It was night, and only the
sentinels on the walls were left on guard, and told to give the alarm by
clanging a large bell, should the enemy force an attack. There was one
sentinel who had never done this work before, and he was given the least
important tower to guard. During the night a loud bell clanged out, and
a soldier came running along the wall to speak to the new sentinel. 'Do
come,' he said, 'we want as many helpers as we can get at once, and
there will be plenty of fighting.' The young sentinel longed to go with
him, and join the fight, but he remembered his duty in time.
"'I cannot leave this tower,' he said; 'I have had orders to stay and
give the alarm should the enemy appear, and the town trusts me to do
so.'
"'I believe that you are afraid,' said the soldier as he hurried away.
"And this was the hardest of all, and the sentinel longed to join in the
fighting to show that he, too, was no coward, but could fight like a
man.
"He stood there, listening to the noise in the distance, to the shouts
of the enemy, and the screams of those who were struck down. And as he
looked below the walls into the valley beyond he thought that he could
distinguish men moving, and while he watched he saw a number of soldiers
creeping up to the walls, and one man had even placed his foot on the
steps that led up to his tower. Quick as thought, the sentinel seized
the rope of the large bell that hung over his head and clanged it again
and again.
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