to fight?"

"Yes, and you too," cried the boy. "You want to save my father's
estate."

"Oh, yes, I want to save the estate," said the secretary, eagerly.

"Then do everything you can," cried Roy. "Yes, they will soon have
formed a ring round the castle now! Well, let them keep their distance,
for I shall give orders for the garrison to fire at any one who attempts
to approach."

"And how long do you hope to be able to hold out?"

"As long as it is necessary," said Roy, proudly; "till my father comes
with his men, and scatters all these people away."

"To be sure, yes," said the secretary. "How proud he will be of you,
Roy, when he knows all."

Roy hurried down to join his lieutenant, whom he found humming a tune in
the armoury, busy over some preparations by the light of a lamp.

"You don't seem in very bad spirits, Ben," he said. "Bad spirits! What
about, sir? Why, it's like the good old time when your father and I
were young. Not so young as you, though! Well, sir, we've been
thinking over our plans. They won't do anything yet--only shut us in.
They're going to wait for more men and more artillery."

"But we must be well on the watch against surprise, Ben."

"Why, of course, sir! You'll have your watch on the towers. And you've
seen how they've got a ring of patrols round us?"

"Yes, I watched them. So we may give up all hope of getting those ten
of Raynes's."

"I'm afraid so. It's a bad job, sir, as the corporal was saying just
now, for we'd trained them into being our best gunners."

"A terrible loss."

"Well, not so very terrible, sir, because we must train up some more.
Oh! we can keep the enemy outside the moat and enjoy ourselves while
they're starving without a roof to cover them. But I want to say a
serious thing or two, sir."

"I know, Ben; you want to say that my mother's garden must go."

"That's one thing, sir."

"Well, take what ground you want, and we'll put it straight when we've
sent the Parliament to the right-about."

"Oh, you'll make a good general, sir; and this trouble's a blessing in
disguise to save you from being wasted on books, and becoming a sort of
Master Pawson. And that brings me to the other things."

"Well, what are those?"

"Just you tell me plain, as a soldier--which you are now--what you set
down as the strongest bits of the castle?"

"Why, the towers, of course!"

"That's right, sir. Very well, then, they must be well manned."

"As we