own previous conduct of the earlier part of this campaign.

These were the conditions before him: he must get as best he might to the
Straits of Dover, that is, up northward and north-eastward, and he may
already have had a design upon Calais.[13] The force which was pursuing
him had been checked by the tide of the Somme. It was too large to use
Blanchetaque with any rapidity. He knew that it must double back to
Abbeville in order to cross the river before it could turn northward again
and come up with him. From where it lay, or rather where its commander and
staff had lain, between Mons and Saigneville, that morning and noon, back
to Abbeville was a matter of seven or eight miles; a distance nearly as
great separated him from Abbeville upon his side. He had gained a full day
even if the French army had been collected, highly disciplined, and in
column. Instead of that it was scattered over twenty miles of country.
Many of its contingents were still following up, and it was under very
various and loose commands. Even should a large body of French appear upon
the next day, Friday, Edward had the forest at hand with which to cover
his troops long before contact could be established. But good scouting
informed Edward that there was no chance of such contact, at least before
Saturday. The whole of the next day, Friday, would be at his disposal to
bring his troops where he would, and he proposed to get them on the far
side of the forest, that is, in the neighbourhood of Crecy town, during
the interval.

Whether he had already decided on that Thursday to make a stand we cannot
tell, but it is not probable, because he had as yet no knowledge of the
positions beyond the forest, and of the chance the ground would afford him
of meeting an attack. One thing he already knew, which was that his
retreat was secure. The pace of the French pursuit might compel him to a
decision on Saturday at earliest, but, short of complete disaster, he had
a road open behind him across the Authie by the passage of Ponches and
along the great Roman way which led from Picardy to the Straits of Dover.

What he did was this. He sent the bulk of the army round by the main road
whose terminals are Abbeville and Hesdin, and which skirts the forest. His
own household he accompanied through the wood, presumably with the object
of keeping in touch with the foraging parties who would during that Friday
be coming up along the southern edge of the woods to follo