already the greater portion had retired to the other side of the small
moat surrounding it, where they lay sheltered by the outwork itself. It
was not long before the assailants at the other points, finding that the
plan they had formed was defeated by the skill of the archers, poured down
in a mass between the two lines of mantlets, each man carrying his burden
before him, thus sheltering him to a great extent. Against this method of
attack the archers could do little, and now confined themselves to
shooting at the men who, having thrown down the fascines or sacks by the
edge of the moat, stood for a moment and hesitated before running back to
the shelter of the mantlets, and not one in three got off scot-free. Guy
on going round the wall found the same state of things at each of the
other three points of assault. Numbers of the enemy were falling, but
great piles of materials were accumulating at the edge of the moat. After
a time a number of knights and men-at-arms, fully protected by armour,
came down and began to hurl the sacks and bags into the moat, their
operations being covered as much as possible by a storm of missiles shot
through holes in the mantlets. In a short time Sir Eustace ordered the
archers to desist shooting, for they were obliged, in order to aim at
those so much below them, to expose a considerable portion of their
bodies, and three were killed by the enemy's missiles.

"We can't prevent them from filling up the moat," he said, "and it is but
throwing away life to try to do so."

The archers were accordingly placed in the projecting turrets, where,
without being themselves exposed, they could shoot through the loopholes
at any point on the face of the walls. It was not long before the moat was
bridged at all four points of attack. Ladders were then brought down. This
the assailants were able to accomplish without loss, as, instead of
carrying them, they were pushed backwards and forwards by men stationed