it was clear that
Geoffroy's Moors were yet more deadly than we thought, and more
numerous. They were stationed, we dreaded to believe, off every point,
at all four quarters. They ringed the Norman Sea with their cursed
hulks. They lay like a moving line of forts 'twixt us and William.

I longed in my heart to break through that encircling line and reach
Duke William; but how could I go? The attack might at any hour come, the
brethren were armed beneath their robes, all goodly things were already
stored in the Castle, and we were ready to pass thither when commanded.
Hugo had his watchmen on the seaward wall, and had enrolled in martial
wise all the lay brethren, many gentlemen, and sundry stout herdmen,
shepherds, and merchants of the island. None slept, though some lay down
to sleep; two days passed without attack, but at the dawning of the
third day we saw some twenty ships sweep from St. Martin's northward,
and as the wind permitted, draw nearer, until they were as close as they
dared come, and we saw the boats trailing astern of every ship.

Then we knew we were surrounded both on land and by sea. Yet that sheer
cliff was hard to mount, running straight up to our wall from the very
sea. So in God and our own walls we had confidence still, and the
prayers of men in danger went up from the Abbey choir. No prayers were
said in those walls, after that day for ever. The day after, church,
cloister, hall, refectory, guesthouse and abbot's dwelling were flaming
up to heaven, or charred and ruined amid their fallen roofs and stones.

CHAPTER VI.

Of our passing from cloister to castle, and of the burning of the _Vale
Abbey_. Of their siege of the castle, and the exploits of _Brother
Hugo_.

Now, on the next day it was close upon the hour of Lauds, when the
scouts that were set in sight of the chateau among the thick brushwood
and gorse, came with great haste and told us that the Moors were even
now on their way to us, hoping to catch us unsuspecting at our prayers.
Now we had our orders of Brother Hugo in such a case, and we simply did
what we had done already at his bidding, many times for practice of
safety in an hour of danger. First the great heavy doors of the
monastery were closed, and the bolts drawn, and the bars of iron swung
into place to stay their passage. Then we swiftly gathered up whatever
still was left that was precious or useful--books, vestments, relics,
and sacred vessels had gone already-