m, and his wounds stanched, he was able to tell us the story of
the siege. But it needed not his tale to tell us how staunchly you had
defended the castle, for the hundreds of dead who lay outside of the
walls, and still more the mass who piled the breach, and the many who
lay in the castle-yard spoke for themselves of the valour with which the
castle had been defended. As the keep was gutted by fire, and the man
could tell us nought of what had happened after he had been stricken
down at the breach, we knew not whether you and your brave garrison
had perished in the flames. We saw the penthouse beneath which they had
laboured to cut through the wall, but the work had ceased before the
holes were large enough for entry, and we hoped that you might have seen
that further resistance was in vain, and have made terms for your lives;
indeed we heard from the country people that certain prisoners had been
taken to Amiens. I rested one day at Pres, and the next rode back here,
and forthwith despatched a herald to the Count of Evreux at Amiens
asking for news of the garrison; but now he has returned with word that
twenty-four men-at-arms and fifty-eight archers are prisoners in the
count's hands, and that he is ready to exchange them against an equal
number of French prisoners; but that you, with a man-at-arms, were in
the keeping of Sir Phillip of Holbeaut, with whom I must treat for your
ransom. And now tell me how it is that I see you here. Has your captor,
confiding in your knightly word to send him the sum agreed upon, allowed
you to return? Tell me the sum and my treasurer shall tomorrow pay it
over to a herald, who shall carry it to Holbeaut."

"Thanks, your Royal Highness, for your generosity," Walter replied, "but
there is no ransom to be paid."

And he then proceeded to narrate the incidents of his captivity at
Holbeaut and his escape from the castle. His narration was frequently
interrupted by exclamations of surprise and indignation from the prince
and knights present.

"Well, this well-nigh passes all belief," the prince exclaimed when he
had concluded. "It is an outrage upon all laws of chivalry and honour.
What could have induced this caitiff knight, instead of treating you
with courtesy and honour until your ransom arrived, to lodge you in a
foul dungeon, where, had you not made your escape, your death would have
been brought about that very night by the rising water? Could it be,
think you, that his brain is