THE VARANGIANS. 



were intermingled with the English almost before they had perceived 

 them; there was no time for council, and flight was unthought of. 

 The onset of the Normans was like a furious tempest the resistance 

 of the Vangarians was like that of the oaks of their native forests. 

 Numbers fell in the first shock, butthe survivors, wielding their ponder- 

 ous weapons with redoubled force, laid many a horse and many a 

 rider on the blood-stained field. In the midst of this terrible combat, 

 Austin, who, like the rest of the chieftains, fought on foot, saw Red- 

 wald, at a little distance, surrounded by three horsemen, and 

 evidently in the greatest peril. By a desperate exertion of strength 

 he broke through the press, uttering a dreadful cry, which caused 

 two of his friend's opponents to turn, as if startled, at the sudden 

 sound. In an instant the foremost was a corse at the feet of Austin, 

 but before that devoted youth could recover his weapon, the lance of 

 the second Norman had pierced his heart. Redwald, having just 

 slain his first antagonist, beheld, with a cry of rage and grief, the fate 

 of his friend. Too late to save him, he was not too late for revenge. 

 The helmeted head of the knight fell on the earth before his astonished 

 courser, and Redwald, hurling the trunk from the saddle, in an instant 

 vaulted into it himself, brandishing the lance of the conquered foe. 

 One glance along the line shewed him how true were the sad fore- 

 bodings of his friend. His brave and faithful soldiers lay, with few 

 exceptions, dead or wounded on the plain, the few survivors having 

 been forced back upon their Greek allies. The bitter grief of the 

 hero did not render him unmindful of the sovereign whom it was his 

 duty to guard. Alexius himself, who had hitherto exposed his person 

 in the thickest of the throng, now looked around, and perceived the 

 Turks already in flight, and his own subjects rapidly giving way. 

 Conscious that the day was lost, he unwillingly turned his thoughts 

 to flight, and, aided by Redwald, a few of the surviving English, and 

 other stragglers, he cu this way through the party of cavalry which 

 had proved the destruction of his army, and gained the mountains. 



Redwald, having assisted in the preservation of his royal master, 

 collected the scanty remains of his countrymen which the battle had 

 spared, repaired to Constantinople, where a few had been left to de- 

 fend the precincts of the court. He was speedily united to his lovely 

 bride, whose possession in some .measure repaid him for the deep 

 sorrow and humiliation which the'defeat of Durazzo had heaped upon 

 him. He served, however, with honour throughout the chequered 

 course of the war. Though the late decisive battle had proved dis- 

 astrous, like that at Hastings/^he felt proudly conscious that, as on 

 that occasion, the valour, at least, of his countrymen, had been proved 

 second to none ; and his subsequent life was cheered by the intelli- 

 gence of victories ravished from the Normans on their own soil, and 

 the increasing military fame of the hardy islanders. His domestic 

 happiness was perfect ; or if imperfect, inferior to none ever enjoyed 

 by man. The Varangians, or their posterity, remained for centuries 

 the chosen guard of the court of Constantinople ; and amongst that 

 chosen band, none were more celebrated than the descendants of Red- 

 wald and Evadne. 



