mmand given to the leaders. The advanced troops instantly
obeyed; but the others pressed on, hoping to be among the foremost.
This obliged the soldiers in front to move on again. In vain the king
commanded, and the marshals threatened; hurrying forward in
disgraceful confusion, the French, passing through a small wood,
suddenly found themselves in the presence of the English. The surprise
caused the first line to fall back, and thus increase the confusion.

The English soldiers now rose steadily from the grass, and stood in
fair and martial order on the hillside, with the standard of the Black
Prince in their front.

The sky had by this time become clouded; a thunder-storm came on, and
torrents of rain soon fell--slackening the strings of the cross-bows
of the Genoese archers, who had advanced to break the firm front of
the English bowmen. The clouds cleared quickly away, and the western
sun soon shone out bright and clear, full in the faces of the French.
At the moment the Genoese drew their arbalists, and commenced their
discharge, each English archer stepped forward a single pace, as he
took his bow from the case in which it had been protected from the
rain; and a flight of arrows fell among the Genoese, piercing their
heads, arms, and faces, and causing them instantly to retreat in
confusion among the horsemen in their rear.

The passionate French king, instead of trying to rally the fugitives,
at once ordered the men-at-arms to fall upon them. The cavalry, the
heavy troops, and the cross-bow men, soon formed a wild and reeling
crowd, amid which the English poured a continued flight of unerring
arrows, and not a single bowstring was drawn in vain.

Meantime the Count of Alencon, dividing his men into two parties,
swept round on one side of this scene of confusion; while the Count of
Flanders did the same on the other side, and, avoiding the archers,
furiously attacked the men-at-arms around the prince. England's
chivalry, headed by the gallant boy, met the impetuous charge with
equal valor and with greater success; and as each headlong effort of
the French deranged the ranks for a moment, they were formed anew,
each man fighting where he stood, none quitting his place to make a
prisoner, while growing piles of dead told of their courage and vigor.
The two counts were slain, and terror began to spread through their
troops. A large body of German cavalry now bore down on the prince's
archers, and, in spite of the