children, and then sent them, with their mother, loaded with presents
and proofs of kindness, back to Hastings again.

This generosity made no impression upon the heart of Hastings, or, at
least, it produced no effect upon his conduct. He continued the war
as energetically as ever. Months passed away and new re-enforcements
arrived, until at length he felt strong enough to undertake an
excursion into the very heart of the country. He moved on for a time
with triumphant success; but this very success was soon the means of
turning the current against him again. It aroused the whole country
through which he was passing. The inhabitants flocked to arms. They
assembled at every rallying point, and, drawing up on all sides nearer
and nearer to Hastings's army, they finally stopped his march, and
forced him to call all his forces in, and intrench himself in the
first place of retreat that he could find. Thus his very success was
the means of turning his good fortune into disaster.

And then, in the same way, the success of Alfred and the Saxons soon
brought disaster upon them too, in their turn; for, after succeeding
in shutting Hastings closely in, and cutting off his supplies of food,
they maintained their watch and ward over their imprisoned enemies
so closely as to reduce them to extreme distress--a distress and
suffering which they thought would end in their complete and absolute
submission. Instead of ending thus, however, it aroused them to
desperation. Under the influence of the phrensy which such hopeless
sufferings produce in characters like theirs, they burst out one day
from the place of their confinement, and, after a terrible conflict,
which choked up a river which they had to pass with dead bodies and
dyed its waters with blood, the great body of the starving desperadoes
made their escape, and, in a wild and furious excitement, half a