by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER IV
THE SIEGE OF SLUYS
Until the Spaniards had established their camp, and planted someof their batteries, there was but little firing. Occasionally thewall pieces opened upon parties of officers reconnoitring, and a fewshots were fired from time to time to harass the workmen in theenemy's batteries; but this was done rather to animate the townsmen,and as a signal to distant friends that so far matters were goingon quietly, than with any hopes of arresting the progress of theenemy's works. Many sorties were made by the garrison, and fiercefighting took place, but only a score or two of men from each companywere taken upon these occasions, and the boys were compelled toremain inactive spectators of the fight.
In these sorties the Spanish works were frequently held for a fewminutes, gabions thrown down, and guns overturned, but after doingas much damage as they could the assailants had to fall back againto the town, being unable to resist the masses of pikemen broughtup against them. The boldness of these sorties, and the braverydisplayed by their English allies, greatly raised the spirits ofthe townsfolk, who now organized themselves into companies, andundertook the work of guarding the less exposed portion of thewall, thus enabling the garrison to keep their whole strength atthe points attacked. The townsmen also laboured steadily in addingto the defenses; and two companies of women were formed, under femalecaptains, who took the names of May in the Heart and Catherine theRose. These did good service by building a strong fort at one ofthe threatened points, and this work was in their honour christenedFort Venus.
"It is scarcely a compliment to Venus," Geoffrey laughed to hisbrother. "These square shouldered and heavily built women do notat all correspond with my idea of the goddess of love."
"They are strong enough for men," Lionel said. "I shouldn't likeone of those big fat arms to come down upon my head. No, they arenot pretty; but they look jolly and good tempered, and if they wereto fight as hard as they work they ought to do good service."
"There is a good deal of difference between them," Geoffrey said."Look at those three dark haired women with neat trim figures. Theydo not look as if they belonged to the same race as the others."
"They are not of the same race, lad," Captain Vere, who was standingclose by, said. "The big heavy women are Flemish, the others come, nodoubt, from the Walloon provinces bordering on France. The Walloonsbroke off from the rest of the states and joined the Spanishalmost from the first. They were for the most part Catholics, andhad little in common with the people of the Low Country; but therewere, of course, many Protestants among them, and these were forcedto emigrate, for the Spanish allow no Protestants in the countryunder their rule. Alva adopted the short and easy plan of murderingall the Protestants in the towns he took; but the war is nowconducted on rather more humane principles, and the Protestantshave the option given them of changing their faith or leaving thecountry.
"In this way, without intending it, the Spaniards have done goodservice to Holland, for hundreds of thousands of industrious peoplehave flocked there for shelter from Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, andother cities that have fallen into the hands of the Spaniards,thus greatly raising the population of Holland, and adding to itspower of defence. Besides this, the presence of these exiles, andthe knowledge that a similar fate awaits themselves if they fallagain under the yoke of Spain, nerves the people to resist tothe utmost. Had it not been for the bigotry of the Spanish, andthe abominable cruelties practised by the Inquisition, the Stateswould never have rebelled; and even after they did so, terms mighteasily have been made with them had they not been maddened by thewholesale massacres perpetrated by Alva. There, do you hear thosewomen speaking? Their language is French rather than Flemish."
Just as they were speaking a heavy roar of cannon broke out fromthe eastern end of the town.
"They have opened fire on the castle!" Vere exclaimed. "Run, lads,quick! and summon the company to form in the marketplace in frontof our house. We are told off to reinforce the garrison of thecastle in case of attack."
The boys hurried away at the top of their speed. They had the listof all the houses in which the men of the company were quartered;and as the heavy roar of cannon had brought every one to theirdoors to hear what was going on, the company were in a very shorttime assembled.
Francis Vere placed himself at their head, and marched them throughthe long streets of the town and out through the wall on to thebridge of boats. It was the first time the boys had been underfire; and although they kept a good countenance, they acknowledgedto each other afterwards that they had felt extremely uncomfortableas they traversed the bridge with the balls whistling over theirheads, and sometimes striking the water close by and sending ashower of spray over the troops.
They felt easier when they entered the castle and were protected byits walls. Upon these the men took their station. Those with gunsdischarged their pieces against the Spanish artillerymen, the pikemenassisted the bombardiers to work the cannon, and the officers wentto and fro encouraging the men. The pages of the company had littleto do beyond from time to time carrying cans of wine and water tothe men engaged. Geoffrey and Lionel, finding that their serviceswere not required by Captain Vere, mounted on to the wall, andsheltering themselves as well as they could behind the battlements,looked out at what was going on.
