about nine o'clock in the evening
Before daybreak three or four of the swiftest-footed of the men were sent out to reconnoitre . They learned , from badly wounded men whom they found lying near the burning farms , that the Danes had been plundering in parties of twenty or thirty , but that the main body under Haffa lay five miles away at the village of Bristowe . A consultation was held , and it was agreed that the party should remain hidden in the wood during the day , and that upon the following night they should fall upon the Danes , trusting to the surprise to inflict much damage upon them , and to be able to draw off before the enemy could recover sufficiently to rally and attack them . Accordingly about nine o'clock in the evening they started , and marching rapidly approached Bristowe an hour and a half later . They could see great fires blazing , and round them the Danes were carousing after their forays of the day . Great numbers of cattle were penned up near the village . Edmund and Egbert having halted their men stole forward until close to the village in order to learn the nature of the ground and the position of the Danes .