war-cry of the Templar and of the Free Companions rises high over the conflict! And by mine honor, when we kindle the blazing beacon, for joy of our defence, it shall consume thee, body and bones; and I shall live to hear thou art gone from earthly fires to those of that hell which never sent forth an incarnate fiend so utterly diabolical!"

"Hold thy belief," replied Ulrica, "till the proof reach thee But no!" she said, interrupting herself, "thou shalt know, even now, the doom, which all thy power, strength, and courage is unable to avoid, though it is prepared for thee by this feeble hand. Markest thou the smouldering and suffocating vapor which already eddies in sable folds through the chamber? - Didst thou think it was but the darkening of thy bursting eyes- the difficuity of thy cumbered breathing? No! Front-de-Bœuf, there is another cause - Rememberest thou the magazine of fuel that is stored beneath these apartments?"

"Woman!" he exclaimed with fury, "thou hast not set fire to it? By heaven, thou hast, and the castle is in flames!"

"They are fast rising at least," said Ulrica, with frightful composure; "and a signal shall soon wave to warn the besiegers to press hard upon those who would extinguish them. Farewell, Front-de-Bouf!- May Mista, Skogula, and Zernebock, gods of the ancient Saxons - fiends, as the priests now call them - supply the place of comforters at your dying bed, which Ulrica now relinquishes! — But know, if it will give thee comfort to know it, that Ulrica is bound to the same dark coast with thyself, the companion of thy punishment as the companion of thy guilt. And now, parricide, farewell for ever! — May each stone of this vaulted roof find a tongue to echo that title into thine ear!"

So saying, she left the apartment; and Front-de-Bœuf could hear the crash of the ponderous key as she locked and double-locked the door behind her, thus cutting off the most slender chance of escape. In the extremity of agony he shouted upon his servants and allies - "Stephen and Saint Maur! Clement and Giles!-I burn here

unaided! To the rescue to the rescue, brave BoisGuilbert, valiant De Bracy! It is Front-de-Bœuf who calls! It is your master, ye traitor squires ! - Your ally -your brother in arms, ye perjured and faithless knights! - all the curses due to traitors upon your recreant heads, do you abandon me to perish thus miserably! They hear me not they cannot hear me

- my voice is lost in the din of battle. The smoke rolls thicker and thicker the fire has caught upon the floor below - O, for one draught of the air of heaven, were it to be purchased by instant annihilation!" And in the mad frenzy of despair, the wretch now shouted with the shouts of the fighters, now muttered curses on himself, on mankind, and on Heaven itself." The red fire flashes through the thick smoke!" he exclaimed; "the demon marches against me under the banner of his own element-Foul spirit, avoid! I go not with thee without my comrades — all, all are thine, that garrison these walls Thinkest thou Front-de-Bœuf will be singled out to go alone? — No the infidel Templar - the licentious De Bracy — Ulrica, the foul murdering strumpet-the men who aided my enterprises the dog Saxons and accursed Jews, who are my prisoners-all, all shall attend me a goodly fellowship as ever took the downward road-Ha, ha, ha!" and he laughed in his frenzy till the vaulted roof rang again. "Who laughed there?" exclaimed Front-de-Bœuf, in altered mood, for the noise of the conflict did not prevent the echoes of his own mad laughter from returning upon his ear" who laughed there?- Ulrica, was it thou? Speak, witch, and I forgive thee-for, only thou or the fiend of hell himself could have laughed at such a moment. Avaunt avaunt!"

But it were impious to trace any farther the picture of the blasphemer's and parricide's death-bed.

Avaunt: begone.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIRST.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with our English dead.

And you, good yeomen,

Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture
- let us swear
That you are worth your breeding.

KING HENRY V.

CEDRIC, although not greatly confident in Ulrica's message, omitted not to communicate her promise to the Black Knight and Locksley. They were well pleased to find they had a friend within the place, who might, in the moment of need, be able to facilitate their entrance, and readily agreed with the Saxon that a storm, under whatever disadvantages, ought to be attempted, as the only means of liberating the prisoners now in the hands of the cruel Front-de-Bœuf.

"The royal blood of Alfred is endangered," said Cedric. "The honor of a noble lady is in peril," said the Black Knight.

