on the outside, and to prevent
the effect of red-hot balls a number of pipes were laid to convey water
through every part, and pumps were provided to keep these constantly
supplied. As the garrison had an opportunity for maintaining a fire
right on the heads of their assailants, the besiegers contrived hanging
roofs of strong rope-work netting, laid over with a thick covering of
raw hides. These roofs were to be worked up and down by mechanism, and
it was calculated that by their sloping position they would throw off
the shot and shell of the garrison into the sea. Above eighty gun-boats
and bomb-ketches were to second the operations of the floating
batteries, together with a multitude of frigates and smaller vessels,
while the combined fleets of France and Spain amounting to fifty sail
of the line, were to cover and support the attack. On the isthmus
also there were stupendous works, mounting two hundred pieces of heavy
ordnance, and protected by 40,000 troops. In the whole the numbers
employed by land and sea against the fortress were estimated at nearly
100,000 men. Time was required to complete the preparations, but at
length they were completed, and the 13th of September was named for the
grand attack. In the meantime General Elliot, aware that inventions of a
peculiar nature were in preparation provided against every circumstance
of danger that could be foreseen, and his vigilance had the effect of
increasing the confidence of the garrison. General Elliot, however, was
ignorant of the construction of the batteries until he saw them ranged
before the fortress. It was intended to make one simultaneous attack
on every part of the British fortifications, and on the appointed day,
showers of shot and shells from the land-batteries and ships of the
besiegers were directed against them. But the besieged were as much in
earnest as the besiegers: shot was given for shot, and shell for shell.
At one moment four hundred pieces of the heaviest artillery were playing
on the garrison, and the fire was returned by incessant showers of
red-hot balls and shells from the rock. The whole peninsula was involved
in one terrible blaze, and the surrounding hills were covered with
people, who assembled to behold the awful spectacle. The besiegers were
sanguine of success, but their hopes were disappointed. For a time the
floating batteries seemed to answer their expectations, for the heaviest
shells rebounded from their tops, while the re