ich were now able to take in flank the works across the
upper angle of the town. At the end of that time, they had erected and
armed two batteries, which at daylight opened upon the walls which
formed the flanks of the clear space behind the breach. Although
suffering heavily from the fire of the besieged, and losing many men,
these batteries kept up their fire unceasingly, night and day, until
great gaps had been made in the walls, and Charlie was obliged to
withdraw his troops from them, behind the line of barricades.

During this time the fire of the batteries in front had been
unceasing, and had destroyed most of the houses which formed the
connecting line between the barricades. Each night, however, the
besieged worked to repair damages, and to fill up the gaps thus formed
with piles of stones and beams, so that, by the end of the fourth day
after the repulse of the first assault, a line of barricades stretched
across the line of defence.

The enemy, this time, prepared to attack by daylight, and early in the
morning the whole army of the nizam marched to the assault. Heedless
of the fire of the castle, they formed up in a long line of heavy
masses, along the slope. One huge column moved forward against the
main breach, two advanced obliquely towards the great gaps in the
walls on either side. The latter columns were each headed by bodies of
French troops.

In vain the guns of the fort, aided by those of the battery on the
hill, swept them. The columns advanced without a check until they
entered the breaches. Then a line of fire swept along the crest of the
barricade from end to end, and the cannon of the besieged roared out.
Pressed by the mass from behind, the columns advanced, torn and rent
by the fire, and at last gained the foot of the barricade.

Here, those in front strove desperately to climb up the great mound of
rubbish, while those behind covered them with a storm of bullets aimed
at its summit. More than once the troops of the rajah, rushing down
the embankment, drove back the struggling masses, but so heavily did
they suffer from the fire, when they thus exposed themselves, that
Charlie forbade them to repeat the attempt. He knew that there was
safety behind, and was unwilling that his brave fellows should throw
away their lives.

In the centre of the position the native troops, although they several
times climbed some distance up the barricade, were yet unable to make
way. But the French troops