"They are but doing what we ourselves should do did French garrisonshold our castles at home, and I deem them in no way to be blamed for theefforts which they make to slay us. In self-defence, of course, we mustdo our best, and must kill in order that we may not ourselves be slain;but when they are once routed, let them go to their homes. Poor people,the miseries which this war has brought upon them are great, and thereis no wonder that they hate us."
This leniency on Walter's part was not without good effect. When thecountry people found that the garrison of the castle of Pres did notcarry fire and sword through the villages around, that they took onlysufficient for their needs, and behaved with courtesy to all, theiranimosity to a great extent subsided. No longer did the women andchildren of the little villages fly to the woods when they saw the gleamof Walter's approaching spears, but remained at their avocations,and answered willingly enough the questions which he asked them as towhether they had heard aught of the movements of French troops. So faras possible, Walter refrained from seizing the cattle or stores of grainof the poorer classes, taking such as he needed from the lands of thewealthy proprietors, all of whom had left the country, and were eitherwith the French army or sheltering in Paris. Five of his best mountedmen Walter chose as messengers, and one rode each day to New Town withthe news which had been gathered, returning on the following day, andthen resting his horse for three days before again setting out.
Night and day sentries were placed on the walls, for although Walterheard nothing of any body gathering in his immediate vicinity, a forcemight at any moment issue from Amiens and appear suddenly before theplace. Such was indeed what really took place, and at daybreak onemorning Walter was aroused by the news that the sentinels saw a largebody of men rapidly approaching. The horse of the messenger next onduty stood, as usual, saddled and bridled in readiness, and without amoment's delay Walter ordered the man to mount and ride to the prince,and to give news that the castle was assailed, but by how large a forcehe could not as yet say.
The instant the messenger had started through the gates Walter ascendedto the walls; he saw at once that the party was a strong one; foralthough still at some distance, and but dimly seen in the gray morninglight, he judged that it must contain at least a thousand men-at-arms.At this moment a call from the sentry on the other side of the castlewas heard, and hastening thither, Walter saw that another body nearly asnumerous as the first were approaching from the side of Calais, havingmade a detour so as to place themselves between the castle and the army,to which news would naturally be sent of their coming. Walter watchedhis messenger, who had now ridden half a mile towards the approachingbody. Suddenly he saw him turn his horse and ride off at right angles tothe road.
"He sees them," he said, "and is going to try to ride round them. Ifear that there is but little hope of his escaping, seeing that they arebetween him and Calais, and that assuredly some among them must be aswell or better mounted than himself." As he spoke a party of horsemenwere seen to detach themselves from the flank of the French columnand to gallop off at full speed to intercept the messenger; the latterdiverged more and more from his course, but he was constantly headedoff by his pursuers, and at last, seeing the impossibility of gettingthrough them, he again turned his horse's head and galloped off towardsthe castle, which he reached a few hundred yards only in advance of hisfoes.
"I could not help it, Sir Walter," he said, as he galloped in at thegate. "I found that although Robin is fast, some of those horsemen hadthe turn of speed of me, and that it was impossible that I could getthrough; so deeming that I should do more service by coming to strikea blow here than by having my throat cut out in the fields, I made thebest of my way back."
"Quite right, Martin!" Walter said. "I should have been grieved had youthrown your life away needlessly. I saw from the first that your escapewas cut off. And now, men, each to his place; but first pile up thestones against the gate, and then let each man take a good meal, for itis like enough to be long before we get a chance of doing so again."
Again ascending to the walls Walter saw that the first body ofmen-at-arms he had perceived was followed at a distance by a strongforce of footmen having with them some large wagons.
"I fear," he said to Ralph, "that they have brought machines with themfrom Amiens, and in that case they will not be long in effecting abreach, for doubtless they know that the walls are but weak. We shallhave to fight stoutly, for it may be days before the news of our leaguerreaches the camp. However, I trust that the prince will, by tomorrownight, when he finds that two days have elapsed without the coming ofmy usual messenger, suspect that we are besieged and will sally forth toour assistance. And now let us to breakfast, for we shall need all ourstrength today, and you may be sure that French will lose no time inattacking, seeing that assistance may shortly arrive from Calais."
There were but few preparations to be made. Each man had had his postassigned to him on the walls in case of an attack, and piles of stoneshad been collected in readiness to cast down upon the heads of thoseattempting an assault. Cauldrons were carried up to the walls and filledwith water, and great fires were lighted under them. In half an hourthe French infantry had reached the spot, but another two hours elapsedbefore any hostile movement was made, the leaders of the assailantsgiving their men that time to rest after their long march. Then a stirwas visible among them, and they were seen to form in four columns, eachabout a thousand strong, which advanced simultaneously against oppositesides of the castle. As soon as their intentions were manifest Walterdivided his little force, and these, gathering in four groups uponthe walls, prepared to resist the assault. To four of his most trustymen-at-arms he assigned the command of these parties, he himself andRalph being thus left free to give their aid where it was most needed.
The assailants were well provided with scaling-ladders, and advancedwith a number of crossbow-men in front, who speedily opened a hot fireon the walls. Walter ordered his archers to bide their time, and not tofire a shot till certain that every shaft would tell. They accordinglywaited until the French arrived within fifty yards of the wall, whenthe arrows began to rain among them with deadly effect, scarce one butstruck its mark--the face of an enemy. Even the closed vizors of theknights and chief men-at-arms did not avail to protect their wearers;the shafts pierced between the bars or penetrated the slits left openfor sight, and many fell slain by the first volley. But their numberswere far too great to allow the columns being checked by the fire of sosmall a number of archers; the front ranks, indeed, pressed forward moreeagerly than before, being anxious to reach the foot of the wall, wherethey would be in comparative shelter from the arrows.
