he rest. They soon, however, discovered that the first of
their defences had been taken, and that they were not in the slightest
degree impeding the progress of the attacking party, who, in spite of
the repeated volleys with which their comrades were saluted, continued
to batter away at the door with an evident determination to succeed. At
the same time the door was a very solid one, and resisted all their
efforts. Several of those outside had been wounded. One or two had
been seen to fall. This encouraged Lawrence and his followers.

"Could you not make a sally and drive them off?" at length exclaimed
Hilda, as the blows on the door became louder and more reiterated. "If
you rushed out suddenly they would not know how many men were following,
and might take to flight."

"They know well enough how many men are inside these walls, or they
would not have dared to attack us, my lady," observed Davie Cheyne.
"With your permission, my lady, we'll fight on till the powder is gone,
with the thick stone between us, but there is no use in venturing our
lives against six times our number without some such aid."

The firing on both sides now became very warm till two of the servants
were hit, and a bullet passed through the sleeve of Lawrence's coat. On
discovering this Hilda despatched one of the girls for bandages, while
she endeavoured to staunch the blood of the man who was most hurt with
her handkerchief.

"Thank ye, ma'am--thank ye, my lady," said the poor fellow, looking up
at her with an expression of gratitude in his countenance; "it will not
be much harm done, and if ye will let me I'll be at them again."

The girl was absent nearly a minute, and, as she appeared, in a voice of
terror she exclaimed, "the gate is giving way, and they will be into the
castle in a moment!"

The courage of Hilda and her two attendants formed a great contrast to
the behaviour of the women who had taken refuge with Bertha. The more
constant the firing the louder they shrieked; and, as the sound of the
blows on the gate reached them they clung to her gown, entreating her to
tell them what to do. At last there came a crash louder than any that
had preceded it, followed immediately by shouts and cries, and the
report of fire-arms, evidently inside the castle, and the cries and
shrieks increased, and then there was the heavy tramp of men's feet,
some hurrying along the passages, others ascending the stairs.

"Oh, they are coming he