The next day the fleet anchored at Pevensey, on the south coast of
England, under the walls of an old Roman fortress which had stood, a
vacant ruin, since the Saxons stormed it nearly six hundred years
before. (See map facing p. 38.) Tradition says that as William
stepped on shore he stumbled and fell flat with his face downward.
"God preserve us!" cried one of his men; "this is a bad sign." But
the Duke, grasping the pebbles of the beach with both his outstretched
hands, exclaimed, "Thus do I seize the land!"

71. King Harold in the North.

There was, in fact, no power to prevent him from establishing his
camp, for King Harold (S67) was in the north quelling an invasion
headed by the King of the Norwegians and his brother Tostig, who hoped
to secure the throne for himself. Harold had just sat down to a
victory feast, after the battle of Stamford Bridge, Yorkshire, when
news was brought to him of the landing of William.

It was this fatal want of unity in England which made the Norman
Conquest possible. If Harold's own brother, Tostig, had not turned
traitorously against him, or if the north country had stood squarely
by the south, Duke William might have found his fall on the beach an
omen full of disaster.

72. What Duke William did after Landing.

As there was no one to oppose him, William made a fort in a corner of
the old Roman wall at Pevensey (S70), and then marched to Hastings, a
few miles farther east, where he set up a wooden castle on that hill
where the ruins of a later stone castle may still be seen. Having