Part 14 (1/2)
CHAPTER VIII
OF THE a.s.sAULT ON ST. BARBARA'S TOWER
WITH fierce cries and menacing gestures the foreigners rushed down the street, many of them carrying axes and torches, while others bore a stout beam for the purpose of battering down the door of the tower.
Their archers and crossbowmen, eager to join in the fray, had slung their bows, and with knives, swords, or short spears in their hands, surged along in a confused ma.s.s with the men-at-arms.
”Now! Altogether! Loose, my lads!” shouted old Richard, and with the well-known tw.a.n.g nearly a score of bows sent their missiles cras.h.i.+ng into the armed mob below.
Many of the advancing foemen fell, transfixed by the deadly shafts, while those in the rear, pressing blindly forward, stumbled over those who lay writhing on the ground. When, at length, the foremost had reached the base of the tower, where they were safe from the stinging shower, they were met with a stream of molten lead, which, burning through hauberk and leathern jerkin with equal ease, sent the a.s.sailants reeling back with screams of agony.
The men bearing the beam were all shot down, and the main body retiring hastily, in a few moments the street was deserted but for a number of corpses, and the solitary standing figure of a man in full armour. Disdaining to turn his back upon the foe, the knight walked slowly backwards, shaking his ponderous mace in speechless anger, while the arrows rattled harmlessly off his proof-plate mail.
”Save your arrows, comrades, and give him a heavy stone or a dose of hot lead should he approach,” said old Wyatt. ”Methinks I've seen his device before. 'Tis Enrico, son of the King of Sicily.”
Just then the prince, his spurred heels tripping on the body of a man-at-arms, fell prostrate on his back, amid a roar of laughter from the Englishmen.
”Now stand by,” exclaimed one of the archers, ”and directly he moves a limb, let fly at his armpits or behind his knees!”
But the Italian was not lacking in cunning, for knowing that the weight of his armour would effectually prevent his rising, he lay perfectly quiet, his arms pressed closely to his side, till some varlets, bearing a heavy mantlet before them, came running up and lifted their master on his feet. Then, with measured step, the prince retired out of sight.
”Ah! As I thought, the rascals have learned a trick or two!” growled Wyatt, pointing to the Woolhouse Tower, a structure of greater height than St. Barbara's Tower, and standing less than three hundred paces distant.
Abandoned by its garrison at the first alarm, the Woolhouse Tower was occupied by a strong body of French archers, while an equally formidable band of crossbowmen took possession of the lofty Woolhouse hard by, so that a flight of missiles was poured upon the Englishmen from two different points.
”Lie down, men; 'tis useless to return their fire!” commanded the man-at-arms. But before his advice could be acted upon five archers and two soldiers were hit, one of the latter, his brain pierced by a bolt, toppling forwards over the parapet, and falling with a sickening thud upon the wall below.
”Would it not be well to abandon the roof and seek shelter below?”
inquired one.
”And give the rascals an easy chance to carry the tower,” rejoined old Wyatt derisively. ”Nay, we must hold the flats at all cost.
Quickly, my lads! Bring up everything ye can find that will do to raise a mantlet! There are plenty of hides in the store, and planks and poles as well.”
Swiftly the archers fell to work, and in a very short s.p.a.ce they had stretched some stout ox-hides on poles and had raised them above the parapet. Strengthening their hasty barricade with several heavy planks, they were soon in comparative security; while through the narrow s.p.a.ce betwixt the top of the battlement and the lower edge of the hides they could keep up a brisk discharge of arrows upon their a.s.sailants, while the m.u.f.fled thud of shafts and quarrels striking upon the loosely hung hides showed both the vehemence of the attack and the efficacy of the defence.
The defenders had now time to survey their surroundings; and, to every one's surprise, the Lady Audrey, calm and self-possessed, was busily engaged in making bandages for the wounded men.
”My faith!” exclaimed d.i.c.k Wyatt, roughly yet kindly. ”'Tis no place for thee, girl! Away with thee to the room below, and, if nursing be thy desire, I'll warrant there'll be enough work for thee ere long!”
Reluctantly, the maiden obeyed; and the wounded archers were taken below so that their hurts could receive attention, while the survivors would be less enc.u.mbered on the narrow extent of the roof.
”Stand to it once more!” shouted their leader. ”They come again! Now, Will, be ready with the molten lead and the boiling water!”
a.s.sailed on three sides at once, the defenders were hard put to it to keep the attackers in check. In addition to the showers of arrows and stones, the enemy had gained a lodgment on the town wall, and two long ladders were placed against the tower, their ends resting or projecting above the battlements. Up swarmed a number of heavily-armed men, till the ladders creaked and groaned under their weight. Hara.s.sed by the hail of missiles, and impeded by the curtains of bulls' hides, the defenders could not repel the a.s.sault, and, to their consternation, the leaders of the attack appeared above the battlements.
Once the mailed warriors gained the roof, all would be lost! But at the critical moment Richard Wyatt, seizing a ma.s.sive crowbar, loosened a heavy coping-stone. Then, calling a couple of strong archers to his aid, the ponderous stone was deftly toppled over the battlements. Missing the first man, the stone hurled the next two from their swaying foothold, then, cras.h.i.+ng through the woodwork of the ladder, it fell upon the heads of the men who were supporting those who had already ascended.
The ladder cracked and broke, bringing down the other ladder in its fall, the fragments descending in opposite directions athwart the wall, where a ghastly litter of woodwork and mangled corpses marked the failure of the enterprise.