So I took closer notice of him, and lo! it was Guthlac, the reader of
Beowulf, and the other five were his brethren. Small wonder that I had
not recognized the holy men in their war gear, so little looked they
like the peaceful brethren who had walked in the abbey cloisters.
With them was my collier, keeping step and holding himself with the best
of them, and I thought that they would be seven hardy Danes who should
overmatch my standard guard. So I was well content with the bishop's
choice for me.
Now of that march to Brent, and the meeting there with the Somerset
levy, there is no need to tell. But by the time we marched from thence
against the Danes, there were five hundred men of Dorset, and near nine
hundred of Somerset. Of the Danes some judged that there would be eight
hundred or more, but if that was so, they were tried men, and our
numbers were none too great. Moreover, we must separate, so as to drive
them down to their ships, for they were spread over the country, burning
and destroying on every side.
We lay but one night on Brent, while the leaders held counsel, and even
as we sat gathered, we could see plainly the fires the Danes had lit, of
burning hamlet and homestead, far and wide across the marshes of Parret.
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