As soon, therefore, as Sir Eustace had left, Guy commenced operations. A
few men only were kept on guard, and the rest went out daily to prepare
the stones under the direction of a master mason, who had been brought
from Arras by Sir Eustace. Some fifty of the tenants were also employed on
the work, and as the winter closed in this number was doubled.
The quarry lay at a distance of half a mile from the castle, and as fast
as the stones were squared and roughly dressed they were taken in carts to
the spot where they were to be used. Guy had the foundations for the walls
dug in the first place, to a depth below that of the bottom of the moats,
and filled up with cement and rubble. The trenches were then dug at a
distance of five feet from the foot of the walls. With so many hands the
work proceeded briskly, and before springtime the three works were all
completed, with their bridges and ladders, passages pierced through the
castle wall, and stone steps built inside by which those who passed
through could either descend into the court yard or mount to the
battlements. At the end of September fifteen archers and men-at-arms
arrived from England to take the place of those who had desired to return
home, and who on their coming marched away to Calais.
From time to time reports were received of the events happening in Paris.
Paris had been strongly occupied by the Orleanists, and a proclamation had
at once been issued in the name of the king condemning all that had been
done in the city, and denouncing by name all the ringleaders of the late
tumults, and such of these as were found in Paris were arrested.
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