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“It is war,” said Guthrum to his chiefs. “I have sworn to have England, and England shall be mine. The Saxons are scattered and at rest, not dreaming of battle and blood. Now is our time. A hard and sudden blow will end the war, and the fair isle of England will be the Raven’s spoil.”

We may still hear in fancy the wild shouts of approval with which this stirring declaration was heard. Visions of slaughter, plunder, and rich domains filled the souls of chiefs and men alike, and their eagerness to take to the field was such that they could barely wait to hear their leader’s plans.

“Alfred, the Saxon king, must be ours,” said Guthrum. “He is the one man I dread in all the Saxon hosts. They have many hands, but only one head. Let us seize the head, and the hands are useless. Alfred is at Chippenham. Thither let us ride at speed.”

Their bands were mustered, their arms examined, and food for the expedition prepared, and then to horse and away! Headlong over the narrow and forest-bordered roads of that day rode the host of Danes, in triumphant expectation of victory and spoil.

In his study sat Alfred, on the night of January 6, poring over an illuminated page; or mayhap he was deep in learned consultation with some monkish scholar, mayhap presiding at a feast of his thanes: we may fancy what we will, for history or legend fails to tell us how he was engaged on that critical evening of his life.

But we may imagine a wide-eyed Saxon sentinel, seared and hasty, breaking upon the monarch’s leisure with the wild alarm-cry,–

“Up and away, my king! The Danes are coming! hosts of them, armed and horsed! Up and away!”

Hardly had he spoken before the hoof-beats of the advancing foe were heard. On they came, extending their lines as they rode at headlong speed, hoping to surround the villa and seize the king before the alarm could be given.

They were too late. Alfred was quick to hear, to heed, and to act. Forest bordered the villa; into the forest he dashed, his followers following in tumultuous haste. The Danes made what haste the obstructions in their way permitted. In a few minutes they had swept round the villa, with ringing shouts of triumph. In a few minutes more they were treading its deserted halls, Guthrum at their head, furious to find that his hoped-for prey had vanished and left him but the empty shell of his late home.

“After him!” cried the furious Dane. “He cannot be far. This place is full of signs of life. He has fled into the forest. After him! A king’s prize for the man who seizes him.”

In vain their search, the flying king knew his own woods too well to be overtaken by the Danes. Yet their far cries filled his ears, and roused him to thoughts of desperate resistance. He looked around on his handful of valiant followers.

“Let us face them!” he cried, in hot anger. “We are few, but we fight for our homes. Let us meet these baying hounds!”

“No, no,” answered the wisest of his thanes. “It would be worse than rash, it would be madness. They are twenty–a hundred, mayhap–to our one. Let us fly now, that we may fight hereafter. All is not lost while our king is free, and we to aid him.”

Alfred was quick to see the wisdom of this advice. He must bide his time. To strike now might be to lose all. To wait might be to gain all. He turned with a meaning look to his faithful thanes.

“In sooth, you speak well,” he said. “The wisdom of the fox is now better than the courage of the lion. We must part here. The land for the time is the Danes’. We cannot hinder them. They will search homestead and woodland for me. Before a fortnight’s end they will have swarmed over all Wessex, and Guthrum will be lord of the land. I admire that man; he is more than a barbarian, he knows the art of war. He shall learn yet that Alfred is his match. We must part.”