Goodenough had hopes that they
should succeed in repelling the assault. They learnt that a large
store of provisions had been brought into the town, and that many
of the women and children had been sent far away.
The spies presently came in and reported that there was no movement
on the part of the enemy, and that it was improbable that they
would advance before the next day. Mr. Goodenough was unable to
offer any suggestions for fresh defenses until they knew upon which
side the enemy would attack. He advised, however, that the whole
population should be set to work throwing up an earthwork just
outside each gate, in order to shelter these as far as possible
from the effect of the enemy's cannonballs. Orders were at once
given to this effect, and in an hour the whole population were at
work carrying earth in baskets and piling it in front of the gates.
In order to economize labor, and to make the sides of the mounds as
steep as possible, Mr. Goodenough directed with brushwood, forming
a sort of rough wattle work. Not even when night set in did the
people desist from their labor, and by the following morning the
gates were protected from the effect of cannon shot, by mounds of
earth twenty feet high, which rose before them.
Pages:
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254