He bade the Scrivener
write the tale of the Men of the Sickle at an hundred and a half, and
his folk fared past the War-leader joyously, being one half of them
bowmen; and fell shooters they were; the other half were girt with
swords, and bore withal long ashen staves armed with great blades
curved inwards, which weapon they called heft-sax.
All these bands, as the name and the tale of them was declared were
greeted with loud shouts from their fellows and the bystanders; but
now arose a greater shout still, as Stone-face, clad in goodly
glittering array, came forth and said:
'I am Stone-face of the House of the Face, and I bring with me two
hundreds of men with their best war-gear and weapons: write it down,
Scrivener!'
And he strode on like a young man after those who had gone past, and
after him came the tall Hall-face and his men, a gallant sight to
see: two score bowmen girt with swords, and the others with naked
swords waving aloft, and each bearing two casting-spears in his left
hand.
Then came a man of middle age, broad-shouldered, yellow-haired, blue-
eyed, of wide and ruddy countenance, and after him a goodly company;
and again great was the shout that went up to the heavens; for he
said:
'Scrivener, write down that Hound-under-Greenbury, from amongst the
dwellers in the hills where the sheep feed, leadeth the men who go
under the banner of Greenbury, to the tale of an hundred and four
score.
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