"It doesn't seem to me," Geoffrey said, "that these walls will longwithstand the balls of the Spanish. The battlements are alreadyknocked down in several places, and I can hear after each shotstrikes the walls the splashing of the brickwork as it falls intothe water. See! there is Tom Carroll struck down with a ball. It'sour duty to carry him away."
They ran along the wall to the fallen soldier. Two other pages cameup, and the four carried him to the top of the steps and then downinto the courtyard, where a Dutch surgeon took charge of him. Hisshoulder had been struck by the ball, and the arm hung only by ashred of flesh. The surgeon shook his head.
"I can do nothing for him," he said. "He cannot live many hours."
Lionel had done his share in carrying the man down but he now turnedsick and faint.
Geoffrey caught him by the arm. "Steady, old boy," he said; "itis trying at first, but we shall soon get accustomed to it. Here,take a draught of wine from this flask."
"I am better now," Lionel said, after taking a draught of wine."I felt as if I was going to faint, Geoffrey. I don't know why Ishould, for I did not feel frightened when we were on the wall."
"Oh, it has nothing to do with fear; it is just the sight of thatpoor fellow's blood. There is nothing to be ashamed of in that. Why,I saw Will Atkins, who was one of the best fighters and singlestickplayers in Hedingham, go off in a dead swoon because a man he wasworking with crushed his thumb between two heavy stones. Look,Lionel, what cracks there are in the wall here. I don't think itwill stand long. We had better run up and tell Captain Vere, forit may come toppling down with some of the men on it."
Captain Vere on hearing the news ran down and examined the wall.
"Yes," he said, "it is evidently going. A good earthwork is wortha dozen of these walls. They will soon have the castle about ourears. However, it is of no great importance to us. I saw you ladsjust now on the wall; I did not care about ordering you down atthe time; but don't go up again except to help to carry down thewounded. Make it a rule, my boys, never to shirk your duty, howevergreat the risk to life may be; but, on the other hand, never riskyour lives unless it is your duty to do so. What is gallantry in theone case is foolishness in the other. Although you are but pages,yet it may well be that in such a siege as this you will have manyopportunities of showing that you are of good English stock; butwhile I would have you shrink from no danger when there is a needfor you to expose yourselves, I say also that you should in no wayrun into danger wantonly."
Several times in the course of the afternoon the boys took theirturn in going up and helping to bring down wounded men. As the timewent on several yawning gaps appeared in the walls. The courtyardwas strewn with fragments of masonry, and the pages were or
deredto keep under shelter of the wall of the castle unless summoned onduty. Indeed, the courtyard had now become a more dangerous stationthan the wall itself; for not only did the cannon shot fly throughthe breaches, but fragments of bricks, mortar, and rubbish flewalong with a force that would have been fatal to anything struck.
Some of the pages were big fellows of seventeen or eighteen yearsold, who had been serving for some years under Morgan and Williams,and would soon be transferred into the ranks.
"I like not this sort of fighting," one of them said. "It is allvery well when it comes to push of pike with the Spaniards, but toremain here like chickens in a coop while they batter away at usis a game for which I have no fancy. What say you, Master Vickars?"
"Well, it is my first experience, Somers, and I cannot say thatit is agreeable. I do not know whether I should like hand to handfighting better; but it seems to me at present that it would becertainly more agreeable to be doing something than to be sittinghere and listening to the falls of the pieces of masonry and thewhistling of the balls. I don't see that they will be any nearerwhen they have knocked this place to pieces. They have no boats,and if they had, the guns on the city wall would prevent their usingthem; besides, when the bridge of boats is removed they could donothing if they got here."
Towards evening a council was held, all the principal officersbeing present, and it was decided to evacuate the castle. It couldindeed have been held for some days longer, but it was plain itwould at length become untenable; the bridge of boats had alreadybeen struck in several places, and some of the barges composing ithad sunk level with the water. Were it destroyed, the garrison ofthe castle would be completely cut off; and as no great advantagewas to be gained by holding the position, for it was evident thatit was upon the other end of the town the main attack was to bemade, it was decided to evacuate it under cover of night. As soonas it became dark this decision was carried into effect, and forhours the troops worked steadily, transporting the guns, ammunition,and stores of all kinds across from the castle to the town.
