"I break more than lances," quoth Hereward as he cantered off.
"You," said he to his men, "draw round hither to the left; and when I
drive the Frenchmen to the right, make a run for it, and get between them
and the castle gate; and we will try the Danish axe against their horses'
legs."
Then Hereward spurred his horse, shouting, "A bear! a bear!" and dashed
into the press; and therein did mightily, like any Turpin or Roland, till
he saw lie on the ground, close to the castle gate, one of the chatelain's
knights with four Guisnes knights around him. Then at those knights he
rode, and slew them every one; and mounted that wounded knight on his own
horse and led him across the field, though the archers shot sore at him
from the wall. And when the press of knights rode at him, his Danish men
got between them and the castle, and made a stand to cover him. Then the
Guisnes knights rode at them scornfully, crying,--
"What footpad churls have we here, who fancy they can face horsed
knights?"
But they did not know the stuff of the Danish men; who all shouted, "A
bear! A bear!" and turned the lances' points with their targets, and hewed
off the horses' heads, and would have hewed off the riders' likewise,
crying that the bear must be fed, had not Hereward bidden them give
quarter according to the civilized fashion of France and Flanders.
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