this tower,
whoever they may have been, laid in great store, perchance for the
marriage feast, or perchance when the plague began, knowing that it
would bring scarcity. The cupboards and the butteries are filled with
flour, dried flesh, wine, olives and oil for burning. Even if these
should fail us there are the horses in the stable, which we can kill and
cook, for of forage and fuel I have found enough."

"Then the Pope should not be more safe than we, Dick," said Hugh with a
weary smile, "if any are safe in Avignon to-day. Well, let us go and eat
of all this plenty, but oh! I wish I had told Sir Andrew where we dwelt,
or could be sure in which of that maze of streets he and Red Eve are
lodged. Dick, Dick, that knave Basil has fooled us finely."

"Ay, master," said Dick, setting his grim lips, "but let him pray his
Saint that before all is done I do not fool him."

CHAPTER XVIII

THE PLAGUE PIT

Seven long days had gone by and still Hugh and Grey Dick held out in
their Tower fortress. Though as yet unhurt, they were weary indeed,
since they must watch all night and could only sleep by snatches in the
daytime, one lying down to rest while the other kept guard.

As they had foreseen, except by direct assault, the place proved
impregnable, its moat protecting it upon three sides and the sheer wall
of the old city terminating in the deep fosse upon the fourth. In its
little armoury, among other weapons they had found a great store of
arrows and some good bows, whereof Hugh took the best and longest. Thus
armed with these they placed themselves behind the loopholes of the
embattled gateway, whence they could sweep the space before them. Or
if danger threatened them elsewhere, there were embrasures whence
they could command the bases of the walls. Lastly, also, there was the
central tower, whereof they could hold each landing with the sword.

Thrice they had been attacked, since there seemed to be hundreds of
folk in Avignon bent upon their destruction, but each time their bitter
arrows, that rarely seemed to miss, had repulsed the foe with loss. Even
when an onslaught was delivered on the main gateway at night, they
had beaten their assailants by letting fall upon them through the
_machicoulis_ or overhanging apertures, great stones that had been piled
up there, perhaps generations before, when the place was built.

Still the attacks did not slacken. Indeed the hate of the citizens of
Avignon against these two