outed again, and kept on each plucking the arrows
from the ground, and nocking and loosing swiftly but deliberately at
the line before them; indeed now was the time for these terrible
bowmen, for as Will Green told me afterwards they always reckoned to
kill through cloth or leather at five hundred yards, and they had let
the cross-bow men come nearly within three hundred, and these were now
all mingled and muddled up with the men-at-arms at scant five hundred
yards' distance; and belike, too, the latter were not treating them too
well, but seemed to be belabouring them with their spear-staves in
their anger at the poorness of the play; so that as Will Green said it
was like shooting at hay-ricks.

All this you must understand lasted but a few minutes, and when our men
had been shooting quite coolly, like good workmen at peaceful work, for
a few minutes more, the enemy's line seemed to clear somewhat; the
pennon with the three red kine showed in front and three men armed from
head to foot in gleaming steel, except for their short coats bright
with heraldry, were with it. One of them (and he bore the three kine on
his coat) turned round and gave some word of command, and an angry
shout went up from them, and they came on steadily towards us, the man
with the red kine on his coat leading them, a great naked sword in his
hand: you must note that they were all on foot; but as they drew nearer
I saw their horses led by grooms and pages coming on slowly behind them.

Sooth said Will Green that the men-at-arms run not fast either to or
fro the fray; they came on no faster than a hasty walk, their arms
clashing about them and the twang of the bows and whistle of the arrows
never failing all the while, but going on like the push of the westerly
gale, as from time to time the men-at-arms shouted, "Ha! ha! out! out!
Kentish thieves!"

But when they began to fall on, Jack Straw shouted out, "Bills to the
field! bills to the field!"

Then all our billmen ran up and leapt over the hedge into the meadow
and stood stoutly along the ditch under our bows, Jack Straw in the
forefront handling his great axe. Then he cast it into his left hand,
caught up his horn and winded it loudly. The men-at-arms drew near
steadily, some fell under the arrow-storm, but not a many; for though
the target was big, it was hard, since not even the cloth-yard shaft
could pierce well-wrought armour of plate, and there was much armour
among them. Withal