commenced the attack in
another quarter. Without pausing, the procession continued its way, and
it was not until the service in the chapel had been concluded that any
steps were taken to ascertain the direction of the attack. As soon as it
was over, the knights hastened to the walls. During the night the
Turks had transported their great basilisks, with other large pieces of
artillery, from the camp to the rising ground on the south side of the
city, and had opened fire against the wall covering the Jews' quarter,
and at the same time against the tower of St. Mary on the one hand and
the Italian tower on the other.

From other commanding spots huge mortars were hurling great fragments of
rock and other missiles broadcast into the town. The portion of the wall
selected for the attack showed that the Turks had been well informed by
their spies of the weak points of the defence. The wall behind which the
Jews' quarter lay, was, to all appearance, of thick and solid masonry;
but this was really of great age, having formed part of the original
defences of the town, before the Order had established itself there.
The masonry, therefore, was ill fitted to resist the huge balls hurled
against it by the basilisks. The langue of Provence was in charge of
this part of the wall, and, leaving them for the present to bear the
brunt of the storm, the grand master sent the knights who could be
spared, to assist the inhabitants to erect shelters against the storm of
missiles falling in the town.

Sheds with sharply sloping roofs, constructed of solid timber, were
built against the inner side of the walls, and beneath these numbers of
the inhabitants found refuge. The work was performed with great celerity
by the inhabitants, aided by the gangs of slaves, and in two or three
days the townspeople were all in shelter, either in these sheds, in the
vaults of the churches, or in other strongly constructed buildings.

Among the missiles hurled into the town were balls filled with Greek
fire, but the houses being entirely built of stone, no conflagrations
of importance were caused by them, as a band of knights was organised
specially to watch for these bombs, and whenever one of them was seen to
fall, they hurried from their lookout to the spot, with a gang of slaves
carrying baskets of earth and buckets of water, and quenched the flames
before they had made any great headway.

The roar of the bombardment was almost continuous, and was heard