He had heard a shout from the direction of the house. The levies from the villages and towns number at best a thousand, and most would be old veterans from the siege at carse or young boys without skills. As evening falls, light has begun to leak out of it, betraying information to black german reconnaissance planes, so a porter is strutting about the courtyard slamming the black shutters closed. But that was best for this man, for the climb might really hurt.