WITH patient courage, strengthened by the interval which she had employed in mental devotion, Rebecca again took post at the lattice; sheltering herself, however, so as not to be visible from beneath.
"What dost thou see, Rebecca?" again demanded the wounded knight.
"Nothing but the cloud of arrows flying so thick as to dazzle mine eyes, and to hide the bowmen who shoot them.""That cannot endure," said Ivanhoe. "If they press not right on to carry the castle by pure force of arms, the archery may avail but little against stone walls and bulwarks. Look for the Knight of the Fetterlock, fair Rebecca, and see how he bears himself; for as the leader is, so will his followers be.""I see him not," said Rebecca.
"Foul craven!" exclaimed Ivanhoe; "does he blench the helm when the wind blows highest?"from"He blenches not! he blenches not!" said Rebecca; "I see him now. He leads a body of men close under the outer barrier of the barbican. They pull down the piles and palisades; they hew down the barriers with axes. His high black plume floats abroad over the throng, like a raven over the field of the slain. They have made a breach in the barriers-they rush in-they are thrust back! Front-de-B?uf heads the defenders; I see his gigantic form above the press. They throng again to the breach, and the pass is disputed hand to hand, and man to man. It is like the meeting of two fierce tides-the conflict or two oceans moved by adverse winds!"She turned her head from the lattice, as if unable longer to endure a sight so terrible.
"Look forth again, Rebecca," said Ivanhoe, mistaking the cause of her retiring; "the archery must in some degree have ceased, since they are now fighting hand to hand. Look again; there is now less danger."Rebecca again looked forth, and almost immediately exclaimed, "Ah! Front-de-B?uf and the Black Knight fight hand to hand in the breach, amid the roar of their followers, who watch the progress of the strife-Heaven strike with the cause of the oppressed and of the captive!" She then uttered a loud shriek, and exclaimed, "He is down! -he is down!""Who is down?" cried Ivanhoe; "tell me which has fallen.""The Black Knight," answered Rebecca, faintly; then instantly shouted, with joyful eagerness-"But no! -but no! - he is on foot again, and fights as if there were twenty men"s strength in his single arm. His sword is broken! -he snatches an axe from a yeoman-he presses Front-de-B?uf with blow on blow. The giant stoops and totters like an oak under the steel of the woodman-he falls! -he falls!""Front-de-B?uf ?"exclaimed Ivanhoe.
"Front-de-B?uf !" answered the Jewess. "His men rush to the rescue, headed by the haughty Templar-their united force compels the champion to pause-they drag Front-de-B?uf within the walls.""The assailants have won the barriers, have they not?" said Ivanhoe.
"They have! -they have!"exclaimed Rebecca; "and they press the besieged hard upon the outer wall. Some plant ladders, some swarm like bees, and endeavour to ascend on the shoulders of each other. Down go stones, beams, and trunks of trees upon their heads; and as fast as they bear the wounded to the rear, fresh men supply their places in the assault. GreatGod! hast thou given men thine own image that it should be thus cruelly defaced by the hands of their brethren?""Think not of that," said Ivanhoe; "this is no time for such thoughts. Who yield? -who push their way?""The ladders are thrown down," replied Rebecca, shuddering;"the soldiers lie grovelling under them like crushed reptiles- the besieged have the better.""Ah!" exclaimed the knight; "do the false yeomen give way?" "No!" exclaimed Rebecca; "they bear themselves right yeomanly. The Black Knight approaches the postern with his huge axe; the thundering blows which he deals, -you may hear them above all the din and shouts of the battle. Stones and beams are hailed down on the bold champion-he regardsthem no more than if they were thistle-down or feathers!""Ha!" said Ivanhoe, raising himself joyfully on his couch, "methought there was but one man in England that might do such a deed!""The postern gateshakes," continued Rebecca; "it crashes- it is splintered by his blows-they rush in-the outwork is won! O God! -they hurl the defenders from the battlements-they throw them into the moat. O men, if ye be indeed men, spare them that can resist no longer!""The bridge-the bridge which communicates with the castle-have they won that pass?" exclaimed Ivanhoe.
"No," replied Rebecca; "the Templar has destroyed the plank on which they crossed. A few of the defenders have escaped with him into the castle-the shrieks and cries which you hear tell the fate of the others. Alas! I see it is even more difficult to look upon victory than upon battle.""What do they now, maiden?" said Ivanhoe;"look forth yet again-this is no time to faint at bloodshed.""It is over for the time," answered Rebecca. "Our friends strengthen themselves within the outwork which they have mastered; and it affords them so good a shelter from the foemen"s shot, that the garrison only bestow a few bolts on it from time to time, as if rather to disquiet than effectually to injure them.""Our friends," said Wilfred, "will surely not abandon an enterprise so gloriously begun and so happily attained. Oh, no! I will put my faith in the good knight whose axe hath rent heart-of-oak and bars of iron. Singular," he again muttered tohimself, "if there be two who can do a deed of such derringdo!A fetterlock and shackle-bolt on a field-sable-what may that mean? Seest thou naught else, Rebecca, by which the Black Knight may be distinguished?""Nothing," said the Jewess; "all about him is black as the wing of the night raven. Nothing can I spy that can mark him further; -but having once seen him put forth his strength in battle, methinks I could know him again among a thousand warriors. He rushes to the fray as if he were summoned to a banquet. There is more than mere strength, -there seems as if the whole soul and spirit of the champion were given to every blow which he deals upon his enemies. God forgive him the sin of bloodshed!-it is fearful, yet magnificent, to behold how the arm and heart of one man can triumph over hundreds."- SIR WALTER SCOTTQUESTIONSWith whom did the Black Knight fight hand to hand in the breach made in the palisade? With what result? What advance did the besiegers then make? Who beat down the postern gate? What did Ivanhoe say when he heard of his valour? To whom did he refer? Why did not the besiegers reach the fortress? But what had they gained?
