Page:The reign of William Rufus and the accession of Henry the First.djvu/179

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land, the open sea, the estuary now crowned on the other side by Conwy with its diadem of towers, over the inland hills, and on the Orm's Head itself rising in the full view to the northward. He saw beneath him a sight which might have stirred a more sluggish soul. As King Henry had looked down on the slaughter of his troops at Varaville, so Robert, from his fortified post of Dwyganwy, saw his men carried off in bonds and thrown into the ships along with the sheep. He sent forth orders for a general gathering, and made ready for an attack on the plunderers at the head of such men as were with him at the moment. They were few; they were unarmed; but he called on them to make their way down the steep hillside and to fall on the plunderers on the shore before the returning tide enabled them to carry off their booty. The appeal met with no hearty answer; the followers of the valiant Marquess pleaded their small numbers and the hard task
 * mediately above him, a height which looks on the flat

homines et armenta rapuit, et ad naves exsiccatas festine remeavit."]
 * [Footnote: classis piratarum stetit. Grithfridus autem cum suis per maritima discurrit,