The flocks and herds were driven hastily into a coombe, or narrow valley, and there left to their fate.

All the armed men formed in a circle; the women occupied the centre.

Felix took his stand outside the circle by a gnarled and decayed oak.

There was just there a slight rise in the ground, which he knew would give him some advantage in discharging his arrows, and would also allow him a clear view.

His friends earnestly entreated him to enter the circle, and even sought to bring him within it by force, till he explained to them that he could not shoot if so surrounded, and promised if the gipsies charged to rush inside.
Felix unslung his quiver, and placed it on the ground before him; a second quiver he put beside it; four or five arrows he stuck upright in the sward, so that he could catch hold of them quickly; two arrows he held in his left hand, another he fitted to the string.