as ever. Presently the arrival of five
more guests caused a stir and confusion, in the midst of which he
escaped into the open air.

He wandered towards the gate of the wall, passing the wooden shed where
the clink of hammers resounded, glanced at the sundial, which showed the
hour of three (three weary hours had they feasted), and went out into
the gardens. Still going on, he descended the slope, and not much
heeding whither he was going, took the road that led into town. It
consisted of some hundred or more houses, built of wood and thatched,
placed without plan or arrangement on the bank of the stream. Only one
long street ran through it, the rest were mere by-ways.

All these were inhabited by the Baron's retainers, but the number and
apparently small extent of the houses did not afford correct data for
the actual amount of the population. In these days the people (as is
well known) find much difficulty in marrying; it seems only possible for
a certain proportion to marry, and hence there are always a great number
of young or single men out of all ratio to the houses. At the sound of
the bugle the Baron could reckon on at least three hundred men flocking
without a minute's delay to man the wall; in an hour more would arrive
from the outer places, and by nightfall, if the summons went forth in
the morning, his shepherds and swineherds would arrive, and these
together would add some hundred and fifty to the garrison.

Next must be reckoned the armed servants of the house, the Baron's
personal attendants, the gentlemen who formed his train, his sons and
the male relations of the family; these certainly were not less than
fifty. Altogether over five hundred men, well armed and accustomed to
the use of their weapons, would range themselves beneath his banner. Two
of the buildings in he town were of brick (the material carried hither,
for there was no clay or stone thereabouts); they were not far apart.
The one was the Toll House, where all merchants or traders paid the
charges in corn or kind due to the Baron; the other was the Court House,
where he sat to administer justice and decide causes, or to send the
criminal to the gibbet.

These alone of the buildings were of any age, for the wooden houses were
extremely subject to destruction by fire, and twice in the Baron's time
half the town had been laid in ashes, only to rise again in a few weeks.
Timber was so abundant and so ready of access, it seemed a loss of
labo