And so the second charge began. But this time the chariots did not reach their enemy. For as they broke through the heaped bodies in the madness of their onslaught, they saw, too late, that a ditch now faced them, and there was not time to rein in the blood-maddened stallions that drew these carts of death.
As the first line of chariots swayed and crashed, heeling over drunkenly, their leaders falling this way and that, the second rank, unable to stop, plunged into them, creating an even worse confusion.
Then the whole wood seemed to open like a cavern mouth, and men came forward at the double, shield held close to body, short-sword extended for the kill. The butchery at the chariots was almost complete.
Now the air was heavy with the sound of blows, of grunted war-cries, of the call of
