And when one looked at the Danes, the chiefs who ordered the host were plain to be seen, and the gay colours of banners and cloaks and shields were wonderful in the brightness, though at first we were nearly half a mile from them as we waited.  I thought that we were about equal to them in numbers, and I knew that did we but fight as at Sherston the day would surely be ours.  For when a force that is hard pressed knows that safety is close behind them there is an ever-present reason for giving way.

“We can drive this host to the ships, lord earl,” I said to Ulfkytel.

“Aye, surely,” he answered.  “They know that the ships wait for them, and so will give back.”

Now came Eadmund, and behind him our men marched steadily, and at his side was Edric Streone.  He looked at the Danes, and his face was bright and confident.

“How shall we fight, lord earl?” he said to Ulfkytel.

“Redwald and I have spoken thereof,” the earl answered.  “And it seems to us that Olaf’s viking plan is best.  Let us fight in a wedge, and drive the point through that circle and break it in twain.  We of East Anglia will willingly make the point, as we are on our own ground.”

“It is a good plan, but I have not tried it,” said Eadmund; and then Streone spoke.

“The old Saxon line is surely good enough,” he said.  “What need to take up with outland plans?”

“It will be good enough if our men fight as at Sherston,” Eadmund answered.

And all the thanes who were gathering round him cried out that they would surely not fail him, and one could not but listen to the voice of all the noblest in England who were gathered there, for Eadmund had all his best with him.  It was indeed a levy of all England.

So we were to fight in line, as Eadmund had given us our places on the day before, when we neared the battlefield.  He himself was in the centre with his Wessex men, and Edric Streone and his Mercians were with him.  There were some of us who had cried out at that, but the earl had said proudly that he would make amends for former ill, and the council had listened to and believed his words.

Ulfkytel was on the left, and there our line was flanked by the marshes that lie between the long slope where we were to fight and Ashingdon hill.  At least he would have no horsemen upon him from the side, and that flank was safe from turning.  The right wing was given to the Lindsey men under their own ealdorman, and with them were the men of the Five Boroughs {14}.

So our line was drawn up, and Eadmund rode out before them and they cheered, and then he unhelmed, and Bishop Ednoth of Dorchester, clad in his robes over chain mail, and with a heavy mace at his saddle bow, rode up beside him, and a monk who was with him brought forward and raised aloft a golden cross, and at that sign the host knelt, and the bishop shrived them and blessed them before the fight, and the sound of the “Amen” they spoke was like a thunder roll from end to end of the line.  And it reached the ears of the Danes who waited for us, and they broke out into their war song—­the Heysaa—­and thereat our men sprang up and shouted thrice, and then the sullen silence of the Saxon kin settled down on them, for we are not wont to speak much when work is meant.