The Attack
From the window Cloudeslee could perceive his mortal enemies the justice and the sheriff; and drawing his good longbow, he shot with deadly aim fair at the breast of the justice. It was well for the latter then that he wore a suit of good chain-mail under his robes; the arrow hit his breast and split in three on the mail.
“Beshrew the man that clad you with that mail coat! You would have been a dead man now if your coat had been no thicker than mine,” said William.
“Yield yourself, Cloudeslee, and lay down your bow and arrows,” said the justice. “You cannot escape, for we have you safe.”
“Never shall my husband yield; it is evil counsel you give,” exclaimed the brave wife from her post at the door.
The House is Burnt
The sheriff, who grew more angered as the hours passed on and Cloudeslee was not taken, now cried aloud: “Why do we waste time trifling here? The man is an outlaw and his life is forfeit. Let us burn him and his house, and if his wife and children will not leave him they shall all burn together, for it is their own choice.”
This cruel plan was soon carried out. Fire was set to the door and wooden shutters, and the flames spread swiftly; the smoke rolled up in thick clouds into the lofty bedchamber, where the little children, crouching on the ground, began to weep for fear.
“Alas! must we all die?” cried fair Alice, grieving for her children.
William opened the window and looked out, but there was no chance of escape; his foes filled every street and lane around the house. “Surely they will spare my wife and babes,” he thought; and, tearing the sheets from the bed, he made a rope, with which he let down to the ground his children, and last of all his weeping wife.