not far away and drank our fill. Then we walked to the three whom I had
shot with my big bow, hoping to regain the arrows, for I had none left.
This, however, could not be done though all the men were dead, for one
of the shafts, the last, was broken, and the other two were so fixed in
flesh and bone that only a surgeon's saw would loose them.

So we left them where they were, and before the men were buried many
came to marvel at the sight, thinking it a wonderful thing that I should
have killed these three with three arrows, and that any bow which arm
might bend could have driven the last of them through an iron shield and
a breastplate behind it.

This armour, I should tell, William took for himself, since it was of
his size. Also on the morrow, returning to the Castle Hill, I stripped
the knight whom I had slain with the sword, Wave-Flame, of his splendid
Milan mail, whereof the _plastron_, or breast-plate, was inlaid with
gold, having over it a _camail_ of chain to cover the joints, through
which my good sword had shorn into his neck. The cognizance on his
shield strangely enough was three barbed arrows, but what was the name
of the knight who bore it I never learned. This mail, which must have
cost a great sum, the Bailiff of Hastings granted me to keep, since I
had slain its wearer and borne myself well in the fight. Moreover, I
took the three arrows for my own cognizance, though in truth I had no
right to any, being in those days but a trader. (Little did I know then
how well this mail was to serve me in the after years.)

By now night was coming on, and as we could see from the cave mouth
that the part of Hastings which lies towards the village of St. Leonards
seemed to have escaped the fire, thitherward we went by the beach to
avoid the heat and falling timbers in the burning town. On our way we