young men willing to enrol themselves as house-carls, receiving a
regular rate of pay, and ready at all times to give service under
arms, and to remain in the field as long as they might be required,
whereas the general levy could only be kept under arms for a limited
time. He had already gone into the matter with Leof, who pointed
out that, as at present he had no wish to keep up any show or to
have a body of armed men in the house, it would suffice if the men
were exercised every day for a month, and after that merely practised
with sword and battle-axe for two or three hours once a week. On
these terms he had no difficulty in obtaining considerably more
than the number he asked for, and finally fifty men were enrolled.

For those carls helmets were bought and coats of ringed armour made,
and for a month they exercised daily. Of manoeuvring there was
little indeed. The Saxons and Danes alike fought in line, with but
room enough between them to swing their battle-axes. Each carried
a spear as well as an axe, and when repelling the assault of an
enemy closed up so that their shields well-nigh touched each other.
Their exercise was generally either to engage in combats between
chosen pairs, or, dividing into two parties, to fight line against
line with blunted poles for spears and with stout cudgels for axes.
Leof in these combats acted as judge, decided which side had gained
the victory, praised the skilful, and chided the careless and
sluggish. He gave lessons in the use of the sword and battle-axe
to Wulf and Osgod, sometimes pitting them against each other,
sometimes fighting himself against Wulf, and teaching Osgod how to
assist his master by covering him with his shield.

Sometimes he would order three or four of the men to shoot with
blunted arrows at Wulf, whom he taught to catch them on his shield