CHAPTER SEVEN
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days after the Council had met so merrily, Reged’s horse-messenger brought word to Caradoc that the campaign would be an easy one for the tribesmen. The enemy had landed the previous night from only six galleys and had been unable to do more than find themselves fairly dry patches of ground to pitch their tents on. They had sent out half a dozen tentative scouting parties but, Reged reported, these had not returned! So far, he estimated, the Romans had lost over a hundred legionaries in the marshes, by reason of their ignorance of firm paths and also because, once they were bogged, the weight of their armour prevented an easy withdrawal. Those who did not get themselves drowned in the mud were easy game for the tribesmen’s arrows. By using “ducks’ feet”—broad boards s
