To each of these three or four bowmen had been told off, and they, on nearing the sentries lay prone on the ground with bows bent and arrows fixed until a whistle from Edmund gave the signal.

Then the arrows were loosed, and the distance being so short the Danish sentries were all slain.

Then a party of men removed the side of the pen facing the village; the rest mingled with the cattle, and soon with the points of their spears goaded them into flight.

In a mass the herd thundered down upon the village, the Saxons keeping closely behind them and adding to their terror by goading the hindermost.
The Danes, astonished at the sudden thunder of hoofs bearing down upon them, leaped to their feet and endeavoured to turn the course of the herd, which they deemed to have accidentally broken loose, by loud shouts and by rattling their swords against their shields.

The oxen, however, were too terrified by those in their rear to check their course, and charged impetuously down upon the Danes.
Numbers of these were hurled to the ground and trampled under foot, and the wildest confusion reigned in the camp.