"And, by the Saint Christopher at my baldric," said the good yeoman, "were there no other cause than the safety of that poor faithful knave, Wamba, I would jeopard a joint ere a hair of his head were hurt."

"And so would I," said the Friar; "what, sirs! I trust well that a fool - I mean, d'ye see me, sirs, a fool that is free of his guild and master of his craft, and can give as much relish and flavor to a cup of wine as ever a flitch of bacon can -I say, brethren, such a fool shall never want a wise clerk to pray for or fight for him at a strait, while I can say a mass or flourish a partisan."

And with that he made his heavy halberd to play around his head as a shepherd boy flourishes his little crook.

"True, Holy Clerk," said the Black Knight, "true as if

Crook a staff curved at the end for holding sheep.

Saint Dunstan himself had said it. And now, good Locksley, were it not well that noble Cedric should as sume the direction of this assault?"

"Not a jot I," returned Cedric; "I have never been wont to study either how to take or how to hold out those abodes of tyrannic power, which the Normans have erected in this groaning land. I will fight among the foremost; but my honest neighbors well know I am not a trained soldier in the discipline of wars, or the attack of strongholds."

"Since it stands thus with the noble Cedric," said Locksley, "I am most willing to take on me the direction of the archery; and ye shall hang me up on my own trystingtree, an the defenders be permitted to show themselves over the walls without being stuck with as many shafts as there are cloves in a gammon of bacon at Christmas."

"Well said, stout yeoman," answered the Black Knight; "and if I be thought worthy to have a charge in these matters, and can find among these brave men so many as are willing to follow a true English knight, for so I may surely call myself, I am ready, with such skill as my experience has taught me, to lead them to the attack of these walls."

The parts being thus distributed to the leaders, they commenced the first assault, of which the reader has already heard the issue.

When the barbican was carried, the Sable Knight sent notice of the happy event to Locksley, requesting him, at the same time, to keep such a strict observation on the castle as might prevent the defenders from combining their force for a sudden sally, and recovering the outwork which they had lost. This the knight was chiefly desirous of avoiding, conscious that the men whom he led, being hasty and untrained volunteers, imperfectly armed and unaccustomed to discipline, must, upon any sudden attack, fight at great disadvantage with the veteran soldiers of the Norman knights, who were well provided with arms both defensive and offensive; and who, to match the zeal and high spirit of the besiegers, had all the confidence

Gammon leg.

which arises from perfect discipline and the habitual use of weapons.

The knight employed the interval in causing to be constructed a sort of floating bridge, or long raft, by means of which he hoped to cross the moat in despite of the resistance of the enemy. This was a work of some time, which the leaders the less regretted, as it gave Ulrica leisure to execute her plan of diversion in their favor, whatever that might be.

When the raft was completed, the Black Knight addressed the besiegers:-"It avails not waiting here longer, my friends; the sun is descending to the west-and I have that upon my hands which will not permit me to tarry with you another day. Besides, it will be a marvel if the horsemen come not upon us from York, unless we speedily accomplish our purpose. Wherefore, one of ye go to Locksley, and bid him commence a discharge of arrows on the opposite side of the castle, and move forward as if about to assault it; and you, true English hearts, stand by me, and be ready to thrust the raft endlong over the moat whenever the postern on our side is thrown open. Follow me boldly across, and aid me to burst yon sallyport in the main wall of the castle. As many of you as like not this service, or are but ill armed to meet it, do you man the top of the outwork, draw your bow-strings to your ears, and mind you quell with your shot whatever shall appear to man the rampart.-Noble Cedric, wilt thou take the direction of those which remain ?"

"Not so, by the soul of Hereward!" said the Saxon; "lead I cannot; but may posterity curse me in my grave, if I follow not with the foremost wherever thou shalt point the way The quarrel is mine, and well it becomes me to be in the van of the battle.”

"Yet, bethink thee, noble Saxon," said the knight, "thou hast neither hauberk, nor corselet, nor aught but that light helmet, target, and sword."

"The better," answered Cedric; "I shall be the lighter to climb these walls. And, forgive the boast, Sir Knight, — thou shalt this day see the naked breast of a Saxon as

Van: the front.