Page:Tudor Jenks--The defense of the castle.djvu/245

Rh a beggar. She remembered as she walked a saying of Friar Bacon's. She did not know the Latin words he had used,

but she recalled it in English, "the pauper may sing though he meet with a robber"; and she believed she had little to fear from the poor, if she were poor herself. So she walked bravely on, keeping a sharp lookout ahead so that she might slip into the bushes in case she should see upon the road any whom she did not care to meet. She tried not to walk too fast for fear of being wearied, but whenever she thought of the people of the castle, she would hasten her steps.

About the same hour that saw Amabel's departure from the farmhouse, saw also a renewal of the attack upon the remaining defenses of the castle. The Count's forces came on in much the same battle formation they had adopted upon the first day of their appearance; but this time they advanced more cautiously, having learned that the garrison was bold and ready to take advantage of every slip made by their enemies. They did not know what had been prepared for them during the night; and so this attack was preceded by a light skirmish-line, which carefully examined the ground for evidence of an ambush or a pitfall. The garrison was warned of the attack by the