"Here, gentlemen, I have seen the goats go up and down, and surely we can do so too. The lowest part is the most difficult. The ladders--the ladders to the front; now, on with a rush!" All were active, all were strong. The ditch, then dry, was speedily reached; and the ladders raised. They were too short to approach the summit of the wall, but Lorenzo's keen eye had not deceived him. Where he had seen the goats gathered together several huge stones had fallen; and, from that spot, there was a clear but narrow pathway up. At first it seemed as if he would meet but small resistance; for attacked in three quarters and divided in opinion amongst themselves, the superior officers of the Florentine garrison were consulting whether it would not be better to hang out a white flag and treat for a surrender. But speedily, soldiers came running along the platform above, hand guns and cross-bows were pointed at the ascending party, and large stones were cast down upon their heads. It was too late to treat now: the attack had fully commenced, the struggle was for life or death, and the defenders fought with the energy of despair. In the meantime there were many and varying feelings in and around the cottage above where Leonora and her women had taken refuge. Fear--for with all the personal courage she had shown, and with an eager longing for his renown, the young girl still felt for her lover's safety. Fear, and hope, and anxious expectations succeeded each other in Leonora's bosom, like the changing aspects of a dream. Now she saw him in imagination mangled and bleeding in the fight; now beheld him carrying the banner of France triumphantly over the worsted foe; now fancied him still detained with the cavalry on the hill, and fretting at inaction. "Run out--run out, Antonio!" she cried, after bearing the struggle in her heart for some time, "see what has become of your lord, and let me know if he be still on the hill." "Certainly, Signora, if you desire it," answered the other, "although, thank Heaven, I am one of God's peaceable creatures, and love not cannon-balls more than my neighbours, yet, where not more than one man out of five hundred is likely to be hit during a whole day, I may take my chance for five minutes without gaining the evil reputation of a fighting man." He went out as he spoke, but stayed more than the five minutes; for to say the truth, he soon became interested in the scene, as he beheld the three bodies of French troops moving down to the assault. He could not, it is true, discover to which body his young lord was attached, but he saw clearly enough that he had left the hill. The horses and the men not engaged had moved towards the rear out of cannon shot, and the little monticule was now occupied only by the king, his Scottish archers and several of his counsellors and immediate attendants.