Pass the word along the walls for perfect silence." In another half hour they heard a dull sound.

Presently it became louder, and they could distinguish, above the trampling of horses, the clash of steel.

It came nearer and nearer, until within two or three hundred yards of the chateau, then it ceased.

Presently a figure could be made out, creeping quietly forward until it reached the edge of the moat.

It paused a moment, and then retired.
"He has been sent to find out whether the drawbridge is down," Francois whispered to Philip.