Quick!" I did as he bade me, though it cost us precious moments.

Nor would he budge till the grim exchange was made.

Then suddenly he descended on the far side of the gateway.

It was well he did so, for there being no regular way on to the wall that side, our pursuers had mounted by the other, leaving only a couple of stupid sentinels to watch below.
Happily for us, the snow lay thick and soft; for more than once we fell as we scaled the ramparts, and might have broken our limbs.

Our pursuers behind, having come to the gate top and finding no one there, liked not to follow us the way we had gone, and contented themselves with discharging their pieces into the darkness our way.