We had very little longer time to
wait, when some hundreds of persons appeared coming along the road
directly for the chateau. We could see them from the tower, where we
had remained. A large number were carrying torches. The entrance gate
was locked and barred, and the chateau itself, all lights being
concealed, must have appeared shrouded in darkness.

"Let them exhaust their strength in breaking down the gate," said La
Touche.

Scarcely a moment after, the mob reached the gate, waving their torches,
and shrieking and shouting out--

"Down with the aristocrats! Down with the tyrants! Down with those who
pillage us, and live upon the product of our toil?"

"Let them shout themselves hoarse," remarked La Touche. "They will not
find it a very easy matter to break down that stout old gate, or to
climb over the wall."

On discovering the impediment in their way, their shouts and threats
increased in fury. A number of them, rushing against the bar of the
gate, endeavoured to force it from its hinges.

Not a word all this time was uttered by any of our garrison. The
insurgents, finding that the gate would not yield, shouted for some one
in the chateau to open it. No one replied. Again and again they shook
it. At last we heard the sound of loud blows, as if it were being
struck by a sledge hammer, while several figures appeared on the top of
the wall, ladders having been procured to assist them up.

"Why do you come here, my friends?" demanded La Touche abruptly. "The
gate is locked as a sign that I wished to be in private."

"It is the residence of an aristocrat, and all such we have resolved to
level to the ground," shouted one of the mob.

"I warn you that you will pay dearly if you make the attempt," cried La
Touche. "We are well-armed, and are resolved to defend the place."

"We are not to be stopped by threats. On, comrades, on!" exclaimed
another voice among those who were clambering over the wall. "If one of
our number falls, remember that every one of those inside the house will
be destroyed."

"You have been warned,--the consequence will be on your own heads if you
attack us," said La Touche.

By this time a considerable number of persons had got into the yard by
clambering over the wall, but the stout iron gate had hitherto resisted
all attempts to force it open.

"We might kill or wound all the fellows in front of the house," said La
Touche to me, "but I am unwilling to shed the blo