midnight
As the storming party approached nearer , and while yet they were several miles distant , they became aware of a great red light that gleamed forth above them . They could not see whence it came , but the peasants of Saint Philbert with affrighted glances told how it beaconed only after the disappearance of some little one from their homes , what strange cries were heard ringing out from that lofty tower , and how for days after the smoke of a great burning would hang about the gloomy turrets of devil-haunted Machecoul . Fiercer and ever fiercer shone the red glare , and the faces of the soldiers were lit up so that Pierre de l'Hopital ordered them to keep to the more gloomy arcades of the forest . Then by midnight the cordon was drawn so closely that none might pass in or out . And behind the soldiery the common folk lay crouched , anger in their hearts , and their eyes turned towards the open windows in the keep of Machecoul , from which flared the red light of bale . Then , covering their lanterns , the three Scots , with Duke John , Pierre de l'Hopital , and a score of officers , stole silently towards the tower by which the Lady Sybilla had promised that an entrance should be gained to the Castle of Machecoul . It was situated at the western corner towards the south , and was joined to its fellows at the corresponding angles of the fortress by galleried walls of great height .