k.

At the same moment the English archers and men-at-arms dashed through
the hedge, and dragged all who were living out of that tangled heap of
shattered horses and men. It was a mad wild rush, for in a few minutes
the fight must be renewed, and yet there was a rich harvest of wealth
for the lucky man who could pick a wealthy prisoner from amid the crowd.
The nobler spirits disdained to think of ransoms whilst the fight was
still unsettled; but a swarm of needy soldiers, Gascons and English,
dragged the wounded out by the leg or the arm, and with daggers at their
throats demanded their names, title and means. He who had made a good
prize hurried him to the rear where his own servants could guard him,
while he who was disappointed too often drove the dagger home and then
rushed once more into the tangle in the hope of better luck. Clermont,
with an arrow through the sky-blue Virgin on his surcoat, lay dead
within ten paces of the hedge; d'Andreghen was dragged by a penniless
squire from under a horse and became his prisoner. The Earl of Salzburg
and of Nassau were both found helpless on the ground and taken to the
rear. Aylward cast his thick arms round Count Otto von Langenbeck, and
laid him, helpless from a broken leg, behind his bush. Black Simon had
made prize of Bernard, Count of Ventadour, and hurried him through
the hedge. Everywhere there was rushing and shouting, brawling and
buffeting, while amidst it all a swarm of archers were seeking their
shafts, plucking them from the dead, and sometimes even from the
wounded. Then there was a sudden cry of warning. In a moment every man
was back in his place once more, and the line of the hedge was clear.

It was high time; for already the first division of the French was close
upon them. If the charge of the horsemen had been terrible from its rush
and its fire, this steady advance of a huge phalanx of armored footmen
was even more fearsome to the spectator. They moved very slowly, on
account of the weight of their armor, but their progress was the more
regular and inexorable. With elbows touching--their shields slung in
front, their short five-foot spears carried in their right hands,
and their maces or swords ready at their belts, the deep column of
men-at-arms moved onward. Again the storm of arrows beat upon them
clinking and thudding on the armor. They crouched double behind their
shields as they met it. Many fell, but still the slow tide lapped
onward. Yelling, t