Their absence will not be noticed, for in this thick wood it is difficult to tell whether twenty men or two hundred are opposing you among the bushes; and the twenty who remain must shoot thick and fast to make believe that their numbers are great, retiring sometimes, and leading the enemy on into the heart of the wood." "But supposing, Sir Cuthbert, that they should have closed the gates and lifted the drawbridge?
We could not gain entrance by storming, even if only twenty men held the walls, until long after the main body would have returned." Cuthbert thought for some time, and then said, "Cnut, you shall undertake this enterprise.

You shall fill a cart high with faggots, and in it shall conceal a dozen of your best men.

You, dressed as a serf, shall drive the oxen, and when you reach the castle shall say, in answer to the hail of the sentry, that you are bringing in the tribute of wood of your master the franklin of Hopeburn.

They will then lower the drawbridge and open the gates; and when you have crossed the bridge and are under the portcullis, spring out suddenly, cut loose the oxen so that they will not draw the cart further in, cut the chains of the drawbridge so that it cannot be drawn off, and hold the gate for a minute or two until we arrive." "The plan is capital," Cnut exclaimed.

"We will do the proud Norman yet.
How he will storm when he finds us masters of his castle! What then will you do, Sir Cuthbert ?" "We can hold the castle for weeks," Cuthbert said, "and every day is in our favor.