Malcolm, finding that no movement
was being made towards the front, and that at present he could do
nothing from his loophole, ran up to the top of the tower and took
his place by the soldier who was lying down on the roof and looking
over the edge.
Presently the first of the peasants appeared round the corner of
the main building, and dashed rapidly across to the angle of the
tower. Two heavy stones were dropped, but he had passed on long
before they had reached the bottom. Man after man followed, and
Malcolm, seeing that he could do nothing to stop them, again ran
down. As he did so he heard a scream of agony. The leading peasants
had reached the doorway, but as they dashed in to place their
barrels of powder they were run through and through by the spears
of the pikemen. They fell half in and half out of the doorway, and
the barrels rolled some distance away. Those behind them stopped
panic stricken at their sudden fall. Several of them dropped their
barrels and fled, while others ran round the angle of the tower
again, coming in violent contact with those following them; all
then hurried round behind the church. Malcolm stamped his feet with
vexation.
"What a fool I am," he muttered, "not to have thought of a sortie!
If we had all held ourselves in readiness to spring out, we might
have cut down the whole of them; at any rate none would have got
off with their barrels.
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