Part 3 (2/2)
About the middle of the afternoon, however, the fire went out at some points; the besiegers threw earth and trunks of trees into the ditch, and, perceiving no defenders, thought that the ramparts being intenable were abandoned. With shouts they rushed on to the slopes, leaped the half-consumed wattling, and meeting with no resistance, descended in a close body into the camp (Fig. 8). There they were greeted by a sudden shower of darts and stones; but they unhesitatingly rushed upon the intrenchment, which presented only a slight elevation and a shallow ditch, thinking to carry it easily.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 8.]
But the intrenchment was strong, and furnished with thick pointed stakes. The a.s.sailants, urging forward and aiding each other, gained its ridge; they were received with swords and pikes, and fell back dying upon their comrades; others filled their places. The bodies of the wounded, which in some places gradually filled up the ditch, afforded them a pa.s.sage. Many of the enemy had succeeded in throwing themselves into the midst of the defenders, and in opening deep pa.s.sages among them which were instantly occupied by the most daring. The deep front which the Brenn had formed behind the intrenchment was broken. Then it was that he unmasked the two egresses at the extremities, sending out from both the troops of chosen warriors, who, keeping close along the deserted rampart, fell upon the dense stream of a.s.sailants. So compact was the crowd, and so great the pressure against the intrenchment, that they had scarcely room to move. The two detachments above mentioned were mowing away before them to enable them to advance. But the enemy kept pouring in, and the s.p.a.ce regained was immediately filled with fresh a.s.sailants, who, disregarding the attacks on their flanks, pushed furiously on to the centre.
The bodies of the slain and the f.a.ggots had filled the ditch for the length of a hundred paces, and the loosened stakes formed but a slight protection to the defenders. The noise of the attack brought a great number of women hurrying to the spot. They might be seen with bare arms, raising stones above their heads, and hurling them with shrill cries against the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the a.s.sailants, or despatching the wounded that had fallen inside the intrenchment with the culinary wooden pestles used for pounding herbs and flesh in hollow stones. A shout was raised, the crowd of a.s.sailants opened, and a hundred men were seen steadily advancing, bearing on their shoulders an enormous trunk of a tree, and surrounded by warriors armed with axes. This column overthrowing all in its pa.s.sage, whether friend or foe, made a wide lane in the intrenchment, strewn with dead and wounded. The beam was already more than half way through on the inside of the defences when the women ran in, and rus.h.i.+ng like she-wolves on the flanks of the column, pa.s.sed between the warriors, and clung to the legs of the bearers. The enormous beam swayed, toppled over, and bore down in its fall both a.s.sailants and defenders by its vast weight. Sigild profiting by the confusion, then dashed into the breach, followed by a troop of warriors which he had not without difficulty kept in reserve. In his return he cut himself a pa.s.sage through the crowd of a.s.sailants. Seeing this movement, the warriors who had issued from the two ends of the inner intrenchment redoubled their efforts. Others rushed on to the rampart-walk by the side issues of the intrenchment, and fell upon the enemies within or without the rampart. The latter, cramped within this narrow s.p.a.ce, and with their centre broken through, were unable to use their arms. Some fell and were suffocated. Those who were on the projecting part of the rampart began to turn and fly into the midst of their advancing comrades, who not seeing what was taking place behind the rampart, were for compelling them to return to the battle.
The crowd fell into confusion, and disregarding the voice of the chiefs, acc.u.mulated in such ma.s.ses in the ditch, the escarpments and the rampart-walk, that it could act only by its weight, and offered itself to attack without power of defence. Most threw down their bucklers which hampered their movements.
Sigild kept advancing, and all the warriors not engaged in defending the intrenchment formed behind him in a column which became denser each moment. As soon as they were outside the intrenchment, these warriors turned about and threw themselves on the bulk of the a.s.sailants, who were separated into two ma.s.ses. Caught as in a pair of pincers by Sigild's band, and by those coming from the terminal egresses of the intrenchment, they were slaughtered without resistance.
In vain did the chiefs of the enemy sound a retreat. The bulk of a.s.sailants, who were ma.s.sed between the rampart and the intrenchment, could neither advance nor recede. Very few succeeded in rejoining their companions. Fatigue alone stayed the defenders; it was no longer a combat but a ma.s.sacre.
Although the warriors of the Val d'Avon had suffered considerable loss, the success of the defence had intoxicated them, and they were eager to take advantage of the disorder of the enemy to sally forth from the Oppidum and fall upon them. Sigild was obliged to swear to them by the most terrible of oaths, that their vengeance would be more effective by delay.
He told them, moreover, that the enemy were very numerous, and that the losses they had suffered had not weakened them to such a degree as to render them contemptible; that they were burning for revenge, and that to attack them in their camp was to give them the very opportunity they desired. The authority of the chiefs of the tribes of the Druids had, however, to be appealed to, to keep the warriors within the Oppidum.
Night fell on the narrow battle-field covered with the dead and wounded.
