Page:Tudor Jenks--The defense of the castle.djvu/164

138 men-at-arms released him, and then rode back to where the Count awaited them, whereupon the whole party rode rapidly back toward their own camp.

As soon as he was released, the Friar sprang into the water, swam across the ditch, and called to Edgar:

"Throw me a rope!"

Edgar directed one of the soldiers to bring a long ladder, and when this had been lowered, the Friar climbed it nimbly enough, and in a moment stood upon the ramparts, anything but a cheerful figure. He looked ruefully at his dripping garments, and then a grim smile gradually spread over his face, as he said:

"This is a gallant outcome for a heroic enterprise, my lord! But after all the Count did not hang me. And that, I believe, he will live to regret. Let me go to my own room, and when I am dry and warm again"—his teeth were chattering with the cold—"I will tell you of my adventures."

Edgar begged that he would go at once, though the young man was eager to know how the Friar had fared so badly in his enterprise. As to the Count's threatening message, Edgar never gave it a thought. He meant to hold the castle to the last extremity, and had never expected any mercy