Page 362 - A Knight of the White Cross

above the din. The very number of the Turks told against them. Crowded
together as they were they could not use their weapons effectually, and,

pressing fiercely upon them, the knights drove them back along the wall on
either hand, hurling them down into the street or over the rampart. On so

narrow a field of battle the advantage was all on the side of the knights,
whose superior height and strength, and the protection afforded by their
armour, rendered them almost invincible, nerved as they were with fury at

the surprise that had overtaken them, and the knowledge that the fate of the
city depended upon their efforts. After a quarter of an hour's desperate

conflict the Turks were driven down the partial breach effected in the wall
by the last bombardment, and the Christians were again the masters of their
ramparts. Paleologus, however, hurried up reinforcements, headed by a

band of janissaries, whose valour had decided many an obstinate conflict.
Before ordering them to advance, he gave instructions to a company of men

of approved valour to devote all their efforts to attacking D'Aubusson
himself, whose mantle and rich armour rendered him a conspicuous object
among the defenders of the breach. Advancing to the attack, the janissaries

burst through the mass of Turks still continuing the conflict, and rushed up
the breach. Then the chosen band, separating from the rest, flung

themselves upon the grand master, the suddenness and fury of their attack
isolating him and Gervaise from the knights around.

Surrounded as he was by foes, already suffering from two severe wounds
and shaken by his falls from the ladder, the grand master yet made a valiant

defence in front, while Gervaise, hurling his mace into the face of one of
his assailants, and drawing his two handed sword, covered him from the
attack from behind. D'Aubusson received two more severe wounds, but still

fought on. Gervaise, while in the act of cutting down an assailant, heard a
shout of triumph from behind, and, looking round, he saw the grand master

sinking to the ground from another wound. With a cry of grief and fury
Gervaise sprang to him, receiving as he did so several blows on his armour
and shield intended for the fallen knight, and, standing across him,

showered his blows with such strength and swiftness that the janissaries
shrank back before the sweep of the flashing steel. More than one who tried

to spring into close quarters fell cleft to the chin, and, ere his assailants
could combine for a general rush, a body of knights, who had just beaten