"We shall pick up another hundred or two as we march along to-morrow,"
Harold was saying when the two young thanes joined the group, "and shall
have a good nine hundred men by the time we reach Gloucester, where I
expect to find four or five hundred more awaiting us. I hear that our
coming has made a great stir here in Salisbury, the citizens do not know
what to make of so large a body of housecarls arriving in their midst. The
reeve tells me that they were in some fear of being eaten out of house and
home until they heard that we were to march on in the morning; after that
they did their best for us, and have arranged that every man shall have his
fill of meat and ale to-night, and again before starting."
Travelling as fast and as far as the horses could carry them, the force
reached Gloucester. Here they received an even warmer welcome than had
greeted them elsewhere, for the citizens had been greatly alarmed at the
Welsh forays, and as soon as they knew that the great earl himself was with
the troops they had no doubt that he had come to give them protection and
to punish their enemies. The contingents from Somerset and Dorset had
already arrived, and without the delay of a single day the troops again
started.
The housecarls, although mounted, were not trained to fight on horseback.
Their steeds were valuable only as enabling them to move with greater
celerity across the country than they could do on foot, and to bring them
fresh and in fighting condition to the scene of action.
Pages:
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182