St. George for England: A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers

  CHAPTER XV.

  THE SIEGE OF A FORTALICE.

  Walter's first step on assuming the command was to examine thoroughlyinto the capabilities of defense of the place, to see that the well wasin good order, and the supply of water ample, and to send out a foragingparty, which, driving in a number of beasts and some cart-loads offorage, would supply his garrison for some time. The castle he found wasless strong than it looked. The walls were lightly built, and wereincapable of withstanding any heavy battering. The moat was dry, and theflanking towers badly placed, and affording little protection to thefaces of the walls; however, the extent of the defenses was small, andWalter felt confident that with the force at his command he could resistany sudden attack, unless made in overwhelming force, so that all thefaces of the wall could be assaulted at the same time. He had a largenumber of great stones brought in to pile against the gate, while otherswere brought into the central keep, similarly to defend the door shouldthe outer wall be carried. He appointed Ralph as his lieutenant, andevery day, leaving him in charge of the castle, rode through thecountry for many miles round, with twenty men-at-arms, to convincehimself that no considerable force of the enemy were approaching. Thesereconnaissances were not without some danger and excitement, for severaltimes bodies of the country people, armed with scythes, axes, andstaves, tried to intercept them on their return to the castle, and onceor twice Walter and his men had to fight their way through theiropponents. Contrary to the custom of the times, Walter gave orders tohis men not to slay any when resistance had ceased.

  "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-defense, 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, andanswered 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 on dutystood, 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 thearmy, to which news would naturally be sent of their coming. Walterwatched his messenger, who had now ridden half a mile toward theapproaching body. Suddenly he saw him turn his horse and ride off atright angles to the road.

  "He sees them," he said, "and is going to try to ride round them. I fearthat 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 column andto gallop off at full speed to intercept the messenger; the latterdiverged more and more from his course, but he was constantly headed offby his pursuers, and at last, seeing the impossibility of gettingthrough them, he again turned his horse's head and galloped off towardthe 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 strike ablow 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 to-morrownight, when he finds that two days have elapsed without the coming of myusual messenger, suspect that we are besieged and will sally forth toour assistance. And now let us to breakfast, for we shall need all ourstrength to-day, and you may be sure that the French will lose no timein attacking, 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. Caldrons were carried up to the walls and filledwith water, and great fires were lighted under them. In half an hour theFrench 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 Walter divided his littleforce, and these, gathering in four groups upon the walls, prepared toresist the assault. To four of his most trusty men-at-arms he assignedthe command of these parties, he himself and Ralph being thus left freeto give their aid where it was most needed.

  The assailants were well provided with scaling ladders, and advancedwith a number of cross-bowmen 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 visors 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 col
umns 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 true intothe mass behind them, and as these were, for the most part, lesscompletely armed than their leaders, numbers fell under the fire of thesixty 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 piled inreadiness, 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 armor beneath thearmpits, while the men-at-arms with pike and battle-ax hewed down thosewho reached the top of the ladders. Walter and Ralph hastened from pointto point encouraging the men and joining in the defense 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 manifest, however, that along with the scaling ladders theenemy had brought one of their war-machines. Men were seen draggingmassive beams of timber toward 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 from thearrows of the bowmen. Behind the shelter thus formed the French began toput together the machine, whose beams soon raised themselves high abovethe wagon.

  In the mean time 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 downward 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 thatsuch an attempt might be made, had encamped in a complete circleround the castle, as was manifest by the position of their fires.Several men stepped forward, and Walter chose three light and activemen--archers--to attempt the enterprise. These stripped off their steelcaps and breast-pieces, 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 vigilance wouldbe 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 in orderto 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 the ropesand 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, encouraged bytheir 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, reenforced 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 reached the foot of the wall, where the ropes were hanging.

  "Have 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 them,some bodies of men even moved forward toward the walls as if theyintended to renew the assault of the previous day; but the showers ofarrows with which they were greeted cooled their ardor, and theypresently retired out of reach of bow-shot. 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. None toosoon 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 haveleveled them.

  "At any rate," Walter said to Ralph, "we have gained a respite; but evennow I fear that if the Black Prince comes not until to-morrow he willarrive too late."

  The French, apparently as well aware as the garrison of the necessityfor haste, labored 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 weredispatched 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 defense. 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 any one to climb over. As the column of theassailants approached Walte
r placed his archers on the walls on eitherside of the breach, while he himself, with his men-at-arms, took hisstation in the gap and faced the coming host. The breach was some tenyards wide, but it was only for about half this width that the mound ofbroken stones rendered it possible for their enemies to assault,consequently there was but a space of some fifteen feet in width to bedefended. Regardless of the flights of arrows, the French, headed bytheir knights and squires, advanced to the assault, and clambering upthe rough stones attacked 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 ardor to attack, Walter and hislittle band for a long time resisted every effort. He with his sword andRalph 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 upward in a wave, and the sheer weight oftheir numbers and the fatigue caused by the tremendous exertions thedefenders were making began to tell. Step by step the English weredriven back, and Walter saw that the defense 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 court-yard ranthrough the barrier, Walter and Ralph being the last to pass as theFrench with exulting shouts leaped down from the breach.

  There was another fierce fight at the barrier. Walter left Ralph todefend this with a few men-at-arms while he saw that all was inreadiness for closing the door rapidly in the keep. Then he ran backagain. He was but just in time. Ralph indeed could for a long time haveheld the narrow passage, but the barriers themselves were yielding. TheFrench were pouring in through the breach, and as those behind could notsee the nature of the obstacle which arrested the advance of theircompanions they continued to push forward, and by their weight pressedthose in front against the spikes in the barrier. Many perishedmiserably on these. Others, whose armor protected them from this fate,were crushed to death by the pressure; but this was now so great thatthe timbers were yielding. Walter, seeing that in another moment theywould be leveled, gave the word, sprang back with Ralph and his party,and entered the keep just as with a crash the barrier fell and theFrench poured in a crowd into the court-yard. Bolting the door thedefenders of the keep piled against it the stones which had been laid inreadiness.

  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 loop-holes whichcommanded it the English bowmen shot so hard that their arrows piercedthe strongest armor. Smitten through visor and armor, 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 awhile, 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 labor 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 naught for us butdeath or surrender."