The English loss was four hundred, that of the Flemings
was very much heavier. There died, however, among
them no knights or persons of quality, for the rising
was one of the people themselves, and as yet the Earl
of Flanders was waiting for the King of England’s
reply to the message he had sent by the two knights
from Sluys. The English, however, considered that
the absence of any horsemen or knights was due to the
fact that these remembered what terrible havoc had
been made among the chivalry of France at Crecy and
Poictiers, and cared not to expose themselves to that
risk.
PRISONERS
After the capture of Dunkirk all the seaports as far
as Sluys were taken by the English, who then marched
to Ypres, to which town they at once laid siege, and
were joined by twenty thousand men from Ghent.
Their own number had swollen considerably by the arrival
from England of many knights and men-at-arms, besides
numbers of foot-men, attracted as much by the news
of the great spoil that had been captured in the Flemish
towns as by the exhortations and promises of the clergy.
Ypres had a numerous garrison, commanded by several
knights of experience. The works were very strong,
and every assault was repulsed with heavy loss.
One of these was led by Sir Hugh Calverley. The
force crossed the ditches by throwing in great bundles
of wood with which each of the foot-men had been
provided, and having reached the wall, in spite of
a hail of cross-bow bolts and arrows, ladders were
planted, and the leaders endeavoured to gain the ramparts.
Sir Hugh Calverley succeeded in obtaining a footing,
but for a time he stood almost alone. Two or three
other knights, however, sprang up. Just as they
did so one of the ladders broke with the weight upon
it, throwing all heavily to the ground.
Edgar and Albert were with a party of archers who
were keeping up a rain of arrows. Seeing that
the situation was bad they now ran forward, followed
by four of their men-at-arms, the others having charge
of the horses in the camp. A few more men-at-arms
had gained the ramparts by the time they arrived at
the foot of the ladders, where numbers waited to take
their turns to ascend.
“There is not much broken off this one, Sir
Edgar,” Hal Carter said; “not above three
feet, I should say. We might make a shift to get
up with that.”
“Pick it up, Hal, and bring it along a short
distance. Possibly we may be able to mount unobserved,
for the fight is hot above, and the attention of the
enemy will be fixed there.”
Followed by their own men-at-arms, and by a few others
who saw what their intentions were, they kept along
at the foot of the wall until they reached an angle
some thirty yards away. Searching about they found
several stones that had been dislodged from the battlements
during the siege. With these they built up a
platform, and raising the ladder on this, they found
that it reached to within a foot of the top.
