I know that this had been in my mind, and most likely in Odda's also; but Alfred might come.
"We wait the king," the ealdorman said.
"No use," she answered. "One may see all the Polden Hills from this place, and tonight there are no fires on Edington height, where we have been wont to see them."
Odda groaned. "My Etheldreda, you are the best captain of us all," he said.
Then suddenly Heregar rose up on his elbow from beside the standard, crying strangely:
"Ay, Father Eahlstan--when the tide is low. Somerset and Dorset side by side. What say you, father--Somerset and Devon? Even so."
The other sleepers stirred, and the lady turned and looked on the thane, but he slept even yet.
"Heregar dreams of the bishop he loved, and of the great fight they fought yonder and won thirty rears ago," she said [{xv}].
"Worn out is the brave thane," said I. "Strange dreams come to one when that is so."
Then Heregar woke, and saw the maiden, and rose up at her side.