urch, they prostrated themselves on the ground, and, with feelings
rendered yet more solemn by their own situation, and above all by that
of their brave comrades in St. Elmo, they implored the Lord of Hosts to
take pity on their distress, and not to allow his enemies to triumph
over the true soldiers of the Cross.[1323]

During the whole of the twenty-first, the fire of the besiegers was kept
up with more than usual severity, until in some places the crumbling
wall was shot away, down to the bare rock on which it stood.[1324] Their
pioneers, who had collected loads of brushwood for the purpose, filled
up the ditch with their fascines; which, as they were covered with wet
earth, defied the efforts of the garrison to set them on fire.
Throughout the following night a succession of false alarms kept the
soldiers constantly under arms. All this prognosticated a general
assault. It came the next day.

With the earliest streak of light, the Turkish troops were in motion.
Soon they came pouring in over the fosse, which, choked up as it was,
offered no impediment. Some threw themselves on the breach. The knights
and their followers were there to receive them. Others endeavored to
scale the ramparts, but were driven back by showers of missiles. The
musketry was feeble, for ammunition had begun to fail. But everywhere
the assailants were met with the same unconquerable spirit as before. It
seemed as if the defenders of St. Elmo, exhausted as they had been by
their extraordinary sufferings, had renewed their strength as by a
miracle. Thrice the enemy returned to the assault; and thrice he was
repulsed. The carnage was terrible; Christian and Mussulman grappling
fiercely together, until the ruins on which they fought were heaped with
the bodies of the slain.

The combat had lasted several hours. Amazed at the resistance which he
met with from this handful of warriors, Mustapha felt that, if he would
stop the waste of life in his followers, he must defer the possession of
the place for one day longer. Stunned as his enemies must be by the blow
he had now dealt, it would be beyond the powers of nature for them to
stand another assault. He accordingly again gave the signal for retreat;
and the victors again raised the shout--a feeble shout--of triumph;
while the banner of the order, floating from the ramparts, proclaimed
that St. Elmo was still in the hands of the Christians! It was the last
triumph of the garrison.[1325]

They we