peasants
without. Let us up and be doing, then, Brian de Bois-Guilbert; and, live or die,
thou shalt see Maurice de Bracy bear himself this day as a gentleman of blood
and lineage.«
    »To the walls!« answered the Templar; and they both ascended the battlements
to do all that skill could dictate, and manhood accomplish, in defence of the
place. They readily agreed that the point of greatest danger was that opposite
to the outwork, of which the assailants had possessed themselves. The castle,
indeed, was divided from that barbican by the moat, and it was impossible that
the besiegers could assail the postern door, with which the outwork
corresponded, without surmounting that obstacle; but it was the opinion both of
the Templar and De Bracy, that the besiegers, if governed by the same policy
their leader had already displayed, would endeavour, by a formidable assault, to
draw the chief part of the defenders' observation to this point, and take
measures to avail themselves of every negligence which might take place in the
defence elsewhere. To guard against such an evil, their numbers only permitted
the knights to place sentinels from space to space along the walls in
communication with each other, who might give the alarm whenever danger was
threatened. Meanwhile, they agreed that De Bracy should command the defence at
the postern, and the Templar should keep with him a score of men or thereabouts
as a body of reserve, ready to hasten to any other point which might be suddenly
threatened. The loss of the barbican had also this unfortunate effect, that,
notwithstanding the superior heights of the castle walls, the besieged could not
see from them, with the same precision as before, the operations of the enemy;
for some straggling underwood approached so near the sallyport of the outwork,
that the assailants might introduce into it whatever force they thought proper,
not only under cover, but even without the knowledge of the defenders. Utterly
uncertain, therefore, upon what point the storm was to burst, De Bracy and his
companion were under the necessity of providing against every possible
contingency, and their followers, however brave, experienced the anxious
dejection of mind incident to men enclosed by enemies, who possessed the power
of choosing their time and mode of attack.
    Meanwhile, the lord of the beleaguered and endangered castle lay upon a bed
of bodily pain and mental agony. He had not the usual resource of bigots in that
superstitious period, most of whom were wont to atone for the crimes they were
guilty of by liberality to the church, stupifying by this means their terrors