, and some in stout leathern jacks; under their hoods many wore
bonnets strengthened by iron plates; and, for offensive armour, swords,
daggers, a few stout boar-spears, and a dozen of bright bills, put them
in a posture to engage even regular feudal troops. The bows, quivers,
and tabards were concealed among the gorse, and the two bands set
resolutely forward.

Dick, when he had reached the other side of the house, posted his six men
in a line, about twenty yards from the garden wall, and took position
himself a few paces in front. Then they all shouted with one voice, and
closed upon the enemy.

These, lying widely scattered, stiff with cold, and taken at unawares,
sprang stupidly to their feet, and stood undecided. Before they had time
to get their courage about them, or even to form an idea of the number
and mettle of their assailants, a similar shout of onslaught sounded in
their ears from the far side of the enclosure. Thereupon they gave
themselves up for lost and ran.

In this way the two small troops of the men of the Black Arrow closed
upon the sea front of the garden wall, and took a part of the strangers,
as it were, between two fires; while the whole of the remainder ran for
their lives in different directions, and were soon scattered in the
darkness.

For all that, the fight was but beginning. Dick's outlaws, although they
had the advantage of the surprise, were still considerably outnumbered by
the men they had surrounded. The tide had flowed, in the meanwhile; the
beach was narrowed to a strip; and on this wet field, between the surf
and the garden wall, there began, in the darkness, a doubtful, furious,
and deadly contest.

The strangers were well armed; they fell in silence upon their
assailants; and the affray became a series of single combats. Dick, who
had come first into the mellay, was engaged by three; the first he cut
down at the first blow, but the other two coming upon him, hotly, he was
fain to give ground before their onset. One of these two was a huge
fellow, almost a giant for stature, and armed with a two-handed sword,
which he brandished like a switch. Against this opponent, with his reach
of arm and the length and weight of his weapon, Dick and his bill were
quite defenceless; and had the other continued to join vigorously in the
attack, the lad must have indubitably fallen. This second man, however,
less in stature and slower in his movements, paused for a moment to peer