the
hour of ten
The Abbot of Scone was at his post , attended by the domestic chaplain of Kildrummie ; there was a strange mixture of admiration and anxiety on the old man 's face , but Agnes saw it not ; she saw nothing save him at whose side she knelt . Nigel , even in the agitation of mind in which he had quitted Agnes -- an agitation scarcely conquered in hastily informing his sister and her husband of all that had passed between them , and imploring their countenance and aid -- yet made it his first care strictly to make the round of the walls , to notice all that might be passing within the courts , and see that the men-at-arms were at their posts . In consequence of the truce , for the conclusion of which it still wanted some little time , there were fewer men on the walls than usual , their commanders having desired them to take advantage of this brief cessation of hostilities and seek refreshment and rest . A trumpet was to sound at the hour of ten , half an hour before the truce concluded , to summon them again to their posts . The men most acute in penetration , most firm and steady in purpose , Nigel selected as sentries along the walls ; the post of each being one of the round towers we have mentioned , the remaining spaces were consequently clear . Night had already fallen , and anxiously observing the movements on the walls ; endeavoring to discover whether the various little groups of men and women in the ballium meant any thing more than usual , Sir Nigel did not notice various piles or stacks of straw and wood which were raised against the wall in many parts where the shadows lay darkest , and some also against the other granaries which were contained in low , wooden buildings projecting from the wall . Neither he nor his friends , nor even the men-at-arms , noticed them , or if they did , imagined them in the darkness to be but the stones and other weights generally collected there , and used to supply the engines on the wails .