The Black Tor Part 55

Dummy trotted forward, and they heard a growl from beyond the wall, as the miner thrust the point of his pike into the end of the torch, and then reached out toward the fuse, but only succeeded in getting it half-way before it was knocked off the point of his weapon.

"Ah, deal o' good that's done," growled Dan, trying to drive the point of his pike into the torch again. "There," he shouted, "run for it; I can reach to pitch it up to the bag."

The men on the other side did not grasp the fact that if Dan did this his companions would fare worse than they, but scuffled off at once, their steps being plainly heard.

"Fools!" growled Dan, and stepping forward, he picked up the torch, went close up to the wall, and touched the end of the fuse, which began to sparkle at once.

"Plenty o' time, Sir Edward," he said coolly, "if you'll now order us back."

The order was given, and as it was obeyed, Sir Edward and his son retiring last, they saw Nick Garth step close up to old Dan and pat him on the shoulder.

"You're a cool one, mate," he said. "I never see one as cool as you."

Dan chuckled a little, and all went along the narrow pa.s.sage and into the chamber beyond, well out of reach of the blast, and waited.

It was a good two minutes before the explosion took place, and Mark had made perfectly sure that the fuse had gone out, when there was a sensation as if his breath was being sucked away, then a deafening roar, followed by a crash.

Again they had to wait till the fumes had somewhat dispersed. Then, with Sir Edward and Mark leading, they returned, expecting to see the wall demolished; but as far as they could see it was perfectly sound, while another huge ma.s.s from the roof had come down, to lie piled up before it, so that there was hardly room for a man to crawl over the heap, so close was it to the roof.

"It's of no use, Mark," whispered Sir Edward, as they drew back a little from the smoke, "we must devise some other plan. It is useless to try another bag there without first clearing away the ma.s.s of stones, and we can only do that at the expense of many men wounded by pike-thrusts, perhaps killed."

"Yes," said Mark, "and it doesn't seem fair to order them to do it."

"I cannot, my boy. There, we have done our work for this time. Let's get out of this horrible smoke."

"Hoi, you!" came from beyond the wall; "if you fire any more of that choke-dog stuff, I'll give orders to my men to kill the prisoners, 'specially the girl."

"You cowardly ruffian!" cried Mark, in a rage.

"Bah! Puppy!" came back scornfully.

"Don't answer, boy," said Sir Edward softly.

"But father!--if--"

"It is only a boast. They dare not do such a thing as that. Come."

They retired, making for the mouth of the cavern, where the cool night air blew with refres.h.i.+ng force.

"But we cannot give up, father," cried Mark.

"I am not going to give up, my boy," said Sir Edward quietly. "When an a.s.sault upon a stronghold fails, a general tries to starve his enemy into submission. We must do the same here. Unfortunately they must have stores, and they have a good supply of water from a spring within there. But still we must try. The first thing is to protect ourselves from a sudden attack, and this will be easy. Now, my lads, every man take in a block of stone, and carry it into the cavern as far as the end of the first chamber. Take these from the breastwork; we do not want it now, for we shall encamp inside."

Mark nodded approval, and the men, glad that the night's fighting was at an end, set to work with a will, after laying their arms aside; and in less than an hour had walled up to a great thickness the narrow exit from the cavern, wedging in the top stones with blows, and in spite of the want of mortar producing a good solid piece of work, through which no pikes could be thrust.

This done, Sir Edward reduced his force to one-third, this being plenty to defend the wall should it be attacked from the inner side; and the rest were sent back to the Tor Castle, for provisions and blankets.

"Now, Mark, lad," said Sir Edward, "the thing to consider is, how long can the enemy hold out?"

"Not long, father," replied the lad; "they cannot have a very good supply."

"That," said Sir Edward, "remains to be proved."

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

PREPARATIONS FOR A SIEGE.

Siege was now commenced, Ergles being to all intents and purposes an impregnable natural castle. Provisions and other necessaries were brought up, and the force was divided into three watches, who regularly mounted guard in the chamber in front of the wall. But the whole of the next day pa.s.sed without a sound being heard, the enemy not attempting to break down their own side, for fear of getting into a trap, the utter stillness being interpreted to mean a _ruse_ to get them to make an opening through which an attack would be made.

Then another day was pa.s.sed, and still all was quiet; but toward the middle of the next those on guard in the chamber heard, and reported to Mark, that they could hear the distant sound of stones rolling down, and Mark went and listened so as to determine whether his father ought to be roused, for after a very long watch he had lain down upon a blanket to sleep.

"I wouldn't call un, Master Mark," said Dan. "He's tired enough.

Watches twice to our once. Let the hounds come; we could account for 'em if they tried to pull our wall down."

"Well, it would be plenty of time to awaken my father if they came and tried," said Mark. "Look here, then, we'll wait; and let it be in perfect silence, so that we may hear if they come as far as the other side of the wall."

The men were as obedient to his orders as to those of Sir Edward, and they all sat or lay about, with their weapons close to their hands, listening in the darkness, the calm and silence being good for thought; and before long Mark's brain was at work thinking about the state of affairs at the castle, to which he had been three times since the siege began, to see his sister and learn how Ralph Darley was progressing.

The news was always bad, Master Rayburn shaking his head and looking very serious.

"Bad hurts, Mark, boy," he said, "bad hurts. I hope, please G.o.d, he may be spared; but I have my fears."

"Master Rayburn!" cried Mark wildly. "Oh! you must not--you shall not let the brave fellow die."

"I'd give my poor old life to save his," said the old man sadly. "We can only wait and hope."

And as Mark sat in the dark natural chamber formed in the old limestone hill, he recalled Ralph's white, fire-scarred face, looking pale and unnaturally drawn, and wondered that he should feel so low-spirited about one who was an enemy and almost a stranger, till his musings were interrupted by a dull sound on the other side of the wall--a sound which came after the long period of utter silence which had succeeded to the noise made by forcing out and rolling down stones.

No one else heard the faint sound, and setting it down to fancy, Mark was thinking again about the prisoners within, and wondering what treatment they were receiving from the enemy.

It seemed hard enough for Sir Morton Darley, but Mark could not help feeling how terrible it must be for a delicately sensitive girl.

Then once more he heard that sound, which he felt sure could only be caused by a foot kicking against a stone.

Just then there was a faint rustling, a hand was laid upon his arm, and Dummy whispered:

"Hear that, Master Mark?"

"Yes. Don't talk," whispered Mark, and the two lads, who were well upon the alert, listened in perfect silence, till all at once there was a faint gleam of light, so feeble that it could hardly be distinguished, but there it was, close to the roof, and Mark was satisfied that it must come over the top of their defensive wall.

Then all was still for a minute or two, till the two mentally saw what was taking place--some one was pa.s.sing his hands over the built-up stones, and trying whether one of them could be dislodged.

Then all was still again, and the light died out.

It was not till hours after that any further sound was heard, and this time Sir Edward was awake and about, pa.s.sing from the dark chamber where the sentries were on guard to the light outside, and back again.

Mark went with him, and Sir Edward had just happened to say in a whisper: