to im- 
 prove. The outer husk he knew to be coarse 
 and rough — their speech, their manners, their 
 dwellings, and themselves, he regarded with 
 disgust ; their intellect inspired him with a 
 contempt which circumstances had ofttimes 
 compelled him to mitigate. Their best minds 
 resembled the vast beam of the battering 
 ram, whose first movements are small and 
 slow, increasing with every swing, smiting 
 stroke upon stroke, till whatever opposes
 
 T 1 6 ANDERIDA. 
 
 the persistent sway yields or crumbles into 
 dust. 
 
 The vices of the Saxons were indeed 
 patent. Lovers of strong drink and gross 
 feeding, scant of grace and sparing of cour- 
 tesy, slow of speech though not slack in 
 doing, heedless of the past, careless of the 
 future, they trusted by luck and strength and 
 dogged courage to win through the morrow. 
 Capable of refinement as of aught else, but 
 not gifted with superfluous delicacy, they 
 were stern warriors, hardy workers, born to 
 fell the forest, to steer on stormy seas, to 
 bend the stubborn powers of nature with 
 more stubborn will, to leaven feeble races 
 with redder blood. 
 
 Their strength lay in moral qualities rather 
 than in intellectual activity — in their rever- 
 ence for law, their obedience to discipline, 
 their indomitable purpose. And it is not intel- 
 lectual faculty but moral force which leads 
 men and nations to power : intellect may 
 bring renown, energy gives the rule. Their 
 virtues were fortitude and faithfulness. Thev
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 1 7 
 
 were true to the wives they had chosen, true 
 to the chiefs they had elected, true to the 
 cause, good or bad, they had adopted. With 
 a leader whom they trusted, who was worthy 
 of their trust, seldom was broken their line 
 of locked linden-shields — few could withstand 
 the onset of their firm-set phalanx. When 
 overpowered by numbers, by better weapons, 
 or superior tactics, they would rather die on 
 the place of slaughter than betray, by flight, 
 the comrades right and left of them. Dis- 
 aster and defeat roused their sturdy hearts 
 to heroism, and called forth resources hitherto 
 unsuspected. 
 
 As Julius looked from the height on to the 
 windings of the river, which was deflected 
 from side to side by the hills, he saw 
 the western margin of the valley studded 
 with Marks, each having its due proportion 
 of land divided into arable, wood, and 
 meadow. Cattle that fed in the marshes, 
 and the sheep on the downs, were tended 
 by enslaved Britons. The mowing grass 
 seemed almost ready for the sithe ; wheat
 
 Il8 ANDERIDA. 
 
 and barley, oats and rye, stretched in 
 green furlongs, with patches of leguminous 
 and other vegetables between them. Some 
 of the acres were fallow, some sown 
 with lupins to be ploughed in for manure. 
 There were allotments marked out eastward 
 of the river, but with no signs of occupation. 
 Building and cultivation were deferred, per- 
 haps, till another victory should seat the 
 Saxons firmly in that region. 
 
 Lower down, where the estuary expanded 
 its muddy bosom, could be seen a new town 
 named after the king's second son, Wlencing. 
 It consisted chiefly of a long line of wooden 
 buildings, facing the water, with a number of 
 small craft drawn up on the beach in front 
 of them. Everything betokened work, order, 
 and prosperity ; and offered a strong contrast 
 to the state of the more civilized but less 
 steadfast Britons. 
 
 So Julius went on to the river, where he 
 was met by a young officer at the head of a 
 dozen Gesithas — picked men, companions of 
 the king, who ate at his table, and formed
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 19 
 
 his guard, mustering six hundred strong on 
 the day of battle. Their leader, ^scwine, 
 advanced to meet the Praefect of Anderida 
 with frank greeting, and greater show of 
 amenity than was common among the 
 Saxons. He even used the British tongue, 
 but with such apparent effort that Julius 
 assured him that he understood and used 
 the Saxon speech sufficiently for all purposes. 
 As it was necessary to leave the horses on 
 the hither bank, it was easily arranged that 
 those in charge of them should have means 
 of communicating with their chief, and Julius 
 left instructions that any news, or messenger 
 from Venta, should be sent on without delay. 
 The boat lay at a little wharf of rough 
 stones, green and slippery with sea grass. 
 The twelve Gesithas rowed, while ^scwine 
 handled the steering oar, and talked to his 
 guest with a fearlessness which seemed to 
 imply that diplomacy could make no dis- 
 coveries where there were no secrets, while 
 the men pulled easily, crossing the ebb slant- 
 wise towards the farther shore. They spoke
 
 120 ANDERIDA. 
 
 of the Gesithas, and y^scwine told how the 
 band was recruited by fresh arrivals from 
 old Saxony ; what proportion of the num- 
 ber was in attendance on the lord, while 
 the rest wrought their lands ; how when a 
 Gesith married he received an allotment in 
 one of the new Marks and became a free- 
 man, while his land, his horse, and his arms 
 returned to the lord who had bestowed 
 them. Julius asked what were the duties 
 of the Gesithas, and who were entitled to 
 have such a body of retainers ? yEscwine 
 replied that every great man entertained 
 such a force, but that the kingr discouraofed 
 the practice as leading to most bloody 
 quarrels, it being a point of honour with 
 a true companion not to survive his lord. 
 In illustration of the pernicious results of 
 custom he related the following story : — * 
 
 " When our Lord yElle had held the king- 
 dom four winters, Ine, the ealdorman, went 
 about to kill Osgod, who was the king's 
 
 *" Chron. Sax. Wheloc's edition. An. 755. The story 
 is altered to suit the earlier date.
 
 ANDERIDA. I 2 1 
 
 wife's brother, and having asked, he knew 
 that Osg-od was in the house of a certain 
 woman, having few companions in attendance 
 on him. Then he rode thither and beset the 
 house ere the men within were aware, and 
 Osgod sprang to the door and fought warily 
 till he saw the ealdorman, then was he out 
 on him suddenly and wounded him sore, 
 but they were all fighting on Osgod till 
 they had slain him. When some of that 
 woman's attendants discovered the unstill- 
 ness to Osgod's companions, they ran to 
 help as each was yare and rathest. Ine 
 offered life and fee, but they would by no 
 means listen, and all were slain but a boy, 
 who ran and told the matter to the ealdor- 
 man Osric, and to Wyverth the Gesith. 
 
 " Then, in the morning, Osgod's men were 
 gathered together, and rode to the place 
 where he lay slain, and the gates were locked. 
 
 " Then Ine spoke to them from over the 
 gate, and offered to submit to their own 
 doom as to blood-fine, if they would be at 
 peace with him and help him, and, quoth he,
 
 122 ANDERIDA. 
 
 ' Many of your kin are with me and will 
 not go from me.' 
 
 " But they answered, ' No kinsman is 
 dearer to us than our lord, and never will 
 we make peace with the man who was his 
 bane, but we pray our kinsmen to come 
 forth unhurt.' 
 
 " Then these answered again, ' The same 
 was offered to them who were slain with 
 Osgod, and we mind your words no more 
 than did those your brethren mind ours.' 
 
 "So they fought about the gate till Ine was 
 finished, and the men that were with him 
 were slain, all but a lad who was saved by 
 the ealdorman, Osric, because he was his 
 sister's son, and he got several wounds, the 
 marks of which," said y^scwine, in conclusion, 
 turning down his singlet " you may still see." 
 
 By this time they were come to land, and 
 found horses ready on the green, which 
 sloped to the beach. As they traversed the 
 line of log-houses facing the water, the eyes 
 and ears of Julius were absorbing facts, as a 
 thirsty soil imbibes the shower. He counted
 
 AND E RID A. I 23 
 
 a 
 
 the houses and estimated the number of men 
 they contained ; he observed the Hthsmen — 
 g-rimy, hairy giants, whose natural unsavouri- 
 ness was concealed by a coat of pitch. Some 
 of them were repairing the vessels, some 
 mending the gear, while some were sleeping in 
 the shadow of their ships, and not a few were 
 gambling, drinking strange drinks, and growl- 
 ing strange oaths in tones which might pass 
 for muffled reverberations of Thor's hammer- 
 stroke. The place was unguarded, and 
 might easily be destroyed but for the diffi- 
 culty of crossing the water in any strength 
 without giving an alarm. Perhaps, also, they 
 who assailed the wasp's nest would not 
 escape without stings. 
 
 Through the town they went, and beyond 
 it to a meadow with extensive buildings on 
 one side ; and at the end, under a great oak, 
 sat ^lle, with the Gesithas on either hand, 
 and in front of him the Witan. It was well 
 attended, for the prospect of a battle had 
 brought in many from distant Marks, who 
 usually attended the assembly only when it
 
 1 24 ANDERIDA. 
 
 was held in their own district. Not the 
 neighbouring Somtingas alone, children of 
 Somta, the Ferringas, the Garingas, the 
 Polingas, the Terringas, but men from the 
 towns of ^sc and Cilta in the weald, of 
 Dunna the dark, Heortingas from the north- 
 west, and Witringas from the earliest Mark, 
 near the spot where 2^ lie beached his three 
 ships fourteen years ago ; from dean and 
 combe, from hurst and lea, they came to swell 
 the army and the council of their chosen 
 king. 
 
 The ealdormen and a few high officers of 
 state sat below the sovereign ; the headmen 
 on benches in a circle, and behind them stood 
 the armed freemen, prompt to speak their 
 judgment on any subject, and sure that their 
 arguments would be respectfully considered. 
 Eloquence was of little avail among these 
 practical persons ; they stood firmly on their 
 feet, abhorring flights of fancy. True, they 
 liked to hear their opinions cleverly ex- 
 pressed, but no amount of ability sufficed to 
 alter their convictions. Certain stereotyped
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 25 
 
 forms of thoueht and action contained the 
 essence of wisdom, and these, set forth in the 
 dear famiHar words, commanded unanimous 
 assent, universal applause. 
 
 They were of less barbarous aspect than 
 the lithsmen of the shore ; their dress, their 
 persons, and, above all, their arms had been 
 objects of marked solicitude. Germs of taste 
 for the fine arts might be observed in a 
 very early stage of development. Some had 
 smeared their shields with smudges of divers 
 colours ; some bore on their armour pieces of 
 metal cut into shapes which might be taken 
 to represent some four-legged thing, as a 
 stool or settle ; but the artists alleged that 
 these ensigns represented bears, wolves, and 
 other beasts, objects of their respectful admi- 
 ration. It may be said, without flattery, that 
 they copied their ideals more successfully in 
 life and conversation than in painting and 
 sculpture. The helmets were remarkable, 
 most of them bearing some resemblance to 
 the boar's head, sacred to Frea. 
 
 Julius was led into the circle, paid due
 
 126 AND E RID A. 
 
 respect to all, and offered to the king a 
 parchment scroll, y^lle looked at it with 
 unfeigned contempt, and asked — 
 
 "Is any man skilled to read these Runes ? " 
 A priest took the document, examined it 
 gravely, and said — 
 
 " These are spells of Welsh demons ; 
 touch them not." 
 
 " You can do your bidding," said y^lle, 
 " by word of mouth." 
 
 Julius was not unaware of their ignorance. 
 He waved his hand and spoke in short, clear 
 sentences — 
 
 " Thus says Vortipore, Prince and Count 
 of the Saxon Shore : You come in ships from 
 over the sea, you slay the people, you burn 
 the towns, you toss the children on your 
 pikes. Those who are left plough for you 
 their father's field ; they tend for you flocks 
 and herds which are their own. Goods ill- 
 gotten are naught ; evil hap is his who robs 
 the fatherless. Will the hungry maw never 
 be filled ? Will the blood-thirst never be 
 slaked } Hear the words of Vortipore, for
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 2 7 
 
 they are wise and good : That you have, 
 hold ; let the river be the boundary. Let 
 there be a truce ; and let the wise men meet 
 to settle the peace-gift as well as all matters 
 of dispute between us." 
 
 Julius ceased. The king looked around, 
 and extended his sceptre to Ealhstan, one of 
 the headmen who had risen, and now spoke. 
 
 " The smell of human blood is sweet to the 
 All-Father. How shall man sit in Waelheal, 
 and drink mead and ale from his foeman's 
 skull, unless the Waelcyrian, the tellers of the 
 slain, see and approve his doughty deeds. 
 Worms-gard is the lot of him who loves 
 peace ; no peace for us. The spindle to the 
 woman, the yoke to the ox, the sword to the 
 hand of the freeman." 
 
 The king again stretched out his wand as 
 Eormenred rose. 
 
 " We left the land of our fathers, because 
 there was not room for all. We came here 
 in ships, and took what we wanted by the 
 strength of our hands, as it is meet for men 
 to do. He who cannot hold what he has
 
 128 ANDERIDA. 
 
 loses his right. Woden gives the earth to 
 his sons. He says, ' Let the best have it.' 
 We have taken the land, but if better men 
 come, we shall not keep it. This is right law." 
 
 Julius spoke again. 
 
 *' There are broad lands and fair havens 
 to the westward. Take the gift of peace ; 
 turn from these bare downs to richer fields. 
 Take our daughters in wedlock ; invite no 
 more of your kinsfolk, and there will be room 
 for all." 
 
 Wigmund rose, and receiving the sign 
 from ^lle, said — 
 
 " Brother should help brother. Nearer to 
 us is our farthest kinsman than these Welsh 
 men are. Shall he want while they have 
 land and treasure ? It were impiety — :rank 
 naughtiness — the gods would rightly curse 
 us. Downs are good for sheep, as meadows 
 for neat cattle ; both will we take, and the 
 daughters of the Welsh also. He who starts 
 to a place, and turning aside goes to another, 
 is as a leaf which falls from a bough, alight- 
 inof where the wind will. We are the arrow
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 29 
 
 which flies straight to its mark. Our mark 
 is Anderida." 
 
 Then Beorht, a freeman, standing in the 
 outer ring, raised his hand. The king, 
 always gracious to that class, though he 
 found them ofttimes stubborn, motioned to 
 him to speak. 
 
 " Time is short. Next week is Midsum- 
 mer. When harvest-tide comes we must eo 
 home to gather the crops." 
 
 " Surely," interrupted -^lle with vehe- 
 mence, " surely the stout war-smiths will 
 not forsake their chief. Let women and 
 serfs gather grass and seeds, we reap the 
 field of battle." 
 
 The Gesithas clashed their arms in ap- 
 proval of this sentiment, but the goodman of 
 the Stseningas continued calmly — 
 
 "We do not forsake our chosen chief, we 
 are ready to fight before harvest, or after the 
 crops are in ; but at harvest-tide home goes 
 the freeman, that he, and his wife, and his 
 bairns, yea, likewise, his serfs, may eat bread 
 in the winter." 
 
 VOL. I. , K
 
 1 30 ANDERIDA. 
 
 '' Yes f yes ! " cried all the freemen, " that 
 is true." 
 
 ^lle cast an anxious eye towards Julius, 
 but that diplomatist was engaged in earnest 
 conversation with one of his suite, having 
 taken mental note of the state of affairs. 
 
 Up jumped a little man with red hair, 
 whom the burly Saxons, in sport, called 
 " Ent," the giant, and he shouted — 
 
 " Welshman ! Welshman, I say." 
 
 Julius took no notice of this discourteous 
 address, and yElle with a smile interposed. 
 
 " What is it, Ent ? " 
 
 " I would ask this Welshman what his 
 peace-gift may be." 
 
 Julius thought it worth while to attend 
 now. He looked at Ent, he looked at y^lle ; 
 he surveyed the living ring, and saw on 
 every honest face an expression of unaffected 
 interest. 
 
 " The amount of the gift is a point to be 
 settled when peace is really agreed on. If 
 you decide to be our friends, to such Vorti- 
 pore weighs not his bounty. Perhaps five
 
 ANDERIDA. 131 
 
 hundred pounds weight of silver, perhaps a 
 thousand ; but I cannot even speak on this 
 topic until the preliminaries have your con- 
 sent. I have no authority to do so." 
 
 The Britons looked very serious, and the 
 Saxons thought they grieved that so much 
 money should pass from them. It may have 
 been so as regards some ; others knew the 
 extent of Vortipore's riches, and had to 
 restrain a smile. Like Bronwen's dowry, the 
 silver existed in a potential future. 
 
 Several headmen rose together, and many 
 hands were lifted in the outer ring. The 
 king had no difficulty in divining the nature 
 of this general movement, and said — 
 
 " Our guests have ridden far, they hunger 
 and thirst. ^scwine ! lead them to our 
 booth, and set before them meat and various 
 drinks." 
 
 At the mention of " various drinks " some 
 of the more experienced Britons were 
 observed to shudder, but they followed their 
 leader with countenances resolute, though 
 pale. No harm befel them. One youn 
 
 ( r
 
 1.^2 ANDERIDA. 
 
 man, misled by tickling curiosity, filled his 
 mouth with a portion of one of the "various 
 drinks," which nearly choked him. This was 
 considered an excellent jest, and Julius 
 laughed with the rest ; but the object of his 
 mirth was the Witan, occupied, as he was 
 well assured, in devising schemes for the 
 acquisition of non-existent treasure. 
 
 At length they were recalled. As Julius 
 re-entered the circle, a small plate of lead 
 was pressed into his hand. yElle said — 
 
 " We cannot so suddenly resolve on such 
 an important business. There is a belief 
 that this wish for peace is only guileful, a 
 pretext for gaining time. You may prove 
 your truth by at once paying five hundred 
 pounds of silver. This shall be counted as 
 part of the peace-gift, not to be paid again." 
 
 Julius meantime had got the plate right 
 side upward, the two strokes for the eyes 
 above the stroke for the mouth, and perused 
 Bael's missive. It was a small force, but the 
 promptitude of the attack looked like earnest ; 
 if it were so, the blow would be followed up.
 
 ANDERWA. 133 
 
 Then if ^lle detached part of his strength 
 to the northern frontier, and the Venta men, 
 eluding him, could join with Anderida, there 
 would be large possibilities. 
 
 While he thus pondered, the king was 
 hearkening to a man who told, in a low voice, 
 that there was a rumour of several Marks in 
 the north-west having been burnt before 
 sunrise, and he wished to discover if this 
 were the work of a marauding expedition, or 
 part of an organized aggression. If the 
 latter, Julius would be aware of it. It was 
 time for Julius to reply, and he no longer 
 cared for a truce — 
 
 " Truce if you will ; peace if you will ; 
 but no peace-gift till the peace is made." 
 
 yElle watched him keenly, and suggested — - 
 
 " The silver might be given back if peace 
 were not made." 
 
 "It might ! " and Julius laughed derisively. 
 
 The king felt almost certain that Julius 
 had tidings of the foray. What was he 
 looking at in his hand ? 
 
 Ent, the giant, broke in—
 
 ^ 34 ANDERIDA. 
 
 " That silver we will have, Welshman, and 
 make bracelets thereof. Who will buy my 
 share ? " 
 
 The Saxons laughed, but Julius turned to 
 his adversary — 
 
 " You are like an old knife," he said, " very 
 sharp what there is of you ; but don't cut the 
 cake before you have it." 
 
 This provoked a more vociferous roar, and 
 Julius was elated that he could hit so nicely 
 the meridian of his hearers' wits, ^lle took 
 the word — 
 
 " For that jest you shall have three days' 
 truce without a peace-gift. I will send mes- 
 sengers back with you." 
 
 " As you will," answered Julius carelessly. 
 
 During these three days' cessation of 
 hostilities in the east, ^lle hoped to crush 
 the foe in the north-west. 
 
 Julius felt that he had lost touch of his 
 adversary's weapon, but it did not matter if 
 his manoeuvre could be executed. He must 
 put himself, without delay, in communication
 
 ANDERIDA. 135 
 
 with the leader of the Venta troops. He 
 took good care that ^^lle's ambassadors 
 should see nothing which was not intended 
 for their inspection.
 
 I .^6 ANDERIDA. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 All that night the scouts of Juhus watched 
 on the hills, spies swam the river and lurked 
 on every track. Intelligence was easily pro- 
 cured. There were people on either side of 
 the fluctuating frontier who experienced a 
 contemptuous and precarious toleration from 
 both the contending powers ; men who could 
 not show themselves too openly either in 
 Saxon or British assemblies, but had dealings 
 in both, and knew much of what passed 
 
 there. 
 
