At Agincourt

dark, seen flames rising from a village three miles from them, and that the man in advance had ridden forward

stationed at the chains of the drawbridge in readiness to hoist it should the order be given. The English archers were on the wall beside Sir Eustace, as their arrows commanded the ground beyond the outwork. Half an hour after the first

nce of some of their men, who, in defiance of the strictest orders to the contrary, had set fire to several houses in the village after having plundered them. Sir Eustace, accompanied by his esquire and Guy, descended from the wall and crossed the drawbridge to t

tace de Ville

men with torches took their place one on each side of h

bant, Admiral of France.

Fruges, and we come in

to admit a garrison of

s a vassal of the crown, and am ready to obey the orders of the king,-and of him only when he is in a condition of mind

crown, and we are told that at heart you ar

d for the estates of my

present there is a truc

ng of France as faithfu

e the King

I have at my back eight thousand men, and if you compel me to storm this h

fiance. I know it is to him that I owe this raid; and if he be man enough, I challenge him to meet me in the morning on fair ground outside this postern, with lance and battle-axe, to fight to the death. If he conquers, my castle

do so. I have brought some eight thousand men here to capture this castle, and hold it for the Duke of Orleans, and I see not why I should march away with th

to give pledge that I will not draw sword for either of these princes; but if that will not content

il to-morrow morning, when w

u will not find me backward in retur

ed away with the

deal with a loyal gentleman I could have slept soundly, but with these adventurers it is different. It may be that he tru

enough to do good work should those fellows attempt in force to cross the small moat and attack the gate. But if they come, methinks it will be but to try if we are wakeful; '

ess; at any rate I will send down five archers, and if any of the enemy crawl up to see how wide the water is here, and how the attempt had best be made, I warrant that they will

ater three or four cottages, some five hundred yards away, were fired, and an angry murmur broke from the men a

so that we may hoist the drawbridge as soon as our men are upon it, should the enemy get the better of them. Be sure that one is not left

tacking until those flames have burnt down; we sh

along on either side, reckoning, and with reason, that as our men would have the light in their eyes they would be all the less likely to make out objects crawling along in the shade by the side

easting on the spoils they had taken, and drinking from the wine-barrels that h

ive the knaves a sharp lesson, but with only two hundred men against their eight thousand it would be madness to try it;

said. "That is the worst of being on the defence; one

main body there were also stretched on the wall with their arms by their side until required to be up and doing. Now that Sir Eustace was himself at the gate his esqui

ng, Guy," Sir Eustace s

e of the wall. Here one o

s it, D

e see the end of my arrow; but it hit there or thereabouts, for I heard him shout. A moment later he was on his feet and running. I could see him more plainly then, so I shot again, and over he went.

your eyes open; we may be sure there ar

d back wit

d not kill him outright with his first arrow, the cry will show any of his co

lesson, Sir Eustace. I heard a bow twang across there, and as there was no cry you

een missed alt

man whose figure he could make out at fifty yards' distance, and they would scarce see them until they were as close as that.

taken, we shall be busy from sunrise till sunset. I shall myself lie down for a couple of hours presently, and then send John Harpen to rest till da

the order. Dame Ma

iet, Guy?" she as

lf should come down for a short sleep presently. Two spies who crawled up have been s

he first few minutes he lifted his head several times fancying that he heard

act that the two spies had not returned was so strong a proof of the vigilance of the garrison, that the enemy had been content to wait until morning. Just as the sun rose the three knights who had summoned the castle on the preceding evenin

are some two hundred and fifty yards away, but f

n we shoot; besides I would rather that they began the fight. The quarrel is not one of my seeking, and I will leave it to them to open the ball. It is true that they did so last night by sending their spies here, but we have balanced that acc

ired, and presently a dense mass of men appeared from behin

of faggots, Sir Eus

doubtless it is as you say-that each man has a faggot on his shoulder. It is evident that they int

to the gunner

ame orders, Guy, to the men working the ballistas and mangonels on the wall. Tell them not to loose their machines until after the guns are fired. If t

and the bolts of the cross-bows worked by the men-at-arms there, began to fall among them. So true was the aim of the archers that scarce a shaft was wasted. At the distance at which they were shooting they did not aim at the knights, whose vizors and coats of mail could not have been pierced, but shot at the commonalty, whose faces and throats were for the most part unprotected. Man after man fell, and the cross-bow bolts also told heavily upon the cr