The archers disturbed themselves in no way at the reaching of the wallby the heads of the columns; but continued to shoot fast and trueinto the mass behind them, and as these were, for the most part, lesscompletely armed than their leaders, numbers fell under the fire ofthe sixty English bowmen. It was the turn of the men-at-arms now.Immediately the assailants poured into the dry moat and sought to raisetheir ladders the men-at-arms hurled down the masses of stones piledin readiness, while some poured buckets of boiling water over them. Inspite of the loss they were suffering the French raised their ladders,and, covering their heads with their shields, the leaders strove to gainthe walls. As they did so, some of the archers took post in the flankingtowers, and as with uplifted arms the assailants climbed the ladders,the archers smote them above the joints of their armour beneath thearm-pits, while the men-at-arms with pike and battle-axe hewed downthose who reached the top of the ladders. Walter and Ralph hastened frompoint to point encouraging the men and joining in the defence where thepressure was hottest; and at last, after two hours of vain effort andsuffering great loss, the assailants drew off and the garrison hadbreathing time.
"Well done, my men!" Walter said, cheeringly; "they have had a lessonwhich they will remember, and if so be that they have brought with themno machines we may hold out against them for any time."
It was soon manife
st, however, that along with the scaling-ladders theenemy had brought one of their war-machines. Men were seen draggingmassive beams of timber towards the walls, and one of the wagons wasdrawn forward and upset on its side at a distance of sixty yards fromthe wall, not, however, without those who drew it suffering much fromthe arrows of the bowmen. Behind the shelter thus formed the Frenchbegan to put together the machine, whose beams soon raised themselveshigh above the wagon.
In the meantime groups of men dragged great stones laid upon a sort ofhand sledge to the machine, and late in the afternoon it began to castits missiles against the wall. Against these Walter could do little. Hehad no sacks, which, filled with earth, he might have lowered to coverthe part of the walls assailed, and beyond annoying those working themachines by flights of arrows shot high in the air, so as to descendpoint downwards among them, he could do nothing.
The wall crumbled rapidly beneath the blows of the great stones, andWalter saw that by the following morning a breach would be effected.When night fell he called his men together and asked if any wouldvolunteer to carry news through the enemy to the prince. The enterpriseseemed well-nigh hopeless, for the French, as if foreseeing that suchan attempt might be made, had encamped in a complete circle round thecastle, as was manifest by the position of their fires. Severalmen stepped forward, and Walter chose three light and activemen--archers--to attempt the enterprise. These stripped off their steelcaps and breastpieces, so that they might move more quickly, and whenthe French fires burned low and all was quiet save the creak of themachine and the dull heavy blows of the stones against the wall, thethree men were lowered by ropes at different points, and started ontheir enterprise. A quarter of an hour later the garrison heard shoutsand cries, and knew that a vigilant watch had been set by the French,and that one, if not all, of their friends had fallen into their hands.All night long the machine continued to play.
An hour before daylight, when he deemed that the enemy's vigilancewould be relaxed, Walter caused himself with Ralph and twelve of hismen-at-arms to be lowered by ropes from the wall. Each rope had a loopat the bottom in which one foot was placed, and knots were tied inorder to give a better grasp for the hands. They were lowered at a shortdistance from the spot at which the machine was at work; all were armedwith axes, and they made their way unperceived until within a few yardsof the wagon. Then there was a cry of alarm, and in a moment they rushedforward among the enemy. The men working the machine were instantly cutdown, and Walter and his party fell upon the machine, cutting theropes and smashing the wheels and pulleys and hewing away at the timberitself. In a minute or two, however, they were attacked by the enemy,the officer in command having bade a hundred men lie down to sleep closebehind the machine in case the garrison should attempt a sortie. Waltercalled upon Ralph and four of the men-at-arms to stand beside him whilethe others continued their work of destruction. The French came up in atumultuous body, but, standing so far apart that they could wield theiraxes, the English dealt such destruction among their first assailantsthat these for a time recoiled. As fresh numbers came up, encouragedby their leader they renewed the attack, and in spite of the mosttremendous efforts Walter and his party were driven back. By this time,however, so much damage had been done to the machine that it would besome hours before it could be repaired, even if spare ropes and otherappliances had been brought with it from Amiens; so that, reinforced bythe working party, Walter was again able to hold his ground and afterrepulsing a fresh onslaught of the enemy he gave the word for his men toretire at full speed.
The French were so surprised by the sudden disappearance of their foesthat it was a moment or two before they started in pursuit, and Walterand his men had gained some thirty yards before the pursuit reallycommenced.
The night was a dark one, and they considerably increased this advantagebefore they reach the foot of the wall, where the ropes were hanging.
"Has each of you found his rope?" Walter asked.
As soon as an affirmative answer was given he placed his foot in theloop and shouted to the men above to draw up, and before the enragedenemy could reach the spot the whole party were already some yards abovetheir heads. The archers opened fire upon the French, doing, in spite ofthe darkness, considerable execution, for the men had snatched up theirarms at the sudden alarm, and had joined the fray in such haste thatmany of them had not had time to put on their steel caps. There wasnoise and bustle in the enemy's camp, for the whole force were now underarms, and in their anger at the sudden blow which had been struck themsome bodies of men even moved forward towards the walls as if theyintended to renew the assault of the previous day; but the showersof arrows with which they were greeted cooled their ardour and theypresently retired out of reach of bowshot. There was a respite now forthe besiegers. No longer every few minutes did a heavy stone strike thewalls.
The morning's light enabled the defenders of the castle to see theextent of the damage which the battering machine had effected. Nonetoo soon had they put a stop to its work, for had it continued itsoperations another hour or two would have effected a breach.
Already large portions of the wall facing it had fallen, and otherportions were so seriously damaged that a few more blows would havelevelled them.