er, who followed her
himself as soon as he had put the iron weight and the anvil away in a
place of safety. Roller, although not on duty, hastened off to join
his comrades at their work, and Conrad betook himself with all speed to
the home where he knew his poor mother was left alone in her blindness.

The minister had just brought his service to a close, and was leaving
the church; but on hearing the clang of the alarm-bells, he turned back
into the sacred building with the women and children, who poured into
it to beseech divine help in this new and pressing danger. Just as
Schoenleben was passing by the church door, such a frightful and furious
shout arose at the Peter Gate as almost to curdle the Burgomaster's
blood in his veins. This terrible shout was uttered by the Swedes,
who, two brigades strong, with flying colours and rolling drums, were
now advancing with their storming-ladders towards the moat before the
Peter Gate. The determined energy with which the advance was made was
as great as the noise of the battle-cry. The besieged watched the
enemy's approach with stedfast and unshaken courage. They tightened
their belts, and each man prepared his weapons to give the foe a warm
reception.

'Always bellowing, you Swedish oxen!' shouted a soldier jestingly. 'Do
you expect to frighten us with your noise, or do you think the walls of
Freiberg are going to fall down like those of Jericho?'

A well-aimed cross fire was now poured into the ranks of the besiegers,
as, in dense masses, they filled the moat and struggled to mount the
breach. A murderous fight then began, in which neither side would
yield an inch. Although successive volleys of balls decimated the
Swedish ranks, their losses did not in the least deter them from
pursuing their object with the most supreme indifference to death.
Fresh men continually took the place of those that fell, and the forces
of the besieged being thus either divided or broken, the Erbis and
Meissen Gates were both assaulted at once. The storming-ladders of the
Swedes, a hundred times hurled back into the moat, were as often
replanted against the walls; and although every man who had as yet
succeeded in setting foot on the ramparts had paid for his success with
his life, others were continually ready to follow the same example.

While the enemy kept up their furious battle-cry, the besieged, on
their side, did not fail to encourage one another with joyful shouts.
There w