I stumbled forward into the cool,dark shadow,and the woman followed me,while the man,stepping out with a yawn,stood in the entrance,stretching himself in the sunshine.The roofless tower,which smelled dank and unwholesome,was empty,or cumbered only with rubbish and heaps of stones;but looking through the inner door I saw in the courtyard a smouldering fire and half a dozen men in the act of rousing themselves from sleep.I stood a second balancing my faggot,as if in doubt where to lay it down;and then assuring myself by a swift glance that the man who had let us in still had his back towards us,I dropped it across the inner doorway,Fanchette,as she had been instructed,plumped hers upon it,and at the same moment I sprang to the door,and taking the man there by surprise,dealt him a violent blow between the shoulders,which sent him headlong down the slope.
A cry behind me,followed by an oath of alarm,told me that the action was observed and that now was the pinch.In a second Iwas back at the faggots,and drawing a pistol from under my blouse was in time to meet the rush of the nearest man,who,comprehending all,sprang up,and made for me,with his sheathed sword.I shot him in the chest as he cleared the faggots--which,standing nearly as high as a man's waist,formed a tolerable obstacle--and he pitched forward at my feet.
This balked his companions,who drew back;but unfortunately it was necessary for me to stoop to get my sword,which was hidden in the faggot I had carried.The foremost of the rascals took advantage of this.Rushing at me with a long knife,he failed to stab me--for I caught his wrist--but he succeeded in bringing me to the ground.I thought I was undone.I looked to have the others swarm over upon us;and so it would doubtless have happened had not Fanchette,with rare courage,dealt the first who followed a lusty blow on the body with a great stick she snatched up.The man collapsed on the faggots,and this hampered the rest.The check was enough.It enabled M.d'Agen to come up,who,dashing in through the gate,shot down the first he saw before him,and running at the doorway with his sword with incredible fury and the courage which I had always known him to possess,cleared it in a twinkling.The man with whom I was engaged on the ground,seeing what had happened,wrested himself free with the strength of despair,and dashing through the outer door,narrowly escaped being ridden down by my followers as they swept up to the gate at a gallop,and dismounted amid a whirlwind of cries.
In a moment they thronged in on us pell-mell,and as soon as Icould lay my hand on my sword I led them through the doorway with a cheer,hoping to be able to enter the farther tower with the enemy.But the latter had taken the alarm too early and too thoroughly.The court was empty.We were barely in time to see the last man dart up a flight of outside stairs,which led to the first story,and disappear,closing a heavy door behind him.Irushed to the foot of the steps and would have ascended also,hoping against hope to find the door unsecured;but a shot which was fired through a loop hole and narrowly missed my head,and another which brought down one of my men,made me pause.
Discerning all the advantage to be on Bruhl's side,since he could shoot us down from his cover,I cried a retreat;the issue of the matter leaving us masters of the entrance-tower,while they retained the inner and stronger tower,the narrow court between the two being neutral ground unsafe for either party.
Two of their men had fled outwards and were gone,and two lay dead;while the loss on our side was confined to the man who was shot,and Fanchette,who had received a blow on the head in the MELEE,and was found,when we retreated,lying sick and dazed against the wall.
It surprised me much,when I came to think upon it,that I had seen nothing of Bruhl,though the skirmish had lasted two or three minutes from the first outcry,and been attended by an abundance of noise.Of Fresnoy,too,I now remembered that I had caught a glimpse only.These two facts seemed so strange that Iwas beginning to augur the worst,though I scarcely know why,when my spirits were marvellously raised and my fears relieved by a thing which Maignan,who was the first to notice it,pointed out to me.This was the appearance at an upper window of a white 'kerchief,which was waved several times towards us.The window was little more than an arrow-slit,and so narrow and high besides that it was impossible to see who gave the signal;but my experience of mademoiselle's coolness and resource left me in no doubt on the point.With high hopes and a lighter heart than Ihad worn for some time I bestirred myself to take every precaution,and began by bidding Maignan select two men and ride round the hill,to make sure that the enemy had no way of retreat open to him.
