"At any rate," Walter said to Ralph, "we have gained a respite; but evennow I fear that if the Black Prince comes not until tomorrow he willarrive too late."
The French, apparently as well aware as the garrison of the necessityfor haste, laboured at the repair of the machine. Bodies of men startedto cut down trees to supply the place of the beams which had beenrendered useless. Scarcely had the assault ceased when horsemen weredespatched in various directions to seek for fresh ropes, and by dint ofthe greatest exertions the machine was placed in position to renew itsattack shortly after noon.
By two o'clock several large portions of the damaged wall had fallen,and the debris formed a slope by which an assaulting column could rushto the bridge. As soon as this was manifest the French force formed forthe assault and rushed forward in solid column.
Walter had made the best preparation possible for the defence. In thecourtyard behind the breach his men had since morning been driving acircle of piles, connected by planks fastened to them. These were somefive feet high, and along the top and in the face next to the breachsharp-pointed spikes and nails had been driven, rendering it difficultin the extreme for anyone to climb over. As the column of the assailantsapproached Walter placed his archers on the walls on either side of thebreach, while he himself, with his men-at-arms, took his station in thegap and faced the coming host. The breach was some ten yards wide, butit was only for about half this width that the mound of broken stonesrendered it possible for their enemies to assault, consequently therewas but a space of some fifteen feet in width to be defended. Regardlessof the flights of arrows, the French, headed by their knights andsquires, advanced to the assault, and clambering up the rough stonesattacked the defenders.
Walter, with Ralph and three of his best men-at-arms, stood in the frontline and received the first shock of the assault. The roughness andsteepness of the mound prevented the French from attacking in regularorder, and the very eagerness of the knights and squires who came firstin contact with their enemies was a hindrance to them. When the columnswere seen gathering for the assault Walter had scattered several barrelsfull of oil and tar which he found in the cellars over the mound infront of the breach, rendering it greasy and slippery, and causing theassailants to slip and stagger and many to fall as they pressed forwardto the assault. Before the fight commenced he had encouraged hissoldiers by recalling to them how a mere handful of men had at Cressywithstood for hours the desperate efforts of the whole of the Frencharmy to break through their line, and all were prepared to fight to thedeath.
The struggle was a desperate one. Served by their higher position, andby the difficulties which the French encountered from the slipperinessof the ground and their own fierce ardour to attack, Walter and hislittle band for a long time resisted every effort. He with his swordand Ralph with his heavy mace did great execution, and they were noblyseconded by their men-at-arms. As fast as one fell another took hisplace. The breach in front of them was cumbered with dead and red withblood. Still the French poured upwards in a wave, and the sheer weightof their numbers and the fatigue caused by the tremendous exertionsthe defenders were making began to tell. Step by step the English weredriven back, and Walter saw that the defence could not much longer becontinued. He bade one of his men-at-arms at once order the archers tocease firing, and, leaving the walls, to take refuge in the keep, andthence to open fire upon the French as they poured through the breach.
When he found that this movement had been accomplished Walter bade themen-at-arms fall back gradually. A gap had been left in the wooden fencesufficient for one at a time to pass, and through this the men-at-armsretired one by one to the keep until only Walter and five others wereleft. With these Walter flung himself suddenly upon the assailants andforced them a few feet down the slope. Then he gave the word, and allsprang back, and leaping down from the wall into the courtyard ranthrough the barrier, Walter and Ralph being the last to pass as theFrench with exulting shouts leapt down from the breach. There wasanother fierce fight at the barrier. Walter left Ralph to defend thiswith a few men-at-arms while he saw that all was in readiness forclosing the door rapidly in the keep. Then he ran back again. He was butjust in time. Ralph indeed could for a long time have held the narrowpassage, but the barriers themselves were yielding. The French werepouring in through the breach, and as those behind could not see thenature of the obstacle which arrested the advance of their companionsthey continued to push forward, and by their weight pressed those infront against the spikes in the barrier. Many perished miserably onthese. Others, whose armour protected them from this fate, were crushedto death by the pressure; but this was now so great that the timberswere yielding. Walter, seeing that in another moment they would belevelled, gave the word, sprang back with Ralph and his party, andentered the keep just as with a crash the barrier fell and the Frenchpoured in a crowd into the courtyard. Bolting the door the defenders ofthe keep piled against it the stones which had been laid in readiness.
The door was on the first floor, and was approached by a narrow flightof stone steps, up which but two abreast could advance. In their firstfury the French poured up these steps, but from the loopholes whichcommanded it the English bowmen shot so hard that their arrows piercedthe strongest armour. Smitten through vizor and armour, numbers of thebravest of the assailants fell dead. Those who gained the top of thesteps were assailed by showers of boiling oil from an upper chamberwhich projected over the door, and whose floor was pierced for thispurpose, while from the top of the keep showers of stones were poureddown. After losing great numbers in this desperate effort at assault theFrench drew off for a while, while their leaders held council as to thebest measures to be taken for the capture of the keep.
After a time Walter from the summit saw several bodies of men detachthemselves from the crowd still without the castle and proceed into thecountry. Two hours later they were seen returning laden with trunks oftrees. These were dragged through the breach, and were, in spite of theefforts of the archers and of the men-at-arms with their stones, placedso as to form a sort of penthouse against one side of the keep. Numbersof the soldiers now poured up with sacks and all kinds of vessels whichthey had gathered from the surrounding villages, filled with earth. Thiswas thrown over the beams until it filled all the crevices between themand formed a covering a foot thick, so that neither boiling oil norwater poured from above could penetrate to injure those working beneathits shelter. When all was ready a strong body armed with picks andcrowbars entered the penthouse and began to labour to cut away the wallof the keep itself.
"Their commander knows his business," Walter said, "and the device is anexcellent one. We can do nothing, and it only depends upon the strengthof the wall how long we can hold out. The masonry is by no means good,and before nightfall, unless aid comes, there will be nought for us butdeath or surrender."