him no further he will engage upon his part to make no further
attack upon you. As to the men whom he holds, he will enroll them in his
own honorable service, for he has need of longbowmen, and has heard
much of their skill. But if you constrain him or cause him further
displeasure by remaining before his castle he hereby gives you warning
that he will hang these three men over his gateway and every morning
another three until all have been slain. This he has sworn upon the rood
of Calvary, and as he has said so he will do upon jeopardy of his soul."

Robert Knolles looked grimly at the messenger. "You may thank the saints
that you have had my promise," said he, "else would I have stripped that
lying tabard from thy back and the skin beneath it from thy bones, that
thy master might have a fitting answer to his message. Tell him that I
hold him and all that are within his castle as hostage for the lives of
my men, and that should he dare to do them scathe he and every man that
is with him shall hang upon his battlements. Go, and go quickly, lest my
patience fail."

There was that in Knolles' cold gray eyes and in his manner of speaking
those last words which sent the portly envoy back at a quicker gait
than he had come. As he vanished into the gloomy arch of the gateway the
drawbridge swung up with creak and rattle behind him.

A few minutes later a rough-bearded fellow stepped out over the portal
where the condemned archers stood and seizing the first by the shoulders
he thrust him over the wall. A cry burst from the man's lips and a deep
groan from those of his comrades below as he fell with a jerk which
sent him half-way up to the parapet again, and then after dancing like
a child's toy swung slowly backward and forward with limp limbs and
twisted neck.

The hangman turned and bowed in mock reverence to the spectators beneath
him. He had not yet learned in a land of puny archers how sure and how
strong is the English bow. Half a dozen men, old Wat amongst them, had
run forward toward the wall. They were too late to save their comrades,
but at least their deaths were speedily avenged.

The man was in the act of pushing off the second prisoner when an arrow
crashed through his head, and he fell stone dead upon the parapet. But
even in falling he had given the fatal thrust and a second russet figure
swung beside the first against the dark background of the castle wall.

There only remained the young lad, Johnny Als