As they advanced, others pressed forward, until their
weight became too great for the ladder, which, breaking, precipitated
about a dozen of them to the ground, where they fell one upon the other,
making a great clatter with their heavy coats of mail. For a moment they
thought all was lost; but the wind made so loud a howling, as it swept
in fierce gusts through the mountain gorges, and the Orontes, swollen by
the rain, rushed so noisily along, that the guards heard nothing. The
ladder was easily repaired, and the knights ascended, two at a time, and
reached the platform in safety. When sixty of them had thus ascended,
the torch of the coming patrol was seen to gleam at the angle of the
wall. Hiding themselves behind a buttress, they awaited his coming in
breathless silence. As soon as he arrived at arm's length, he was
suddenly seized; and before he could open his lips to raise an alarm,
the silence of death closed them up for ever. They next descended
rapidly the spiral staircase of the tower, and, opening the portal,
admitted the whole of their companions. Raymond of Toulouse, who,
cognizant of the whole plan, had been left behind with the main body of
the army, heard at this instant the signal horn, which announced that an
entry had been effected, and advancing with his legions, the town was
attacked from within and from without.
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