The boys nodded, and taking their caps ran off, while Gervaise,
tired by the excitement of the day, lay down on the bed which a
servant brought up a few minutes after they had left him, and slept
soundly until their return.

"I think I have been asleep," he said, starting up when they entered
the room again.

"You look as if you had, anyhow," De Lille laughed. "It was the
best thing you could do. We have brought up supper. We generally
sit down and eat after the knights have done, but this is much
better, as you are here." They sat down on the beds, carved the
pasty with their daggers, and after they had finished Gervaise
gladly accepted the proposal of the others to take a walk round
the walls.

They started from the corner of the castle looking down upon the
spit of land dividing the two ports.

"You see," De Lille said, "there is a row of small islands across
the mouth of the outer port, and the guns of St. Nicholas, and
those on this wall, would prevent any hostile fleet from entering."

"I hardly see what use that port is, for it lies altogether outside
the town, and vessels could not unload there."

"No. Still, it forms a useful place of refuge. In case a great
fleet came to attack us, our galleys would lay up in the inner
port, which would be cleared of all the merchant craft, as these