 Among the Saxons, who loved frankpledge 
 and cognate institutions, every man was 
 bound to have some guarantee for his good 
 conduct. The frankpledge was a lawful 
 association of ten men, bound by oath to be 
 surety for each other, so that if one of them
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 3 7 
 
 did wrong the remaining nine answered for 
 his offence. It seems probable that the 
 tything was the district occupied by the men 
 under oath of frankpledge, the hundred being 
 an aggregation of ten tythings, with a special 
 officer over it. But in times of foreig^n war 
 and intestine strife the unit can seldom have 
 been constant, and it became obvious that a 
 group of hundreds under a responsible officer 
 was more efficient for administering justice. 
 At all events the nine members of the society 
 had to pay "bot and wite," fine and compen- 
 sation, for an absconding brother. 
 
 Now the Saxons, reckless of their lives, 
 were susceptible about the pocket, and their 
 legislation was founded on this peculiarity. 
 When the thief made away with anything, 
 the head of his sworn society called together 
 two of the better sort of his own "frith- 
 borga," with the head and two members 
 from each of three neighbouring districts, and 
 these twelve having sworn that they knew 
 not where the thief or the stolen goods were, 
 the loss had to be made good out of the
 
 1 38 ANDERIDA. 
 
 property of the peccant brother as far as it 
 would go, and from the accumulations of 
 the other nine members when that limit was 
 passed. The money penalty had a sufficiently 
 deterrent effect, lives and limbs were spared, 
 and the interests of peace and honesty as 
 effectually served as by the ghastly personal 
 forfeits of a later age. 
 
 There were some whose ideas of liberty 
 were too advanced to permit them to be 
 members of any society ; to submit their 
 necks to any yoke however lenient. These 
 men, unprovided with " borh," or bail, were 
 liable to be slain by any who met them ; but 
 there was an awkward alternative : they 
 were hardy fellows who lived quite as well 
 as their inlawed cousins ; they fared jollily 
 enough, hunting, fishing, trapping, and when 
 occasion presented itself, doing a little stealing 
 or bartering, or some such simple operation 
 of commerce, and they not unfrequently 
 made friends in high places by a well-timed 
 scrap of news. But these were few in com- 
 parison with the vagabond Britons who.
 
 AND E RID A. 1 39 
 
 driven from land and home, thankful to 
 escape with life and freedom, lived as they 
 could between land and water. 
 
 Among- all these the agents of Julius cast 
 their bait, but there was no need to angle 
 among such waters to-night, the movement 
 of v^lle was easily detected, and its direction 
 no mystery. Julius sent messengers in quest 
 of Farinmail, desiring a meeting at the ensu- 
 ing midnight, on a well-known hill which lay- 
 about mi(dway between the hosts. 
 
 Soon after daybreak a fresh stir was noticed 
 on the Saxon side of the river ; presently a 
 gallant party, with hound and hunting spear, 
 formed a long procession up the river valle^^ 
 y^scwine, with twenty-five Gesithas and a 
 hundred men on foot, had been commissioned 
 to cut off all communication between the men 
 of Anderida and the forayers in the north- 
 west. Out of respect for the truce, -^lle 
 called it a hunting party, ordered that it 
 should not overstep the Saxon boundary, and 
 permitted Ostrythe, his daughter, and Eanfled, 
 Cissa's wife, to join it.
 
 I40 ANDERIDA. 
 
 Wlencing, the ^'Etheling, was left in com- 
 mand during the king's absence, but, as a 
 check upon his rash and cruel temper, a 
 council of elders was appointed, without 
 whose consent nothing of importance could 
 be undertaken. He sat at the head of the 
 board in the laro^e booth where the kino^ and 
 his Gesithas usually ate. The tables were 
 large enough to dine two hundred men, but 
 so few of the company remained that most of 
 the planks were removed from the trestles 
 and piled with the benches at one end of the 
 hall. A comrade nodded to ^scwine over 
 his alehorn, and said — 
 
 " A blithe hunting and a speedy return ! 
 We shall be few and sad when you are all 
 gone. Shall you be back to supper ? " 
 
 " No ; " answered ^scwine. " That is, 
 the ladies return, but we must watch the 
 fords all nieht. You will be blither than 
 
 o 
 
 we. 
 
 "Ha, ha ! " mocked another. " You mean 
 when the ladies come back." 
 
 Wlencing was savage because it had been
 
 ANDERIDA. 141 
 
 said that they would be sad without ^scwine, 
 and now broke in with — - 
 
 " The ladies are my sisters. I permit no 
 man to speak lightly of them. Let this talk 
 cease." 
 
 " Lord T^theling ! " replied the last speaker, 
 filling his horn from a leathern flagon, '' no 
 man spoke lightly of ladies ; and I deny your 
 authority to forbid a Gesith to speak of what 
 he will, so that he speak truth and seem- 
 mess. 
 
 ;' Your speech was unseemly. My autho- 
 rity ! It is here," touching his sword, "ready 
 to crop the ears of any man, Gesith or other, 
 who defies and insults me or mine." 
 
 " With all my heart ! " replied the Gesith, 
 rising ; but ^scwine pushed back the bench 
 on which he sat and said — 
 
 " If any man insults the lady Ostrythe, or 
 speaks of her unseemly, he shall answer to 
 me, her cousin and betrothed husband. 
 There was nothing said to quarrel about." 
 
 " I shall not ask your leave to quarrel, 
 betrothed or not ; but as you seem dull to
 
 144 - ANDERIDA. 
 
 from the town, Wlencing took his way to 
 his sisters' lodging, but found it deserted. 
 After some time he roused a sleepy groom, 
 and learned that the ladies had left half an 
 hour before, whereupon he ordered his horse 
 to be brought. Ceolwulph and others tried 
 in vain to dissuade him from leaving the 
 camp ; they only provoked an outburst of 
 rage, and the yEtheling rode away alone 
 and angry. 
 
 " It is a pity," said old Ceolwulf ; "the lad 
 is a good swordsman." 
 
 "Men say," added Wigmund, "Black sheep 
 make good mutton." 
 
 " Not till they are killed," growled Ealth- 
 stan. " He is not the sort to make old bones ; 
 he is too hot-headed." 
 
 Ostrythe and Eanfled, the last of the 
 party, had almost cleared the wood when 
 Wlencing overtook them. They turned to- 
 wards him as he drew near, and his flushed 
 face, with its veins twisting and distended, 
 caused Ostrythe to exclaim^ 
 
 "Is anything wrong, brother ? "
 
 ANDERIDA. 145 
 
 " Is anything right ? " was the growHng 
 answer. 
 
 "Not so right as when we started," 
 answered Eanfled. 
 
 " Ah ! I hinder the bilHng and cooing, 
 do I ? " 
 
 " Truly," retorted Eanfled, " they would 
 be hardy doves that dare bill and coo in 
 your presence." 
 
 " I forbid you to go with this company ; 
 return home now, at once," and his voice 
 was thick and painful. 
 
 " As we have the command of ^lle the 
 king," began Eanfled. 
 
 But Ostrythe interrupted her, laying a 
 gentle hand on his arm. 
 
 " Brother ! control this temper ere it be 
 too late. Go you back and bind your head 
 with wet cloths, and drink no wine nor ale 
 lest evil befall you. I do not reproach you," 
 she continued with much gravity, *' because 
 of your venting your anger upon us who 
 have not offended you. It is easy to see you 
 are not yourself." 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 1 46 ANDERIDA. 
 
 "If you mean to say that I am drunk, it's 
 a lie. I have " 
 
 Eanfled, ranging upon the other side of 
 him, began to exhort him as to the use of an 
 infusion of marshmallows, with borage and 
 balm, and gave directions where to find and 
 how to prepare the herbs, enlivening the 
 matter with anecdotes of the relief this medi- 
 cine had afforded to many who were troubled 
 with heat of the brain, liver, and midriff — 
 
 " As bad as you, I cannot say worse, have 
 been cured ; and if besides you take a toad 
 on the third day of the moon, covering it 
 with powdered bay salt, and thrust a sprig 
 of rue in " 
 
 " Grendel the man-eater destroy all toads 
 and marshmallows and all the chattering 
 fools who deal with them." 
 
 And Wlencing shook her hand from his 
 bridle, clapped spurs to his horse, and gal- 
 loped forward. 
 
 " Is not that Wlencing, the ^theling, 
 riding so madly yonder, between the trees ? " 
 asked .^scwine.
 
 A AWE RID A. 147 
 
 " Aye ! there he goes, with the black dog 
 on his back. Why, surely, he is making for 
 the ford." 
 
 They pressed on to keep him in sight, 
 and came out on broad meadows reaching 
 in green levels to the river brim. They saw 
 the y^theling splashing through the ford, 
 which the king had given them special in- 
 structions not to cross. 
 
 They halted by the waterside, and waited 
 to see what happened. In the meadow 
 beyond, two lads were playing among the 
 flowers. The eldest, a boy of twelve or 
 thereabout, tended swine which fed in the 
 farther wood. When he saw a horseman 
 coming^ — a Saxon — he gathered the little one 
 on his back, grasped the small wrists which 
 hung over his shoulders, and ran his best. 
 Unencumbered he might have reached the 
 sheltering forest, but so weighted his start 
 was too short. After two or three doubles, 
 Wlencing speared them at one stroke and 
 they fell on the turf which sloped up to 
 the great trees.
 
 148 ANDERIDA. 
 
 The Saxons crossed the river, and reach- 
 ing- the spot, drew up horse and foot in a 
 rough semicircle. Though no one spoke, the 
 ^thehng felt that he was accused. 
 
 The men were rough fellows, some of 
 them perhaps had been guilty of deeds as 
 bad, or worse ; but they seldom were cruel 
 in cold blood. Moreover, the presence of 
 the women, especially of Ostrythe, made 
 such a sight disquieting. Their hearts 
 softened at the sight of the boy, choking 
 in his blood, convulsed with the death-pang, 
 still tightly grasping the hands of the little 
 brother, whose dead face was whitening 
 among the matted elf-locks. Soon his limbs 
 became tranquil, the red froth ceased to sob 
 from his lips, but his fingers only stiffened in 
 their clasp. 
 
 The bystanders approved his fidelity, and 
 disapproved the slaying, but they uttered no 
 sound. The accusing silence became unbear- 
 able. The i^theling looked at each face in 
 the half circle as if he wished to provoke 
 attack, but no man regarded him. Twice
 
 ANDERIDA. 149 
 
 he essayed to speak, but failed. Then twist- 
 ing his horse round with knee and hand, he 
 rode away into the dark forest. 
 
 One said in a low voice — 
 
 "He saved my life at Mercred's burn. 
 
 y^scwine nodded and the speaker followed 
 the yEtheling ; then the men slipped from 
 their horses, drew each one his seax, a broad 
 crooked knife which every Saxon wore, and 
 began cutting the turf; the footmen dug out 
 the earth ; Ostrythe and Eanfled, with their 
 maidens, gathered columbine by the thicket, 
 and flower-de-luce in the stream, strewing the 
 grave with purple and gold. In this bed 
 they laid the boys, covering them with more 
 flowers, and carefully preserving the hand- 
 clasp. They threw in the earth, relaid the 
 turf, and went back in silence across the 
 ford. 
 
 Wlencing, perceiving he was followed, 
 turned and said — 
 
 "Who are you, and why do you follow 
 me?" 
 
 " I am Saebald whom you bestrode at
 
 1 50 ANDERIDA. 
 
 Mercred's burn. It is not meet that an 
 T^theling should ride unattended, therefore 
 I follow you." 
 
 " I want no attendance," replied the 
 ^theling, and took no farther notice of 
 him. 
 
 They rode among the shafted beech-boles, 
 where the hoof sank in last year's leaves; 
 under the low, twisted oak-boughs ; they 
 crossed green glades where many a forest 
 peer lay prostrate, overgrown with moss 
 and fern. The squirrel ran and leaped 
 overhead, the woodpigeon cooed from the 
 topmost spray, and the yaffle laughed as he 
 shunned their approach. Down a broad 
 avenue, covered with short turf, where the 
 ground dipped and rose again, where the 
 sward was barred with green and gold, from 
 behind thick brambles and brake and shield- 
 fern, hind and fawn raised quick heads, gazed 
 for a moment, and bounded away. Saebald's 
 blood was stirred, he pushed his horse along- 
 side of the ^theling, and looked in his face ; 
 it was dark and expressionless as the coun-
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 5 I 
 
 tenance of a drunken man. Evidently 
 something was wrong, and Ssebald fell 
 back, meditating what it were best to do. 
 
 As he mused, they rode down from the 
 ancient forest through small trees, thicket, 
 and underwood, where deadly nightshade 
 crept among thorns, and roses, and eglantine, 
 till they came to wet flats white with cotton- 
 grass, and bog-bean, and glowing here and 
 there with orchis and asphodel. The 
 ^theling's horse, after looking round re- 
 peatedly to see why his master did not 
 guide him in such a place, picked his own 
 way, avoiding the marsh. As he stepped 
 along, he snorted, moved his ears, tossed 
 his head ; he, like Saebald, was meditating 
 what it were best to do. 
 
 The horse came first to a conclusion. A 
 few hundred yards brought them to a deep 
 muddy stream, winding between tangled 
 bushes, and alder, and aspen trees. Near 
 the river brink the horse turned quietly, 
 and took a homeward course, making for 
 the higher ground. As he turned, a man
 
 1 50 ANDERIDA. 
 
 Mercred's burn. It is not meet that an 
 T^theling should ride unattended, therefore 
 I follow you." 
 
 " I want no attendance," replied the 
 T^theling, and took no farther notice of 
 him. 
 
 They rode among the shafted beech-boles, 
 where the hoof sank in last year's leaves; 
 under the low, twisted oak-boughs ; they 
 crossed green glades where many a forest 
 peer lay prostrate, overgrown with moss 
 and fern. The squirrel ran and leaped 
 overhead, the woodpigeon cooed from the 
 topmost spray, and the yaffle laughed as he 
 shunned their approach. Down a broad 
 avenue, covered with short turf, where the 
 ground dipped and rose again, where the 
 sward was barred with green and gold, from 
 behind thick brambles and brake and shield- 
 fern, hind and fawn raised quick heads, gazed 
 for a moment, and bounded away. Ssebald's 
 blood was stirred, he pushed his horse along- 
 side of the ^theling, and looked in his face ; 
 it was dark and expressionless as the coun-
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 5 I 
 
 tenance of a drunken man. Evidently 
 something was wrong, and Saebald fell 
 back, meditating what it were best to do. 
 
 As he mused, they rode down from the 
 ancient forest through small trees, thicket, 
 and underwood, where deadly nightshade 
 crept among thorns, and roses, and eglantine, 
 till they came to wet flats white with cotton- 
 grass, and bog-bean, and glowing here and 
 there with orchis and asphodel. The 
 yEtheling's horse, after looking round re- 
 peatedly to see why his master did not 
 guide him in such a place, picked his own 
 way, avoiding the marsh. As he stepped 
 along, he snorted, moved his ears, tossed 
 his head ; he, like Saebald, was meditating 
 what it were best to do. 
 
 The horse came first to a conclusion. A 
 few hundred yards brought them to a deep 
 muddy stream, winding between tangled 
 bushes, and alder, and aspen trees. Near 
 the river brink the horse turned quietly, 
 and took a homeward course, making for 
 the higher ground. As he turned, a man
 
 I 54 AND E RID A. 
 
 Steeping it in the water. He limped to 
 the uninjured horse, and showed him the 
 wounded leg. The intelligent beast put 
 down his head, snorted his sympathy as he 
 smelled the bandages, and looked towards 
 the dead boar, and to the tree where his 
 master was last seen. Ssebald cut up the- 
 rest of the bread and fed the horse, led him 
 to a fallen tree, and with difficulty mounted. 
 
 The gentle animal looked back from time 
 to time, paced slowly, and avoided anything 
 which might hurt the wounded limb. Keep- 
 ing to the westward, they struck ^scwine's 
 line of scouts about three hours after 
 noon. 
 
 It was Bael, returning from his expedition, 
 who carried off Wlencing ; he owed the 
 yEtheling a grudge for having slain his son, 
 and gained possession of a sacred weapon, 
 the palladium of the house of Bael. Pa- 
 rental love, after children are fully grown, 
 is a tepid feeling among savages, whether 
 more or less advanced, but the recovery of 
 the holy axe fashioned by the hands of the
 
 ANDERIDA. 155 
 
 Sun god himself was an object of passionate 
 desire. 
 
 Having half-strangled his enemy, and 
 packed him in the large double coracle 
 which bore him, Bael hastened away, not 
 knowing how many companions the ^thel- 
 ing might have with him. He stopped at 
 a convenient place, cut strips from Wlencing's 
 leathern coat, and bound wrists, elbows, and 
 ankles with the wetted thongs. 
 
 Bael paddled for more than two hours 
 along water-courses, over meres, through 
 intricate passages between masses of reed 
 and bulrush. His paddle was encumbered 
 with duck-weed, or hung in the stems of 
 water-crowfoot and featherfoil. The banks, 
 where they could be seen, showed water- 
 loving trees amid flats of sticky, stinking 
 ooze. 
 
 At length, after traversing a labyrinth of 
 tortuous channels where was little distinction 
 between slimy land and slimy water, he 
 passed through weed and scum into a silent 
 lake, shut from the world by high, dark
 
 1 54 ANDERIDA. 
 
 Steeping- it in the water. He limped to 
 the uninjured horse, and showed him the 
 wounded leg. The intelligent beast put 
 down his head, snorted his sympathy as he 
 smelled the bandages, and looked towards 
 the dead boar, and to the tree where his 
 master was last seen. Ssebald cut up the- 
 rest of the bread and fed the horse, led him 
 to a fallen tree, and with difficulty mounted. 
 
 The gentle animal looked back from time 
 to time, paced slowly, and avoided anything 
 which might hurt the wounded limb. Keep- 
 ing to the westward, they struck yEscwine's 
 line of scouts about three hours after 
 noon. 
 
 It was Bael, returning from his expedition, 
 who carried off Wlencing ; he owed the 
 ^theling a grudge for having slain his son, 
 and gained possession of a sacred weapon, 
 the palladium of the house of Bael. Pa- 
 rental love, after children are fully grown, 
 is a tepid feeling among savages, whether 
 more or less advanced, but the recovery of 
 the holy axe fashioned by the hands of the
 
 ANDERIDA. 155 
 
 Sun god himself was an object of passionate 
 desire. 
 
 Having half-strangled his enemy, and 
 packed him in the large double coracle 
 which bore him, Bael hastened away, not 
 knowing how many companions the ^thel- 
 ing might have with him. He stopped at 
 a convenient place, cut strips from Wlencing's 
 leathern coat, and bound wrists, elbows, and 
 ankles with the wetted thongs. 
 
 Bael paddled for more than two hours 
 along water-courses, over meres, through 
 intricate passages between masses of reed 
 and bulrush. His paddle was encumbered 
 with duck-weed, or hung in the stems of 
 water-crowfoot and featherfoil. The banks, 
 where they could be seen, showed water- 
 loving trees amid flats of sticky, stinking 
 ooze. 
 
 At length, after traversing a labyrinth of 
 tortuous channels where was little distinction 
 between slimy land and slimy vv'^ater, he 
 passed through weed and scum into a silent 
 lake, shut from the world by high, dark
 
 156 ANDERIDA. 
 
 woods ; windless, save when a ghostly sigh 
 rippled leaves and water into shimmering 
 grey. The black liquid mirror was troubled 
 at his coming, and slow undulations rolled 
 wideninor to either shore. 
 
 He crossed to where some rotting piles 
 showed above the surface, and guiding him- 
 self between them, came to a half-drowned 
 island. Its surface was strewn with stones 
 and bones, interspersed with charcoal, and 
 wood decaying or decayed, but showed scanty 
 appearance of vegetation. Where the ground 
 had sunk, vast skulls, huge ribs, massive leg 
 or arm bones, suggested the idea that it 
 had been the haunt of giants, while antlers, 
 mouldered by uncounted winters, were wider 
 in their spread than a tall man could stretch. 
 A flattened curved horn was supposed by 
 Bael to be one of the claws of an enormous 
 bird, with which a thrilling legend was con- 
 nected. 
 
