horizon as at a
beacon-light that surely could not deceive them.

'It seems to me,' said Roller, pushing back the bandage that covered
his ear, 'it seems to me as though I heard firing as well.'

The dull roar of cannon, several times repeated, was now plainly heard
from the far-off height.

'It is they! it is our deliverers!' cried all, as their joy broke out
afresh.

Confidence and hope work wonders. They nerved the courage of these
distressed Freibergers, until the most faint-hearted among them rose
into a hero. Let the Swedes renew their assault on the next day as
fiercely as they pleased; let them summon the town three times over to
surrender, and make all their preparations for a final attack; nothing
could now take away the joyful assurance of immediate relief. On the
previous day, a mine had torn down a large piece of the main city wall,
twenty yards in length, near the Peter Gate, and so shattered the great
flanking tower at that point that its downfall seemed every moment
imminent. In spite of a heavy fire, the Freibergers made good use of
the night in preparing trenches, thickly studded with palisadoes, close
behind the main wall, in throwing up great piles of branches and trunks
of trees in the new breach, and doubling the number of men at the
points chiefly threatened. Having made these preparations, they
confidently awaited the onset of the enemy, whose numerous forces were
now steadily drawing nearer and nearer to the city.

Who would not have trembled for Freiberg at sight of that veteran army,
trained in long and stormy years of battle, and led by a renowned
general, bent on destroying the city and putting all its
inhabitants--men and women, old and young--to the sword? Ambition and
shame alike stimulated the Swedish general, as he thought how this
insignificant country town had so long thwarted all his best efforts.
His men, on the other hand, were inspired by thirst for plunder and a
burning desire to avenge all the toils and troubles they had endured
amid the severities of that bitter winter.

On the side of the Swedes were many thousand veteran men-at-arms, a
commander well known to fame, over a hundred pieces of artillery, and
free access to the whole country around, furnishing constant fresh
supplies both of men and the necessaries of war. On the side of the
Saxons was a little band of three hundred soldiers, a leader of whom
renown as yet had scarcely heard, an untrained crowd of pe