Page:Tudor Jenks--The defense of the castle.djvu/322

294 Count and his men could not see the occupants of the room. Fortunately, in their eagerness to hear Amabel's story, the three men had retained their mail and had brought their weapons into the hall with them. Knowing where these were, all three had seized them at the first alarm, and now, drawn up behind the oak table which Hugh overturned, they remained at bay awaiting the attack. The Count, fearing an attack in the rear, hesitated to enter the hall, since from the noise above he knew that the alarm had reached the garrison on the upper floors. After a moment he decided to post a strong guard before the hall, to separate those within from the rest of the garrison, and then to lead the larger part of his force up the stairway, hoping thus to carry the keep by the rapidity of his attack. So crying to his men to guard the hall and permit no one to leave it, the Count ordered his men to follow him, and dashed up the stone steps, closely followed by his shouting soldiers, who believed that the keep was all but won.

But the Friar was above, and in an instant had guessed that the Count would attempt the storming of the stair. He had therefore run briskly down to the head of the lower stair, and finding two sentries were on duty there, with their aid succeeded in pushing one of his wheeled carts