 The whole place, with its surroundings, 
 conveyed a nightmare impression of remote
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 5 7 
 
 antiquity, of the house of Death — a weird, 
 uncanny effect not to be told in words. 
 
 There was silence, loneliness, corruption, as 
 of a world extinguished and waste. 
 
 To this dreary isle Bael brought his cap- 
 tive, but long ere the coracle touched the 
 shore the ^Etheling's life had fled.
 
 158 ANDERIDA. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 For two days Farinmail ravaged the Saxon 
 territory, till half the settlements of the west 
 and north-west were reduced to smokino- 
 heaps. He burned the buildings, broke 
 the implements, trampled the crops, and 
 drove the cattle, sending home the spoil 
 in charge of the slaves whom he released. 
 
 The Saxons were too scattered for effec- 
 tual resistance ; while they were gathering 
 in one place, Farinmail swooped down in 
 another, and his horsemen seemed to be 
 ubiquitous. 
 
 All the wild blood of Gwent swarmed to 
 his banner, and the good-for-naughts proved 
 themselves good fighters. 
 
 The messengers of Julius found him with
 
 ANDERIDA. 159 
 
 more than two thousand men on a steep 
 ridofe which rises from the western bank of 
 the Arun. They communicated to him their 
 master's design, warned him of the proba- 
 bihty that yElle would attack him ere morning, 
 and received his promise to join the army of 
 Anderida by sunset on the following day. 
 
 In pursuance of his plan he built great 
 fires on the crest of the hill, allowed his men 
 to sleep till the first grey dawn appeared, 
 and then despatched his footmen to the 
 appointed trysting-place. He himself waited 
 till the host of ^lle was within two leagues 
 of his position, then, making a circuit, he 
 crossed the Arun in the rear of the Saxons, 
 and spent the morning in devastating the 
 Marks between that river and the Adur. 
 
 v^lle, marching all night, saw the fires from 
 a considerable distance, and made his way 
 toward them, but sunrise overtook him when 
 he was far from the hill, and before he 
 reached it the foe was gone. While the 
 weary men rested, and broke their fast, 
 he examined the ground, calculated how
 
 1 60 ANDERIDA. 
 
 many men and horses had spent the night 
 there, and ascertained by unmistakable signs 
 that many of them had but recently departed 
 thence. 
 
 As the sun dissipated the morning fog, 
 darker vapours became visible in the south- 
 west, which marked the track of Farinmail's 
 troopers. It would be useless to follow 
 them, and he determined to return speedily 
 to his head-quarters, and strike with his 
 full strength at Vortipore, regretting the 
 while that he had wasted time in this vain 
 pursuit. 
 
 As soon as the tidings brought by Saebald 
 reached yEscwine, he took ten Gesithas and 
 twenty footmen, and started with Eanfled 
 and Ostrythe for the scene of the ^theling's 
 disappearance. 
 
 These Saxon women rode astride like 
 the men, and managed their horses with 
 natural grace ; they carried lances with 
 seven foot shafts, and could wield them to 
 good purpose. Greaves of embroidered 
 deerskin reached above the knee and pro-
 
 ANDERIDA. i6i 
 
 tected the leg from thorns, a grey woollen 
 cloak with a hood was thrown over their 
 tunics in wet weather. No barbarous pen- 
 dant hung from ear, or nose, or lip ; no 
 obscene padding deformed their firm, supple 
 bodies. Free and fearless as their Dorian 
 sisters, they thought not of shame if a flow- 
 ing garment revealed the moulding of their 
 healthful limbs. Such women were no hin- 
 drance to an expedition, but gave it the benefit 
 of their clear eyes and ready wits. Ostrythe, 
 indeed, anxious as to the fate of her half- 
 brother, fell at times into a reverie ; but 
 Eanfled neither felt nor professed any con- 
 cern on his account. Not that this lady was 
 of an austere disposition, on the contrary, 
 she was nice and plump, and had a charm- 
 ing peculiarity in her step, which altogether 
 had gained for her the pet name of Enede, 
 or the Duck. Few ventured to call her so, 
 as she was not one with whom it was safe 
 to take liberties. 
 
 There was little difficulty in finding the 
 place they sought, the men were skilled in 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 1 62 ANDERIDA. 
 
 woodcraft, and Ssebald's directions were 
 clear and brief. They examined the neigh- 
 bourhood with care, especially the remarkable 
 foot-prints on the bank, but nothing more 
 could they discover. So they put out of 
 pain the wounded horse, cut up the boar, 
 slinging the best parts to their saddles, and 
 started to return by way of the meadow 
 where the boys where murdered, ^scwine 
 proceeded with due caution, spreading his 
 scouts widely. The rest of his men were 
 to meet him oh the Saxon side of the ford, 
 where he proposed to encamp for the night, 
 watching as much as possible of the frontier, 
 Eanfled was in front, Ostrythe and v^iscwine 
 rode together in the rear, 
 
 "We shall miss him if we fight to-mor- 
 row," remarked the latter. 
 
 " I cannot understand it," said Ostrythe. 
 " Why should the Nicor injure him } May 
 it not more likely have been the father, or 
 some kinsman, of those poor lads, who 
 watched and followed him ? " 
 
 " Ssebald says it was nowise like a man — 
 beast-like."
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 63 
 
 o 
 
 " I wonder if he is killed, I trust he is 
 not, but kept for ransom. He would have 
 grown more gentle. He was already milder 
 than of yore — always good to me." 
 
 " There is no merit in being tender toward 
 you," observed ^scwine. " But he was not 
 even that. No ! to every man his due — 
 your brother was seen at his best in front 
 of the battle. For the rest, we have lost an 
 adversary with your father." 
 
 " We ! " said Ostrythe, with the least little 
 toss of her fair head. 
 
 " Yes, we ! Is it not to be we .'* " 
 
 " Well, I suppose so — but he was my half- 
 brother. Then," with a sigh, "he had not 
 much notion of — of — that kind of thing. I 
 have heard him regret the good old times 
 when a man knocked his sweetheart on the 
 head with a club, and flung her across his 
 horse. ' There is something straightforward 
 about that,' he would say ; ' there could be 
 no mistake about one's intentions.'" 
 
 " That was in savage times, when Welsh- 
 men painted themselves blue, and fed on
 
 1 64 ANDERIDA. 
 
 acorns. I do not believe Saxons ever did such 
 things/' Then, more doubtfully, ^scwine 
 suggested, " Perhaps it was a queen- Nicor, 
 who took a fancy to him, and sweethearted 
 him in the good old fashion, as that most 
 pleasing to him." 
 
 Ostrythe turned her large serious eyes 
 on him, and said — 
 
 " Would that not be rather — rather — " and 
 she paused for a word. 
 
 "It might be rather — rather — as you say," 
 replied yEscwine, whose wits drowned them- 
 selves in those pools of shaded light ; "but — 
 thunder ! — when one looks into your eyes 
 there is not much thought of 'rather.'" 
 
 " I do not understand you," said Ostrythe, 
 severely. 
 
 " I do not understand myself very clearly, 
 not having any personal knowledge of Nicors 
 and their ways." 
 
 " I should not care so much if I thought 
 he were not torn to pieces. He was always 
 swearing by Grendel the man-eater. Let us 
 hope it was not he who took Wlencing."
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 65 
 
 " I wish he had fallen in battle ; there is 
 no satisfaction or comfort in these irregular, 
 unnatural modes of dying." 
 
 " We cannot have everything just as we 
 wish," was Ostrythe's comment on this 
 speech. " But here comes Enede, making 
 signs to us. What can be going on ? " 
 
 They hurried to meet her, and coming 
 within speaking distance, Eanfled cried to 
 them — 
 
 " There is a noise as of fighting, seemingly 
 about half a mile a head. Smith and Brand 
 are gone forward to the edge of the wood. 
 It sounds like the shout of our men." 
 
 "We cannot be far from the ford," ex- 
 claimed ^scwine. "It must be our party ; 
 they have fallen in with Welsh couriers." 
 
 They pushed on rapidly, and clearing the 
 wood in a few minutes, entered the meadows 
 on the British side of the ford. They beheld 
 their little band formed on the Saxon side of 
 the river, to withstand two bodies of horse- 
 men each more than double its number, the 
 Saxons having only their hunting gear, while
 
 1 66 ANDERIDA. 
 
 their antagonists were in complete war array. 
 The horsemen spurred, and each footman 
 ran his best, but ere they could reach the 
 waterside, or bring help to their comrades, 
 down swooped half the cavalry like a flash, 
 fifty abreast and four deep, with their leader 
 in bright steel helmet three horses' lengths 
 before them all. 
 
 With a crash of wood, and a clang of steel, 
 and a yelling of war-cries came the shock ; 
 some were dashed to the earth, some were 
 hurled into the water, ^scwine's straggling 
 charge met the victors in mid-stream, and 
 availed little ; he himself dismounted two, but 
 was forced back by weight of numbers, and 
 knocked off his horse by Comail, Farinmail's 
 cousin. He fell on the bank, and Ostrythe 
 avenged him, striking her hunting spear 
 deeply into Comail's shoulder. Then, with 
 gleaming eyes, and glowing cheeks, and hair 
 streaming out like a golden banner, she dashed 
 at the British leader. Farinmail eluded the 
 thrust, dropped sword and shield, caught 
 the bright Amazon round the waist, and
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 67 
 
 dragged her from her horse to his own. He 
 could scarcely hold her till he said gently — 
 
 " The struggle is over, pardon the violence, 
 fair lady." 
 
 Ostrythe looked round ; Farinmail's fol- 
 lowers were binding those Saxons who were 
 not killed or severely wounded, and on the 
 other side of the ford were two hundred 
 fresh horse. She saw there was no chance 
 of rally or rescue, and said — 
 
 " It is enough. I am your prisoner." 
 A pretty speech came to Farinmail's 
 tongue, but was suppressed as unseasonable 
 at such a crisis. He only asked — 
 " Who is the leader of the party } " 
 Ostrythe pointed to ^scwine, whereupon 
 two men removed his helmet. Happily the 
 Gesithas wore their armour, and the sword 
 had not bitten, he was only stunned ; but 
 three of them were killed outright and eight 
 wounded. Of the foot thirteen were killed 
 and more than thirty seriously hurt. Some 
 water brought /Escwine round, and Farinmail 
 said —
 
 1 68 ANDERIDA. 
 
 "If you will give your promise not to 
 escape you shall not be bound, neither you 
 nor the women. You should <20 free at 
 once," he continued, turning to Ostrythe, 
 "but secrecy is of vital importance to us. 
 In two or three days you shall be released, 
 and your captivity m.ade as light as possible." 
 
 Ostrythe was angry and would not speak, 
 so he went on — 
 
 "If you will not promise you must submit 
 to bonds, and be carried each one behind a 
 trooper," 
 
 " Happy trooper ! " ejaculated Comail, who 
 was havinof his shoulder dressed. The ex- 
 clamation decided Ostrythe, who with Eanfled 
 pledged their word for all the women. 
 yEscwine and one or two others received 
 the same courtesy as the women ; and rough 
 litters being prepared for those who were 
 unable to walk, the whole force took its way 
 toward the British camp. 
 
 yElle, having given up all hope of over- 
 taking his active opponent, made for the 
 coast, passing down the valley of the Arun,
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 69 
 
 and raislnof the men of the Marks throuorh 
 which he passed. Determined to .fight the 
 next day, he sent the word by runners, and 
 every man who had a chance of being in 
 time hurried to the Adur. Those who had 
 marched with the king were sent by sea to 
 Wlencing, and ships were coming and going 
 all through the summer night. Cool light 
 fell on the white cliffs, the moon-glade was 
 bright over the tremulous sea, and small 
 waves lapped and gurgled under stem and 
 counter. Over the water, from ship to ship, 
 floated the tones of a doleful chant — " Yu-ho- 
 yeoh," they sang ; " yu-ho-yeoh," and the oars 
 kept time, rocking in the rowlocks. The 
 shipmen rowed, the warmen slept, pillowing 
 rough heads upon hollow shields, oft starting 
 in slumber with hoarse cries, as they dreamed 
 of the fight in the morning. 
 
 Julius had spent the day at the new works 
 west of the Ouse, where a strange enemy 
 had hindered his progress. The wild bees, 
 which make their nests in that region, being 
 irritated by the invasion, flew at the workmen
 
 1 70 ANDERIDA. 
 
 and stung them terribly. The men covered 
 their hands and faces with cloths, beat down 
 their tiny assailants with branches, dug out the 
 nests, and anointed their wounds with oil ; 
 but the better part of the day was wasted 
 in the inglorious war. Some improved the 
 occasion by reasoning, that if creatures so 
 small could defend their homes with such 
 success, men against men might do better 
 if animated by equal resolution ; but others 
 maintained that edge and point were the only 
 real arguments. 
 
 Julius, returning to the old camp in time to 
 meet Farinmail, found Bael sitting before his 
 tabernacle of branches, cleaning a great axe of 
 unusual construction. A grin of satisfaction 
 wrinkled his face like a dried pippin as he 
 addressed his patron — 
 
 " We shall conquer to-morrow." 
 
 •' I hope so ; but what makes you speak so 
 confidently ? " 
 
 " You see this ? " asked Bael, holding up 
 the axe. 
 
 " I see it. A curious implement. What 
 may it be ? "
 
 ANDERIDA. 171 
 
 " Curious ! " snorted the proprietor of the 
 weapon, " it is magical ; the great Bael 
 made it ages and generations ago. If every 
 blade of grass on this hill were a day, they 
 would not together reach back to the days of 
 the great Bael. This gives victory." 
 
 Julius was ready with a mocking retort, 
 but thought better of it, and said to the 
 attendants — 
 
 " Let it be known in the camp that Bael 
 has the sacred axe. Now let me hear the 
 story of this marvel." 
 
 Bael felt comforted by this display of 
 interest, and began — 
 
 " Look at it, handle it — have you ever 
 touched or seen the like ? " 
 
 " How heavy it is ! " said Julius, poising it ; 
 "and how strangely helved. The metal 
 seems to be a kind of bronze. These figures, 
 like a serpent passing through concentric 
 circles, and the other marks, what do they 
 mean ? " 
 
 " You have heard of the * Giant's 
 Dance } ' "
 
 112 ANDERIDA. 
 
 " The great stone circles by Sorbiodunum?" 
 
 " Yes ; that is the new place. The old 
 place is near Caer Emrys, where the choir 
 is. The great Bael made that. It marks 
 the seasons, the change of the year, the 
 motions of the heavenly Bael, who gives life 
 to all." 
 
 " How wonderful ! " put in Julius. 
 
 " I cannot tell half the wonders. My 
 father knew more than I ; his father more 
 than he ; the nearer to the great Bael the 
 wiser. We are now a foolish and feeble race, 
 but I am still his offspring. He taught our 
 fathers to get white metal from the stream, 
 and red metal from the cliff, and put them in 
 the fire, one finger of white, and all the other 
 fingers of red, and to make axes, swords, 
 knives, and ornaments." 
 
 " Shall you wield this to-morrow ? " 
 
 "Shall I not! And split helmets like 
 apples." 
 
 Farinmail's approach interrupted the con- 
 versation. Every one admired the men of 
 Gwent, and gave them a sincere welcome.
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 73 
 
 Various arrangements had to be made, con- 
 cerning which JuHus and the young Count 
 advised together. 
 
 " The captives I have made to-day," said 
 the latter, " I intend to release — at all events 
 the women — as soon as is consistent with 
 safety. Where should they be lodged ? " 
 
 " If you please to send them to Anderida, 
 I will give orders for their safe custody. 
 The ladies, with their attendants, shall have 
 honourable entertainment in my own " 
 
 The voice of Julius was drowned in the 
 clamour which arose about Bael's axe. Smith, 
 standing among the prisoners noticed it, and 
 exclaimed in authoritative tone — 
 
 " That is Weland Smith's work." 
 
 " The great Bael made this. It is no 
 Saxon work." 
 
 " I know what belongs to smith's work. I 
 am the smith, and make sword-blades for the 
 king. Weland Smith was my ancestor eight 
 generations back. It is his work." 
 
 " Eight generations ! " shouted Bael, in 
 scorn. " If all the Saxons since the beein-
 
 1 74 ANDERIDA. 
 
 ning, and all the other swine ; if your king, 
 the hog ; and your ancestor, the pig " 
 
 " Stand aside, good folk ! " cried Smith. 
 " Clear a ring ; I don't fight with my tongue 
 like an old woman." 
 
 Bael's voice was heard through the tumult : 
 "If any man say otherwise, I will split his 
 skull withal." 
 
 Julius assuaged the heat so easily developed 
 by antiquarian argument, when both sides are 
 equally ignorant, and decided — 
 
 " All men know the work of the ereat 
 Bael, who taught men to melt metals. This 
 is not hammer work, but cast work." 
 
 Smith had more to say, but /Escwine drew 
 him aside, and asked, " Is not that the axe 
 of Wlencing, the ^theling ? " 
 
 Bael completed his triumph by producing a 
 quaint leathern shield. " Can any man tell 
 me what beast's hide this is } " 
 
 No one could say, and Bael related — 
 
 "It was cut from the skin of a mighty 
 beast with a horned nose. At that time 
 there was no sea, men walked dry-shod from
 
 ANDERIDA. 175 
 
 here to Gaul. There were rivers, to which 
 ours are but ditches ; there were beasts, to 
 which ours are as mice. It was the time of 
 the great Bael."
 
 I 76 AN DERI DA. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 That is a false and futile culture which rests 
 upon servile imitation. When races, back- 
 ward in real cultivation, adopt suddenly from 
 an alien source improvements material and 
 intellectual which they have not toiled to 
 win, they usually fail to better their position. 
 Losing the hardihood of the savage, and 
 missing the resources of civilisation, they 
 leave behind them the virtues which conquer, 
 and attain not the virtues which adorn. 
 
 They who forge the sword of knowledge 
 for themselves, both arm the hand and 
 strengthen the muscles to wield the weapon ; 
 they who borrow knowledge from others 
 hold it with feeble grasp, and are lightly 
 disarmed.
 
 ANDERWA. 1/7 
 
 The Saxon laid the foundation of his own 
 liouse, building to suit his own wants by the 
 light of his own experience. The Briton 
 dwelt in a house built by another, adapted 
 himself to the structure, not the structure to 
 himself, and when it decayed was impotent 
 to restore it. He had learned to rely upon 
 a master, instead of trusting to his own brain 
 and hand, and had copied the vices of a 
 teacher whose very virtues were leavened 
 with corruption. 
 
 Some such thoughts as these floated in the 
 mind of Julius as he, with Vortipore and 
 Farinmail, waited for the sunrise on a hill 
 overlooking the Adur. He had strained 
 every nerve to make ready for this day. It 
 had come, and he felt depressed and hope- 
 less ; not as despairing of the event — he 
 was assured of victory, as the immediate 
 result of his arrangements — but he had no 
 confidence that success would be turned to 
 account : he had little hope that blows would 
 be redoubled on the beaten foe, till strength 
 and spirit alike failed him — till actual and 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 1 78 ANDERIDA. 
 
 possible invaders learned that neither glory 
 nor profit was to be acquired by a descent 
 upon Britain. 
 
 Pict, and Scot, and Saxon had been de- 
 feated ere now, whenever the oppression of 
 their arms forced the jealous princes into 
 union. The pressure removed, the leagues 
 fell asunder like sands above tide-mark when 
 the east wind blows along the cliff Each 
 erudeed his neig-hbour's share of honour 
 and plunder ; each wasted his resources 
 in pageant and banquet. Before the enemy 
 was ready to renew the war, Briton was 
 slaughtering Briton in civil contention, hating 
 his rival more than the common enemy. 
 
 The blood and spirit of the Cymry are 
 too high and pure to fall away utterly, but 
 their day of darkness was at hand, when fire 
 and hammer-strokes and quenching in cold 
 waters were to elaborate and temper the 
 unfashioned steel. 
 
 So they three sat on their horses in a little 
 hollow near the summit of the down, and the 
 scouts were spread below them almost to the
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 79 
 
 river. The sea fog came and went — now so 
 thick that they could barely see their horses' 
 ears, now thinning till things could be dimly 
 discerned a furlong away. Whiffs of sound 
 came floating up — a fragment of war-song as 
 the marching Saxons advanced round a bend 
 of the road, a distant cheer, or shout of com- 
 mand ; then silence till a horse shook the 
 drops from his hide, making the accoutre- 
 ments rattle again. 
 
