Six archers lined
the hedge along the road where the banner of Adam and Eve, rising
above the grey leaves of the apple-trees, challenged the new-comers;
and of the billmen also he kept a good few ready to guard the road in
case the enemy should try to rush it with the horsemen. The road, not
being a Roman one, was, you must remember, little like the firm smooth
country roads that you are used to; it was a mere track between the
hedges and fields, partly grass-grown, and cut up by the deep-sunk
ruts hardened by the drought of summer. There was a stack of fagot
and small wood on the other side, and our men threw themselves upon it
and set to work to stake the road across for a rough defence against
the horsemen.
What befell more on the road itself I had not much time to note, for
our bowmen spread themselves out along the hedge that looked into the
pasture-field, leaving some six feet between man and man; the rest of
the billmen went along with the bowmen, and halted in clumps of some
half-dozen along their line, holding themselves ready to help the
bowmen if the enemy should run up under their shafts, or to run on to
lengthen the line in case they should try to break in on our flank.
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