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And to that Wulfhere agreed, for I knew he would rather be swinging his sword against the Danes at Stert than flying through the woods of the Quantocks. Alswythe thanked me, without words indeed, and then in a few minutes she was mounted, and we were going up towards the high road to Bridgwater.
Therewith Sir Kay put his spear in the rest, and ran straight upon him; and Beaumains came as fast upon him with his sword in his hand, and so he put away his spear with his sword, and with a foin thrust him through the side, that Sir Kay fell down as he had been dead; and he alighted down and took Sir Kay's shield and his spear, and stert upon his own horse and rode his way.
With this coadjutor it was easy to establish a communication with his friends in the forest, the consequences of which will presently be seen. The waithman goode of Silverwoode, That bowman stout and hende, In donjon gloom abides his doom God dele him gentil ende. It breaks true herte to see him stert, When as the small birds sing, And then to hear his sighynges drere, Whereas his fetters ring.
Now this time I had no fear of him, and I waited for him to speak, just as though he had been before me in the flesh, for there seemed naught uncanny about the matter to me. And yet even at the moment that seemed strange, though it was so. But for a while he looked not at me, but out over the low lands towards Parret mouth and Stert, shading his eyes with his hand as though it were broad noonday.
Moreover, I would find out if landing was indeed meant, or if these were but signals for keeping channel on the outward course. So across the level meadows of Stert I ran my best, right towards the place where I had seen the light, which was at the top, as it were, of the wedge that Stert makes between the waters of Parret and the greater Severn Sea.
So, as Ceorle bid us, we four sat down by the window, and the king asked me to tell my story from the first. So I began by saying that I had seen the landing of the Danes at Stert, and warned the watchmen of the levy. There Alfred stopped me, holding up his pen suddenly. "Tell us, Thane, of the Watchet landing," he said.
Now the light was broadening, making all things cold and gray as it came. And quickly I told Ealhstan what I had heard, and what both I and Wulfhere thought of the matter. "Can we let them pass us, and so fall on them as they gain the level land of Stert?" asked Ealhstan, saying nothing more. "That can we," I answered.
Jocky an' Jeamy an' Tammy oot there, A' i' the boatie gaed doon; An' I'm ower auld to fish ony mair, An' I hinna the chance to droon. An' it's oh to win awa', awa'! &c. An' Jeanie she grat to ease her hert, An' she easit hersel' awa' But I'm ower auld for the tears to stert, An' sae the sighs maun blaw. An' it's oh to win awa', awa'! &c.
All that saw Sir Launcelot, and so did the damosel. And then he bade his dwarf stert upon Sir Kay's horse, and so he did. By that Sir Launcelot was come, then he proffered Sir Launcelot to joust; and either made them ready, and they came together so fiercely that either bare down other to the earth, and sore were they bruised. Then Sir Launcelot arose and helped him from his horse.
Then he stert up and made a sign of the cross in the midst of his forehead, and took his harness, and made ready his horse, and mounted upon him; and at a broken wall he rode out, and rode so long till that he came to the sea. And on the strand he found a ship covered all with white samite, and he alighted, and betook him to Jesu Christ.
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