“We shall have to fight for it, lads,” he said, turning round.  “Our clothes must have been seen early this morning, and there is a party of peasants watching the tower.  Of course they cannot know at present whether we are friends or foes; but no doubt the news of last evening’s doings has travelled through the country, and the peasants are on the lookout for us, so they may well guess that we are here.  However, we shall soon see.  Sergeant, place one of your men on sentry at the foot of the stairs, but do not let him speak or give any signs of his presence if the door is tried.”

One of the soldiers was placed on guard.  Scarcely had he taken his station when there was a knocking at the door, and shouts were heard outside from the peasants calling on those within, if they were friends, to come out.  No answer was returned.

“It’s fortunate for you,” Malcolm muttered, “that we don’t come out, or we should make short work of you; but I know you would fly like hares if you saw us, and would bring the whole country down on us.  No; we must hold out here.  Our only hope is to escape at night, or to hold this place till some of our troops come along.  At any moment some regiments from the Lech may be marching forward to join the king.

“We must make our bread last, lads,” he said cheerfully to the men, “for we may have to stand a long siege.  Methinks we can hold this stone staircase against all the peasants of this part of Bavaria; and we must do so until we hear the sound of the Swedish drums; they may come along at any time.  If the worst comes to the worst one of us must start at night and carry news of our peril to the Lech.  We made a good supper last night, and can fast for a bit.  If we cut our bread up into small portions we can hold out for days.  There should be snow enough on the tower top to furnish us with drink.”

After hammering at the door for some time, the peasants retired convinced that there were none of their own people within the tower, and that those who had slept there were the fugitives of whom they had been in search during the night.  These might, indeed, have departed in the interval between the time when the woman first saw the traces of their presence and her return with them; but they did not think that this was so, for in that case they could not have fastened the door behind them.  The peasants accordingly withdrew a short distance from the church, and three of their number were sent off in different directions to bring up reinforcements.  As soon as Malcolm saw this movement he knew that concealment was useless, and began to make preparations for the defence.  First, he with the sergeant ascended to the roof of the tower.  To his disappointment he saw that the heat of the flames had melted the snow, and that most of the water had run away.  Some, however, stood in the hollows and inequalities of the stone platform, where it had again frozen into ice.