about midday
And we saw the main force drawing back towards their earthworks on one wing , while the other held the place of battle , and it was not plain at once why they thus divided . We rested for a short half hour on Ashingdon hill , and the men of Ulfkytel gathered to us . But the brave earl was slain , and with him Abbot Wulsy , and the Mercians had slain the Ealdorman of Lindsey when they turned on us , and many more lay in the place where the flight began , good men and noble sold to their deaths by the traitor . It was about midday when we won back to the hill , and the battle , from the time when we had first met , had lasted but a short time . Yet what with slaughter when we broke , and the desertion of the Mercians , we were short of a full third of our men now . Eadmund waxed restless . There was the best half of a long summer day before us , and our men were angry and full of longing to fight and take revenge .