The Brenn took re-possession of the ramparts, had the wattle parapet hastily repaired, the enemy's wounded put to death, and his own carried into the middle of the camp, where they were consigned to the care of the women; then he ascended one of the unburnt towers of that front, hoping to perceive Tomar's signal. But the night was hazy, and the fires of the enemy three or four hundred paces distant were scarcely visible.
It was evident that Tomar could not have lighted his fire, or if he had lighted it, it was impossible to see it through the haze.
The warriors after the laborious day, chilled by the autumn fog, were sleeping around their fires. The cries of victory had been exchanged for a death-like silence, broken only by the groans of some of the wounded who had been forgotten.
The Brenn was considering whether it would not be wise to follow the plan which he had indicated to the chiefs of the tribes--to leave the camp before daybreak by crossing the river on a line of rafts, before the enemy had time to effect a fresh a.s.sault. Provisions would certainly fail them soon. But how move this mult.i.tude! The warriors needed rest.
”One more day,” he said to himself; ”and if I have no news of Tomar, I still must consider it.” Then he went out and ordered to the point attacked a body of warriors some hundreds strong, who, having guarded the unbroken part of the ramparts during the a.s.sault, and having taken no part in the conflict, were fresh and vigorous. Some women even mounted the towers. He enjoined all of them to give the alarm vigorously if they saw the enemy approaching the ramparts, so as to rouse the sleeping warriors. He despatched several of his trusty friends to the other fronts of the camp, with injunctions to watch the approaches, and to send out scouts through the gates to ascertain any movements outside, and to light fires a little way from the ramparts, so as to illuminate the immediate vicinity. He proceeded towards the southern extremity of the Oppidum, and saw that the little camp above the bridge that had been destroyed was guarded; but also perceived through the mist the fires of the enemy in the valley opposite this point.
It was midnight, and Sigild, exhausted by fatigue, returned to the northern side and retired to rest beneath one of the towers. Some of his friends kept watch outside around a large fire.
The Brenn was sleeping, when a hand placed on his shoulder awaked him.
By the light of a resin torch he saw Tomar standing by him. ”Is it really thou, Tomar?” said he, thinking he was dreaming. ”It is I.”
”Alone?” ”Alone here; the warriors are down there; the fog rendered the signal useless: I am come.” ”Hast thou been seen?” ”Thy warriors sleep, no one has recognised me; a woman told me thou wert here.” ”Why a day late?” ”Ditovix has a.s.sembled a thousand warriors.” ”Ah, Ditovix is with them.” A cloud pa.s.sed over the brow of the Brenn. ”He is a n.o.ble fellow,” said he, after a pause. ”Thou knowest that we were attacked yesterday?” ”I know it; I saw the field of the slain. The enemy are numerous; they cannot turn back, to-morrow they will make another attack--they are resolved to succeed.” ”And then?” ”Then Ditovix is to fall upon them before midday, when he knows the conflict is begun.”
”Well?” ”If I do not go back to Ditovix, or if he hears nothing from you, he will make the attack.” ”Remain with us, then; thou art sure that we shall be a.s.sailed in the morning?” ”I pa.s.sed along the enemy's camp--they are preparing for a fresh a.s.sault; and there are warriors following the course of the river to attack the west side also.”
There was not a moment to lose. Sigild called his friends together, and informed them that a final effort must be made--that the enemy, hara.s.sed on their rear by neighbouring tribes, must either get possession of the Oppidum that very day or perish. Tomar was represented as having pa.s.sed the previous day in the besiegers' camp, and become acquainted with the position of affairs.
No one doubted the veracity of Tomar, who, so far from exaggerating, never told a quarter of what he knew.
Sigild scarcely had at his disposal, after the various a.s.saults that had taken place, three thousand men in a condition to fight, deducting the troop stationed opposite the burnt bridge. He divided his forces into three bodies, one of about twelve hundred men to defend the northern ramparts, the second of eight hundred posted on the western rampart, and the third of a thousand men which he kept in the centre of the Oppidum under his own direct command.
At the other posts around the Oppidum he placed men unaccustomed to fight and unprovided with arms, but who were yet able to offer some resistance if the enemy should present themselves. Women were posted in the towers away from the points of expected attack. Their only duty was to hurl stones at the a.s.sailants.
The day broke slowly owing to the thick vapours obscuring the sky; nevertheless the warriors, encouraged by the words of the Brenn and by their success the day before, awaited the enemy full of ardour. The Druids, informed by Sigild of the arrival of help, traversed the camp announcing that the hour of deliverance had come, and that the souls of those who should fall were secure of the most glorious future. The Druidesses, with dishevelled hair, fastened sacred boughs to the wattling of the ramparts.
A body of the enemy about two thousand strong now became distinctly visible opposite the western front of the Oppidum, with the river at its back. Towards the end of the first quarter of the day, this troop climbed the escarpment and stopped an arrow's flight off. It then divided itself into eight parties, each of which, provided with f.a.ggots, proceeded towards one of the towers. The a.s.sailants were received with a shower of arrows and stones. They advanced nevertheless without wavering, and heaped up the f.a.ggots at the foot of the towers, not without considerable loss on their side; for the besieged hurled on them over the parapets large pebbles and trunks of trees.
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