e don't come out, or
we should make short work of you; but I know you would fly like hares
if you saw us, and would bring the whole country down on us. No; we
must hold out here. Our only hope is to escape at night, or to hold this
place till some of our troops come along. At any moment some regiments
from the Lech may be marching forward to join the king.

"We must make our bread last, lads," he said cheerfully to the men,
"for we may have to stand a long siege. Methinks we can hold this stone
staircase against all the peasants of this part of Bavaria; and we must
do so until we hear the sound of the Swedish drums; they may come along
at any time. If the worst comes to the worst one of us must start at
night and carry news of our peril to the Lech. We made a good supper
last night, and can fast for a bit. If we cut our bread up into small
portions we can hold out for days. There should be snow enough on the
tower top to furnish us with drink."

After hammering at the door for some time, the peasants retired
convinced that there were none of their own people within the tower, and
that those who had slept there were the fugitives of whom they had been
in search during the night. These might, indeed, have departed in the
interval between the time when the woman first saw the traces of their
presence and her return with them; but they did not think that this was
so, for in that case they could not have fastened the door behind them.
The peasants accordingly withdrew a short distance from the church, and
three of their number were sent off in different directions to bring
up reinforcements. As soon as Malcolm saw this movement he knew that
concealment was useless, and began to make preparations for the defence.
First, he with the sergeant ascended to the roof of the tower. To his
disappointment he saw that the heat of the flames had melted the snow,
and that most of the water had run away. Some, however, stood in the
hollows and inequalities of the stone platform, where it had again
frozen into ice.

As the supply would be very precious, Malcolm directed that before any
moved about on the platform every piece of ice should be carefully taken
up and carried below. Here it was melted over the fire in one of
the iron caps, and was found to furnish three quarts of water. The
appearance of Malcolm and his companion on the tower had been hailed by
a shout of hatred and exultation by the peasants; but the defenders had
paid no