"Nay, keep the door fast; the villains will be here anon," replied Lightfoot. "I'll find a way in."
And suiting the action to the word, he sprang on a low fence, and from thence vaulted easily on to the thatched roof. Getting a grip with his broken sword and dagger, he ran up the sloping roof of thatch like a cat, and dropped through the aperture that did duty for a chimney, and alighted in the midst of the smouldering logs on the hearth.
"Pardon, friends, for my mode of entry," he exclaimed. "But methinks the mischief I have done to thy roof, Master Buckland, will ill compare with the damage that our attackers will do ere a few hours are spent."
In the lull that followed the besieged took steps to strengthen their defences. Redward brought out a large oaken chest filled with arrows, whereat his son wondered all the more at the reason for the journey to Botley on the previous day. Thick boards were spiked to the windows, dividing each opening into two oylets, or slots for discharging arrows, while on the side where no windows existed a few of the stones were removed so as to form an additional outlook commanding the hitherto invisible ground on the north.
Food they had sufficient for three or four days, but water was scarce. This necessary they must procure, so once again the door was opened, and Raymond crept out stealthily with two leathern jacks to procure some of the precious fluid from the well, while the others crowded to the loopholes to cover his retreat if molested.
With an indescribable feeling of fear, mingled with the dread of being thought a coward by the defenders, Raymond did his work silently and quickly. Thrice did he go to the well, till there was sufficient water stored in the house to last for a considerable time.
All the while the shouts, groans, and cries continued, the crackling and roaring of the flames making a fitting accompaniment, and giving evidence that resistance was still being kept up in another quarter.
At length the pale dawn began to show a welcome change to the anxious men, on whom the weary waiting told far more than the actual struggle.
Gradually the daylight increased, and by its aid the besieged were able to realise more fully their hazardous position. Nearly every house was in flames, some even now reduced to a heap of glowing ashes. Here and there the corpse of a Spaniard or a Frenchman showed that, in spite of the surprise, the attack had been fiercely opposed. Those villagers who had taken refuge in the church tower still resisted, though, from the desultory arrows that came from the top of the structure, it was evident that their store of missiles was well-nigh exhausted.
The invaders, too, were aware of this, for those wearing armour advanced also to the base of the tower, avoiding, however, the pieces of stone that the desperate men detached from the pinnacles and hurled down on their adversaries. Others, keeping further off, shot their bolts at the tower, stamping and jumping as if to terrify their quarry. Some of the foreign crossbowmen were so close to the house that sheltered Buckland's party that they could hear the clicking of their moulinets and the deep bass hum of the strings as the quarrels sped towards the mark.