the whole were brought up to the plateau, the drawbridge was lowered,
the sacks of earth cleared away, and the portcullis raised, the
gates thrown open, and the garrison filed into the courtyard,
greeted by cries of welcome from the women.

"I think that we have crushed the insurrection in this part of
Poitou," Hector said to Madame de Blenfoix. "We have certainly
killed six or seven hundred of them, and I am sure that the remainder
will never rally. We will rest today, and tomorrow morning we will
set to work to complete the defences of the chateau, so that it
may be held by a comparatively small number of men."

The joy of the women was extreme when they found that not a single
man had fallen, though a few had received gashes more or less
severe. The next morning the whole of the men and boys set to work
under Hector's directions. The intrenchment at the top of the road
was greatly strengthened, an opening through which a cart could
pass being left in the middle.

A gun was placed on each side of this, and twenty sacks of earth
laid down by the side of the opening, so that this in the course
of a few minutes could be closed, and a gun placed close by run
into position between the other two. The greater part of the men,
however, were employed in raising a mound of stones and earth in
front of the gateway, so as to cover this from the fire of any guns
which, after the outward intrenchment had been stormed, might be
brought up on to the plateau. The women, and even the children,
assisted in the work by carrying earth, while men, with the horses
and carts, brought stones up from the valley.