 Suddenly, Farinmail laid his hand on the 
 Count's arm, and pointed to a rising ground 
 rather more than a hundred yards to the 
 right. There, through the fog, something 
 shone like a star. Thicker wisps of vapour 
 hurried past, and then melting away revealed 
 a golden dragon, the dragon of the Cymry, 
 flashing in the earliest rays of dawn which 
 swept over the hill top behind the watchers. 
 
 The appearance gleamed uncertainly 
 through the thickened air ; to one it seemed 
 to soar aloft, to another to grasp a shining 
 orb. In three heart-beats it vanished again, 
 this time not to reappear.
 
 1 80 ANDERIDA. 
 
 "Blessed Joseph!" said Vortlpore solemnly, 
 " what may that mean ? " 
 
 " The rising sun glancing on the emblem 
 of Britain," answered Farinmail, " can have 
 but one meaning — Victory ! " 
 
 "It seemed to me like the crest of a 
 helmet," said Julius, drily. 
 
 " That was no helmet, no mortal hands 
 wrought that figure. I saw it rear its head, 
 and writhe the coils of its tail, looking fiercely 
 toward the enemy, and brandish its fiery 
 tongue." 
 
 " It certainly moved," testified Farinmail 
 in corroboration. 
 
 Julius muttered something about Weland 
 Smith and the great Bael ; also the name of 
 Adam Eurych, the goldsmith of Caerleon; 
 Then he went on more intelligibly, " The 
 omen is good, no doubt, and should be made 
 known to the people." He gave a signal 
 cry, which brought two attendants from 
 above, whom the Count desired to tell the 
 chiefs and their followers of the vision sent 
 by the Blessed Joseph to assure them of a 
 Morious triumph.
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 8 1 
 
 " We saw something glinting over yonder," 
 one of the attendants stated, " but could not 
 distinguish form or substance." 
 
 " You are sinful men," said Julius, with 
 grave austerity, " unworthy of such a blessed 
 sight. I suppose, Lord Count, they may 
 mention that the dragon was about thirty 
 feet long." 
 
 "It did not seem to me quite so large. I 
 should have said from ten to fifteen — eh ? 
 what say you ? " turning to Farinmail. 
 
 " In my opinion smaller even than that ; 
 but I would not disparage the miracle. I 
 may be mistaken." 
 
 So the army heard that a dragon fifteen 
 feet long had come to their aid. By an easy 
 transition fifteen became fifty ; and the men's 
 hearts were mightily confirmed and com- 
 forted. 
 
 Vortipore and Farinmail would have recog- 
 nized as quickly as their companion the crest 
 of Ambrosius Aurelianus but for the fixed 
 belief that he was fighting beyond the Severn. 
 The Pendragon had returned unexpectedly
 
 1 82 ANDERWA. 
 
 with a small escort to Caer Emrys, where the 
 emissaries of Julius found him. He had 
 come with all speed to examine the state of 
 affairs, and being fully satisfied, determined 
 not to reveal himself. Had he done so he 
 must have assumed the command ; he pre- 
 ferred to leave the honour of the day to 
 Julius, whereby the hands of that valued 
 supporter would be greatly strengthened. 
 That he and his knights should altogether 
 abstain from the fray was more than could be 
 reasonably expected from flesh and blood. 
 
 So the three waited on the hillside, and 
 the scouts from time to time brought infor- 
 mation of the Saxons' movements. 
 
 For a lone time there was not much to 
 report, y^lle, who waited till the last of 
 his men was embarked, landed at Wlencing 
 about two hours before daybreak. Great was 
 his wrath when he heard of his son's depar- 
 ture. Ceolwulf told all that had occurred, 
 and Wigmund and Ealhstan confirmed his 
 saying. They had no authority to stay the 
 ^theling by force.
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 83 
 
 " No tidincrs of him since ? " demanded 
 ^lle, pulling his beard. 
 
 " None," answered Ceolwulf. But the 
 yEtheling's steward stepped forth. 
 
 " It was near the sixth hour after noon ; 
 the sun was, maybe, a spear's length from 
 the sea, when a youth came to me from the 
 ^theling, bearing his golden bracelet as a 
 token, and required me to give him a certain 
 axe. I said, ' What will you do with it ? ' 
 He answered, ' Bear it to the ^theling.' I 
 asked, ' What does he want it for ? ' 'I know 
 not,' he replied. I said, ' Suppose I will not 
 yield you the axe ? ' ' Then,' said the youth, 
 ' you must answer for your denial of it to 
 the /Etheling. I take witness that I have 
 demanded it and delivered the token.' I 
 feared my master, and gave the axe to the 
 youth." 
 
 " Who was the youth ? " demanded yElle 
 again. " Was he one of the yEtheling's lads.-* 
 Was he a Saxon } " 
 
 " The ^theling took no one with him. 
 The youth had a Jutish tongue, but his feet 
 were as the feet of a Pict."
 
 1 84 ANDERIDA. 
 
 " Show me the bracelet. Why did you 
 not ask the youth his name, and whence he 
 came ? Why did you not inquire where the 
 ^theling was — eh ? and send a messenger 
 with the youth, or detain him and send 
 another ? Because you are a fool ! " 
 
 " Yes, my Lord the King," said the 
 steward submissively, for the voice came 
 ofrowline from the brindled beard like the 
 mutterings which presage a thunderstorm. 
 
 ^^lle noticed a shred of skin on a pro- 
 jecting piece of the gold, which seemed to 
 indicate that the jewel had been roughly 
 plucked away, but this was no time for in- 
 vestigation. 
 
 He rode to the place where the troops 
 were to cross the river, and was himself 
 ferried over with the first division of boats. 
 The landing was unopposed, and the whole 
 force of the Gesithas mustered in the mea- 
 dows on the eastern bank, with the exception 
 of y^scwine and his command. Messengers 
 were sent to hasten his return, for the king 
 began to feel uneasy at his long tarriance.
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 85 
 
 The boats went and returned, and the 
 men were mustered according to their Marks, 
 and inspected by the king as they crossed. 
 Most of them were armed with sword and 
 shield ; the former straight, heavy, and of in- 
 different quaHty. Wlencing, who was curious 
 in weapons, had a blade of Andanicum or 
 Indian steel, which he got from a merchant, 
 so tempered by art magical as to cut ordinary 
 glaives as if they were made of lead. The 
 shields were of two bent linden-boards, glued 
 together in such wise that the grain of one 
 was across the grain of the other ; they were 
 often covered with hide, and bound and 
 studded with bronze or iron. Some of the 
 warriors had heavy axes, some carried spears 
 or javelins, and a few had bows. Each man 
 wore a seax, or heavy sheath knife, a foot or 
 more in the blade, its edge being concave 
 towards the handle and convex from the 
 middle to the point, something like an 
 Oriental ataghan, a useful tool for many dif- 
 ferent needs. For armour they had jerkins of 
 boiled leather, moulded to the required shape,
 
 1 86 ANDERIDA. 
 
 very hard and solid, or of raw leather, and 
 over this, those who could afford it fastened 
 scales or rin^s of iron or bronze. The head- 
 pieces also were of bronze, iron, or leather, 
 and very commonly bore some resemblance 
 to the head of a boar, as has been heretofore 
 mentioned. 
 
 " How is this ? " said ^lle, lowering- his 
 shaggy eyebrows, as he perceived a young 
 fellow armed with a club only ; " this is 
 not the way to come to the host." 
 
 " I have inherited a hide of land," said 
 the young man, whose name was Wulfhere, 
 " but my cousin disputes my right, and keeps 
 sword and shield from me. Never fear for 
 me, my King, I will furnish me with both 
 to-day." 
 
 " The claim comes before the moot the 
 week after next, if we are at home to hear 
 it," the hundred-man explained. 
 
 Every man of the force, about four thou- 
 sand six hundred strong, was inspected, but 
 the fog still drove in from the sea, and ^lle 
 did not care to involve himself in its cloak..
 
 ANDERIDA. 187 
 
 The Saxon strategy consisted in finding 
 the enemy and going straight at him ; they 
 abhorred and despised compHcation and 
 dodging, for which, indeed, their heavy 
 formations were unsuited. 
 
 They sat on the turf where it began to 
 slope steeply upward, and broke their fast, 
 sang their war-songs, and told tales of mighty 
 deeds of long ago, but still the mist hung 
 about them. 
 
 Four hours after sunrise it lifted, and 
 the sun came out with burning heat. Imme- 
 diately they formed into two lines, which 
 were joined at the ends in the shape of a V 
 with the point foremost, like a flight of wild 
 geese. This figure exposed a narrow front 
 to missiles, and showed strong fronts to flank 
 attacks to which they were incessantly sub- 
 ject. The weak points were the rear ends 
 of the two lines, which were assailed and 
 bent inward till the V became a solid wedge, 
 with about two hundred men on each of 
 its long faces, and fifty on the short one, 
 or rear. The Britons assailed this force
 
 1 88 ANDERIDA. 
 
 during the day with nearly seven thousand 
 three hundred, including Farinmail's two 
 thousand. 
 
 The Saxons were eager to begin and went 
 merrily up the steep hillside, but were dis- 
 gusted to find no one at the top to receive 
 them ; the Britons retiring before them to 
 the next height. If they relaxed their rigid 
 formation amid broken ground, or on the 
 breathless slope, a fierce charge showed that 
 the defenders of the hills were on the alert, 
 but there was little close fighting. The 
 heavy mass toiled on, slowly, doggedly ; up 
 and down the slippery grass of the chalk 
 hills, or in the hot stifling valleys between 
 them ; light-armed, light-heeled foes swarmed 
 around, worrying them with darts and arrows, 
 pelting them with sling-stones ; but still they 
 hoped to hem the nimble enemy into a corner, 
 and crush him with their weighty phalanx. 
 At times three or four Saxons, in spite of 
 yElle's injunction, made a dash at the ex- 
 asperating crowd which eluded their blows, 
 and were overwhelmed under the eyes of
 
 ANDERIDA. 1 89 
 
 their comrades. Up and down, league after 
 league, hour after hour, they pressed forward ; 
 the long crest in front was held by a strong 
 force, as a dozen others had been ; surely this 
 was strong enough to tempt them to a final 
 stand. As the Saxons approached the hostile 
 position, a voice in the wedge usually began 
 a well-known song of battle, others chimed 
 in ; louder and faster and fiercer it grew as 
 they drew nearer the top ; before their mouths 
 they held their hollow shields, to make the 
 harsh chant echo with fuller and deeper 
 swell.'"' But the chorus changed to a howl 
 of anger and derision as the Britons divided 
 and dispersed this way and that, leaving 
 them masters of the field, but no nearer their 
 object. 
 
 The losses hitherto had been about the 
 same on either side. The Britons suffered 
 most at close quarters, but had the superiority 
 in distant fighting ; they also usually brought 
 off their wounded, while those of the Saxons 
 who were unable to keep with their comrades 
 
 * Tac. Germania, iii.
 
 I90 ANDERIDA. 
 
 had to be abandoned, and were rarely ad- 
 mitted to quarter. 
 
 Among the British wounded the most 
 notable was Prince lorwerth, who, stimulated 
 perhaps by his father's reproof, showed him- 
 self in the front of the fight. Having exalted 
 his natural audacity by copious flagons, he 
 wheeled his well-trained horse before the 
 host, and launched darts at the foemen, 
 together with injurious reflections on their 
 female relatives. In high pot-valiance he 
 halted nearer than he was aware to the 
 hostile ranks. A tall Saxon stepped forth, 
 bearing in his hand a nodule of flint. 
 
 " Come on, cowards ! " cried the prince. 
 " Give me another javelin till I exterminate 
 these sons of — O-o-o-o— h ! " 
 
 The heavy stone struck him full on the 
 nose, and streaming with gore he fell into 
 the arms of his servants. The brutal Saxons 
 shouted with laughter, and some even among 
 his own friends could scarce repress a smile. 
 
 Noon had passed, and two hours after 
 noon, when /Elle gained the lofty ridge
 
 ANDERIDA. 191 
 
 which looks over the less abrupt undulations, 
 whose combes wind gradually to the Ouse. 
 Here he halted and gave the men an hour's 
 rest on the turf of the breezy summit, while 
 some took the leathern bottles and filled them 
 at a pond not far away. Presently he dis- 
 tinguished the British force in full retreat 
 towards the north-east, making apparently 
 for the fords of Ouse. He lay with his chin 
 on his hands, marvelling if the enemy's way 
 of proceeding had any distinct object, and if 
 so what it might be. The best way of 
 answering the question would be to follow 
 them. 
 
 The Saxons resumed their march, and 
 found themselves now attended by a body 
 of cavalry, which hung on their flanks and 
 rear, attacking whenever they saw a chance. 
 Their progress was slow, the air as they 
 descended became close and sultry ; they 
 were much exhausted when they reached the 
 river, and, flinging themselves on the ground, 
 drank with eao-erness the turbid stream. 
 
 When they were somewhat rested and
 
 192 ANDERIDA. 
 
 refreshed, they crossed the wide, shallow 
 waters, rippling down between islands of 
 shingle and ooze, to the tide which was at 
 its height a furlong below. 
 
 Arrived at the other side yElle picked out 
 five hundred of the wounded and most weary, 
 and posted them on a point which commanded 
 at the same time the fords and the combe up 
 which the cavalry had disappeared. Follow- 
 ing them up it, his perseverance found its 
 reward. Turning to the east, he saw the 
 whole British army strongly posted on the 
 heights above him, and in the centre the 
 ruddy dragon flamed in the evening sun 
 which burst out between heavy clouds that 
 seemed to be gathering from all quarters. 
 
 " Now we have them," shouted the king, 
 and the men cheered at the prospect ; the 
 weariful leagues behind them were forgotten ; 
 even their chief could scarcely wish that they 
 were fresher and the day younger, as once 
 more the deep-throated music burst forth, 
 and they moved with elastic strides up the 
 cfreen curves.
 
 ANDERIDA. 193 
 
 They reached a spot at which two deep 
 combes on either side convero-ed into the main 
 valley, leaving between them three steep- 
 sided mounds, which looked like huge earth- 
 works. On the easiest ascent, that straight 
 before them, stood the strength of the oppos- 
 ing army, while the steeper acclivities which 
 flanked the position bristled with palisades 
 and planks, and beams with complicated 
 cordage, ^lle looked up the winding combes 
 which separated these subsidiary lines from 
 the main defence, and resolved to attack the 
 centre without a moment's delay, beyond 
 what was necessary to serry the ranks and 
 prepare for the final advance. While they 
 closed up, stumbling over a number of black 
 and white posts, which caused some confu- 
 sion—while Ssewig drank his last draught and 
 Godwine cracked his last joke^ — a trumpet 
 sounded above and from each side, and from 
 the front came a flight of heavy darts, few 
 of which failed to find a victim in the crowded 
 mass. ^-Elle roared to them to push on — 
 push on. He tore his grizzled beard to see 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 194 ANDERIDA. 
 
 his splendid fellows stricken down by ma- 
 chinery. The compact wedge moved heavily ; 
 still thicker and faster the missiles came 
 hurtling down, and against them linden-board, 
 and leather, and iron scale were no better 
 fence than a fishinof-net. It seemed lono- 
 before they really advanced, leaving hundreds 
 of comrades writhing on the reddened grass, 
 and many, too many, whose brief agony 
 was done. There was no singing now, but 
 with clenched teeth and dilated nostrils each 
 man clutched his weapon, and strained in 
 grimmest mood for the closest quarters. 
 
 Barely a hundred yards of glass-like turf 
 lay before them, and many a one hoped that 
 the choosers of the slain would spare him to 
 come to handstrokes with the Welsh, what- 
 ever miorht be his fate afterwards. 
 
 Again the trumpet rang out a clear blast, 
 the continuous line above opened, and down 
 the steep slope dashed the spear-fronted cars, 
 rumbling, jarring, screeching, and bounding, 
 with ever accelerated speed, till they struck 
 the firm ranks and ploughed them asunder,
 
 ANDERIDA. 195 
 
 nor stayed their course until spears and 
 wheels were clogged with mangled bodies. 
 
 Behind the cars came six thousand Britons, 
 yelling and frantic with excitement, Vortipore 
 leading them on, the foremost and maddest 
 of all. They burst Into the gaps of the 
 phalanx, as the torrent bursts its bounds at 
 flood time, and by their fury and momentum 
 bore the staggering mass down the hill. But 
 the Saxons fought coolly and savagely. This 
 was their time, and they made the most of 
 it. Covering his body with the shield, giving 
 deadly blows with the pommel of his heavy 
 sword where there was not room for point 
 or edge, the Saxon's height and reach and 
 massive strength made him terrible in the 
 chest to chest struggle, when the whole mass 
 sways together. As they were thrust down, 
 the sundered groups rallied to the king, 
 and were once more a united body when 
 they reached the central valley where the 
 side combes joined. The ground here was 
 less against them, the swing of the charge 
 was spent ; again the trumpet signal was
 
 196 ANDERIDA. 
 
 heard, repeated and echoed from side to 
 side, and the Britons drew off with the air 
 of men who had had enough for the present. 
 
 ^lle and his chiefs laboured to restore 
 the shield-wall. The battle was by no 
 means lost — a thousand gallant fellows lay 
 on the hillside, but in the last struggle deep 
 vengeance had been taken. There stood the 
 guileful foe, thirty paces from the apex of 
 the wedge, and surely not more than double 
 their number. 
 
 The clouds have darkened overhead un- 
 heeded, the big drops fall heavily, the 
 reverberated thunder booms nearer and 
 nearer. But it is not the roll of the thunder 
 that turns the Saxon faces up the ravine, it 
 is the beating of numerous horse-hoofs on 
 the turf, coming and gathering speed as they 
 come. They see the leader bearing a 
 mighty lance, as the lightning glares upon his 
 dragon crest, and behind him a deep mass of 
 cavalry, filling the valley from side to side. 
 
 Firmly the shield-wall abides them. The 
 front rank kneels, pitching the lower edges
 
 ANDERIDA. 197 
 
 of the shields in the ground ; the second 
 leans over, ready to smite with axe or 
 sword. 
 
 But the turf is smooth, the pace is fur- 
 ious ; the gorge of the valley narrows ; the 
 troopers close up leg to leg — headlong they 
 come. 
 
 The shield-wall goes down like a line of 
 reeds, and the redoubtable host is scattered 
 in darkness and in storm. 
 
 The fierce pursuit was soon discontinued ; 
 tempest and night confounded friends and 
 foes ; the five hundred left at the point fell 
 on the British flank, and ^lle secured his 
 broken strengfth behind the fords of Ouse.
 
 1 98 ANDERIDA. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A DETACHMENT was Sent by Vortipore to 
 watch the western bank of the river, but the 
 men had been marching and fighting all day ; 
 surely they had earned a little repose — their 
 eyes were very heavy. The storm rolled 
 away to the northward ; and when the sun 
 rose, guards and sentries, chiefs and men, lay 
 sleeping soundly on the glistening grass. 
 When a few were astir, Julius tried to restore 
 order and activity, but quickly found that his 
 influence had passed away with the peril 
 which orave it orio^in. 
 
 yElle had vanished like last night's 
 clouds, and with him every Saxon whose 
 wounds had not deprived him of power to 
 crawl.
 
 AND E RID A. 199 
 
 The incidents of the fight were loudly 
 discussed. Madoc covered with easy ridicule 
 the Julian carts, and drew a lively picture 
 of the immortal ancestor bumping downhill 
 in a tumbril, at the head of the tenth legion ; 
 but many who had entered the Saxon ranks, 
 in the wake of these absurd engines, main- 
 tained that the idea was good, though there 
 was difficulty in presenting it under an heroic 
 aspect. Farinmail was the hero. The gran- 
 deur and effect of his charge were apparent 
 to all ; while few were aware of, or could 
 have appreciated had they known, the care 
 with which the time and place of the decisive 
 onset had been adjusted. With regard to 
 the machines, they were highly ingenious, 
 and had done fearful execution, but winding 
 up a rope and pulling a string could not be 
 called fighting — personal prowess in the 
 hand-to-hand struggle was the one thing 
 valued ; on this quality alone, rested the 
 pride of the warrior and the praise of the 
 bard, Howel Hen, whose office required 
 him to be near his master in battle, so as to
 
 200 AND E RID A. 
 
 see the valiant deeds hereafter to be 
 celebrated, and who was by no means in- 
 clined to shirk his responsibilites, had grave 
 doubts concerning the use of horses in war — 
 at all events ao-ainst men on foot. If the 
 fight were gained by the strength and speed 
 of the horse, he would hail the animal as 
 victor, and ascribe honour to it in his verse. 
 Nevertheless the charge was fine, very fine, 
 and Farinmail was a grand young fellow. 
 
