When all was ready the army encamped near Armagh, which it was proposed to make a store-house for plunder. Five hundred cows and many horses were taken in a raid northwards; but the Blackwater was flooded, and nothing more could be done for several days. Not to be quite idle, Sussex sent Ormonde to Shane, who offered worthless hostages for his prompt departure to England, but refused to give up O'Donnell. An attempt was then made against some cattle which were discovered on the borders of Macmahon's country. In compliance with a recognised Irish custom, Macmahon was probably obliged to support a certain number of his powerful neighbour's stock. Sir George Stanley, with Fitzwilliam and Wingfield, went on this service with 200 horse, seven companies and a half of English foot, 200 gallowglasses, 100 Scots, and all the kerne in camp. Ormonde was ill, and Sussex in an evil hour, as he himself says, stayed to keep him company. The cattle were driven off, and no enemy appeared. On their return Shane overtook the troops with twelve horse, 300 Scots, and 200 gallowglasses. Wingfield, who commanded the rear guard of infantry, allowed himself to be surprised, and for a time all was confusion. The column was long, and some time passed before Stanley and Fitzwilliam knew what had happened. They at once attacked the Irish in flank, and Shane in turn suffered some loss; indeed, the annalists say, with a fine rhetorical vagueness, that countless numbers were slain on both sides. But the cattle, the original cause of the expedition, were not brought into Armagh. The moral effect of the check was disastrous, and Sussex, though he put the best face on the matter when writing to Elizabeth, exaggerating Shane's losses and making light of his own, did not conceal the truth from Cecil. 'By the cowardice of some,' he wrote, 'all were like to have been lost, and by the worthiness of two men all was restored.' Wingfield was chiefly blamed, but the Lord-Lieutenant bitterly reproached himself for remaining behind when so large a force was in the field. Fifty of his best men were killed and fifty wounded, and it was impossible to take that prompt revenge which alone can restore the reputation of an army when defeated in a hostile country by a barbarian enemy. 'This last July,' said the unhappy Viceroy, 'having spent our victuals at Armagh, we do return to the Newry to conduct a new mass of victuals to Armagh.'[28] [Sidenote: Anger of the Queen.]