the Tower, for he recollected
that there was a window there which looked over the space before the
door. The place was ruinous, the floor filled with holes, and a part
of the roof sagged down in a corner. The stones around the window were
loose and crumbling, and he managed to pull several out so that the
slit was enlarged. He found himself looking down on a crowd of men,
who had lifted the fallen tree on which Leon had perched, and were
about to use it as a battering ram.

"The first fellow who comes within six yards of the door I shoot," he
shouted.

There was a white wave below as every face was turned to him. He ducked
back his head in time as a bullet chipped the side of the window.

But his position was a good one, for he had a hole in the broken wall
through which he could see, and could shoot with his hand at the edge
of the window while keeping his body in cover. The battering party
resumed their task, and as the tree swung nearer, he fired at the
foremost of them. He missed, but the shot for a moment suspended
operations.

Again they came on, and again he fired. This time he damaged somebody,
for the trunk was dropped.

A voice gave orders, a sharp authoritative voice. The battering squad
dissolved, and there was a general withdrawal out of the line of fire
from the window. Was it possible that he had intimidated them? He
could hear the sound of voices, and then a single figure came into
sight again, holding something in its hand.

He did not fire for he recognized the futility of his efforts. The
baseball swing of the figure below could not be mistaken. There was a
roar beneath, and a flash of fire, as the bomb exploded on the door.
Then came a rush of men, and the Tower had fallen. Heritage clambered
through a hole in the roof and gained the topmost parapet. He had
still a pocketful of cartridges, and there in a coign of the old
battlements he would prove an ugly customer to the pursuit. Only one
at a time could reach that siege perilous.... They would not take long
to search the lower rooms, and then would be hot on the trail of the
man who had fooled them. He had not a scrap of fear left or even of
anger--only triumph at the thought of how properly those ruffians had
been sold. "Like schoolboys they who unaware"--instead of two women
they had found a man with a gun. And the Princess was miles off and
forever beyond their reach. When they had settled with him they would
no doubt burn the