TKKVALLYAN. €9 



which being done, much more ground was gained from the retainers 

 of the earl. Opportunity had also been given for the planting of a 

 greater number of ladders, and streams of fresh men began to gain a 

 secure stand. Attention was now drawn by the tremendous din caused 

 by the strife on this part of the walls ; and all the earl's soldiers being 

 aroused and full armed, the combat began to rage with redoubled 

 fury. 



But no bravery could now avail against the advantage gained 

 by the king's troops. Trevallyan and Fitzalan seemed to be 

 almost ubiquitous. Wherever the tumult raged most fiercely, there 

 were they to be found, encouraging their men and shouting their 

 war-cry of " Trevallyan — Trevallyan for the honour of Cornwall!" 



The incessant battering at the portcullis also began to make 

 impression, for the chains which secure the draw-bridge had been 

 shattered into pieces by large fragments of rock thrown at them by a 

 huge catapult, on the other side of the moat. At last the portcullis, and 

 great pait of the arch which sustained it, came down with a crash 

 which was actually deafening. Here the earl hurried. He was amicd 

 with a battle-axe, so heavy that it would soon have fatigued a less ner- 

 vous arm than his own, but he seemed to wield it like a sapling, as he 

 dashed into the very midst of the enemy, levelling some at every blow 

 and clearing a space around him. Could his fate have depended 

 upon his own ann, victory had been his ; but numbers prevailed. 



" To the hall — back to the large hall !" cried he to his retainers, as 

 he steadily retreated ; " follow me, soldiers ! Ha, knave ! dost thou 

 seek thy death ? " and he struck down an adventurous man-at-amis 

 who pressed too closely upon him. Retreating further, his course 

 was arrested by a stream of his own men flying from the battlements, 

 which were now completely in the possession of the enemy, who had 

 also forced their way into the very heart of the castle. Seeing their 

 leader calmly acting on the defensive, the fugitives rallied, and again 

 faced the foe. " Are the battlements taken ?" cried the earl; "are 

 the enemy in the castle ?" 



" 'Tis too true," replied an old warrior, besmeared with blood and 

 dust, at the same time sinking down at the earl's feet from the effects 

 of a mortal wound in the throat by an arrow ; " Walter Fitzalan has 

 i-etired into the inner part of the castle with about twenty men, to pro- 

 tect the countess." 



