All the men capable of bearing arms were told off to posts on the walls.

The old men and young boys were to draw water and look after the cattle; the women to cook and attend to the wounded.

The men of his own band were not placed upon the walls, but were held in readiness as a reserve to move to any point which might be threatened, and to take part in sorties against the enemy.
Soon smoke was seen rising up in many directions, showing that the enemy were at their accustomed work.

Cries broke from the women, and exclamations of rage from the men, as they recognized by the direction of the smoke that their own homesteads and villages were in the hands of the spoilers.

About mid-day a party of mounted Danes rode up towards the fort and made a circuit of it.