close in upon the alien army and cut them to
pieces by sheer force of numbers, before they could reach the coast and
their ships. So Philip, recovering from his first panic, sent orders
that all the bridges between Rouen and Paris should be broken down; and
when Edward reached the former city, intending to cross there to the
north side of the Seine, he found only the broken piers and arches of
the bridge left standing, and the wide, turbid waters of the great river
barring his further progress.

Irritated and annoyed, but not really alarmed as yet, the English King
turned his steps eastward toward Paris, still resolved to cross by the
first bridge found standing. But each in turn had been broken down; and
the only retaliation he could inflict upon the people who were thwarting
and striving to entangle him in a net, was to burn the towns through
which he passed; Pont de l'Arche, Vernon, and Verneuil, until he arrived
at last at Poissy, only a few miles from Paris, to find the bridge there
likewise broken down, whilst messengers kept arriving from all sides
warning him that a far mightier host was gathering around Philip than he
had with him, and advising instant retreat along the course by which he
had come.

But Edward well knew that retreat was impossible. He had so exhausted
the country and exasperated its inhabitants by his recent march and its
attendant ravages, that it would be impossible to find food for his
soldiers there again, even if the people did not rise up in arms against
them. Rather would he face the French foe, however superior to his own
force, in open fight, than turn his back upon them in so cowardly a fashion.

Meantime, as Philip did not move, he set to work with his soldiers to
repair the bridge, sending out detachments of his army to harass and
alarm the inhabitants of Paris, ravaging the country up and down, and
burning St. Germain, St. Cloud, and Montjoie.

These expeditions, so perilous and so singularly successful, were just
of the kind to delight the eager spirits of the camp, and keep
enthusiasm up to a high pitch. Why Philip suffered these ravages, when
his army already far outnumbered that of the English, and why the French
permitted their foes to repair and cross the bridge at Poissy without
stirring a finger to hinder them, are questions more easily asked than
answered. Possibly the knowledge that the Somme still lay between their
enemies and the sea, and that the same difficulties w