As fast as their comrades were killed, the survivors stood upon the heaps of the slain, to gain what little advantage they could from so slight an elevation.

Nearly all at length were killed.

A few escaped into a neighboring wood, where they lay concealed during the day following, and then, when the darkness of the succeeding night came to enable them to conceal their journey, they made their way to the abbey, to make known to the anxious inmates of it the destruction of the army, and to warn them of the imminence of the impending danger to which they were now exposed.
A dreadful scene of consternation and terror ensued.

The affrighted messengers told their tale, breathless and wayworn, at the door of the chapel, where the monks were engaged at their devotions.

The aisles were filled with exclamations of alarm and despairing lamentations.
The abbot, whose name was Theodore, immediately began to take measures suited to the emergency.