He wandered towards the gate of the wall, passing the wooden shed where the clink of hammers resounded, glanced at the sundial, which showed the hour of three (three weary hours had they feasted), and went out into the gardens.  Still going on, he descended the slope, and not much heeding whither he was going, took the road that led into town.  It consisted of some hundred or more houses, built of wood and thatched, placed without plan or arrangement on the bank of the stream.  Only one long street ran through it, the rest were mere by-ways.

All these were inhabited by the Baron’s retainers, but the number and apparently small extent of the houses did not afford correct data for the actual amount of the population.  In these days the people (as is well known) find much difficulty in marrying; it seems only possible for a certain proportion to marry, and hence there are always a great number of young or single men out of all ratio to the houses.  At the sound of the bugle the Baron could reckon on at least three hundred men flocking without a minute’s delay to man the wall; in an hour more would arrive from the outer places, and by nightfall, if the summons went forth in the morning, his shepherds and swineherds would arrive, and these together would add some hundred and fifty to the garrison.

Next must be reckoned the armed servants of the house, the Baron’s personal attendants, the gentlemen who formed his train, his sons and the male relations of the family; these certainly were not less than fifty.  Altogether over five hundred men, well armed and accustomed to the use of their weapons, would range themselves beneath his banner.  Two of the buildings in he town were of brick (the material carried hither, for there was no clay or stone thereabouts); they were not far apart.  The one was the Toll House, where all merchants or traders paid the charges in corn or kind due to the Baron; the other was the Court House, where he sat to administer justice and decide causes, or to send the criminal to the gibbet.

These alone of the buildings were of any age, for the wooden houses were extremely subject to destruction by fire, and twice in the Baron’s time half the town had been laid in ashes, only to rise again in a few weeks.  Timber was so abundant and so ready of access, it seemed a loss of labour to fetch stone or brick, or to use the flints of the hills.  About the doors of the two inns there were gathered groups of people; among them the liveries of the nobles visiting the castle were conspicuous; the place was full of them, the stables were filled, and their horses were picketed under the trees and even in the street.

Every minute the numbers increased as others arrived; men, too (who had obtained permission of their lords), came in on foot, ten or twelve travelling together for mutual protection, for the feuds of their masters exposed them to frequent attack.  All (except the nobles) were disarmed at the barrier by the warden and guard, that peace might be preserved in the enclosure.  The folk at the moment he passed were watching the descent of three covered waggons from the forest track, in which were travelling the ladies of as many noble families.