Sir Knights. We came to shear, but in good sooth we seem more likely to go ba

ngland five-and-twenty bowmen, and I heard tell from men who had seen them trying their skill at ta

that his castle were placed in better keeping; but in truth these fellows shoot marvellously, both for strength and trueness of aim. I marked as we came back that of the me

ll my mail was of the best work of Milan; but nevertheless the arrow broke two of the links; if the distance had been shorter, I doubt not that it would have slain me. Well, what

ow. If we take our fellows up while there is light they will suffer so much from the stings of these wasps that they will soon lose heart. The knaves shoot not only straight and strong, but they shoot so fast th

o to the farmhouses, and bring up any hides that might be stored there, and to fetch all the hurdles they could lay hands upon; a portion were to g

in high spirits at the easy

and confidently as if he had been attacking a place defended only by fat Flemish burghers; however, he has had his lesson, and as it is said he is a good knight, he w

thousand of them, my lord, drawn up in a body beyond the cr

ength till the work begins in earnest. If Sir Clugnet is wise he will march away at once. He would need heavy machines and cannon to make a breach in our walls, and even had he an abundance of them it would take him some time to do so. If he tries again, you may be sure that it will be the work of Sir Hugh de Fruges, who has no doubt a lively interest in the matter. He is a clever fellow, and will no doubt do his best to work on the feelings of the other knights by representing

eep joined Sir Eustace and h

ing down the dust round our ears, and he neither started nor flinched, though in truth it was far from pleasant, especially as we h

ssages, father?" Henry asked; "I am no

it yet, Eustace," D

r arms, but he will learn to brace his nerves and show a bold front in danger; that is a lesson that cannot be learned too young. Yes, Henry, you shall be my messenger. If they try an assault to-night, you shall put on for the first time the steel cap and breastpiece I had made for you in England; there will be no danger of your being hit by crossbow bolt or arrow, but there may

something, for it is at least as well that he should be able to stand fire even if he cannot learn the use of arms; moreover, it may be that after once bearing a part in a fray he may incline more warmly to warlike exercises than he has hitherto done; it may rouse in him a spirit which has

er for six weeks. Do you know that she was up on the top of the keep while the fighting was going on? Of course I

nry the

old him up sometimes for him to be able to see what was going on; and he looked rather pale at first, when they opened fire, but he soon plucked up when he sa

greatly he is cut out rather for a monk than a man-at-arms. And now I will lie down, for you may be su

comfortable after seeing

tac

m to meet me outside in a fair field, and the craven did not answer m

the walls is faithful to us; but if there be a traitor, be sure that Sir

were there a dozen of them, wife. Long Tom and his comrade

scattered soldiers were returning laden with a great quantity of young trees, wattles, and doors.

knows well enough what the French have gone for, and

he quarters occupied by the tenants. These had now settled down; the children were playing about as unconcernedly as if they had been on their fathers' farms; women were washing clothes or preparing the evening meal

on the walls watching with gloomy faces the smoke wreaths that still rose from what had been their homes. Ducks, geese, and hens walked about unconcernedly looking for any stray grains that had passed unnoticed when they had last been fed, and a chorus of dissatisfied grunting arose from the pigs that had a large pen in the yard next to the huts. These were still smarting under a sense of injury excited

well to-night as we did this morning,"

s not go for much; still, I doubt not that we shall give a good account of ourselves, for at any rate we shall be able to make them out before they come to close work. The women have been making a great store of torches to-day, and that

will plant them near the edge of the moat, and throw up some earthworks to shelter them and their mach

were paper; but I cannot say as much about stout oaken doors-that is a target that I have never shot against; I fear that the shock would shiver the shafts. The mant

em, Tom; these would carry the beams for half a doz

about. They are all very well on the walls of a castle, though I see not that even there they are of great advantage over the old machines. It is true that they shoot further, but that is of no great use. It is when the enemy come to attack that you want to kill them, and at fifty yards I would kill more men with my shafts in ten minutes than a cannon would do with

s, and I think it more likely that they will have provided themselves with

. They would only have to send three or four swimmers across the moat, then thrust long b

at any rate, I expect they will manage to get across

huck them down

ong as they cannot knock a breach in the