"Have you seen or heard aught amiss?"

"Yes. About an hour ago, there were cries such as men make when they die
in torture, smothered by other sounds like the beating of drums, blowing
of horns, and I know not what."

"You were surely dreaming?"

"No; it came from yonder circle of stones, and a light like that of a
great fire seemed to shine around."

Alfred made no reply; but he remembered that they had talked of the
Druidical rites the night before, and thought that the idea had taken
such hold upon the minds of his followers as to suggest the sounds to
their fancy. Still he watched with them till the first red streak of day
appeared in the east.


CHAPTER X. ELFRIC AND ALFRED.

Early in the morning our travellers arose and took their way through an
open country which abounded with British and Roman remains; no fewer
than three entrenched camps, once fortifying the frontier of the Dobuni,
lying within sight or hard by the road, which, skirting the summit of
the watershed between the Thames and the Avon, afforded magnificent views.

About an hour after starting they came upon a singular monument of
Druidical times, consisting of sixty huge stones arranged in a circular
form, with an entrance at the northeast, while a single rock or large
stone, the largest of all, stood apart from the circle, as if looking