ether
opposite to his own clear and well-ordered ideas.

The ground sloped gently downwards from the edge of the forest, and the
place where he was had probably been ploughed, but was now trodden flat
and hard. Next in front of the stores he observed a long, low hut built
of poles, and roofed with fir branches; the walls were formed of ferns,
straw, bundles of hay, anything that had come to hand. On a standard
beside it, a pale blue banner, with the device of a double hammer worked
in gold upon it, fluttered in the wind. Twenty or thirty, perhaps more,
spears leant against one end of this rude shed, their bright points
projecting yards above the roof. To the right of the booth as many
horses were picketed, and not far from them some soldiers were cooking
at an open fire of logs. As Felix came slowly towards the booth, winding
in and out among the carts and heaps of sacks, he saw that similar
erections extended down the slope for a long distance.

There were hundreds of them, some large, some small, not placed in any
order, but pitched where chance or fancy led, the first-comers taking
the sites that pleased them, and the rest crowding round. Beside each
hut stood the banner of the owner, and Felix knew from this that they
were occupied by the barons, knights, and captains of the army. The
retainers of each baron bivouacked as they might in the open air; some
of them had hunter's hides, and others used bundles of straw to sleep
on. Their fire was as close to their lord's hut as convenient, and thus
there were always plenty within call.

The servants, or slaves, also slept in the open air, but in the rear of
their owner's booth, and apart from the free retainers. Felix noticed,
that although the huts were pitched anyhow and anywhere, those on the
lowest ground seemed built along a line, and, looking closer, he found
that a small stream ran there. He learnt afterwards that there was
usually an emulation among the commanders to set up their standards as
near the water as possible, on account of convenience, those in the rear
having often to lead their horses a long distance to water. Beyond the
stream the ground rose again as gradually as it had declined. It was
open and cultivated up to the walls of the besieged city, which was not
three-quarters of a mile distant. Felix could not for the moment
distinguish the king's head-quarters. The confused manner in which the
booths were built prevented him from seeing far, though