Their men might be seen around the fires, talking loudly,
singing, and drinking cider and mead, of which they had
found abundance in the houses of the valley. An attack
on this front was not to be thought of; they must get
round it. So the two detachments separated farther and
farther from each other, and advanced with the greatest
difficulty along the bogs and under the woods in mo-
mentary fear of being seen by the enemy. At length
the one which was manoeuvring on the right reached the
end of the front, got under cover, and awaited the signal,
which was to be given by the one on the left by the blow-
ing of a horn ; for the Brenn had calculated that the
former would reach the extremity of the front before the
latter.
The time, however, was getting on, and Sigild, who had
advanced with several warriors on horseback along the
verge of the wood, still heard nothing. He sent two of
his warriors to ascertain where the two detachments
were; they had great difficulty in making their way
through the wood, while the enemy's fires, which they



48 ANNALS OF A FORTIiESS.
saw in the distance through the trees, only added to
their difficulties, by preventing them from seeing the
ground they were riding over. The right front of the
enemy towards the river formed a lengthen^^ed curve, and
the left detachment kept advancing parallel with the
front without finding a point of attack.