Already communication with their friends outside had almost ceased,for the first operation of the enemy had been to block the approachto Sluys from the sea. Floats had been moored head and stern rightacross Zwin, and a battery erected upon each shore to protect them;but Captains Hart and Allen twice swam down to communicate withfriendly vessels below the obstacle, carrying despatches with themfrom the governor to the States General, and from Roger Williamsto the English commanders, urging that no time should be lost inassembling an army to march to the relief of the town.
Both contained assurances that the garrison would defend the placeto the last extremity, but pointed out that it was only a questionof time, and that the town must fall unless relieved. The Dutchgarrison were 800 strong, and had been joined by as many English.Parma had at first marched with but 6000 men against the city, buthad very speedily drawn much larger bodies of men towards him, andhad, as Roger Williams states in a letter to the queen sent fromSluys at an early period of the siege, four regiments of Walloons,four of Germans, one of Italians, one of Burgundians, fifty-twocompanies of Spaniards, twenty-four troops of horse, and forty-eightguns. This would give a total of at least 17,000 men, and furtherreinforcements afterwards arrived.
Against so overwhelming a force as this, it could not be hopedthat the garrison, outnumbered by more than ten to one, couldlong maintain themselves, and the Duke of Parma looked for an easyconquest of the place. By both parties the possession of Sluys wasregarded as a matter of importance out of all proportion to thesize and population of the town; for at that time it was known inEngland that the King of Spain was preparing a vast fleet for theinvasion of Britain, and Sluys was the nearest point to our shoresat which a fleet could gather and the forces of Parma embark tojoin those coming direct from Spain. The English, therefore, weredetermined to maintain the place to the last extremity; and whileParma had considered its capture as an affair of a few days only,the little garrison were determined that for weeks at any rate theywould be able to prolong the resistance, feeling sure that beforethat time could elapse both the States and England, knowing theimportance of the struggle, would send forces to their relief.
The view taken as to the uselessness of defending the castle wasfully justified, as the Spaniards on the following day removed theguns that they had employed in battering it, to their works facingthe western gate, and fire was opened next morning. Under coverof this the Spanish engineers pushed their trenches up to the veryedge of the moat, in spite of several desperate sorties by thegarrison. The boys had been forbidden by Captain Vere to take theirplace with the company on the walls.
"In time," he said, "as our force decreases, we shall want everyone capable of handling arms to man the breaches, but at presentwe are not in any extremity; and none save those whom duty compelsto be there must come under the fire of the Spaniards, for to doso would be risking life without gain."
They had, however, made friends with the wine merchant whose cellarsthey had visited, and obtained permission from him to visit theupper storey of his warehouse whenever they chose. From a windowhere they were enabled to watch all that was taking place, for thewarehouse was much higher than the walls. It was not in the directline of fire of the Spanish batteries, for these were chieflyconcentrated against the wall a little to their right. After heavyfighting the Spaniards one night, by means of boats from the Zwin,landed upon the dyke which divided the moat into two channels, andthus established themselves so close under the ramparts that theguns could not be brought to bear upon them. They proceeded tointrench themselves at once upon the dyke.
The governor, Arnold Groenvelt, consulted with the English leaders,and decided that the enemy must be driven off this dyke immediately,or that the safety of the city would be gravely imperilled. Theytherefore assembled a force of four hundred men, sallied out of thesouth gate, where two bastions were erected on the dyke itself, andthen advanced along it to the assault of the Spaniards. The battlewas a desperate one, the English and Dutch were aided by theircomrades on the wall, who shot with guns and arquebuses againstthe Spaniards, while the later were similarly assisted by theirfriends along the outer edge of the moat, and received constantreinforcements by boats from their ships.
The odds were too great for the assailants, who were forced at lastto fall back along the dyke to the south gate and to re-enter thetown. It was already five weeks since the English had arrived totake part in the defence, and the struggle now began upon a greatscale--thirty cannon and eight culverins opening fire upon thewalls. The heaviest fire was on St. James' day, the 25th of July,when 4000 shots were fired between three in the morning and fivein the afternoon. While this tremendous cannonade was going on,the boys could not but admire the calmness shown by the population.Many of the shots, flying over the top of the walls, struck thehouses in the city, and the chimneys, tiles, and masses of masonryfell in the streets. Nevertheless the people continued their usualavocations. The shops were all open, though the men employed servedtheir customers with breast and back pieces buckled on, and theirarms close at hand, so that they could run to the walls at onceto take part in their defence did the Spaniards attempt an assaultupon them. The women stood knitting at their doors, Frau Menyn lookedas sharply after her maids as ever, and washing and scouring wenton without interruption.