 So men talked and reasoned, their logic 
 being on a par with their gratitude. Julius 
 was indifferent to their opinions ; his one 
 object of anxiety was to finish out of hand 
 what he had begun, for he was of the suc- 
 cessful workmen who forget themselves in 
 their work. He urged Vortipore with un- 
 usual vehemence to lose no time, to strike 
 again while y^lle was yet reeling from the 
 first blow ; to pursue the Saxons, to destroy 
 their settlements, to burn their shipping, to 
 break them down utterly. All was possible 
 now, and he was prepared to show how the 
 business might be finished, but in a few
 
 ANDERIDA. 20I 
 
 hours opportunity would have passed, in all 
 probability never to return. 
 
 It was not to be. Who does not know 
 how easy insolence cushions the zeal of 
 unwelcome ability, and while appropriating 
 the merit of the past, spoils the beneficent 
 prospects of the future. 
 
 With a superior smile and ironical humility 
 Vortipore addressed him — 
 
 " Indefatigable man, doubtless you can 
 show us the way ; but we, frail sons of earth, 
 can we follow it ? Neque semper arcum 
 tendit Apollo. How then can mortal bows 
 remain ever bent ? Your skill and energy 
 are alike inexhaustible. Like your own 
 machines, you need no interval of quiet ; but 
 the human frame must relax for a time. 
 There is Prince Farinmail^ " 
 
 " Do not spare me. I am ready to begin 
 again whenever you wish. Perhaps the horses 
 would be better for a little rest." 
 
 " Just what I was about to urge. Prince 
 Farinmail and, I may honestly say, myself — 
 all hio^her minds — know not the meaninof of
 
 202 ANDERIDA. 
 
 fatigue when patriotism calls. But it is the 
 part of the wise commander to consider the 
 needs of inferior natures. Not horses only, 
 the lower kind of men also, must not be 
 pressed too far ; a little waste may be true 
 economy. They deserve some indulgence 
 after such a noble effort. By to-morrow, or 
 say the third day, their strength will be 
 recruited." 
 
 " And the Saxons — what will they have 
 recruited by the third day ? " 
 
 " Oh, they are a slow race. It will be 
 months before they recover themselves, espe- 
 cially if they are not pushed too hard." 
 
 " Pardon me ; you scarcely do justice to 
 the vigour of these men. Anticipating pur- 
 suit, ^lle is already beyond the Adur, 
 having carried off the wounded even from 
 this side of the Ouse, except the worst cases. 
 He has covered himself with a veil so 
 impenetrable that the most trusted spies 
 confess themselves baffled." 
 
 " Perhaps," replied Vortipore grandly, 
 though all this was news to him, " perhaps
 
 ANDERIDA. 203 
 
 my scouts have been more successful — we 
 will not say more Intelligent and daring. 
 This, however, may fairly be said, since he 
 is gone, we are relieved from the duty of 
 driving him out ; " then, turning In a marked 
 manner to Farlnmall, he continued, "My idea 
 is to emphasize this great success, and mark 
 it on the memory. A triumphal entrance 
 Into the city, followed by a banquet, would 
 serve this purpose ; while the display of 
 spoils and captives, the substantial fruits of 
 victory, will cheer the minds of the citizens, 
 will encourage old friends, and attract new 
 ones. Then, in a few days, we again take 
 the field with a force Increased In number, 
 animated by prosperous fortune and en- 
 couraged by rewards ; while success will 
 cause many of the supporters of the enemy 
 to fall away, and those who remain to be 
 slack and disheartened In their endeavours." 
 
 " Very justly reasoned, Lord Count," 
 answered Julius ; " but the impression will 
 quickly die away if we are seen to be wasting 
 our time In banquet and parade. Have the
 
 204 ANDERIDA. 
 
 triumph by all means — much good may it do, 
 but leave an active force to harass the foe 
 and deepen the effect already produced. If 
 Prince Farinmail, with two or three thousand 
 of ours in addition to his own contingent, 
 were to persecute the Saxons till the final 
 blow can be struck, great results would be 
 obtained. I shall be proud to serve under 
 you, Prince, in any capacity." 
 
 P'arinmail saw the necessity for striking 
 again ere the iron cooled, and his contempt 
 for fighting by mechanics was abated by the 
 unselfish wisdom of Julius' counsel. Besides, 
 had not the Praefect, flanked by Bael and 
 Laelius, carried his treasured eagle as deep 
 into the wedge as any went. He declared 
 himself ready for action ; the foot might 
 march at once, and he would follow with the 
 cavalry in the morning. 
 
 But Vortipore interposed with an undis- 
 guised sneer — 
 
 " Lord Praefect, we all have seen with 
 surprise and gratification the development 
 of your talents in an unexpected direction.
 
 ANDERIDA. 205 
 
 Public gratitude for your services, when due 
 occasion arrives, will not be withheld. The 
 crisis is now passed, and I may be permitted 
 to remind you that there are legitimate duties 
 awaiting your leisure which can ill endure 
 the absence of an official so eminent. Prince 
 Farinmail is, I am sure, eager to behold his 
 promised bride, and it were ungracious to 
 postpone the pleasure it will give him to 
 receive her simple thanks for his succour of 
 her father and her country." 
 
 Farinmail, of course, looked with proper 
 impatience for the moment when he should 
 be indulged so far beyond his desert. 
 
 " After such an intimation," said Julius, " I 
 shall at once return with the city guard to 
 Anderida." 
 
 Then, having saluted Vortipore and Farin- 
 mail, he withdrew, and his meditations might 
 have been heard to this effect — 
 
 " The wise and good man considers what 
 is within his own control and what is not ; 
 he cares for the former and altogether dis- 
 regards the latter ; therefore he cannot be
 
 2o6 ANDERIDA. 
 
 affected by the folly and Insolence of another — 
 his own misconduct grieves him, nothing else. 
 One not imbued with the principles of sound 
 philosophy would regret that such an oppor- 
 tunity should be neglected ; he might per- 
 chance find pleasure in the thought that the 
 blind man is pulling down his own house 
 on his own head. I do not — certainly I do 
 not." 
 
 So turning from the past, confident that 
 his part at the least had been duly performed, 
 Julius set himself to prepare for the task of 
 the morrow. 
 
 Farinmail, strolling along the ridge, found 
 lorwerth in earnest conference with Comail, 
 when the serious face of the latter warned 
 his cousin that some mischief was toward. 
 
 " The prince tells me that it is impossible 
 for him to illustrate with his presence the 
 festivities which will doubtless be held in 
 celebration of the victory." 
 
 " The ceremonies will be sadly marred if 
 he withdraws his countenance." 
 
 "Countenance!" cried lorwerth; "my
 
 ANDERIDA. 207 
 
 countenance is mashed to a pudding." And 
 he groaned pitifully. 
 
 " We were told you had been wounded," 
 said Farinmail, " and I, who escaped with- 
 out a scratch, felt disposed to envy you." 
 
 " The men of Gwent," chorused Comail, 
 "consider a scar in front a finer ornament 
 than any jewel. It is the highest badge of 
 honour." 
 
 " Curse the honour ! My nose is broken. 
 That long-legged spawn of the devil drove 
 it right into my head." 
 
 " Not beyond the reach of the healing art," 
 said Farinmail, persuasively. " There was 
 Sinnoch the handsome, who was borne by 
 his horse against a low bough ; his face was 
 like a bad oyster in colour and form, but the 
 surgeons mended his nose, so that it was 
 better than before the accident." 
 
 "To be sure it was," exclaimed Comail. 
 " A pair of pincers, and a strong pull and 
 click, out comes the organ, which the man 
 of art remodels according to the taste of 
 the sufferer."
 
 2o8 ANDERIDA. 
 
 " Click, indeed ! " shouted lorwerth, " and 
 pincers — I do not like them — they hurt. The 
 fellow was pulling my features about last 
 niofht. I could not bear it. I knocked him 
 down with the pitcher of demulcent juices." 
 
 " What ! " cried Comail, with a tragic start. 
 " Smite the Medicus — - who consults the 
 stars, who knows the virtues of herbs and 
 minerals, and uses them for his purpose, 
 who " 
 
 " Pooh ! 'tis but a slave," said lorwerth. 
 
 " A slave who touches the springs of life. 
 Do you not fear poison ? A fungus, or a 
 pinch of powder, or a drop of something in 
 your wine. You writhe, and burn, and die." 
 
 "Don't! you horrify me. But he dare not ; 
 he would be put to death with cruel torments." 
 
 " What would that be to you, already dead 
 in torment ? " 
 
 '* Then you think — you — you suggest." 
 
 " Oh no, I say nothing. Clever they are ; 
 very clever and honest — quite trustworthy — 
 some of them. I never require their aid 
 myself, but if I did I should not beat them."
 
 ANDERIDA. 209 
 
 " Suppose," said lorwerth, " suppose I 
 make him swallow a portion of the unguents 
 he puts on my — my wound." 
 
 " A very good plan. He must take a large 
 quantity, for they fortify themselves with 
 mithridates. Besides they do not always 
 administer the poison in that way ; they get 
 a slave to put a little in your favourite dish, 
 in your choice wine. You need not fear that. 
 You are beloved by all." 
 
 "Well — yes ! But some of my fellows are 
 ungrateful dogs." 
 
 "It is a wicked world, but do not be 
 alarmed. I know nothing so unpleasant as 
 to go always in fear, especially of poison." 
 
 lorwerth could not conceal from himself 
 that many of his proceedings were not likely 
 to inspire devoted affection. He thought of 
 those whom he had wronged and insulted, 
 whom he had scourged, tortured, mutilated, 
 and his aspect was gloomy. 
 
 Farinmail was moved to pity him. 
 
 " Cheer up. Prince! you are not poisoned 
 
 yet. Do not be as Gwair the son of 
 VOL. I. ■ p
 
 2IO ANDERIDA. 
 
 Gwestad, who on the day that he was sad 
 let one of his hps drop below his waist, whilst 
 he turned up the other as a cap upon his 
 head. Is there not in our camp Dynan the 
 son of Conell, who beautifies old women with 
 a fucus of wax and divers colours. He 
 knows enough of the paternal arts to disguise 
 us for a masque. Him shall you have to 
 renovate your nose, but beware of the pitcher, 
 for Dynan is a short-tempered little man, and 
 carries a long knife." 
 
 They soon found Dynan, who at a wink 
 from Comail, readily promised to make the 
 prince not so handsome as he was before, 
 but twice as good-looking as any other man. 
 
 lorwerth was delighted, and going back to 
 his tent, presently gave orders that his medical 
 attendant should be compelled to eat all the 
 dressings he had prepared, and subsequently 
 be kicked down the hill into the Ouse to pro- 
 mote digestion. 
 
 Julius, returning to his house, found the 
 Saxon women playing ball under the peri- 
 style which surrounded three sides of his
 
 ANDERIDA. 2 1 1 
 
 garden. He stood In the narrow passage 
 leading from the atrium to observe the 
 picture. The warm colours of wall and 
 pillar brought out in relief the white dresses 
 of the girls, and sunlight, flickering as the 
 vine-leaves rustled in the summer air, glanced 
 as brightly from the shining tresses as from 
 the golden circlets which bound them. 
 Dancing figures, painted on panels with 
 arabesque borders, were in harmony with 
 the game, and repeated the tossing arms 
 and swaying bodies of the players. The 
 small garden, divided into beds by stiff 
 box edgings, was filled with the bloom and 
 odour of roses, but its centre was occupied 
 by a square pool where tame carp swam 
 amonof anchored water-lilies. In front of 
 each opening between the columns was a 
 yew tree clipped to the shape of some bird 
 or beast, and the south wall was concealed 
 by a vine, before which stood an ancient 
 altar, whereon was carved in low relief the 
 genius loci. 
 
 Blanda caught sight of her master, and
 
 2 1 2 ANDERIDA. 
 
 with tail erect, trotted purring to meet him ; 
 her movement directed the eyes of the Saxons 
 to Juhus, towards whom they advanced with 
 friendly greeting. 
 
 A report of the battle had reached the 
 captives, but with such exaggerated details 
 as to render the story incredible. It was 
 not unusual with the Britons to discredit the 
 authenticity of their exploits by preposterous 
 embellishment, and ^scwine proved, with a 
 careless laugh, that file's entire host would 
 be insufficient as victims for the tale of 
 slaughter. 
 
 Julius, when questioned, replied ambigu- 
 ously that the armies occupied nearly the 
 same positions as on the previous day. 
 
 " Has anything been said concerning our 
 ransom ? " asked Ostrythe. 
 
 " You will be set free without ransom, and 
 that speedily." 
 
 " Does speedily mean to-morrow, or next 
 week, or next month, or next year } " in- 
 quired Eanfled. 
 
 " That," answered Julius, " depends on
 
 ANDERIDA. 2 1 3 
 
 circumstances and conditions. In this case, 
 it means not later than next week." 
 
 Ostrythe, who loved all animals, had made 
 friends with Blanda. 
 
 "What kind of beast is this }" she asked. 
 
 " She comes from Persia, if we may believe 
 the merchant who gave her to me. He was 
 of Gades, and bought Blanda in Alexandria. 
 She loves milk, and mice, and small birds." 
 
 " Loves them ! " exclaimed Ostrythe. " Eats 
 them, I suppose." 
 
 " Yes ; the modes of love are various as 
 the methods of displaying it. Some which 
 are agreeable to the lover are highly dis- 
 tasteful to the object of affection." 
 
 " Freya preserve me from Persian love," 
 laughed Ostrythe. 
 
 Julius went through the outer room to his 
 study, where Bael, with axe and shield by 
 his side, was wiping the dried blood from 
 the most valued treasure his patron pos- 
 sessed. It was the Roman eagle, blackened 
 by years and battered in many a fight, till 
 the metal of which it was made could hardly
 
 214 AND E RID A. 
 
 be distinguished ; the strong shaft was hacked 
 and dinted ; the effigy which it bore could 
 not be recognized ; the legion to which it 
 had beloneed was unknown. No one could 
 tell anything of its history but Julius, and 
 he very little ; nevertheless, every mark and 
 stain and bruise spoke to his imagination of 
 Roman power. His religion was entwined 
 about this silent witness, as his follower's was 
 with the axe and shield which testified of the 
 earthly sojourn of the heavenly Bael. Few 
 had been the Roman triumphs in the later 
 time, fewer should they be in times to come. 
 Alas for the people whose glories are but 
 memories of the past ! 
 
 "Why do we fight in a quarrel not our 
 own for a doomed, a thankless tribe ? ' Fulva 
 draconem fert aquila,' and the bite of the 
 serpent is our reward. But whither should 
 we go ? Year by year the sweeping flight is 
 narrower and lower, and the mighty wings 
 flap more slowly. Perhaps, ere long, they 
 will fit her with hood and bells, and teach 
 her to stoop to be a churchman's lure."
 
 ANDERIDA. 2 1 5 
 
 Julius was almost as much mortified at the 
 unworthy treatment he had received as a 
 mere unphilosophical soul might have been. 
 It was only for a moment, he shook off the 
 idle sentiment as soon as he was conscious 
 of it. 
 
 He drew aside the curtain from a door 
 which opened on the peristyle, and the 
 breeze entered freely, bringing the fragrance 
 of flowers and songs of birds. The mellow 
 laughter had ceased, the ball play was at an 
 end, for indisputable tidings had reached the 
 Saxons of the conflict by the Ouse, and of 
 its issue. 
 
 Ostrythe returned, and stood for some 
 moments without speaking. 
 
 " Can I serve you in any way ? " asked 
 Julius. 
 
 "It is our custom," she said, "after the 
 battle, to seek out our wounded, to tend 
 them, to bind up their wounds with healing 
 herbs. We crave your help, that we may do 
 so now." 
 
 " I know that such is the use of the women
 
 2l6 ANDERIDA. 
 
 of your people, but you must wait till the 
 wounded are brought hither, for I have no 
 power to send you out of the city." 
 
 " Oh, let us go. We are skilful in leech- 
 craft. We will attend to your folk as to 
 our own. Who will take water to slake 
 the burning thirst ? Who will stay the 
 bleeding which pours men's lives into the 
 earth ? " 
 
 " I know not. Men should think of such 
 matters before they invade their neighbour's 
 territory. If there is any one dear to you 
 among them he shall be sought out at once." 
 
 The colour in Ostrythe's cheek brightened, 
 and her eyes glowed with a deeper blue, as 
 she answered — 
 
 '* Every man who fights our battle is dear 
 to us. Each one who is wounded on our 
 behalf is our brother, and claims from us a 
 sister's care." 
 
 Julius shook his head. " It cannot be." 
 
 As Ostrythe turned away sadly to rejoin 
 her companions, he looked after her with a 
 sense of defect and a vague yearning. A
 
 ANDERIDA. 2 1 7 
 
 time comes to every man when, worn by 
 failures or radiant with success, he longs for 
 closer sympathy than friends can afford. He 
 sighs for wife, for children, for home, and 
 all the unfathomable meanings the poorest 
 home may contain. The craving, unsatisfied, 
 recurs again and again, and is met with 
 weaker and yet weaker arms, as age and 
 loneliness, like cankering rust, dull both 
 keen edge and polished brilliancy. The 
 blessing is missed, the lesson is learned, too 
 late for profit — when the weariness of 
 isolation is harder to bear than the pangs 
 with the memories of bereavement.
 
 2 1 8 AND E RID A. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The night had been cloudless, the morning 
 was brimming with dew ; bright drops hung 
 on the leaves and bowed the slender grass- 
 blades, and countless shining beads weighted 
 the cobweb tracery ; broadly swelling hills 
 and clustering trees had changed their orreen 
 livery for grey and silver ; horses snorted 
 jets of vapour; riders sucked their moustaches 
 to cool lips hot with last night's wine; work- 
 men hammered and shouted, while high 
 overhead rosy messengers of morning 
 stippled the vault of darkness and blue. 
 
 A pleasant place, with flowers and high 
 trees and running water, had been chosen 
 for the opening scene of the triumph. 
 Three miles from Anderida, as the bee flies,
 
 ANDERIDA. 219 
 
 was found a natural theatre, with a meadow 
 for stage and horizontal sheep tracks for 
 benches. A platform for the Count and the 
 chief men was built on the chord of the arc 
 formed by the rising ground, whence an 
 oration was to be delivered and honours 
 awarded; 
 
 Here as yet the tall beeches cast no 
 shadow on the grass, but most eyes were 
 directed to a sweep of the hills, where 
 through the misty air the early beams were 
 reflected from points in a dark line, which 
 dragon-like came slowly winding downward. 
 
 The distant clangour of the music seemed 
 to take a silvery tone In harmony with the 
 hour and the morning, and as the troops drew 
 nearer, mellow horns, and then the pipes, 
 were heard in the pauses between the shrill 
 taratantara trumpet blasts. 
 
 Nearer and nearer still came the march, 
 till between the wood and the hill defiled the 
 long procession. Julius, as head of the city 
 in the absence of the Count, conducted him 
 to the platform ; the soldiers filled the level
 
 2 20 ANDERIDA. 
 
 space, the citizens in their societies, with 
 ensigns and images, occupied the slopes, 
 while beyond and around a promiscuous 
 throng surged and shouted. 
 
