from its ruins when a great sea-flood, four years later, and then tempests and scarcity, discouraged the inhabitants from enterprise and industry. But the country districts showed scarcely any diminution of their beauty. The rising and the setting sun gleamed on the reaches of the rivers; and the stars were reflected in the still lagoons:-the thickets on Thorn-ey (Thorn Island) were blossomy and fragrant as ever in spring; and in autumn the heavy crops of ruddy apples on the orchard slopes promised an average brewing of cider. Under this beauty and promise, however, was hidden much hardship and hunger. Between the fear and the actual ravages of the Danes, the lands under tillage had been neglected or laid waste; and there was a scarcity, for years together, of wheat, barley, and beans. The former dwellers in our island, whether Saxons or Danes, had no notion of abstinence, except on fast-days. Their capacity for taking food was beyond anything that modern habits can give an idea of; and they went on with their four ample meals a day till their stores were exhausted, and they had to depend on their precarious fishing, fowling, and herbgathering.

This absence of prudence is easily accounted for when the insecurity of the times is considered. There was no inducement to form stores of grain or smoked meat when the "lord Danes" (as they were called by the people among whom they settled) entered every man's house, and used every man's possessions, at their own pleasure. In districts further inland than the Danes were accustomed to sit down for a season, and where fish was less of a resource than on the coast, men might more safely venture to have full cellars and barns, and even to wear and use articles of gold and silver: but near the shores, the desire of every householder was to appear to have nothing in his house. In this the Saxon householder was well supported by his wife and his retainers. From the owner himself down to his humblest herdsman, all had the knowledge that consequences so much worse than robbery of food and goods were to be dreaded when a "lord Dane" had set his foot on any threshold, that all were willing to leave as little temptation as possible to the enemy to visit them, and therefore to make away rapidly with the family provision, leaving the future to take care of itself.

Here and there an exception to such practice occurred: and stringent must be the reasons which could prevail against the sense of risks so fearful, and the natural tendency to improvidence which belonged to the times.

Merdhin, a farmer who lived in a half-cleared nook of Thorn-ey, and his wife Hildelitha, could not look on their young children, in times of threatened scarcity, without anxious thought how they were to be fed till the next harvest. Such provision as could be made without peril was made, of course. Everybody having a cow that could in any manner keep one, the numerous fasts requiring that all good Christians should command a milk diet, -Merdhin had his cows grazing in the wood: -not belled, lest the sound should attract any foe, but watched by some of the household In the wood was also some poultry; and the children were early taught to go discreetly to work about feeding the fowls in a certain spot in the thicket,-that they might have only a certain space to search for eggs. A herd of swine under the oaks was a matter of course. But out of the covert little was to be seen. The hollowed blocks of wood in which the bees used to build were tumbled together on the south bank where they once stood in a row. The barn-doors stood wide,-a small heap of unthrashed barley in one corner, and a few beans in another, being all that remained from the last harvest. Within the house a hard cheese or two, and some salted pork, hanging from the rafters, were all the provision that met the eye of chance visitors. And when any party of travellers entered, and made suspicious inquiries how the household lived, they were shown the storehouse, where there was more salted pork and more hard cheese, and were told that eels and herbs all the year round, and herrings and crabs in their season, with an occasional porpoise, made out the family diet when the grain was all gone.

To dwellers in the house, however, it appeared very doubtful when the grain really was all gone. No one made very close inquiry; for all were willing that the young children of the family should be seen eating barley-cake, or even occasionally wheaten bread, while the elder members were satisfying their hunger with hard pease or insipid herbs. There might be some who understood the mystery; but they were discreet.

One winter night Merdhin and his wife had remained up till they believed every member of their household to be asleep; and then they arose in silence from the fireside, and went about what was evidently preconcerted business.

Hildelitha fetched and lighted the household lantern,-a ponderous affair, though somewhat simplified from that which good King Alfred had invented, to save his fourhour candles from flaring and wasting. Merdhin

meanwhile softly opened the door; and forth | they went to a little stone-paved yard belonging to the neat-herd's hut, two hundred yards behind the family dwelling. They knew the neat-herd to be absent, he having gone to help the shepherd of the neighbouring monastery to secure his flock from the wolves, which were now becoming audacious through hunger, and dangerous to all animals that were abroad at night. As the wintry wind came from the opposite shore to set the leafless trees rustling in the thicket, it brought to Hildelitha's watchful ears the occasional bark of a dog; and a gleam from a far-off shepherd's fire now and then flickered for an instant on the ice which lay broad and still in the starlight.

