Wherefore I must have escaped somehow.

And that is all I know about it." Then he turned to me, and asked if I had noted any doings at all.
And when I thought, all I could remember plainly were the fall of the tall chief I slew, and the coming of Ealhstan, and the attack of the berserk, and no more; all the rest was confused, and like a dream.

So I said that it seemed to me that we had had no time to do more than mind ourselves, but that withal my shield wall had kept the standard.

And that kept, there need be no question as to who had done best.
Then Wislac nodded, after his wont, and said that if Aldhelm was content so was he.
Whereupon Aldhelm held out his hand, and said that Wislac was wise and he foolish.

And Wislac, grasping it, answered that it was a lucky foolishness that had brought so stout a comrade to his side, for had it not been for Aldhelm putting his thick head betwixt him and an axe, slain he would have been.
"Aye, brother," he said, "deny it not, for I saw you thrust yourself forward and save me by yourself, which doubtless is your way of settling a grudge, brother, and a good one." So those two were sworn friends from that day forward, as were many another couple who met on that field for the first time, fighting side by side for Wessex.
Thus wore away the day and the next night, and with the morning those ships were yet under the holms, swinging at their anchors, for the westerly breeze held.
Then said Eanulf: "Let them be; harm can they do none, being so few.
They will go with the shift of wind." But the shift of wind came not for days and days, and there they lay, never putting out from shelter.