as we rode back, but
assuredly over a hundred have fallen, not counting those who were slain
in that last charge of yours, Alwyn. Truly your men have fought
gallantly, as was shown by the pile of dead, where your men-at-arms
defended our rear.

"The Welsh will be moving, ere long. Half the village is already
burning, and you may be sure that there is nothing left to sack, in the
other houses. If they come this way we must fall back, for in the
forest we shall be no match for them. If they move across the open
country, we may get an opportunity of charging them, again."

He told two of his men to dismount, and to crawl cautiously along, one
on each side of the burning village; and to bring back news, the moment
the Welsh began to leave it. In twenty minutes both returned, saying
that the enemy were streaming out at the other end of the village,
laden with plunder of all kinds. There seemed to be no order or
discipline among them, each trooping along at his pleasure.

"Good!" the knight said. "We will give them another lesson, and this
time on more favourable terms than the last."

The troops formed into column, and galloped at a canter through the
burning village. At the other end they came upon a number of
stragglers, who were at once killed. Then they emerged into the fields
beyond, and formed line. The plain was dotted with men, the nearest but
a hundred yards away, the farthest nearly half a mile.

In a single line the horsemen swept along. The rearmost Welshmen turned
round at the tramp of the horses, and at once, throwing to the ground
the bundles that they carried, took to their heels with shouts of
warning. As these were heard, the alarm spread among the rest, who,
believing that their foes had ridden away through the forest, were
taken completely by surprise.

A panic seized them. Leaders in vain shouted orders, their voices were
unheard among the cries of the men. Some, indeed, gathered together as
they ran; but the greater portion fled in various directions, to escape
the line of spears vengefully following them.

Those unable to avoid the charge stood at bay, like wild animals. First
shooting their arrows, they drew their short axes or their knives, as
the horsemen came within a short distance of them. Few had a chance of
striking, most of them falling, pierced through and through by the
spears. Those who, by swiftness of eye, escaped this fate, sprung at
the horses like wildcats, clinging to the sad