"I believe that woman will keep those girls at work after theSpaniards have entered the city, and until they are thunderingat the door," Lionel said. "Who but a Dutch woman would give athought to a few particles of dust on her furniture when an enemywas cannonading the town?"
"I think she acts wisely after all, Lionel. The fact that everythinggoes on as usual here and in other houses takes people's thoughtsoff the dangers of the position, and prevents anything like panicbeing felt."
The lads spent the greater part of the day at their lookout, andcould see that the wall against which the Spanish fire was directedwas fast crumbling. Looking down upon it, it seemed deserted oftroops, for it would
be needlessly exposing the soldiers to deathto place them there while the cannonade continued; but behind thewall, and in the street leading to it, companies of English andDutch soldiers could be seen seated or lying on the ground.
They were leaning out of the dormer window in the high roof watchingthe Spanish soldiers in the batteries working their guns, when,happening to look round, they saw a crossbow protruded from a windowof the warehouse to their right, and a moment afterwards the sharptwang of the bow was heard. There was nothing unusual in this; foralthough firearms were now generally in use the longbow and thecrossbow had not been entirely abandoned, and there were stillarchers in the English army, and many still held that the bow wasa far better weapon than the arquebus, sending its shafts well nighas far and with a truer aim.
"If that fellow is noticed," Geoffrey said, "we shall havethe Spanish musketeers sending their balls in this direction. Thegovernor has, I heard Captain Vere say, forbidden shooting from thewarehouses, because he does not wish to attract the Spanish fireagainst them. Of course when the wall yields and the breach has tobe defended the warehouses will be held, and as the windows willcommand the breach they will be great aids to us then, and it wouldbe a great disadvantage to us if the Spaniards now were to throwshells and fireballs into these houses, and so to destroy thembefore they make their attack. Nor can much good be gained, for atthis distance a crossbow would scarce carry its bolts beyond themoat."
"Most likely the man is using the crossbow on purpose to avoidattracting the attention of the Spaniards, Geoffrey. At this distancethey could not see the crossbow, while a puff of smoke would besure to catch their eye."
"There, he has shot again. I did not see the quarrel fall in themoat. See, one of the Spanish soldiers from that battery is comingforward. There, he has stooped and picked something up. Hallo! doyou see that? He has just raised his arm; that is a signal, surely."
"It certainly looked like it," Lionel agreed. "It was a sort ofhalf wave of the hand. That is very strange!"
"Very, Lionel; it looks to me very suspicious. It is quite possiblethat a piece of paper may have been tied round the bolt, and thatsomeone is sending information to the enemy. This ought to be lookedto."
"But what are we to do, Geoffrey? Merely seeing a Spanish soldierwave his arm is scarcely reason enough for bringing an accusationagainst anyone. We are not even sure that he picked up the bolt;and even if he did, the action might have been a sort of mockingwave of the hand at the failure of the shooter to send it as faras the battery."
"It might be, of course, Lionel. No, we have certainly nothing togo upon that would justify our making a report on the subject, butquite enough to induce us to keep a watch on this fellow, whoeverhe may be. Let us see, to begin with, if he shoots again.
They waited for an hour, but the head of the crossbow was not againthrust out of the window.
"He may have ceased shooting for either of two reasons," Geoffreysaid. "If he is a true man, because he sees that his bolts do notcarry far enough to be of any use. If he is a traitor, because hehas gained his object, and knows that his communication has reachedhis friends outside. We will go down now and inquire who is theoccupier of the next warehouse."
The merchant himself was not below, for as he did business withother towns he had had nothing to do since Sluys was cut off fromthe surrounded country; but one of his clerks was at work, makingout bills and accounts in his office as if the thunder of the gunsoutside was unheard by him. The boys had often spoken to him asthey passed in and out.
"Who occupies the warehouse on the right?" Geoffrey asked himcarelessly.
"William Arnig," he replied. "He is a leading citizen, and oneof the greatest merchants in our trade. His cellars are the mostextensive we have, and he does a great trade in times of peace withBruges, Ghent, Antwerp, and other towns."