Her husband calling to her to give him light, she stooped down within the low inclosure, so shading the lantern with her woollen garment as that the light should fall only on the spot before which her husband was kneeling.

With an iron bar he raised an oblong stone, and looked down into a hole thus disclosed. "All safe!" he whispered. "Now for the other!"

He removed a second stone, and smiled at the sight of the goodly wheat which lay heaped in the little pit before them. It had been parched, to prevent its sprouting in damp, or being spoiled by frost. It looked ready for the hand-mill and the girdle-plate; and Merdhin ladled out with great alacrity a sufficient quantity for the night's cooking.

"Are you not hungry already?" said he to his wife. "Does not the thought of a steaming cake warm one, even in this cutting wind? You will be hungry enough by the time you have done grinding and cooking, for you ate at supper no more than might serve as a pretence. I, for my part, supped as well as if I had expected some lord Dane to step in between us and our baking."

"Hush!" whispered the timid wife. "Speak of anybody rather than those whose ears are everywhere."

"They should have been cropped long ago," said the husband, lowering his voice to a whisper, however. "And they would have been if we had had any one but the Unready over us. And the time may come yet if—" He paused, and shovelled out one more bowlful of the grain.

"No, no," said Hildelitha. "The king is good now: he is kind and just-not like a Dane. Let us hope our wars and our changes are over.'

"I said 'if,"" replied Merdhin, as he rose to shift and replace the stone. "I was thinking how soon Canute would be tired of pretending

that the Danish raven is no raven but a dove. What say you?"

"I say that I can think of nothing now but how my poor little Tecla will put out her hand for her breakfast in the morning when she sees what I bring her. I could not sup to-night for thinking of it."

"It was that very thought that made me sup so heartily," said Merdhin. "And now home, and to work."

And he was about to replace the second stone when a voice behind him said,

'Not so fast, friend. Empty your hoard while you have the lid up."

Merdhin snatched the lantern from his wife, and turned the light in the direction of the voice. Four faces, yellow in the dim gleam, appeared above the wall. All were smiling; but not so as to bring answering smiles.

"You see," said one of the strangers, "that we are double your number: moreover, we have not supped, well or ill. So out with more of your good wheat.'

"The whole and no less," exclaimed another, leaping the wall.

Merdhin seized him by the throat; but his grasp was loosened in an instant by many hands.

"O master!" cried the trembling neat-herd, "I did not bring these strangers here of my own accord. They carried me off to show them where I lived. O my lords!" turning to the strangers, "I did not know of any grain hidden here.'

"No, or there would have been less by the measure of your appetite," observed one of the intruders.

The inferior men of the party would have compelled Merdhin to work as their servant in emptying his own stores; but their leader was more politic and better mannered. He ordered one of his followers and the herdsman to assist the host, and even took a turn at the work himself. Meantime, two more attended Hildelitha home, to see that a good fire was prepared for cooking, and that she disturbed none of the household who could interfere with the comfort of the strangers.

A merry night they made of it: and an anxious night it was to the farmer and his family. The children trembled in their beds as the laughter and singing grew louder. The servants peeped in and peeped down through crevices in the wooden walls and ceiling; but they could not get a word with their master, who found himself a prisoner in his own hall; nor could they concert any effectual scheme of rescue or revenge among themselves. There

In the morning, when the leader of the party roused himself from the short sleep he had taken with his head on the board, he called for water, dashed it over his head and face till he was thoroughly awakened and cooled, ordered a clearance of all signs of revelry in the apartment, looking abroad meantime at the faint light which was breaking in the east, and then proceeded to hold a kind of court of his followers, over which he himself presided.

He caused Merdhin and his wife to be placed at the foot of what was now, in appearance, a judicial board.

"Do you know who we are?" was his first question to Merdhin.

"No: nor by what right you are here," the host roughly replied.

His wife laid her hand on his arm, and some members of the mock court began to look fierce.

You ask only what I was about to explain to you," said the leader, courteously. "I am Hagen the Dane, a commissioner from the king, sent into these parts with my followers, to prepare for the making a great causeway from Peterborough through the low grounds -a work which shows the love of the king towards his subjects in this region, and which will prove to all men, a thousand years hence, the care of King Canute for his people."

Hagen's followers raised a shout: and when the noise had subsided, Merdhin exclaimed,

"So it is true! A causeway complete from Peterborough, through those wide marshes! It will be a noble work, and a blessing to the country."

