CHAPTER VIII. HOW ROLAND UNDERTOOK TO CARRY SARAGOSSA BY STORM.
IF, my young friends, I have for some few chapters omitted mention ofRoland, don't jump at the conclusion that he did not distinguish himselfduring the war in Spain, for he took the most notable part in it, as youmay judge for yourselves.
After three months spent in fruitless attacks, Saragossa still stoodas strong as it was on the first day of the siege. The catapults andbalistae had become disabled without making the slightest impression onthe ramparts. The scaling parties had been repulsed, and the stormers,hacked in pieces with daggers and lances, had been flung from thewalls into the fosse, or fell among the flames of the raging fires--forburning pitch had been flung over the walls until it had covered themwith a coating of bitumen as impenetrable as iron.
Roland lost patience. "Prepare everything for the storm to-morrow,"said he to Charlemagne. "In one hour the breach shall be made!" And hedescended into the fosse with no other arms, offensive or defensive,than Durandal and his shield.
"Whither goes your nephew, sire?" said Turpin to Charlemagne, followingRoland with his eyes. "Is he mad, or tired of life?"
"I don't know what he is going to do, but he has bidden me have allready for the assault, saying that within an hour the breach will bemade."
"He will do it, then, sire, as he has said it; and, by my faith! I amgrateful to him, for we are beginning to grow mouldy here."
Charles mounted his horse, and began to make his dispositions for theassault. The Saracen sentries on guard on the rampart hardly took anynotice of the single warrior who approached the city; but, hearing agreat noise, they leant over and saw Roland, who was hammering at thewall with repeated strokes of the pommel of Durandal.
The Saracens laughed, and asked one another what the idiot wanted.
"Shall we smash him?" said one of them, preparing to roll a huge stoneover the rampart.
"What for?" said another. "Is there any reason to be afraid of him?Shouldn't you like; to know what he has come here to do?"
Curiosity is the worst of advisers. The sentinels exposed themselves inorder to see better, and four arrows struck them in the face. It was thehour of target-practice with the pages of Charlemagne.
"I am afraid this is likely to make the infidels squint!" said Mitaine,choosing a new arrow.
Roland, heedless of all that was passing around him, continued his workof destruction. The wall began at last to yawn, and the knight to smile,delighted at his success.
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By-and-by the tremendous hammering excited the curiosity of thebesieged, and some of the soldiers, seeing the sentinels leaning overthe ramparts and never stirring, were anxious to discover what was soengrossing their attention. They in their turn leant over, and eachreceived an arrow in his ear.
"What do you think of those ear-rings?" said Mitaine, laughing. "Wereever such lovely trinkets seen? Saint Eloi, the goldsmith, could nothave fashioned finer!"
During this time Roland redoubled his force. A rent thirty cubits longbegan to threaten the wall with ruin. Marsillus, who was passing in theneighbourhood, felt the earth tremble beneath his feet. Every blow ofthe pommel of Durandal made the whole quarter of the city shake to itsfoundation.
"So, then," said the King of Saragossa, "these wretches have brought newengines of war against us! Why has no one told me of this? Ebrechin, gosee what it is, and hasten back with intelligence of what is passing."
The earth continued to quake, and several houses began to tremble totheir fall.
"It is not an ordinary balista at work there," said Marsillus. "None ofthose in use now can deliver such hard blows."
But hardly had the King finished his sentence when a mosque fell inruins within a hundred paces of where he stood. Then a still more awfulnoise froze his blood with terror. The breach was made: Roland had kepthis word.
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