"I suppose he is a Protestant like most of the townspeople?" Geoffreyremarked.
"No, he is a Catholic; but he is not one who pushes his opinionsstrongly, and, he is well disposed to the cause, and a captain inone of the city bands. The Catholics and Protestants always dwellquietly together throughout the Low Countries, and would haveno animosities against each other were it not for the Spaniards.Formerly, at least, this was the case; but since the persecutionswe have Protestant towns and Catholic towns, the one holding tothe States cause, the other siding with the Spaniards. Why do youask?"
"Oh, I hadn't heard the name of your next neighbour, and, waswondering who he might be."
The boys had now been nearly two months in Holland, and were beginningto understand the language, which is not difficult to acquire, anddiffered then even less than now from the dialect spoken in theeastern counties of England, between whom and Holland there hadbeen for many generations much trade and intimate relations.
"What had we better do next, Geoffrey?" Lionel asked as they leftthe warehouse.
"I think that in the first place, Lionel, we will take our post atthe window tomorrow, and keep a close watch all day to see whetherthis shooting is repeated. If it is, we had better report the matterto Captain Vere, and leave him to decide what should be done. I donot see that we could undertake anything alone, and in any case,you see, it would be a serious matter to lay an accusation againsta prominent citizen who is actually a captain of one of the bands."
Upon the following day they took their post again at the window,and after some hours watching saw three bolts fired from the nextwindow. Watching intently, they saw the two first fall into themoat. They could not see where the other fell; but as there was nosplash in the water, they concluded that it had fallen beyond it,and in a minute they saw a soldier again advance from the battery,pick up something at the edge of the water, raise his arm, andretire. That evening when Captain Vere returned from the rampartsthey informed him of what they had observed.
"Doubtless it is an act of treachery," he said, "and this merchantis communicating with the enemy. At the same time what you haveseen, although convincing evidence to me, is scarce enough for meto denounce him. Doubtless he does not write these letters untilhe is ready to fire them off, and were he arrested in his houseor on his way to the warehouse we might fail to find proofs of hisguilt, and naught but ill feeling would be caused among his friends.No, whatever we do we must do cautiously. Have you thought of anyplan by which we might catch him in the act?"
"If two or three men could be introduced into his warehouse,and concealed in the room from which he fires, they might succeedin catching him in the act, Captain Vere; but the room may be anempty one without any place whatever where they could be hidden,and unless they were actually in the room they would be of littlegood, for he would have time, if he heard footsteps, to thrust anyletter he may have written into his mouth, and so destroy it beforeit could be seized."
"That is so," Captain Vere agreed. "The matter seems a difficult one,and yet it is of the greatest importance to hinder communicationswith the Spaniards. Tonight all the soldiers who can be spared,aided by all the citizens able to use mattock and pick, are to setto work to begin to raise a half moon round the windmill behindthe point they are attacking, so as to have a second line to fallback upon when the wall gives way, which it will do ere long, forit is sorely shaken and battered. It is most important to keep thisfrom the knowledge of the Spaniards. Now, lads, you have shown yourkeenness by taking notice of what is going on, see if you cannotgo further, and hit upon some plan of catching this traitor at hiswork. If before night we can think of no scheme, I must go to thegovernor and tell him frankly that we have suspicions of treachery,though we cannot prove them, and ask him, in order to prevent thepossibility of our plans being communicated to the enemy, to placesome troops in all the warehouses along that line, so that nonecan shoot there from any message to the Spaniards."
Just as Captain Vere finished his supper, the boys came into theroom again.
"We have thought of a plan, sir, that might succeed, although itwould be somewhat difficult. The dormer window from which thesebolts have be
en fired lies thirty or forty feet away from that fromwhich we were looking. The roof is so steep that no one could holda footing upon it for a moment, nor could a plank be placed uponwhich he could walk. The window is about twelve feet from the topof the roof. We think that one standing on the ledge of our windowmight climb on to its top, and once there swing a rope with a stoutgrapnel attached to catch on the ridge of the roof; then two orthree men might climb up there and work themselves along, and thenlower themselves down with a rope on to the top of the next window.They would need to have ropes fastened round their bodies, for theheight is great, and a slip would mean death.
