it became a terrible conflict with swords, man to man.

It was not long before the Danes began to yield. They were not
sustained by the strong assurance of victory, nor by the desperate
determination which animated the Saxons. The flight soon became
general. They could not gain the fortification on the hill, for Alfred
had forced his way in between the encampment on the plains and the
approaches to the hill. The Danes, consequently, not being able to
find refuge in either part of the position they had taken, fled
altogether from the field, pursued by Alfred's victorious columns as
fast as they could follow.

Guthrum succeeded, by great and vigorous exertions, in rallying his
men, or, at least, in so far collecting and concentrating the separate
bodies of the fugitives as to change the flight into a retreat, having
some semblance of military order. Vast numbers had been left dead upon
the field. Others had been taken prisoners. Others still had become
hopelessly dispersed, having fled from the field of battle in diverse
directions, and wandered so far, in their terror, that they had not
been able to rejoin their leader in his retreat. Then, great numbers
of those who pressed on under Guthrum's command, exhausted by fatigue,
or spent and fainting from their wounds, sank down by the way-side to
die, while their comrades, intent only upon their own safety, pressed
incessantly on. The retreating army was thus, in a short time, reduced
to a small fraction of its original force. This remaining body, with
Guthrum at their head, continued their retreat until they reached
a castle which promised them protection. They poured in over the
drawbridges and through the gates of this fortress in extreme
confusion; and feeling suddenly, and for the moment, entirely relieved
at their escape from the imminence of the immediate danger, they shut