astions, and laid
their plans to rush into the devoted city, from which they hoped to gain
a glorious booty. But active as they were the besieged were no less so.
The damage done by day was repaired by night, and still Vienna turned a
heroic face to its thronging enemies.

Furious assaults were made, multitudes of the Turks rushing with savage
cries to the breaches, only to be hurled back by the obstinate valor of
the besieged. Every foot of ground was fiercely contested, the struggle
at each point being desperate and determined. It was particularly so
around the Loebel bastion, where scarcely an inch of ground was left
unstained by the blood of the struggling foes.

Count Ruediger, although severely wounded, did not let his hurt reduce
his vigilance. Daily he had himself carried round the circle of the
works, directing and cheering his men. Bishop Kolonitsch attended the
wounded, and with such active and useful zeal that the grand vizier sent
him a threat that he would have his head for his meddling. Despite this
fulmination of fury, the worthy bishop continued to use his threatened
head in the service of mercy and sympathy.

But the numbers of the garrison grew rapidly less, and their incessant
duty wore them out with fatigue. The commandant was forced to threaten
death to any sentinel found asleep upon his post. A fire broke out
which was only suppressed with the greatest exertion. Famine also began
to invade the city, and the condition of the besieged grew daily more
desperate. Their only hope lay in relief from without, and this did not
come.

Two months passed slowly by. The Turks had made a desert of the
surrounding country, and held many thousands of its inhabitants as
prisoners in their camp. Step by step they gained upon the defenders. By
the end of August they possessed the moat around the city walls. On the
4th of September a mine was sprung under the Burg bastion, with such
force that it shook half the city like an earthquake. The bastion was
rent and shattered for a width of more than thirty feet, portions of its
walls being hurled far and wide.

Into the great breach made the assailants poured in an eager multitude.
But the defenders were equally alert, and drove them back with loss. On
the following day they charged again, and were again repulsed by the
brave Viennese, the ruined bastion becoming a very gulf of death.

The Turks, finding their efforts useless, resumed the work of mining,
directing