noon
And at that all the people shouted and then stood with uncovered heads , while the young men bore away the body of Oxenford 's daughter on their locked shields and gave it to her mother . -LSB- Illustration : `` OF DOOM SHALL WE REQUIRE IT '' -RSB- That night Constans rode out from Deepdene at the head of twenty picked men , leading them to the secret place where he had stored the guns and ammunition which he had brought from Doom . Two days of practice with the unfamiliar weapons , and on the morning of the third the little squad , reinforced by a company of two hundred men-at-arms , set out upon the northern road . Towards noon they passed through Croye . It had been their intention to stop here for the mid-day meal , but none cared to propose a halt after entering this strange city of silence . Ordinarily the central square would have been filled with a voluble , chaffering crowd , it being a market-day ; now there was not a living thing to be seen , not even a hog wallowing in the kennel nor a buzzard about the butcher-stalls . Yet there were no traces of fire and sword , the houses had suffered no violence , and stood there barred and shuttered as though it were still the middle watch of the night .