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Carleton seized the chance of turning this scheme against the enemy. Three safe bonfires were set ablaze. The marked guns were turned inwards and fired at the town with blank charges. And the preconcerted shout was raised with a will. But the besiegers never stirred.
The besieged man, alas! converts everything into a weapon. Greek fire did not disgrace Archimedes, boiling pitch did not disgrace Bayard. All war is a thing of terror, and there is no choice in it. The musketry of the besiegers, though confined and embarrassed by being directed from below upwards, was deadly.
The death of Montcalm, which was indeed an irreparable loss to France, in all probability overwhelmed the enemy with consternation, and confounded all their councils; otherwise we cannot account for the tame surrender of Quebec to a handful of troops, even after the victory they had obtained: for although the place was not regularly fortified on the land-side, and most of the houses were in ruins, their walls and parapets had not yet sustained the least damage; the besiegers were hardly sufficient to complete the investiture; a fresh army was assembled in the neighbourhood, with which their communication continued open; the season was so far advanced, that the British forces in a little time must have been forced to desist by the severity of the weather, and even retire with their fleet before the approach of winter, which never fails to freeze up the river St.
Gathering her robes about her, Salome swept out of the corridor and away. Amaryllis stood alone. Somewhere out in the city was Hesper the Ephesian. Amaryllis knew that Laodice would not return. Meanwhile Jerusalem was in the fury of barbarous warfare. At this ravine and that debouching upon Golgotha, the Vale of Hinnom and the Valley of Tophet, whole legions of besiegers were stationed.
And when this cloud had cleared away, he saw that one of the besiegers' guns had been temporarily put clean out of action, for the right wheel was blown completely away, and the gun itself was lying on its side, half-buried in the sand; while, as for the crew who had been working it, so far as he could ascertain they had been blown completely out of existence, for there was no visible sign of them.
'However, said he, 'if this which he avouches be true, let us arm and out. There is no flying hence, nor staying here. I begin to be weary of the sun, and wish my life at an end. With these desperate speeches he sallied forth upon the besiegers, who had now come up to the castle. The strange appearance which had given the messenger an idea of a wood moving is easily solved.
At the same instant all the English batteries on the Leinster side opened on the Irish town, wrapping the river in smoke, and distracting the attention of the besiegers. Saint Ruth was, at this critical moment, at his camp two miles off, and D'Usson, the commandant, was also absent from his post.
From every land, of every religion, of every race, they poured into the town or into the besiegers' trenches.
As soon as fear or hunger compelled the Goths to evacuate Alba, Porto, and Centumcellæ, their place was instantly supplied; the garrisons of Narni, Spoleto, and Perusia, were reënforced, and the seven camps of the besiegers were gradually encompassed with the calamities of a siege.
They remained two more days in their little fortress, besieged so closely that they did not dare to move. Yet the besiegers themselves were kept in a constant state of alarm. One of their best hunters, sent out for deer, failed to come back, and his body was found in the forest.
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