feet of the top, when the peasants, half maddened at finding
themselves caught, rushed down in a body. "Close up!" he shouted
to his followers. These pressed close up to him, but the weight
was too much for them, and they were borne by the rush backwards
down the stairs, when the peasants darted out through the door.
Hector had received several knife cuts on the shoulder and arms,
and would have suffered still more severely had not Paolo and Nicholl,
who were next to him, thrust their pistols over his shoulder and
shot his assailants, whose bodies, borne along by the pressure
from behind, protected him from the blows of those above them.

"Are you hurt badly, master?" Paolo exclaimed as they stood breathless
for a moment at the bottom of the stairs.

"No, I think not; my gorget saved my neck; I have four or five
cuts on the shoulders, but they are mere flesh wounds. Now let
us mount the stairs; the men must have made a stout defence indeed
to have held out so long."

The upper part of the stairs was indeed almost blocked with dead
bodies. At the top of the stairs stood two men with axes, which
they lowered as soon as they saw Hector.

"You have made a brave stand," he said, "in defence of your mistress."

"You have arrived but just in time, monsieur, for we are the last
two left, and though we might have accounted for a few more,
another five minutes would have finished it."

Stepping out on the platform at the top of the tower, Hector saw