“Ay,” answered Havelok; and the earl drew off his men for half a mile, and in the gathering dusk we crossed the brook, and went on our errand across the field.  It was not hard to find our men, for they lay in a great wedge as we had fought.  There had been no straggling from that array, and no break had been made in its lines.  Alsi had lost more than we, for his men had beaten against that steel wall in vain, and the arms of the Northman are better than those of any other nation.

We took the wounded back to the camp, and there Goldberga and the wives of our English thanes tended them; and as we gathered up the slain the Lindsey men were among us at the same work, and we spoke to them as if naught was amiss between us, nor any fight to begin again in the morning.  And then we learned how few knew what we had come for.  It was with them as with the Earl of Chester.  They had no knowledge of Goldberga’s homecoming, and least of all thought that at the back of the trouble were the wiles of Alsi.  It was two years ago that Goldberga had gone, and her wedding had seemed to end her story.  Now the men heard and wondered; and it is said that very many left Alsi that night and went home, angry with him for his falsehood.

Now when all was done we sought rest, and weary we were.  I will say for myself that I did not feel like fighting next morning at all, for I was tired out, and the one or two wounds that I had were getting sorely stiff.  Raven was much in the same case, and grumbled, sailor-wise, at the weight of the banner and aught else that came uppermost in his mind.  Yet I knew that he would be the first to go forward again when the time came.

The host slept on their arms along the bank of the stream through the hot night, and the banner was pitched in their midst.  Soon the moon rose, and only the footsteps of the sentries along our front went up and down, while across the water was the same silence; for both hosts were wearied out, and each had learned that the other were true men, and there was no mistrust on either side.  When the light came once more we should fight to prove who were the best men at arms, and with no hatred between us.

Presently the mists crept up from the stream and wreathed the sleepers on either bank with white, swaying clouds, and I mind that the last thought I had before I closed my eyes was that my armour would be rusted by the clinging damp—­as if it were not war-stained from helm to deerskin shoe already with stains that needed more cleansing than any rust.

Then I waked suddenly, for someone went past me, and I sat up to see who it might be.  The moon was very bright and high now, but the figure that I saw wading in the white mist was shadowy, and I could not tell who it was.  And then another and yet another figure came from the rear of our line, and passed among the sleeping ranks, and joined the first noiselessly; and after a little while many came, hurrying, and they formed up on the bank of the stream into the mighty wedge.  And I feared greatly, for not one of the sleepers stirred as the warriors went among us, and I had looked on the faces of those who passed me, and I knew that they were the dead whom I had seen the men gather even now and lay in their last rank beyond our line.