The army was then drawn up in battle-array, and advanced slowly, for they had dispatched sixty or eighty of their most expert men at arms, mounted on the fleetest horses, to reconnoitre the country and gain intelligence of the enemy. They thus marched for some time, until they came within half a league of a large village called Pataye. The men at arms who had been sent to reconnoitre put up a stag, which ran straight for the army of the English, who were assembling their men together, namely those who had come from Paris, as has been mentioned, and those who had marched from Beaugency,--and the English, seeing the stag dash through them, set up a loud shout, not knowing the enemy was so near: but this shout satisfied the scouts where the English were, and a moment afterward they saw them quite plain. They sent back some of their companions with intelligence of what they had seen, and they desired that the army might advance in order of battle, for the hour of business was at hand. They immediately made every preparation with great courage, and were soon in sight of the enemy. The English, observing the French advance, made also their preparations with diligence for the combat. Some of the captains proposed that they should dismount where they then were, and take advantage of the hedge rows to prevent being surprised on their rear; but others were of a contrary opinion, and said they should be better off on the plain. In consequence they retreated about half a quarter of a league from their former position, which was full of hedges and bushes. The French were very eager to come up with them; and the greater part dismounted, turning their horses loose. The vanguard of the French were impatient for the attack, having lately found the English very slack in their defence, and made so sudden and violent a charge that they were unable to form themselves in proper order. Sir John Fastolfe and the bastard de Thian had not dismounted, and, to save their lives they, with many other knights, set off full gallop. In the mean time those who had dismounted were surrounded by the French before they had time to fortify themselves, as usual, with sharp pointed stakes in their front; and, without doing any great mischief to the French, they were soon completely defeated. About eighteen hundred English were left dead on the field, and from one hundred to six score made prisoners, the principal of whom were the lords Scales, Talbot, Hungerford, sir Thomas Rampstone and several more. Some of the great lords were killed, and the rest were people of low degree, of the same sort as those whom they were accustomed to bring from their own country to die in France.