35



made by the enemy. But if through distrust they sepa-
rate you into small parties, arrange beforehand your
signals of attack, and instead of grass necklaces, have
the right leg bare. . . . Fourteen days ! " "I under-
stand."

Sigild had surrounded the camp with a number of
wooden towers placed on the old rampart, which had
been strengthened. These towers, whose appearance is
shown in Fig. 6, were made of trunks of trees piled one




upon another, and framed at their extremities. They
projected from the rampart. At their summit was con-
structed a wooden floor surrounded by a parapet of wat-
tling; and this floor was reached by means of a ladder
placed inside the tower. The under story gave shelter
to the men charged with the defence of the towers, and
who watched from the top. If they perceived any sus-
picious movement without, it was their duty to give the
alarm by blowing a horn.- Sigild had fixed the number
of men for each tower at twenty. Two of these twenty
men remained day and night on the platform, the day

D 2



36 ANNALS OF A FORTRESS.
and the night being each divided into four parts ; there
were eight men on duty during the day and eight during
the night. Of the four remaining, the first was consti-
tuted chief of the tower ; the second was intrusted with
the stores, and the distribution of food and munitions;
the third was to be at the disposal of the chief of the
tower, to carry messages and seek for help in case of
need ; and the business of the fourth was to repair the
injuries caused to the defences in the event of an attack.
