Whereupon Aldhelm held out his hand, and said that Wislac was wise and
he foolish. And Wislac, grasping it, answered that it was a lucky
foolishness that had brought so stout a comrade to his side, for had it
not been for Aldhelm putting his thick head betwixt him and an axe,
slain he would have been.
"Aye, brother," he said, "deny it not, for I saw you thrust yourself
forward and save me by yourself, which doubtless is your way of settling
a grudge, brother, and a good one."
So those two were sworn friends from that day forward, as were many
another couple who met on that field for the first time, fighting side
by side for Wessex.
Thus wore away the day and the next night, and with the morning those
ships were yet under the holms, swinging at their anchors, for the
westerly breeze held.
Then said Eanulf: "Let them be; harm can they do none, being so few.
They will go with the shift of wind."
But the shift of wind came not for days and days, and there they lay,
never putting out from shelter. And they are out of my story, so that I
will say what befell them.
One night it freshened up to a gale, and in the morning there were five
ships where six had been. One had sunk at her moorings. Then men said
that the Danes had made a hut on the flat holm, plain to be seen from
the nearest shore.
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