When the door gave way they found hanging across in front of them a very
thick arras, and pressing this aside they entered a small room in the
thickness of the wall of the keep. It contained the merest slit for
light, and was clearly unused. Another door, this time unfastened, led
into a larger apartment, which was also at present unoccupied. They
could hear now the shouts of the combatants without, the loud orders
given by the leaders on the walls, the crack, as the stones hurled by
the mangonels struck the walls, and the ring of steel as the arrows
struck against steel cap and cuirass.

"It is fortunate that all were so well engaged, or they would certainly
have heard the noise of our forcing the door, which would have brought
all of them upon us. As it is, we are in the heart of the keep. We have
now but to make a rush up these winding steps, and methinks we shall
find ourselves on the battlements. They will be so surprised that no
real resistance can be offered to us. Now let us advance."

So saying Cnut led the way upstairs, followed by the foresters,
Cuthbert, as before, allowing five or six of them to intervene between
him and the leader. He carried his short sword and a quarterstaff, a
weapon by no means to be despised in the hands of an active and
experienced player.

Presently, after mounting some fifty or sixty steps, they issued on the
platform of the keep. Here were gathered some thirty or forty men, who
were so busied in shooting with crossbows, and in working machines
casting javelins, stones, and other missiles upon the besiegers, that
they were unaware of the addition to their numbers until the whole of
the foresters had gathered on the summit, and at the order of Cnut
suddenly fell upon them with a loud shout.