Page:Tudor Jenks--The defense of the castle.djvu/133

Rh rock-throwing machines were also put in action, and soon the bombardment became so effective that it was more than the Count's soldiers could endure. Abandoning the ram, they turned and ran back toward the sheltering woods, leaving the ram half-way on its journey.

But the Count was no coward, and mounting his horse, he came forward to meet the fleeing soldiers, being accompanied by a few of his horsemen. These met the fugitives, and drove them back again, beating the men with the flat of their swords, and berating them as they came. Thus they stayed the retreat.

Hugh saw that, in rallying his soldiers, the Count himself had come within the range of a balista, and taking careful aim, he discharged his great dart. The dart pierced the Count's horse entirely from side to side, and the poor animal fell dead, while the Count leaped from the horse's back just in time to save himself from being pinned under him. There was a cheer from the garrison, and as a stone flung by a mangonel just then struck one of the wheels of the ram, and split it in two the Count's men again retreated, and would not come forward so long as it was daylight. The ram was left where it stood, and the besiegers contented themselves with working upon their mangonels and their tower, meaning