But nowhere was the crow of the cock heard.

Neither in the city nor in the devastated neighbourhood had there been a cock for a long time past.

They crossed the brook on a small plank, beyond which rose the opposite bank, which appeared higher than the one behind them and rose steeply.

It seemed as though this were the strong point of the citadel upon which the besieged could rely; at all events, the earthen wall was lower there, and no garrison appeared behind it.

But farther on rose the thick monastery walls.