“But they have no artillery at all, MacIntosh?”

“I am sorry to say that they have, sir, and a good amount of it.  They captured ten field pieces when they defeated the troops, and have obtained a score of others from the chateaux that they have taken.  They have only to plant them three or four hundred yards away at the end of the plateau, and they would easily batter down the gates, and might even in time effect a breach in the walls.”

“That is serious indeed, MacIntosh.  Is there any other way in which they can attack us save in front?”

“I think not.  I was careful to examine the face of the precipice when I first took command here, and wherever it seemed to me that an active man could climb up I had portions of the rock blown up, and have so scarped the face that I do not think it is scalable by human foot.  But there is nothing to prevent their crossing the fosse on a dark night, and so stealing along and making an attack on all sides of the house.”

“Then our first care must be to prevent this, MacIntosh, by building walls along by the fosse from the corner towers to the edge of the plateau.  The distance is very short, not more than eight or ten yards at the outside.  We have, I see, any number of horses and not a few carts.  Let the tenants be set to work at once, and, going down the road into the ravine below, fill their carts with blocks of stone and haul them up here.  Let active boys be sent out in all directions as scouts to bring in word when the insurgents are approaching; and at the same time let twenty well armed men of the garrison go down with the carts, so as to give confidence to the tenants and cover their retreat up the road if the insurgents should suddenly make their appearance.  Let some of the men take billhooks and axes down with them, and cut poles.  These must be sharpened, and as the walls are built, fixed among the stones so as to make a cheval-de-frise.  At the same time let half a dozen stout ladders be constructed, so that the defenders of these walls may, if unable to hold them, make their retreat up to the battlements.  I wish now that I had ordered a strong bastion to be thrown up so as to cover the gate from an attack by artillery, but it did not seem likely that we should be besieged by any force having guns, and I let the matter remain until the tenants should be better off and we could spend our money on such work.  However, it is too late now to think of that.  I suppose there is a portcullis to the gate?”

“Yes, and I got it in good working order when I first came here; but the cannon would speedily shatter that, as well as the bridge drawn up in front of it and the gate behind it.”

“Then as I have no doubt that there are plenty of flour sacks, we must fill these with earth and pack them between the bridge and the portcullis, and fasten the bridge in its place with any chains that may be available, so that it will keep erect.  The earth packing, however much it may be battered, will protect the portcullis of the gate for some time against their fire.”