"Then after due search, we will leave you undisturbed," the Knight replied.
The other laughed tauntingly.
"You must needs have wings, fair sirs, to gain entrance here;" and with a scornful gesture he disappeared below the parapet, and the blast of a trumpet signified that the truce was ended.
De Lacy closed his visor, and for a time surveyed the fortress with careful eye. Before him lay a moat full sixty feet across and two thirds full of water, with no means of passage save the drawbridge, that hung so high on its chains as to seem almost against the outer portcullis. From the farther edge the wall rose solid and grim, and, as he knew from Sir John, with no opening in all its circuit save the gate directly opposite.
"It is evident the garrison is very small," De Bury observed, "else they would not have abandoned the barbican without a blow."
"Undoubtedly; and if we can reach the gate or scale the wall the rest is easy."
"I would we had a bombard or two that are lying idle in the armory at Pontefract."
"They will not be needed," De Lacy answered. "We shall sleep in the castle to-night."
Sir John smiled. "Have you found the wings the warder recommended?"
"We shall not require them; the gate is easier entrance than over the walls—besides being the way naturally intended. This is not the first time I have forced such a castle and won it by sundown… Giles, we will try the flagons; let the ropes be made ready, and bid the archers stand to their bows."