The stockade, however, was soon broken down by the
daring of a few young Frenchmen; and the waterway being thus cleared
for the transport of materials, he was enabled to construct below the
island a pontoon, by means of which he could throw a portion of his
troops across the river to form the siege of the New Andely, place the
island garrison between two fires, and at once keep open his own
communications and cut off those of the besieged with both sides of
the river alike.
These things seem to have been done toward the end of August. On the
27th and 28th of that month John was at Montfort, a castle some
five-and-twenty miles from Rouen, held by one of his few faithful
barons, Hugh of Gournay. On the 30th, if not the 29th, he and all his
available forces were back at Rouen, ready to attempt on that very
night the relief of Les Andelys. The King's plan was a masterpiece of
ingenuity; and the fact that the elaborate preparations needed for its
execution were made so rapidly and so secretly as to escape detection
by an enemy so close at hand goes far to show how mistaken are the
charges of sloth and incapacity which, even in his own day, men
brought against "John Softsword.
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