done for."

But Renwick stepped past him and found a loophole through which he could
watch what was passing upon the other side of the abyss.

The last disaster had robbed the besiegers of some of their enthusiasm,
for they had withdrawn to the other end of the causeway where they were
holding council. Searching the shadows of the wall for signs of any
others concealed near at hand, Renwick took the chance of leaving the
gate unguarded, and in the shadow of the wall rushed back to the Hall.
There he found Marishka with the two joists, waiting for him.

"They've withdrawn," he said, "but they'll be coming on again in a
moment. We are alone, dear, to defend the gate. Can you help?"

She was deathly pale, but she smiled at him bravely. He picked up the
two joists and carried them outside while she followed him, listening.

"You on one side of the gate, I on the other. If they succeed in
throwing a timber across, we must push it off. In this way neither of us
need expose ourselves."

"I understand--and there are rifles and shotguns."

"Good! Can you load them?"

"Strohmeyer loaded them while Karl kept the gate, but Ena was afraid to
take them out."

"Then bring them. You're quite safe if you keep below the wall of the
rampart. Now go, dear--and God bless you!"

He reached the gate before Windt's men returned to the attack, and put
one of his new weapons of defense upon each side of it. But he feared to
leave the gate again and crouched, waiting. Below in the valley the
commotion had increased and the sounds of firing went on unceasingly. It
seemed indeed, as Marishka had said, that the end of the world had come.
Beside him, the man Karl was breathing with difficulty. From his post at
the loophole, Renwick heard him mutter, and as the road was still clear,
he listened.

"You're Renwick--the Englishman?" he whispered hoarsely.

"I am."

"And Herr Hauptmann Goritz?"

"He is dead," replied Renwick.

"_Ach--danke_," said the man. "It is well then--you too--soon----"

He nodded forward, toppled sideways and lay still.

The situation was desperate, and yet as Renwick thought calmly, he
gained courage. With Marishka upon one side and him on the other armed
with the joists, it would be difficult for the attackers to get a
lodgment for their bridges, for the stone outside the gate was quite
smooth, and little effort would be required to push their timbers down.
Both Strohmeyer and Karl had lost their lives by exp