Edmund wept sorely for some time, for he knew that his kinsman's agitation could be only caused by the death of his father.

At last he approached Egbert.
"My brave kinsman," he said, "I need ask you no questions, for I know but too well that my dear father has fallen; but rouse yourself, I pray you; let me bandage your wounds, which bleed fast, for you will want all your strength, and we must needs pursue our way well into the forest, for with to-morrow's dawn the Danes will scatter over the whole country." "Yes," Egbert said, turning round and sitting up, "I must not in my grief forget my mission, and in truth I am faint with loss of blood.

It was well the Danes stopped when they did, for I felt my strength failing me, and could have held out but little further.

Yes, Edmund," he continued, as the lad, tearing strips from his garments, proceeded to bandage his wounds, "your father is dead.

Nobly, indeed, did he fight; nobly did he die, with a circle of dead Danes around him.