Now leave the door open that we may make no mistake as to the room, and come along, for by the sound the fight is hot below." Running down the stairs Walter and Ralph joined in the defence.

Those in the house knew that they would meet with no mercy from the infuriated crowd, and each fought with the bravery of despair.

Although there were many windows to be defended, and at each the mob attacked desperately, the assaults were all repulsed.

Many indeed of the defenders were struck down by the pikes and pole-axes, but for a time they beat back the assailants whenever they attempted to enter.

The noise was prodigious.
The alarm-bells of the town were all ringing and the shouts of the combatants were drowned in the hoarse roar of the surging crowd without.
Seeing that however valiant was the defence the assailants must in the end prevail, and feeling sure that his enemies would have closed the city gates and thus prevented the English without from coming to his assistance, Van Artevelde ascended to an upper storey and attempted to address the crowd.