With the
rest, under his own immediate eye, he lined the barricade.
Meanwhile the utmost uproar and confusion had continued to prevail
throughout the town; and what with the hurried clashing of bells,
the sounding of trumpets, the swift movement of bodies of horse,
the cries of the commanders, and the shrieks of women, the noise
was almost deafening to the ear. Presently, little by little, the
tumult began to subside; and soon after, files of men in armour and
bodies of archers began to assemble and form in line of battle in
the market-place.
A large portion of this body were in murrey and blue, and in the
mounted knight who ordered their array Dick recognised Sir Daniel
Brackley.
Then there befell a long pause, which was followed by the almost
simultaneous sounding of four trumpets from four different quarters
of the town. A fifth rang in answer from the market-place, and at
the same moment the files began to move, and a shower of arrows
rattled about the barricade, and sounded like blows upon the walls
of the two flanking houses.
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