resulting harm would be to himself; the
plans of the besiegers would not suffer.

He knew his ground well by this time. He had studied it thoroughly from
the forlorn boulder at the top of the ravine. By skirting the upper
walls, on the mountain side, he might, in a reasonably short space of
time, reach the low woodlands north of the Castle walls. The danger
from Marlanx's scouts outside the city was not great; they had been
scattered and beaten by Haas's recruiting parties. He stood in more
danger from the men he would help, they who were the watchful defenders
of the Castle.

It must have been two o'clock when he crossed the King's Highway, a mile
or more above the northern gates, and struck down into the same thick
undergrowth that had protected him and Hobbs on a memorable night not
long before.

At three o'clock, a dripping figure threw up his hands obligingly and
laughed with exultation when confronted by a startled guardsman _inside_
the Castle walls and not more than fifty yards from the water gates!

He had timed his entrance by the sound of the guardsman's footstep on
the stone protecting wall that lined the little stream. When he came to
the surface inside the water gate, the sentry was at the extreme end of
his beat. He shouted a friendly cry as he advanced toward the man,
calling out his own name.

Ten minutes later he was standing in the presence of the haggard,
nerve-racked Quinnox, pouring into his astonished ears the news of the
coming attack. While he was discarding his wet clothing for others,
preparations for the sortie were getting under way. The Colonel lost no
time in routing out the sleeping guardsmen and reserves, and in sending
commands to those already on duty at the gates. The quick rattle of
arms, the rush of feet, the low cries of relief, the rousing of horses,
soon usurped the place of dreary, deadly calm.

When the sun peeped over the lofty hills, he saw inside the gates a
restless, waiting company of dragoons, ready for the command to ride
forth. Worn, haggard fellows, who had slept but little and who had eaten
scarcely anything for three days; men who would have starved to death.
Now they were forgetting their hunger and fatigue in the wild, exultant
joy of the prospect ahead.

Meantime, King had crossed the grounds with Colonel Quinnox, on the way
to the Castle. He was amazed, almost stupefied by the devastation that
already had been wrought. Trees were down; great, gaping hole