is way,"
said Nanna to herself, and shook her black-polled head safely. "I almost
wish that I had told _him_ of that, too." And then, unaccountably, she
blushed again, for all that it was dark and no one was looking at her.

XXVI

THE SONG OF THE SWORD

It did not take long for Constans to arouse and collect his men; tired
of inaction, they were only too glad to respond to the summons. And at
the last, Constans, unable to withstand the entreaty in Red Oxenford's
eyes, ordered his release.

"But, with the others, you must wait upon my word," he said, sternly,
and Oxenford, fearful above all things of being left behind, gave ready
assent to the condition.

Under the south rampart of the citadel they halted. There were but two
guards on duty here, and they were easily surprised and secured before
they could give an alarm. As one by one the rest of the company ascended
the scaling-ladder, they were ordered to throw themselves prone on the
flat top of the wall, to await the final signal. Over at the north gate
the clamor grew momentarily--there were blows of axes on wood, and clash
of arms, and the confused crying of many voices.

"The snapping-turtle must be at his work," said Constans to himself.
"Wait until his teeth show through that flimsy wooden screen."

* * * * *

Piers Major had advanced promptly upon receiving the message brought by
his son. The chances of a frontal attack had already been discussed
between him and Constans, and the latter had devised a formation which,
in theory at least, should make such an undertaking feasible. In its
basic idea it was the Roman _testudo_, described by Julius Caesar in the
Gallic Commentaries. The phalanx of marching men were protected from
arrows, darts, and ordinary missiles by a continuous covering formed of
their ox-hide shields, the latter being held horizontally above the head
and interlocked. The overlapping shields bore a fanciful resemblance to
the scaly carapace of a tortoise--hence its name; and, so long as the
essential principle of unity of action was maintained, it might be
reckoned an effective engine of warfare.

As the _testudo_ moved down the Palace Road and towards the wooden
barrier of the north gate, it was to be observed that the front-rank men
and the file-closers carried their shields in the ordinary fashion, in
order to ward off horizontally flying missiles. Once under the shelter
of the walls, the leader