"Nay; make the ram so long that ere the wheels shall reach the edge of the moat the battering end will reach drawbridge and gates. I tell thee, good Father, we shall get to grips beneath yon frowning gateway before many hours are past. Have thy men the spirit for a conflict, stark and grim, waged with trained men in a narrow space where numbers are of little avail?" "I will answer for them, Sir Squire," replied the priest quickly. "They have no training, but they have desperation, and that will carry them on." "Aye, I think so too. And now let us to work, and make ready as quickly as we can." All the remainder of the day the preparation for the assault upon the castle went on with untiring energy. In the depths of the woods the women and children of the village and district laboured at a work to which they were well accustomed, cutting down young saplings and undergrowth and carrying them to a point in the roadway near the castle gates, where men bound them firmly into great bundles. Close by, a few yards from either side of the roadway, at the very edge of the wood, and masked only by a thin screen of bushes, men were hard at work constructing mangonels under Edgar’s supervision. At another point a gang of men were making ready the great ram on wheels which was expected to do such execution, and at still another a number were constructing ladders which were intended to be placed against the walls to draw off some of the garrison from the fight about the gates. Even after nightfall the work was continued, and none thought of rest until the preparations were complete. The first streaks of dawn had scarcely appeared in the sky before the men were aroused from their slumbers and marshalled for the beginning of the assault. Eagerly they answered to the call. The first fight had been won, and every man was impatient to begin the main and final attack upon the stronghold which harboured the last of their lifelong foes. Suddenly, at a signal from Edgar, streams of men bearing huge bundles of faggots issued from the woods at a point nearest the castle gateway, and advanced rapidly towards the moat. Loud cries of alarm sounded from the walls, followed by a hurried call to arms. Undeterred by these signs of resistance, the lines of men hastened to the half-empty moat, flung their burdens in, and sped rapidly back for more. In a moment or two the walls were lined with men-at-arms, and missiles began to whistle through the air downwards upon the scurrying men below. But the bundles of undergrowth held up in front were a full protection to the men, and it was only when returning that the missiles could take effect. Naturally, however, the return journey was made at top speed by the unencumbered men, and comparatively few were hit, and these for the most part were but slightly injured.