of the castle the crowd no
longer pressed upon their rear, but stood hesitatingly some fifty yards
away. Hector took advantage of the pause, and ordered his men, who were
panting from their exertions, to load again. He formed them in single
line now.

"Don't fire a shot until I give the word," he said; "then pour in your
volley, fix bayonets instantly, and charge."

Standing in the shade as they did, the movement of loading was
unobserved by the peasants, who, as they saw the line again advancing,
prepared to meet them, but gave a yell of surprise when a terrible
volley was poured into them at a distance of twenty yards. Then, before
they had recovered from their surprise, the long line was upon them with
levelled bayonets. Only a few stood their ground. These were instantly
overthrown. The rest, throwing away their weapons, fled in all
directions.

"Thank God that is over!" Hector said, as he told the troops to halt and
reload. "If they had all been as courageous as their leader they
would have annihilated us, but each time we charged I observed that
a considerable number fell away on either flank, so that it was not
a solid mass through which we had to make our way. What is our loss,
Mieville?"

"I rode along the line and counted the numbers. There are but
seventy-five on foot," he said, "and most of these have got more or less
severe wounds with their ugly weapons."

"Let the ground over which we have passed be carefully searched," he
said, "and any of our men who show signs of life be carried in front of
the chateau."

Twelve men were found to be living; their wounds were at once attended
to and bandaged.

"I think most of them will do," Captain Mieville said. "They are ugly
looking gashes, but it is not like a bullet in the body."

The men who had been killed were found in most cases to have been
slain outright from the blows of hatchets, which had in several cases
completely severed their heads. While the wounds of the soldiers were
being attended to, Hector went to the gate at which the baroness and her
daughter were now standing.

"You are unhurt, I hope," the lady said as Hector approached.

"I have two or three more wounds," he said, "but, like those I had
before, they are of little account."

"It was a terrible fight," she said. "We watched it from the top of the
turret, and it seemed to us that you were lost each time you plunged
into the crowd, you were so few among such numbers. Have you los