 After brief greeting and ceremony, the 
 trumpets sounded a long blast, silence was 
 proclaimed by the Praecones, and Vortipore, 
 raising his hand, addressed the people — 
 
 " Lords, chiefs, warriors — brave and vic- 
 torious fellow-soldiers ; you, who but a few 
 hours since hazarded your lives on the 
 chances of battle ; you who toiled through 
 the burning day and are now about to re- 
 ceive the recompense of your labour and 
 daring in the applause of your country ; to 
 each and to all of you thanks and welcome. 
 But double welcome, double thanks to the 
 generous, to the high-spirited chieftain who 
 led his choicest friends and followers to the 
 rescue of our land — who struck the final 
 and crushing blow, and trampled with fleet 
 horse-hoofs on the Saxon helmets. 
 
 " And you who did not stand beneath the 
 red dragon on the mount of combat ; whether
 
 ANDERIDA. 221 
 
 you, emeriti, who shared in the victories of 
 Vortimer, my heroic cousin ; or you who 
 cultivate the arts of peace which sustain and 
 adorn our Hves ; or you, matrons and virgins, 
 whose smiles are the sweetest rewards of 
 valour ; it is yours to display in word and 
 deed the joy and the gratitude of your 
 hearts." 
 
 Vortipore flourished thus at considerable 
 length. He delighted to exhibit his facility 
 of speech, and was ' skilled in the art of 
 enchaining the attention of his hearers by 
 indirect assurance that they were the wisest, 
 the bravest, and the best of mankind, while 
 he warned them not to despise people less 
 favoured. He might, to all appearance, have 
 gone on for ever, but for a movement among 
 the audience, which suggested that, highly 
 as they appreciated this tribute to their 
 merits, they were not unmindful of the 
 pageant and the banquet to follow. 
 
 The Count, noting the signs of impatience, 
 concluded — 
 
 "The pagan horde, which, like a pack of
 
 2 22 ANDERIDA. 
 
 hungry wolves, has so long infested our 
 shores, is driven back with wounds not to 
 be quickly healed. It cannot be inopportune 
 to celebrate such an event with solemn pro- 
 cession and sacred rite, with festive dance 
 and song. To-morrow we resume our 
 arms, this day we dedicate to mirth and 
 triumph." 
 
 Then, bidding the attendants bring forward 
 a table covered with arms and ornaments 
 of various kinds, he continued — 
 
 " It is our custom on occasions such as 
 this to offer tokens of distino-uished merit to 
 the most deserving ; and first in virtue as 
 in rank is Lord Farinmail — the Star of 
 Venta." 
 
 As he uttered these words, Vortipore took 
 from the table a golden torque, supposed to 
 have been snatched from the neck of ^lle 
 himself, and said, as he fastened it round the 
 young man's throat — 
 
 " Be ever thus — happy, victorious, and our 
 friend." 
 
 "And son," added Farinmail, glancing with
 
 ANDERIDA. 223 
 
 unconcealed admiration at Bronwen, who had 
 come out to join the procession. The Count 
 smiled approval, but the maiden stepped back 
 confused and somewhat angered. 
 
 After the young Count many others, ac- 
 cording to their degrees, were called up by 
 an officer, who read the names from a list, 
 and each received from the Count an article 
 from the spoil and a few words of commen- 
 dation. Stout Rhys, whose name had been 
 placed on the list by Julius, for dexterous 
 management of one of the machines, was 
 rewarded with a silver bracelet. The Count 
 frowned as he gave it, muttering something 
 about "artificers of victory." He had tole- 
 rated their mechanical presence in the field 
 on grounds of public expediency — it was a 
 sacrifice of his feelings on the altar of 
 patriotism— but that they should be seen or 
 heard afterwards usurping the honourable 
 title and the just reward of the warrior, 
 this gave a serious shock to his sense of 
 propriety, and was contrary to reason and 
 justice.
 
 2 24 ANDERIDA. 
 
 But the distribution came to an end, and 
 the procession being formed now set for- 
 ward. 
 
 First came the city guard, under Laehus 
 its captain, followed by the Praefect bearing 
 in his hand the venerable eagle and sur- 
 rounded by his armed clients. Bael was 
 absent ; he despised the ornamental branches 
 of the military art, in which, indeed, he was 
 not qualified to shine. 
 
 After these walked a choir of men and 
 boys chanting psalms of triumph, not the 
 version of Jerome or the dismal tones of 
 Ambrose, but their own noble tongue and 
 their native strains to the sound of harp and 
 horn. These preceded a solid body of 
 sub-deacons, deacons, and priests, escorting a 
 canopy, under which was the Bishop, with the 
 brethren John and Eleutherius, who bore a 
 chest supposed to contain the bones of 
 blessed Amphibalus — a doubtful confessor. 
 There were no monks in the procession. 
 Vortipore hated them because they favoured 
 foreign doctrines. Julius disapproved of them,
 
 ANDERIDA. 225 
 
 as he thought celibacy tended to diminish 
 population — a foolish prejudice. The Bishop 
 was justly irritated by the injurious terms 
 which they bestowed on the lady whom 
 he considered as his wife, as well as by their 
 denunciation of his cheerful temperament and 
 his love of venery. The more violent enthu- 
 siasts were sent to the furnaces in the forest, 
 but the monks throve under persecution as 
 they always do if it is not thorough. He 
 who will hold his hand at a certain point 
 fights at a disadvantage with him who is 
 absolute to go all lengths. The cause of 
 these pious men was fully vindicated in the 
 fall of Anderida, but the vengeance of 
 Heaven was rather indiscriminate. 
 
 After the clerics came masses of troops, in 
 the intervals of which were the cars, their 
 horses led by those who had steered them 
 down the steep banks. The disposition to 
 laugh was checked when men saw the broken 
 and twisted spears and the ghastly stains and 
 relics of lacerated bodies still adherent to 
 the planks and wheels. Trophies of arms 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 2 26 AND E RID A. 
 
 were planted at the corners of each vehicle, 
 and the centre was filled with armour and 
 weapons carefully arranged. Then came 
 more troops and men with flat baskets on 
 their heads, full of torques and bracelets, 
 chains and rings, and such like ornaments in 
 gold, silver, amber, rare stones, glass, and 
 other material. As all the warriors carried 
 their movable wealth in these forms, the 
 armour and jewels made a goodly show . 
 
 Then, with trumpets pealing warlike notes, 
 and noisy crash of kettle-drums and cymbals, 
 came the chariot of triumph drawn by white 
 horses. It was adorned with designs in gold 
 and verdigris and purple of ostrum, and the 
 carved dragons on the sides stretched their 
 scaly necks above the front, which had no 
 pole, and writhed their tails round the back 
 of the car. These were painted with cinnabar, 
 picked out with gold and other colours, as 
 were the spokes of the wheels, but the naves 
 and fellies were gilt. Graceful youths led the 
 horses, and beside the car were dragged such 
 captives as were not too grievously wounded
 
 AND E RID A. 227 
 
 to walk ; but Farinmail had exempted his 
 prisoners from this indignity. 
 
 Vortipore stood in the chariot wearing 
 gorgeous attire, with ivory sceptre and laurel 
 crown. At his left hand was Bronwen, her 
 head bound with a diadem, so that the thick 
 mass of hair shadowed her brow and temples. 
 From time to time she looked shyly around, 
 but, unable to bear the gaze of so many 
 eyes, the long lashes drooped to her cheek 
 again. 
 
 Behind the chariot rode Farinmail, wearing 
 the torque taken from ^lle, and with him 
 was lorwerth, who had a queer mummified 
 aspect. The horsemen followed, singing the 
 events of the battle. One after another 
 chanted a verse, usually reciting Farinmail's 
 feats of arms, and the rest chimed in with 
 a thundering chorus of " Ha ! Caer Gwent ! " 
 as if from a single throat. 
 
 The footmen, who brought up the rear 
 of the procession, listened with entire ap- 
 proval ; and when the poetic gifts of the 
 cavalry were exhausted, a jolly, florid, deep-
 
 2 28 ANDERIDA. 
 
 chested fellow sang in a clear voice, which 
 might be heard half a mile off — 
 
 '* Why does our harp remain unstrung ? 
 Why should one chief alone be sung ? 
 lorwerth's deeds inspire my tongue ! 
 Ha ! Ynys y Kedyrn ! " * 
 
 " Hark ! " cried Comail. " Who says men 
 are ungrateful ? " 
 
 lorwerth was afraid to smile for fear of 
 cracking the waxwork of Dynan the son of 
 Conell, but showed other signs of compla- 
 cency. 
 
 " Have ye heard what lorwerth did ? 
 
 How the hostile lines amid 
 Loudly he the Saxons chid — 
 Ha! Ynysy Kedyrn !" 
 
 " Ha! Ynys y Kedyrn ! " shouted Comail, 
 and all the horsemen with him so that the 
 woods rang. 
 
 " lorwerth rode before his foes, 
 A flinty stone the Saxon chose, 
 Flung it at his worship's nose. 
 Ha ! Ynys y Kedyrn ! " 
 
 * Ynys y Kedyrn, Isle of the Mighty, a name given to 
 Britain.
 
 ANDERIDA. 229 
 
 lorwerth began to feel uncomfortable ; and 
 the men looked one at another, but roared 
 the refrain as timely and tunably as before — 
 
 " How his worship's nostrils bled 
 As they took him home to bed, 
 This was all lorwerth said — 
 'Ochfi! Fy nhrwyn !'"* 
 
 Instead of the burthen of the song, a half- 
 suppressed chuckling or snorting proceeded 
 from the foremost ranks, which became unre- 
 strained laughter in its progress rearward. 
 The artifice of Dynan the son of Conell 
 was in great peril ; but lorwerth restrained 
 himself, bottling his wrath to be expended 
 hereafter, not necessarily on him who occa- 
 sioned it. 
 
 " It is a season of license," said Farinmail. 
 " We must all be prepared for a few good- 
 humoured jests." 
 
 " Jests ! " cried Comail, but did not finish 
 his remark on account of the confusion in 
 front of them. The fortification at the 
 
 * Alas ! My nose !
 
 230 ANDERWA. 
 
 bridge head was reached, where part of the 
 vallum had been levelled to admit the chariot. 
 Here the order of march was changed. The 
 crowd had outstripped the slowly moving 
 procession, and was gathered on and around 
 the city walls. The troops lined the sides 
 of the bridge, the clerics passed on to the 
 Basilica, and Julias and the chief citizens 
 with the city guard awaited the Count at 
 the Decuman gate. When Farinmail saw 
 the floor of the bridge he absolutely refused 
 to let the horses cross it. Neither he nor his 
 followers were very solicitous about their 
 own bones, but they would not risk their 
 horses on that decayed and treacherous 
 platform. The men of Gwent therefore 
 pitched their camp in a meadow outside the 
 earthwork. 
 
 As the chariot crossed the bridge the 
 troops on either side fell into their places 
 behind it. At the Decuman gate was 
 another halt, and fresh formalities were 
 enacted, during which the Count was ob- 
 served in earnest conversation with Julius.
 
 ANDERIDA. 231 
 
 In a sudden hush of voices, the latter was 
 heard saying — 
 
 " Admitting this questionable right, con- 
 sider the impolicy, the possible ruin, of urging 
 it at such a time." 
 
 " I will have it so. The daughter of the 
 Saxon king must be in my power. Release 
 her without ransom ! Let her be sent to the 
 palace at once. We do not release such 
 hostages as she is." 
 
 On the other side of the gate a person of 
 evil aspect was addressing lorwerth. 
 
 " She is willing enough, but he must be 
 got out of the way." 
 
 " Give this ring," replied lorwerth, " to 
 Elidri my chamberlain, and bid him deal with 
 this fellow — this Rhys — and more effectually 
 
 than he did last time, or I swear by " 
 
 "Hush, my Prince! hush!" said the ill- 
 favoured aofent. " These are things to be 
 done in secret. Licrht is death to them." 
 
 Glad they were to pass from the blazing 
 sunshine to the grateful coolness of the 
 massive vault between the gate towers, and
 
 2 ^^2 ANDERIDA. 
 
 to the narrow, shady streets of the city. The 
 cortdge turned to the right and went by the 
 intervalkim, between the houses and the 
 southern wall of the city, which, as well 
 as the flat roofs, swarmed with people in 
 holiday trim, while the city guard kept 
 the way. 
 
 The music and the shoutino^ resounded 
 and re-echoed in the narrow space ; and as 
 the last ranks passed by, tables and benches 
 were dragged out, and meat and drink 
 placed for whoever would partake, and soon 
 there was mirth and feasting all around. 
 
 But the Count, and the chief men, and 
 many of the officers went on to the Basilica, 
 and, alighting, were met in the portico by 
 the Bishop, and they went orderly each man to 
 his place. Then the Bishop, standing behind 
 the altar, began the office ; and the voice of 
 prayer and grateful hymns ascended with the 
 sweet incense which filled the house with 
 fragfrance. And the Count arose from his 
 seat in the wing of the tribune, and laid 
 on the altar his laurel crown and a rich
 
 ANDERIDA. 233 
 
 gift besides, and each man in his turn 
 advanced and offered some of the spoil. 
 Then the solemn sacrifice was hallowed ; 
 and, kneeling in the deep silence, they forgot 
 for a little while their hatreds and their 
 lusts, and hoped to lead better lives, for 
 heaven seemed near and glorious, and the 
 thincrs of earth foolish and vain. The effect 
 was transient ; habitual feelings quickly re- 
 sumed their sway ; but for a moment the 
 higher nature shone forth, too soon to be 
 hidden from the sight by tear-laden clouds. 
 
 After the benediction they went to the 
 palace, and the horn for washing sounded, 
 and they washed and proceeded to the great 
 hall, and each man was placed according to 
 his degree. As they went Julius warned 
 Farinmail to put his prisoners into the 
 hands of his own people immediately. 
 
 " What am I to understand by that ? " 
 asked the young man. 
 
 " That I cannot answer for their security 
 any longer. You will do well to remove them 
 at once. I cannot explain more clearly."
 
 2 34 ANDERIDA. 
 
 " My name is sufficient to protect what is 
 mine," answered Farinmail haughtily. Never- 
 theless his thoughts dwelt on the matter. 
 No one but the Count could meddle with 
 them in the house of the Praefect. He put 
 little trust in Vortipore, and vowed to give 
 his slippery friend a sharp lesson if he played 
 any tricks. 
 
 Forty of the greatest men feasted on the 
 dais, the Count sat in a raised seat in the 
 centre, having Farinmail and lorwerth right 
 and left of him. Two hundred less dis- 
 tinguished guests filled the long tables in the 
 lower part of the hall. 
 
 The pipes and flutes sounded a sweet 
 strain as the slaves brought in dishes and 
 bowls, most of them beechen. 
 
 First of all they had eggs cooked in a 
 variety of ways ; then oysters and cockles, 
 both scalloped and in brine; lobsters also and 
 crabs, and eels swimming in peppered garum 
 of mackerel ; and others brought lettuce and 
 radishes and prepared nettles, and olives 
 from Gaul. For the second course, a roasted
 
 ANDERIDA. 235 
 
 swan in her plumage was set before the 
 Count, and when it was opened there were 
 four and twenty blackbirds within, and juicy 
 stuffing. There was boiled salmon with 
 sauce of crayfish, and lampreys stewed in 
 wine-lees ; there was venison roasted and in 
 pasties ; leverets, lamb, kid stuffed with juni- 
 per-berries, and sucking pig seethed in milk. 
 
 For dessert they had cates and sweet- 
 meats prepared with honey, cherry tarts, 
 cream tarts, junkets, and cranberries with 
 honey and clotted cream, and wild straw 
 berries, raisins of the sun, nuts and dried 
 apples. 
 
 When they had finished eating, slaves 
 came with ewer and basin and napkin, and 
 they washed their hands and mouths. 
 
 After the wine had passed round, the 
 Count called for the harps, and Howel Hen 
 and the other bards took their instruments, 
 and one brought a harp for Vortipore. Howel 
 Hen, after a short prelude, began a panegyric 
 of the Count's ancestors. The first fifty 
 stanzas consisted of a mere string of names,
 
 236 ANDERIDA. 
 
 except where the poet took occasion to show 
 that Aphrodite, the great-great-grandmother 
 of Brut had transmitted her charms unim- 
 paired through a hundred generations to her 
 descendant Bronwen. Passing hghtly over 
 remoter glories, he came swiftly down to 
 present times, and having concluded the 
 earlier events of the war in about twenty 
 verses, he paused to toss off a horn of wine, 
 stretched his arms, shook back his white 
 curls, and sang in his clearest tones — 
 
 " Drain the goblet, touch the string. 
 Wreaths of honour, maidens bring ; 
 Bards, your choicest englyns sing. 
 
 " Through the arduous summer day, 
 Foremost he in battle play, 
 Praise to Vortipore we pay." 
 
 "Hoi! Anderida!" shouted the whole 
 assembly, as if moved by one impulse, and 
 the people outside thronged to the open 
 doors and climbed to the unobstructed win- 
 dows. 
 
 " I saw the hawk the dove pursue, 
 And her hooked beak in blood imbrue. 
 But the heron piked her through and through.
 
 ANDERIDA. 237 
 
 To every verse the people hoarsely sang 
 the refrain — " Hoi ! Isle of Britain," and the 
 excitement grew. 
 
 "Saw ye the hunter rouse the boar? 
 Saw ye his javelin wet with gore ? 
 White are his bones on the lonely shore ! 
 Hoi ! Isle of Britain. 
 
 " See from the pool the dragons spring — 
 In the clouds with horrid wing 
 They spire together buffeting. 
 Hoi ! Isle of Britain ! 
 
 " With lashing tail and eager head 
 Rushed the white dragon on the red, 
 But at sundown far he fled. 
 Hoi ! Isle of Britain ! " 
 
 The tumultuous applause drowned the 
 singer's voice. Vortipore sent a beautiful 
 golden sword-buckle to the old man, who 
 gratefully acknowledged the gift, but his 
 bright eyes were fixed on the crowd below, 
 whose emotion was his dearest reward. 
 
 " Hear the bard," they cried. " Hear 
 Howel Hen!" 
 
 " Shouting came the heathen throng. 
 Shouting loud the battle-song — 
 Spoils to Vortipore belong.
 
 238 ANDERIDA. 
 
 " Torque and bracelet, weapons rare, 
 Mighty men and maidens fair. 
 Maiden with the broom-flower hair." 
 
 " The maiden is mine," muttered Farin- 
 mail, as he glanced from the bard to the 
 Count. The latter observed his stormy look, 
 and running his fingers lightly over the 
 strings of his harp, made a scarcely per- 
 ceptible signal to Howel Hen, and sang — 
 
 " Why are the ruddy Saxons pale ? 
 Why do the hearts of the boldest quail ? 
 Before his horsemen rides Farinmail." 
 
 The old man obeyed the hint in his own 
 fashion. 
 
 " Is it the thunder, muttering low ? 
 Is it the lightning's sudden glow ? 
 Sounds and sights of fear I trow. 
 
 " Lance-points sparkle, levelled low, 
 Like doubling drums the hoof-thuds grow, 
 With a cry and a crash they scatter the foe. 
 
 " Fast and far the Saxons fled. 
 Saxon widows wail the dead ; 
 Victor flies the dragon red. 
 Hoi ! Ynys Pridain ! "
 
 AND E RID A. 239 
 
 Vortipore saw that Farinmairs brow was 
 still clouded, and sang again — 
 
 " Sunshine on a thousand fields, 
 Richly the battle harvest yields 
 When thy hand the sickle wields." 
 
 Farinmail would not be outdone ; and, 
 taking a harp, replied — 
 
 " Sunrise on a thousand hills, 
 As the morning dew distils, 
 So thy fame the island fills." 
 
 Again Vortipore sang — 
 
 " Sunshine on a thousand meads, 
 Not thy praise in war exceeds. 
 Honour due for peaceful deeds." 
 
 Farinmail took up the strain in his turn — 
 
 " Sunshine on a thousand flowers. 
 Fair as peace in festal hours, 
 Bronwen moves in peaceful bowers." 
 
 Further proceedings were prevented by a 
 sound of breaking harp-strings, and Howel 
 Hen was seen smiting his grandson with a 
 walking-staff. He explained that the lad 
 was subject to fits, for which the wood of the
 
 240 AND E RID A. 
 
 ash is a specific. As it was a fit of jealousy 
 which diseased the young man, perhaps the 
 remedy was as good as any that could be 
 prescribed. 
 
 Stout Rhys at the lower end of the hall 
 grumbled out — 
 
 " Moonshine on a painted dragon, 
 Moonshine on an empty flagon." 
 
