sistance was
feeble, for the height above the winding steps was but six feet, and
insufficient for the use of either axes or longer weapons. Many of the
peasants, astounded at seeing the armed men mounting from below them,
and wholly ignorant of their numbers, threw down their weapons and cried
for mercy. Hector contented himself with pushing past them, and running
his sword through any who showed signs of resistance. One or two men
armed with rough pikes made a stand; these he shot, and pressed upwards
until within some twenty feet of the top, when the peasants, half
maddened at finding themselves caught, rushed down in a body. "Close
up!" he shouted to his followers. These pressed close up to him, but the
weight was too much for them, and they were borne by the rush backwards
down the stairs, when the peasants darted out through the door. Hector
had received several knife cuts on the shoulder and arms, and would have
suffered still more severely had not Paolo and Nicholl, who were next
to him, thrust their pistols over his shoulder and shot his assailants,
whose bodies, borne along by the pressure from behind, protected him
from the blows of those above them.

"Are you hurt badly, master?" Paolo exclaimed as they stood breathless
for a moment at the bottom of the stairs.

"No, I think not; my gorget saved my neck; I have four or five cuts
on the shoulders, but they are mere flesh wounds. Now let us mount the
stairs; the men must have made a stout defence indeed to have held out
so long."

The upper part of the stairs was indeed almost blocked with dead bodies.
At the top of the stairs stood two men with axes, which they lowered as
soon as they saw Hector.

"You have made a brave stand," he said, "in defence of your mistress."

"You have arrived but just in time, monsieur, for we are the last two
left, and though we might have accounted for a few more, another five
minutes would have finished it."

Stepping out on the platform at the top of the tower, Hector saw a lady
leaning against the battlements; she was deadly pale, but her face
still bore a look of calm determination. In her hands she held a dagger;
clinging to her was a girl of some fifteen years of age.

"Thank God, madam, that we have arrived in time!" Hector exclaimed.

"Just in time, monsieur; we had given up all hope, when, as if sent
by God, we saw your little band appear riding towards us. Even then I
hardly ventured to hope; it seemed well nigh