"There will be naught doing to-night, and unless I am
mistaken, 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 daylight. Long Tom, see that you yourself and all your men take a
short sleep by turns; we shall need your eyes to be open above all others
to-morrow."
Guy promptly obeyed the order. Dame Margaret was still up.
"Is everything quiet, Guy?" she asked as she entered,
"So quiet, my lady, that Sir Eustace has ordered me to bed, and he said
that he himself should come down for a short sleep presently. Two spies
who crawled up have been slain by the archers. Sir Eustace is sure that no
attack will be made before morning."
Then he went into his little room and threw himself onto his pallet.
During the first few minutes he lifted his head several times fancying
that he heard noises; then he fell into a sound sleep and did not awake
until the day dawned.
In a few minutes Guy was on the wall. The night had passed quietly; so far
as was known no fresh attempt at reconnoitring the works had been made,
and as the moon had risen soon after he had gone to bed there was reason
to believe that the fact 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 evening appeared on the brow of the
opposite slope, accompanied by a body of men-at-arms, and rode slowly
round the castle.
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