Maddened with war fury, he spurred up the hill, broke single-handed through the barrier, and rode straight to Harold. The brother of the king stepped before him, and was hewn down by a blow from William before the duke himself was unhorsed and fell to the ground. Mounting again quickly, William cut his way through his foes and was back again in the Norman lines before any one could harm him. A body of Normans having given way, the Kentish men in their eagerness overleaped the barricade and gave chase to their flying foes. Instantly William saw his advantage. The Normans turned, galloped up the hill, and poured by thousands into the gap thus left undefended. This proved the turning point of the day. 'Slowly and surely,' says an old writer, 'the Norman horse pressed along the crest of the hill, strewing the height with corpses as the hay is strewn in swaths before the mower.' Still the ring round the standard remained unbroken, and in the centre Harold and his bodyguard held their ground, dealing blows around them with their great battle-axes. Beyond the ring the dead lay piled up in heaps, English and Norman together. 'Shoot upward,' cried the duke to his archers, 'that your arrows may fall like bolts from heaven.' A shower of arrows fell upon the heads and shoulders of the English, killing and wounding many a brave fighter. The battle had lasted since early morning; and just as the sun went down an arrow pierced Harold's right eye. The king dropped his battle-axe, and fell forward with a short, sharp cry of pain. [Illustration: The Death of Harold.] Twenty Norman knights rushed forward, seized the standard, and dealt Harold a mortal blow as he lay beside the dead bodies of his two brothers. The English, having lost their leader, left the field fighting to the last, and then scattered over the country to carry far and wide the ill-tidings that King Harold was slain and the Norman master of England. All was quiet when the moon rose over the hill where the Golden Dragon had been hauled down and the sacred banner of the Normans raised in its stead. The ground having been hastily cleared, William's tent was pitched upon the spot where Harold and his brothers had made their last stand, and the duke slept there all night. The next day was a Sunday, and as the bells tinkled mournfully in the churches, Englishwomen came flocking to the field of battle, with pale faces and eyes red with weeping, to beg leave to look for their husbands and brothers and sons among the slain. Among them was the mother of Harold, offering William its weight in gold for the body of her son. The conqueror gave her leave to search, and for a long time the noble English lady wandered over the battle-field, seeking vainly among the dead. Then came Aldwyth, Harold's wife; but she too, was unable to find the body of her husband. Last of all came Edith of the Swan's Neck, whom Harold had loved; and she sought long for the body.