46

And while the king is creating blessings for your country, you have not common hospitality to spare for his servants. You would have offered his commissioner nothing better than salt beef and herbs, with perhaps some dry pease, while you had a store of fine wheat for yourselves. Can you pretend to say that you would have given me any better food than you gave to some wayfarers last week if I had not come down upon you in the night?"

"We should not," replied Hildelitha. "The wheat was kept for our young children. As we

Her voice trembled as she spoke. Hagen knew that this was not from fear, but from the thought of her children's needs.

"It must not be forgotten," said he, "that your children's children will have reason to bless the errand on which we come. And I must make it understood through all the region that every possible help and comfort is to be afforded to the king's messengers whenever they bring into it the honour of their presence. An example must be made of such inhospitality as yours."

By what law?" asked Merdhin.

"I will tell you when you tell me by what law the king is obliged to give you a road through the marshes. But if you like, your penalty shall go under the name of service to the work. The wolves--"

"The wolves!" faintly exclaimed Hildelitha.

"The wolves are a hindrance to us," continued Hagen: "the survey in the marshy parts ought to be finished while the ice is hard; but packs of wolves beset us, and compel us to keep together in the day-time, and to return long distances every night. I have therefore determined that the penalty of each offence that comes under my eye shall be paid in wolves' tongues. You will therefore go out, within this hour, against the wolves, and deliver to me, within six weeks from this day, six score of wolves' tongues."

Merdhin flushed to the temples as he cried, "That is the punishment of the vilest criminals in our country; of those," he continued, looking fiercely round upon his oppressors, "who have robbed a friendly host, or murdered a weary traveller, or eaten the bread of young children. Such are the men," he cried, with raised voice and daring eye, "such are the men that ought to be sent out for wolves' tongues, and not I, who have a home and family to protect from such ruffians as I have said."

Again Hildelitha laid her hand on his arm. "Perhaps," said she, "my lord was not aware that the punishment is base among Saxons He will not now press it."

"Call it service to the king's good work," said Hagen. "As for your home and family, the women and children shall be protected under the eye of the monks of Peterborough: and there, by the way, they will get good barley-meal, if they cannot have such fine

wheat as at home. Your house shall be under my own care. It will suit me well as an abode for a little time to come; and you may be sure of its safety while it has to shelter me."

The cool decision with which he spoke annihilated all hope of change of purpose. Hildelitha threw her arms round her husband's neck, in order to whisper in his ear, "Fly! Do not meet the wolves. Fly so far that the king may never be able to find you. Then we may meet again some day; but we never, never shall, if you go out at night against the wolves. Do not fear for us. I will take care of the children in some way; and the good monks--”

"One thing more," said the dreaded voice of the commissioner, whose eye had been upon them. "I cannot spare men to guard you, and see you execute your task; and for that reason it is that I hold your wife and children as hostages; as hostages," he repeated with emphasis, knowing the unspeakable terror of that word wherever Canute's former treatment of Saxon hostages had been heard of. "Moreover," continued he, "it will be required of you to deliver weekly, in the courtyard at Peterborough, whatever of your tale you have been able to collect. Thus your wife will be assured of your safety from week to week, and you of hers. Now, order out your horses for your wife and children, and any female attendant that she may choose to take with her, and I will myself be her escort, and see her within the gates. If you wish to witness our departure, be quick, for by sunrise you must yourself be on your way."

He gave orders that Merdhin should be furnished with such arms, food, clothing for warmth or defence, and such moderate supply of money as he might desire; and that one attendant, armed enough for self-defence, should be permitted to accompany him, to carry his stores, serve as his companion in his wanderings, and as a messenger in case of distress.

"Think not of us," said Hildelitha, as her husband put one of the children into her arms, after she had mounted her horse. "The good monks will pray for you. And O! my husband, fly!" she whispered. "We shall be with the holy monks, so think not of us.'

Whether these words had not been overheard by the commissioner was an anxious doubt to Hildelitha. His parting words on turning from the door were ominous,

66

Remember, Merdhin, the Danish raven is in every wood."

When the sun rose above the parapet of clouds on the horizon, and cast a dim gleam on the ice of the eastern lagoon, Merdhin was striding along through the paths of the wood, in such a fever of mind that his attendant was hardly sorry to be unable to keep up with him. Yet the man was chidden, as often as he came within hearing, for not walking nimbly while his master's affairs were so pressing. He might have pleaded his burden: but he ventured only to repeat that the way to the sheepfold lay so nearly straight that it would be hard to miss it; and that he would get there himself as soon as his legs would take him. Merdhin at last was struck with the sight of the load the man was carrying. He took from him the leathern sack of food and the little cask of strong ale, and flung them over each shoulder, pursuing his way as fast as ever under the added burden.

