Ethelney was in the county called Somersetshire.  To the southwest of Somersetshire, a little below it, on the shores of the Bristol Channel, was a castle, called Castle Kenwith, in Devonshire.  The Duke of Devonshire, who held this castle, encouraged by Alfred’s preparations for action, had assembled a considerable force here, to be ready to co-operate with Alfred in the active measures which he was about to adopt.  Things being in this state, Hubba brought down his forces to the northern shores of the Channel, collected together all the boats and shipping that he could command, crossed the Channel, and landed on the Devonshire shore.  Odun, the duke, not being strong enough to resist, fled, and shut himself up, with all his men, in the castle.  Hubba advanced to the castle walls, and, sitting down before them, began to consider what to do.

Hubba was the last surviving son of Ragner Lodbrog, whose deeds and adventures were related in a former chapter.  He was, like all other chieftains among the Danes, a man of great determination and energy, and he had made himself very celebrated all over the land by his exploits and conquests.  His particular horde of marauders, too, was specially celebrated among all the others, on account of a mysterious and magical banner which they bore.  The name of this banner was the Reafan, that is, the Raven.  There was the figure of a raven woven or embroidered on the banner.  Hubba’s three sisters had woven it for their brothers, when they went forth across the German Ocean to avenge their father’s death.  It possessed, as both the Danes and Saxons believed, supernatural and magical powers.  The raven on the banner could foresee the result of any battle into which it was borne.  It remained lifeless and at rest whenever the result was to be adverse; and, on the other hand, it fluttered its wings with a mysterious and magical vitality when they who bore it were destined to victory.  The Danes consequently looked up to this banner with a feeling of profound veneration and awe, and the Saxons feared and dreaded its mysterious power.  The explanation of this pretended miracle is easy.  The imagination of superstitious men, in such a state of society as that of these half-savage Danes, is capable of much greater triumphs over the reason and the senses than is implied in making them believe that the wings of a bird are either in motion or at rest, whichever it fancies, when the banner on which the image is embroidered is advancing to the field and fluttering in the breeze.

The Castle of Kenwith was situated on a rocky promontory, and was defended by a Saxon wall.  Hubba saw that it would be difficult to carry it by a direct assault.  On the other hand, it was not well supplied with water or provisions, and the numerous multitude which had crowded into it, would, as Hubba thought, be speedily compelled to surrender by thirst and famine, if he were simply to wait a short time, till their scanty