 *' Singing to each other — you did this, you 
 did that — not a word to the man who did it 
 all — hie — not a word ! " 
 
 " Nay ! " said a bottle-nosed man who had 
 been very friendly with Rhys. " It shall 
 never be said that a stout soldier's flagon is 
 empty while mine is full. It is yours ; let us 
 drink to the man that did it all," and Rhys' 
 friend winked elaborately. 
 
 " I drink to the Lord Praefect," said Rhys. 
 " His eye is everywhere, to see and to 
 reward ; saw me, sees me now — I come." 
 
 The bottle-nosed man tried to detain him, 
 and pressed him to drink. 
 
 " No ! " said stout Rhys, sternly surveying
 
 AND ER I DA. 241 
 
 his friend from top to toe. " No ! enough is 
 enouorh. Drunkenness clothes a man in 
 greasy garments, and covers his nose with — 
 hie — carbuncles. Avoid it ! avoid it ! " 
 
 " Why, Rhys ! " said the Praefect, " what 
 brought you here ? " 
 
 " Invited, Lord Praefect ; regular ticket ; 
 all riCTht." 
 
 "Let me see it. lorwerth's household — 
 Elidri Chamberlain. Is there any one who 
 wishes to keep you from your house to-night 
 — from your wife ? " 
 
 " From my wife !" and Rhys tried to steady 
 his thoughts. 
 
 " Listen to me. Go home quickly and 
 quietly. I will pass you out by a side door. 
 Speak to no man, bar your door and open 
 not till morning." 
 
 Soon after a forester was brought in, who 
 told of a white stag he had harboured, and 
 described its points with enthusiasm. 
 
 " We will hunt it at daybreak," cried 
 Vortipore. " Dissuade me not, Lord Praefect, 
 dissuade me not. I vow to do it by the 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 ANDERIDA. 
 
 bones of Blessed Amphibalus, and by the 
 three obstinate ones of the Isle of Britain^ 
 whom none could turn from their purpose ; 
 to wit — Eithilic Gorr, and Trystan, son of 
 Tallooch, and Gweirweryth the Big." 
 
 " Who were the three obstinate women ? " 
 asked Madoc. 
 
 But no one could answer, and they retired 
 to rest.
 
 ANDERIDA. 24; 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 A STRONG healthy man who has never In his 
 life known a day of sickness, often suffers 
 more from an ordinary ailment than one of 
 less robust constitution. Not only does the 
 disease seem to partake of his bodily vigour, 
 but the experience is strange, perplexing ; the 
 jar is in proportion to the strength and per- 
 fection of the machinery. 
 
 So, likewise, one who has earned success 
 by his conduct and energy finds disaster and 
 defeat unaccountable, intolerable. 
 
 His happy-go-lucky neighbour may win or 
 lose, who trusts to luck rather than to skill 
 and pains. But that he should fail can be 
 ascribed only to the special malice of the gods. 
 His plans were well studied, single-minded
 
 244 AXDERIDA. 
 
 wide-reaching ; his instruments were carefully 
 selected, his personal inspection was severe 
 and unremitting, his means ample and well 
 applied. Ruin came to him as the thunder- 
 bolt comes, or the earthquake, singling out 
 for overthrow the most lofty and most stable 
 buildings. 
 
 Such a man does not waste time in moody 
 meditation, nor spend his breath in railing 
 at destiny. With a groan of amazement and 
 disgust at the iniquity of fate, he picks up 
 his tools, sets about repairing his structure, 
 and ere long is in a stronger position than 
 before the disaster overtook him. 
 
 vElle's state of mind when he reached the 
 waggons, which slowly followed his march, 
 was a concentrated fury such as weaker men 
 can but faintly imagine. An outburst of 
 raee would have relieved his feelino-s, but the 
 vessel of his wrath was strong enough to 
 confine it. He was too just, by nature and 
 by habit, to give harsh words to men who did 
 not deserve them, so he shut his teeth and 
 held his peace. His men, usually very inde-
 
 ANDERIDA. 245 
 
 pendent in manner, waited on his eye that 
 night Hke slaves of a despot, and did his will 
 accurately, swiftly, and silently. 
 
 The wives, mothers, and sisters who came 
 with the waggons and brought meat and 
 mead, herbs and bandages, were not bound in 
 silence. 
 
 " Cibosque et hortamina gestant," says the 
 historian of their cousins, and these women 
 neither stinted the victuals nor spared their 
 exhortations. Shrill were their voices and 
 their words were bitter. The poor fellows, 
 who had been marching and fighting all day 
 without food, would fain have flung them- 
 selves down to rest. 
 
 " Rest indeed ! The dead may rest, they 
 have earned it. But you ! You have only 
 run two or three miles from the Welsh ; you 
 cannot want rest yet." 
 
 " Besides," added another, " though you ran 
 so well, you forgot your comrades, who were 
 wounded and could not run." 
 
 "Nithing!" cried a disheveled fury, stabbing 
 right and left with an oxgoad. — " Would you
 
 246 ANDERIDA. 
 
 eat ? Fill your craven belly with fighting. 
 Would you swill the clear ale I brought for 
 my man who lies out in the darkness, perishing 
 for a mouthful of water ? " 
 
 So the men slunk off, snatching what they 
 could, and growling that the engines Grendel 
 had given to the Welsh were as nothing to 
 the tono-ues of the women. But the words of 
 the ladies were wholesome, and strengthening 
 as bitter roots. After a while, one big fellow 
 after another came back, bending beneath the 
 weight of a comrade who was held on their 
 shoulders by the arms. 
 
 The bearers were very gentle with the hurt, 
 for the core was the sweetest and tenderest 
 part of them ; and while the women searched 
 the' wounds, they tasted, unreproved, the clear 
 ale and luscious mead. Then they went out 
 again, and returned with fresh burdens, and 
 so, ere morning light, the better part of the 
 injured were rolling in the waggons toward 
 the Adur. 
 
 The king went about among the people, 
 encouraging them and seeing that everything
 
 ANDERIDA. 247 
 
 was done as it should be done. He com- 
 manded that all arms and armour should be 
 collected, for such commodities were hard to 
 come by, but there was no time to bury the 
 dead. There was one body that yElle would 
 gladly have brought off, but it was beyond 
 the fords of Ouse, nearest of all Saxons to the 
 Red Dragon. For when the spear-fronted 
 cars came suddenly and unexpectedly down 
 the slope, with terrible noise and force, many 
 Saxons thought it was a device of Grendel, 
 who held in their system a place analogous to 
 that of the foul fiend in more recent theology. 
 yElle, seeing that they shrank together, 
 though without yielding, stepped, king-like, 
 in front of all. Then Beorht threw him- 
 self in the way, and by main strength turned 
 aside a car and saved the king, though the 
 spears pierced and tore his own body. So 
 Beorht the goodman lay mangled and stark 
 on the hillside, but what men could they did. 
 The king and the Witan gave lands to his 
 sons, and they also were good men and true ; 
 and though the fight was lost, one made a
 
 248 ANDERWA. 
 
 song about it, praising Beorht, who was good 
 in war and in peace, who spake his mind to 
 kino- and to churl, nor feared the face of man 
 nor fiend ; long may men sing of such as he. 
 Also the men of his Mark, the Staeningas, set 
 up a stone for their neighbour, and " wives 
 and bairns, yea, likewise the serfs, " grieved 
 sore for the o-oodman. 
 
 "See, my King!" cried a weak voice as 
 /Elle went by, " I have got me both sword 
 and shield as I said, but the armour was too 
 small, it would not go on my shoulders." 
 
 "You are Wulfhere with the club. Are 
 you much hurt ? " 
 
 A spear from one of the machines had 
 pierced his thigh, and he had other wounds, 
 but they were dressed ; his heart was good, 
 though his blood was low. 
 
 " Come to me when you can walk," con- 
 tinued ^lle. " Arms shall you have from 
 me, and meat from my table. Get your 
 hurts quickly healed, Gesith ; I have work 
 for such as you." 
 
 " That I will," answered the youth. " Let
 
 ANDERIDA. 249 
 
 who will take the inheritance. I am a 
 Gesith." 
 
 So the king went among the folk, and his 
 words were better to them than healing herb 
 or magic spell. Also he bade those widows, 
 who had not grown-up sons, to make haste and 
 get fresh husbands that the land might be 
 tilled, and some said they would and did not, 
 but most said they would not and did. 
 
 So the short night was spent, and when 
 the twiligrht was so clear that men could dis- 
 tinguish red from brown, the last of the long 
 train of waggons was well on its way. 
 
 The army followed the train for some 
 miles, and halted on a ridge about half-way 
 between the Ouse and the Adur, where part 
 watched while part rested. Its force was 
 sadly reduced ; not half those who had 
 marched up from the river the day before 
 remained in fighting condition. More than 
 eleven hundred were killed, mortally wounded, 
 or prisoners ; over thirteen hundred would be 
 unable to bear armour for many da3^s. In 
 the course of the afternoon, y^lle occupied a
 
 250 ANDERIDA. 
 
 strong position on the eastern bank of the 
 Adur, with posts so stationed as to watch and 
 guard the passes between the hills. He also 
 took measures to recruit his strength. He 
 sent messengers to Cissa, the yEtheling, who 
 had been appointed to observe the western 
 and north-western frontier, bidding him come 
 with speed with all the men he could gather. 
 Others went to the king's other son, Cymen, 
 the yEtheling, who was cruising between 
 Vectis and the mainland, requiring him to 
 bring his ships, and all adventurers from Old 
 Saxony he could pick up, to the rendezvous 
 at Wlencing. 
 
 Every Saxon who could use his weapons 
 hastened to the muster, knowing that un- 
 less the memory of such a defeat were soon 
 effaced, enemies would arise from all quarters, 
 and that instead of adding to their territory, 
 those would be lucky who escaped with whole 
 skins in the ships. 
 
 Ssebald came to the king when he returned 
 to Wlencing, and told how the yEtheling had 
 been carried off by a Nicor. S^bald was
 
 AND E RID A. 25 1 
 
 being" borne in a litter of branches when the 
 horsemen of Farinmail came upon the party ; 
 thereupon his bearers laid him in the long 
 fern, and after the fight at the ford, Wlencing's 
 horse came to his dead master s friend, who 
 escaped with this help. 
 
 From Saebald yElle learned what had hap- 
 pened to his daughters and to yEscwine's 
 party, and after that the king sat a long time 
 without speaking. Then he sent for the man 
 whom they called Ent the Giant ; what his 
 real name was no one knew. Him vElle 
 determined to send to Anderida, apparently to 
 treat for the release of Ostrythe and Eanfled, 
 but under this appearance to pick up intelli- 
 gence and to gain time. The latter was the 
 main point. " Keep the Welsh quiet for three 
 days," he said, " and I shall be satisfied. Do 
 what you can besides." 
 
 A fine-looking old man was provided, 
 whose function was to wear a handsome 
 dress, to look dignified, and to say as little 
 as possible. Ent was eyes, ears, brain, and 
 tongue to the embassy.
 
 252 AND E RID A. 
 
 " As to gaining- time," the little man said, 
 " I know one Gorr, on the other side of 
 the river, who would gladly do an ill turn to 
 Vortipore for his daughter's sake, whom 
 lowerth mig-handled, and Gorr got no justice 
 because he was an outlaw," 
 
 "This man has stories of enchanted deer, 
 and of boars that are princes, and he is well 
 able to keep the Count in the forest for three 
 days' space, hunting will-o'-the-wisp." 
 
 The king laughed, but the smile soon 
 died on his lips, for he thought of his son 
 Wlencing, He approved of the plan, and 
 gave a silver brooch and a bracelet to secure 
 Gorr's service. 
 
 Then they spoke of the way to Anderida, 
 and it seemed natural that Saxons should go 
 by sea. There was a long, light galley which 
 Wlencing, the y^theling, had built for himself. 
 She was fifty-four feet long, with a light deck 
 at either end ; five feet in the beam, with 
 flat floors and ends sharp as an axe. She 
 was a good sea-boat, though drawing but 
 two feet of water. She was pulled by twenty
 
 ANDERIDA. 25 
 
 ■1 
 
 youths, besides two at the steering oars ; 
 long-backed, long-winded reprobates. Lasses 
 laughed and mothers frowned when Saefugl 
 shot her sharp nose up on the sandy shore. 
 Their swords and shields lay in the bottom 
 of the boat, with store of javelins and spears 
 for sudden use, but the bows and arrows in 
 wax-cloth cases lay under the half-decks out 
 of the way of wet. Each oar was fastened 
 to the thole-pin by a thong of raw hide, so 
 that when the handle was let go, the loom 
 swung outboard fore and aft, leaving the 
 thwarts clear. There were mast and sail 
 to set up when the wind was fair, at which 
 times she seemed to fly from one wave-crest 
 to another, and therefore she was called 
 SaefuQfl. There was no other like her with 
 timbers and plank so thin and close-jointed. 
 When she went from Wlencino- harbour to 
 Selsea in two hours, the ^theling said he 
 would have her gilt. 
 
 At dawn the next morning the two am- 
 bassadors embarked on board Seefugl and 
 took their way to Anderida. Coming sud-
 
 2 54 ANDERIDA. 
 
 denly round a point, they spied a man In a 
 coracle fishing between two rocks ; his back 
 was toward them, and he was pulHng up a 
 fish. At a sign the oarsmen ceased puUIng, 
 and one steersman swept the boat's head 
 round, while Ent, taking out bow and arrow, 
 shot the fisherman between the shoulders, 
 and he fell overboard and sank. The coracle 
 was full of fish, so they took it in tow and 
 rowed to a sandy point covered with trees 
 a little eastward from Anderida. Here they 
 laid up Ssefugl, and kindled a fire to cook the 
 fish. 
 
 After breakfast Ent took the coracle and 
 paddled toward the city to reconnoitre. 
 There was much noise and stir on the 
 western side and on the long bridge where 
 the triumphal procession was expected. No 
 one noticed him, but he turned away to the 
 eastern side which seemed to be completely 
 deserted. 
 
 Coasting round, and perceiving no one, 
 he discovered a postern half hidden among 
 bushes and nettles and brambles. He thrust
 
 ANDERIDA. 255 
 
 the coracle in behind an old thorn and 
 landed to examine the neighbourhood. While 
 prowling in the space between the foot of 
 the wall and the water's edge, he was struck 
 on the arm by a small stone ; looking up he 
 saw a face between the battlements and 
 turned to flee, but a stern voice shouted to 
 him — 
 
 " Stand fast or I shoot ! " Then before his 
 wits rallied sufficiently to tell him that he 
 was addressed, not in the British tongue but 
 in Saxon, the voice continued — 
 
 " Why, Giant ! are you so scared that you 
 do not know me ? " 
 
 The man showed himself more plainly 
 over the wall. 
 
 " I'm Smith. What in the name of the 
 forefathers are you sneaking after here ? 
 Stealing eggs or robbing a pigsty '^ " 
 
 "On fitting occasion I shall resent your 
 language," replied Ent, looking as big as he 
 could. " The ambassador of yElle cannot 
 notice such affronts. When the time comes 
 — tremble ! "
 
 256 ANDERIDA. 
 
 " I'll try," answered Smith. " In return, 
 tell me what is your business to the water- 
 rats of this shore, that you approach with 
 such state in a scurvy coracle. Confess at 
 least that you stole the coracle." 
 
 " I confess nothing, nor can I waste time 
 in empty talk. If the risk of being over- 
 heard does not daunt you, gratitude at least 
 might restrain your tongue." 
 
 " I'm not easily daunted, and there's no 
 risk of being overheard ; as to gratitude, why 
 should I be grateful ? " And Smith shied 
 a bit of mortar at his friend, who dodged it 
 and said — 
 
 " I am come as ambassador to treat for 
 your release." 
 
 " Ha ! the king knows the value of a good 
 smith as all wise men do. Why did he send 
 you in such guise ? " 
 
 " For you, by the way "— Ent went on 
 saying — " my instructions are, to obtain the 
 release of the ladies Ostrythe and Eanfled, 
 of T^scwine, and then of you common fellows, 
 if I can get you cheap."
 
 ANDERIDA. 257 
 
 " Common fellows ! " roared Smith. "If 
 you can get us cheap ! " 
 
 " Yes, it is left to my wisdom to decide 
 how much shall be offered for your ransom " — - 
 Smith's hand quitted a big stone which it had 
 but just grasped — " so you see it may be to 
 your advantage to be civil and useful. Now 
 I want this little door opened ; is your boasted 
 craft equal to such a task ? " 
 
 " You are a cunning fellow," said Smith, 
 " and have most artful ways of getting round 
 one. 
 
 " Can you open the door ? — that is the 
 question." 
 
 " Dare say I can. I have studied their 
 locks since I have been here, and have 
 mastered the intricacies of them." 
 
 Smith disappeared from the wall, and 
 presently was heard tugging at bolts and 
 bars ; then a key turned harshly in a rusty 
 lock, screeching an alarm, but the warders 
 were out of hearing ; then after two or three 
 vigorous bumps the door burst open suddenly, 
 
 VOL. I. s
 
 258 ANDERIDA. 
 
 and Smith flew headlong into a bed of nettles 
 and brambles. 
 
 " Mind the step," said Ent calmly. 
 
 Smith cared little for such mishaps, and 
 picking the thorns out of his hands, said 
 earnestly — 
 
 " I must have models of these keys — go on 
 talking ; I can listen and work at the same 
 time." And cutting a piece of thick leather 
 from the apron which he wore, he speedily 
 made sufficient patterns of the two massive 
 but simple keys. 
 
 Meanwhile Ent told of the defeat of the 
 Saxons. "It is true then," said Smith. "We 
 did not believe the Welshmen when they 
 bragged, but they seem to have done it 
 thoroughly. They are all gone to see the 
 Count enter with his host, and I came here 
 to be out of the way of their flourishings. 
 As these things are finished, we will go to a 
 forge near at hand, and if the people are 
 away, as I suppose, I will make the keys 
 there, and then I can swim across the water 
 and go to where Saefugl lies."
 
 AND E RID A. 259 
 
 Yes, make the keys ; but you must not 
 try to escape yet. We come into the 
 harbour to-morrow, and you will be more 
 useful inside the city than anywhere else. 
 Let us get some grease for these keys that 
 they may turn more easily." 
 
 " By no means," answered Smith ; " folks 
 would see at once that they have been used. 
 You may grease the new keys." 
 
 They went in, fastened the outer door, up 
 a dozen steps in the thickness of the wall, 
 through the inner door which they locked, 
 then hung the keys on their hook in the 
 ofuard-chamber and went to the forge. The 
 owner was leaving, and Smith, who had 
 already made his acquaintance, spoke to 
 him. 
 
 "If you are not using your fire I shall be 
 glad of it for a few minutes to make a new 
 buckle. This piece of iron will suit me, and 
 here is silver to pay for it and the coals I 
 shall burn." 
 
 " I take no silver from a fellow-craftsman," 
 said fehe Briton.
 
 26o ANDERIDA. 
 
 But Smith persisted. He felt it would be 
 dishonourable to accept as a gift the material 
 for making keys which might be the means 
 of the giver's house being pillaged and his 
 throat cut. So he paid the money and then 
 blew up the fire, heaped on fresh charcoal, 
 and in a short time finished the job. Ent, 
 having found a pot of grease, took the keys 
 to the postern to try if they would fit. He 
 soon returned with a favourable report, and 
 Smith in the meantime had hammered and 
 filed other rods, intending to use them as 
 picklocks. 
 
 Then Smith set out with Ent in search of 
 ^scwine, whom they found without much 
 difficulty, and took counsel as to the carrying 
 out of yElle's wishes. After this matter was 
 settled, they showed him the keys, but he 
 despised them. 
 
 " I marvel," he said, " that such a man as 
 )ou, Smith, who can both forge a sword-blade 
 and use it right well, should busy yourself 
 about such work as this. To-morrow or the 
 next day ve shall go free, as warriors should,
 
 ANDERIDA. 261 
 
 having paid their scat. To what end then 
 are these things ? Having given my word 
 for you to Farinmail I shall both keep these 
 keys, and also, if you escape, will have you 
 sent back again." 
 
 Smith protested that he had no thought 
 of escaping, while he showed that the keys 
 might be useful for other ends. 
 
