The forest of Ardennes was at that time of immense size, extending from Verdun and Metz on the south, to Liege and Aix on the north.
Men of the present day would have found it impossible to find their way through, but would speedily have been lost in its trackless recesses; but the Saxons and Danes were accustomed to travel in forests, and knew the signs as well as did the Red-skins and hunters of the American forests.

Therefore they felt no hesitation in entering the forest without a guide.
The danger which might beset them was of a different kind.

Immense numbers of the inhabitants of France, Champagne, and Burgundy had taken refuge in the forests, driving their flocks and herds before them.

Here they lived a wild life, hoping that the emperor would ere long clear the country of the invaders.

No mercy could be expected if Edmund and his party fell in with a number of these fugitives.