aling noiselessly but swiftly over the flat.

At their head strode Addedomar and a few of his stoutest men. Reaching
the slope that led to the camp the four hundred men rushed up, still,
however, in perfect silence, expecting to take their victims by
surprise. But before they gained the summit a body of men burst out
from the woods on either side of the track, and leaped upon them with a
prolonged roar that must have been the rudimentary form of a British
cheer.

The effect on the robbers was tremendous. On beholding the huge forms
of Gadarn, Konar, and Beniah coming on in front they turned and fled
like autumn leaves before a gale, without waiting even to discharge a
single arrow. The courageous Addedomar was overwhelmed by the panic and
carried away in the rush. Gadarn, supposing that the attack would have
been made earlier and in the dark, had left the bows of his force
behind, intending to depend entirely on swords and clubs. But he found
that the robbers were swift of foot and that terror lent wings, for they
did not overtake them at once. Down the slope went the robbers, and
down went the roaring northmen, until both parties swept out upon the
flat below.

They did not scatter, however. Addedomar's men had been trained to keep
together even in flight, and they now made for the gully between the
mounds, their chief intending to face about there and show fight on the
slopes of the pass. But the flying host had barely entered it, when
they were assaulted and driven back by the forces under Gunrig, who went
at them with a shout that told of previous severe restraint. The
fugitives could not stand it. The arrows, which even during flight were
being got ready for Gadarn's host, were suddenly discharged at the men
in the gully; but the aim was wild, and the only shaft which took
serious effect found its billet in the breast of Gunrig himself. He
plucked it savagely out and continued the charge at the head of his men.

Turning sharp to the left, the robbers then made for the lower end of
the flat, still followed closely by Gadarn's band, now swelled by that
of Gunrig. As had been anticipated, they almost ran into the arms of
Bladud's contingent, which met them with a yell of rage, and the yell
was answered by a shriek of terror.

Their retreat being thus cut off in nearly all directions, the
panic-stricken crew doubled to the left again, and sprang into the
swamp, closely followed by their ever-increasin