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"For that you should make time. What the devil makes you think I would disapprove of a healthful diversion?" Salisbury remonstrated. But there was no time now to get to the root of what was troubling Geoffrey. Horns were already sounding in parts of the temporary encampment. "I must go and you also," he went on, "but for God's sake, Geoffrey, have a care for yourself. When you are so tired, it is not well to trust overmuch to your own skill and judgment. Have some trusty men about you. Child, you have given me greater joy than anything else on this earth. Do not now make me curse the day I seeded you into your mother." |
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"I do not think either of us has much to fear," Geoffrey said bleakly, looking at the walls of Bangor. |
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In fact they were both right. The town was ill defended. In many places, the walls were scaled and the gates battered in with virtually no resistance. However, here and there, bands of determined men tried to stem the invasion. Having come over the wall with no more to contend against than a few arrows, which seemed to be aimed by a novice with the bow, Geoffrey ran headlong into a group of twenty. Their purpose obviously was to overturn the ill-constructed scaling ladders. Torn between the knowledge that he must protect his men and forward a purpose that was right but abhorrent to him and a feeling of sympathy for the desire of the men opposing him to preserve their city, Geoffrey fought with even more than his usual ferocity and less than his usual caution. Had not the older men under his command already decided among themselves to "keep one eye" on their excellent but inexperienced leader, Geoffrey might well have come to grief. As it was, he raged like a tempest through the quarter of the city assigned to him, steeping himself in the need to strike and parry so that his mind would not fix on what would come after. |
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They fought afoot. Horses would have been no advantage to them in the narrow twisting streets. To be mounted might have been an additional disadvantage in the face of the unusual perils they faced. Young Sir Giles, the heir of Iford, was felled by a large piece of masonry cast from a roof. As |
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