"Chivalry will ne’er support thee when it knows of thy black crimes, Eustace de Brin," replied Edgar, altogether unmoved. "It is I who represent chivalry this day, for, as thou shouldst know, it is the proud boast of chivalry to take the part of the weak and oppressed. But it is not of this that I wished to speak. We demand thy surrender and that of the ladies so basely torn from their friends by the false knight who stands by thy side. Surrender is the only course that can save the lives of the soldiers of the garrison, and the only course that will give thee a chance to plead thy case before thy countrymen. Sir Gervaise de Maupas, too, will have at least an opportunity of answering a charge of treachery before the English earl. Persist in thy refusal and thou art lost, for once the blood of this people thou hast oppressed is inflamed against thee, neither Father Armand nor I may be able to restrain them." "Bah! These walls laugh thee and thy rabble to scorn. Do thy worst, Master Squire. Here is our first greeting." [Illustration: "’BAH! THESE WALLS LAUGH THEE AND THY RABBLE TO SCORN!’"] As he spoke, the knight raised his arm as a signal, and a number of men, who had evidently been secretly preparing all the time the parley had been proceeding, crowded to the walls. In their hands they bore stones and rocks, which they instantly began to rain violently down upon the men on the ground beneath. "Back--out of range," cried Edgar, immediately he saw the men-at-arms appear, and amid the hurtling missiles the men rushed to the shelter of the edge of the woods. A reply to the fusillade was not at once possible, as, like the garrison, scarcely any of the peasants were able to use the bow with any degree of success. To return the fire with stones would be wellnigh useless, as the height of the walls would rob the missiles of all their power and momentum. "We cannot assault the castle yet?" said the priest to Edgar enquiringly. "There must be preparations?" "Yes; we can do nothing until we have filled in a portion of the moat. Didst not tell me once that the moat is a stream dammed back below the castle?" "Yes, that is so." "Then I would that a few men be sent to break down the dam at once. That will aid us famously in our onslaught upon the moat. A half-empty moat will be a good step forward." "It will indeed. I will see to it, Sir Squire." "Are any of thy folk skilled in carpentry or woodfelling? If so, let them get to work cutting down trees and preparing timber without delay, for I like not that our men should be unable to reply to the showers of missiles from the walls." "What wouldst do then?" "I would build mangonels. I saw many in the camp outside Bordeaux, and had a fancy to see how they were put together. I think we can construct them with success. They will hurl rocks that will blister the walls even of yon fortress, and if they fall into the courtyard may do dire execution."