Page:Tudor Jenks--The defense of the castle.djvu/84

60 the ends, and the scaling-ladders for surmounting the walls. The third rank was made up of the crossbowmen and archers, and the men-at-arms in mail, carrying their swords and battle-axes.

Meanwhile the garrison were arranging to repel the attack. The bowmen inside their palisade stuck their swords and arrows in the ground before them where they could be seized in an instant, strung their bows, and stood ready near the palisade. The men in the castle, armed with swords, axes, and pikes were arranged along the battlements and within the wooden galleries that projected out over the moat. Caldrons of boiling pitch, or of quicklime, were brought, and piles of great bowlders and heavy timbers had been placed long before within reach. The garrison were ranged in groups of four and five, under the order of the most trustworthy and ablest soldiers, and there were also a number of archers and crossbow-men placed where they commanded the most important points. By Hugh's advice, Edgar with ten picked men stood within the great gate to repel any attack that might be delivered there; this was an important position, and yet one of comparative safety for the young lord, whose person must be protected.

The men of the garrison were ready before Luke had succeeded in drawing up the attacking