I suppose that there were some five hundred Welsh in the place.  I do not think that we harmed many of them in the hurry and the dark, but we scared them terribly.  Here and there one rolled under the horses’ hoofs, and we paid no heed to such as fell thus, and they rose again and fled the faster.  All but one, that is, so far as I was concerned.  I charged a man, and my spear missed him as he leapt aside, and he struck at my horse as I passed him, and the next moment I was rolling on the ground with the good steed, and the man behind me had to leap over us as we lay.  That was one of the Sussex thanes, and he was no mean horseman or unready, luckily.  Then he chased my enemy out of the camp, and came back to see if I were hurt.  But I was not, and I bade him go on with the rest.  We were almost across the camp at this time.

“Take my horse rather,” he said.  “See, there is a bit of a stand being made yonder.”

There were yet some valiant and cooler-headed Welshmen whom the panic had not carried away, and they were getting together to our right.  The camp was full three hundred paces across, and as we spread over it our line had gaps here and there, so that some at least had seen what our numbers were.  They had passed into the camp again over the earthworks, or had been passed by in the place by us, and they were gathering round one who wore the crested helm and gilded arms of a chief, and he was raving at the cowards who had left him.  Even now he had not more than a score of men with him.

Our men were chasing the flying foe across the open hilltop now, outside the camp, and there were but few left within its enclosure, though I saw the dim forms of some who were turning back without going beyond the rampart, and one of these was Erpwald.  He also saw the group of Welshmen, and called the other horsemen to him, and even as the chief saw us two standing alone together, and led his few toward us, the shout of the four or five who charged with my friend stayed them, and they closed up to meet the new attack.

Then the Sussex thane, whose name was Algar, saw this, and again urged me to take his horse, saying that it was not fitting for the leader to be dismounted while work was yet in hand; but I saw a thing that bade me forget him, and set me running at full speed toward the Welshmen.  Erpwald had ridden well ahead of his comrades, and as his spear crossed those of the foe one of them stepped forward before his chief and made a sweeping blow at the legs of the horse with a long pole-axe.  Down the horse came, and Erpwald flew over its head into the midst of the enemy, overthrowing one or two of them as if he had been a stone from a sling.

In a moment they closed over him, but I was there before they could get clear of one another to slay him.  I cut my way through the turmoil before they knew I was on them, and stood over him sword in hand, while the Welsh shrank back for a space with the suddenness of my coming.  There was Algar also hewing at them and trying to reach my side, having dismounted, and those who followed Erpwald were on them with their long spears.  It was more as a shouting than a fight for a moment or two, but Erpwald never moved, being stunned, as it seemed.  It was like to go hard with me for a time, for my men could not reach me.  Still, I held the Welsh back from Erpwald and myself.