ndition of the besieged, in the mean time, was forlorn in the
extreme; not so much from want of food, though their supplies were
scanty, as from excessive toil and exposure. Then it was that Coligni
displayed all the strength of his character. He felt the importance of
holding out as long as possible, that the nation might have time to
breathe, as it were, and recover from the late disaster. He endeavored
to infuse his own spirit into the hearts of his soldiers, toiling with
the meanest of them, and sharing all their privations. He cheered the
desponding, by assuring them of speedy relief from their countrymen.
Some he complimented for their bravery; others he flattered by asking
their advice. He talked loudly of the resources at his command. If any
should hear him so much as hint at a surrender, he gave them leave to
tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the moat. If he should hear
one of them talk of it, the admiral promised to do as much by him.[220]

The duc de Nevers, who had established himself, with the wreck of the
French army and such additional levies as he could muster, in the
neighborhood of St. Quentin, contrived to communicate with the admiral.
On one occasion he succeeded in throwing a reinforcement of a hundred
and twenty arquebusiers into the town, though it cost him thrice that
number, cut to pieces by the Spaniards in the attempt. Still the number
of the garrison was altogether inadequate to the duties imposed on it.
With scanty refreshment, almost without repose, watching and fighting by
turns, the day passed in defending the breaches which the night was not
long enough to repair. No frame could be strong enough to endure it.

Coligni had, fortunately, the services of a skilful engineer, named St.
Remy, who aided him in repairing the injuries inflicted on the works by
the artillery, and by the scarcely less destructive mines of the
Spaniards. In the want of solid masonry, every material was resorted to
for covering up the breaches. Timbers were thrown across; and boats
filled with earth, laid on the broken rampart, afforded a good bulwark
for the French musketeers. But the time was come when neither the skill
of the engineer nor the courage of the garrison could further avail.
Eleven practicable breaches had been opened, and St. Remy assured the
admiral that he could not engage to hold out four-and-twenty hours
longer.[221]

[Sidenote: STORMING OF ST. QUENTIN.]

The duke of Savoy also saw that