So
it went on a little while till the horns blew again, and once more
there was silence. Then arose Face-of-god and said:
'Men of Burgdale, and ye Shepherd-folk, and ye of the Woodland, now
shall ye wot how many weaponed men we may bring together for this
war. Scrivener, arise and give forth the tale of the companies, as
they have been told unto you.'
Then the Scrivener stood up on the turf-bench beside Face-of-god, and
spake in a loud voice, reading from his scroll:
'Of the Men of Burgdale there have passed by me nine hundreds and
six; of the Shepherds three hundreds and eight and ten; and of the
Woodlanders two hundreds and nine; so that all told our men are
fourteen hundreds and thirty and three.'
Now in those days men reckoned by long hundreds, so that the whole
tale of the host was one thousand, five hundred, and four score and
one, telling the tale in short hundreds.
When the tale had been given forth and heard, men shouted again, and
they rejoiced that they were so many. For it exceeded the reckoning
which the Alderman had given out at the Gate-thing. But Face-of-god
said:
'Neighbours, we have held our Weapon-show; but now hold you ready,
each man, for the Hosting toward very battle; for belike within seven
days shall the leaders of hundreds and twenties summon you to be
ready in arms to take whatso fortune may befall.
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