The knights and men-at-arms who had been selected for the service had but a few minutes to prepare themselves.
The horses were harnessed to the waggons, and the sick and wounded carried out and placed in them, with the greatest expedition, and the party set out in less than half an hour after the first order had been given.

It had gone but a quarter of a mile when the shouts among the woods, on either side, showed that the Welsh were vigilant.

Horns were blown in all directions, the sound growing fainter and fainter, in the hills.
"We shall not get through undisturbed," one of the knights said to Oswald, who was riding next to him.
"No, I think we shall have fighting.

It would have been better had we and the men-at-arms been told to leave our horses behind.

In this deep soil they will be of little use in a fight, and we should do better on foot." "It would be terrible, marching in our heavy armour." "Doubtless it would have been so, but I should not have minded that.
The distance is but six miles; and although, in this slippery plain, the toil would have been great, methinks that we could have made a better fight than on horseback; and as these waggons travel but slowly, we could have kept up with them." "We can dismount, if necessary," the knight said; "but, for my part, I would rather ride than tramp through this deep mud." Their progress was indeed slow, the waggons frequently sank almost up to their axles in the mud, and it needed all the efforts of the dismounted men to get them out.