The gatehouse, Pavannes had shown us, might be blown up with gunpowder indeed, but we prepared to close the iron grating which barred the way half-way up the ramp.

This done, even if the enemy should succeed in forcing an entrance he would only find himself caught in a trap--in a steep, narrow way exposed to a fire from the top of the flanking walls, as well as from the front.

We had a couple of culverins, which the Vicomte had got twenty years before, at the time of the battle of St.Quentin.

We fixed one of these at the head of the ramp, and placed the other on the terrace, where by moving it a few paces forward we could train it on Bezers' house, which thus lay at our mercy.
Not that we really expected an attack.

But we did not know what to expect or what to fear.