The attendant was the neat-herd,-chosen because he had come this way yesterday, and could most easily bring his master to the spot where the sheep of the monks of Thorn-ey were at present folded.

That spot was a small island, green at all seasons, and chosen as the fold in the severest part of every winter, because it could be most easily defended from wild animals. Merdhin found two of the servants of the monastery engaged now in this work of defence, while the shepherd was milking two ewes which had already dropped their lambs, and were sheltered in the small hut in which he lived. The embers of the night-fires kindled on the ice were still alight: and afar off might be seen the retreating figures of the watchers who were returning to the monastery, on the arrival of the two who were supplying their places.

The chief business of the watchers was to keep clear of new ice a channel cut all round the little island, and to maintain the nightfires. The most rapid freezing took place just before sunrise; and as there was, at this severe season, no security against the return of the disappointed and famished animals of prey at any hour, the ice was as diligently broken in the morning as at sundown. The men were so busy with their iron-pointed staves, driving, breaking, and drowning the young ice, that they did not hear Merdhin's hail. When they perceived him at last, and his attendant in the rear, they shouted joyous thanks for such a

reinforcement, and pushed out a plank by way of bridge across the channel.

When Merdhin's figure darkened the door of the hut, the shepherd rose surprised and forgot his complaining ewe. He pushed back his woollen hood, and gazed in the face of the neighbour who had thus condescended to visit him.

"Sit down again, friend," said Merdhin. "Who need ever stand before one condemned to collect wolves' tongues?"

"It was a croaking raven that spoke that sentence on you," said one of the convent ser

"Came-but which way did they go? that concerns me most. I want to be up with them."

"Better wait them here to-night. You never saw such packs

a good "A

"I cannot wait," said Merdhin. "There is enough to do meantime, day's work," said the sensible shepherd. dozen men would not be too many to make the wolf-pits that we could use to-night."

"I will do the work of a dozen," replied Merdhin. "Where should your wolf-pits be? You know the ground.'

"Ay, and the enemy. No councillor like a shepherd when you are going to war with wolves. But what to do for tools!"

The neat herd and one of the convent servants set off with alacrity to borrow tools, and, if possible, men for what might truly be called the service of the whole district. Sudden as was the call, enough came to make large preparation for the nightly attack, though it was necessary for them to depart homewards before dark, to avoid encountering the enemy by the

way.

Broad spaces were cut in the ice, on that side

of the islet where the waters were shallow enough to admit of the finding of the drowned wolves on the morrow,-the object being, not merely to destroy them, but to obtain their tongues. These holes were sufficiently disguised by a covering of powdered ice, strewed on a surface of osiers which would give way under the tread of a cat. It was only on a calm day that this kind of trap could be prepared; for a gust of wind was enough to lay it open. The blood of a sheep was dropped from some distance towards each trap, and plentifully sprinkled on the powdered ice; while between the trap and the inner channel lay a piece of flesh for the bait.-On the opposite side of the islet was a land-trap. A deep pit was dug the whole width of the point of land which lay between the fold and the ice. Sharp stakes were fixed, points upwards, in the bottom; and in the midst, and at some distance from each other, were erected tall poles,—each with a flesh-bait dangling from the top. To this pit there was also an osier covering, which was strewed with grass and rushes for disguise. |

The last pole with its bait was reared just as the sun went down behind the leafless western woods. Merdhin, with heated face and brow, was toiling as if a life depended on the full use of every minute of daylight. When the last handful of grass was strewn, he did not give himself a moment's breathing-time, but turned to prepare his arms.

His attendant proposed to serve out to him the ale he had already refused three or four times.

"Not yet," he replied, impatiently. "There is only the dusk left for arming and all else. Not a spark of light must we have anywhere but from the sky; and there is too little left of that."

"No fire!" exclaimed two or three voices. "No fire will I permit-nor candle. We want to bring the wolves, not to keep them off." "But within the hut.

"The hut has chinks. Not a word more! Any one who fears to watch a night in the dark may go-now, while he can see his way."

No one went: but there was a murmur that they should be found stiff corpses in the morning.

"Are you afraid of being frozen?" said Merdhin, dashing the perspiration from his brow. "You

"Excuse them!" said the shepherd. have a fire burning within, and

"True, true!" and Merdhin eagerly turned his face to meet a faint breath of night wind, which seemed more welcome to him than any