well stored; and with a groan Sir Rudolph thought
of the rich stores of French wines which he had collected in his
cellars.

After much deliberation with the knights with him and the captain of the
mercenaries, it was agreed in the first instance to attempt to attack
the place by filling up a portion of the moat and ascending by scaling
ladders. Huge screens of wood were made, and these were placed on
wagons; the wagons themselves were filled with bags of earth, and a
large number of men getting beneath them shoved the ponderous machines
forward to the edge of the moat. The bags of stones and earth were then
thrown in, and the wagons pushed backward to obtain a fresh supply. This
operation was of course an exceedingly slow one, a whole day being
occupied with each trip of the wagons. They were not unmolested in their
advance, for, from the walls, mangonels and other machines hurled great
stones down upon the wooden screens, succeeding sometimes, in spite of
their thickness, in crashing through them, killing many of the men
beneath. The experiment was also tried of throwing balls of Greek fire
down upon the wood; but as this was green and freshly felled it would
not take fire, but the flames dropping through, with much boiling pitch
and other materials, did grievously burn and scald the soldiers working
below it. Upon both sides every device was tried. The crossbowmen among
the mercenaries kept up a fire upon the walls to hinder the defenders
from interfering with the operations, while the archers above shot
steadily, and killed many of those who ventured within range of their
bows.

After ten days' labor a portion of the moat some twenty yards in length
was filled with bags of earth, and all was ready for the assault. The
besiegers had prepared great numbers of strong ladders, and these were
brought up under shelter of the screens. Then, all being ready, the
trumpets sounded for the assault, and the troops moved forward in a
close body, covering themselves with their shields so that no man's head
or body was visible, each protecting the one before him with his shield
held over him. Thus the body presented the appearance of a great
scale-covered animal. In many respects, indeed, the warfare of those
days was changed in no way from that of the time of the Romans. In the
twelve hundred years which had elapsed between the siege of Jerusalem
and the days of the Crusades there had been but little change in arms or
armor, a