 " By means of these, not only may those 
 within get out, but those who are without 
 may get in." 
 
 "Not so," answered yEscwine ; "city gates 
 are not made to be opened from the out- 
 side." 
 
 Smith looked at Ent, who smiled loftily. 
 To him, standing a trifle under four feet 
 seven, it seemed quite natural that big men 
 should be stupid, but his larger companion 
 grieved that a man whom he respected as a 
 first-rate fighter should be so very dull of 
 apprehension. 
 
 ^scwine did not concern himself about 
 their opinions. 
 
 He not only gave Ent a caution to avoid
 
 262 ANDERIDA. 
 
 getting into mischief, but watched him till he 
 departed from the city. 
 
 By that time Vortipore was entering in 
 triumph, little suspecting what fateful imple- 
 ments lay in ^scwine's wallet.
 
 ANDERIDA. 263 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Ill luck wakes while good luck slumbers — 
 but it was evil counsel rather than unhappy 
 fortune that sent Vortipore a-hunting on the 
 morning after the triumph. It was a simple 
 delight to him to be contrary, to commit 
 extravagancies which afforded no pleasure 
 beyond the exciting of gossip and gaping 
 wonderment — " What will he do next ^. " and 
 " Who would have thought it ? " 
 
 This contrariness, reinforced by a disposi- 
 tion to thwart Julius and the Pendragon, as 
 well as a genuine love of hunting, was com- 
 bated by certain haunting memories which 
 derived fresh vigour of importunity from the 
 reappearance of the mad monk, Renatus. 
 But persons of Vortipore's temperament could
 
 2 64 ANDERIDA. 
 
 not get on at all without power to consign 
 unpleasant reflections to deep dungeons of 
 the brain, where they sleep forgotten, till 
 under certain conditions the imprisoned 
 vapours burst forth with a suddenness of ex- 
 plosion perilous to such as inhabit near them, 
 
 Gorr the forester had told a tickling tale 
 of a white hart which was harboured in the 
 northern part of the Anderidan wood, the 
 chase of which was sport for princes. 
 
 The hunting of the white stag was a serious 
 affair ; intricate were the ceremonies, grave 
 the etiquette to be observed at various stages 
 of the proceedings. There was a heart- 
 searching question as to the notes to be 
 sounded at his death. Trystan had not yet 
 settled for all times this and similar points 
 of venery. But of this fact there was and 
 could be no doubt ; it was incontestable that 
 whoever, above a certain degree, killed the 
 deer, had the right of presenting the head 
 to any lady in the court, and of claiming a 
 kiss in return. Vortipore had given direc- 
 tions that the hart should be turned towards
 
 ANDERIDA. 265 
 
 himself, in such wise that he could scarcely 
 fail of attaining his object. This was not 
 quite fair to Farinmail and the others, but 
 the Count said to his conscience — 
 
 " Those 3^oung fellows will have chances 
 enough ; time is time at my time of life." 
 
 The head, thus unrighteously gotten, he 
 would give to "the maid with the broom- 
 flower hair," the description of whose per- 
 fections had kindled a blaze in his combus- 
 tible affections. 
 
 Great was the hubbub and stir in the 
 palace an hour before daybreak. Torches 
 were flaring, men shouting, horses stamping, 
 dogs barking, horns blown, doors banged, 
 slaves beaten, men ran against each other, 
 fell, cursed, and railed, and the confusion 
 went on ever increasing till it seemed as if 
 nothing but chaos could come of it. By 
 degrees, however, that potent agent of order, 
 the stick, reduced to method men, beasts, and 
 things. The long train drew itself out through 
 gateway and street, and strange silence fell 
 upon the palace again.
 
 266 ANDERIDA. 
 
 Julius remained in the city to perform the 
 duties which others neglected. The Count 
 left him some general directions, as to the 
 disposal of the army, and power to act within 
 prescribed limits during the absence of the 
 hunting party. The Praefect tried to con- 
 centrate the host again on the downs, but 
 the warriors were gone hither and thither on 
 business or pleasure, and no one seemed 
 responsible for anything. Men thought that 
 the Saxons were disposed of once for all ; 
 at least they acted as if that was their belief. 
 
 Some two thousand men were with diffi- 
 culty got together and sent to the hills, but 
 they were amenable only to their regular 
 chiefs, many of whom were away with the 
 Count. 
 
 As soon as matins were ended the Praefect 
 took his seat in the tribune of the Basilica, 
 and disposed of the causes, which were chiefly 
 concerning injuries, abusive words, or smiting, 
 resulting from last night's revels. He was 
 about to proceed to other work when he 
 noticed stout Rhys among the crowd with
 
 ANDERIDA. 267 
 
 his head tied up, and a dazed, wild look. 
 Julius thought it better to call him and a 
 neighbour who accompanied him into an 
 adjoining chamber, and hear the case pri- 
 vately, as he doubted who might be found 
 mixed up in it. 
 
 Nothing could be got out of Rhys, who 
 was unable to understand the questions asked 
 him, and only answered to each — " Angha- 
 rad ! " which seemed to be the name of his 
 Avife. 
 
 The neio-hbour testified that, being heated 
 with wine, and not dispose^ to sleep, he went 
 on to the roof of his house for a little fresh 
 air. That while on the roof he saw two 
 torches coming down the street, and behind 
 the torch-bearers eight men, some of whom 
 were armed. 
 
 " What time did you see these people ? " 
 asked the Praefect. 
 
 " I should think it was about midnieht." 
 
 " Did they move stealthily, and try to 
 avoid observation ? " 
 
 " No ; they walked in the middle of the
 
 2 68 ANDERIDA. 
 
 street, laughing and talking as they came. 
 They stopped at the house of Rhys, which 
 is nearly opposite mine, and I stood in a 
 convenient corner, where I could see without 
 being seen from below. They all went in 
 without knocking. There were loud cries 
 within the house, and a sort of scuffling, and 
 then all was still again. Four of the men 
 I had seen enter came out and hid them- 
 selves on either side of the door." 
 
 " How do you know that the men were the 
 same you saw enter ? " 
 
 " By the round felt caps they wore. The 
 torch-bearers did not come out then. 
 Presently another man came along and 
 stopped at the door ; he seemed about to raise 
 an alarm, but one of the four men struck 
 him a heavy blow on the back of the head 
 with a club, and he fell along the threshold. 
 Then the torches came out, followed by two 
 men who carried a woman enveloped from 
 head to foot in a large mantle." 
 
 " How could you tell it was a woman so 
 wrapped up ? "
 
 ANDERIDA. ' 269 
 
 " The foot was exposed for a moment ; it 
 was a very small foot In a woman's shoe, and 
 there was a glitter of metal above the ankle. 
 After the woman came two men with drawn 
 swords. These all stepped over the man 
 who lay stunned on the threshold, and turned 
 up the street in the direction of the palace." 
 
 Rhys groaned and made a remark which 
 could not be understood by the neighbour, 
 who continued — 
 
 "As soon as it was safe — I mean when I 
 thought the men were not likely to return for 
 anything — I went down, found Rhys lying 
 insensible, and carrying him into his house, 
 laid him on a couch. In the passage at the 
 back lay two slaves, one dead, the other 
 dying." 
 
 " Did the dying man make any state- 
 ment ? " 
 
 " No ; he was past that. I stepped over 
 them and knocked at the door of the women's 
 apartment, telling my name and why I was 
 there. After a time an old woman came out 
 crying, and told me, in disjointed style, that
 
 2 70 ANDERIDA. 
 
 having been roused by a tumult, she ran out, 
 and there were two men v/ith bloody swords 
 standing over the two fallen slaves, while 
 beyond she saw by the light of the torches 
 two others covering her mistress with a cloak." 
 
 " Did her mistress struggle or cry out ? " 
 
 " The old woman did not say. There was 
 neither struggle nor cry when I saw her, 
 the whole affair seemed to have been pre- 
 arranged. She stated that the other female 
 slaves had a holiday given them by their 
 mistress, and had not returned." 
 
 " You tell me," said the Praefect, " that it 
 seemed to be a preconcerted affair ; did the 
 men appear to belong to one gang, or were 
 they promiscuous ruffians ? " 
 
 " They were well acquainted with each 
 other, and evidently were used to act 
 together ; they wore breeches with purple 
 stripes." 
 
 " I see. You are a man of discretion. 
 Nothing can be done till Rhys is somewhat 
 restored. Take him into your house, and 
 lock up his own. Have the old woman to
 
 ANDERIDA. 27 1 
 
 nurse him ; he Is wealthy and will repay your 
 expenses on his behalf. If you see any of 
 the men in striped breeches prowling about, 
 let me know. Enter ! " This last word was 
 in answer to a knock at the door, and a 
 messenger appeared with the intelligence 
 that a strange galley had rowed into the 
 harbour with flag and trumpet and desired 
 a parley. 
 
 Julius went to the quay at the city end of 
 the long bridge. At a distance of about 
 fifty yards lay Saefugl with her stern toward 
 the city, and her oars poised ready for a 
 start if her reception should be unfavourable. 
 At his bidding an officer hailed — 
 
 " What galley is that, and what is your 
 business here ? " 
 
 " This is a galley of ^lle, King of the 
 Saxons. We come as ambassadors to treat 
 for the release of certain prisoners." 
 
 " Vortipore the Count is absent, because — 
 because " 
 
 '' On affairs of state," whispered Julius, 
 with an angry glance.
 
 2 72 ANDERIDA. 
 
 "On weighty affairs of state," shouted the 
 official. 
 
 Ent, who had sent Gorr the forester, 
 grinned complacently. 
 
 " But " said the officer, " if you choose 
 
 to tell your business to the Lord Praefect, you 
 can come ashore and do so. You are free to 
 come and free to go, so long as you behave 
 peaceably." 
 
 Those on board the galley consulted 
 together for a short time. " I wish," said 
 Ent, " that fellow Julius had gone hunting 
 with the rest, but I owe him something and 
 now I will pay him." After a few moments 
 a venerable man of lofty stature and benig- 
 nant aspect rose and said in a sonorous voice — 
 
 " Will you deliver hostages for our safe 
 return ? " 
 
 " By no means," answered Julius. " Land 
 here if you please, or return as you came, it 
 matters not to us." 
 
 After conferrinof agfain with the little man 
 by his side, the chief waved his hand with 
 graceful dignity, and said —
 
 ANDERIDA. 273 
 
 " It was asked as a matter of form. Your 
 assurance is quite enough. I will come 
 ashore with my coadjutor." 
 
 The oars dipped and the light boat backed 
 to green slippery steps, where the chief 
 landed, resting on the arm of an attendant. 
 
 Julius had spoken about the prisoners to 
 the Count and Farinmail before they started, 
 showing the inconvenience of having so many 
 of them at large in the city observing every- 
 thing, and perhaps communicating with the 
 enemy. The common sort were cast into 
 prison, but all the Gesithas were included 
 in y^scwine's promise not to escape, and 
 endured no other confinement. Farinmail, 
 eager to start, told Julius to dispose of the 
 captives according to his discretion, subject 
 to the conditions he had already mentioned. 
 Vortipore intimated to the Praefect privately 
 that Ostrythe was to be detained at all 
 hazards, and that some pretext could easily 
 be invented for the purpose. 
 
 Julius in consequence intended to send 
 messengers in the course of the day to offer 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 ANDERIDA. 
 
 the release of the captives on certain terms, 
 and was not sorry to be anticipated. He 
 greeted the stately chief, and after some 
 formal compliments, said — 
 
 " Let us not waste time in trying to 
 deceive each other. Tell your errand in 
 plain words, and I, plainly and in good faith, 
 will answer you." 
 
 At this point the chief was seized with a fit 
 of coughing so violent and so long continued 
 that he motioned to his companion to speak 
 for him, whereupon Ent began — 
 
 " The prisoners about whom we come were 
 captured by your horsemen the day before 
 the main fight. You know, perhaps, that 
 there are among them some of higher rank 
 than the rest." 
 
 " I suspected so much," said Julius, eyeing 
 the speaker intently. 
 
 " To be plain with you, as you wish, 
 twenty-six are King yElle's Gesithas, his 
 companions in battle. It is not for the 
 king's honour that these should lie in dun- 
 geons. He offers for each as ransom a pound
 
 ANDERIDA. 275 
 
 of fine silver, true weioht. There were two 
 women taken at the same tune, and for them 
 we are bidden to offer the same ransom as 
 for the fiofhtino- men." 
 
 " But a pound of silver for a companion of 
 the kinof, for one who eats at his table ! Is 
 the value of such a one but a pound of 
 silver by your law if any kill him ? " 
 
 " It is," replied Ent confidently, thinking 
 that he was not likely to be contradicted. 
 " That is the wergyld of a Gesith." 
 
 " Ask the Lord ^scwine to come to us ; 
 we require his assistance in this matter." 
 
 ^scwine soon came, and to him Julius 
 addressed the question. 
 
 " We are informed that the wergyld of a 
 Gesith among your folk is one pound of fine 
 silver. Is that correct ? " 
 
 " It is not," answered ^scwine. 
 
 " I thought it was not," said Julius serenely; 
 " but if it had been I should put a higher 
 value upon such brave men. Five pounds of 
 silver is little enough for each. As to the 
 ladies," turning his austere countenance full on
 
 2/6 ANDERIDA. 
 
 Ent, " are you aware that they are the king's 
 daughters ? or did you think that I knew 
 not ? For each of them a hundred pounds 
 of silver is moderate." 
 
 " A hundred! " snarled Ent ; '' two hundred, 
 three hundred and more pounds ! There is 
 not so much silver in the land ! " 
 
 "If silver is scarce we will take gold at 
 the rate of one pound of gold for twelve 
 of silver. Will that please you ? " 
 
 " That please me ! " screamed the giant, 
 who was too irascible for a diplomatist ; but 
 the elder man, seeing that his clever assistant 
 was getting the worst of it, interposed. 
 
 " Lord Praefect, I have recovered my voice. 
 What you say is partly true ; but vast sums 
 of money we have not. I have brought two 
 pounds of silver for ^scwine, twenty-five for 
 the rest of the Gesithas, and ten for the two 
 ladies. Take that and let them ofo. I can 
 offer no more." 
 
 Then /Escwine said : " We do not usually 
 pay the full wergyld to save a prisoner ; it 
 is the price of a man's life, but "
 
 AND E RID A. 277 
 
 " Lord ^scwine," Julius interrupted, " par- 
 don me ; it is not necessary to enter into 
 these matters. You have to deal with noble 
 enemies. The Lord Farinmail says to King 
 -^lle, ' I make no war on women. Take 
 back your daughters.' For the rest, you, 
 Lord yF^scwine, are a twelve-hundred man, 
 but we will count you and your fellow com- 
 panions as two-hundred men ; three were 
 killed, the remaining twenty-two and yourself 
 will make the amount four thousand six 
 hundred shillings.* This respectable old 
 person says he has brought about half that 
 amount ; let that be delivered, and we will 
 release one of the ladies and the unwounded 
 Gesithas. Do you, Lord /Escwine, say to 
 King ^lle that we like not his ambassadors ; 
 nevertheless, -when the remainder of the 
 silver is brought, they shall have the Lady 
 Ostrythe and the eight wounded men. There 
 are, besides, thirty wounded footmen, and 
 
 * In Wessex, and probably also in Sussex, one pound 
 of silver was coined into sixty-three shillings, one of which 
 would purchase a sheep.
 
 278 ANDERIDA. 
 
 fifty-seven unhurt, but concerning these we 
 do not treat at present." 
 
 To these terms the Saxons assented, 
 though ^scwine made a gallant struggle for 
 Ostrythe, in whose place he wished to remain 
 as hostage, but the Praefect was obdurate. 
 While the silver was beinof weiohed and the 
 captives delivered, yEscwine sought out 
 Smith, whom he persuaded to take the place 
 of one of the wounded who was strong^ 
 enouofh to march with those who returned 
 home. He explained to Smith his wishes 
 concerning Ostrythe, and begged him to 
 watch over hen 
 
 Then he gained admission to the lady her- 
 self, told her that he was going away, and 
 that she would have to rely on herself 
 alone. 
 
 " I have done that ere now," said Ostrythe, 
 lauo^hinp-. 
 
 " But these men are cunning and faithless, 
 and I have had hints that evil is meant. 
 Take this." And he gave her a short dagger 
 which he had bought of the cutler, Smith's
 
 ANDERIDA. 2 79 
 
 friend. " It is a handy thing for a lady ; you 
 can wear it inside your buskin. If you think 
 you may have occasion to use it, hold it thus, 
 with the blade against the fiat of your arm, 
 and the first joint of your thumb in the 
 hollow of the pommel. Keep your eyes 
 quiet and strike straight and sudden at the 
 side of the neck under the jaw ; don't strike 
 twice." 
 
 Ostrythe examined the weapon. It had a 
 blade five inches long by three broad, with 
 very sharp curving edges. There was no 
 guard, but the blade was cut in the shape of 
 a barbed arrow, and the haft was covered 
 with the skin of the rough dog-fish. 
 
 yEscwine went on, "Saefugl shall wait under 
 the first point to the eastward every night, 
 and they shall look out for you. Here are 
 the keys of a little postern, about seventy 
 yards distant from the north-eastern corner 
 of the palace. Smith will show you. It is 
 new moon to-morrow night, and high-water 
 then about two hours after sunset. The 
 darkest and quietest time is an hour after
 
 28o AND E RID A. 
 
 midnight, and that would be a good time to 
 swim across. Now I must go. Dear, dearest 
 lady, be careful ! " 
 
 " Never fear for me," said Ostrythe. 
 
 He kissed her hand, looked in her eyes, 
 kissed her lips, and was gone. 
 
 yEscwine went in Ssefuel with Eanfled 
 and the other women ; the fourteen Gesithas 
 took their way by land under the charge of 
 an escort who were to pick up intelligence. 
 
 The Giant had made several attempts to 
 get into the city again, which were frustrated 
 by the vigilance of those whom Julius had set 
 to watch him, and before noon Ssefugl left. 
 
 Ostrythe lost no time in exploring her 
 quarters, which were on the first floor of the 
 women's side of the palace. The rooms 
 opened on a terrace, at one end of which was 
 the outer wall of the building whose battle- 
 ments overhung a narrow street. Looking 
 down the street she saw the city wall, and 
 made out that by turning along the inter- 
 vallum to the left she could reach the little 
 postern. At one place, about nine feet below
 
 ANDERIDA. 281 
 
 the parapet, there was a heap of rubbish on to 
 which she could drop. At the other end of 
 the terrace was a lofty turret which promised 
 a view of the city and the sea ; and she 
 mounted the steps. On the platform at the 
 top she found a young girl reclining on a 
 wicker couch, with a slave fanning her while 
 another held an umbrella over her head. 
 She wore only a thin linen sleeveless tunic, 
 partly open at the sides and fastened on each 
 shoulder with a light fibula ; her hair was 
 loose and showed like a black cloud on the 
 white garment. 
 
 It was Bronwen, who rose to meet 
 Ostrythe, and kissed her, talking rapidly. 
 She had heard of the Saxon's arrival with 
 pleasure, as any novelty was a treat to the 
 child whose life was that of a caged bird. 
 Ostrythe met her advances graciously, but 
 without enthusiasm ; it was too warm for 
 embracing. Her eyes never wandered from 
 the blue sea, hazy in the heat, till Saefugl's 
 flashing oars were lost to view. Then she 
 listened to Bronwen explaining that the sea-
 
 282 ANDERIDA. 
 
 breeze was done, and inviting her to a cooler 
 spot They took a bath after the Roman 
 fashion, which was a noveky to Ostrythe, 
 and not ahogether an agreeable one ; she 
 liked a plunge into living, foamy waters 
 better than sweating and slopping and being 
 pinched by slave women. 
 
 They sat under the peristyle listening to 
 the harps ; they supped and strolled among 
 the roses in the twilight. The hunting party 
 neither returned nor sent a message. 
 
 At length, tired of waiting, Bronwen in- 
 vited her new friend to share her bed, and 
 Ostrythe, glad of companionship in such a 
 place, cheerfully accepted the offer. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : PRINTED BY BICKERS AND SON, LEICESTER SQCARE.
 
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 0112 037859979 
 
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