soldiers left dead in the breach, while only three or four of
the townsmen lost their lives. The signal of recall was reluctantly
given, and the Spaniards abandoned the assault.

"Don Frederic was now aware that Haarlem would not fall at his feet
at the first sound of his trumpet. It was obvious that a siege must
precede the massacre. He gave orders, therefore, that the ravelin
should be undermined, and doubted not that, with a few days' delay,
the place would be in his hands."

The Prince of Orange then made, from Sassenheim, another attempt to
relieve the town, sending 2,000 men. But a fog falling, they lost
their way and fell into the enemy's hands. "De Koning," says Motley,
"second in command, was among the prisoners. The Spaniards cut off his
head and threw it over the walls into the city, with this inscription:
'This is the head of Captain De Koning, who is on his way with
reinforcements for the good city of Haarlem'. The citizens retorted
with a practical jest, which was still more barbarous. They cut off the
heads of eleven prisoners and put them into a barrel, which they threw
into the Spanish camp. A label upon the barrel contained these words:
'Deliver these ten heads to Duke Alva in payment of his tenpenny tax,
with one additional head for interest'."

Day after day the attack continued and was repulsed. Meanwhile,
unknown to the Spaniards, the besieged burghers were silently
and swiftly building inside the ravelin a solid half-moon shaped
battlement. On the 31st of December, the last day of 1572, the great
assault was made. "The attack was unexpected, but the forty or fifty
sentinels defended the walls while they sounded the alarm. The tocsin
bells tolled, and the citizens, whose sleep was not apt to be heavy
during that perilous winter, soon manned the ramparts again. The
daylight came upon them while the fierce struggle was still at its
height. The besieged, as before, defended themselves with musket
and rapier, with melted pitch, with firebrands, with clubs and
stones. Meantime, after morning prayers in the Spanish camp, the
trumpet for a general assault was sounded. A tremendous onset was made
upon the gate of the Cross, and the ravelin was carried at last. The
Spaniards poured into this fort, so long the object of their attack,
expecting instantly to sweep into the city with sword and fire. As
they mounted its wall they became for the first time aware of the
new and stronger fortification which had