“I fear not your grenades,” said the countess. “Heaven will protect me.”
“Your terrible mortar will do us no mischief,” said Standish. “We will take it from you.”
“That is not all,” said Morgan. “We will proceed against you by sap and mine.”
“We will meet you however you may come,” said Standish.
“Enough of this,” cried the countess. “I make no boast of my strength, but my cause is just, and I am assured it will triumph.”
“May I have a word more with your ladyship ere I depart?” said Morgan. “I am authorised by Sir Thomas Fairfax to grant you another day’s delay if you desire it.”
“I will not be beholden to your general for any further favour,” replied the countess. “Let him come how he will, and when he will, he shall find me prepared. Conduct the messenger to the gate.”
While mounting his horse in the court-yard, Colonel Morgan said to Standish, who had conducted him thither:
“I am persuaded this is not the last interview I shall have with her ladyship. Possibly, when I am next admitted to her presence, she may treat me with more courtesy than on the present occasion.”
“Before that, I trust, you and I shall meet again, colonel?” said Standish, significantly.
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VIII
How the Intrenchments were made
BY this time the Parliamentarians had taken up their quarters at various points round the castle.
Colonel Rigby was encamped near Newburgh, Colonel Moore on the road to Ormskirk, and Colonel Assheton and Sir Thomas Fairfax on the south side, where the tents could be descried amongst the trees.
The besiegers now numbered a force of more than two thousand men—five hundred horse, and fifteen hundred foot—quite sufficient, it was thought, for the reduction of the place.
The mansion was now completely invested, parties of men being posted so closely together that all communication with friends was cut off.
Already the lines had been marked out by the engineers, and the pioneers had commenced digging the trenches. They were assisted by several hundred sturdy yeomen and hinds, all of them being Lord Derby’s tenants or servants, who were forced by threats and blows to do work that was most distasteful to them.
Some of these poor fellows broke away and ran towards the castle, but the mounted guard galloped after them and brought them back.
The intrenchments were begun at night at the distance of a musket-shot from the mansion, and in a place screened by the rising ground from the ordnance on the towers, and the pioneers and their assistants laboured so hard that before dawn considerable progress had been made. Concealment was then no longer possible, and fire was opened upon them from the walls of the castle, but little mischief was done.
From this time the work proceeded rapidly, being continued night and day without intermission. A deep trench, sheltered by a breastwork of earth, gradually encircled the mansion, and imprisoned its occupants. Constant attacks were made on the pioneers, but no real interruption was effected, and the work went on.
Posted on the Eagle Tower, the countess viewed the progress of this work with ill-suppressed rage, but without uneasiness. In this exalted position, she was out of reach of the enemy’s guns, for as yet no large piece of ordnance had been directed against the house, and all shot had been fired against the ramparts.
No serious assault, however, had been made; nor did any such seem intended.
Evidently, the design of Sir Thomas Fairfax, and the other Parliamentary leaders, was to terrify the countess into submission, but if they could have seen her on the Eagle Tower, with Major Farrington, Archdeacon Rutter, and her daughters, they would have felt she would not be easily intimidated. Her sole feeling was that of anger against her foes, and an almost irrepressible desire to attack them. But she was far too prudent not to check the impulse.
Not unfrequently, was Gertrude Rosworm present, and if her sentiments could be judged by her flashing eyes, she shared the countess’s indignation, and longed to assail the besiegers.
From this eminent position, the beholders not only overlooked the rising ground on the further side of the moat, and the breastwork of the trenches, but could distinguish the pioneers and their assistants at work. They saw the Parliamentary commanders riding from point to point, each with a troop of horse; they saw the numerous parties of infantry posted around; and they likewise descried in the distance the different encampments of the enemy.
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