d no other object than to give the king of Denmark an opportunity to
recruit.[30]

And thus the winter wore away, and spring came, and both parties were
gathering up their forces to renew the war. In the little town of
Stockholm a spirit of patriotism was growing fast. It was felt on every
hand that the coming summer would forever settle the question of slavery
or freedom, and all were fixed in purpose to resist the tyrant till
their dying breath. Children, from fifteen upwards, were in arms,
momentarily expecting the arrival of the Danish fleet. But the agony was
prolonged day after day till the sturdy patriots were eager to have it
close. Excitement had been wrought up to a fever heat, when, in the
month of June, the news was shouted through the narrow streets that the
enemy's vessels were at hand. The report was true. There in the stream
below the town were visible the white sails of the Danish
squadron,--eighty ships in all,--slowly forging their way against the
current towards the town. It was a sight to make even the stout heart of
a Stockholm burgher quail. The fleet approached within a short distance,
and the troops were landed on the southern shore, separated from the
city only by a narrow channel. The Danish king himself was in command.
His forces consisted of five thousand Germans, besides a thousand
light-armed soldiers chiefly Danes, a hundred horse, and a vast
multitude of laborers for building dikes and trenches. Proceeding to the
west, he took up his position, June 29, on the hill opposite the city on
the north. But he soon discovered that this point was too far from the
town. He therefore crossed over to the southern shore, and pitched his
camp on the cliffs of Soedermalm. From this point he began to bombard the
tower at the southern corner of the town. After battering this tower
near a month, he sent a force across the bridge with orders to burst
through the wall at the point which his guns had shaken. The effort,
however, was of no avail. His force was driven back and compelled to
seek safety beyond the bridge. At this juncture news arrived that a
detachment of the Swedish army was coming against him on the south.
Fearing a simultaneous attack on both sides, he hastily advanced in the
direction of the expected onslaught, and threw up a fortification at
Braennkyrka, about three miles south of Stockholm. On his right the land
was boggy and overgrown with brushwood, while on his left it was
somewhat high