Now
satisfied, he signaled his men to sit down, which they did. He himself
took up a position behind a tree, where, unseen, he could watch the man
with the lance.
So indolent was the sentry that Roland began to fear the barge would
pass by unnoticed. Not for months had any sailing craft appeared on the
river, and doubtless the warden regarded his office as both useless and
wearisome. Brighter and brighter became the eastern sky, and at last a
tinge of red appeared above the hills across the silent Rhine. Suddenly
the guardian straightened up, then, shading his eyes with his right
hand, he leaned over the battlements, peering to the south. A moment
later the stillness was rent by a lusty shout, and the man disappeared
as if he had fallen through a trap-door. Presently the notes of a bugle
echoed within the walls, followed by clashes of armor and the buzzing
sound of men, as though a wasp's nest had been disturbed. Half a dozen
came into sight on top of the various towers and battlements, glanced at
the river, and vanished as hastily as the sentinel had done.
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