Page:Tudor Jenks--The defense of the castle.djvu/110

86 men to spare, and by keeping them all busy we may find a weak point. By means of the cat, here before the gate, you can fill the moat, push on to the wall and attack it with a battering-ram. At the same time, it would be worth while to set miners to work to undermine part of the wall, so as to open a breach into the outer court, and while these attacks occupy part of your force, I will take some of the stoutest men-at-arms, and attempt a side attack. You have men enough besides all these to build a tower from which your crossbow-men can sweep the battlements of their defenders. It will never do to leave your men idle. There is no grumbler like your idle soldier, and some fine day you will awake to find your forces have tired of the work, and have marched quietly away during the night."

"If the scoundrels break faith with me, I will follow them all over England, if necessary, and hang them every mother's son!" the Count declared angrily.

"No doubt," Luke answered dryly, "and meanwhile the Mortimers would keep their castle, and possibly, when the old lord returns, they might take a fancy to have yours into the bargain. Still, you would have the satisfaction of playing hangman to a band of villains whose fate would be sure in any event—since they are gallows-birds by