Such were the new-comers to the wood. But others had been, like
Dallach, months therein; it may be said that there were eighteen of
these, carles and queens together. Little raiment they had amongst
them, and some were all but stark naked, so that on these might well
be seen as on Dallach the marks of old stripes, and of these also
were there men who had been shorn of some member or other, and they
were all burnt and blackened by the weather of the woodland; yet for
all their nakedness, they bore themselves bolder and more manlike
than the later comers, nor did they altogether lack weapons taken
from their foemen, and most of them had some edge-tool or another.
Of these folk were four from Silver-dale, though Dallach knew it not.
Besides these were a half score and one who had been years in the
wood instead of months; weather-beaten indeed were these, shaggy and
rough-skinned like wild men of kind. Some of them had made
themselves skin breeches or clouts, some went stark naked; of weapons
of the Dale had they few, but they bore bows of hazel or wych-elm
strung with deer-gut, and shafts headed with flint stones; staves
also of the same fashion, and great clubs of oak or holly: some of
them also had made them targets of skin and willow-twigs, for these
were the warriors of the Runaways: they had a few steel knives
amongst them, but had mostly learned the craft of using sharp flints
for knives: but four of these were women.
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