"
"Have they done much damage?"
"There is scarce a house left standing, between the hills on this side
of Llanidloes, and Knighton. From what we can gather, they must have
slain three or four hundred, at least. At first the total was put much
higher; but, as soon as they retired, many fugitives made their way
into Knighton; having slipped away in the darkness, when their villages
were attacked, and concealed themselves in the woods, or among the
rocks."
"There has been fighting up in the north, too," Sir Edmund said. "When
I got to Ruthyn, I found that Lord Grey was away; but I talked over
matters with his knights. I was to have left on the morning of the
fifth day after leaving here, but at night Glendower's men raided
almost up to the gates of the castle. Their plans were well laid; for,
just at midnight, an alarm was given by a sentry on the walls. Everyone
ran to arms, the instant the warder's horn was sounded; but when I
reached the top of the walls, fires were bursting out in twenty places.
It was not long before the knights rode out, with a hundred and fifty
men-at-arms, but the Welsh were already gone. It seems that they had
laid an ambuscade round every village and, on the signal being given,
fell at once upon the sleeping inhabitants, put all to the sword, fired
the houses; and in ten minutes from the first alarm made off, driving
horses, cattle, and sheep before them.
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