had but fairly begun. The inner defences--the houses with their
unyielding garrisons--stood intact, and a terrible task still faced the
French.

The war was now in the city streets, the houses nearest the posts held by
the enemy were crowded with defenders, in every quarter the alarm-bells
called the citizens to their duty, new barricades rose in the streets,
mines were sunk in the open spaces, and the internal passages from house
to house were increased until the whole city formed a vast labyrinth,
throughout which the defenders could move under cover.

Marshall Lannes, the French commander, viewed with dread and doubt the
scene before him. Untrained in the art of war as were the bulk of the
defenders, courage and passionate patriotism made up for all deficiencies.
Men like these, heedless of death in their determined defence, were
dangerous to meet in open battle, and the prudent Frenchman resolved to
employ the slow but surer process of excavating a passage and fighting his
way through house after house until the city should be taken piecemeal.

Mining through the houses was not sufficient. The greater streets divided
the city into a number of small districts, the group of dwellings in each
of which forming a separate stronghold. To cross these streets it was
necessary to construct underground galleries, or build traverses, since a
Spanish battery raked each street, and each house had to be fought for and
taken separately.

While the Spaniards held the convents and churches the capture of the
houses by the French was of little service to them, the defenders making
sudden and successful sallies from these strong buildings, and
countermining their enemies, their numbers and perseverance often
frustrating the superior skill of the French. The latter, therefore,
directed their attacks upon these buildings, mining and destroying many of
them. On the other hand, the defenders saturated with rosin and pitch the
timbers of the buildings they could no longer hold, and interposed a
barrier of fire between themselves and their assailants which often
delayed them for several days.

Step by step, inch by inch, the French made their way forward, complete
destruction alone enabling them to advance. The fighting was incessant.
The explosion of mines, the crash of falling buildings, the roar of cannon
and musketry, the shouts of the combatants continually filled the air,
while a cloud of smoke and dust hung constantly over the ci