etire altogether, but
if they have any friends with cannon anywhere within reach they will
probably send for them and renew the attack."

The day passed quietly. Parties of horsemen were seen leaving the
village to forage and plunder the surrounding country, but the main body
remained quietly there. The next day there was still no renewal of the
attack, but as the enemy remained in occupation of the village Malcolm
guessed that they must be waiting for the arrival of reinforcements.
The following afternoon a cloud of dust was seen upon the plain, and
presently a column of infantry some four hundred strong, with three
cannon, could be made out. The townspeople now wavered in their
determination. A few were still for resistance, but the majority held
that they could not attempt to withstand an assault by so strong a
force, and that it was better to make the best terms they could with the
enemy.

A parlementaire was accordingly despatched to the Imperialists asking
what terms would be granted should the place surrender.

"We will grant no terms whatever," the colonel in command of the
Imperialists said. "The town is at our mercy, and we will do as we
will with it and all within it; but tell Count Mansfeld that if he will
surrender the castle as well as the town at once, and without striking
another blow, his case shall receive favourable consideration."

"That will not do," the count said. "They either guarantee our lives
or they do not. I give not up my castle on terms like these, but I
will exercise no pressure on the townspeople. If they choose to defend
themselves till the last I will fight here with them; if they choose to
surrender they can do so; and those who differ from their fellows and
put no faith in Tilly's wolves can enter the castle with me."

The principal inhabitants of the town debated the question hotly.
Malcolm lost patience with them, and said: "Are you mad as well as
stupid? Do you not see the smoking villages round you? Do you not
remember the fate of Magdeburg, New Brandenburg, and the other towns
which have made a resistance? You have chosen to resist. It was open to
you to have fled when you heard the Imperialists were coming. You could
have opened the gates then with some hope at least of your lives; but
you decided to resist. You have killed some fifty or sixty of their
soldiers. You have repulsed them from a place which they thought to
take with scarce an effort. You have compelled them to