Many of the Croixilian knights besought Sir Jehan to let them lead the cavalry in pursuit, but to their entreaties he turned a deaf ear. Enough lives had been lost already, although not thrown away, and he knew the risk of following a fierce and wily foe too far into the open country.
But, though the attack had been beaten off, there was no rest that night for the harried and wearied defenders. Knights, commoners, and serfs all worked with a will, clearing the moat and piling up the dislodged masonry so as to form an efficient breastwork should daylight bring with it another desperate onslaught.
With the dawn the magnitude of the sanguinary conflict became visible. Within and without the breach the ground was covered with corpses, many lying in ghastly heaps. Outside the gate, which the Arabs all but succeeded in carrying, the carnage had been almost as great; while in the direction of the main Arab encampment a long line of dead men and horses showed how stubbornly the gallant five hundred Croixilian horse had fought in the endeavour to regain the city.
Perhaps the strangest view of all was that of the site of the hostile camp. Every tent had vanished, and only the sinister line of trenches and more still and silent bodies marked the former position of the foiled invaders. They had taken the opportunity afforded by the few remaining hours of darkness to strike their tents and beat a retreat eastwards.
It was the same with the other encampments. The Arabs, disheartened by their losses, had once more fallen back from before the walls of the city that for centuries had defied their efforts.
"Whatever have you been up to, Gerald?" asked Reeves, as the two lads, powder-blackened, dog-tired, yet wild with delight, rejoined their comrade. Almost all the hair from young Kirby's face and head had been scorched off: his eyebrows were marked only by a few frizzled hairs, while his pate was as bald as a monk's.
"It's a wonder he wasn't blinded," said Hugh. "One of the guns apparently missed fire, and as he was placing fresh powder in the touchhole the stuff went off."
"It's nothing," replied Gerald. "We both managed to get one home at the same time."
"Lucky for us you did," growled Reeves approvingly; "but you were a precious long time about it."
"Couldn't do it quicker," replied Hugh inconsequently. "We had to push half a dozen of the niggers off the wall—not us alone, of course. Look here!" and the correspondent noticed for the first time that Hugh's right leg was bound round with a strip of linen.