Page:Tudor Jenks--The defense of the castle.djvu/268

240 A few stones were cracked, but this in no way weakened the keep; seeing which, the mangonels were next directed toward the less strongly built towers, the tops of which were somewhat injured, and the roofs entirely destroyed. This fire had the effect of confining the archers of the garrison to the loopholes, and thus of rendering their efforts to annoy the besiegers much less effective.

But it was evident to the defenders that the Count had no immediate intention of continuing the assault, and they therefore concluded that he meant to wait until nightfall before exposing his men to the arrows from the castle. This conclusion was true enough, but the Count had another reason for his delay. He was waiting for Luke to carry out his plan of reporting to the garrison the capture of Lady Amabel; and it was necessary for Luke's plan to send out a party of men to some neighboring village to procure a country girl who would serve as a substitute for the captive. Until Luke's scheme should fail, the Count was willing to suspend the attack, especially as he felt sure of taking the castle within a few days more at most.

So, though the garrison was upon the alert all night, there was no alarm, and when morning dawned, no new enterprise on the part of the besiegers could be discovered. Within the captured