me manner,
and laid trains of combustible materials through all parts of the
vessel, so that when fire should be set in one part it would
immediately spread every where, and set the whole mass in flames at
once. They towed this ship, on a windy day, near to the enemy's works,
and on the side from which the wind was blowing. They then put it in
motion toward the pier at a point where there was the greatest
collection of engines and machines, and when they had got as near as
they dared to go themselves, the men who were on board set the trains
on fire, and made their escape in boats. The flames ran all over the
vessel with inconceivable rapidity. The vessel itself drifted down
upon Alexander's works, notwithstanding the most strenuous exertions
of his soldiers to keep it away. The frames and engines, and the
enormous and complicated machines which had been erected, took fire,
and the whole mass was soon enveloped in a general conflagration.

The men made desperate attempts to defend their works, but all in
vain. Some were killed by arrows and darts, some were burned to death,
and others, in the confusion, fell into the sea. Finally, the army was
obliged to draw back, and to abandon all that was combustible in the
vast construction they had reared, to the devouring flames.

[Illustration: THE SIEGE OF TYRE.]

Not long after this the sea itself came to the aid of the Tyrians.
There was a storm; and, as a consequence of it, a heavy swell rolled
in from the offing, which soon undermined and washed away a large
part of the pier. The effects of a heavy sea on the most massive and
substantial structures, when they are fairly exposed to its impulse,
are far greater than would be conceived possible by those who had not
witnessed them. The most ponderous stones are removed, the strongest
fastenings are torn asunder, and embankments the most compact and
solid are undermined and washed away. The storm, in this case,
destroyed in a few hours the work of many months, while the army of
Alexander looked on from the shore witnessing its ravages in dismay.

When the storm was over, and the first shock of chagrin and
disappointment had passed from the minds of the men, Alexander
prepared to resume the work with fresh vigor and energy. The men
commenced repairing the pier and widening it, so as to increase its
strength and capacity. They dragged whole trees to the edges of it,
and sunk them, branches and all, to the bottom, to form a sor