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Page 204
Chapter Thirteen
An attempt at a surprise attack that night failed miserably. Although it was difficult to tell, Simon thought the king's forces had taken more hurt than in the daylight. One siege tower had been burned to a charred skeleton by a flaming barrel of pitch that hit it just right, so that it exploded, spreading fire too widely to be quenched by sand or water or smothered by wet hides. It was not the tower Geoffrey had been on, but his position might have been changed, and Simon had something new to worry about.
A third assault followed the very next dawn. Aware of weariness, Simon felt some concern that Henry's huge force might be divided, one part resting while the other attacked. He soon realized, from the lack of enthusiasm of the attackers, that they were as weary as he and his men. They never even got ladders up this time, and the archers on the walls again took a heavy toll. For the first time Simon saw the men

 
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