ng next to him.

"No, I think we shall have fighting. It would have been better had we
and the men-at-arms been told to leave our horses behind. In this deep
soil they will be of little use in a fight, and we should do better on
foot."

"It would be terrible, marching in our heavy armour."

"Doubtless it would have been so, but I should not have minded that.
The distance is but six miles; and although, in this slippery plain,
the toil would have been great, methinks that we could have made a
better fight than on horseback; and as these waggons travel but slowly,
we could have kept up with them."

"We can dismount, if necessary," the knight said; "but, for my part, I
would rather ride than tramp through this deep mud."

Their progress was indeed slow, the waggons frequently sank almost up
to their axles in the mud, and it needed all the efforts of the
dismounted men to get them out. A deep silence had succeeded the outcry
in the woods.

"I like not this silence, Sir Oswald," the knight said; when, after an
hour's hard work, they were still but two miles from the camp.

"Nor do I," Oswald said. "It seems unnatural. Do you not think, Sir
William, that it would be well if all were to take the picket ropes
from their horses' necks, and knot them two and two, fastening one end
to a waggon and the other to a horse's girth. In that way fifty
men-at-arms might be roped on to the waggons, and would aid those
drawing them, greatly."

"The idea is a very good one," the knight said.

He rode forward to Sir Eustace de Bohun, who was in command, and
informed him of Oswald's suggestion, which was at once adopted. As soon
as it was carried out, the dismounted men were ordered to push behind
the waggons, which now proceeded at a much faster rate than before.

They were just half-way to the town, and beginning to entertain hopes
that they should get through without being attacked, when a horn
sounded; and from the forest on both sides, a crowd of men rushed out,
and poured a volley of arrows into the convoy. Hasty orders were
shouted by Sir Eustace, the ropes were thrown off, and the troops
formed up in a double line on each side of the waggons.

The knights and mounted men formed the outside line, and the footmen
stood a pace or two behind them; so as to cover them from attack,
should the Welsh break through. Oswald's esquire was on one side of
him, Roger on the other.

The waggons continued to move forward, for at this po