With the fall of the after-castle, the Genoese were additionally assailed by the English bowmen, who now held the captured part of the galley; and, on the arrival of a fresh supply of arrows, the deadly hail smote the scanty remnant, who strove in vain to seek shelter.
At length, when no one was left standing upon the forecastle, the English men-at-arms rushed the hard-won stronghold, mercilessly killing those who yet remained alive, and casting their bodies overboard, and the shattered galley was given to the flames.
Then, with shouts and rejoicings, the soldiers returned to the shore. The countrymen dispersed to their homes, the two English ships hoisted sail and made for Southampton, whither Lord Willoughby's lances had already gone. The Constable of Portchester and the Bailiff of Southampton marshalled their followers, and marched through the devastated village towards their camp at Woolston.
All that was left to mark the raid were the charred remains of what had been a prosperous hamlet and the blazing timbers of the once-dreaded galley of Luigi Spinola.
[CHAPTER VI]
AT THE ABBEY
CALM and peaceful appeared the grey Abbey to the war-worn defenders, as, carried in litters or supported by the men of the Constable of Portchester's company, the nine archers passed through the great gateway.
The vesper bell had just ceased its tuneful tolling, and in its place rose the deep, lusty voices of the monks, who, having completed yet another day of hard manual labour, were uniting once more in prayer and thanksgiving.
For awhile, save for the porter, a lay brother of gigantic size and jovial mien, the secular portions of the Abbey were deserted, but the arrival of this host of rough soldiers and their wounded charges contrasted ill with the pious solitude of the place.
The Cistercian Abbey, founded as the Priory of Saints Mary and Edward in 1237, was at that time in the zenith of its prosperity. Favoured by royal charters, the natural zeal of the monks exerted itself to such an extent that within a few years of its birth the Abbey bade fair to outshine its parent foundation at Beaulieu, and a large triple-aisled church, a sumptuous Abbot's house, lofty dormitories, architecturally perfect cloisters, a number of extensive outbuildings, and two artificial fish-ponds testified to the work of these pioneers of civilisation.
Awed by the solemnity of their surroundings, the soldiers clustered in small, silent knots, looking around with open-mouthed astonishment at the unaccustomed beauty of the delicate architecture and listening to the distant chanting of the monks.