But you
look ill, my lord."
"I was on a bed of sickness when the news came; but it was no time for
lying abed. For the first two or three days' marches I was carried on a
litter, but I am now well enough to sit my horse. It cost me a sore
struggle to leave the South unguarded simply because my orders were not
obeyed here in the North. But there was no help for it, and we have been
marching well-nigh night and day in hopes that we might bring this matter
to a close, and return south before the Norman fleet appears off the coast.
We have already marched farther than would seem possible in the time, but
the men are all in good heart and eager to meet the Norsemen, and I have
addressed them and shown them the urgent necessity for speed. We shall set
forward again in half an hour. They have had six hours for rest, so they
can do another fifty miles before they halt again. You can tarry here for a
day to rest yourself, and can then ride on and overtake us."
"I will go down and take a plunge in the river," Wulf said, "and shall be
ready to mount again by the time that the rearguard is in motion. I could
have kept on to London had it been needful, and shall be quite ready to
proceed with the army."
They were within a day's march of York when the news came that the city had
surrendered without waiting for an assault. The King of Norway had offered
favourable terms; a local Gemot had been held, and it had been agreed to
make peace with Harold of Norway, and not only to receive him as king but
to join him in his warfare against the South.
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