"The one farthest out on the window could lean over when he hearsa noise below him, and when he saw the crossbow thrust from thewindow, could by a sudden blow knock it from the fellow's hand,when it would slide down the roof and fall into the narrow yardbetween the warehouse and the walls. Of course some men would beplaced there in readiness to seize it, and others at the door ofthe warehouse to arrest the traitor if he ran down."
"I think the plan is a good one, though somewhat difficult ofexecution," Captain Vere said. "But this enterprise on the roofwould be a difficult one and dangerous, since as you say a slipwould mean death."
"Lionel and myself, sir, would undertake that with the aid of twoactive men to hold the ropes for us. We have both done plenty ofbird nesting in the woods of Hedingham, and are not likely to turngiddy."
"I don't think it is necessary for more than one to get down on tothat window," Captain Vere said. "Only one could so place himselfas to look down upon the crossbow. However, you shall dividethe honour of the enterprise between you. You, as the eldest andstrongest, Geoffrey, shall carry out your plan on the roof, whileyou, Lionel, shall take post at the door with four men to arrestthe traitor when he leaves. I will select two strong and activemen to accompany you, Geoffrey, and aid you in your attempt; butmind, before you try to get out of the window and to climb on toits roof, have a strong rope fastened round your body and held bythe others; then in case of a slip, they can haul you in again. Iwill see that the ropes and grapnels are in readiness."
The next morning early Geoffrey proceeded with the two men who hadbeen selected to accompany him to his usual lookout. Both wereactive, wiry men, and entered fully into the spirit of the undertakingwhen Geoffrey explained its nature to them. They looked out of thedormer window at the sharp roof slanting away in front of them andup to the ridge above.
"I think, Master Vickars," one of them, Roger Browne by name, said,"that I had best go up first. I served for some years at sea, andam used to climbing about in dizzy places. It is no easy matter toget from this window sill astride the roof above us, and moreoverI am more like to heave the grapnel so that it will hook firmly onto the ridge than you are."
"Very well, Roger. I should be willing to try, but doubtless youwould manage it far better than I should. But before you start wewill fasten the other rope round your body, as Captain Vere directedme to do. Then in case you slip, or anything gives way with yourweight, we can check you before you slide far down below us."
A rope was accordingly tied round the man's body under his arms.Taking the grapnel, to which the other rope was attached, he gotout on to the sill. It was not an easy task to climb up on to theridge of the dormer window, and it needed all his strength andactivity to accomplish the feat. Once astride of the ridge the restwas easy. At the first cast he threw the grapnel so that it caughtsecurely on the top of the roof. After testing it with two or threepulls he clambered up, leaving the lower end of the rope hangingby the side of the window. As soon as he had gained this positionGeoffrey, who was to follow him, prepared to start.
According to the instructions Browne had given him he fastenedthe end of the rope which was round Browne's body under his ownshoulders, then leaning over and taking a firm hold of the rope towhich the grapnel was attached, he let himself out of the window.Browne hauled from above at the rope round his body, and he pulledhimself with his hands by that attached to the grapnel, and presentlyreached the top.
"I am glad you came first, Roger," he said. "I do not think I couldhave ever pulled myself up if you had not assisted me."
He unfastened the rope, and the end was thrown down to the window,and Job Tredgold, the other man, fastened it round him and washauled up as Geoffrey had been.
"We will move along now to that stack of chimneys coming throughthe roof four feet below the ridge on the town side," Geoffreysaid. "We can stand down there out of sight of the Spaniards. Weshall be sure to attract attention sitting up here, and might havesome bullets flying round our ears, besides which this fellow'sfriends might suspect our object and signal to him in some way. Itis two hours yet to the time when we have twice seen him send hisbolts across the moat."
This was accordingly done, and for an hour and a half they sat downon the roof with their feet against the stack of chimneys.
"It is time to be moving now," Geoffrey said at last. "I think thebest way will be for me to get by the side of the dormer windowinstead of above it. It would be very awkward leaning over there,and I should not have strength to strike a blow; whereas withthe rope under my arms and my foot on the edge of the sill, whichprojects a few inches beyond the side of the window, I could standupright and strike a downright blow on the crossbow."
"That would be the best way, I think," Roger Browne agreed; "andI will come down on to the top of the window and lean over. In thefirst place your foot might slip, and as you dangle there by therope he might cut it and let you shoot over, or he might lean outand shoot you as you climb up the roof again; but if I am abovewith my pistol in readiness there will be no fear of accidents."